Chapter 27

*Natalie*

Zane squeezes my hand as we wait in the hallway outside of Sophie’s apartment, nervous energy zinging through my body – his hand like a grounding wire, pulling away my nerves.

Sophie invited us over to her place to help me get ready to go to Alexander’s *Upstairs…* and we arranged for Savannah, our babysitter, to come to our place and watch the kids overnight.

*Thank God,* I have no idea what to wear to a *sex club…*

Sophie had called ahead to the front desk, and a doorman escorted us up to her floor. And now, here we are. We look at each other, and back to the polished brass 1608 in front of us.

*I cannot believe we are about to do this.*

I am *so scared – *

*What will the women be like? Will I measure up? Will the sex we see there be hotter than what we’ve had?... Has he had hotter sex than we’ve had? Hotter women than me?...*

And yet – I’m also kind-of… turned on…

*I never thought I would ever be doing something like this… this feels dangerous, sexy, exciting…*

My heart starts pounding hard in my chest.

The door clicks and swings open, and there she is, wrapped in a short silky black robe with large white flowers, tied in front.

I hear rap music playing from inside her apartment and I smile a little.

*This isn’t the music I thought she’d listen to.*

The layered beats sound dangerous, unpredictable, and the vocalist’s voice is smooth like silk, the words and pitches making a staccato yet flowing rhythm.

“Come in,” she says, sliding her fingers down my arm, glancing into the hallway and looking down quickly in each direction; and then she pulls me in, fingers intertwining through mine, leading me into her foyer, staring deep into my eyes.

Those doe eyes, those fluffy vibrant raspberry lips, that glowing golden skin, that shiny caramel hair…

*Imagine being that beautiful every day…*

I am already lost in her.

She caresses one of my cheeks with her hand as we walk together, her feather touch electrifying from my temple to my jaw… and she draws me in and kisses my other cheek. A flutter rises up through me, and I breathe her in. She smells like neroli, and roses, and candy…

Zane walks in after, the door falling shut behind him. He saunters toward us, staring at us together, a small smile playing on his lips.

Sophie looks up at Zane and smiles at him, and then she gently loosens her fingers, slipping them from mine and steps to him.

“So glad you’re here,” she says, smiling into his eyes. She gives him a quick hug, sliding her fingers down his arms. I know she feels his muscles under that suit.

She pulls away with a smile, turning and then walking past us into her place, “Do you like wine?” she asks, smiling and looking back at us. We look at each other and murmur our approval – kicking off our shoes and quickly walking in after her.

We follow her through the foyer and her apartment opens to a gorgeous vaulted-ceiling living room and dining room with white pillars and floor to ceiling windows on one wall. A sweeping curved line spans the length of the apartment, created with hardwood floors along the dining room and kitchen on one side and bone-white carpet in the living room on the other. Shell pink bubble-style furniture is arranged in front of a fake fireplace, and giant framed black and white high-fashion photography adorns the walls, some of the photos are of her. Her place looks so modern, cozy, and feminine…

She walks us to a harvest-style wooden table in the dining room under a hanging chandelier, set with a bottle of wine, three glasses and a corkscrew.

“May I open that for you?” Zane offers, gesturing toward the wine, and she nods, smiling at him.

“Sure…” she says. She slides the corkscrew off of the table, handing it to Zane, and they share a smile as they pass it between them.

My heart pounds.

Zane steps up to the table and I can’t help but notice Sophie staring at him as he pops open the bottle and pours three glasses of wine.

He turns to us, handing us each a glass and then takes the last one for himself.

Sophie raises her glass, “to tonight,” she says, an edge of seriousness to her tone.

*“To tonight,”* Zane and I say, raising our glasses, nerves zinging through my body.

We all bring our glasses in and clink them together, and then bring them to our lips, taking a sip.

The wine hits my tongue, nice and cool, and the perfect mixture of sweetness and dryness.

“Mmm… this is so good,” I say.

Sophie’s eyes glance to Zane’s cufflinks – the Accardi interlocking A’s made of white gold set in a blue luminous stone; she raises her brows.

“Nice cufflinks,” She says, the corners of her lips turning up slightly.

“Thanks,” Zane says tersely.

I glance from Sophie to Zane, sensing something.

*But what is it?...*

Zane had pulled those Accardi symbol cufflinks out from somewhere in the closet – I’d never seen them before.

Sophie looks at Zane over the top of her wine glass, and after a moment says, “you’ll have to give us girls some time to get ready.”

She steps over to him, slides her fingers down his arm, and slips her fingers into his, leading him by the hand toward the living room.

My heart jolts, but I let him go with her.

She brings him to a cozy light pink chair by the fake fireplace, dropping his hand and sliding the wine glass from his fingers, placing it on a wooden side table and gesturing for him to sit.

He smiles, and I see his eyes briefly travel down her body as he sits, and my stomach twists again.

*I don’t know how ready for this I am.*

Zane gets settled in and Sophie walks back to me, smiling her disarming smile, extending her hand to me.

“Come on, you wanna get ready?” She offers, raising her eyebrows, I extend my hand to her like it is floating in water, already mesmerized again, and allow her to lead me toward the hallway. I look over at Zane and he nods at me, a small smile on his lips, a smoldering look in his eye. I smile and butterflies erupt in my stomach as Sophie leads me further down the hall and I lose sight of Zane around the corner.

I hear the music getting louder as we walk toward her bedroom, and she begins to dance as she leads me through her room and into her luxury closet.

She drops my hand as she leads me into the closet, and I stop where she let go of my hand, standing and watching her.

She sets her wine on the center island and opens a drawer, dancing in front of it.

*She looks way too hot dancing like that… Where’d she learn to move like that?*

She pulls out a black sheer bra and holds it up toward me, looking at it, and then me, and then sets it on the center island.

She looks at me again.

“You can try on anything. *Lingerie* is all of these drawers,” she smiles, gesturing toward the island.

My face breaks into a small smile, and I step tentatively up to the island beside her, setting my glass beside hers.

I slide the drawer in front of me open and my eyes widen as I see the exquisite pieces inside.

The first one I see is an aquamarine, sheer silk, lace trimmed bra with a gold metal “CD” sewn into the center.

*It’s Dior.*

I slide it out, examining the size.

*We wear the same size? We don’t look like we wear the same size…*

I look over at Sophie, and she smiles and nods again. And, coaxed by her smile, I set the Dior bra on the island.

I smile and look back into the drawer. I feel myself begin to relax, and after a bit I am starting to feel like we little girls playing dress up, giggling and dancing, and picking out lingerie, jackets, and shoes to go with them, our wine glasses getting lower and lower as the night goes on.

“Ok, lets try on,” Sophie says to me, a sparkle in her eye, and we look at all of the pieces on the island.

I nod and look down at my black pull-over dress, shrug and smirk, and cross my arms across my body, picking up the edges of my skirt and sweep the dress over my head in one motion, tossing it on the island. I’m fully naked underneath. Sophie smiles at me.

I model each of the lingerie choices for her, and she fawns over me, grazing her fingers over my body and smiling at me as I appear in her mirror…

“Yes. That one. For sure,” She says with a definitive nod as I try on a gorgeous silky black bra, panty set with cutouts created with black lines of elastic.

She slides a dainty gold head-chain with black feathers from her jewelry armoire and drapes it over my head, and stands back.

She nods, giving an approving smile.

And then looks down and works her fingers into the the silky tie of her robe, untying the knot and letting it fall open over her shoulders and exposing the sides of her breasts, letting her robe slide down over the perfect V of her back and waist and the smooth curves of her hips… She walks toward a crystal bikini she has hanging up on a hook beside the mirror, and I cannot keep my eyes off her… I think I’m staring again as she lets her robe drop to the thick white carpet and reaches up to take the crystal bikini off of it’s wooden hanger. I glance up to her reflection in the mirror, her perfect breasts and pretty pink nipples and those curves…

…And once she’s dressed, her gorgeous crystal bikini sparkles over her breasts, highlighting her nipples – she takes a string of crystals from her armoire, dripping them over her forehead like a crown, and then stands back. She looks like a queen.

We stare into our reflections in the mirror.

“You ready?” She asks.

I hesitate.

I can hardly believe I am doing this, but I am not about to let Zane and Sophie go to Alexander’s *sex club* without me.

“I was nervous the first time, too,” she murmurs. “Sometimes…” Sophie says quietly, as if she is in a trance, staring into her own eyes in the mirror, “when I’m at the club, or walking the runway… I like to pretend I’m not human… Like I’m an *alien…* or some kind of *exotic creature…”* she offers.

I look into my reflection.

I nod and take a deep breath, trying to imagine myself as a beautiful inhuman queen…

*Like Sophie…*

We stand, each staring into our own eyes.

And then I notice movement in the mirror, and Zane appears in the doorway, holding his wine glass.

“Is it time to go?” I ask.

“It’s 11:00,” he says, raising his eyebrows a bit and giving a slight nod.

“Do we have a plan?” I ask.

We look from one to another.

“Well, those cufflinks should help us tonight,” Sophie says, gesturing to Zane’s wrists.

I feel daggers shooting from Zane’s eyes to Sophie.

He sets his jaw.

“Why?…What’s with the cufflinks?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.

I look from one to the other.

“What?” I ask, the surge in the pit of my stomach rising, “Seriously…”