If there was good in the universe, sex should have felt worse when it was a terrible idea. Mistake sex should have no appeal to prevent people from making bad life choices, but in a cruel twist of fate, the opposite was usually true. Sex that could complicate your life was often the hardest to say no to, which led to situations like the one Nate found himself in.

Nate was still coming down from the high of adrenaline and hormones that flooded his body moments earlier. His clothes were… somewhere. That part was hazy. They definitely were not on his body—Natalie saw to that. Clothing was removed hastily, and he was sure there might be marks he would find when he was in the state of mind to look himself over.

Assessment would come later, because Natalie was still beside him, sitting up in all her glory. Putting aside all potential complications, it was still something to behold.

Propping himself up on his elbows, Nate shook his head and grinned. ”If I had anywhere to be, that wouldn’t have happened. I’m not a fan of quickies.” An hour later, there was nothing quick about their most recent tryst.

Breathing was finally returning to normal, and the air-conditioned air was cool against the heat and sweat that came with strenuous physical activity. He had slept with the mother of his child, who was also his co-worker. Hooking up was a mistake on multiple fronts, and he was still unsure of the best way to approach what happened. Was it best to have an actual conversation about the implications of getting involved with each other, even physically? Or they could acknowledge the undeniable physical attraction between them and respect that moments like this would be inevitable. Then again, maybe it was best to act like it never happened?

Nate was going to hold off on broaching heavy topics first, choosing to keep things light. ”Do you think this constitutes ‘inappropriate use of company property?’” They had just christened the LIE, which was, by definition, a meeting space for Haven.

Yeah, they had certainly taken their time with things, which meant that Natalie was probably not going to be able to stop in at the office after their meeting as planned. In fact, at that point, it made more sense to just abandon any notion of doing so, since it really didn’t seem like either of them were going anywhere soon. Not with their clothes strewn about the room like that, anyway.

Nate was just unclothed as she was and just as hazy following their activities. He seemed to be almost giddy and dreamy, despite the fact that Natalie knew he wasn’t stupid enough to think that any of that had been a good idea.

They were co-parents and coworkers, meaning they would have to see each other on a regular, if not daily, basis for many, many years to come. The first time that they had slept together had been a given, but a second time changed things. Especially since they were both mostly sober and coherent. They would have to look at each other during I.E. meetings and parent teacher conferences.

It was going to be really difficult to picture him in any other position than lying on his back on the floor, without any sort of cover.

Still, he kept things light and civil. There was none of that bickering just yet, even though it was always waiting just around the corner. It was hard to get away from things when they were that inevitable.

>>”Do you think this constitutes ‘inappropriate use of company property?’”

”Considering what we did to that coffee table, I think it definitely does,” Natalie replied dryly, lying back and rolling onto her side to face him. There was no use pretending that she was leaving anytime soon. She took in a deep breath and tried to think of something to talk about that wouldn’t get them as fired up as the previous discussions had.

Simple. The biggest thing that they had in common.

”Did I tell you that Norah is going to stay over at her friend’s house this weekend?” she asked quietly, suddenly the most civil that she had been that entire evening. She was actually talking about something that scared her a little.

They were smart, rational people. Natalie’s wit and intelligence were two qualities he always respected. (They were also two of her more attractive qualities, and thus probably played a role in their current position.) Unless the topic was Norah, she was not a particularly sentimental woman, so he was sure they could look at what happened realistically and figure things out from there.

He wondered if their most recent fling would affect the way they interacted with one another, but that would imply things were working normally before they had sex. The first night they met, they slept together, and working at Haven, the flames of that old passion were fanned until they caught fire again. They did not have to make things weird. They were adults with needs and undeniable chemistry.

Yet Nate was not sure where the banter from earlier went. It felt out of place in light of recent events, leaving him looking at the bare form of Natalie laying on her side. She was a beauty in their first encounter, but the years had only been kind to her. Most of the sexual encounters he had in New York were emotional, committed events, and even the flings he had under his belt were different than… whatever it was to sleep with Natalie again. His instinct was to run his fingers along her skin, but actual intimacy felt a step further than sex.

Natalie was the one to break the lingering post-coital silence. They were connected by their work and by their progeny, and she chose to bring up the latter. When they talked about Norah, things felt different. It always made Nat seem softer. As attractive as the “cold hard b****” version of her could be, Nate enjoyed the side of her brought out by motherhood the most.

”You mentioned it, yeah,” he said, a warm smile shining through as he rolled over to face her. ”Does it make you nervous? Having her out of your sight for that long?” Nate would not call Natalie overbearing, but she was certainly protective of their daughter. She wanted only the best for Norah in all things, so not being around to keep her safe or happy must have been a challenge for her.

Nate was not exactly aware of his hand resting at Nat’s waist. Moments earlier, he was apprehensive of “real contact,” but they were talking about Norah, and on some level, Nate knew he wanted to be there for Natalie. Maybe emotional support was occasionally a responsibility of co-parents. ”It’ll be fine, you know. Norah’s a smart girl. And if I know you, I’m sure you vetted the absolute hell out of her friend’s parents,” he added with a smirk.

There was a side to Natalie that very few people got to see. It only came out around Norah, really, or when she was talking about her. To any of the girl’s teachers or babysitters, Natalie was a completely different person - someone who genuinely cared and had a strong sense of compassion. She was careful to keep that side of her and the other one carefully separated, though. The last thing that she wanted was for someone from either area to catch her as her other self.

Nate seemed to be the only exception. It was impossible to keep him from infecting all areas of her life, by that point. He’d entered her personal life first, planted himself there in such a way that she would never be able to really get rid of him, and then very, very slowly worked his way through all the other areas. He had infested her life and there would be no getting rid of him.

Was that why he got under her skin so well? Why she wanted to both impress him and make him angry at the same time? He was impossible and wonderful at the same time, and she didn’t know what the f*** to do with him.

Well, clearly, she did know. For a while, anyway.

Sitting there on the floor, though, she was unable to stop herself from breaking the cold, hard b**** act and talking about Norah. Her face lit up and she revealed something that was uncomfortable and difficult for her. Despite their decision to stay at a comfortable distance, she had decided to open up to Nate. It wasn’t as if they had any distance left between them, anyway.

She sat back against the couch, one of her legs sliding up to a bend as she hung her arm over it. She grabbed her wine in her other hand and delved into the subject. It was strange to be sitting like that and talking about motherhood things.

”It’s a big step,” she said with a sigh, her eyes soft around the edges and her expression heavy. It was clear that she was having a difficult time with the idea. ”It means that she’s growing up, that she doesn’t really need me anymore. I mean, of course she still needs me for things, but… she won’t be in the house for an entire night and I won’t be there.”

She shrugged lightly and met his eyes. ”Allison, her friend’s mother, is actually a friend of mine. We have a monthly book club together.” The idea that Natalie could have an actual friend was probably absurd to anyone that knew the other side of her, but it was true. She needed that image for work, but it wasn’t all that she was. The cold, hard b**** in her had been born to survive, but that wasn’t the only thing in life. There was still some of that friendly party girl from college alive in there.

”I know that she’ll be fine, but… I don’t know, it feels big.” Natalie merely shrugged again and looked away as she took another sip of her wine.

The duality of Natalie Ross was interesting to witness, because Nate got the impression few ever did. He was a rare example of someone who existed in her two worlds. He knew the cutthroat, sharp-tongued Natalie well, alongside attorneys, politicians, and anyone who crossed her in public. He was also there to watch as she lowered the curtain enough to put on display her most tender, vulnerable side. She was a pragmatic woman, and in most cases, it would always benefit her to keep that side a secret from everyone in her working world. Everyone except Nate; he had carved a place for himself as the only exception.

He was not sure why, but he enjoyed knowing that.

She adjusted from laying on the floor to sitting on the floor, so Nate adjusted accordingly. His hand shifted from her side to her back, because it never received a command to pull away. He listened as she exposed a genuine emotional struggle she was dealing with. Nate’s mouth hung open for a moment because he was not anticipating that level of honesty.

He bounced back quickly, and his hand followed suit by rubbing up and down her back, working to be a calming presence. ”She’s always gonna need you, Nat. She’ll become more independent—if she has some of you in her, that’s unavoidable,” he added, the hint of a smirk on his lips. ”But she’s always going to know you’re a phone call away. I’m… maybe a little jealous of that.”

It was more unexpected honesty. Nate knew Norah was learning to accept him as her father, but they were starting their relationship from scratch. Their daughter knew Natalie was going to be a reliable presence in her life, but Nate had not done enough to earn that level of trust yet. ”Maybe one day, I hope,” he muttered uncertainly.

They were both offering moments of vulnerability to one another that broke the mold of their usual conversations. Even when they talked as parents, there was something more professional about what they said and what they withheld. Nate suddenly wondered if he had pushed things too far or dragged down the mood, so he subtly shifted the focus of the conversation. ”It’s nice to picture you with friends at a book club. Drinking wine and talking on the merits of Pride and Prejudice for women in modern society.” He wondered if the other side of Natalie was carefree and relaxed, or if she still had that fire, arguing with her fellow club members.

”I’d love to meet Allison, honestly.” Nate trusted Nat’s judgement, but he also liked knowing the people in his daughter’s life. As a much larger secondary interest, he was interested to know the type of company Nat kept when she checked out of the office. ”Then again, I’m probably not the easiest thing to explain to people, now am I?” He could see it in his mind. “Hi Allison, this is Nate, the past conquest who left me with a kid until I cornered him in a conference room and assigned him some long overdue parenting responsibilities.” It was a mouthful.

It was strange to be sitting in the IE meeting room, lacking clothes, and getting very, very real with the father of her child. Back when they had first met, Nate had seemed alluring but a little shallow, (not that she had any place to judge,) but now… he was quickly becoming someone very different to her. He was intelligent and wise. She felt like she could have a conversation with him on a level that was above most and difficult to come by.

She glanced at him and examined him with blue eyes for a long while after he admitted his own feelings toward Norah growing up. She had thought long and hard about the implications that bringing him into her and her daughter’s life would have, but she’d neglected to think much about what it would do to him. Much beyond the obvious, anyway.

He was jealous of the fact that she was closer to the little girl than he was and jealous of the time that he had missed out on. It wasn’t as if she could say anything reassuring about it, or even that she would want to since she would have gladly gone back and changed things if she could have. Being a single mother had not been easy, and having another set of hands would have been a Godsend. That time had passed, though, and all they could do was look forward.

Look forward at their daughter growing up and becoming more and more independent. There had been hard years when the girl was growing up that Natalie had almost wished away, but sitting there, she wanted nothing more than to go back and relive them. She wanted to hold onto that innocence as long as she possibly could.

”You’ll get there,” Natalie promised. It was a big step for her to come out and say something like that. She was telling him that they were, in fact, sharing everything about raising Norah. The good and the bad. Even if she had more of the custody. 

His hand had been on her back for a while, but she didn't ask him to remove it. It was a caring touch, one that was very different from anything that had been experienced by them earlier, but she liked it. It was calming and reassuring, and despite the fact that it put her in a weird position and gave him the upper hand, she was okay with it. She just didn't comment on any of it.

Her book club was a place of absolute solace. Once a month, mothers from the school hired a few babysitters, left them in one apartment with the children, and then went to another one to drink wine and talk s*** talk about books. Natalie had begun to let her guard down a bit there and get more comfortable. It was a good feeling.

Few people knew it even existed, though. Her social circle was small, and there were few people to tell that weren’t already in the club. Telling Nate was strange, but it felt right. It felt… oddly domestic. In fact, the whole situation felt very domestic. Sitting there after sex, talking about their child. God, that was a thought to unpack later.

”You’re Norah’s father that’s decided to put in the work to be involved in her life,” Natalie said, partially to distract herself from all those other thoughts. There was no need to complicate things beyond that. ”If you want to meet her, then you can come with me tomorrow night to drop Norah off, if you’d like.”

She hadn’t intended to invite him like that. It just felt natural, like it was something meant for Parents to do as a unit; see their daughter off for her first ever sleepover. She met his eyes with a raised eyebrow, hiding any real emotion deep in the back of her icy gaze. It was up to him whether or not he wanted to take that step.

Natalie was making a habit of finding ways to surprise Nate. The more time he spent with her, the more he saw her depth. He was taking a chance having a genuine, vulnerable moment with her. She could have turned things around and reminded him that she was the one to put in the work and thus the one to deserve a real relationship with Norah.

Except she did not. Nate knew she would not because he was learning the kind of woman Natalie was behind the cold front she hid behind. She promised him that he would find his way to where she was in time. He knew she wanted him to have a relationship with his daughter, but the three words felt more like permission. Nate was carefully treading as though he was a supplementary parent. Natalie was telling him he was her partner when it came to Norah, for better or worse. It inspired a lot of confidence that he would, in fact, get there eventually.

Nate’s life had taken unexpected turns, but he would never have believed one day he would be sharing an almost tender moment talking about his daughter with Natalie. They were not together, and they were recovering from what one might kindly describe as “argument sex,” yet Nate was feeling an overwhelming sense of normalcy. It was unexpected because he rarely did normal. Quin made things feel normal once. Sarah tried. But he was not expecting normal with Natalie.

They were co-parents, not lovers. But it was nice to just appreciate the moment.

Natalie seemed to be considering something, and when she spoke again, it was to offer an unexpected invite to meet Allison, the mother of Norah’s friend and friend of Natalie in her own right. Of course, in theory, Nate had the right to meet the woman who would be responsible for his daughter’s safety, but this was more than that. Allison was a part of Natalie’s private life, so letting Nate meet her friend was a sign that she trusted Nate with that side of her life. It was hard to see what she was thinking by inviting him because her expression was giving away nothing.

It was almost intimidating, like he was going to find a way to screw the meeting up and lose all his earned karma, but he was almost certainly reading too far into the situation. They established their boundaries; just because one had fallen did not mean the rest will. They would escort Norah to her sleepover as a team so they could both share that moment. ”I would really appreciate that, Nat. If Allison holds up to your lofty standards, I’m sure she’ll take great care of Norah, but I’d love to be there anyway.”

Meeting parents of friends with the mother of his child. Nate Holloway was officially living a domestic, even if it was not a conventional one.

Their situation was anything but conventional. A child born from a drunken college night, raised solely by a woman who had a difficult time making friends, and then forced into a strange, quasi-family arrangement that had all of their heads spinning. All because Nate Holloway had decided to waltz back into her life.

Natalie ran a hand through her hair and stood up from her spot against the couch, stretching out her limbs as she did so. She stepped over Nate to find her clothes, which looked a lot less professional balled up on the floor like that. It was just a good thing that they hadn’t been left overnight.

>>”I would really appreciate that, Nat. If Allison holds up to your lofty standards, I’m sure she’ll take great care of Norah, but I’d love to be there anyway.”

The brunette raised an eyebrow at him as she shook out her dress, trying to get the wrinkles out as best she could. As if she had been trying, she had somehow made things even more domestic. They were discussing a sleepover for their child while she dealt with clothes after sex. It was like fate guiding their actions by that point.

”She holds up, all right. You’ll probably like her,” Natalie mused. It was a strange thing to say. She didn’t really know what he liked at all, and yet she was making assumptions for him. Like she had any sort of claim over him at all. She shook her head at the idea.

She cleared her throat as she redressed, looking at the door that had thankfully stayed closed for the entire time that they had been together. ”Come over tomorrow around six and we can take her together,” she instructed. They could deal with things more the next day, when things were really happening. When her baby was taking a step toward being a grown up.

With her clothes back on, Natalie stood up straight, fixed her hair, put on her heels, and stepped toward the door. ”I’ll see you later, Nate.” No feelings, no weirdness. It had been purely physical.

Maybe one day she would believe that.