Chapter 7
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Olivia began to suspect that coming home to a good friend day after day, one ensconced into her personal space, might be causing heightened affection - physical and otherwise.
They would transfer Noah into or out from each other's arms. Casey gently, wordlessly, places mugs of hot coffee in her hands. They’d bump into each other chasing her son around. Not to mention that Noah was prone to pulling them both into hugs, or would grab one of each of their hands so he could swing freely between them. Sometimes Casey would brush the snow off her shoulders in a gesture so natural it had to be unconscious.
She thought that perhaps, the affection was to be expected.
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She got called in earlier than usual. Dozens of thoughts ran through her head as she knocked softly on Casey's door, hoping that the woman would be up.
Casey answered the door with a sleepy smile, her hair in a loose, messy pony tail. She was wearing a thin-strapped clingy camisole with satin edging, her pajama pants hung low on her hips revealing a sliver of pale abdomen.
And she knew, right then, that she would have been caught staring somewhere not quite appropriate, if she didn’t have to do double take to make sure she saw right.
“Are you wearing sushi pajama pants?”
The sleepy smile grew until she showed her teeth, her dimples coming out. “If you knew how soft they are, you wouldn’t tease me about them.”
Olivia smirked and tilted her head in fake consideration. “That’s debatable.”
Casey smirked in response. “Get called in?” she yawned.
“I’m sorry to do this,” she said. “I thought maybe you’d be up for your run.”
“Late night,” she said.
“Did you have a good time?”
“Ha,” she said. “I was up late with some work.”
“I'm sorry, I can call Munch over, he’a offered-”
“No, it's no problem. I’ll be good as new with some coffee, I’ll bring you some for you too.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Not a problem,” Casey replied. And gave her one final sleepy smile that was quickly becoming Olivia’s favorite.
Casey showed up at Olivia’s ten minutes later, brushing past her with two mugs.
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And then it got harder to ignore.
She'd come home weary. She was able to catch the tail end of dinner with Noah, though she could only sit quietly and smile at the antics of the other two at the kitchen counter.
Casey hung around after she’d put Noah to sleep and cornered her when she came out of his room.
“Do me a favor,” Casey said, green eyes exploring her.
“Anything.”
“Pop my back.”
Olivia’s eyes went wide. “Anything but that.”
“Please? My shoulder is starting in again and I need to get it to relax before it messes up my whole back.”
“I’m no chiropractor,” Olivia said.
“I can’t get an appointment this late, they’re all busy or have no weekend hours. This has worked before. It’s easy. Just pull me backwards.”
“You’re taller than me,” Olivia said. “I’m not sure that will work logistically.”
“I’m barely taller than you, maybe two inches if I stand up really straight,” Casey said. “And you have a heel on those boots and I’m barefoot, so that evens it out.”
It took a couple of minutes of pleading for Olivia to give in.
Casey crossed her arms over her chest as Olivia came up to her from behind. She wrapped her arms around Casey’s, and the redhead leaned back against her, her head fell back and rested on Olivia’s shoulder. Olivia took a deep breath, closed her eyes, leaned back and pulled. At the feel of their bodies pressed so tightly together, the clean smell of soap and shampoo coming off the woman, the feel of her bare arms and the sound of her breathing - Olivia’s mind went blank with one fleeting thought of ‘Oh no.’
Casey, with her broad shoulders and long limbs, was lighter than she thought she’d be. She pulled and leaned back as much as she could. Finally, blessedly, they both heard a good pop, at which Casey groaned in pleasure.
Oh, No, the thought repeated stronger this time.
Righted, Casey turned and grinned widely. “Thanks.”
They straightened and Olivia tried to press a smile through the tight grimace.
Casey’s brow furrowed. “Can’t stand the cracking sound?” she guessed.
“Something like that,” Olivia said.
“Well I’ll make it up to you then.”
“Sure,” Olivia said. Then she laughed, trying to cover for moment. She said the first thing that came to mine. “You can make my dish for the holiday pot-luck Rollins somehow conned everyone into.”
“Sure,” Casey said.
“I was kidding,” Olivia said.
“Really though,” Casey said. “You’re their C.O. You can’t just bring a boring sub from the shop on the corner.”
“Oh please,” Olivia said, shaking her head. “We’re cops. We’ll eat anything.”
“I can do it if I can use your oven while I watch Noah. I am currently using my oven for shoe storage.”
Olivia laughed. “If you are serious, I will crack your back once a week for a month.”
“I will take that deal,” Casey smiled and squeezed her shoulder as she walked passed.
As a rule, Olivia always maintained personal space. That seemed to have gone out the window entirely now along with her ban on Christmas , and she didn’t know what to make of it.