He laughed lightly. "There is."
"Then take me there," I requested. "As fast as the car will take us."
Chapter 16
I leaned back in the huge tub, enjoying the feel of cleaning away the shadow of Hubert's hands on my body.
"Can I come in?" Samuel asked from the doorway.
"That depends, do you have champagne?"
He chuckled. "What happens if I say yes?"
I didn't open my eyes. "Then you can come in, give me a glass, drop the robe and get in the tub with me." It was a monster of a bath, with room for several people other than the two of us.
"I'm glad you said that." The door clicked shut behind me and he came over, setting a tray with two glasses and a bottle next to me.
"How are the others getting on?" I asked, opening my eyes so I could watch him disrobe.
"They'll be home in an hour or so, with the money."
"Excellent." I licked my lips at the sight of him.
He dipped into the tub, hiding himself from view. The disappointment washed away as soon as he came to sit beside me, our legs brushing against one another.
I reached down into the water, my hand finding his hard cock. I stroked up and down, receiving a groan of enjoyment from Samuel.
"We can get things started before they get here, can't we?" I whispered in his ear.
"We already agreed it can be in ones, twos, or threes," he said, his voice strained as I continued to stroke his cock.
"That's true. I'm glad we had that conversation." I'd never felt so wanton as I had since the four of us started our relationship. "I'm also glad we had the conversation that means we don't need a condom," I added, thinking back to the ever so awkward STI and birth control conversation we'd had over breakfast. It had been necessary though, it would get expensive keeping up with a condom supply for three men.
"Why?" Samuel asked, though I was sure he already knew.
"So I can do this..." I moved away from the side of the bath and straddled him, guiding his cock to my entrance. I sat down, pushing him inside me.
I tipped my head back and moaned. He leaned in and nipped at the base of my neck. We moved against one another, neither of us paying any attention to the sloshing of the water around us.
He drove his cock into me, driving me higher and higher towards pleasure.
I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. Samuel slipped an arm around me and pulled me closer, controlling the movement of my body over his hard cock.
The angle must have been just right as it hit the place that had pleasure coiling up inside me. This was heaven if I'd ever known it.
My breathing became shallow against his lips, and we weren't able to keep the kiss going any longer. He thrust into me harder, pushing me over the edge. My whole body began to shudder against him as pleasure ripped through me. I'd never experienced anything like I had with these three men before. Each of them unique, each of them adding to my pleasure in a different way.
Samuel groaned against my neck as he reached his own release, his hard cock twitching inside me. I collapsed against him, spent and feeling as if I'd been cleansed from the horrors of Hubert's touch.
***
I took a sip of champagne, enjoying the way the bubbles danced on my tongue, and leaned back against the sofa.
"I see you started without us," Dean joked as he entered the room.
I smiled lazily at the two men entering the room. "To be fair, the three of us started without Samuel," I joked, referring to our first time together.
Dean chuckled. "Fair."
"Did you get the money?" I asked.
Carl nodded. "It's in the account now. We'll move it in the morning so we don't arouse any suspicion."
I nodded.
"But we got you something else," Dean said.
Carl handed me a slim velvet box, like the kind you got jewellery in.
"What have you done?" I asked him.
"Nothing illegal," Dean assured me. "We bought this with our hard-earned cash."
"You mean your dirtily earned cash," I quipped.
"Just the same," Carl answered. "Are you going to open it?"
I nodded, and flicked the catch on the box. I sucked in a breath as I found the beautiful silver bracelet I'd been admiring in front of me.
"We saw how much you wanted it..."
"Is this why you brought me back?" I asked Samuel.
He chuckled. "Partly. The other part was that we wanted to get you away from Hubert as soon as we could."
"Good choice, by the way, that man was a creep." I shuddered just thinking about his hand on my leg. Perhaps I needed a bit more fun with my three men before I could forget about this. "Will you put it on me?" I asked Carl, gesturing to the bracelet.
"Interesting choice to go with a bathrobe," he joked.
I grinned wickedly. "Isn't that what you do when you've just made a lot of money? Hang around in a bathrobe and expensive jewels while drinking champagne?"
Dean chuckled. "I see we'll have to change our celebration style now we have you around."
"Oh you most certainly will." I smiled at the three of them as Carl shut the clasp around my wrist. "Thank you, it's beautiful," I said in earnest.
"Just like you," Samuel responded.
My cheeks flushed. It would take time to get used to their compliments, but at least we had that.
Chapter 17
The burner phone I'd been using while playing Trina buzzed, tearing me away from the croissant I'd been eating for breakfast.
"It's Hubert," I said to the three guys who were all midway through making their own breakfasts.
"Answer it," Samuel suggested. "If you tie it up in a bow, he'll never connect the fake Monet with you, if he ever works it out in the first place."
I nodded and hit the green button.
"Trina, it's Hubert."
"Hi," I said, trying to sound as sad as possible.
"I'll pick you up at eight for a date. We have some celebrating to do," he said. It didn't escape my notice that he hadn't asked, instead, he'd told me what was happening.
"I'm so sorry, Hubert, I can't tonight. Dad's taken a turn for the worst and we think this might be the end for him." I sniffed loudly. I was going to hell for this. Never mind conning him out of money, this was the truly despicable part.
Oh well. It was too late to worry about it too much.
"You can't? That's a shame. Do you have any friends that might be interested in celebrating with me?"
My mouth fell open. Had he really just said that?
"I'm sorry, I don't." I made my voice tremble as if I was about to cry. "They're calling us in to see the doctor. Do you mind if I phone you back when I know what's happening with him?"
"Fine." The line went dead before I could say anything else. It was almost enough to make me laugh.
"That man really is a pig," I muttered. "Oh well, he's gone now. What's next?"
"We have a new mark," Dean said.
"Wow, you move fast," I observed.
"Jewellery and champagne cost a lot," Samuel teased.
"I can't take any more sick days off work," I pointed out. "I'm already pushing it with the two weeks I've had off for the fake flu."
"You just got one hundred thousand pounds in your bank account, you don't need to work again," Carl pointed out.
Oh. Right. I'd forgotten that I also got a cut.
"Great, in which case, I need to send an email, and then I'm ready to start planning." I pushed my croissant away, eager to get on with the next job. The thrill and danger wasn't like anything I'd ever experienced before, and I wasn't going to give it up for anything. Especially not when it came with three perfect men in my bed.
Epilogue
2 Years Later...
I took a sip of my drink, looking down at the city from our penthouse. We'd be entertaining our latest mark in a matter of minutes, but until then, I wanted to enjoy the view. On top of the world was how I felt, and what I was right now
.
"Have you seen the papers today?" Samuel asked.
"No?" I turned away from the windows and walked towards him. He looked good in the tux he had on, just as I did in the evening gown I was already wearing. We'd found it was better to wear things like this in advance so we could get into character.
"Dean sent this one up." He handed it to me.
I swapped the paper for my drink, wishing Dean and Carl could be with us, but knowing they couldn't be seen as knowing us for this part of the job. It would be too easy to tell how they felt about me for one thing.
I unfolded the paper, then barked a laugh as I saw the headline. I covered my mouth with my gloved hand, a move I'd perfected while portraying several upper-class women.
Earl Andrew Wellesley Embarrassed Over Fake Monet, the headline screamed.
I scanned the article, even though I knew what it was going to say. We'd been expecting this after a few high profile sales of impressionist artwork. He'd tried to sell the one we'd sold him, only for it to be revealed as a fake. I had to wonder if he'd tried to pass it off as the real thing after that, but I supposed it wouldn't matter. He'd already been embarrassed in the art world, as well as having his money taken.
"I take it there's nothing linking us to that painting?" I double-checked, even though I knew the answer already. Most of the time, we aimed to con people without them even noticing they had been. Everything was tied up in a neat little bow at the end. More often than not, it was done as a business deal gone wrong.
"Nothing. We're in the clear, and he's lost money and face," Samuel assured me.
"Perfect." I placed the paper on the table, knowing it wouldn't seem too out of place for our guests.
"Now, let's bring on the next ones," I joked.
Samuel grinned broadly. "They'll be here any second."
"It'll be a pleasure to take their money." It always was. Our own personal form of karma, only much more effective.
***
Thank you for reading Con With Me, I hope you enjoyed Katie's story. The next ME story, Race Against Me will be coming late 2020-early 2021. If you want to keep up to date with it, you can join my mailing list (https://www.authorlauragreenwood.co.uk/p/mailing-list-sign-up.html;) or if you want to find out more about the Earl trying to usurp the Queen, then you can in Kneel For Me: http://books2read.com/kneelforme
Author Note
Thank you so much for reading Con With Me! This has been a book I've been planning since 2017, and I actually wrote most of it in 2018, but didn't have a chance to finish it until now. It was inspired by my love of the British TV show, Hustle, which featured a group of con-men who would only cheat a dishonest man. You can see that philosophy adopted into Con With Me as I didn't want to make the characters unlikeable.
You may have noticed some minor cross-overs to the other ME books in this one too! Earl Andrew Wellesley was one of the antagonists in Kneel For Me (though he doesn't appear on page in this one!) and Gans, the company Katie worked for at the beginning of the book, is owned by Sophie, the main character in Laid By Me. Despite this, all of the books can still be read as standalones.
This is the last book of the ME series that will be reverse harem. Both Race Against Me (book 7) and the unnamed book 8 will be m/f contemporary romance.
Finally, I must mention Claude Monet. In hindsight (as in, when I picked the book back up to write it!) that seems like a very out-there choice, especially as the most expensive Monet painting was sold for $110 million (a tad more than the $500 thousand Hubert paid), but I didn't change it because it was a chance to make a small homage to my favourite painter. I love Monet's paintings and have been to his gardens multiple times (they're beautiful, I highly recommend it!) and when I lived in Paris, I'd always choose to go to the Orangerie instead of the Louvre so I could see the famous Water Lilies. I hope you were able to suspend disbelief on that one! It was too fun an opportunity to pass up!
Thank you so much for reading!
- Laura
Excerpt: Kneel For Me
Read on for an excerpt from Kneel For Me, a royal contemporary romance. You can get it here: http://books2read.com/kneelforme
***
“You need to marry, Your Majesty,” my advisor said, worrying his hat between his hands. Good. He should be nervous. There was no way I was getting married, even if tradition told me I had to. We were in the twenty-first century for Christ’s sake, why couldn’t they crown me if I didn’t have a husband?
“I don't see why,” I replied, not looking off from the paper I was perusing. It was important I got this done or the bill wouldn’t be able to pass through parliament. And considering this one was about education, it was far more important than my own marital status.
“It’s the law,” he stammered.
“It’s the law to trap me in an arranged marriage?”
I looked up this time, fixing him with a stern expression which I hoped made him drop it. I was well aware of the law in question. I made it my business to know my own country. But it hadn't been used in centuries and I’d have thought it would be ignored as antiquated and irrelevant. Apparently not.
“I wouldn’t say trap...” he protested.
“Wouldn’t you?” I arched a questioning eyebrow which said a lot more than my words ever could.
My mother had been a force to be reckoned with in her youth and she’d taught me all her tricks. I hated that she’d had to abdicate due to infirmities. No one deserved that, not least my powerful and commanding mother. The woman I used to know would have flipped to learn about this.
Lucky for my advisor, the times of cutting off people’s heads were long gone.
“Find a way out of it.” I pushed my chair back, abandoning the bill for now. It could wait long enough for me to have a cup of tea and recover from the agitation rising inside me.
“Your Majesty.” My advisor bowed deeply and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I wasn’t just a Princess anymore, I couldn’t afford to let little slips like that happen.
I strode from the room, grateful my position allowed me to wear sturdy heels and not the super-glamourous type. They could now be reserved for more formal occasions.
I turned left when I vacated my study, taking the servant stairs instead of the more populated corridors. I wasn’t ready to face anyone else unless I had to.
A grunt and a hard wall of muscle stopped me in my tracks. Served me right for not watching where I was going. I looked up, surprised to find a pair of familiar bright green eyes looking down at me.
“Carter?” My voice came out a little breathier than I’d like it too. Then again, Carter was the one man who’d ever really had this effect on me. Kind of. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the foolish school girl crush I’d had on the gardener’s son.
I appraised him slowly. Alright. The crush I still had on the gardener’s son.
“Amara,” he replied steadily, giving me the same look I’d given him.
I should correct him. I should point out I was to be addressed as Your Majesty now. Or that he’d left for university seven years ago without even saying goodbye.
“How have you been?” he asked, his eyes softening.
Why were we having this conversation in a hidden stairwell again? If this got out...
Wait...what would happen if this got out? I couldn’t be disinherited, I was already on track to be coronated. And it wasn’t as if it was a secret that Carter and I were friends. We’d caused havoc around the palace as children.
“I’ve been better,” I replied.
“Ah, yes, your mother. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, dropping any pretence of being proper. Interesting how he had this effect on me.
“Are you holding up okay?”
“Yes. I have the best help available to help me run the country. Nothing is going to go wrong on my watch.”
“I didn’t mean at being Queen.”
“I’m not Queen yet,” I countered.
&n
bsp; “You are in all but name. You have to know what the people are saying about you.” His words were whispered. Intimate. There was something about this moment that filled me with an anticipation I hadn’t felt in years.
Probably because of some of the other trouble Carter and I had gotten up to as teenagers. I did wonder if he’d be up for a repeat performance. It wasn’t like it was treason to sleep with the almost Queen...
“Amara?”
“Hmm?”
“You zoned out.”
“Sorry, I was thinking about legislation.”
Carter laughed lightly. “Whoever would have thought the girl I knew would turn into such a serious woman.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you’ve taken to your new role with all the grace and gravitas I knew you had, but you never showed.”
Cryptic. And highly annoying. What was I supposed to do with that information?
“Hmm.”
“Where are you heading now?” he asked.
“To the kitchens.”
“Via the back stairs?” He arched an eyebrow and I tried not to think about how close we were still standing. I was fairly sure this wouldn’t be considered proper. Even if the mere concept of proper in this day and age was ridiculous. I was as much a woman as any of my subjects, I should be allowed to act that way.
“I don’t want to face people right now,” I admitted. I probably shouldn’t have, but Carter had been my best friend for years, it was impossible to forget that, even if he had been gone. “You look good,” I added, changing the subject and cringing while I did.
“You think so?” He smirked at me, a knowing glint in his eye.
“I need to go.” How smooth of me to just abandon the conversation. But my ears heated with embarrassment and I was grateful I wasn’t normally a cheek blusher. With my hair loose, no one would be able to see any physical sign of it.
A useful thing when I was to be Queen.
Without waiting for Carter to respond, I pushed past him and continued on my way down the stairs. A cup of tea was definitely needed now. A shot of something would be great too, but I couldn’t justify that. With work to do later, there was no shirking my duties just because I’d made myself feel awkward.
Con With Me Page 8