Unbidden Love (Book Five of the Bidden Series) Read online

  “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?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  There was something to be said for looking over the flashing lights of The Strip from within the luxurious comfort of a posh suite she could never afford on her own. The more Natalie drank - the more they all drank - the more she realized she was enjoying partying with the other side. On their side.

  She could get used to lounging about in a beautiful dress drinking some of the world’s most expensive champagne with Audra and James. It was as if all the inter-personal tension had dissipated, and what was left was three friends able to relax and have fun with one another. James and Audra regaled her with stories of how they built their empire, the professional tension between them apparently gone as well. Audra, it seemed, had forgiven James for what he had done to her - kicking her out of his house and generally treating her like a shit friend just because of who she happened to love. Natalie had the feeling that Audra had not told her everything that had happened between them; she must have had her reasons.

  Natalie nestled into the corner seat of the L-shaped couch that anchored the seating in the spacious living area, and draped her legs over Audra’s lap after kicking off her expensive heels. James sat at her side, adjacent to Audra so they were close enough to carry on their walk down memory lane. Her head was fuzzy with inebriation, her limbs warmed and relaxed to the point she could imagine herself literally sinking into the couch cushions beneath her, the music emanating from the suite’s slick sound system adding to the ambience.

  “Remember when we applied for our first loan, and the bank manager tried convincing us to speak with a financial planner about the do’s and dont’s of married couples going into business together?”

  “Oh my God!” Audra exclaimed, laughter rippling through her as she recalled the memory. “He could not get through a sentence without using coded language about how much better at business men were than woman. What a jerk!”

  “I imagine you must have gotten that a lot,” Natalie commented.

  “Not really,” Audra answered. “I mean, okay there were a few instances where people thought James and I were together, but it was only the conservative ones who assumed.”

  “We just look so damn good together,” James beamed, a full-on charming smile brightening his face.

  “Well you have to admit it is a little strange,” Natalie remarked. “Most people do not think a man and a woman can just be friends without the sex thing.”

  “The sex thing?” Audra questioned.

  “Sex and attraction are sometimes mutually exclusive. One is biology and the other chemistry. You do not have to be attracted to someone to wonder what it would be like to have sex with them.” Damn, I am smart! she congratulated herself. She felt compelled to pat her own back for shedding light on such a philosophical matter.

  Audra grabbed Natalie’s feet and held them as she turned in her seat to face both her and James. “Does that mean you look at random strangers and wonder what it would be like to have sex with them?”

  “Not the point!” Natalie argued, laughter giving her away. “But seriously, you never once thought about what it would be like to have sex with each other?” She watched as James and Audra exchanged glances quickly before looking away from each other. “Wow. Okay, there is definitely a story there. Have you two ever…” She looked between them again, an idea forming in her mind as the question lingered on her tongue. “Kissed?”

  “No!” they both answered at the same time. “Although there was that one time-“ James began.

  “You know as well as I that that did not end up happening!” Audra interrupted.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Natalie put her hands up to silence them each. “You have to tell me this story, like, immediately!” When neither one of them spoke up, Natalie lowered her hands and folded them gently into her lap. “Fine. But the person who tells me the story will have the pleasure of my company for brunch tomorrow. Just the two of us.”

  “I don’t think-“

  “New Years Eve, the year Eden opened,” James interrupted. Natalie whipped her head in his direction, enthralled that the story actually existed. “We threw a huge party, got drunk, and when the clock struck midnight-“

  “So you did kiss?” Natalie finished for him.

  James shook his head. “No. The drunk girl next to us tripped in her shoes trying to kiss her date and ended up crashing into us. No kiss.”

  Natalie’s mind was swimming with images of the almost-kiss. Until that moment she had never considered James and Audra as anything other than, well, James and Audra. But to know they almost once kissed? “Don’t you ever wonder what it would have been like?”

  “It would have been like kissing James,” Audra plainly stated.

  “At which I am an expert!” Natalie boasted. “Both of you have kissed me! So why not each other?”

  James reached to the coffee table for his nearly empty glass of champagne and set it on his knee. “Come on, Nat, she is not going to-“

  “Name the terms,” Audra interrupted him. Both Natalie and James turned their attention to her.

  Natalie felt her blood pressure quickening in her veins, her heart beating forcefully in her chest. “It
cannot just be a peck on the lips,” she warned.

  “Fine.”

  “And you have to use tongue.”

  “Absolutely not!”

  “Trust me. You will both enjoy it.” Natalie raised her hand in the air. “I am not just the resident expert at kissing him.”

  Audra’s dark eyes glinted with the challenge. “Fine.”

  “And it has to be at least five seconds.”

  “Done. Anything else?”

  Natalie turned to look at James, who appeared to have no qualms whatsoever with the arrangements being made. “If it is too awkward for one or both of you then you can stop.”

  “That is very generous of you, honey,” Audra said sweetly. “But now let’s talk about your role in this.”

  “My role?”

  “Well if we are going to kiss each other for you, then it is only fair that you do something for us,” she explained.

  “Such as?”

  “We don’t have to do this, you know,” James said to Audra as they watched Natalie retreat into the bedroom to fulfill her part of the arrangement, whatever it was.

  Audra gave a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. “It is just a kiss. Besides, you forgot that we did end up kissing that New Year’s Eve. It’s not like we are going to fall madly in love with each other all of a sudden.”

  He smiled at the thought of it. “Wouldn’t that be an interesting turn of events?” In fact he had not forgotten the kiss, nor the fact that they had agreed to never tell a living soul about it.

  “As far as I am concerned we are just humoring her. She has been through enough because of us, and I have no problem kissing you again if it means she is having a good time.”

  He was a bit fuzzy on what exactly Natalie’s part in the whole thing was. Audra made some cryptic comment that apparently only the two of them understood, and before he knew what was happening Natalie was exiting the room.

  “Audra, I know we have both said and done things to each other lately - me especially - and neither one of us is particularly gifted at apologizing, so why don’t we consider what we are about to do kissing and making up?”

  “Just like that? Everything forgiven and forgotten?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he nodded. “We may not be lovers, but we are still partners. And I do not see that changing any time soon.”

  “Agreed.” She held up her glass of champagne. “To kissing and making up. Literally and figuratively.”

  James clinked his glass to hers before they each sipped from their own. He turned to look in the direction of the bedroom when he heard the distinct sound of the door opening, and nearly lost hold of his drink as Natalie sauntered into the room, wearing a dark grey shirt with long sleeves that barely skimmed her hips, and a pair of opaque black stockings pulled up to her thighs. Her hair, previously smoothed and pulled back, was now free about her shoulders, a wild tangle of red waves that looked like fire against her creamy white complexion. His thoughts of Audra and what they were about to do were completely lost as his body directed every ounce of blood inside him to erecting his center, making his longing for Natalie plainly obvious.

  His eyes followed her across the room as she went to the bar to pour three fresh drinks in shot glasses. With all three in hand, she affected an exaggerated swing of her hips as she walked to Audra sitting next to him on the couch, and held out one of the glasses.

  “Your drink, Miss Robertson,” she said sweetly.

  “Thanks, honey. For your trouble,” Audra said as she slipped a folded bill into the stocking band at Natalie’s thigh.

  Three small steps to the side and Natalie was in front of James, leaning forward suggestively while offering him a shot.

  “Care for a drink, Mister Fitzgerald?”

  James accepted the drink and, without taking his eyes off of her, slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out an already folded bill to place inside the band of her stocking at her other thigh.

  Natalie casually glanced down at the bill and smiled. Her eyes swept over him, lingering for a fraction of a moment longer than necessary on his groin, before meeting his eyes again.

  “Nice tip.”

  “I am well endowed.”

  “Clearly,” she beamed. She stood to full height again and held out her drink. “Cheers!”

  “Cheers!” James and Audra said in unison.

  After downing their shots together, Natalie set her glass down on the coffee table and rubbed her hands together. “Now let’s see some making out!” With one hand offered to each of them, James and Audra stood from the couch and faced each other with Natalie sandwiched between them.

  “Remember, this is a five second kiss with tongue, but if it feels like the equivalent of kissing your sister then, by all means, stop!” Natalie instructed.

  “Her sister or my sister?” James asked.

  “You do not have a sister,” Natalie challenged.

  “Don’t I?” James challenged right back.

  “He does not,” Audra confirmed. “Let’s get on with it.” She glanced to Natalie, who took it upon herself to slip between them and nestle into the couch.

  “Remember not to fall in love with me,” James playfully ribbed Audra.

  “I will endeavor to try,” she mocked him in return.

  To his surprise, he did not feel a moment of hesitation as he wrapped a hand each around Audra’s hips, and pulled her in close as he met her lips. The moment they touched he paused to exhale his held breath, then encouraged her lips with his tongue to open so he could explore her mouth. Her own tongue was soft and warm against his, lapping against his with the precision of a woman who was obviously well practiced at passionate kisses. Neither one of them held back. When he felt her fingers brushing through his hair he grabbed her hips tighter, letting his fingers dig into her fabric-covered skin until they were assuredly white. Rarely in their time together had he fully appreciated Audra’s beauty, or fully relished in it. If their circumstances were different, they might not be just business partners and friends, but something more. Still, he was glad they were exactly who they were. He had enough romantic entanglements with women to add Audra to the mix, and sincerely enjoyed that the sex thing did not get between them.

  James pulled away first, his face split into a smile from ear to ear. “Ten years and I never knew you had it in you, Robertson.”

  “And that is about all you will ever have in me, Fitzgerald.”

  “Damn,” Natalie sighed dreamily from her place on the couch, her eyes glued to her phone screen. “This is so hot.”

  “Did you record us kissing?” He tried swiping the phone out of her hand, but Natalie was too quick for him.

  “Don’t worry,” she soothed, holding the phone close to her chest. “I won’t share it with anyone.”

  “Let me see that,” he demanded as he sat down next to her on the couch. He tapped the play button in the middle of the still video and watched himself kissing Audra on the small screen.

  Natalie twisted in her seat until she was half draped across his shoulder, watching the footage again for herself. He was hyper aware of her warmth against his heat, as was the swelling in his midsection that lingered every time he caught sight of the gap of skin between her stockings and her shirt.

  “So who is the better kisser? Audra or Celine?” she asked, her voice breathy with excitement.

  “Delete this and I will tell you,” he answered curtly.

  “Tell me and I will delete it,” she countered.

  James sighed as he tapped the screen once more and deleted the video. He held out the phone for Natalie and with a low voice, answered, “Audra.”

  “I knew it!” Natalie leapt up from the couch and scooped up her wine glass as she headed straight for the bottle. Audra settled into her vacated seat next to James and handed him a refilled shot glass.

  “To kissing and making up,” she toasted, clinking her glass against his.

  “Cheers,” he agreed before downing the shot, enjoying the bu
rn as it traveled from his tongue, down his throat and into his belly. It all felt good. Audra comfortable at his side, Natalie swaying her hips in time to the music as she danced, unconcerned that he was watching her. And those damned stockings.

  “Did you have her put on the stockings just to torture me?”

  “Why, do you feel tortured?”

  Just my dick, he thought to himself. “You interested in a friendly wager?”

  Audra turned and narrowed her eyes over her glass of champagne. “Go on.”

  “I will give you one thousand dollars if she says I am a better kisser than you.”

  “Really, James?” Despite the question, there was a distinct laugh that escaped her lips, however intentional. She chewed contemplatively on her bottom lip for a moment, before finally smiling. "Five thousand dollars says I am the better kisser.”

  “You are that confident?”

  “Excuse me,” Natalie interrupted as she took a seat on the coffee table, facing in between the both of them. “But if you are going to wager money at my expense, then I damn well better get something out of it.”

  Natalie crossed her legs, pleased when she noticed Audra’s eyes diverting to her thighs, and James inhale deeply. “Both of you pony up five thousand dollars. The winner gets to keep their money, and split the loser’s money with me fifty-fifty.”

  “Why not make it ten thousand each?”

  The fluttering in Natalie’s stomach stilled at James’ counter offer. “Audra?” she asked, breathless with the anticipation of their little game.

  Never one to be outdone, Audra said, “Why not twenty?”

  Natalie’s breasts hardened at the once-soft peaks, brushing against the fabric of her sweater. She covered the equally involuntary clenching between her legs by pretending to adjust her seat on the coffee table. How far were they willing to take this? It was not the money that intrigued her, but the lengths each of them were willing to go just to be the proclaimed victor over the other.

  “For twenty I will give you each the opportunity to convince me you are the better kisser. As long as that is okay with you,” she said, looking in Audra's direction.