Natalia Read online

  Even the knowledge that Katie Johannsen would be at the party and was up for anything a “guy like him” wanted wasn’t enough to lure him away.

  When they gathered to watch Tropic Thunder, he’d taken his usual position on one end of the couch with Emily and Olivia as human buffers between him and Natalia. He positioned his bowl of popcorn in his lap to hide the fact that even though he wasn’t touching her or even sitting next to her, his nineteen-year-old body reacted to Natalia’s presence.

  After the movie ended, Cora yawned and stretched in the club chair where she’d curled up. “I think I’m going to head up to bed.”

  Emily and Olivia echoed her yawn and made noises about turning in as well.

  “You guys go on up,” Natalia said. “I’m going to watch the new Saw movie.”

  “Oh, God, now I’m really going to bed,” Olivia said as she rose from the couch. “That movie looks awful.”

  “I don’t know how you can watch that stuff,” Cora said.

  “It’s all just violence for the sake of violence.” Emily added.

  “You guys are all a bunch of wusses,” Natalia said and stuck out her tongue.

  “I think there’s something seriously psychologically wrong with you,” Olivia said drily as she headed for the door, followed by Cora and Emily.

  “What about you? Are you also put off by the sight of a little blood?” She turned to Ian, her gaze challenging.

  He knew he should get out of there. He could easily plead fatigue as he and Wyatt had risen before six that morning to move cattle from one pasture to the other. But his common sense apparently had followed Cora, Olivia and Emily out the door of the media room, because he said, “Of course not. I love those movies.”

  She shot him a conspiratorial grin and scooted down the couch towards him. She stopped when there was still a full cushion separating them, but it was close enough for him to smell the floral scent of her shampoo. He tried to focus on the flat screen TV mounted to the wall in front of them, but it was all but impossible with his brain screaming that he was finally alone in a room with Natalia.

  As if his dick weren’t already fully aware.

  Worse, as the movie went on, Natalia was slowly scooting closer. Or was that him? All he knew was that by the time the first murder victim met a gory end, they were close enough that he could feel the heat of her thigh, left bare from her cutoff denim shorts, against his denim clad leg. When their shoulders brushed, he instinctively lifted his arm to stretch it across the top of the couch behind her.

  No one could accuse him of having his arm around her, he made sure it rested on top of the couch and didn’t make any contact with her shoulders. But when she leaned her head back, her could feel the soft tickle of her hair against the skin of his forearm. Who knew that the sensation of hair brushing against his forearm could be such a turn on?

  Although he’d been walking around in a state of semi arousal since Natalia had arrived, so really it was no surprise.

  He dug his fingers into the back of the couch and willed himself not to slide his arm down to wrap around her shoulders and pull her close. To not tip her head back against the couch and kiss her full red lips like he was starving to.

  As the action on the screen continued, he noticed the tension in her body, her quickened breathing that he was pretty sure had nothing to do with the action on the screen.

  She was as aware of this thing between them as he was. And while she wasn’t making a move, she remained sitting close enough to him that barely an inch of space separated them. Ian would bet good money that if he went for it, she would let him kiss her.

  And maybe more.

  He stifled a groan at the thought and focused on the movie, hoping it would wrap up soon. As much as he enjoyed almost cuddling on a couch with Natalia, being so close and having his father’s warning in his head was a special kind of torture.

  But he could endure it. They just had to get through the last few scenes and then he would-

  Natalia shrieked and jumped about three feet off the couch. Ian instinctively reached for her, and that was how he found himself with Natalia on his lap, her perfectly round and firm ass nestled against his throbbing groin.

  She gasped and looked up at him, startled. “Is that…” her voice trailed off as she shifted her ass against the bulge at his fly.

  Ian stifled a groan and leaned his head back against the couch, feeling the last shreds of his restraint slipping away. He lifted his head and tilted it so he could meet her gaze. The lights were off but in the glow of the TV he could see the excitement in her eyes, and the wariness too. Briefly Olivia’s admonishment echoed through his head. He wondered just how innocent Natalia really was.

  In the next instant, he didn’t care, because Natalia’s tongue darted out of her mouth to moisten her lips. Every cell in his body demanded that he chase her tongue with his own. His father’s warning a distant echo in his head, he bent his head and pressed his lips against Natalia’s.

  She let out a startled gasp and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue between her parted lips. Heat surged through him at the hot sweet taste of her and the silky feel of her tongue rubbing against his. He moved his arm from the back of the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders. He cupped the back of her head to hold it in place for his deep, sucking, kisses.

  She was tentative at first, the press of her lips and the strokes of her tongue hesitant as she rested her hands on his shoulders. But she caught on fast, and soon she was nipping and sucking at his lips and sliding her tongue against his in a way that had him forgetting every other girl he’d ever kissed.

  His breath came in sharp pants. So did hers, and the sound of their heavy breathing mingled with the soft, almost startled sounds of pleasure that bubbled up in her throat.

  She sat sideways on his lap with her legs pressed together. He moved his other hand to her knee. He rested it there for a minute before he slid it up the smooth, sun-kissed skin of her thigh until his fingers brushed the ragged hem of her cutoffs. He continued up, grazing his hand over the curve of her hip. His fingers encountered the hem of her t-shirt. He caught it with his thumb as his hand continued its slow progress upward.

  The skin of her waist was warm and soft against his fingers, and he felt the muscles of her stomach jump against his touch. Feeling almost drunk from the sensation of her mouth against his and her skin under his hands, Ian slid his hand up over her ribcage until he felt the satin of her bra. The soft curves of her breasts that had been tempting him for nearly two weeks pressed against his chest, burning through the fabric of his t-shirt.

  His palms itched to cradle them, his mouth watered at the thought of sucking her hard nipples. He wanted to suck and lick her until she was crazy with desire, practically begging him to strip her naked, stretch her out on the couch, and do everything he’d been wanting to do with her from the moment he first laid eyes on her.

  His hand moved between them to cover one satin covered mound. The feel of her warm flesh overflowing his hand and the press of her rock-hard nipple against his palm wrenched a groan from his chest and sent all of the blood in his body to his already throbbing cock. His thumb brushed against the hard tip of her nipple, and then he squeezed it firmly between his thumb and his forefinger.

  Natalia let out a startled cry and jerked away. He went to reach for her but hesitated when he saw that she had her arms up in front of her chest, as though to protect herself. “I’m sorry,” she said with a nervous laugh. “That just, your hand,” she gestured vaguely, “I’ve never, you know, so it startled me for a second.” The DVD logo bouncing across the TV screen offered enough illumination for him to see her sheepish expression.

  “You haven’t ever had someone touch your boobs before?”

  She laughed again and settled herself in his lap once again. “That’s such an unsexy word, ‘boob’,” she said as she looped her arms around his neck.

  He sucked a breath through his teeth as her ass pressed firmly ag
ainst his hard-on, raging behind his zipper. His eyes drifted closed as she kissed her way up his neck and across his jaw. “No, I’ve never had my boobs touched,” she said as she threaded her fingers into his hair, urging him to bend his head so her parted lips could reach his. “This is my first kiss. My first everything.”

  He kissed her then, hard and hungry as every nerve in his body came to life at the prospect of being her first everything. The first guy to kiss her. The first to suck her tits into his mouth. The first guy to see her beautiful, luscious, body naked. The first guy to slide his fingers into the slick heat between her thighs. The first guy to feel the sweet stretch and yield of her body as he thrust inside…

  Apparently one tiny kernel of common sense had lingered, bouncing around his brain as it tried to make its way through the red haze of lust that prevailed. Now it chose this moment to surge forward, reminding him forcefully that even if there wouldn’t be hell to pay if his father found out he fooled around with Cora’s friend, Ian made it a point to not mess around with virgins.

  Being somebody’s first time came with too many strings and too many expectations.

  But she’s leaving in just a few days, a cunning voice whispered. Who knows when you’ll see her again? She won’t have the chance to get all clingy and needy.

  When it came to sex, most nineteen-year-old boys weren’t particularly known for their honor. Ian was no different. But he did like to think of himself as a decent person, and he knew it wouldn’t be decent to use his greater experience to seduce Natalia into having sex for the first time and then wave goodbye three days later.

  And between her own inexperience and what Olivia had told him about her background, he was pretty sure that when all was said and done, Natalia would feel pretty crappy about herself for giving her virginity to a guy she might never see again.

  He reluctantly lifted his mouth from hers. “We should stop before this goes too far.” He settled his hands on her waist and started to push her off his lap.

  “Maybe I want to go too far.” She tightened her arms around his neck and wriggled her ass against his erection. “Maybe I want you to show me what all the fuss is about.”

  He closed his eyes and stifled a groan as she pressed her parted lips to his and slid her tongue inside to taste him. “I like the way it feels when you touch me,” she whispered against his lips. “I want to see if everything feels as good with you as I think it will.”

  Jesus Christ, how the hell could he be expected to the honorable thing when the hottest girl he’d ever known was grinding against his dick and kissing him like she was starving for the taste of him? By some miracle, his brain wouldn’t let him forget potential fallout if he actually went all the way with Natalia Pachetti.

  It wouldn’t be good for either of them. Once again, he tore his mouth from hers. “We really can’t do this.” He pushed her firmly off his lap and stood from the couch. For a moment his head swam as his blood struggled to make its way from his dick back up to his brain.

  “I don’t understand. I like you and I think you like me. And we were both enjoying what we were doing. Right?” The note of uncertainty in that last word pinched at his heart. In all of his interactions with Natalia, he’d never heard her be anything but confident and self-assured.

  It was all he could do not to settle back down on that couch with her and show her exactly how good he could make her feel. He could feel his willpower slipping away by the second as she reached for his hand and looked up at him with eyes full of confusion and desire.

  God, he was fucking toast. His knees were bending to sit back down when a lightbulb went off in his head. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t resist her. He knew that even if he stood firm tonight, there were still two more days and nights for them to find a private corner or an empty room.

  But if he could give her a reason to want to resist him…

  “I don’t mess around with virgins,” he said bluntly and pulled his hand firmly from hers.

  Her dark eyebrows knit in confusion. “You don’t have to worry about me making a big deal about it or anything. I’m almost eighteen. I know what I’m doing.”

  She had no idea what she was doing, but he wasn’t about to waste time arguing with her. The longer he spent alone in her presence the less he could trust himself. “I don’t care about that,” he said and forced himself to increase the distance between them. “You’re leaving in three days and who knows when I’ll see you again. You won’t be here to make a big thing of it. I’m saying no because I doubt you’ll be any good at it, and I don’t want to waste my time.”

  At the time, she had recoiled against the couch, and the semi darkness couldn’t hide the hurt and humiliation that flashed across her face. It was gone in an instant though, replaced by a steely glare and defiantly tilted chin. She rose from the couch. Even though she stood nearly a foot shorter than his six feet, two inches, she still managed to look down her nose at him. “I can’t believe I actually thought you were a good guy. Thanks for letting me know who you really are. I’m glad my first time wasn’t with a selfish asshole like you.”

  Now as he saw her for the first time in eleven years, it was clear from Natalia’s withering stare that her opinion of him hadn’t changed.

  Chapter 4

  Natalia spent the next several days throwing herself into the wedding planning process. It didn’t take her long to realize she had her work cut out for her. Not only did the previous planner leave a disaster in her wake, Cora and her mother couldn’t seem to agree on anything from what flowers should be included in the centerpieces, to what color the table linens should be at the reception. They spent hours a day with Louise McLaughlin on speaker phone, bickering over every last detail as Natalia steered them to some sort of compromise.

  Adding to the stress was that she was planning all of this without the help of her regular staff, suppliers, and vendors in New York. After all of her years working with Elite, Natalia had caterers, florists, liquor suppliers - you name it - who could turn on a dime and get her anything she needed for an event in record time.

  This time she was dealing with people like Josie from Josie’s Flowers in Bozeman. Josie did beautiful work and was perfectly nice, but Josie had just informed Natalia that her one of her suppliers was having issues, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get enough peonies for the bouquets in time.

  “Crap,” Cora, who was listening to the call on speaker, said when Natalia hung up.

  “We’ll get them,” Natalia said, already dialing Nathan, the florist she always used in New York. He once was able to get her a thousand tulips delivered from Holland within twelve hours. “We’re going to get those goddamn flowers if we have to fly them in on their own private jet.”

  The call went to voicemail and she left Nathan a brief message explaining her predicament and asked him to contact Josie directly to get the flower situation sorted out. “Have you and your mother finally agreed on the wine yet?”

  Natalia had turned the kitchen table into her office. She sat there with Cora in front of piles of invoices and orders as well as her laptop where every detail of every event she had ever managed was tracked in her project management software. She clicked on the tab that said “beverages,” hoping that today would be the day she could fill in their selections and get the order off to the liquor store in town.

  “Funny you should mention that,” Cora said. One slender hand came up to twist a lock of her straight, blond hair. “Do you remember my friend Devon from college?”

  Natalia frowned as her cluttered brain tried to figure out why the name rang a bell. “Wasn’t she the one who got you to invest in that restaurant that never opened?”

  A slight pink flush bloomed across Cora’s cheeks. “It wasn’t her fault the chef got hammered the night the reviewer from the New York Times showed up.”

  “True, but she could have done a better job of vetting him before she gave him the job. It’s not like he didn’t have a reputation,” Na
talia replied tartly as she pushed the list of wine, liquor, and beer available to order from the BevMo in town towards her friend. “What about her?”

  “Well she’s recently become part owner of a winery in Santa Barbara, and she asked me if I would serve their pinot at the wedding. Between word of mouth from the guests and the article in Town and Country, it would be really good publicity for her.”

  “So, she would donate the wine then?”

  Cora jerked back. “I would never ask her to just give it to us.”

  Natalia didn’t quite manage to suppress an eye roll. Bless Cora and her too generous heart. And damn all the Devons who had taken advantage of it over the years. “So, we pay how much for a case?”

  Cora sheepishly quoted a price that was nearly twice that of the most expensive wine they had been considering.

  “Jesus Christ, does it come in a solid gold bottle?” She asked Cora the name of the winery and pulled up the website on her laptop. Her frown deepened as she clicked around the website. “Cora, this is their first year releasing a Pinot Noir. There aren’t any ratings or reviews.”

  “Well their other wines are well rated,” Cora pointed out. “I’m sure the Pinot will be delicious.”

  Natalia shook her head. “The highest they’ve ever received is an eighty-five in Wine Spectator, and you know Pinot is a particularly tricky wine. I can’t let you - not to mention neither will your mother let you - serve an unknown wine to your guests. Especially at that price.”

  Cora’s shoulders slumped but she didn’t argue. “I hope she won’t be so mad that she skips the wedding.”

  “I think you should worry less about a friend who only calls you when she needs a favor, and more about what wines you’re going to serve with your prime rib and your salmon.”