Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

Katherine must have been backpedaling hard with whatever she said next. Natalie looked skeptical by it all, but she seemed to soften a tad by the end.

“All right. I get it. Maybe let’s talk later.”

She hung up the phone, and uncertain, I peeked over at her.

“What did Katherine have to say?”

Natalie shrugged and looked back out the window. It was several minutes before she said anything at all. “She said she hadn’t meant project how it sounded and that she was sorry for hurting me.”

I kept my face neutral. That was such a line from Katherine. She was never really sorry for how she treated people, but it wasn’t as if I could say anything at this point. I was the other side of this bet even if my intentions were pure. Hers weren’t, and Katherine had a tendency to dive in too deep.

“It was really Camden who was the dick anyway. Katherine was just reacting to him,” Natalie murmured and then turned the volume back up, so she didn’t have to talk to me anymore.

It felt like a lifetime before we got back to the house. As soon as I stopped, Natalie had Totle on his leash and was hurrying inside with her bag slung over her shoulder. I gritted my teeth. This was a mess.

I grabbed my own bag out of the trunk and followed her inside. To my surprise, she was standing in the living room, waiting for me.

“Hey,” she murmured.

“She speaks.”

She shook her head. “You know what? Never mind.”

“Wait,” I said, reaching for her. “What were you going to say?”

She sighed and dropped her shoulders. “I want us to go back to the way things were before…”

“Before what?”

“Before we kissed.”

“Do you really think that’s possible?”

She bit her lip, and all I could think about was sucking it into my mouth. The taste of her. The feel of her. Going back wasn’t an option.

“It has to be. And if you can’t do that, then…maybe you should go.”

“I’m not going to leave, Natalie.” I knew that I should back down, but I couldn’t believe how much she was lying to herself. “There’s something here. I know that you can feel it.”

“I do,” she admitted softly. “I really do. But even if I did, I am only here for another month or so unless my contract is extended. What would even happen? Nothing. I’d take another job and leave. It would be pointless.”

“Or you could stay,” I found myself staying. “And we could find out.”

“You don’t believe what you’re saying.” Her voice shook as she got the words out.

I arched an eyebrow. “Don’t I?”

She opened her mouth and then closed it, as if she couldn’t believe what I’d just said. I saw her resolve cracking. The tentative rope she had been balancing on tipping out from under her feet. She took a step forward. I took one closer. Then she stilled and straightened her spine.

“I’m not stupid. I am not the first or the last in the long line of women Penn Kensington has seduced. I don’t want to be an idiot here and jeopardize my job or my sanity,” she said very calmly. “I would rather if we remained friends. I thought we were good as friends.”

Friends.

Fuck. I was being friend-zoned.

I knew that she wanted me. She’d admitted as much. Yet here we were. Our past getting in the way of our present. My past…once again. Fucking great.

“Okay,” I finally muttered.

“Okay?” she asked with wide eyes.

“We can be friends.”

“Oh,” she breathed uncertainly. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch. You said that’s what you wanted, and I can respect your wishes.”

“I…appreciate that.”

“You don’t have to appreciate when someone respects you. It should be expected.”

She smiled tentatively. “Well, thanks anyway.” She wavered in place for a minute, as if she couldn’t decide whether or not I was really telling the truth. Then, she nodded. “Just so you know, my best friend, Amy, is coming into town next weekend.”

“Oh, you can have friends over but not me?”

Natalie wrinkled her nose. “I think I had enough of your friends last night. And anyway, you already told Lewis that you were here and he told Katherine. So, cat is out of the bag.”

“Well, maybe I’ll invite Lewis next weekend too.”

She shrugged. “Do whatever you want.”

She went to the back door to let Totle inside, and I watched the sway of her hips with hunger. She said we were just friends. But damn that kiss. No one could deny that kiss.

Still, if she wanted us to just be friends, I could do that…for now.

Part III

All’s Fair In Love And War

Natalie

17

Kissing Penn had been such a dumb move. Now, we were in this strange in-between state. Not straddling the line between hate and friendship anymore, but between friendship and…more.

That left us teetering precariously in each other’s presence.

And he was a mystery. I didn’t know what he actually wanted from me, and I didn’t want to find out either. I felt like I was just some conquest. A box to check off—seduced my one-night stand and made her like me again.