Is this the only place in New York worth going to?
Natalie frowned at the location printed on the itinerary. Her secretary, noticing her expression, reminded her this gathering had been scheduled weeks ago - a casual meet-up with some business associates. "Should we cancel?" the secretary asked. "Or change the venue?"
Natalie smoothed her brow. "No need."
Was it really necessary?
That's what she told herself, but when her pen touched the paper to sign off on the plans, the strokes came out jagged, nearly illegible. Her freshly relaxed frown returned. The secretary, watching her shift in mood, didn't dare speak another word and quietly excused herself.
By the time Natalie arrived at the venue, she could have navigated it blindfolded. The manager greeted her with enthusiastic familiarity. She returned the courtesy with a nod, her smile barely there.
Following the room number her friends had sent, she pushed open the door to a chorus of half-familiar faces calling out, "Natalie, you made it!" All except for Chloe, sitting in the corner.
Natalie's gaze barely brushed over Chloe before someone near the door caught it anyway. "Natalie, what are you standing around for? This gorgeous woman's been waiting for you."
"See? Told you Natalie's weak for her."
"Sweetheart, how do you keep our Natalie wrapped around your finger? Teach us your ways."
"Oh, you have no idea - every eligible bachelor in New York is green with envy over you."
The room erupted in laughter, the words gorgeous woman tossed around like confetti, every joke aimed squarely at Natalie. Chloe, of course, wasn't important enough to be their target.
Natalie had grown up with this kind of teasing. Unfazed, she rolled her eyes and made her way to the corner - her usual spot - right beside the so-called gorgeous woman, Chloe. "Behave, or I'll never forgive you if you scare her off."
A man at the karaoke controls turned, grinning. "See? We told you - if you're here, Natalie always sits by you."
Chloe's dress tonight left little to the imagination. Natalie had noticed the moment she walked in - neckline plunging, thighs exposed, pale skin glowing under the club's neon lights. Plenty of women in the room wore heavy makeup, Natalie included. But on Chloe, it felt excessive.
Natalie knew Chloe's face well - knew how much softer she looked without cosmetics, how the usual allure faded into something quieter, yet no less arresting. She liked that version of Chloe best: hair down, fingers buttoning Natalie's shirt with careful precision, no theatrics, just effortless magnetism.
But she couldn't deny - Chloe like this was breathtaking too. Enough to make it hard to look away.
"She wouldn't dare sit anywhere else," Chloe said, her smile sharp with mischief. "If she did, you'd all drown her in drinks."
"Oh, please," the man at the karaoke machine laughed. "As if we'd ever bully Natalie."
"Gorgeous, you should've seen her in her prime - could outdrink any of us without breaking a sweat."
Fine. Natalie could admit it - she really couldn't look away. Chloe had a way of being mesmerizing in every state: solemn or smiling, silent or teasing. Now, legs crossed, the slit of her dress riding high, she was a vision Natalie couldn't escape even if she tried.
"What she did in her prime doesn't matter," Chloe said, her white jade earring swaying with every word. "If she's next to me now, she's mine."
Natalie made a show of shifting closer - though not too close - and smirked. "Hear that? Lay off, unless you want to break her heart."
Chloe covered her mouth with the back of her hand, laughing as she sank deeper into the couch. Natalie glanced at her. Chloe didn't look back. Not once all night had Chloe's eyes lingered on her - not even for a second.
Natalie couldn't quite place the emotion simmering in her chest, only that it left an unpleasant aftertaste.
She reached for her wine glass with mild irritation when a hand intercepted—sweeping the alcohol aside and replacing it with juice.
Natalie shot a glance at Chloe.
Chloe lowered her eyes, then lifted them again. Their gazes met briefly, charged with something unspoken, something faintly resentful.
Chloe was the first to look away.
The discomfort in Natalie's chest twisted tighter.
Had it been a month since they'd last seen each other? More accurately, a month since they'd last spoken. Not that it meant much—it wasn't as if they'd ever been in constant contact. Chloe had covered for her at parties; Natalie had sent her gifts that barely qualified as such.
They'd slept together twice—in a car, in a hotel bed, by the window, on a sofa. Chloe had admitted wanting her from the first meeting, had called her adorable, had dried her hair, buttoned her shirt, watched her leave with the quiet devotion of a wife seeing her husband off to work.
And after that last time, Natalie had vanished. No messages, no contact.
Chloe, ever the professional, never reached out. Natalie had always appreciated that about her.
Logically, she should feel relieved now. She'd been the one to pull away.
But now that Chloe was obliging, Natalie only thought—
coquette.
Watching the men's eyes linger on Chloe's face, her chest, her legs, Natalie finally gave in. Under the pretense of reaching for fruit, she shifted closer, blocking their view.
Leaning forward for a cherry tomato, her hand brushed against cool, smooth skin—then was caught, pressed deliberately against Chloe's thigh.
The plastic fork skidded off the tomato's skin, hitting the plate silently. Yet Natalie swore she heard something inside her snap.
She chewed the tomato mechanically, its tart sweetness morphing into the taste of Chloe's kisses.
Her tongue flicked over her lower lip as she studied Chloe's profile.
Chloe's gaze remained fixed across the room, indifferent, as if she hadn't just trapped Natalie's hand between her thighs. The high slit of her dress faced Natalie exclusively, revealing what others could only imagine. The warmth of Chloe's skin seeped into Natalie's palm, the intimate contact unmistakable should she care to look down.
Memories surged—Chloe arching beneath her, gasping her name, whispering filth in her ear—
Reason screamed for retreat. Her body refused.
The room buzzed with drunken chatter and off-key singing. They sat at the center of attention yet in their own private world.
Chloe's shoe occasionally nudged Natalie's ankle while pointedly avoiding eye contact. The dissonance grated—being teased yet ignored, desired yet dismissed.
When the third man tried draping an arm around Chloe's shoulders and she didn't immediately shrug him off, Natalie's fingers dug warningly into Chloe's thigh.
Chloe leaned subtly into Natalie, smiling sweetly at the man. "Now, now. How many women have heard that line?"
Natalie assessed him—greasy, red-faced, lust barely concealed. Why did she associate with such people?
"Name your price," he slurred. "With your looks, you'd outshine any star I've worked with."
As if your B-tier productions ever featured real talent.
Chloe laughed lightly. "Careful, or their fans might come after me."
Natalie cut in, saccharine and sharp. "Trying to poach what's mine?"
The man waved her off. "Natalie, hiding this goddess as your drinking buddy? Criminal."
"She enjoys it," Natalie said, smiling without warmth. "Find your own."
Chloe rested her head on Natalie's shoulder, playing along. "The great director surely has better options tonight."
As the man retreated, Natalie felt the weight leave her shoulder—and with it, an inexplicable hollowness.
Chloe straightened, her smile dimming into something solemn. Stripped of performative charm, she exuded an austere allure that fascinated Natalie. The whiplash between her personas was dizzying.
Natalie's trapped hand had gone numb, yet she made no move to withdraw it.
"Should've ignored him," she muttered.
Chloe uncrossed her legs, taking Natalie's hand to massage life back into it—then guiding it to rest on her waist.
Natalie noted how slender she was, recalling how that waist moved beneath her, how Chloe gasped when kissed there—
Yet still, Chloe wouldn't look at her.
Natalie had dealt with countless professional seducers.
But a professional giving her the cold shoulder? That was new.
She wanted to seize Chloe's chin, force their eyes to meet, demand to know where she got off having standards in this arrangement.
The frustration curdled into anger—mostly at herself.
What was this? Why should she feel guilty for distancing from someone who was, at best, a paid distraction?
That's all they were.
A transaction. Clearly defined.
"The first two times were good, weren't they?"
Natalie had thought Chloe was the understanding type—yet here she was, giving her the cold shoulder. So much for being professional .
She withdrew her hand from between Chloe's thighs, the loss of contact sharper than she expected. Standing abruptly, she excused herself to touch up her makeup. At the door, she glanced back.
Chloe was smoothing her skirt, head bowed. The earrings at her lobes swayed—gentle, taunting.
In the bathroom, Natalie waited. Two minutes passed, her thoughts tangling tighter with each second.
Then- "click, click, click"—the sharp rhythm of heels on marble. Natalie's pulse spiked in time with their approach.
She hadn't planned what to say.
It was always like this around Chloe—her mind went blank, her body moved on its own.
Chloe stood before her now, hands clasped, posture straight as a birch. The overhead lights bleached her skin paler, like snow caught on branches—cold, pristine, unbearably fragile.
Every exposed inch was temptation. Worse, she seemed oblivious to it, lashes lowered, mouth soft—an offering without invitation.
Natalie seized her wrists, pressing them to the small of Chloe's back as she leaned in to kiss her—
Chloe stepped away. Turned her face aside.
The rejection hung between them, silent and stinging.
Natalie felt a surge of inexplicable anger rise in her chest. She grabbed Chloe's wrist and yanked her into a bathroom stall.
The door slammed shut behind them.
Chloe was shoved roughly against the door, wincing in pain but still refusing to speak.
Natalie took a deep breath, gripping Chloe's chin and forcing her to meet her gaze.
Chloe's eyes widened, her gaze flickering, but she stubbornly turned her face away again.
That defiant stance only made Natalie tighten her grip, her thumb brushing along Chloe's jawline, smudging the lipstick at the corner of her mouth.
Natalie caged her in, pinning her against the door before capturing her lips in a biting kiss.
Chloe's hands were forced to rest on Natalie's shoulders, pushing weakly in protest. Sensing her resistance, Natalie nipped at her lips with deliberate pressure, brows furrowed as she pulled Chloe tighter against her. Their bodies pressed together so closely that not even air could slip between them.
A small gasp of pain escaped Chloe, her lips parting just enough for Natalie's tongue to slip inside. The hands that had been trying to push her away now clung helplessly around Natalie's neck.
Chloe's slender neck arched back, her neatly pinned-up hair coming undone in the heat of the moment. She tilted her head up toward the ceiling as muffled laughter and singing seeped through the walls from the next room.
"Don't you want me?" Natalie softened her stance, gazing at Chloe with pleading eyes.
Chloe's lashes fluttered slightly, her dazed expression meeting Natalie's for a fleeting moment. Natalie caught the glimmer of resentment in her eyes—but in an instant, Chloe regained composure. She tightened her grip on Natalie's hand, closed her eyes, and turned her face away, leaving Natalie with only the sight of her disheveled yet eerily calm profile.
——————————
The air between them hung heavy with unspent desire and silence.
"Are you angry?" Natalie murmured gently.
Chloe straightened herself and pushed away.
Standing behind her, Natalie wiped her fingers clean, watching as Chloe adjusted her crumpled clothes and smoothed her tousled hair.
"You see me whenever you please, ask whatever you want of me."
Chloe kept her head down, straightening the folds of her skirt.
"I don't get angry."
Both statements were delivered with unsettling calm.
Natalie's chest tightened. She wanted to say something—but the words stuck in her throat.
Chloe seemed to wait, but all she received was silence.
Her hand reached for the door.
"Hey—"
Natalie covered Chloe's fingers with her own.
Chloe looked down at their hands, then back up at her.
That gaze held no resentment, none of the hurt or grievance Natalie had braced for. Had there been even a trace, she could have apologized. But there was nothing—only stillness. A stillness so complete it made Natalie feel as though she could do anything for Chloe, and it would never, ever ruffle her.
Guilt swelled in her chest.
What should she say? What would Chloe want to hear?
Natalie didn't know. Her expression twisted with uncertainty, but her gaze stayed locked on Chloe, refusing to let her go.
Chloe's eyelids fluttered like butterfly wings, landing softly in Natalie's vision.
She looked at Natalie, the calm in her eyes faltering as she let out a quiet sigh.
"I missed you," Chloe said.
Natalie's heart sank, tenderness and remorse tangled in her chest. She stepped forward and pulled Chloe into an embrace, murmuring into her hair, "I'm sorry."
At first, Chloe's hands hovered—then slowly settled at Natalie's waist. She rested her head on Natalie's shoulder and nodded in silence.