Chapter 10

Nadia didn't know what the hell she thought she was doing, acting like she was about to receive a guest in her suite. Yet there she was, fussing not only with her appearance but the whole room that had already been cleaned and serviced that day.

The bed covers could not get any straighter. The kitchen was sparkling clean. Even Nadia and Eva's clothes, still unpacked until the following night, were neatly kept out of the way in the closet. All Nadia had to do was pull their suitcases and other bags off to the side.

She took an already-opened bottle of wine out of the fridge and put it back in again. She removed her shoes but put them on once more when she pretended to pose on the end of her bed as if Eva were bringing back a new friend for them to wordlessly play with for the rest of the night. I feel like an idiot. Every time Nadia allowed her imagination to run away from her, she reined it back in with the admonishment that people were not playthings. Nor was there any guarantee that Eva could seal the deal.

What deal! Nadia stopped in front of the bathroom mirror yet again, retying her ponytail before trying her hair down again. She pulled the wrinkles out of her body-hugging dress before hiking the skirt back up again. She felt like she was on her first date with Eva. The first real one after they had already had sex and she knew it might be on the table again.

That's what Nadia took solace in. She had resisted Eva's charms for months and still succumbed to them when she couldn't stand to deny herself any longer. I didn't want to get wrapped up in her lifestyle. It hadn't been a matter of lacking physical attraction or being against a hot one-night stand. Nadia's situation was so different from Kenzie's that surely… as long as Kenzie was a little queer…

Who the fuck isn't gay for Eva!

Nadia's wife hadn't texted her back. Nothing good. Nothing bad. The minutes ticked on. Eventually, Nadia flopped down onto the bed, one shoe falling off her foot while her hair tangled against the covers. She let out the biggest, blubbering sigh she had ever held within her before.

All because of my mother-in-law. Life was strange.

Her head jerked up when she heard the keys in the front door. She pushed herself up when she saw Eva, her jacket hanging loosely over her shoulders. Nadia's breath left her body when she beheld Kenzie the waitress from Pocatello standing in the doorway.

"See? I told you." Eva tossed her jacket onto the kitchenette counter. "Lying on the bed like she's waiting for her birthday present." A grin crowned her triumphant face. "What a slut," she mouthed at Nadia.

Kenzie stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. She took in the scope of the suite, including the deck with the hot tub, before turning toward Nadia.

"I didn't actually think you'd do it," Nadia squeaked to her wife.

"Do what?" Kenzie asked. "Follow her home so you can have your way with me?"

While Nadia died inside, both Kenzie and Eva cracked up at the same time. They were one high-five away from shattering Nadia's grip on reality as if it were frozen in dry ice.

"What did you tell her?" Nadia didn't know who she asked, but she knew someone had better answer her soon.

"Relax, babe." Eva winked at her wife before retreating toward the window. "I told her it's one of our last nights on vacation, and that you think she's cute."

Nadia's head snapped in Kenzie's direction. Already, the waitress made herself at home by piling her purse and sweater on a chair. "Oh, my God. I really wanna die right now."

"Why?" Eva sat on the window ledge, ankles crossed and shoulders pushed toward her cropped blond hair. "This is the part where we finally relax, Nads. You know. Go with the flow."

Nadia was speechless as she stared at Kenzie, who was not only in the hotel suite, but checking out the bottle of wine in the fridge.

"I told her I've never done something like this before." Kenzie drank right from the bottle, a bit of red wine dribbling onto her dark uniform. "Hope you don't mind if I have some. One beer isn't enough for me to lose more inhibitions before I fuck two chicks at once."

"Oh, my God," Nadia squeaked again.

"Having second thoughts?" Eva approached from behind, hands latched onto her hips as she whispered directly into her wife's ear. "Can I at least get you to appreciate how good I am before you kick her out because you've got cold feet?"

"I don't have cold feet," Nadia snapped back.

"Oh, really? Then why are you acting like you're not dying inside… you're exploding?"

"I'm sorry, do you think I know what I'm doing here? I can barely handle one woman, let alone two."

Kenzie put down the wine bottle, hands pressing against the island counter. "I'm still here. If you do send me packing, can I at least get an escort back to the bar? That's where I left my car." Her hands left the counter, swinging by her sides. "I think it should be fine there for a couple of hours."

"Whenever you leave, honey, I'll be sure to give you an escort."

Nadia caught the wink flying in Kenzie's direction. She would have been jealous, but she had nobody to blame but herself.

"Can I talk to you outside?" she asked Kenzie, who was more surprised than Eva. "I want to clear something up. Without her leering over my shoulder."

Eva pretended she hadn't heard that. Kenzie shrugged before following Nadia out to the deck. "I'm going to slip into something more comfortable!" Eva called, while the door slid closed behind Nadia and Kenzie.

Nadia walked past the hot tub, picking a quiet and darkened corner to speak with Kenzie, who looked only mildly comfortable in her work uniform. She scratched the back of her head while taking in the ocean view.

"Damn, this place is snazzy. I barely knew this was here, too." Kenzie turned back to Nadia, who kept close to the mossy half-wall dividing the deck between both second-floor suites. She didn't hear any neighbors next door. She hoped to God there were none that night! "You look great in that dress, by the way."

"Th… thanks."

"So? What did you want to discuss? Look, if your wife made me a bed of lies, I don't intend to lie in it as well. She's hot, I'm not interested in wrecking somebody's marriage. You guys seem nice. Great tippers, too."

Nadia remained straddled between common sense and hoping to God this woman didn't see her for the perv she was. I mean, I'm not a perv… I don't intend to… I would never…

She had to pull herself together before being honest with the woman before her.

"My wife wasn't lying." Nadia clasped her hand over her chest. Maintaining eye contact had never been so difficult with a woman she had only met twice or thrice. "We've had this deal. Since January. We've been together for over seven years and she… Eva is…" No. The reason Nadia couldn't get out the words wasn't because she fought for the right ones to say. Don't throw Eva under the bus. She hadn't done anything wrong. Even when they agreed to this stupid deal, Eva hadn't been in the wrong. Nadia could have refused. She could have easily put Eva in her place because it wasn't like Nadia ever had before. Don't I know what I want, too?

Kenzie continued to stand in front of Nadia, waiting for those words.

"I'm sorry." Nadia sighed so hard that her whole torso slumped forward. Kenzie didn't move. "I didn't mean to drag you into our weird game. Eva's way, way more outgoing than me when it comes to dating, flirting, and all that. I get… gah, look at me. My hands are sweaty!"

Kenzie glanced down at Nadia's palms but said nothing. Which was worse, really. Because Nadia felt like a big mess and needed someone to tell her she was losing her mind.

"I'm not offended if that's what you're worried about," Kenzie said. "Do you think I'd be here if I wasn't interested? Although, to tell you the truth, this isn't what I expected when I rolled up with your wife."

"What did you expect?"

A sputter of laughter greeted Nadia when she asked that in such a hushed whisper. I know, I'm so lame right now. She felt like she was back in college, the most awkward country girl on her big-city campus. The boys were always hitting on her, even if she wore a frumpy sweat set and hid her bright red hair under a hood. The girls? When they flirted with her, too, Nadia nearly melted from disbelief. Deep down, she liked the attention, but she never knew what to do with it. The fear of rejection always accompanied the promise of a hot fling or something deliciously more. Wasn't that one of the reasons she feared responding to any of Eva's advances back when they first met? She'd get bored of me. She'd move on from me. She'd embarrass me back at work. Nadia was one of the best candidates for Eva's wife, if only because she knew how to put on her best face and practiced professional decorum better than Eva Warren ever did.

"Honestly, I expected you to be waiting for us… I dunno…" Kenzie hid another giggle behind both hands as if she were ruining the vibe. I'm the one doing that! Nadia was damn good at it! "Naked? Your wife really painted a picture. Plus, you were coming on to me pretty strong back in the bar, now that I think about it."

"I was?"

"You kept buying me beers and kept staring at me like you couldn't decide if you should ask me out or not. I brushed it off because you were married and polite. Way more polite than the old guys that roll through Malibu and openly flirt with me."

"I think I'm flustered right now because I didn't expect you to say yes to her. I'm embarrassed that I couldn't do it myself."

"That's… kinda sweet." Kenzie pivoted toward the view of the beach, her nostrils big and wide as she inhaled the pure sea air. "Well! If you told me earlier this week that something like this would happen, I'd be pretty shocked! Because it's true! I don't usually do stuff like this!"

"So why now?"

"Eh, why not? I told you earlier, that the only reason I don't date women is because the opportunity has never presented itself. I'm not even sure what I am, really. I've only ever dated guys. The thought of a threesome with a couple of married women… eh, it's pretty hot, right? You guys are hot."

"Thanks."

Kenzie suddenly stepped closer, the natural sweat of her body prominent beneath her clothes. Nadia was not offended. If anything, she enjoyed the natural scent of a hardworking woman who only wore a minimum amount of perfume. I have no idea what kind of perfume that is. Isn't it great? Nadia was never meant to pick Chanel No. 5 out of a crowd, yet that was what being married to a woman like Eva did to someone.

"Hey," Kenzie said, "if you don't wanna, I can leave. You're leaving Malibu tomorrow, so who cares? I doubt we'll see each other again. It'll be like this awkward moment never happened."

"That would be incredibly unfair to you."

"Would it? Seems that having you do something you're uncomfortable with would be the bigger crime. Although… your wife tells me this would be you guys' first threesome. I'm really flattered, for what it's worth."

"You're not thinking about running for the hills?"

"Honestly, the more I think about it, the hotter it sounds." Kenzie's shoulder brushed up against Nadia's arm. "If I stay, can you promise that we go first? I wouldn't mind seeing what you look like naked."

Nadia was speechless.

"Ah, crap. I messed that up." Kenzie pulled away again, her silhouette darkening as clouds covered the starry sky. "This is what I get for batting out of my league, let alone with a woman. How do you flirt with women? Can you tell me? This might not be the last time I try."

Nadia stuttered enough that she forgot what she wanted to say. When she finally found the words, she said, "You're doing a great job, actually. I only act like this when pretty girls flirt with me." The same had been true a few months ago when she realized her fake date Lacey was genuinely attracted to her. It turned me on so much I jumped my wife's bones unlike ever before. Kenzie was nothing like Lacey. Lacey had been more Nadia's traditional type, with more masculine energy wrapped in her feminine appeal. She had been more than adequately experienced at taking the lead and seducing a woman. Unlike Kenzie, who was the cutesy kind of femme and completely out of her element.

Nadia had to take the lead. She just didn't know how – or if it was what she wanted.

Kenzie scooted closer again. "You think I'm pretty, huh?"

The only way through this was to suppress the bubbles blowing up Nadia's throat. "Of course you are. Why do you think I kept staring at you every time we met?"

"Pretty enough to share with your wife?" Kenzie was close enough to touch, but Nadia instinctively stepped back. Eventually, she met the half-wall, her spine straight against concrete and her hair brushing against the leafy plant that now caressed her head. "I'd be sad if you sent me away, Mrs. Warren."

The lump in Nadia's throat was long gone. "You sure you've never done this before?" Everything in Nadia's fight-or-flight script told her to wiggle away from the woman now close enough to kiss. Yet she held firm, forcing her body to loosen up as Kenzie pressed her face forward, one hand shooting to the wall by Nadia's head.

Nadia knew false bravado when she sensed it. It's kind of comforting. Kenzie was faking it as much as anyone else. Especially as much as Nadia, who closed her eyes and melted against the wall the moment her lips touched Kenzie's.

Quickly, Kenzie discovered that kissing a woman wasn't much different from kissing anyone else she may have known. I like to think I'm a little softer… a little more inviting. Nadia's arms were limp as she opened her mouth to Kenzie's powerful come-on. It was only a matter of time before Kenzie slammed forward and they were wrapped in the kind of embrace that only led to one thing.

Yet Kenzie pulled away, her fingers on her mouth and a sheepish look on her face.

"Well, damn," she muttered. "I just kissed a hot woman. How about that?"

Nadia blew out her pent-up breath. "Impressive."

"Yeah. I've got that going for me." Kenzie nodded her head toward the sliding glass door. "You wanna head back in? I hear your wife was getting into something more comfortable. Does that mean she's naked?"

Probably. "Wait."

Kenzie stopped halfway across the deck. "What? Okay, now's a shit time to change your mind. I'm revved up over here. You don't get these kinds of opportunities in Poca-fucking-tello Ida-fucking-ho."

Nadia stretched out her neck and, without checking the hair about to fall out of its high bun, marched toward Kenzie and grabbed her hand. "We're starting over."

"We're what?"

Kenzie was already the one with her back against the wall, her mouth falling open at the first sign of Nadia's tongue coming straight for her. Nadia purged all other thoughts from her head. There was only kissing this stranger from some Malibu diner with a penchant for a certain brand of local beer.

This was the first woman Nadia had kissed since Eva's touch got to her. Eva might not be here right now, but she was still present in the moment, a teasing voice in the back of Nadia's head that said, "Okay, good, now reach up her skirt!"

"Oomf!" Kenzie wiggled beneath Nadia's body, but she didn't complain when someone followed the instructions in her head. Nadia wouldn't finger someone right here without Eva to witness, but she wanted to believe that's where this was going. I'm supposed to be the one who starts it all! That was what fueled Nadia as she pulled up the skirt of Kenzie's uniform and slammed both thighs between her legs. As Kenzie held on for dear life and squealed in excitement, she never once broke off the kiss that only got more salacious as the glass door slowly slid open and someone propped herself up in the entryway. What a creeper.

Eva kept her thoughts to herself as she watched from a few yards away. She only threw Nadia off her game for half a second before she thought about ripping Kenzie's tights apart.

What had Eva done to her after all these years?

"Holy shit." Kenzie was limp and fanning herself when Nadia finally ran out of steam and broke away. "More of that, please."

Eva cleared her throat. Kenzie was only slightly shocked to see someone else out on the deck with them.

"Now I know you two aren't cutting me out of the deal," Eva said. "I was promised double trouble tonight."

Kenzie slipped past Nadia. Before she could approach Eva with those come-hither eyes, however, Nadia snatched her by the hand and pulled her back.

"There's only one way this works without me losing my fucking mind," she announced to both parties present before her. "I'm in control here."

Eva's eyes widened in mild surprise; Kenzie's eased into heavy-lidded bliss. "Whatever you say, Mrs. Warren."

I'm starting to see the appeal of that name. "Things happen to you," she informed Kenzie. "You don't initiate anything."

"Unless she gives you permission," Eva said. "Don't worry. This is news to me, too."

Nadia finally comprehended that her wife was wearing nothing except a hotel bathrobe. Comfortable, my ass. Eva was ready to party, either with her wife… or with a guest as well. "Do you need to be told what to do, Eva?"

"I don't know, Nads, do I? This is your party."

"Uh…" Kenzie laughed away any discomfort lingering between the two married women. "I'm fine with whatever. You guys wanna toss me around like a ragdoll? Sounds fun. It's not like I know what I'm doing with a woman, anyway."

"Trust me, hon," Eva said with her usual seductive candor, "you will by the time we're done with you. It'll be all you're craving for the rest of your life."

Nadia allowed the connective spark flashing between them to last a few seconds. After that, she stepped in, because all she needed was for Kenzie to be on board. Eva can stay calm. For the love of God…

"Why don't you go back inside?" Nadia took Kenzie by the arm and led her past Eva. "We'll be right in. I have to talk to my wife about something."

"I hope I didn't do something wrong," Kenzie said.

Nadia's hand may or may not have brushed against her guest's ass when she said, "Absolutely nothing. Get as comfortable as you like."

She closed the door again when Kenzie was inside. Eva stood still, but an expectant air around her countenance said everything Nadia anticipated.

"I knew you'd get like this." Eva pulled Nadia forward, wrapping both arms around her before her wife had a moment to object. "The only way to mitigate your jealousy between me and another woman is if you're in charge. Honestly? Hot."

Nadia turned her chin before Eva had the chance to kiss her. "Don't start with me," she purred, once again catching Eva off guard. "You're the same as her as far as I'm concerned."

"Oh, ho, ho." Eva loosened her grip but did not quite release her wife. "Tell me more. Talk dirty, babe."

"I know you're jonesing to get all up in another woman for the first time in seven years, but there are rules, Eva."

"Of course there are. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"You have to honor the safe word, for one thing."

"Would I ever not honor the safe word?"

Nadia ignored that. "We have to make sure she's happy to be with us, of course."

"I do not think that's gonna be a problem. She's probably naked already."

"Eva."

"Nadia." Eva's fingers curled beneath Nadia's chin. "I'm all about showing her a good time, but most of all, I want you to enjoy yourself. Maybe this isn't something we do every weekend, year, whatever, but I don't want you to look back on this one day and be like, ‘yeah, that was a terrible idea! Why did I let Eva talk me into that? Now we need couple's therapy!'"

"I do not sound like that."

Eva kept talking. "You get to have whatever you want tonight. Tell me what you want. No matter what, I'll have a great time."

Nadia bit her lip. "I wanna rub myself all over her."

Was that a hoot of unexpected laughter? Probably. "I could go in there and unwrap her like a Christmas present for you." Eva practically lifted Nadia off the ground when she grabbed her again. "Make her nice and presentable for the Mrs. Warren."

"Oh, fuck you. Putting dirty thoughts in my head."

"That's how I like your head, darling. Dirty."

Eva kissed her wife in a way that Kenzie never could. Neither could Lacey. Nor Belle. Definitely not Belle. She was not even in the same league as these other women.

Yet it hadn't stopped Eva from trying.

"You know what would be hot?" Nadia interrupted their kissing to say that with both of her hands clutching her wife's face.

"Anything?"

"I think you should go in there…" Nadia backed Eva up against the wall. Her robe fell open. While she wasn't naked underneath, that underwear was definitely not what she had been wearing when they left the suite earlier. Eva doesn't wear lingerie like this unless she thinks she's getting attention. She was definitely getting it now. "Show her why she had to come home with you. Do what you do best, Eva."

Nadia's mind may have been dirty, but nothing compared to the naughty grin on Eva's face. "Go on. Paint me a picture. Tell me what to do, Mrs. Warren."

Damn. That really did have a ring to it.