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Sam looked down at the plain paper and second-guessed herself. Oh, well. Too late. She’ll hate it and it will be fine.
“I have my Oxford trip next month, and well, two weeks suddenly feels like a long time to be away.” She turned her gaze back on Natalia. “So, I don’t know. I guess I wanted to give you something.”
“Are those two thoughts connected?” Natalia smiled with her eyes and the pink flush starting over her cheeks.
Sam laughed. “What? Are words my job or something?” She handed her the gift, telling her what it was before she had a chance to tear into it. “It’s The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson.”
Natalia peeled back the tape carefully, like she intended to preserve the paper. “What’s the point of wrapping if you’re just going to ruin the surprise?”
“She was so cerebral but also very passionate,” Sam continued. “A lot of her poems are about longing and desire and the pain that comes with feeling things so deeply.” She watched as Natalia slowly revealed the leather-bound volume.
Natalia traced her fingers over the embossed title, eyes softening as she looked up at Sam.
“And her brilliance was overlooked for so long because she was a woman, because she didn’t conform.” Sam shifted her weight, unsure of whether she’d made the wrong move. Wishing that she could hear Natalia’s thoughts. “I don’t know. I just thought you might appreciate her perspective. And the beautiful language, of course.”
When Natalia didn’t respond, Sam kept going. It was like the growing nerves in her body were telling her brain that they were taking on water. That she needed to throw all her thoughts over the side or drown.
“I’m going to miss you,” Sam said. “Maybe you can come visit me in Oxford?”
Instead of laughing in her face and throwing her stupid little book on the floor, Natalia’s expression changed into something like regret.
“Two weeks is too long to be away,” she said softly, like some people might say I’m sorry.
Nerves both replicating and easing, Sam pulled Natalia into her arms, the book pressed to her chest. “What’s the point of being the boss if you can’t do what you want?”
“Responsibilities, Professor.” Natalia’s voice dropped to something warm and husky that Sam felt in every fiber of her being. She pulled Sam down to her, lips grazing her cheek. “I’ll let you wear your little toy tonight,” she said so quietly it was nearly imperceptible.
Heat erupted over Sam’s skin, every cell responding to Natalia’s silky promise. Natalia’s lips on hers and hands trailing down her body said what her words couldn’t. Sam didn’t need to hear Natalia’s appreciation. She felt it on her lips and dripping into her chest.
CHAPTER 44
“Natalia, do you agree?”
The sound of her name pulled Natalia’s attention away from the window and back to the United in PRIDE board meeting. Francis was staring at her, face pinched. Like a vulture spotting carrion, she’d zeroed in on Natalia’s distraction and tried to exploit it.
Natalia replied with the thing Francis hated most. Being ignored. “Alright, that’s the last sponsorship solicitation. Lola, did we finalize numbers for queer prom?”
Without missing a beat, Lola launched into reporting about their annual event. Francis muttered under her breath, but stopped short when she felt Natalia’s eyes on her.
Determined not to drift away again, Natalia looked away from the bright May morning. She told herself that she didn’t care that Sam had gotten in that morning after being away for two weeks. That she didn’t care that she’d gotten in on a red-eye and had to go directly to the university to teach a seminar. That she hadn’t thought about her a thousand times a day. That she hadn’t missed her touch or the sound of her voice or the way her body felt curled against hers.
Closing her eyes too hard to count as a blink, she shook off the stupid winged irritations fluttering around her. She pushed away the tingle on her skin and took deep breaths until her heart rate slowed to something less embarrassing. This reaction was absurd. She and Sam were just having fun, nothing more.
Her phone flashed when she was trying and failing to pay attention to Tom’s accounting rundown. Distraction was becoming unavoidable. She’d normally leave her phone face down, and she certainly wasn’t looking at it hoping for another text from Sam. It was bad enough that Natalia had been forced to text with Sam for half her flight because neither of them could sleep.
The notification banner was impossible to ignore. Adriana had sent her an email. The truncated part of the subject line reading, Ks Executed in Prof. Reyes…. After a month of being in the dark about the negotiations, she couldn’t wait another second.
Breaking her own rule about phones at the meeting, Natalia picked it up and glared at Francis before she could say anything. Abandoning her attempts to listen and deciding she’d read the minutes later, Natalia opened the email.
Scanning the endless contract she would pick through and parse later, she found the clause she was looking for. To her pleasant shock, there it was in no uncertain terms: Dr. Samantha Reyes shall retain final cut privilege over the completed motion picture. This grants Dr. Reyes authority over the final edited version of the film that will be released, including but not limited to final creative edits, scene selection, music selection, and runtime. Any significant deviations from Dr. Reyes’ approved final cut shall require her written consent.
Natalia allowed herself a small smile. This was a huge win for Sam. Final cut privilege would give her creative control over the film’s final form. Natalia knew how important maintaining the integrity of Lilith’s story was to her.
She typed back to Adriana and copied Lola: Excellent work securing this for Samantha.
Feeling lighter, the worry she hadn’t realized she was harboring lifted. Unable to focus or sit still, Natalia shifted and tried to find her place in the presentation. It was no use.
All she could think about was seeing Sam and telling her the good news in person. Her thigh muscles twitched as if threatening to carry her out of the room against her well.
