Unbidden Love (Book Five of the Bidden Series) by Crystal Cierlak Read Free Book Online Page B

the accompanying text. “' Harper Avery shows off the smile that launched a thousand Vogue covers while out to dinner with recently eligible bachelor and billionaire business tycoon James Fitzgerald. Harper and James dined at the ultra exclusive Masa, she in Zac Posen and he in Tom Ford, before quietly slipping into the Four Seasons for the evening’. Blah blah blah." She held the phone at her side and gave her friends an expectant look. "Half a dozen people sent me the link before I even woke up. You could try to take away my phone or my laptop or, God forbid, shut off the Wifi, but it is not going to stop the world from spinning. I am fine. Besides ,” she added pointedly, “Harper Avery is friends with Audra and Celine. It’s likely all very friendly and innocent.”
    Natalie was not about to mention that James and Celine were quite possibly together again. She had yet to wrap her mind around that one - not that she wanted to. And whatever feelings she was having about that particular coupling were just as muddled. Rather than try to suss out what it all meant to her she chose sweet, blissful ignorance.
    There was a long stretch of silence as Quinn, Joe, and Shane looked everywhere but her or each other. Finally Shane was the first to again break the silence.
    "She is a terrible actress, and even in Zac Posen she dresses like shit." With a flamboyant flip of his hair he stalked back to the dining table and resumed work, followed by Quinn. Natalie couldn't help but laugh.
     
     
     
    James folded the newspaper and cast it aside. What did he expect when going out with a paparazzi magnet? He saw the photographers snapping away. Avery had paid them no mind, smiling politely as she kept on walking, James at her side. Then again she was used to the attention.
    “It doesn’t bother you, does it?” Avery asked as she rifled through a rack of hanging garments situated beside her many suitcases.
    “I wouldn’t be any good at my job if I was bothered by press, would I?” Throwing off the covers, James got up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom, casting a side glance at her from behind. Just as he finished relieving himself, Avery sauntered into the bathroom and turned on the tap in the shower.
    “I am going to head out,” he announced as he finished washing up at the sink.
    “Are you now?” she asked, catching his attention just as he was one foot out the bathroom door. James turned and watched as Avery slipped off her tee shirt and tossed it to the ground. She reached behind her back and a moment later the straps of her bra fell loose around her shoulders. “Maybe I can change your mind.”
     
     
     
    "Have you talked to James lately?" Joe asked from beside Natalie as she tucked herself onto a barstool at the kitchen island.
    "No. Not since-" Not since the last time they saw each other. Her mind flashed back to the memory before she could finish the sentence.
    'Let's make a deal.'
    'A deal?'
    'If when the time comes it turns out that you're right - that I'll somehow love you less or not at all once I've found out what awful thing or things you've done - I'll buy you a Bugatti.'
    'James-'
    'And if I'm right ,' he interrupted her, 'and I still love you at your absolute worst, then you have to give me an answer to my proposal.'
    She wanted to be annoyed that he so obviously wasn't taking her seriously, but his self-assuredness was admirable, even if it was misplaced.
    'You're that confident in your love for me?'
    ' Abso fuckin lutely,' he said without so much as an instant of hesitation. 'What do you say, Harlow, do we have a deal?'
    So far she had yet to receive any Bugatti deliveries.
    "-not since before he found out about us," she continued. "And Audra and me."
    "Does he know about you and Audra now ?"
    She shrugged. "I have no idea."
    Joe leaned his elbows on the granite countertop, let out a deep breath and stared at her for half a minute. Finally, he asked, ”How is that going, by the way?"
    Natalie