Natalii ceased to laugh…and pedal. “Wrong?” She glared. “What is bad with this? I see nothing wrong with embracing the love of a beautiful woman.” Her expression dared Maddie to disagree.
She almost fell off her bike a second time, realising what Natalii had just revealed.
“I’m… I mean… No… That is… I’m not opposed. There’s nothing wrong with… Of course not. I mean I’m very…but obviously not with… I mean with her never. She’s straight. And married. And did I mention straight? So it’s impossible. And she doesn’t like me even a little. Not like that. Not even in any other way, either. Well, actually I’m not sure…because there was this one birthday cupcake.” Maddie blew out a breath, beyond embarrassed. Really, what did Elena think of her? She wished the question didn’t torture her as often as it did.
“Ahhh.” Natalii resumed pedalling. “The forbidden love?” She looked thoughtful. “Well. This is a problem.”
“Not love!” Did she have to completely ignore Maddie’s protests? “I never said that. It’s not that, okay?”
“What is her name? Your love that you cannot have?”
Maddie scowled. Was she being deliberately obtuse? “I can’t say. You’ll recognise it. She’s famous.”
“So?”
“So, I don’t want any part of this conversation ever getting back to her. It’s embarrassing, okay?”
“Ah. You feel I, some anonymous stranger, could somehow risk your heart? This is it?”
There was no way to answer any part of that question without lying. Natalii was not some stranger. And maybe it was true Maddie’s heart was involved, at least a little—whether she wanted to admit it or not. She debated how to answer. Maddie really didn’t lie well, and Natalii was far too astute.
“You’re not an anonymous stranger,” she admitted. “I recognised you when you came in. I know who your mother is too. And she doesn’t like my boss much at all. She called her a cafard.”
Natalii gaped at her. “Merde! You work for the insane flower lady? The Bartell woman? There were blooms all over Maman’s house. The smell! I cannot believe this. Your boss is the infamous cockroach!” She gave a wheezing sound that could have been a laugh or something much worse.
“God, I’m so sorry! I really didn’t think.”
“Wait, you didn’t think? You did this?”
“Yes, I’m her assistant, like I said. I’m really sorry. Don’t blame Elena. She left all the flower ordering to me.”
“You must feel very much for her to take the blame for this. Your amour—it is this powerful?”
Maddie shook her head in frustration. “I never said anything about love.”
“You wish to have her, though, yes?” Natalii’s tone was teasing. “I’ve seen this Bartell’s picture. She is very beautiful. I would wish to have her, too, if I worked with her.”
Maddie scowled.
Natalii laughed heartily.
“I apologise to you, poor Madeleine. I was seeing how green with jealousy you are. I have no interest in your insane flower lady. I have my own Adèle back home, and she keeps me well satisfied. But now that we are bonded over our mutual lady loves, we will go out tonight. You will take me to the club for the gays, oui? Girls with the girls? I wish to see the, how is it called? The Sydney scene. Then, if you do this, I will forgive you making Maman’s house smell of blooms.”
“But…I mean…I…”
“No, no.” Natalii waggled her finger. “It is fine. We will look at the beauties but not touch. We must be virtuous for our ladies who have our hearts. Oui? Meet me out the front of this hotel tonight at nine.” She climbed off her bike. “I have some things to do now I should not put off if I am to be so engaged tonight.”
“I…um…okay.” Maddie gave up. Great. Of fucking course, she’d have to hit her first gay bar ever with the lesbianish daughter of the most reclusive designer in fashion history. A daughter who was supposed to be going to some high-profile ball tonight but was planning to blow it off. With Maddie. At a gay bar.
She wished she hadn’t been such a quiet, book nerd in her uni days and had gone and done the whole gay nightclub thing at least once. She forced a smile, which turned into a nervous gulp. How the hell could she be anyone’s guide to something she’d never done?
“That sounds like fun,” she mumbled.
“Oh it will be! And bring all your gay amis!”
Right. All her gay friends. “Uh, yeah. See you tonight.”
CHAPTER 13
Skyfire
The only gay amis, well ami, Maddie could find on short notice was Simon. Who wasn’t even gay but metrosexual enough that he could at least pass as one for a night if she begged him. He wouldn’t care—he’d probably find it a good excuse to swap cocktail recipes with the bartender. The worst part was having to ask him because…well…it led to certain sticky questions. About who she drooled over, or didn’t, for instance.
Simon knew all about Maddie’s girlfriends over the years. It’s just there weren’t that many. There’d been a secret thing with the closeted Rachel, a crazy month with crazier Monica. In New York there was a regrettable one-night stand with a fellow waitress after their staff Christmas party. After that, there’d been no one else.
Then she’d met Elena. And Maddie sure as hell didn’t need Simon knowing about how her hormones sat up and purred around Elena. It was embarrassing enough admitting to herself how gone she was on her boss.
Simon was looking at her funny. “Wait, so let me get this straight.” He tugged on his best eggplant jacket. “This gym chick, what’s her name, Natalii, that you just met has, out of nowhere, insisted you get all your gay mates together for a night out trawling the gay scene around Sydney?”
“Pretty much.”
“So why’d she ask you of all people?” he asked. “Oh wait, you fancy this woman? You told her you’re gay? Shit, awesome! Say no more, Mads. Of course I’ll help. Haven’t I been saying for months you need to get back on the bike?”
Maddie reddened. “No, I don’t fancy her! And I didn’t tell her I’m gay. She just assumed a local girl would know all the hottest spots and asked me to show her.”
Simon gave her a long, doubtful look. “All the hottest gay spots. Can you join the dots for me, cos I’m lost. You don’t want to date her, but you do want to show a total stranger around gay Sydney. Since when does Ms Introvert Maddie Grey do things like that?”
“Don’t look at me like that. Okay, it’s simple. I’m just trying to win a bet, and to do that, I have to get an interview with Natalii’s mother. That’s it.”
