Highly Strung_Prelude Series_Part Three

by Meg Buchanan

  He turned onto his side too and rested his chin on his fist. He could talk to Tessa. She knew how to keep her mouth shut and she might provide some perspective. All he knew was he wanted to be with Natalia, and that seemed to be muddling his thinking.

  He breathed in. “Natalia’s chucked me out.” The words sounded like a long sigh.

  “When?”

  “Last week.”

  “Why?”

  “When Eva turned up, instead of staying away like she told me to I went and checked her out.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Eva fixed the problem with ‘Train Wreck’ didn’t she?”

  “Yeah. But Eva doesn’t know about Natalia and me, and Natalia thinks I tried to spoil things.”

  “Did you?”

  “I don’t think so. I just wanted to meet her daughter, and I wanted Natalia to acknowledge me as her partner. How would I know the daughter was twenty-five and not twelve like I thought?”

  “And Natalia doesn’t want that daughter to know her mother is a cougar.”

  “Cougar?” He scratched his head. “She’s not a cougar.”

  Tessa shrugged. “How old is she?”

  “Forty-one.”

  “How old were you when you started having sex with her?”

  “Sixteen.”

  “See?” said Tessa. “Cougar or child molester, take your pick.” Tessa was about as broadminded as you could get. From her reaction, he could see why Natalia didn’t want Eva to know. “You’re gorgeous Noah, and you’re nice and sophisticated with your ironed shirts and expensive jeans and boots. You look good, and you like nice things. You could have anyone you wanted, and you don’t even know it because you’re wasting your life on someone old enough to be your mother.”

  He sat up abruptly, got off the bed, and went to the window. “You’re not being very helpful, Tess.” He pushed the curtains back. Nobody outside. Just the deserted street and a few lonely cars. He turned back and leaned on the windowsill. He felt the curtain tug against the curtain rod, leaned forward and freed it. He looked over at the bed. “But you’re just saying what Natalia keeps telling me.”

  Tessa sat up and rested against the headboard. “So, listen to her. She’s right. How would you describe this thing you’ve got with her?”

  “She’s my….” He paused but couldn’t come up with a word that defined the relationship.

  Tessa smirked. “If you say soulmate, I’ll vomit.”

  He shrugged. Maybe soulmate was the word he was searching for. No. She satisfied something in him. His need for something exciting and dangerous and dark. Everything else about his life was so nice. His parents, flatting with Tessa and Adam, his studies. With Natalia he could live out every fantasy no matter how warped, and all she wanted in exchange was he lived hers, and they kept it all a secret.

  He wasn’t planning on explaining all that to Tessa. He didn’t want her to put him the deviant category. He kept the explanation simple.

  “I love her, but I hate the way she keeps me hidden.” Of course, he may have hit the deviant mark when he told Tessa about the ice. And maybe being a secret was some of the excitement. Did he need that too?

  “Have you told her how you feel?”

  “Not in so many words. I tried to explain but it didn’t come out right and then I got mad and said a few things.” He puffed out a breath.

  “So why don’t you go back home and tell her?”

  He pulled out the office chair, sat beside the computer and rested his elbows on his knees. Maybe he could. He’d gone back twice since she’d told him to stay away. Maybe it would be third time lucky.

  He shook his head. No, that wouldn’t work. “We didn’t leave things well. And I might have made them worse last night. I shouldn’t get onto Messenger when I’ve had nearly a bottle of whiskey.”

  “Stupid,” said Tessa. “Everyone knows that.”

  “Yeah.” He sighed. Tess really wasn’t being helpful. “I thought I could live without her, but I miss her more than I could imagine. I just want to see her.”

  “Go and see her then. Talk to her.” Tessa bounced her way off the bed. Her skirt wiggled up her legs. She had lovely legs. He might go there after all. Since he was so gorgeous and could have anyone he wanted. Maybe not Luke might really chuck him out of Stadium if he went after Tess.

  “I guess so. Eva’s in Wellington, so this is a good time. I’ll go now.”

  Tessa adjusted her skirt then rested her hand on his arm. “Is Eva still going to be in Wellington tomorrow?” Noah nodded. “Wait until after the practice tomorrow morning. Luke is not going to be impressed if you disappear again.”

  Tessa was right. It might take a while to talk Natalia around and if he went now he wouldn’t get back in time for the practice. He didn’t want to risk getting kicked out of Stadium for that either.

  Besides, if it took threatening to sit on Natalia’s doorstep until she let him in it would have more impact if he sat there during the day when the neighbours could see him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Next morning when he woke up, he thought about what Tessa had said. Yeah. He needed go and talk to Natalia. Either they’d make up, or he’d know for certain it was over.

  They all headed for the pub and found Collins waiting for them and everything still set up from last night. They just had to work out where they’d stand and a few cues.

  The practice went well. Harry watched. Noah could just about see him rubbing his hands together.

  “When are you playing that?” he asked.

  “Friday night,” said Luke.

  “I might get a few posters out, do some advertising,” said Harry.

  “Facebook,” suggested Luke.

  “Yeah, right,” said Harry.

  Then he headed for Natalia’s. He’d get this sorted one way or another. He wasn’t living like this anymore.

  He got to Natalia’s house. No blue car in the driveway, so Eva had gone to Wellington. Some of the windows were open. Natalia must be there. He drove into the driveway, parked his car, and got out. If any of the neighbours saw him, they could think what they liked. He didn’t get his violin out. No more of that shit, looking like he’d come for a lesson.

  He knocked on the door and waited. He heard high heels on the wooden floor. Then the door opened.

  “Noah.” Natalia rolled her eyes. In the red high heels again, makeup, the fitting black dress and not a hair out of place.

  He put his boot between the door and the door frame. “Don’t try shutting me out, because I’m not leaving until we’ve talked.”

  She glanced at his empty hands, his boot in the doorway, then his car in the driveway and sighed. She opened her hands in surrender.

  “Come in then.” She stepped back from the door. Easier than he thought it would be. He followed her into the dining room. “Would you like coffee, Noah?” So, she’d decided to treat him as a guest.

  He’d play along. “Yeah.” He pulled out a chair and sat at the table. When Natalia did things, everything had to be in the right order. She’d make him coffee. They’d do small talk. Then they’d talk properly. And if she didn’t say the things he wanted to hear, he’d leave and that would be the end.

  She lifted the coffee pot off the stove. “Did Stadium use Eva’s idea for ‘Train Wreck’?” she asked

  “Yeah, and the others are on board.”

  “How is it?”

  “I’ll play it for you.” He pulled out his phone. “This is what we did this morning.” He put the phone on the table and pressed play.

  She listened as she went through the ceremony of making the coffee.

  She nodded at the end. “It’s beautiful.”

  “It’s pretty good.” He put the phone in his pocket.

  Natalia came over to the table with the coffee pot and cups and sat opposite him.

  “Now Noah.” she sat up very straight in her chair and sipped at her coffee. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “Just
talk.” He sipped too. She made good coffee. He put the little cup back onto the saucer. “It’s weird I didn’t know about Eva. Then I thought about it and realised I don’t know anything about you at all. I want to get to know you properly.”

  She nodded and looked down at her cup. “You really never asked about anything, Noah. I would have told you.”

  “I know, but I was young. Now I’m grown up.”

  “Yes, you’re so old now,” she mocked.

  “And I’m staying tonight.” That didn’t sound like begging. “I know Eva is away.”

  Natalia nodded, then reached across the table and stroked his cheek.

  “You can stay, Lion. I’ve missed you.” That was what he wanted to hear. She refilled her cup then reached over and stroked his cheek again. “What would you like to do?”

  “Walk down the street holding your hand?” He wasn’t planning on spending the next five days cooped up in her house again. They had to come up with something to do.

  “You know we can’t,” she said. “But I do have another suggestion. I have no pupils this week. You are free too, and a friend of mine has said I can stay in his house. I’m not going to Wellington until Friday. We could go to my friend’s place if you would like that. Far from here, where no one will know us.”

  He looked over at her, completely astounded. That way he got almost everything he wanted.

  “How far away?” The way she worked to keep their affair a secret, it had better not just be Waihi Beach. No way they’d be walking along hand in hand if they were only going to Waihi.

  “Whangarei,” she said.

  Good, at least a four-hour drive. She might feel safe there.

  “How long will we go for?”

  “That is your choice, Lion.”

  He grinned across the table at her. “I choose the whole four days.”

  “What about Stadium?”

  “I’ll let them know I’ll be back Thursday night.” Luke probably wouldn’t be pleased, but Tessa would keep him in line.

  He stood, pushing the table away, went to her, slid one arm under her knees and the other around her back. He picked her up and swung her around. Four whole days of behaving like a normal couple.

  “Noah, be careful. You will knock things over.” But she didn’t really seem to mind.

  They stood on the sidewalk outside the friend’s house. Noah looked up at the three storeys. The house, right on the edge of the marina, soared above him and stretched to the edge of both sides of the section. It looked like a wedding cake with all the columns and scrolls.

  “Fuck,” said Noah. “We’re staying here?” He bet it had its own dock out the front. Both neighbours seemed to have the Titanic’s sister ship tied to their wharves. Then the sea view uninterrupted to the horizon just screamed money.

  Natalia nodded. “It is impressive, isn’t it?”

  “Your friend must be loaded.” Noah opened the car door and got her bag from the back seat. “What does he do?”

  “He is a businessman.” She took the bag off him, put it on the sidewalk, then searched her handbag. “Found them.” She pulled out a set of keys. “Don’t unpack the car now, Lion. We will go inside first and see where to store your things.” She looked up at the surfboard on the roof and the bike on the bike rack. He hadn’t been sure about bringing those, but she’d insisted.

  “If we are spending a week at the beach, you will need things to do,’ she said.

  “I want to be with you.”

  She just raised her eyebrows at him.

  “There will be cafés and restaurants to go to,” he’d said.

  “Even you can’t eat all day, Lion,” she’d told him.

  He followed her to the front door. “You’d think they’d have keyless entry, in a place this nice,” he commented.

  She opened the door. ‘My friend is old fashioned. He likes things to stay the same. Come in.”

  The polished gleam of the cream marble on the floor almost blinded him.

  “Jesus.” More pillars framed the open foyer as big as most courtyards. A curving staircase with balustrades of black wrought iron wound its way up all three levels. So ostentatious, the place looked like an expensive hotel. The vases on the sideboard, and the statues each side of an open door that led to a formal lounge, worried him. “I’ll break something. It all looks expensive.”

  “It is, so you will have to be careful.” Natalia walked across the marble floor to another doorway. This one had keyless entry. She punched in a code and the door opened. “This is the garage.” She pressed a button on the wall, and the garage door at the other end whispered up. “The surf board and bike can go in here. Bring the car in too.”

  Good idea. His car looked too cheap to be parked outside this place.

  He undid the strops around the surfboard and lifted it off the roof rack.

  “Put it with those.” Natalia nodded at two smaller surfboards already stowed on a rack attached to the wall. “And your bike will fit over there. Two mountain bikes, both smaller than his again stood in what looked like purpose-built bike storage.

  Chapter Eighteen

  With the surfboard and bike stowed, the car safely inside the garage and their bags in their bedroom, Noah looked around. The bedroom was as big as his flat and decorated with so much red velvet and brocade it was suffocating. The bedroom furniture was ornate and encrusted with gold leaf.

  Natalia walked to the window, pushed the curtains back and studied the view. The sea stretched out blue and smooth to the horizon.

  He wandered checking things out. He’d never been in a room like this before. Nobody he knew used fabric and colour this way to decorate. Natalia had a bit hanging around her house, but not like this. At least it had a spa bath in the ensuite, and the shower looked like it would be fun for two people.

  On the way to the room, she’d given him a guided tour. The house had a couple of lounges, a massive kitchen, a music room, a dining room, a gym, and rooms he’d never seen before. Who had a flower-arranging room? The second storey seemed to be all bedrooms like this one.

  “Who is this guy who owns all this? Does he live here?”

  She turned back to him. “No, he travels a lot. This is his holiday home.”

  He pulled open a drawer in the side table and found a small silver picture frame. The same picture of Eva as Natalia had at home.

  He picked the frame up and examined it. “Natalia. Why is this here?” She turned away from the window again and looked back at him. Then sighed and came over.

  She took the picture. “Ah, my pretty little Eva. I didn’t realise I had left you here.” She gently ran her fingers over the glass, shaping the face. “Eva and I used to live here.”

  “When?”

  “Long before I met you.”

  She stood the photo on the bedside table. “Now, we should do something.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “A walk on the beach together?” Natalia reached out to hold his hand. “That is what this holiday is all about.”

  They strolled along the beach hand in hand. Bare feet and the sun on their faces. In the whole time he’d known her, he’d never really spent anytime outside with her. Her skin looked pale against the darkness of her eyes and hair.

  She’d taken off the shoes with their fine heels. He had them in one hand and Natalia held the other. She looked beautiful in a way none of the girls on the beach did. They could learn a thing from her about how to dress. Natalia still in the fitting black dress looked sexier than any of the girls in their bikinis.

  “Take the pins out of your hair,” he suggested. He wanted to see her with the breeze making it blow around her face.

  She smiled at him, tipped her head back and slowly removed the clips that held her hair in the severe bun. It tumbled loose around her shoulders.

  “That’s better.” He ducked in for a kiss and she didn’t stop him. Her arms went up around his neck. She stood on tiptoes and kissed him back.

  The r
ules had really changed. For the first time in all the years he’d known her, she didn’t mind being seen in public with him.

  They linked hands again and kept walking.

  “Whose bikes are those in the garage?” he asked as he walked along. They were small, too small to belong to a man. But probably the right size for Natalia to ride or a kid. Maybe they could go bike riding together. If she could ride a bike. He didn’t know a lot about her really. Except what she liked in bed.

  She looked up at him. “One of them is mine.”

  “Yours’?”

  She nodded. “When I left here, I left my bike here.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “Eva had just gone to New York, so I would have no one to bike with. I left most of my possessions here. I only took with me what I thought I would need for my new life.”

  “Does one of the surfboards belong to you too?” he asked half joking. It seemed unlikely that someone this elegant had ever surfed. She nodded. “Really? You surf? Why didn’t you take the board with you when you moved?” Natalia could surf and ride a bike. Who would have guessed?

  She shrugged again. “My cottage in Paeroa is very small and there is no surf there. Beside my friend said to come back here and stay in the house whenever I wanted to.”

  “Did you?” For as long as he’d known her, she’d never gone away.

  She shook her head and sighed. “No. Once Eva had left, I couldn’t bear to come here alone. The house holds too many memories for me.”

  “But you are here now?”

  She lifted their hands and kissed his knuckles. “Yes, my Lion. I have come back here with you.”

  “Come surfing with me tomorrow.”

  She nodded. “I would like that. I know a lovely place to surf. We could take a picnic.”