Natalia tipped her head back and downed her third glass of punch in a single gulp, wishing she had something stronger. She was trying to work up the nerve to march over to Brad and say hello, but she was finding it harder than she’d imagined it would be. She’d been following him with her eyes pretty much since she walked into the room, but he was never alone, and what she had to tell him was for his ears only.
Kasey may have thought she needed to come back to her reunion to lay her past to rest, but Natalia knew the real reason she was there. She’d been in school and couldn’t afford to take the trip for her fifth year reunion, and then she’d been in Europe on tour for the tenth, but the current tour she was on was in the United States so she saw her fifteenth year reunion as the perfect opportunity—the perfect opportunity to see Brad and thank him.“Stop lying to yourself, girl. You want to do more than just thank him,” she mNatalia pulled her rented Ford Focus into the parking space beside Brad’s car and cut the engine. Grabbing her purse, she took his outstretched hand as he helped her out of her car, and with their hands still clasped together, they walked toward the front door.The drive there had been pretty much a blur, so she got her first glimpse of the restaurant as she neared the entrance, and as soon as she did, her steps faltered. She thought she’d recovered rather quickly, but her hesitation must have shown on her face, because Brad turned to her and asked, “Is there something wrong?”She flashed him a small smile. “I guess I was expecting someplace a little more….casual,” she said as she glanced up at the sign for Alain Ducasse, the ultra chic, upscale French restaurant just outside Bayside in the small, but trendy town of Summerlin.Brad’s eyes twinkled as he smiled. “You’re an international superstar. I couldn&rs
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Natalia cursed as she angrily swiped at the tears that slipped down her cheeks. She had fought hard to keep them from spilling in front of Brad, so she was proud that she managed to hold it together long enough for her to make it into the safety of her car.It had been so long since she’d let the hurtful names get to her.“You’re becoming soft,” she chuckled bitterly. Back in school she’d been prepared for them so she’d forged a wall of steel and kept her emotions locked up tight behind it. But now—now she wasn’t quite as prepared as she used to be. Still the words hurt just as bad now as they did then.“What did you expect, you idiot. You knew what people were thinking,” she argued with herself. Yes, it was bad enough knowing what people were thinking, but worse to hear it from their lips.She glanced into her rearview mirror and swore again. Brad was still following her.
They drove for about ten seconds until they pulled up to the side of Kevin’s first story apartment. She’d known Kevin throughout high school, but she’d never given him the time of day. He was handsome enough but he’d always seemed a little weird to her, as if something was off about him. But then he graduated, and somehow he seemed cooler, more sophisticated now that he was a freshman at Bayside Community College. So when she ran into him at a party a couple of nights ago she’d let him have her number this time. She hadn’t been surprised when he’d called her last night to invite her over to watch a movie. He’d expressed his interest in her many times before. But what had surprised her wasrunning into Brad right outside Kevin’s apartment.She twisted her head around to glare at Brad. “Alright, what is it that you have to show me?”“Just look through the window.”She turned her head in t
For the second time in as many days Natalia asked herself “What the hell am I doing here?”It wasn’t too late to run away this time. Nobody knew she was driving a blue Focus and if she could make it to her car before anyone answered the door she could spare herself from making a dreadful mistake.She turned around, all set to do an all out sprint to the car when she heard the lock turn.“Damnit,” she cursed and spun around just as the door swung open to reveal a beautiful middle aged woman with warm eyes the same ethereal blue as Brad’s.She cracked her lips into a tentative smile. “H—hi. Um, my nameis—”“Oh my. Oh my. Please come in. Oh my. This is quite a surprise,” the woman babbled as she seized Natalia’s arm and practically draggedher inside. The woman fanned herself as if she was having a hot flash. “I cannot believe the Natalia Cruz is in my home. Martha is
“I’m sorry Brad for insulting you,” she said quietly as she took a step back, but she didn’t get very far when he snaked an arm around her waist and brought her body flush against his.Her lips parted and she stared up at him with wide eyes.“You were wrong so you owe me a kiss?” His eyes twinkled with mischief as his dimples popped out in his cheeks.She gasped, recalling the familiar words he’d said many years before.“You remember the last time I said those words, Natalia?” He whispered softly, his voice wrapping her in warm velvet. She wanted to tell him that she would never forget what followed after he’d said those words, but all she could do was nod. Her body was now on fire for him. From the moment she’d locked eyes with him in the gym, her body had come to life as if it had lain dormant for fifteen years. In truth, it had. No matter how many men she dated, she always compared them to Brad
“Dear, I didn’t just know your mother. At one time long ago, we were best friends.”“What?”Barbara sighed and closed the album, as she seemed to slip off to some faraway time and place that from the look on her face pained her to return to.“Your mother and I knew each other from the time we were seven and we remained dear friends until the end of my freshman year in college, which was right around the time she met that no good father of yours. I tried to talk her out of dating him, but she wouldn’t listen and eventually we drifted apart. I returned to Bayside right after college, and by then your mother had turned into a person I didn’t even recognize,” she said sadly, and Natalia knew she was speaking of her mother’s addiction to drugs and alcohol that would eventually lead her into a life of prostitution.She sat there in shocked silence, struggling to wrap her mind around everything as she stared at
She dragged her lips from his to drink in the sight of his hard muscled chest. Then with trembling hands she slowly pushed the dress shirt from his torso and just let it tumble to the floor. She moved to reach for his belt buckle but stopped when Brad seized her hands in his.“Now it’s your turn.” He flashed her a wicked grin as his hands reached behind her to grasp the zipper at the back of her neck. He held her gaze as he inched it down until the flaps hung open at the back. Then with achingly slow movements, he pushed the dress off her shoulders and down the length of her body until it pooled at her feet.His eyes slid over her and she shivered under his heated stare. Her cheeks flushed with heat as she stood there while he drank his fill of her until finally his eyes returned to her face. Then before she could take another breath, he hoisted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom area of the suite.With gentle hands, he laid her down
“You know your friends—they all think you’re crazy.”Brad lifted his head from his hands to peer over at Natalia, a lopsided grin on his face.“Yeah, I know.”She shook her head. “And you don’t care?”Brad rested his head back on his hands as he lay stretched out flat on his back beside Natalia, while they both stared up at the sky. They were enjoying a quiet afternoon out at Bayside Lake to celebrate their high school graduation just days ago.“Why should I? Their opinion doesn’t matter to me.”“Yeah, well you know everyone thinks we’re sleeping together.”A wicked gleam lit up his eyes and he rolled over to cover her with his body.“Well, we both know that isn’t true and why it isn’t true so that’s all that matters.”She twisted her lips into a surly pout and he knew his nonchalantattitude was frustrating to her,