"Nathan? Nathan!" How does he not hear me, she thought. Audrey raised her voice, "Wuornos!"
"hm?"
It was early evening and the two cops were leaving the station after a Trouble-free day; just some enquiries about some bootleg rum that Nathan had gone to speak to Duke about.
"You OK?"
"mmm"
She frowned at him, though he didn't see. "You're miles away, what is it?"
Nathan hesitated and she commented, "A reply with some actual words in it would be good."
"Sorry," he shook his head as if to clear it. "Sorry, it's just … odd."
She waited for more details, exasperated. "Odd, how? I need to know about odd, don't I?"
"I don't think this was a Trouble. If it was, it was an unusually specific and subtle one."
"OK, well then now I'm just curious. What on earth happened?"
"I think …" he stopped. Then started afresh, "Duke came on to me today."
"Duke? Made a pass at you."
"Well … yes." Nathan was still processing the event it seemed.
"Huh." Audrey went non-verbal as well for a minute.
"And so … were you tempted?"
He turned to her, very serious, "Audrey, I would never …"
She cut him off, "Because it would be OK. If you were, tempted. I mean, I would be. And there's an … energy between you two sometimes."
"There's … What?"
"I did wonder if the two of you had ever …"
Nathan shook his head and walked on, "I didn't think this could get any stranger."
Back at Audrey's, she poured them both a drink and curled up next to him on the sofa. "I did notice, you know," she said pleasantly. "You never answered my question."
He looked blank as she took a long drink and then she smiled. "Where you tempted?"
He looked away and blew his cheeks out in a gesture of exasperation, then looked back at her and shrugged. "Well, no. I don't know. Curious, maybe. Kind of. It was sort of … fascinating. But – it's Duke. I mean, he's probably just playing some angle; some con I don't see yet. And I have you, so why would I …"
"An angle?" Audrey considered this possibility with a sideways bob of the head, "Maybe. Still … it could be fun."
Nathan stopped, glass half way to his mouth. "Audrey, what – exactly – are you talking about?"
"I think there's something between you two. And there's something between you and me. So," she grinned at the cheesy sentence as well as the thought itself, "maybe it could be fun to have you between Duke and me."
He opened his mouth to speak, but that was as far as he got.
"Let me top your drink up."
By the time she got back, he had found a sentence in response, "You must have your eye on him as well then, to be pushing for … something to happen."
"Ah! 'As well' – I knew it!"
"As well as on me, I meant."
"Oh, sorry. My eyes are always on you, you know that. But yes, he has something. He's an attractive guy."
"I …"
"So have you ever … before? With another man?"
He shook his head, "I'm not gay."
"No. I don't think Duke is either."
"No," he agreed.
"And yet…?"
"And yet."
"It could be fun," she said again.
He looked at her for a long moment, "Let me think about it."
She raised an eyebrow at him and she almost thought she saw him blush.
"I didn't mean it like that."
"No, but …" she put her drink down and moved over to him, straddling his lap, her hands above his shoulders. Not quite touching him, anywhere. "… that could be fun too." She moved closer, her lips almost at his ear and whispered "Duke's lips on yours, your hands in his hair, his on your back. Duke's body pressed to yours …"
She could hear in the change of his breathing that he didn't consider this an entirely bad idea and she moved her face slowly in front of his to bring her mouth to her other ear. But he spoke first, though he had to stop to clear his throat before any words made it out. "You're just turned on by the idea of two guys together."
"Well … yeah OK, that's true. But that's not what this is about. I'm not talking about some random guy; I'm talking about Duke." She sat upright then to look him in the eye, moving down as well to rest on his lap, their bodies touching for the first time that evening. "Are you really saying you don't think it could be fun? Because if so, I'll shut up. I won't mention it again if you don't want me to. Is that what you're saying?"
"Well," he paused, "No."
She smiled and leant forward, giving him a long, slow and sensuous kiss.
"It would be as much about you as him, you know," he said when she gave him the chance to speak. "I mean, it's your reaction too."
Audrey considered this, "It would be about the three of us," she said. "We make a good team."