Free Beyond Ruin by Crystal Cierlak Page A

came back to her in fragments: VIP bottle service, shots, heavy flirting with everyone she talked to, dancing in Joe's lap, making out with some random person, making out with Joe...
    She reached over the side of the bed and grabbed onto the first garment she could find, which just so happened to be Joe's shirt from the previous night. She slipped it on over her naked body before bounding downstairs, the smell of coffee hitting her nostrils immediately.
    "I slept with Joe," Natalie blurted out as soon as she was within visual distance of Quinn.
    "Yes, I guessed as much. I don't know why I'm so surprised. You two were all over each other last night."
    "We were?"
    Quinn nodded as she took a sip from her coffee cup. "I'm not judging you, Red. I don't exactly have the moral high ground here. I'm just..." She took a deep breath as her eyes searched around for the next word. "I'm surprised. What about Audra?"
    Natalie dumped a fresh K-cup into the coffee pot and stabbed the brew button on the machine before sticking a clean cup under the dispenser. "What about her? I can't be interested in two people at once?"
    "You are free to sleep with as many people as you like. My only concern is that you're safe about it."
    "I'm on birth control," Natalie replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.
    "I don't just mean safe with sex. Be safe with your feelings. You broke up with James months ago but you only just told me about it, and from everything you described it was very intense."
    "That's the understatement of the year." Natalie grabbed for her fresh cup of coffee and took a cautious first sip. "I'm supposed to be meeting him for lunch today," she added. "In about-" she checked the time display on the oven, "forty minutes actually."
    "Kind of early for lunch, isn't it?"
    Natalie shook her head in agreement. "He said he wants to catch up. I couldn’t say no."
    "I don't blame you. The man looks damn good in a suit."
    You should see him in his birthday suit , she thought to herself. "Hmm." On second thought...
    "Please don't feel like you have to hide whatever it is you've got going on with Joe. As long as it doesn't interfere with business I don't care if you two fuck all over the house. Same with Audra."
    Natalie's face narrowed. "I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about any of that."
    "Don't have to worry about what?" Joe interrupted as he entered the kitchen wearing nothing but his boxer briefs.
    "You and Natalie having sex all over the house," Quinn answered. Natalie felt her face flush with red hot embarrassment.
    "Damn," he cursed. "There go my plans for the afternoon." He helped himself to a cup of coffee as Natalie wondered if she was the last person in the room to learn to be so comfortable about sex. There used to be a time when Quinn thought Natalie was an inexperienced virgin. Times had definitely changed.
    "All right, I have to go get ready for my super early lunch date."
    "You've got a date?" Joe asked dubiously from his spot at the coffee pot.
    "James." She felt his name was sufficient detail enough. Coffee cup in hand, Natalie made her way back upstairs and set about getting ready for the day.
     
     
     
    After drying off from her shower, Natalie combed through her wet hair and slipped into a pair of black leather leggings, a cropped grey sweater over a cream colored tank top, and fastened up a pair of cream colored ankle boots with gold zippers. It wasn't quite cold enough yet despite it being late autumn in California, but one look out her bedroom window at the grey clouds told her it was going to be overcast and chilly at best. She applied a swipe of black liner to each eye followed by a thick coating of mascara, and then colored her lips with a deep shade of red.
    Downstairs in the kitchen Quinn and Joe were each engrossed on a packet of paper situated between them, laptops open on either side.
    "Is that the Fitson contract?" Natalie asked as she reached into the refrigerator for a bottle of water.
    Quinn looked