“I understand. I do think I like them, Nat. They seem nice. Well, one of them seems nice. The other one seems like a Dom.” Gretchen smiled a little. “I guess you know which one I would prefer.”
Nat toweled off her face and thought about what Tate had said when they had talked by the pool a couple of days back. “Are you looking for a Dom?”
A smug smile lit Gretchen’s lips. “I kind of have one.”
Nat sighed inwardly. “Tate?”
A little smile lit up her face. “He wants me, but I haven’t taken a collar yet. I have to be sure. I think he’s going to test me before he asks, but I’m ready for it. I have to admit something, Nat. I was very lonely until he got here. The last seven months have been so nice. He’s really brought me back to life. He’s very commanding, very domineering.”
“Are we talking about the same Tate?” Nat asked. Tate was laid back. He was kind of known as the Surfer Dom. He played and he was obviously well trained, but he hadn’t struck Nat as a twenty-four-seven kind of guy.
“You don’t know him the way I do. He’s what I need. He’s very dominant in the bedroom.”
“You’ve slept with him?” Damn. How had she not seen that?
Gretchen shrugged. “I’m not as damaged as you. I can handle it. I know what I want, Nat.”
“But do you really know what Tate wants?” Because according to Tate himself, it wasn’t Gretchen.
“I know what he thinks he wants, but sometimes men can be stupid. He’ll come around. I’ll give him what he really needs, and he’ll see that we belong together.” Gretchen’s eyes went oddly cold. “Stay away from him, Nat.”
“I didn’t try to get close to him.”
“Just see that you do. He’s mine.”
“I thought a Dom didn’t belong to a sub.” Frustration welled as she realized that she might not be able to put up with Gretchen’s shit much longer. Years had gone by and this was what she got from Gretchen?
“I’m a good sub. I know how to treat my Dom. And I know how to protect him, too.” Gretchen ran a hand through her hair. “Sorry. I just really like him.”
Gretchen gave her that same smile she always used, but for the first time Nat could see it didn’t really reach her eyes. Maybe Nat had been so mired in her own misery that she hadn’t seen Gretchen’s.
“I don’t want him to hurt you,” Nat said. Gretchen had been hurt before, so fucking hurt.
“He’s not the one who can hurt me,” Gretchen replied. “Anyway, I’m going back out to tell Gaby you’re okay. I think I’ll skip the makeover. I have some things to do. See you tomorrow, I hope.” Gretchen walked out, taking her dark cloud with her.
“I don’t like the way she talked to you, Nat.” Kitten slid into the bathroom, a robe belted around her body.
“She’s still in a bad place.”
“You’ve made excuses for her for a long time,” Kitten pointed out. “I know you made them for me, too, but the only person I lashed out at was myself. I worry about her.”
“I worry about her, too.”
“Not the way I do. I think she could hurt you, Nat. I think she’s always hated how strong you are. I think she’s used your generous nature to get ahead, but when you’re no longer useful, she’ll turn on you.” Kitten took a long breath. “I hate talking like this. I hate dealing with problems. They should just go away or a Dom should take care of them for you, but I love you too much to ignore this. She’s toxic, Nat.”
“She’s just closed off.” But Nat wasn’t so sure. Habit forced her to defend her friend. “You’re not around her as much as I am.”
“Yes, which is why I can easily see the problem.” Kitten took her hand. “Come on. Let’s have fun and forget about her. Abigail is explaining D/s to Georgia and though Georgia is using a lot of words like ‘ewww’ and ‘gross,’ her pupils are dilated. Master Logan is going to have so much fun taming her. I hope I get to watch.”
Nat snorted a little. She had to stop doing that. “I don’t know about that. Logan seems pretty hands-offish when it comes to her.”
Kitten smiled. “Oh no. I know a good couple when I see them. Though now that I think of it, Master Logan might need a partner. I’ve heard about the town he comes from. I’ll think on it a bit. Hurry up. I want to make sure you’re perfectly gorgeous for the Masters when they return.” She turned back in the doorway. “Though you should know, I always think you’re beautiful, Natalie. You can’t help it. It’s just who you are.”
Nat felt it again, that pricking at her eyes.
She sniffled a little, washed her face, and joined the girls. If Kitten was going to play matchmaker that was a show Nat intended to watch.
Chapter Fourteen
The front door opened, and Nat couldn’t help the way her heart thudded in her chest. They were here. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about them all day. They were clouding her damn mind.
“You look gorgeous, hon,” Abby told her, winking her way. “They’re going to love it. Trust me. My Jack loves a little role-play. I know this is all about your case, but I think the playroom might get some use tonight.”
God, Nat hoped so. She’d fallen asleep. She couldn’t think of anything less sexy. They had aroused her and played with her pussy and spanked her and she’d fallen asleep on them.
“I like your pink hair better.” Josh frowned up at her, his dark head shaking. His emerald-green eyes studied her critically. “And how did they make your skin look like that? It’s prettier the other way. I want you to look like my Nat.”
Nat glanced at herself in the mirror. She looked exotic. Georgia had done an amazing job with the bronzer. Her skin looked darker than normal, like she was a girl with a great tan. The pitch-black bob she had on came from something Abby called her Roaring Twenties Flapper Girl kit.
Only her face was bronze, though. Georgia had explained if they wanted to do the rest of her body, they would have to use a self-tanner. Abby had nixed the idea of heading into town to buy some until Chase and Ben approved.
Joshua Barnes-Fleetwood did not approve at all.
“Well, I think you look lovely.” Sam Fleetwood gave Nat a wink. “I can only think of one woman who looked better in that wig. Damn, darlin’, good times. We should really play BDSM speakeasy again. Abby and I owned the underground club, you see. We were just trying to bring some fun to the people. Jack just had to raid us. You wouldn’t believe what the FBI required in its searches back in the twenties.”
Nat could imagine that it included some seriously pleasurable body cavity searches.
“That sounds like a fun game, Master Logan.” Kitten sat with her head on Logan’s lap. “We should play.”
Logan just stared at Georgia.
“Well, I think you look like pop-star hot. I totally would take a bunch of pictures and put them on Facebook if Logan over there wasn’t being such a jerkface about it,” Georgia said, pouting a little.
“Uhm, should we go over the meaning of undercover?” Logan’s hand found Kitten’s hair, but every bit of that boy’s attention was on the blonde in the room. “I don’t think it’s smart to change Nat’s Facebook page to ‘Natalie is going undercover to catch a killer. Please comment on which look is best.’”
“I don’t even have a Facebook page,” Nat admitted. She could hear Ben and Chase talking to Jack Barnes, saying something about a package they had bought and that they’d gotten rid of it. What kind of package? Where had they been?
“OMG! Seriously, Nat? We’re going to hook you up. I’m the queen of social media.” Georgia squealed a little.
Logan growled. They seemed to have a whole language of their own going on. “It’s been hard on you not to have a phone, hasn’t it?”