Unbidden Love (Book Five of the Bidden Series) (14 page)

“I may have packed a few surprises for you,” Natalie whispered in Audra’s ear.

“Please tell me one of them involves stockings.”

The elevator made a melodious ding as it came to a stop at their floor. Natalie took Audra’s hand in hers again and eagerly swiped the golden key card through the door lock. The moment the doors opened Audra wrapped her arms around Natalie’s waist and crashed her lips into hers, walking her backward into the room. Natalie parted from Audra’s mouth just long enough to pull her blouse up over her head and toss it haphazardly to the ground. She closed her eyes and resumed kissing Audra, but was surprised when the kiss was not reciprocated.

“What-“ she began to ask, quickly glancing in the direction of Audra’s attention. There sitting at the dining table, parcels and shopping bags splayed across the smooth surface, was James, looking quite taken aback by the scene in front of him.

Fuck
, James cursed to himself.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Audra said, her voice so low but full of meaning she may as well have shouted it at him.

James could not answer fast enough, nor comprehend the scene in front of him; Natalie topless and making out with Audra. It was one thing to know they were together, but another matter entirely to see them
together
. James stood and tried to avert his eyes away from Natalie’s half-nakedness.

“I need to talk to you. About yesterday-,” he began to explain.

“Yesterday when you were an asshole and kicked her out of your house?” Natalie interjected.

Fuck,
he cursed again through gritted teeth.

Audra turned back to Natalie and asked, “How do you know about that?” They were only just untangling their limbs from one another.

“Jackson told me. He said you two were fighting over me,” Natalie answered, turning to look from Audra to James, her look so accusatory, so full of malice his fists clenched. His father certainly had a way of dealing with matters, most times without any regard as to how it might impact his son. None of that mattered now. Of all the ways he imagined their conversation happening, not a single one of them involved Natalie. As much as he loved her, she had no business being a party to their private conversations, even if they were mostly about her.

“Natalie, would you mind giving us a few moments alone, please?” he asked, keeping his tone as civil as he could manage.

Natalie looked to Audra, who nodded imperceptibly after a brief moment of consideration.

“I will be back as soon as I have changed clothes,” Natalie promised, glancing at James as though to punctuate her words with the promise. Without retrieving her discarded shirt, Natalie stalked off towards the bedroom, and closed the doors behind her.

“What are you doing here?” Audra asked. Without Natalie around her demeanor changed almost instantaneously. She crossed the room to the bar and poured herself a glass of flat water as James went over the words he practiced over and over in his mind on the drive from California to Nevada.

“I said things to you yesterday that I should not have said. I’m sorry.”

“You came all the way out here to apologize?” Audra asked.

“I thought I was driving to Salt Lake City. I made it all the way to Barstow when Alice called to tell me you made last minute arrangements. If I had known it was with Natalie, I-“

“You what?” she interrupted.

James bit the inside of his cheek. “I don’t know. I was not expecting her to be here with you.”

“Coming here was her idea,” Audra explained, gesturing around the room with her glass of water as she took a seat on one of the plush couches. James joined across from her, an expensive wood coffee table acting as a barrier between them.

“Honestly, Audra, I don't know what the fuck to do,” he sighed. There, in the suite of the resort they built together - one of a handful across the country - it was as if they were the only two people in the world, and none of Las Vegas existed around them. “I cannot fucking stand this distance between us.”

“You mean you cannot stand that my relationship with Natalie is between us.”

“Yes, Natalie. It is an impossible situation. I love her. I cannot stop loving her.” To him it was fact, unequivocal fact that could not be disputed.

“You have an odd way of showing it, James,” Audra cautioned him.

“I know. I am an asshole, remember? I cannot stand the thought that she is with someone else, and it is even worse knowing it is you whom she is with. What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

Natalie remained quiet as she stood still, her body pressed as closely to the bedroom door as she could stand.

‘I love her. I cannot stop loving her.’

‘You have an odd way of showing it, James.’

‘I know. I am an asshole, remember?’

She took a deep breath and turned for the bed, a pair of strappy white sandals with killer heels in her hands. She had listened to enough of James and Audra’s conversation to know that he had driven out there specifically to apologize to her, which was hardly something Natalie could fault him for. It was difficult to imagine James could care so deeply for a woman that he was so unkind to only a day prior. But then again they did have more than a decade under their belt. Who was Natalie to judge the content of their relationship?

She refused to put herself in James’ position, to even try to understand where he was coming from. There was no excuse for being an asshole.

‘I love her. I cannot stop loving her.’

There the words were, lingering in her mind, unwilling to go away. James Fitzgerald still loved her. Audra Robertson loved her. They had both haunted her dreams, taunted her with their love to force her to imagine what life would be like with one or the other. She knew whom her heart loved, and whom her heart was capable of loving. Could there be room for both?

Dismissing the thought, Natalie turned her focus to the closet, mentally trying on each article of clothing. She had great plans for her and Audra that night, starting with a glass of champagne in the suite, drinking until last call at the Irish bar at New York New York, and ending the night in bed together, drunk and blissfully ignorant of the world around them. No work calls or emails, no text messages to colleagues. No discussion about Fitson or Gallo Harlow, James Fitzgerald or anyone else for that matter. Just the two of them having a fun night in Vegas.

She settled on a floral two piece - a fitted crop top and matching flowy skirt that showed off her toned arms and midriff - and touched up her hair and makeup before heading to the closed doors. Hesitating, Natalie put her ear close to the seam between the two sides and listened for an indication as to what Audra and James were doing. She did not know whether the lack of yelling was a good sign, or a bad one. Deciding there was no reason to delay matters any further, she opened one of the doors and scanned the large living space. They were together at the dining table, James organizing the piles of packages and Audra pursing her lips together.

“What’s going on out here?” Natalie asked. Both James and Audra turned to look at her at the same time, both of them taking a double-glance at her from head-to-toe.

“The hotel is booked,” Audra offered, though the explanation was lost on Natalie.

“Isn’t that the point?” Natalie asked as she swept across the room to stand at Audra’s side.

“Yes it is,” James said rather pointedly. “This is my hotel, too, Audra. I am not leaving.”

“The hell you aren’t!” Natalie balked. “I booked this room before you did, James.”

James’ face flashed with indignant irritation as he turned to face Natalie, his hands gripping the back of a dining chair so hard his knuckles turned white almost instantly. “This suite is reserved exclusively for Fitson executives,
Natalie
.”

Natalie crossed her arms over her chest. “And I happen to be staying with one,
James
,” she returned just as pointedly, emphasizing his name as though it were an unsavory flavor in her mouth. “One who is not on indefinite leave, I might add.”

Audra put a hand on Natalie’s shoulder, instantly soothing her rising anger. “It’s fine. I will call up my friend at The Cosmopolitan and we will move to a suite there tonight.”

“Audra! This is
your
hotel, too, and we were here first. James can leave and get a room somewhere else.”

“I am not going anywhere,” James challenged, crossing his arms over his chest to match Natalie’s stance.

“Neither are we,” Natalie challenged back, planting her feet into the ground below her as though to demonstrate her unwillingness to move. Their eyes were locked on one another - Natalie’s defiant silvery blue on James’ intense blue-green.

“Are you two seriously having a stand-off right now?” Audra asked, her voice a composed mix of incredulity and humor.

“I will not capitulate to a man who believes he has eminent domain over anything he wants.”

“Do you even know what ‘eminent domain’ means?” he asked. For a brief moment his characteristic intensity gave way to the charm that had once made her knees weaken into jelly.

“Let’s just go about our evening, Nat. God knows there is plenty of room in this suite for the three of us.” Audra offered her a cool, reassuring smile.

“Fine,” Natalie managed through a forced smile. “My guess is after one night he will opt to leave on his own free will.”

“And why is that?” James smirked from across the distance of the table.

Natalie shot him an icy glare, and said, “Because I do not intend to make it easy for you.” She slipped an arm around Audra’s waist and pulled the woman close to her side.

“
Jesus
,” Audra admonished. She pulled out of Natalie’s embrace and crossed the room towards the bar. “I am not going to play referee to you two.” She grabbed a decanter, three shot glasses, and set them on the dining room table. She poured amber liquid into each glass, handing one to each of them before picking one up for herself. “No fighting tonight.” She clinked her glass to Natalie’s, then to James’.

“Fuck it,” Natalie acquiesced before downing the shot. “Let’s get drunk.”

The crowded bar with its live band and loud music meant it was nearly impossible to carry on a conversation, which made the fact that Audra had somehow convinced James to tag along on their night out slightly more bearable. As did Natalie’s bottomless drink. The more she drank, the less she cared that James had crashed her date, and the less she cared, the more brazen she became with Audra. Every opportunity Natalie found to touch her, she took; her hand on the small of Audra’s back as she leaned in to be heard over the loud bar, or random kisses on her shoulder or cheek.

“Having fun?” Natalie shouted the question for the second or third time since arriving a few hours prior. She was unsure whether Audra was actually having a good time.

“Of course! But I have to use the restroom!” Audra shouted back, sounding as exasperated as she could.

“Go straight through the crowd and hang a right! It will be on your right side,” Natalie shouted back, pointing with her hand to help guide the way.

“Thanks!” Audra stood and made her way through the throng of bar revelers, looking only slightly out of place in the casual establishment. Deciding to take a moment herself, Natalie jumped down from her high stool, grabbed her clutch and headed past the entrance into the casino floor. She practically sighed with relief at the difference in ambient sound between the two close spaces. Her ears were ringing with the music from the bar still, but at least she could hear everything going on around her now, from the instrumental ringings of the casino floor to the R&B music playing from a speaker system at yet another bar nearby.

“Excuse me?” she said to a young woman sitting solo at a slot machine, a half empty drink in one hand and a burning cigarette in the other. “May I have one?” she asked, gesturing to the cigarette. The woman smiled and offered her one from the pack, plus her lighter. “Thanks!” Natalie smiled as she lit up. “Good luck with that.”

“So you are a smoker
and
a lesbian now?”

Natalie turned and found James towering over her - or perhaps that was only her inebriated perception - that stupidly charming smile on his face.

“I am neither. I like what I like.” She took a drag from the cigarette and blew away from his face, though it was tempting to blow it directly
in
his face. James took the cigarette from her, but before she could so much as protest he put it between his lips and took a long drag, surprising her.

“I like what I like, too,” he offered by way of explanation before handing the cigarette back to her.

“Did you follow me out here just to annoy me?”

“No, I followed you out here because you are drunk and I am keeping an eye on you. Annoying you is just the upside,” he added with a smirk.

How chivalrous,
Natalie thought. “Did you and Audra make up yet?” she asked.

James’ face sobered almost immediately at the question. “Somewhat. We still have things we need to talk about.”

“Can’t you do that back home? Why do you have to stay here?”

He did not answer right away, but merely watched her as she waited for an answer. “Because there are things you and I need to talk about as well.”

Natalie flicked her cigarette ashes into a nearby ashtray and took a seat at an unoccupied slot machine. She had a clear view into the bar to spot Audra when she came out of the restroom. “Again, why can’t we do that back in L.A.?”

“Because there are distractions back in L.A.,” James answered, propping himself against the slot machine with one arm. “Vegas is neutral ground.”

“That is bullshit,” Natalie protested. “You know damn well what part Vegas has played in our relationship.”

“You say that, but you still chose to come here with Audra. What does that say about you?” he challenged, leaning in towards her to keep their private conversation private. When she did not respond - she could not think of a single thing to say in retort to him - James used the opportunity to take a step closer, towering over her again now that she was seated, and all but closed the space between them. “I am sorry about the Bugatti.”

Whether it was the alcohol in her blood or the sudden rush of adrenaline flushing the rest of her body, Natalie felt herself soften at his apology. Even so, she did not want to have that particular conversation with him, afraid of what it might lead to.

‘I love her. I cannot stop loving her.’

“I never should have done that to you,” he continued.

“James-“ she started to warn him. She took a drag from the cigarette to divert her attention elsewhere, expecting him to say something that would undoubtedly try to confuse her, but there was only silence between them, and the roar of the casino around them.

“There you two are!” Audra announced, appearing suddenly at their side. “My God, I can actually hear myself again!” she laughed. She looked at each of them before taking notice of Natalie’s cigarette. She reached for the half-smoked stick and brought it to her lips before taking a quick inhale.

“Really?” Natalie exclaimed.

“Remember that night we came here before Eden opened?” James asked Audra, a smile playing on his lips.

“I remember the girls we picked up,” she replied, matching his smile with one of her own. “It was hours before I realized they did not have unusually high voices. I thought for sure I had gone deaf from the bar.”

“Wait, you have been here before?” Natalie asked, interjecting on their private walk down memory lane.

“Honey, I have been to all of them,” Audra laughed. She and James glanced at each other again, as if yet another memory was replaying privately between the two of them. Natalie took a final puff before stabbing the cigarette out in an ashtray, then secured her clutch under her arm and stood up.

“So earlier tonight when I was going on about introducing you to all my favorite spots in town, it did not occur to you to tell me you had already
been there, done that
?” she asked, exasperated at her own naïveté.

Audra’s face wrinkled at the question. “Well… no. I did not want to spoil the fun for you.”

“Spoil my fun!” Natalie scoffed. “Yeah, well it is a little late for that.” She turned on her heel and stalked off in the direction of the lobby, in search of a taxi.

“Natalie! Where are you going?” Audra called after her.

“Sephora closes in an hour and I am just drunk enough to not care how much money I spend,” Natalie asserted over her shoulder as she kept walking. She felt stupid. Of course Audra already knew everything about Las Vegas, had been to and seen it all. She would not have built Eden without knowing exactly what else Vegas had to offer.

“Natalie!” Audra called out for her again, grabbing for Natalie’s side to slow down her retreat to the taxi line. “You are not really upset,” Audra insisted once they were face-to-face again, stalled in the middle of the walkway so that they were parting the flow of casino-dwellers. “I cannot help that I have been to every place you love. I would not be any good at my job if I was unaware of the competition. That is not to say that I do not love seeing Vegas through your eyes.”

Natalie sighed, her resolve softening at Audra’s words. “You are right, I should have known,” she admitted. “Still, that does not take the sting out of the two of you reminiscing together at my expense.”

As far as she was concerned this was all James’ fault. If he could have only waited for Audra to return to California to make amends with her, then maybe their evening would not have been ruined.

Audra placed her palm on Natalie’s cheek, brushing against her flushed skin with her thumb. “It was not at your expense. But I am sorry if it feels that way. Why don’t we just go back to Eden and call it a night? I will make sure James leaves tomorrow and as soon as he does I will show you what Vegas is like from
my perspective
. Sound good?”

“And what exactly does
your perspective
entail?” Natalie challenged.

Smirking, Audra leaned in to Natalie’s ear and whispered, “The best of everything.” She placed a kiss at the small, soft space between her ear and jaw.

“Okay,” Natalie acquiesced. One night in Vegas with James sharing their room. What was the worst that could happen?