by Jayne Rylon
But eventually, she grasped Ford’s hand and squeezed. “What do you want?” he asked.
“Each of you, inside me. One by one.” She bit her lip. “Make it last. As long as you can. Please. I never want this to end.”
They put all their experience to work, giving her what she desired most. Hours passed while each of them spent time inside her, rotating when it became too much for them, trying to erase her bad memories and make plenty of sweet, sensual ones to replace them with.
They did their best to heal her through their physical connection.
It was literally their pleasure to do so.
By the time Kari slipped into a long, languid orgasm that seemed to echo through her body forever, Brady was spent and so were his partners.
They lifted Kari from the whirlpool, toweled her dry, then took her upstairs to their shared suite where they snuggled together and exchanged long, sweet kisses, the rest of the world forgotten entirely.
He wasn’t sure who said it first, but when he heard one of his friends murmur, “I love you,” into the darkness, he immediately admitted the same truth, then held his breath.
Unfortunately, the only response from Kari was a soft, adorable snore.
20
Marty couldn’t believe it. He’d nearly given up. Listened to his family, who were concerned about him—as if they’d ever cared before—and the shrink they’d hired to attend the “intervention” they’d staged.
More like an ambush.
Sure, he’d gone overboard with the pills and his drinking. Who could blame him after losing so damn much? His career, his cash, and a woman he’d tried over and over to woo—all of it was gone.
He’d almost agreed it was time to start over and try to do better.
After coming back home and realizing his old firm had sent a take-down request to have his video stripped from the internet, he’d thought it was a sign that his family was right. Kari had gone home with his ex-bosses. They’d retreated into their impenetrable tower, where he couldn’t reach them, seemingly unfazed by what he’d tried to show them and the rest of the world about how Kari had belonged to him first. Before they’d stolen her away.
Game over.
Then, as he’d been about to pack up his surveillance equipment, which allowed him to spy on them from this secret second apartment he could no longer afford, movement had fluttered on the screen that had been empty for days.
It had cost Marty the last of his savings to bribe a maintenance worker into “accidentally” knocking a panel out of the damn privacy screen surrounding the terrace, but it was about to pay off.
Those bastards were getting it on in their hot tub like the freaks they were. They tried to make him out to be the bad guy, the pervert, when they were obviously getting off on what he’d shown them about Kari.
It was one thing to know they’d had her. To see it…
They’d ruined her. They’d ruined everything.
So he gathered the evidence he needed to make the foursome suffer like he had. He would mutilate their reputations too. Ford, Brady, and Josh were too proud to let a woman destroy the empire they’d built. They’d ditch her as fast as all the other women they’d burned through since he’d known them.
When they cast out Kari, she would come crawling back to him.
Even better, maybe they could convince the lawyers to buy up all the rest of the footage he had to keep from making things worse. Then all his problems would be solved.
With a huge grin, Marty shook the last of his pills into his hand, washed them down with the shitty gin he’d scrounged from the back of his cabinet and shoved his pants down to enjoy the show properly.
21
The next morning, Josh stormed into the penthouse, his fists shaking. In one, he clutched the forgotten bag of food that had been intended to stave off the ravenous hunger brought on by the previous night’s sex marathon. In the other…
It was the thing that could bring them crashing down from the pinnacle they’d reached together only hours before. This one piece of crumpled paper had the power to ruin everything. Probably already had. They just hadn’t known it yet.
He thought he might puke. The smell of the eggs in the takeout containers revolted him now.
Dashing into the kitchen, he hurled the bag onto the counter, sending hash browns flying.
“Hey, careful with my breakfast,” Brady teased. “After last night, I need all the calories I can get.”
On the other hand, Kari went on instant alert. She knew him well enough that she could tell something was seriously fucked. “What’s wrong?”
She rose from where she was sandwiched between Josh and Ford on the couch and jogged over to him. It said a lot that he hardly noticed the way her breasts bounced in the skimpy satin nightgown she’d put on.
Ford wasn’t far behind her. He glanced down at the glossy tabloid Josh’s hand was clamped around and cursed. “What’s in there?”
Josh winced. This was going to hurt Kari. There was no way around it either. She was going to find out. From him, right now, or from a stranger if he didn’t man up and show her.
So he broke the news as gently as he could. “Someone saw us. Together. And they…”
Shit, he couldn’t say it when her eyes were so big and wide and innocent on his.
Ford snatched the magazine out of his hand and looked at it for himself. “Motherfucker! They took pictures of us fucking and sold them to this piece-of-shit gossip rag.”
Josh nodded. “It gets worse.”
“How the hell could it get worse?” Brady roared as he took in the grainy images of the four of them in the hot tub. The juiciest bits were hazy but what was happening was clear as day. Right on the cusp of what the magazine could get away with on the newsstand.
“There’s another video online with the promise of more to come. All the major celebrity gossip sites blogged about the scandal and people are out there hunting the links down so hard several of the sites hosting it crashed from the traffic. It’s fuzzy but it’s obviously us. In the Jacuzzi.” He hung his head. “I’m so sorry, Kari. We can go after them, sue them, but that won’t take it back. It’s out there now. I never thought…”
“How is that even possible?” Ford shouted, then sprinted outside. He cursed loud enough for them to hear even through the sound-deadening glass when he noticed a hole in their privacy screen. It hadn’t been visible in the dark the night before.
Only one person could be behind this. The question was, had Marty taken advantage of a pre-existing flaw, or had he created it himself?
Josh’s skin crawled. Kari wasn’t protected here, with them, despite how many times they’d promised her she would be.
When Ford stormed back inside, Kari flew to him and crushed him in a hug. “Calm down. It’s not your fault.”
She was consoling them? Josh shook his head, feeling like their whole world had been flipped upside down. Maybe it was because she wasn’t a lawyer and she hadn’t considered the repercussions.
Ford exchanged a glance with Josh and Brady. All three of them were grim as fuck because they knew exactly how their opposition would use this information. Those bastards would twist this to their advantage. They’d smear Kari and paint her as an immoral woman who’d sleep with anyone, especially multiple people at a time.
While that had absolutely no bearing on whether or not she’d given Marty her consent that night in the alley—and she had certainly never encouraged him to enter her apartment—not everyone would see it that way.
They’d cracked the door for Marty to weasel his way free of the cage they’d been about to nail him into. The man had been one hell of a lawyer, otherwise they never would have hired him in the first place. Because of them, Kari was going to lose her case. And then she’d never truly be safe.
Josh went cold all over.
Ford’s hands fell away from Kari. She blinked up at him, tipping her head to the side as she read his expression. “Oh no. You’re not going
to let this come between us.”
He stepped away from her. So did Brady. And Josh. It was the hardest thing he’d done in his life, making that foot move and then the other until he’d put some distance between them. But it had to be done.
Kari whipped her stare from him to Ford and then to Brady, watching each of them retreat simultaneously.
Josh swore he saw her heart shatter in her chest. Her face warped into a mask of horror and outrage. It felt like the worst sort of infidelity to rescind every promise he’d made to her and leave her out there alone, hurting and afraid.
“Guys?” She put her hand out. None of them took it.
Ford took a deep, shaky breath, then said, “As your lawyer, I’m advising you that it would be best to end this relationship and stay far, far away from here. From us. At least until Marty is caught and his trial is over…and probably forever.”
Brady hunched over as if Ford had driven a stake into his heart. Still, he didn’t argue. Instead, he nodded. “He’s right. In fact, we should resign as your council also. We’ll find another qualified firm to represent you.”
Josh agreed with his partners. “Kari, you should go.”
He couldn’t even offer to call Andi or Cooper to come get her, because they were involved in this whole mess too.
Ford said, “Tell Bronson to take you to a secure location. Somewhere we don’t know about.”
She would be alone, but protected from the collateral damage that came along with being too close to them.
It was for the best.
22
Kari reeled, her heart stomped into mush. She staggered toward the door, clutching her chest. She was less afraid that Marty could be lurking out in the shadows somewhere than she was of the nightmare that had just unfolded inside the lost sanctuary of Ford, Josh, and Brady’s penthouse.
Despite the shit show, the guys would certainly have Bronson meet her in the lobby and escort her somewhere she could hunker down until this was finally resolved. Were they right, though? Would this incident never be entirely behind her?
What if Marty got off the hook—despite all the things he’d done to her—because of what others thought of the non-traditional relationship she’d flaunted between her, Ford, Brady, and Josh?
She knew there were plenty of people who wouldn’t understand. They would make assumptions about how she viewed intimacy and assume she was willing to go crazy with anyone. What was a little sex up against an alley wall at a Christmas party when you were happy to fuck all three of your bosses too?
Kari’s finger trembled as she pressed the elevator button. Going down had never seemed so literal in all her life. Every floor that passed sank her deeper into a pit of despair.
When the doors opened and she practically tumbled out into the lobby, she was both glad and appalled to see Bronson waiting for her. Instead of hauling her by the wrist and rushing her out to the waiting limo, he approached carefully, as if she was a wounded animal. “Kari…”
She couldn’t say what made her do it, but she flew at him then, clinging to the poor guy as she began to wail. He hugged her gently and patted her back. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
“How?” she sobbed.
He steered her toward a quiet corner of the building’s grand foyer and sank onto a padded bench beside her, rubbing gentle circles on her back. “It’ll be easier to fix if you don’t make too many mistakes right now. Take a few deep breaths, and really think about what you want to do before we rush off, okay?”
“You don’t think I should go?” She wiped fresh tears from her cheeks. “They basically kicked me out.”
“They’re not thinking straight either.” Bronson grimaced. He never spoke badly about his employers, who were really more like sons, but this time it seemed like he was struggling to hold his tongue. “They jerked back like a person who smashed their own thumb with a hammer because the very last thing they ever wanted was to hurt you.”
“They didn’t. Marty did. Well, until they dumped me.” She sniffled, her vanity overtaking her pain as her crying abated. “That’s going to leave a hell of a mark.”
“It doesn’t have to.” Bronson’s mouth was set in a grim line. “Look, I think a lot of all four of you, and I don’t want to see you screw things up, okay?”
Kari nodded. She appreciated that even if it meant having her ass handed to her.
“Just because they said some dumb shit doesn’t mean you have to agree with them. You’ve turned tail before when things got rough and it only made the situation worse. Don’t do that again. And maybe…” Bronson sighed then, as if he resented them for making him talk this much, especially about feelings.
“Maybe what?” she asked.
“Maybe they need someone to fight for them. To tell them that they matter beyond their money or their…” He cleared his throat. “Skills in bed. Maybe they need a woman who can put up with the shit that comes along with being theirs, including publicity and jealous assholes who want to tear them apart.”
She scrunched her eyes closed. It was hard to do, but she tamped down the emotions they’d evoked in her to consider the underlying motivations for their actions. She figured her ability to put them first was the very definition of love. The harder she tried, the more she was able to ignore her own agony and consider theirs.
Damn it, Bronson was right.
Kari had nearly made the biggest mistake of her life and quit on the three men she loved when they needed her to stand and fight.
She must have taken a while to really consider Bronson’s advice, because he scrubbed his hand over his face and started to stand up. “Come on. I have a place in mind. Once you’re settled, I can go back and collect Andi if you want some support while you’re there.”
The moment he proposed it, Kari knew it was the absolute wrong thing to do.
Hell no. Running had only made things worse so far.
She was going to stay. Show her men who they belonged to and how much stronger they were when they were together.
“No thanks, Bronson.” Kari didn’t take the hand he held out to her.
“Wait, what?” He shook his head. “You’re not going out there on your own. That’s not even an option.”
“No, it’s not.” The corner of her mouth kicked up in a sad smile then, one she wouldn’t have believed possible even a few minutes ago. “Because I’m not leaving.”
“Oh.” He grinned. “Well, that’s…good. Great.”
“Thank you for helping me pull my head out of my ass.” She put her hands on his shoulders, went up on her tiptoes, and kissed him on his grizzled cheek.
She would have sworn he was blushing when he stammered, “You’re welcome.”
Kari waved over her shoulder, then dashed to the elevator. What the hell had she been thinking, slinking away with her tail between her legs like that? No. No way. That was the old Kari. The one who ran. The one who hid. The one who blamed herself for shit other people did.
That’s not who she was anymore.
Ford, Brady, and Josh had taught her better.
Now it was time she showed them exactly who they’d been messing around with.
Kari had no idea what she was going to say when she charged back inside their penthouse. That was probably for the best because her thoughts flew out of her head the moment she burst into the kitchen and saw Ford with a fistful of Josh’s shirt and his hand raised.
“What the hell are you doing?” she shrieked, racing to put herself between them.
She stared at Ford’s knuckles, which quickly fell away from the vicinity of her face. He froze, then stumbled backward, his handsome face twisted into a mask of disgust and shame.
“I…I don’t know.” He shook his head violently as if to clear it and then said. “Fuck. I lost it when I thought you were gone for good. I’m sorry.”
Brady was at Josh’s side, glaring at each of his partners in turn.
Score one for Bronson. They needed her to bring them togeth
er again.
“Did you forget something?” Brady asked.
“Yeah, this.” Kari snatched the crumpled newspaper off the floor. She spread it out, unwrinkling it carefully so that she could really look at it for the first time. It was a gorgeous picture of them, making love with the twinkling lights of the city in the background.
If anyone who saw that was stupid enough to assume it meant she deserved what had happened to her with Marty, then they were idiots. She stroked the magazine lovingly. “I forgot to tell you that I’m not going to hide what we share. And that I don’t give a shit who knows how much I love all three of you.”
Josh looked up, completely confused. “You’re not? You should care. Wait…you what?”
“Marty’s already taken enough from me. He won’t take you guys too.” She crossed her arms and tapped her toe on the polished marble floor. It would be unjust to ask her to sacrifice the best thing in her life in order to punish the worst. She would take her chances.
“I’m tired of hiding and acting like what I want is wrong.” Kari stood tall, the burden of her past lightening by the second as she embraced everything they’d given her. Everything they’d taught her about herself. “I want to be bolder. I want to be the woman worthy of three men like you.”
“No one ever said you weren’t.” Brady reached for her, cupping her cheek. “I hope that’s not how you interpreted our concerns.”
Kari’s eyes stung. It was hard to rein in the avalanche of emotions that had taken her for such a rollercoaster ride that morning and over the past several months. “I know you were thinking of my best interests, but it still felt like a rejection.”
“It wasn’t.” Josh edged closer. He hugged her from behind, infusing her with his warmth and affection. “If anything, I don’t feel worthy of you. I think you deserve more than to have your love life made into a freak show.”
“Most people are lucky to find one person to spend their lives with. Here I am, with three. I mean, if that’s what you want too…”