Prodigal Son

Chapter 10

"So," Felicity asked as she arched her back and stretched her arms above her head, "how did the poster child for idle rich kids end up in the construction business?" The desk chairs that came with the on-site trailer weren't terribly ergonomic but otherwise they'd settled nicely into the portable office. Not that they'd had much time in the last four days to sit still in their new work space. And the week prior to that had been even busier, scrambling to get everything in place before construction kicked off.

They'd lost half a day with the break in at Verdant. Oliver had waited with her while the alarm company's rep repaired the system which ate up the rest of the normal work day. She'd suggested working late, but he nixed that idea and since she'd already been feeling her bumps and bruises, she hadn't fought him. She had expected he'd drop her at home where she'd scrounge her freezer hoping for a forgotten frozen meal to pair with a yogurt. Instead, all it took was a particularly loud stomach growl for him to insist they stop for dinner. He made it seem terribly reasonable. They both had to eat, didn't they?

He brought her to a little place downtown, nothing fancy, and promised her the best burger of her life. He kept his promise. She could not remember anything so heavenly in her mouth and for a while, she forgot all about their new arrangement. Then he had to help her into the cab of his pick-up again. She was lighted headed before she ever left the ground.

They'd decided to take a break from that kind of romantic tension for a good reason. Felicity realized if she was to expect Oliver to follow the new rules, she needed to get her head straight too, but it had proved harder than she'd expected.

Since she'd already started having regrets right away, she hadn't been entirely certain Oliver would play nice once they reached the doorstep of the townhomes. With Oliver living right next door, there was no avoiding walking up the path together and that doorstep now held powerful memories.

Knee-weakening memories.

Vow breaking memories.

Really good reasons to say screw it and go in for another one of those incredible kisses. But if Oliver had been having a hard time with their new arrangement, he hid it well. He'd been a perfect gentleman, waiting until she got her door unlocked before bidding her goodnight.

She spent too much time that night convincing herself it really was for the best.

That next morning, her knees had stiffened up so she hobbled from bed like a ninety-year old woman, groaning as each step jarred the bruises splattering the side of her body. Verdant's intruder should have been a linebacker. On the bright side, she had a valid excuse to cancel her self-defense refresher with Diggle. Only a solid half hour under the hot shower and a couple ibuprofens got her out the door. She decided Thea, who ended up with a sprained ankle and her foot in a walking boot for a couple weeks, got the better deal.

Felicity drove herself to work, but by noon, even with another round of pain killers, she was noticeably miserable. Oliver tried to send her home, but they'd had mounds of supplier and contract details to go over and they were already behind. His solution was to take the files with them and work from the comfort of her couch. That she agreed was proof of how battered she'd felt.

She'd brought work home in the past but usually it was a solitary thing. Of course, she and Curtis were collaborating on their future company, but that had been more of a back and forth idea exchange with each working independently on their own parts of the project. The male ego could be delicate in the corporate world—any world really—and she'd never excelled at pandering, so when Oliver arrived with the files, she'd been wary of the tension she was inviting into her living room.