Devon had left, leaving Nate and Natalie all alone in the little LIE. She was still in her initial position in that comfortable chair, having picked up the case file she’d been reading before. It was interesting enough, and it was a suitable reason not to have to talk to Nate. Things were… strange between them without the topic of Norah.

What did she really have to say to him? They’d slept together years ago, produced a child, and wound up in each other’s lives once again. They weren’t really friends, and they disagreed on so many topics. Working with him in the IE had revealed that to her.

Still, there was something about him. It made her realize what she had seen in him in the first place. Sure, she had been young (and not all that picky about romantic partners) back then, but those grey-blue eyes and con man charm were two things that kept him endearing to her.

Natalie sipped her wine and looked up at the man. It was strange; she wanted to prove him wrong on so many things, but a small, buried part of her just wanted to shove him down on that couch. God, her mind was a disaster.

She needed to get past her inhibitions, though, whatever they were. They needed to find common ground of their own, even if it was just screaming or discussing their daughter. The silence just would not do.

Almost violently, she suddenly slammed the case file shut and leaned forward in her seat. With piercing blue eyes, she stared Nate down.

”So what on earth do you see in Noel?” she asked, starting the conversation off with something that had been irking her for the entirety of that conversation. Noel was horrible, but for some reason, Nate felt the need to defend her around every turn. It was infuriating. She picked up her wine glass from the table next to her and took a sip, acting as if she hadn't just brought up the sensitive topic of one of his best friends. 

Devon was a great buffer to deal with the tension between Natalie and Nate, but with their meeting over and the Founder having other matters to attend to, the two co-parents were left alone in the lounge. Nate considered leaving promptly, but he had half a glass of good scotch left to savor, and he was willing to take his time appreciating good liquor. Natalie was also lingering in the lounge, enjoying her wine, so evidently, they were choosing to share the space a while longer.

The most important thing between the two Havenites was their daughter Norah. Natalie had six years of diligent, loving motherhood under her belt, but each day Nate spent with the girl, he only fell further in love. They did not see eye to eye about every parenting decision, and Natalie had no qualms flexing the muscles of parental seniority to get her way, but at their core, they both wanted nothing but the best for their six-year-old.

Beyond their daughter, they were caught in a challenging position. They were not ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend; they were two halves of a drunk one night stand. They had a witty, strong-willed conversation doused in sexual tension, and took it up to a hotel room, ending the “getting to know each other” phase of their evening.

Except now they were intricately tied into one another’s lives. They had to start from scratch establishing a personal relationship with the added pressure of a child who wanted both parents in her life.

The same chemistry they shared at the bar carried on seven years later, and in some ways, they were similar people. There were also so many ways they were different, and every little difference put them at odds. For instance: Nate liked the company of others occasionally, and that apparently irked Natalie to no end.

Case in point, Noel. During their meeting, Noel was a point of discussion, and they were on opposing sides of a budding argument quickly quelled by Devon. Without their referee, Natalie was apparently ready to let the discussion bloom into something needlessly passive-aggressive.

It was the wrong topic. Noel was on the short list of people Nate trusted and defended without question. He had been looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows at a spur-of-the-moment thunderstorm—yet another example of the recent bizarre happenings that could in no way be a memory-mancer’s fault. He took a calming sip of his scotch and turned his glance to Natalie. How bad did he want things to get? ”I gave her a healthy dose of my past once, and she kept on treating me like a friend. It’s amazing how judgmental can be when it comes to people with questionable pasts,” he added flatly. Natalie had some admirable qualities, but he would be hard-pressed to think of anyone he knew who was more prepared to pass judgment swiftly and definitively.

Natalie watched Nate with a cool expression as he sipped his scotch. Yes, she had purposely pushed him, pushed the topic. It was unnecessary, but she had done it. Sure, it would start the conversation down a path of passive-aggressive comments, and possibly even actual shouting, but she wasn’t one for small talk. They weren’t small people, after all.

And neither was Noel. Even the thought of her made Natalie’s jaw clench. She was just… Noel. Not only that, but she seemed to be everyone’s darling at Haven.

>>”I gave her a healthy dose of my past once, and she kept on treating me like a friend. It’s amazing how judgmental can be when it comes to people with questionable pasts,”

Natalie snorted loudly.

That had obviously been a dig at her and her tendency to be judgemental. Yes, the woman knew that she could come across in certain lights to people, but she didn’t particularly care. She had to keep her mouth shut when working with clients, so she sure as hell wasn’t going to force herself to do the same thing in her personal life. No, if there were people that bothered her, then she wasn’t going to invite them into her life on her own time.

Unfortunately, she had invited Nate in. With Nate, apparently, came twenty bimbos that Natalie now had to deal with.

“Well maybe if your past wasn’t so checkered then you wouldn’t have to dig so far into the trash for a friend,” Natalie pointed out, blinking her heavy-lidded eyes pointedly. She was quick to judge, but there was lots of judging that needed to be done around Haven. They let in far too much riff-raff for her tastes.

The woman sipped her wine and shook her head haughtily as she made herself more comfortable on the couch. ”I hope they’re still keeping her on a leash. Wouldn’t want her biting anyone else.”

Natalie had tact somewhere in her body. She worked as a lawyer, and she was damn good at her job, so she understood how to act socially in a way that would not get her thrown out of court rooms and conference rooms. When she needed to, she was capable of making a point eloquently and respectfully.

Those attributes of Natalie’s personality were conspicuously absent around Nate. In some ways, it was admirable to have someone who was so direct and honest, with no intentions of bull*****ing him. It was hard to see that side of the coin when she was doing her best to remind him of just how petty and passive-aggressive she could be.

The snort was wholly unnecessary. It was the way someone laughed when they were starting to judge you before they were ready to even properly laugh. She looked like the Mistress of her own Domain, sitting comfortably on the couch, sipping wine between pointed accusations that Nate’s past made him a poor judge of character, and that Noel was comparable to a wild dog.

Nate took a steadying breath, because there was no need to get riled up. She was probably good at getting someone’s blood boiling, but Nate was not one of the people she could freely bully and throw her weight around with. He had made great strides as a person over the years, but Nate Holloway still knew how to sink down to someone’s level in an argument. He was not going to shy away from a petty place.

”Ah yes, my questionable past. Maybe that’s it.” He swirled the scotch slowly around his glass, watching as the amber liquor circled within. ”Sadly, not all of us could rely on daddy’s old money, a tight skirt, and a personable disposition like you to make friends.”

He raised the glass toward his lips, but stopped, as another foggy memory surfaced. ”Besides, from what I remember, you weren’t always so averse to biting.” There, now he could enjoy a small victory sip.

Nate was very obviously trying his best not to let himself be riled up by her comments, which she sort of respected, in a way. He was sticking to his guns and being loyal to his friends, despite the fact that they (she) did not deserve it. Well, he would go down with that sinking ship. No white flag for him.

What had initially drawn the two of them together was the fact that they could push each other farther than the average pair and still find that the other would come back swinging. They were a rare pairing that could manage to bounce back witty comments for hours on end. That fact really hadn't changed in the time that they were away.

Her comment about his past didn't go over all that well, which was to be expected. He'd had a rough go of things, even if it was mostly his fault. It wasn't really Natalie's place to judge, but she still did. If he was going to bring himself into a relationship with her child, then she did have a bit of a right to get nosey with that sort of thing.

"Well, it's a good thing that you didn't have those things, huh? You might have ended up with even more bimbos hanging off of you," she replied sharply. It was partly just a jab, and partly truthful. Natalie wasn't entirely fond of all the women he seemed to parade around, nearly bringing them into Norah's life. She was very careful about who she introduced to her (and therefore who she spent the most time with), and she expected the same from Nate. Eventually, they were all going to come back to haunt him.

>>”Besides, from what I remember, you weren’t always so averse to biting.”

"Oh good, you remembered the one thing I didn't have to fake," Natalie responded dryly. If he was going to go there, then she was going to go there, too. It seemed that nothing was off limits. He had been right, though. She couldn't believe that he even remembered that. She'd even forgotten about it.

Nate was offended, but only for the women in his life. Natalie was defensive because of his position as Norah’s father, but it did not make her comments any less unfair. He was not unaware of the ratio of women-to-men in his social circles, but Noel, Quin, Alexandra, and even Sarah, (regardless of how things had to end,) were all respectable, good people. Noel was more of a loose cannon than some of the others, but she gave him every reason to trust her. Did his judge of character not count for anything?

The women he kept company with were not the only ones on the chopping block, as Natalie proved herself willing to lie to make a point and cut deep. The reason he still remembered the moments of biting in their first rendezvous was because he had recently started revisiting that night more often. In hindsight, it was the night where his life would forever change, even if he was unaware for years. There was more to it than that.

As co-parents and co-workers, the two were spending plenty of time together. Initially, Nate was seeing Natalie as the mother of his child, but the more time spent around her, the easier it was to remember who she was as a woman. Fiery, smart, aggressive, and sexy. There were moments when he would look at her cross her legs under her skirt or lean over a table, and he would remember flashes of that night. A body pressed against a wall, arms being pinned to a bed, and of course, biting.

It was important to keep their relationship professional and respectable, because they had Norah to think about. That did not mean Nate was not willing to reach back into their history to win an argument.

His memory was clear enough to know Natalie Ross was too honest to fake anything while drunk, let alone that.

”I think you’re making assumptions. If I spent time with ‘questionable women,’ that was probably in an old life, slumming my way through bars and party girls. Nashville, Seattle. Chicago,” he added nonchalantly.

”I am a little worried about your memory though, Nat. Because I remember panting. Shuddering. Screaming.” Each word was spoken slowly and deliberately, looking to evoke imagery. ”Whoever called in the noise complaint didn’t think anything about that was fake.” Thankfully, it was only a call to the hotel front desk rather than the police. The night was… intense enough, they were lucky they left the bed intact.

If she'd offended Nate with her comment about his female friends, then he wasn't showing it. Her comment about his bimbos went by without so much as a flinch from him. Either he didn't care about his women as much as he let on, or his mind was elsewhere. It was just a question of where.

Natalie didn't have to wonder for long.

Her comment about having to fake things that night oh so long ago had not gone unnoticed. While it wasn't completely true, she thought she'd done a good job of delivering that line. Plus, they were both so drunk that she doubted that he even remembered that one random night from nearly seven years ago. If she hadn't gotten pregnant from it, then she definitely wouldn't have.

It seemed that he remembered it very well, though, as he made digs at their one-off relationship and called her bluff. Natalie raised her eyebrows and stood up from her seat as she mulled over what he'd just said. The noise complaint. She'd completely forgotten about the noise complaint. How on earth had he remembered that?

She took another sip of wine and then continued. "Spending a lot of time in the past these days, Nate?" she taunted, placing a hand on her waist and crossing one heeled foot over another. Could it really have been that he'd spent his own time remembering that moment? Surely it was just thinking about what came from it. As much as she sometimes remembered her initial attraction to him, it wasn't something she considered pursuing (no matter how much she occasionally wanted to). They were co-parents, not drunk people in their twenties.

"I just hope you've learned to pipe down a bit now with your women," Natalie continued, deflecting the comment. "We wouldn't want Norah to be associated with the apartment with all the screaming."

Damn, now her mind was wandering. Parts of that night that had been long forgotten were resurfacing as she stared at Nate. Images just kept coming, and she was finding it hard not to want to get lost in them. She rolled her eyes and glanced down at her wine glass as she tried to push them all from her mind. They were taking it too far. If they continued down that road, there was no telling where it would lead.  

Natalie turned things around too quickly for Nate’s liking. She had a point; they were under the influence of alcohol the night they slept together. The only reason Nate remembered little details about that night was because he had been pushing to remember. He had not been blackout drunk, so the memories were there, and at first, he was trying to remember how he put himself in such a position. Then, he was remembering some of the vivid details of how he put himself in that position. Now, when Natalie did something small to get to him, he would think back to that night.

It was just a one-night-stand. It was also an evening of undeniable chemistry from the bar to the bedroom.

”I guess it’s easier for me to remember back to those days,” he admitted, his tone neutral as he took another sip of scotch. ”I wasn’t living the crazy college lifestyle. Probably fewer names to remember” The life of a conman was nothing close to chaste, but it was also a lonely lifestyle, and he did not find the time for a new bedmate every week. Meanwhile, Natalie was in the packed social ecosystem of college, surrounded by people looking to make connections. With her looks and wit, Nate would not have been surprised if he had been the most recent in a long line of conquests to fall to those blue eyes.

Natalie was hiding behind Norah, but she certainly seemed fixated on the idea of Nate and the women in his life. He had yet to mention that there were no women in his life at the moment. Things with Sarah came to an end, Quin was just a friend, and the idea of sleeping with Noel was actually laughable. Somehow, he thought withholding that information a little longer would be more fun than admitting things were quiet on the romantic front. ”Oh, don’t you worry about that. You’d be surprised how thick the walls are in the apartments here.”

He looked back at Natalie, drinking her in. She was gorgeous; it was undeniable. He did his best to keep his eyes on level with hers, knowing scotch would eventually lead to wandering glances. It would have been harder not to let his gaze fall if her eyes were not so striking. Of all the (many) memories from their night together, her eyes stood out intensely, staring at him with hunger, piercing through him. He never stood a chance.

”Are you sure I’m the one we should be worried about?” he deflected, not keen on letting her control their spat. ”With how vocal you are, are you certain your neighbors aren’t the ones talking? I can’t imagine the men you’re luring into your bed.” It was true, actually; he could not imagine those men. What he could imagine was himself tangled in high-thread-count sheets and a dark-haired vixen.

Nate was infuriating. Every single comment that was supposed to wear him down and get him to cave was simply sent back at her with the same level of wit and self-confidence that she prided herself on. Infuriating, but also so strangely enjoyable.

Usually, Natalie found herself at the top of the food chain. There were few people that could keep up with her in a conversation, and she found herself considering them beneath her. It was a comfortable way to live, but also a little lonely and boring. As much as Nate was making her work, it was in the best possible way. Part of her wanted to crush him, and another part wanted them to be able to keep going like that forever. Yet another part of her wanted to shove him down onto the couch, but she wasn’t entertaining those images.

She raised an eyebrow at his comment about her having many names to remember during college. Yes, they had met during a time in her life when she was a little lost, and a little promiscuous. There had been several other paternity tests issued before Nate, even though she had known from an early point in Norah’s life exactly who her father was. There was no denying it.

As much as she may have wanted to, though, he was right. She didn’t remember a lot from that time. It was just lucky that she had remembered what Nate had looked like (though his fake name had slipped her mind) so she’d been able to stop him that day.

Yes, she had been making a dig at the women in his life. Natalie tried her best not to let herself think about Nate in those ways, but sometimes it was difficult, especially when he kept himself looking like that. Seeing him with that many beautiful women hanging off of him wasn’t something that she enjoyed all that much. Meanwhile, he just seemed to use the opportunity to rub it in further. ”Oh wow, lucky girl. Her dad may be sleeping with anything that moves, but at least the walls are soundproof,” she continued, trying to keep her face straight as to not let on how much the idea was bothering her.

The idea actually bothered her quite a bit. She didn’t want to have to imagine Nate with anyone else if at all possible. She knew that she had no right to want that, though. They weren’t together, and they had no claim on each other. There was nothing in writing or in stone. All she had to use as ammunition was Norah.

>>”Are you sure I’m the one we should be worried about? With how vocal you are, are you certain your neighbors aren’t the ones talking? I can’t imagine the men you’re luring into your bed.”

Natalie narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn’t exactly celibate, but she wasn’t like she was when she was in college. ”I don’t take men home, Nate,” she explained, her voice slightly more calm than before. These were facts, not digs. If he was going to assume things about her life, then he had to get something straight. ”I don’t take men home to my daughter unless they’re serious. Even then, things don’t happen at the apartment.” It had been a while since she’d brought someone for Norah to meet.

Yes, she was annoyed and wanted to make Nate as annoyed as she was, but there were still lines that she didn’t cross. He needed to know what those were.

Natalie was really harping on Nate’s womanizing ways, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from chuckling. The truth was so far from that, it made him realize how many assumptions she was jumping to when imagining his love life. Many of the people in his life were attractive women, undeniably, and he was not celibate. He could flirt with the girls and guys at any given bar, and on rare occasion, he found his way into someone’s bed for the evening.

But Nate’s sexual encounters were currently few and far between, if for no other reason than time. With the hours he was putting into Haven, the School, painting, and being Norah’s father, he was often too exhausted to make it down to the bar and socialize.

The real question was whether Natalie really thought he was sleeping with half of New York City, or whether the handful of people he might have slept with irked her. They were co-parents, but Nate was a single adult, (not that she knew that,) and had the right to pursue his own romantic, and if he wanted, purely sexual interests.

She also took issue with his implications of her nighttime activities in the apartment, and Nate knew he had to recant that comment. ”You’re right, of course. I’d expect nothing less, and rest assured, I’d never have someone over if Norah was here.” Natalie was selective about bringing people into Norah’s life, and the last thing Nate wanted was to subject Norah to meeting anyone temporary in his own life. Had things worked out with Sarah, he would have been hesitant bringing her around his daughter right away. (Then again, that was evidently more temporary than initially expected as well.)

”For your information, I am very selective with my bedmates,” he wanted to clarify, nipping any concerns of his sleeping around the city in the bud. Nate was unsure why he wanted Natalie to understand that, but he did. It was likely the knowledge that he wanted her to know the kind of man he was since he was in their daughter’s life.

Of course, that did not mean he could not turn that around and get them out of the moment of honest clarification they stumbled into. ”I’ve raised my standards over the years. You know what they say about sharks and lawyers, after all.” He took the last sip from his glass of scotch and added, ”They’re both cold-blooded.”

The air between them seemed to have softened somehow. They had been arguing, shooting comments back and forth, but it had come to a bit of a standstill. All that Natalie had to do was remind him that she really did put their daughter first, whatever he may have thought about her. It wasn't to make him feel bad or to win any argument (although it was a welcome side effect), but it was simply because it was the truth. Norah came before everything.

Apparently feeling similarly, Nate claimed the same thing. That he would never bring someone home when Norah was there. Convenient that he only claimed such a thing after Natalie had explained her own reservations. She rolled her eyes ever so slightly as she turned to the side and took another sip of her wine. She supposed that they would see if he was being truthful down the road. It was just a shame that Norah would be the one that would have to suffer if he wasn't.

>>”For your information, I am very selective with my bedmates,”

"Selective in the sense that they need to be able to join you in bed? Sure, I'll believe that," Natalie snarked in response. The moment of truce had passed, giving way to more snide comments. They were always on the same page, though, since it hadn't taken long for Nate to take the same route as she had.

>>”I’ve raised my standards over the years. You know what they say about sharks and lawyers, after all. They’re both cold-blooded.”

Natalie quirked her head casually and took a step closer to the man. "Oh, but sometimes shark bites feel so good, don't they?" Natalie pointed out, putting a little more emotion in her voice than usual. She was close enough to smell the scotch on his breath by that point, and she knew what she was doing. It was fun to toy with people sometimes, especially when there was a moment to gain the upper hand. "But you remember that, don't you?"

Nate did not expect Natalie to take him at his word, and the eye roll was anticipated. She was defensive of the way she raised Norah, and she had done a great job. It concerned Nate that every pet peeve he triggered might make her question the type of man she was letting into their daughter’s life.

Oddly, the room felt more comfortable when Natalie resumed her snarky accusations of his character. Things were too real for a moment, but tense bickering seemed to suit them well. It was light and shallow and antagonistic, but it was a safe zone for them.

Apparently, Natalie did not understand the concept of a safe zone, because she chose to get up and approach him. The distance between them shrank quickly, and Nat was upon him, encroaching on his personal bubble. It was a decidedly unsafe decision; everyone knew tension and proximity led to volatile reactions. He stood from his seat too, still holding his empty glass, but they were face to face by the time he got to his feet. This close, he was acutely aware of the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

She was tempting him and fate with her words, but she knew what she was doing. His eyes glanced at her mouth, clad in a wicked smirk. What he wondered was how much she underestimated her own position now.

His hand lightly met her side, gently moving down past her hip until it found a spot at the back of her thigh. He gave a firm squeeze, pulling her leg up and around him. He kept a strong hand on her waist to steady her. ”You’re talking a lot about the past. I wonder…” His lips came within a paperwidth of her ear and he whispered, ”Do you still have that bite?”

With the distance between them closed, there was no buffer to stop the obvious sexual tension. Nothing to stop them when Nate stood up and was suddenly face to face with her, close enough to touch. Natalie didn't exactly do anything to stop it, either. She wanted to see how far he would go down the dangerous line. She seriously doubted that he would cross it, though.

Her doubts were misplaced. 

Suddenly, there was a hand on her thigh, squeezing hard as he pulled it off of the ground. Natalie let out a small noise of surprise, but regained her composure quickly. Natalie didn't like being manhandled, but there were exceptions. In that circumstance, it felt like something that they'd been holding themselves back from doing. Like it had needed to happen for a while to diffuse the tension.

Only, the tension just grew the closer they got. She'd figured that if they got a little closer, the air would clear up again, and they'd be free to return to their drinking and bickering. The closer they got, the more Natalie had trouble breathing, and the more she wanted his hands in other places. Dammit, why did his eyes have to look like that?

She no longer had the upper hand. She'd lost it when he took her leg off the floor and use his hand to steady her. If she just moved the right way, then she could get back to... oh, who was she kidding? She didn't want that.

>>”You’re talking a lot about the past. I wonder… Do you still have that bite?”

Natalie forced her leg out of his grasp and shoved him back down on the seat. Fiercely, she stepped forward and climbed onto his lap, straddling him. "I guess you'll have to find out," she breathed into his ear before pressing her mouth to his. 

Natalie was not expecting the leg grab, which was her own mistake. She broke into his space with those lips and those eyes and that body. She bridged the gap and steeped the air around them in sexual tension. She made her move, and it was becoming clear she was not an easily resisted woman. Nate’s resolve faltered because he genuinely could not think of why he was resisting in the first place. Maybe this was just something he wanted.

It was clear he was not the only one wanting. It was in one moment that they both seemed fine with finally giving up the façade and the bravado of pushing away. She pulled her leg away, but only to get the leverage to properly shove Nate down to the couch.

He liked her weight on him. She had a commanding presence, and it was undeniably sexy. Her tight dress naturally hiked up her thigh so she could get into the position. His hands instinctively found her hips, and her lips made a brief visit to his ear before trailing down to his lips.

His body temperature escalated at the contact. There was something about those soft, pillowy lips and all that came with them that made him feel elevated. Hotter, more aggressive, more passionate. Nate was not going to let her control the entire entanglement, but he wanted to let her have her fun. She led them in all the right directions, and before the tug of war for dominance took over, he wanted to revel in Natalie in her most natural element.

One hand grasped at her hair while the other hand grasped a less innocent location. His lips and teeth found her bare neck, and his voice spoke in a low, dark tone, muffled by tantalizing skin. ”Enjoy your time on top. It won’t last, sugar.”

It was evident from the moment that they were close that they had both been anticipating that moment. Why they had waited so long was unclear, but finally touching like that felt like a release of pent-up tension. With both of egos aside, they could finally let go of their inhibitions and experience what they'd both wanted for all too long. 

From the moment that he'd come back into her life, Natalie had wanted to make Nate feel. She wasn't sure whether she'd wanted to make him feel pleasure or pain (or maybe a little bit of both), but it was all coming out as she tore off his shirt. 

As promised, there were teeth in her neck, and she'd lost her breath. There was no turning back now. They were all in, and Natalie was alright with that. The more it went on, the more she realized how long they'd been denying themselves that experience. All of the memories of that first time came flooding back, and it was like they were still there, seven years earlier. 

>>”Enjoy your time on top. It won’t last, sugar.”

"Shut up and get over yourself," Natalie growled as she undid her zipper and covered his mouth with her own.

-----------------------------------------------FTB---------------------------------------------

Natalie lay on her back and caught her breath as she stared up at the ceiling. The room was silent except for the sounds of their breathing, which was a far cry from what it had been just a few minutes prior. Natalie stayed where she was for a minute or two, letting what had just happened sink in. Before, she hadn't thought about what it might mean for their working and personal relationship, but as she looked between Nate and her clothes that were strewn about the room, she couldn't help but think about the consequences.

Maybe, just maybe, they would be able to continue to keep real feelings out of the situation and continue on like they had been before. 

She didn't feel like getting dressed just yet, so she sat up instead, glancing at Nate again. "Do you have anywhere you need to be?" she asked to get the ball rolling as she reached for her wine.