Page 37 of Natalie's Nighthawk

“Oh, very funny. So, I may have gone a little overboard,” Maddie admitted. “I just got off the phone with mom.”

Natalie groaned. That woman could drive even the most pious to drink. “Completely understandable then. And what did mother dearest have to say?”

“They’re coming to visit for Thanksgiving.”

Natalie nearly spit out the sip she had just taken. “What? Why?”

“Dunno. She just said she wanted to see what her girls were up to.”

“What did she mean by that?” Natalie wondered. There was always an ulterior motive to everything their mother did when it came to her children. Usually, in a futile effort to push them to be somebody they weren’t. “Guess that means we have to cook then.”

“Ugh, you’re right. I hadn’t thought of that,” Maddie groaned. “And if it’s not perfect, we’ll definitely hear about it.”

“Then she’ll start in on how we are not living up to our full potential, wasting ourselves in our current jobs.”

“Won’t that be fun,” Maddie lamented. “God, Natalie. I don’t know how you could stand her constant criticism growing up.”

Natalie shrugged. “I learned to tune it out.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure some of it still leaked through … like toxic waste,” mused Maddie.

“Therapy helped.” They both knew that wasn’t completely true, but neither argued the point.

“God, Natalie. How are we going to get through this?” Maddie whined.

“I have an idea,” Graham said. Both sisters turned toward him. “How bout we throw Thanksgiving for both our families. My parents will be here too. David and I can help with the cooking and stuff. My parents could act as a buffer.”

“You’d want to subject your parents to ours?”

“Might be fun.”

Natalie snorted. “I don’t think fun has ever been used to describe Debra Ghannon before.” Maddie laughed. They both knew that somehow over the years, all the joy had been sucked out of their mother. They’d never understood why, though. She seemed happy enough with her marriage. With her daughters … well, they told themselves she just wanted what was best for them. William, their dad, went along with whatever Debra told him. He never argued with her. He’d learned long ago, just like his daughters had, that it wasn’t worth the aggravation of arguing. Maddie called it whipped. It was an accurate description. William was like a broken mustang.

“They might be useful to deflect her, at least for a little while,” Maddie admitted, and Natalie agreed.

“Well, we’ve got a whole month. We’d better start cleaning now.” The sisters laughed. It was nice to finally be able to share with Maddie her frustration with their mother. Growing up, she’d wished she’d had an ally when it came to facing her mother’s disappointment. She’d long ago stopped letting it get to her, but it still would have been nice to have someone who understood. It seemed weird being thankful to a tornado for allowing Maddie to see their mother’s true nature, But Natalie finally had her ally in her sister.

Chapter 13

Natalielayonherstomachonherbed,completelyspentfromtheincrediblelovemakingshe’djustexperienced.Earlier,aftersharingaquicklunch,they’dsettledonthecouchtowatchamovie.She’dpickedaMarcusRaynefilm,laughingwhenGrahamgroanedhisdispleasure,butafterarguinghowhottheactorwasandthathisTitansuperheromoviewasthrilling,hebegrudginglyrelented.

About halfway through the movie, Natalie found another thrill when she straddled Graham’s lap, though she had no idea where her brazenness had come from.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” she stated. “Why can’t I control myself around you?”

“Who’s asking you to?” he teased as he stroked her back.

“That was one of the most erotic things I’ve ever done,” she whispered in wonder.

“Really … well …” She could hear the pleasure in his voice.

She lightly slapped him on the shoulder. “Oh, stop being so pleased with yourself.”

“Can’t be helped,” he said, threading his fingers through her hair. “You have that effect on me.” She smiled shyly then placed her cheek against his chest.

“Your heart is beating so fast.”

“That’s the effect you have on me.”

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