Unbidden Love (Book Five of the Bidden Series) (10 page)

“He did
what?!
”

Natalie nodded as she poured a second helping of wine into Audra’s glass before topping off her own. “All afternoon I have been trying to picture him actually calling this Thomas Bowles guy and
buying
a Bugatti like he was ordering takeout. Honestly, rich people are so ridiculous.” Natalie smiled over the rim of her glass after taking a sip. “Present company excluded.”

“So what else happened? Did he agree to take the car back?”

“No. In fact he told me to sell it and use the money to buy a house. Because of course his money is responsible for everything else in my life,” Natalie added with a measure of disdain. She was still reeling from that particular insult. She slipped the brown leather wedges off her feet and pushed herself further back into the plush couch, willing the chilled white wine to ease her into relaxation. Next to her Audra was staring contemplatively into the low flames crackling in the fireplace. The orange-yellow light cast an ambient glow around the room, complemented by a few lit candles on end tables at either side of the couch.

“If I hadn’t experienced this version of him only recently I might have a hard time believing we are talking about
James
. I have never known him to be so… so-”

Natalie found the word that Audra seemed to be missing. “Broken?”

Audra shook her head at the thought. “That is not an excuse to purposely hurt you.”

“Or you,” Natalie reminded. She stretched her legs out across the expanse of the couch in Audra’s direction, smiling when Audra smoothed a hand across one foot and then the other.

“James and I were long overdue for a fight. It is when he stops fighting with you that you should be the most concerned. After Celine told him about the affair with Joe, James would not even look in her direction, and he refused to speak to her except through a lawyer. In his own way, lashing out at you is a good thing.”

“Oh, I could forgive him if they were just words, but there is a million dollar supercar parked in your driveway right now that is evidence of his ‘lashing out’. Besides, I said some things back.”

“
You
?” Audra cast a dubious look in Natalie’s direction, a look only amplified by the light and shadow that played across the delicate features of her face from the glow of the fire. “My sweet, gorgeous Natalie?”

“He basically told me that everything I have is because of his money, from my student loans to the success of my business. I was angry. Slapping him only fueled-“

“You
slapped
him! Oh my God!” Audra’s wide eyes ran up and down Natalie’s body, as though to find evidence of a lie, or perhaps part of James’ face stuck to her somewhere. “You actually slapped him?”

“Yes! And it hurt like hell! My palm is still stinging.” Instinctively she ran her right palm against the cool fabric of her shift dress. “He was so smug, Audra. The arrogance is usually part of his charm but today it was just so over the top. I wanted to say something to hurt him as much as he hurt me, so I told him…” She sighed in place of finishing her sentence. Audra’s brow lifted, encouraging Natalie to continue. “I told him I was going to drive straight here and let you fuck me in that car. I was going to add on something about taking pictures and sending them to him, but that just seemed equally over the top.”

“Not to mention that would hurt me, too,” Audra said, her voice suddenly so low Natalie almost didn’t hear her. The hand on Natalie’s feet had come to a still along her left ankle, where it rested.

“Audra, I would never do that to you. They were just words.” She leaned forward and placed her hand on Audra’s knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Audra nodded. “I know. And it is not like he knows you and I have never…
been together
.” Half her mouth curled into a sad smile, and her hand continued sweeping lazily across Natalie’s leg. “Is James the reason why we haven’t?”

Natalie’s heart both opened and fell at the same time. The night had taken a sudden and unexpected turn. She suspected the conversation would come up sooner or later, but just kept pushing it further back into the recesses of her mind. It was difficult enough trying to plan dates around Audra’s busy work schedule, and more often than not their nights out ended with conversation over a glass of wine and some kissing, never going much further. The fact that they had not made love yet was not evidence of her unwillingness or hesitation to do so in the first place.

“No.
I am
the reason. I do not want to rush through all the milestones of our relationship like I have with others in the past. Even if I am eager to get into your pants,” she added with a cheeky smile.

The firelight reflected off the gold flecks of Audra’s brown eyes as she looked at Natalie, several unspoken thoughts working their way through her pretty mind.

“I would return the sentiment, but-“ Audra’s eyes roamed down Natalie’s body again, stopping at the hem of her dress where it bunched up at her thighs, before she said, “you aren’t wearing any pants.”

All at once the firelight and wine kindled something inside Natalie. She set her glass of wine down on the coffee table next to her, then reached for Audra’s glass to join it. She climbed over to Audra, straddling her thighs with her legs pressed into the couch cushion beneath them.

“What happened to not rushing?” Audra whispered. Natalie leaned in until there was little distance between them, and brushed her lips against Audra’s.

“I don’t think I am. Besides, any second you might disappear and fly off to another state-“

Audra kissed Natalie to silence her, her hands coming to rest on Natalie’s back to preserve their closeness. In response, Natalie wrapped her arms around Audra’s neck and breathed her scent in deeply between kisses, taking her into her senses.

Audra pulled away, their arms still around each other, and looked deeply into Natalie’s silvery blue eyes.

“You know I am more than happy to wait if-“

“No ‘if’, Audra,” Natalie interrupted.

“What about James?”

“What about him? He is living in that giant house in the hills with the woman who - even by your own admission - he could never forgive. He has moved on. So have I.”

Audra scoffed. “Do not sell yourself short, Red. Yours is not the kind of love that can be easily forgotten.”

In one swift move Natalie grabbed one of Audra’s hands and cupped it against the opening of her parted legs. “Do you feel that?” She arched her hips and moved slowly across the small expanse of Audra’s open palm, knowing the instant Audra’s eyes fluttered that she could feel the evidence of Natalie’s arousal. “That is you, not him.”

Audra’s lips crashed against Natalie’s as a finger parted her lace panties and gently entered her. Natalie moaned into Audra’s mouth at the sensation. She rocked her hips slowly to create a rhythm against Audra, more moans lost between their lips and tongues. Audra’s thumb joined the rhythm of her finger against Natalie’s clit, sparking a feeling inside Natalie that only bloomed from the inside out. She was closer than she thought, and it only took a few expert thrusts of Audra’s palm and fingers to push Natalie over the edge into delirium.

She let her voice sing her release, not caring for silence or reservation as she moved against Audra’s palm and came. She wanted to bombard Audra with her eagerness to make love, to cast away any doubt that Natalie did not want this as much as Audra did. She craved wild abandon, to be loud and clumsy and messy without a single care.

Before her lungs were replenished and the blush left her cheeks, Natalie kissed Audra’s ear and whispered, “Take me to bed.”

Abandoning their wine glasses, Audra led Natalie upstairs through the elegantly decorated Country French style home into the master suite. Natalie wasted no time in tugging Audra’s cashmere sweater up and over her head, exposing the black lace bra that was barely containing her voluptuous breasts. She kissed the pillowy top of one as her fingers undid Audra’s trousers, then moved to the other as the pants slinked to the hardwood floor beneath their feet. Audra’s fingers pulled at Natalie’s crepe shift dress, scrunching it up between her fingers before pulling it up and over her head and discarding it without a second care.

Audra speared her left hand through Natalie’s locks of red hair while her right hand caressed Natalie’s side, from the underwire of her bra to the band of her panties. They kissed deeply, the occasional moan lost between them, and stepped through the room until the back of Natalie’s legs met the end of the bed. Natalie opened her eyes and kept them locked on Audra’s as she reached behind her back to unhook her own bra, then slung her thumbs through the sides of her panties and pulled them off until they were nothing but scraps of fabric at her feet.

“There was a time I imagined you like this with me. But I never thought-“

Natalie pressed her thumb to Audra’s lips, effectively silencing her. “You will never have to imagine it again. Everything you ever fantasized about doing to or with me, I want you to do tonight. I want you to make me yours, Audra,” Natalie whispered.

Audra puckered her lips against Natalie’s thumb and kissed softly. “Then I have to tell you something first,” she began as Natalie’s thumb retreated, “before all the blood escapes my brain and I am no longer thinking rationally.”

Natalie flushed with heat across her cheeks, in her breasts, and between her legs. “Tell me.”

“I love you, Natalie. And right now I do not care if you feel the same way about me or not. In fact, do not tell me either way. But while I have the clarity of mind to say this, you should know that anything I do that makes you mine begins and ends with me loving you.”

Natalie took Audra’s bottom lip in between hers and suckled it gently, the kiss her way of saying she heard everything that was said.

James was elbow-deep in a moving box when he heard the melodious tone of the doorbell ringing throughout the home.

“I will get it!” he called out, unsure if Celine could even hear him from wherever she was in the house. He stalked through the living room into the grand foyer, and opened the entryway to find his expected company on the other side. “Quinn, thank you for coming,” he said as he held the door wide enough for her to step through. That she had made the long drive from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara gave him a certain degree of hope.

“Let’s talk out by the pool.”

Quinn followed James without uttering a single word. They crossed a set of French doors into an expansive garden courtyard that stretched out to a large sparkling pool. Two portable heaters flanked a set of couches and chairs sectioned off from the rest of the area, warming them against the chill of the evening. James extended her hand to offer her one side of the couch before taking a seat on the other.

He opened his mouth to speak but quickly fell silent when he saw the look on her face. She may have been going for impassive, but there was clearly an anger that could not be quelled so easily. And he knew it was directed at him.

“She told you?” he asked finally, dropping any pretense he had planned to put on. There was no point in that, not with Quinn Potter.

“No, I had a front-row seat to both events.”

“Both?” he asked, confused by her choice of words.

“First to the car, and second to Natalie’s reaction. My best friend is a lot of things but a good actress is not one of them.”

“Oh.”

“You devastated her.”

James sighed, feeling defeated. “I know.”

“No, I do not think you do. I do not think you truly understand what you did, James.”

The handprint-shaped stinging that lingered on his cheek gave him a fairly good understanding of exactly
what
he did. “I was angry,” he conceded.

Quinn stood up from her seat and shook her head as she paced a few feet out from the couch. “That is not an excuse!”

“I am not allowed to be angry that Natalie slept with Joe and carried on with my best friend and business partner?”

“You are allowed to feel however you want, James, but you did not leave it at that. You took it several steps further and used your money to make good on some stupid bet. You humiliated her! I mean, would it not have been cheaper to just hire a plane to sky write, ‘
James hates Natalie
’?”

James flew off the couch and squeezed his fists into balls in attempt to focus his anger away from his head and his heart. “I do not hate her!” He grimaced at having to hold back. “I do not hate her,” he said again with less of a sharp edge to his tone. “Far from it.”

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a pitying look, a look which he would have despised from almost any other person.

“Why did you call me here tonight? If you think I am going to be your messenger to Natalie-“

“No, no nothing like that,” he dismissed her question before she could even finish it. “You are the only person with Natalie’s best interests at heart that I trust.”

“That is too bad. You may have your issues with Joe, but he cares very deeply for Natalie, and quite frankly I am surprised he is not here to give you the ass kicking you deserve.”

James scoffed and rolled his eyes heavenward. “He knows better.”

Quinn shook her head. There was zero sympathy for James or his plight evident on her face. “You think he is just some guy she slept with to hurt you? They are not just friends, James. They have built this amazing company together. Natalie and Joe are not much different from you and Audra as far as I am concerned.”

“Except Audra’s a lesbian,” James interjected, as though the fact made the point for him.

“Her sexual orientation makes the situation different? Do you really mean to tell me that after ten years of building a life with Audra you would not have slept with her if she was not gay?”

“That is beside the point.”

“So then it is true?”

James’ brows furrowed above his eyes. “It does not matter whether it is true or not. I have never slept with Audra. It is
who
Natalie slept with that is the problem.”