Close Enough (High Rise Novella Four) (8 page)

“If you want to make it to your office at all today, you’d better get a move on.” Nat tried to sound stern, but the mock harshness was already slipping from her voice.

“There’s always time for this.” Isabella unzipped Nat’s jeans and tugged them off her. Overcome by a bout of extreme lust, she pushed Nat against the nearest wall and spread her legs with her knee.
 

The eggs could wait.

* * *

After Isabella’s last client of the day had left, she wondered if she wasn’t the one who needed her head examined. She was about to reach for her phone and call Maddie when Charlotte snuck her head through the gap in the door.

“There’s someone here to see you. She doesn’t have an appointment, but she’s been here before and she claims it’s an emergency.”

Isabella hid the smile about to form on her lips. This was exactly the kind of trick Nat would play. “Show her in, Charlotte. You can go home now.”

Charlotte turned around and invited
Miss Evans
into Isabella’s office by opening the door wide. Nat wore a tight pair of black jeans, a pair of pointed leather men’s shoes and an orange t-shirt saying
Taken
.

“I believe you still owe me about thirty minutes of your professional time, Doctor Douglas.”

Isabella leaned back in her chair and shook her head. “If I recall correctly, you ordered me to treat myself to some excellent champagne with what was left of my fee.”

Nat closed the door behind her and sat down in the chair opposite Isabella. “Did you?”

“I had no reason to celebrate. Not even my obvious superiority.” The t-shirt strained around Nat’s shoulders and Isabella wondered why she always bought clothes one size too small. It must be a generational thing.

“My word choice can be dramatic sometimes. It comes with the job.” Nat folded her hands over her belly and eased into the seat.

“What did you want to talk about?” Already, lust tore through Isabella’s flesh. They’d have to get out of her office soon because Isabella had no intention of giving into her desire here. She’d never be able to focus on anything ever again when working.

“My situation has changed somewhat since we last spoke.” Nat curled her lips into a small smile. “I’ve reacquainted myself with the most amazing woman. A really classy bird. I’m desperate for it to work, but well, I seem to have a tendency to fuck things up.”

“Could you clarify what you mean by
a really classy bird
, please?” Isabella kept her face as expressionless as possible. Not an easy feat when her heart started thumping frantically and all she wanted to do was rip that silly t-shirt off of Nat.

NAT

Nat noticed Isabella staring at her chest. She hadn’t stopped by Isabella’s office for a quickie. In her own way, she had wanted to make an attempt at having a genuine conversation in an environment not inviting sex. But Isabella’s office suddenly seemed very sexy.

“Someone so posh she should, objectively speaking, be out of my league.”

“Do appearances mean so much to you?” Isabella licked her lips briefly and Nat felt heat rise from her center.

“Do I look as if I care about appearances?” Nat pointed both her thumbs at her body. “She’s very different from me, and honestly, I’m scared witless. Scared I’ll do the wrong thing again. Scared I’ll do something that is quite normal in the world I live in, but very alien to her.”

“Can you be a bit more specific?”

Nat had trouble finding the right words. Isabella wore her hair up, exposing her long, lean neck. Her pale blue blouse was open at the throat and Nat couldn’t keep her eyes off the hollow of her neck that deepened every time she tilted her head. Her brown eyes sparkled and scanned Nat’s face and body in a way that, if Nat were to get up, would surely make her knees buckle.

“I guess what I’m asking is how I can make my intentions known, in case I lose it again?”

“Maybe you’re asking the wrong question.” Isabella leaned forward. She was still a few feet away from Nat, but just the thought of her coming closer made Nat squirm in her seat. “Maybe you should ask yourself how you can make sure you don’t lose it again.”

“You’re good, Doc.” Nat slanted her body forward as well. “Worth every penny of that ludicrous fee.”

“Tell me, Miss Evans.” Isabella uncrossed her legs. “Do you have a tendency to steer conversations into a deflecting, humorous direction once they start getting serious?”

“Only when I feel as if I have no clue what I’m talking about anymore.”

Isabella nodded her head. “I think it’s time for another one of our infamous deals.” She painted the beginning of a smile on her face. “Why don’t you write it down for me? And I’ll let you off the hook for now.”

“I may need a bit more incentive than that.” Nat rose from her chair. She extended her hand, which was shaking a bit too much for her comfort, and waited for Isabella to take it. She hoisted Isabella up and coaxed her towards the door. Nat was quick to slam Isabella against it before Isabella turned the tables on her again. She made sure the door was locked before hitching up Isabella’s skirt.

Her hand dived straight into Isabella’s panties. Nat was not surprised to find her soaking wet. She slid one finger into Isabella slowly while gazing into her eyes.

“Come for me and it’s a deal.”

“Mmm,” Isabella moaned. Her eyes glinted with lust and she pressed herself onto Nat’s finger.

Nat added another finger and slowly, almost teasingly, fucked Isabella against her office door. With her other hand, she undid the buttons to Isabella’s blouse and lifted her breasts out of her bra. The exposure to the conditioned air creased her nipples into stiff buds immediately. As she withdrew her fingers from Isabella’s pussy to refocus their action on her clit, she pinched one nipple hard between her thumb and index finger, twisting it for more effect.

Isabella came shivering against her, cursing like a sailor.

“Fuck,” she said, after Nat had removed her hand from her panties and left Isabella to get properly dressed again. “This is my office, god damn it. This is no place for shenanigans like this.”

“A deal’s a deal, Doc.” Nat unlocked the door. “I’d better get home and start writing.”

Isabella shot Nat a smile that wrapped her heart in a warmth so glorious and thrilling, Nat skipped all the way to The Ivy.

She headed straight for her office, pulled a sheet of paper out of the printer and started writing.

Isabella,

I am an irresponsible, hedonistic, spoiled brat. This doesn’t mean I don’t think well of myself, but when people continuously tell you how wonderful and great you are for years on end, at one point, a certain amount of entitledness settles into you. This is not an excuse, more of an explanation.

I am also a wounded, frightened, and for a large part, emotionally unavailable bottom who thinks she is a top—just another way of fooling myself. I have treated you in an appalling manner because of this, something I will regret for the rest of my life.

We are an unlikely pair, but, I guess that ever since I got my heart broken three years ago—and I became convinced love was forever out of the question for me—I’ve been waiting for someone like you to come along. Not someone who could save me from myself (what does that even mean?), but someone who could hold up a mirror to my face and make me look for such a long time, I couldn’t hide anymore.

You are that person.

No matter what happens between us, I will always be grateful to you for opening my eyes and making me see there is so much more to life than the pathetic little world I had created for myself.

As much as I believed to be set in my ways, the comfort my (let’s call it frivolous) behaviour brings me pales in comparison to what you bring to the table. The sparkle in your eyes when we greet. That bossy grin when you pin me down and know that, once again, you have won. Waking up next to you and not wanting to run away for the first time in years.

In the short time I have known you, you have broken me down and given me the opportunity to build myself back up. You’ve changed me. Already.

The fact that you have given me a second chance after I hurt you so much (and so recklessly), speaks to the greatness of your heart. Before I met you, when I couldn’t sleep and tried to conjure up the perfect woman, someone like you never popped up on the catwalk in my mind. I had to meet you to find you. I had to fight you to find you. Now that I have, I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t be more me—something I haven’t been in a long time.

I can’t promise I’ll be perfect, but I promise I will try.

Love,

Nathalie (Orange)

Nat usually didn’t show people first drafts, but this one had bled straight from her heart. She shoved it in an envelope, licked it shut the old-fashioned way and dropped it in Isabella’s mailbox in the lobby downstairs.
 

Then, she waited.

ISABELLA

Isabella grinned at the huge cake in front of her shaped in the form of a voluptuous bosom. It had Nathalie Orange written all over it—she probably had them modelled after her own.

“Why did you let her do this?” Isabella faced Alex. “Such vulgarity to mark such a milestone in my life.”

“Do you honestly believe I hold any authority over Nat?” Alex slapped Isabella on the shoulder. “I’m so glad you’ve taken her off my hands. Obviously, you’re so much better at dealing with her than I am.”

“Stop gossiping about me,” Nat interjected. “I’m standing right here.” She was dressed in a tight-fitted, low-cut tuxedo, her hair gelled back and her swag on fire. “And baby, if turning fifty doesn’t earn you the right to blow out candles sticking from marzipan nipples, then nothing ever will.” Nat’s arms curled around Isabella’s waist and Isabella allowed her body to slide against Nat’s. She could hardly wait for the celebrations to end so she could tug that tux off of Nat’s frame.

“You need to give Nat some credit for handling the fact she’s weeks away from shacking up with a fifty-year-old so well.” Maddie joined the conversation.

“Hey, it’s not because you’re stealing my flatmate that I need to get the U-Haul out as well.” Nat tightened her grip around Isabella’s waist. Their relationship had not progressed as quickly as Maddie and Alex’s, but it was definitely going in the right direction.

“I told her she can’t move in before she gets rid of at least half of those ridiculous t-shirts she wears.” Isabella squeezed Nat’s arms.

“What am I doing with this woman who doesn’t appreciate a splash of colour in her life?” Nat asked.

Isabella spun around under Nat’s embrace and looked her in the eye. “Their colour is hardly the problem, darling.” Nat’s blue eyes sparkled.

“Enough bickering already. I want a piece of this boob cake,” Alex said.

“You always do, babe.” Maddie slung her arm over Alex’s shoulder and all four of them chuckled.

“It’s my cake, so I’ll do the honours.” Isabella pecked Nat on the lips and struggled free from her embrace. She divided the cake in four large pieces of half boob and distributed them amongst her three favourite people.

“We need an Irish coffee to go with these.” Nat headed towards Isabella’s liquor cabinet. “The lady must not stay sober on her fiftieth.”

* * *

An hour and two strong Irish coffees later all four of them sat watching the sun set from Isabella’s roof terrace.
 

“What a year,” Isabella said. “Remember my forty-ninth, Maddie? We sat here on this terrace feeling very sorry for ourselves.”

“We both hadn’t had any in months and even a few bottles of champagne didn’t bring out our festive spirit.” Maddie sipped from her coffee and pulled a face. She’d never be the whiskey drinking type, not even accompanied by coffee.

“I think my exact words were, ‘if things don’t change soon I’ll be as dry as the Gobi desert by the time I’m fifty.’” Isabella glanced at Nat, who sat grinning stupidly.

“Well, I do hope you will all show your gratitude to me for the rest of your now very moist lives.” Alex, as always dressed in a tank top, folded her hands behind her neck.

“You? You’re not responsible for this, Pizza.” Nat swept her hand through the air over the table. “This is all my doing.”

“As always, delusions of grandeur,” Alex said. “You had nothing to do with it.”

Isabella enjoyed the banter between Nat and Alex. She knew what Alex meant to Nat, and despite trying very hard not to show it, how sad she was to see Alex leaving her flat.

“I moved in here,” Alex continued, “and that started it all.”

Nat shook her head. “If it hadn’t been for me, you’d never have gone near Maddie. You were petrified.”

“Allow me to remind you that if it hadn’t been for me, you’d have pushed Isabella right out of your life just because you were frozen with fear.”

Isabella locked eyes with Maddie and shot her a smile. They might have been sitting in the same spot as last year, but everything else had changed dramatically. She remembered the first time they’d all gathered on her terrace together and the instant attraction she had felt toward Nat—how clueless she had been.

It had been two months since she had found Nat’s letter in her mail box, scribbled in almost illegible hand writing, but the emotions behind it were more than clear. As a declaration of love and intent, it sure had hit home. They hadn’t looked back since. Nat had spent every single night at Isabella’s. When Isabella left for work, Nat headed down to her apartment to write, but she was there every evening and every weekend. They had spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve together and had booked a trip to Phuket together with Maddie and Alex for Chinese New Year.

Maybe Isabella had been afraid to see it, but once they had taken the last hurdle, their affair had advanced just as rapidly as her best friend’s. Maybe she
should
ask Nat and make it official. She was fifty now. What was she waiting for?

NAT

Nat sat slouched in her favourite arm chair in Isabella’s living room. It overlooked the window and the million twinkling lights of the Hong Kong night. Isabella didn’t know that Nat often came here during the day when she was out. Just to sit and think and make some notes. She didn’t tell her because—she didn’t really know why. Maybe because she had forced herself to forget what the natural stages of a relationship felt like. Was it normal to want to be in someone’s house even when they weren’t there? To want to be around their things and be surrounded by their essence? Nat didn’t have a clue so she didn’t talk about it.