AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You asked me to get you something impossible.” She unleashed her sharpest tone while leaning over the conference table. Zoe leaned back even though she was several feet away. “I found you an avenue. Take it or leave it.”
“Where are you going, Natalia?” Jabba the Hutt’s twin whined. “We’re not done?—”
“I got you your terms,” she started for the door, giving everyone her back. “You’re more than welcome to enjoy my internet while you tread the same ground, but I have other work to do.”
Behind her, Zoe’s complaints disappeared as soon as the door closed. She signaled for Martina — her head assistant agent — to keep an eye on the conference room and take care of Zoe. She didn’t need to tell her she wasn’t interested in speaking to Zoe again today. Her drawn office shades would make that blindingly clear.
Natalia strode back to her office, irritation simmering beneath her cool exterior. As soon as she had complete privacy, she pulled off her blazer and hung it on her coat rack. The layer of perspiration coating her back was as bad as the one building over her chest.
She pulled out the fan she kept hidden in a drawer for the occasional hot flash and turned it on to full blast two inches from her face. As soon as her rage sweat dried, she got to work.
She tried to distract herself by reviewing a contract she’d already redlined, but her thoughts kept circling back to Samantha. Back to their heated encounters and that electrifying kiss in the parking garage. Natalia could almost taste those full lips again. Feel the soft skin under her nails where she’d clawed at Samantha’s hips.
A dangerous longing coiled in her core. She ached to see her again, even if it was against her better judgment. Even if she could already feel her reason and logic being clouded by her desires. Even if she wanted a level of intimacy Natalia was no longer capable of giving.
Shaking her head, Natalia shook off her concerns. She hadn’t been compromised. She hadn’t influenced Samantha when she was devising her terms. All she’d done was transmit Samantha’s conditions. The negotiations had nothing to do with her.
Minutes later, Samantha was back on her mind. She couldn’t stop fantasizing about pulling Samantha close. Feeling their bodies press tightly as clothes melted away. Natalia yearned to hear her gasp again. To be lulled by her whispers in the dark.
Cursing under her breath, Natalia shoved those thoughts away. She didn’t do relationships anymore. Not after last time. Not after giving her battered heart to someone who had promised forever, only to betray her trust in the worst imaginable way.
Natalia had barely survived that devastation with her spirit intact. She’d sworn off love, vowing she would never leave herself so vulnerable again. Being in a relationship, being vulnerable, was the surest way to pain. Letting someone in meant showing them exactly where your design flaws were and how to exploit them. Use them against you when things soured. And they always soured.
Despite trying to focus, her thoughts drifted again. The image of Samantha’s lazy smile, her bleached hair slicked back and exposing her dark roots like some cologne ad model ripped from Natalia’s fantasies. Her smart mouth and endless arrogance. Natalia knew she should walk away before things went too far. Cut ties before she did something reckless, like fall for those warm brown eyes that saw far too much.
Yet even as her pragmatic side warned of danger, Natalia felt an unfamiliar longing take root. A treacherous desire to connect, to be known, that left her shaken. She thought those wishes long dead, but Samantha had awakened dangerous hopes she barely dared acknowledge.
Natalia stood abruptly, desperate to cut off this foolish train of thought. She couldn’t afford to be weak, to indulge in some romantic fantasy. Her armor had kept her safe all these years. She wouldn’t let anyone breach it now.
CHAPTER 22
The Indigo Vixen had remained virtually unchanged since the 90s. Stepping inside the packed lesbian bar was like stumbling into a time machine. If Natalia ignored the touchscreen registers, she could convince herself that she was twenty-one again. That life was still full of endless possibility.
Thumping music made it impossible to hear anything, and the lights were so low that Natalia could only see where she was going when a search light happened to illuminate her path before darting away. If Natalia didn’t already know where she was going, she’d be blindly stumbling her way through the crowds.
Moving through the stale air, thick with sweat and unleashed energy, Natalia found Candy sitting at her usual spot at the bar. Wearing her trademark white buzz cut, she looked much like she had the first time Natalia had walked into the place. Maybe a few more wrinkles on her dark skin, but the same vigilance in her bright eyes.
“Well, look who flew all the way from paradise for me,” Candy said, without a smile or hint that she was happy to see her, but Natalia knew the woman well. She didn’t have to show her emotions for Natalia to know she appreciated her effort.
“It’s not every day a friend turns seventy,” Natalia said before throwing an arm around Candy and giving her a hug.
“Wait till you get to be my age, babe. It’ll get old quick. No pun intended.” Candy squeezed her back before asking her to take the stool next to hers.
Candy called for the bartender to bring a couple of shot glasses and a tequila bottle. “I didn’t think I’d see you,” she admitted after pouring them each a shot. “Adriana told me you’re up to your eyeballs in movie stars.”
“Not quite.” Natalia picked up her shot, stomach burning in advance. “But there’s no way I’d miss your big birthday.”
Candy knocked back her tequila shot and poured them two more. They sat with their backs to the bar and facing the stage. Three shots later, Roxy appeared on stage, her blonde hair loose and wavy.
The second the crowd heard Roxy’s voice, they erupted in a deafening chant. It took a second to realize that the masses were calling for Adriana to join Roxy on stage. When Adriana did, she was bright red and waving to the crowd.
“I never thought she’d grow up,” Candy said, with her attention on Roxy, who was inexplicably carrying Adriana on her back. “And now look at her.”
“Remember the day I scouted her?” Natalia grabbed the tequila bottle. She didn’t like feeling sentimental. She needed to drown it in booze.
“You mean the day I called you and told you something special had made their way to my stage?”
Natalia tilted her head to the side before filling Candy’s shot glass. “How right you were.”
