Natasha pulled up the dirt driveway and under the carport that needed fixed as it was now leaning away from the house. She got out of the station wagon with the leftovers. Unlocking the one lock on the side door, she heard no noise inside. Since it was eleven p.m., her sister, Natalie—Tillie for short—was most likely babysitting to help with their money situation. It was just Natasha tonight in this old run-down house.
Their parents had bought the house when she was fifteen, and up until their untimely demise, they had been trying to renovate it. After spending ten years in Australia, they had suddenly moved back to Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. At that time, their neighborhood had not been too dangerous. Then recently, her father and mother wanted to fix up the house, especially after Nathan, her younger brother, had graduated and gotten into the wrong crowd.
There were now holes in the walls, from when her father took a sledgehammer to the drywall in order to expand the dining room into the kitchen. The carpet had been ripped up, and the bare floorboards were still exposed. Natasha wasn’t a carpenter, and her brother, Nathan, hadn’t been much help before he went away, so the house stayed in renovation mode.
Taking her shoes and jacket off, Natasha then made a plate with the food she had brought home from the diner, and headed for the living room. Sitting down on the run-down couch with ripped cushions, she turned the TV on. They were lucky enough to get Peasant vision. Natasha turned the TV to an old comedy. Eating the leftovers her boss was kind enough to give her, she watched TV and laughed a little.
Grant allowed her to take leftovers home every night she worked. He felt bad for her situation, and that he couldn’t pay her more for the great work she did. Especially when she did shifts behind the grill, and created holiday desserts baked to perfection.
It was three weeks away from Christmas, and so far, Natasha hadn’t been able to save up enough money in tips to buy a few presents for her sister. She’d need to work harder and be more pleasant, although her mind was too preoccupied with worry some days.
This was going to be their second Christmas without their parents and brother. Natasha wanted to make it nicer for Natalie since Nathan was still in prison and missing out again.
Nathan was younger than Natasha by two years, and currently in prison. After his high school graduation, he chose to take the year off. He unfortunately got into drugs and the wrong crowd. After their parents died, Nathan’s girlfriend suddenly dumped him, and he then stole a fancy car. He got busted after he took the police on a high-speed pursuit, sending him to jail for four years. His downfall had started the day of their parents' funeral.
They had just gotten back from church where the funeral service had been held; the same church they’d been attending Sunday services since being back in Canada. Since the Romeos didn’t have a Will or much money, the pastor told Natasha he would hold the funeral service and help them pay to have their parents’ bodies cremated.
Natalie was awfully quiet; Nathan seemed to be bitter about something, and also antsy. Once they got home from the service, Natalie and Natasha were about to make some tea to help settle their nerves. Nathan was at the door and had been snappy all day until the pastor spoke, then Natasha saw him shed some tears.
Natasha headed over to her brother to comfort him. She knew something was bothering him, but as usual, he was keeping it bottled up. “Nathan, where are you going?” she asked, upset her brother wasn’t going to stay with them and reminisce about the good times with their parents.
“I gotta talk to somebody!”
His words were short and clipped, and she didn’t feel this was the time to be heading off to his buddy’s house or Jillian’s. Natalie had come up beside her, and stood looking at their brother. “We understand you are hurting, Nathan. Honestly, why are you leaving us?” Nat collected Tillie’s hand and squeezed it to reassure her everything would be alright. Then looking at her brother tenderly, Natasha pleaded, “We need you right now.” Feeling her sister tremble with fear, Natasha was also having a hard time holding it all together.
“Yeah, well... You got each other, and...” Nathan said in a cold monotone voice before trailing off. He glanced down to the floor before looking back at them. Then he said, “Look, I just need to be with somebody right now.” Opening the door, he gave them a look that said ‘I dare you to try to stop me.’
“Let me guess...Jillian?” Nat quickly asked. She didn’t want to be sharp with her brother, but she was becoming angry that he would rather be with his girlfriend than be with his two sisters who needed him.
Nathan looked at her and Natalie with a glare of loathing before rolling his eyes to the side. She could see the pain and anger behind his mask of emotions. Looking at him with her tears resurfacing, she hoped he would stay. But without answering her, he stepped out of the house and slammed the door. Tillie started to cry, and Natasha hugged her sister while allowing her own tears to fall free.
Natasha knew Nathan had a guilty mind. He once told her that it was due to a fight, but knowing her brother, she was sure it was more than a fight.
Nathan was always at the principal’s office for some stunt he had pulled. Her brother often said he was bored in class, leading to mischief. She was surprised Nathan had even graduated, but then again, their father was pretty tough on all of them.
Natalie, their baby sister, was a good kid. She was five years younger than Natasha, and three years younger than Nathan. She worked really hard in school, and was talented. If it wasn’t for her sister, Natasha didn’t know how she could have gotten through her parents’ death. Natalie insisted upon picking up as many babysitting jobs as she could to help with their bills. As much as Natasha hated that, her sister felt she needed to work to help with their money situation. She hated it more that Tillie was missing out on her youth. She tried hard to encourage her little sister to enjoy the school functions and other activities because it wasn’t fair that she had to grow up so quickly. Her sister might be a year older and a year wiser than last Christmas, but Tillie was still a kid and deserved some happiness.
On quiet nights like tonight, she normally found herself thinking about the past. Her mom would normally be knitting a blanket to donate to babies born with cancer, while her father cursed at the sports game on television. Natasha would cry because she felt she failed her parents with Nathan in prison, and Natalie having to earn money to help with their situation because they were barely surviving.
Thank God she had that fine-looking Damon Cullen to fantasize about tonight. He had the most beautiful eyes she’d ever been captivated by, even though she couldn’t go to the function he’d asked her to attend at the last minute.
Her job at the truck stop restaurant was enough to keep the bill collectors away and Child Protective Services out of their lives. At the time of their parents' death, Natalie was sixteen. There was no way that Natasha would allow her sister to be taken into foster care. Natasha knew she was all that Natalie had, and she wasn’t going to take the chance of losing another member of the Romeo family.
Natasha felt terrible that Nathan had deserted them, and she wasn’t strong enough to keep him out of the wickedness of the neighborhood when he couldn’t deal with their parents’ death. She loved her brother, but her love wasn’t strong enough to stop him from getting into trouble—shortly after their parents’ death, and his girlfriend, Jillian, dumping him, before she moved away. He then found himself in jail for the next four years.
Undressing in the bathroom of the master suite she was now sleeping in, Natasha put her hands into her pockets, removing Mr. Cullen's business card and the tips she had received today.
She didn’t know why she said it. Why she agreed to something that was out of her league. Natasha had never accepted invites from wealthy, good-looking men while in university.
So why now?
Stepping into the shower and feeling the water pounding on her tired muscles, Natasha closed her eyes. But all she could see was the sexy physique of Damon and his grey-blue eyes that pulled her into him. The way he gently had held her hands, his tenderness that had warmed her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. When he had spoken to her outside the restaurant again, she even heard a richer charming Italian accent to match his gorgeous olive skin, and blackest of black hair.
With the water running down her body, Natasha tried to think of a perfectly good reason to call Damon and explain why she couldn’t attend the event. She could tell him her sister was sick, but then he might ask how old her sister was. Tillie was seventeen and perfectly able to stay home alone. Perhaps Natasha could tell him that she couldn’t get the night off, although the idea of lying to a complete stranger didn’t sit well with her. Even though it shouldn’t matter to her since he was a somebody and she was a nobody. He would move on.
She would just cancel and tell him that she already had plans.
Natasha hadn’t known what had possessed her this afternoon at work, but before she could stop the words, they were out. “Okay, I’ll go,” she had said when he turned to leave after telling her to call him if she changed her mind.
Damon had just smiled kindly at her, and nodded his head. Then he stepped out of the diner and headed for his yellow Lamborghini—sitting out like a blazing burst of flames—parked in amongst beat-up, older, cheaper vehicles.
While watching him step into the very expensive car, which would pay for all the piled up bills and get their house back in order, Natasha felt insignificant and unsure why she had agreed.
The man was probably used to getting his way, and Natasha, a complete stranger, had just agreed to a blind date so to speak. The man was gorgeous as hell, and most sensible women probably would have just paid to have his shirt dry-cleaned if they were in their right mind.
Her mind only saw a dark-haired prince and a damsel in distress.
It took some time for Natasha to relax while in bed. She wanted to call Damon right now, but it was too late in the day, and that would undoubtedly be rude.
*****
That night was the first night that Damon had found himself unable to sleep. He laid awake in his king-size bed, wondering if the girl from the diner would indeed come like she had agreed, or whether she would call and cancel. This was the first time a woman had interrupted his thoughts and made it difficult for him to sleep. And it didn’t help that Natasha’s aqua-blue eyes and contagious smile were burned into the backs of his eye lids, so every time he closed his eyes, that’s all he saw.
Damon did not notice a wedding ring or any other jewelry indicating she might be taken. There should be no reason why Natasha wouldn’t be able to attend with him. He couldn’t see her lesser-class status creating a problem for her when most women would jump at the opportunity to be seen with a wealthy man. She wasn’t likely to know anyone, making his task of seducing her even easier.
Damon would wine and dine her, and see where the night led them. Hopefully, back to his place and into his bed. If Natasha was anything similar to investments or stocks, Damon would greedily enjoy her and all that she had to offer him.
*****
The next morning after getting her sister off to school, Natasha repeatability taped the business card on the overly-clean countertop. She was praying he wouldn’t answer the phone, and then Natasha could just leave a message and be done with it.
For the past hour, Natasha cleaned the house and cleaned it again, some things more than twice. It was like a nervous twitch.
After her parents died, she did a lot of cleaning.
Finally, she dialed his number and as the phone rang and rang, Natasha Romeo held her breath...
*****
Damon was in meetings with clients, and they were working on projection forecasts. His office number was on his business card, so today, he told his secretary that some important clients were calling, and to patch all incoming calls to his cell. When he took a break, Damon noticed that he had missed some incoming calls to his cell, and saw some had gone to voicemail. Going through the few messages, some were clients wanting to change a stock option or pull a stock. And lastly some clients wanted to set up a meeting.
The very last message was from Natasha. Damon had to listen to the message twice. Her voice was so quiet and soft he wasn’t sure he’d heard the message correctly the first time.
“Hi. Mr. Cullen, it’s Nat. I mean, Natasha. The waitress at John’s Gas and Go. Um...you probably don’t remember me, well... I guess you would. I...ah...dumped the pie on you. I’m so sorry!” There was a pause of silence. “I’m rambling, I apologize! Look, I’m calling to cancel the date...or, well...whatever it was you wanted me to attend with you this Friday. I’m sorry, it’s just bad timing,” Natasha had said nervously, and ended the call quickly after.
Damon sat back in his chair, running a hand through his hair, which was longer than usual. She couldn’t go, bad timing? He couldn’t understand what would be bad timing for her. She worked at a run-down diner, surely someone could cover her shift. He must have sat stumped and bothered for at least twenty minutes. This was by far the first time he’d been turned down. None of the other women he’d dated said no. It struck a chord.
Once Damon had made his fortune, women were throwing themselves at him. If he asked a woman on a date, she was already assuming they would spend the night together. Damon shouldn’t even have given Natasha a second thought, but her eyes and smile were bothering him to sudden arousal. It mostly troubled him that she, Natasha, would turn him down. Did she think she was better than he? A night out with him could open up doors for a girl like her.
Well, he would just have to find out why she couldn’t get someone to cover her shift. Natasha did say she’d make it up to him! Besides, the function was just a cover. Ultimately, he wanted her in the most basic way possible, and that was in his bed, underneath him. He wanted her moaning with each pump he gave her as he brought her closer to a mind-shattering, rainbow-catching orgasm.
Damon was willing to do the work to get Natasha’s night freed up. It would be a pleasurable way of ‘making it up to him’ in return for her clumsiness.