Broke Down: My Over the Top Possessive Alpha Harem

by Sharan Daire

  “Are you thirsty, buddy?” Kaleb opened the door, letting him grab a bottled water. Allie grabbed a juice box. It was all I could do not to snatch it out of her hands. Grape juice. On the white countertops… Or spilled down the front of a priceless electronics device.

  Faint, I swayed a little.

  Derek caught my elbow. “Are you okay?”

  I gave him a wobbly smile. “Guess that hike took it out of me.”

  Kaleb tossed him a water. “Here. Take a drink. Do you need to sit down?”

  “No,” I rasped out. “Just don’t let Allie spill that juice.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Kaleb said. “Wally’s been in here plenty of times. It might look like a showroom, but it’s built tough and durable.”

  I couldn’t imagine letting a dog roam around this super-elegant high-end place. Let alone two messy kids. Though sure enough, Wally trotted into the room, drooling and tracking wet muddy footprints across the pristine floors.

  “See?” Kaleb continued. “There’s a doggie door for him, though he’s never up here unless we are too.”

  “What is this place?” I whispered, shaking my head.

  “Come this way.” Derek tugged gently on my arm, leading me into the next room.

  The biggest black leather sectional that I’d ever seen in my life made a giant U-shape in front of a television that looked like a scoreboard from a professional football stadium. The kids were crawling all over the place, stepping on the leather with their shoes. I opened my mouth to tell them to get down, but Wally jumped up too, and the guys didn’t say a word. If they didn’t mind his claws digging into the couch… then maybe dirty kid shoes were okay?

  My stomach still churned. I couldn’t imagine ever relaxing in a place this… luxurious. I didn’t belong in a place like this. It was just too… too… I couldn’t even think of words grand enough to describe it.

  “The master bedroom is in the back of the house.” Kaleb swung double doors open and stepped back, waiting for me to pass him.

  I started to walk through but jerked to a halt beside him. Where the other rooms had been sleek and masculine, this one was light, bright, and airy. Though still completely over the top.

  The biggest bed in the world sat on top of a dais, the focal point of the room. One of the guys hit a button, and blinds started to move up on the floor-to-ceiling windows, letting even more light. The bed was swagged with white and lavender sheers, giving it a dreamy, fairytale look. A thick royal purple coverlet was folded back at the foot, with tons of colorful pillows in satin and crocheted textures. My feet sank into the luxurious purple rug.

  Who would ever have a purple rug? Though I secretly loved it.

  “Take a look,” Derek said, giving me a little push.

  I crept into the room, almost afraid someone would start shouting that I was a fraud. This room was fit for a queen. The dressing room closet was literally bigger than my entire apartment in Dallas. With another separate room lined with white and acrylic cabinets and a desk. Mirrors lined the walls with rows of bright lights.

  Through another set of doors, I finally found the bathroom. If I wasn’t already dead of shock, I would have expired on the spot. Never in a million years would I have thought an even bigger tub existed than the one in the cabin we were staying in now. This tub looked more like a shallow swimming pool. Dark green slate and sparkling glass tiles combined with living tropical plants built into the walls made it look like a jungle pool. Complete with a huge fireplace. In the bathroom! And another huge television on the opposite wall.

  I made a sound that I hoped was a laugh, though it came out a little choked. “Holy shit. Throw in a refrigerator and you’d never have to leave.”

  Silently, Kaleb opened a cabinet at the back wall and showed the interior of a wine fridge. Another door beside it revealed chilled beer and other cocktail drinks.

  Shaking my head, I passed the ostentatious pool tub and found an equally massive shower with dozens of water jets and heads. An entire football team could stand in there and shower without touching each other. Of course the water closet had a toilet and a bidet because why not?

  The bathroom seemed a strange place for a clear glass door. Derek pushed it open, and I stepped outside. At least it looked like outdoors, with rocks and trees and greenery, but it was warm and humid. Giant boulders made a privacy wall, creating a nook for an outdoor shower. In a daze, I walked past the boulders and found an incredible swimming pool. Steam curled up from the water. With my coat on, I was starting to sweat. High above, I could make out a greenhouse type roof, explaining the tropical environment.

  But why go to so much trouble for an in-ground heated swimming pool?

  More giant boulders formed waterfalls and secret grottos the kids would probably love. Though the thought of a swimming pool with such easy access made me nervous. It wasn’t walled off in any way. Keeping inquisitive kids out of here would be a full-time job.

  I wasn’t actually considering it. Was I? This ultra-luxurious over-the-top palace?

  But where the other cabin had felt nice but sterile, there was a definite purpose behind this place. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, though. They never rented it out. No one stayed here. But it must have cost millions of dollars to build. I couldn’t fathom the kind of disposable income one had to possess to build a place like this and then not use it.

  Only Chris would have the funds to build a place like this. He’d built the rest of the lodge and the cabins. But why this place? So far from the other guests, yet still on the land? I sensed his design taste in the front rooms, but not in the bedroom. It didn’t read masculine at all. No, it felt like a queen’s room.

  A woman’s room.

  And it dawned on me, standing beside a steaming tropical grotto in the middle of a Midwestern winter, that the foolish, crazy man had built this place for their woman. Their queen they intended to share a lifetime with.

  Whom they just happened to think was me.

  He’d put in every luxury and convenience he could find to make the space comfortable and easy, beautiful and functional. From the giant tub to the dressing room, the beautiful bed and commercial-quality kitchen, it was a place where everything catered to the queen of the four friends. Her comfort. Her ease. Her pleasure.

  Dazed, I turned back to Derek and Kaleb, but I didn’t know what to say.

  “The door is keyed to only the four of us right now.” Kaleb gave me puppy-dog eyes, as if pleading me to understand and accept their offering. “The kids won’t be able to enter the pool without one of us with them. So it’s completely safe. There’s another entrance on the other side of the living room, as well as stairs down from the upper level. All the doors will have the same keycode.”

  “But why would it occur to anyone to put locks on the pool if they didn’t have kids?”

  Kaleb smiled sheepishly. “Security and safety is a big deal to all of us, but especially Chris.”

  Having the pool protected put me a bit more at ease, but I still couldn’t comprehend actually living here. Chris may have built this place with the goal of installing their queen in a palace, but he couldn’t have guessed that this waitress would have two kids of her own.

  “Let’s go upstairs,” Derek said. “I sent the kids on up to find their rooms.”

  I didn’t say anything as I followed them back through the lovely bedroom to the upstairs living quarters. A large casual sitting room would make a great place for the kids to watch cartoons in the morning, without going downstairs and turning on the giant television. Rather than couches and chairs, there were beanbags and large body pillows.

  From the sitting room, there were two corridors in opposite directions, defining two upstairs wings. They led me toward the left down a hallway with four doors. Another floor-to-ceiling wall of glass at the opposite end let in tons of light, but I couldn’t tell if it was a window or door.

  Kaleb opened the first door on the right and flipped on the light. I thought
it would be a guest room, but a large desk stood in the center of the room. The walls were lined with shelves and storage cubbies, though they all appeared to be empty. Maybe a home office or craft room?

  The door on the left was open already, and Liam had claimed the room. No wonder, either. A loft bed designed to look like a pirate ship made a cool hideout, with tons of storage and fun stuff underneath. A child-sized desk sat beneath the large window, with tons of shelves for books or toys. The attached bathroom was sparkling clean with a double sink and another door leading to the next bedroom, where I found Allie having tea with Wally.

  An adorable pink and purple table was positioned beneath the window, complete with what looked to be a real tea set painted with pink roses. Wally sat patiently while she poured tea and chattered to him. Blinking back tears, I remembered all the times I’d stood in the door, watching her play with her stuffed dog, lifting cheap plastic cups to his mouth.

  Now she had a real dog to play with. A real tea set. Plus a princess bed with a sparkling canopy lit with delicate fairy lights.

  But how? How could they have pulled this off in a matter of days? This house certainly hadn’t been built overnight. Yet these rooms were tailor made for my kids. There was no way they could have planned out a boy and girl themed rooms, right?

  “There you are.” Everett leaned in the doorway, six-foot-plus delicious man in elegant dress pants. No suitcoat. No tie. White shirt unbuttoned partway down his chest with the sleeves rolled midway up his forearms.

  “That’s unfair,” I muttered, crossing my arms defiantly.

  He glanced at the other two men, eyebrows arched. “What’d I miss?”

  They were just as bewildered as him, evidently, so maybe Mr. Sex on a Stick posing against the frame like that wasn’t deliberate. I marched closer and gave him a solid poke in the chest. “How could you have possibly decorated a princess room and the perfect boy hideout on such short notice?”

  One corner of his lips quirked, revealing a dimple that did ridiculous things to my body. After last night, surely my hormones would have leveled out, but evidently they’d decided to spike harder, eager for round three with number three.

  “It’s easy when every designer in town is familiar with Mr. Blakely’s very exclusive tastes and is eager for another custom order. He made the call the day he met you and the kids in the lodge’s lounge.”

  I shook my head slowly. “That’s impossible. He couldn’t have known…” What? That I’d hop into bed with the twins after a few days? That I’d be falling for them all? That I couldn’t keep my hand off Everett’s chest, even though I’d climaxed so many times last night I passed out?

  Cheeks blazing, I glanced quickly at Allie, but she was still too absorbed in her tea party to notice her mother’s embarrassment.

  “In case you didn’t notice,” Everett drawled out slowly as he wrapped his fingers around mine and pressed my palm over his heart. “Chris doesn’t miss anything. He saw you, he saw the kids, he saw how we were already buzzing around you like hungry honeybees, and he made some calls.”

  “But what if I changed my mind?” I whispered. “Or didn’t like you, or him? Or got scared and left?”

  He lifted one elegant shoulder in a careless shrug. “It’s only money, and Chris has a shit ton to spare. On the off chance that he could convince you to stay with the perfect place, he was willing to take the risk. Is there anything you don’t like? Say the word and it’s done.”

  I leaned against him, dropping my head against his chest. Breathing in his scent. Listening to his heartbeat. Trying to make sense of it all. “So he built this place as the perfect dream home, but none of you ever lived in it?”

  “We’ve used the pool and the game room downstairs,” Derek said. “And the exercise equipment is better than the generic stuff we put in the lodge. But he refused to move in until it was perfect.”

  “Which meant we could be here as the family we wanted to be,” Kaleb added.

  Everett rested his chin on the top of my head, his arms closing around me in a gentle yet firm hug that promised so much more. “With you.”

  “But… but…” I couldn’t even seem to get my brain to word correctly. I was too overwhelmed. It just seemed so crazy. This house had to be worth a million dollars. More. “Would you keep your other places? Why build them if this was supposed to be your home? It doesn’t make any sense!”

  The last part came out more of a wail.

  “Well, that depends on the lady of the house.” Everett tightened his arms around me, giving me more solid muscle. More strength. The promise that he’d always be another shoulder to lean upon. “The master is yours. Who you ask to stay with you in that bed, or in this house, is completely up to you. There are other bedrooms that are perfectly comfortable and luxurious too, so you can sleep in privacy anytime you want and send your guests elsewhere. If you don’t want roommates, then our current living arrangements will continue happily without complaint. It’s a big ask, Shelby. We know that. We’re basically asking if you’d like to move in with four guys you’ve only known a week. We’re beyond patient in that regard, and it’s ultimately your decision. If you want us to stay in our individual homes for a year or more, that’s fine. But we’d love for you to enjoy the house now, no strings attached.”

  “Our cabins are an investment,” Derek added. “We live in them now, but at any time, we can switch to renting them as part of the lodge’s accommodations. In the summer, we’re completely booked months ahead. People love the individual cabins so much we thought about building more, but we decided to retain the privacy instead.”

  “You don’t have to answer right now.” Kaleb lowered his voice to a mock, very loud whisper. “Doesn’t someone need to pack for their overnight stay at TayTay’s house?”

  “Me!” Allie jumped up, clapping her hands. “But I’m already packed. When can we go?”

  “Tay should get out of school in an hour or two.” He scooped her up and gave her a playful toss that made her squeal. “Let’s go downstairs and have a big feast. Then maybe we can go swimming.”

  She giggled. “Not in winter, silly. It’s too cold.”

  They hadn’t seen the indoor pool yet, since they’d raced upstairs to find their rooms.

  I caught myself. Their rooms. Had I already made up my mind, then? Silently, I followed them downstairs, only half listening to their conversation. We’d missed the dining room earlier. Paneled wood doors had been opened up to reveal a table large enough to seat at least twenty guests. Gorgeous fresh flower arrangements, sparkling glassware, white linens the kids would destroy in one meal. Expensive artwork on the walls. Even staff, pouring drinks and bringing in trays of food.

  Chris sat at the far head of the table, talking on the phone and scowling. Business as usual. But as soon as we came in, he hung up and rose as I approached. Everett pulled out the seat on Chris’ right and helped me scoot the chair back in, then sat beside me. Kaleb sat opposite me, with the kids in between him and his brother.

  Chris sat back down. “Do you want the good or bad news first?”

  He looked at me, not his friends. “Um, good news.”

  “I found an excellent photographer. Love his work and his compositions. I’ll show you his portfolio up at the lodge if you’re interested. But more importantly, he’s willing to take more direction so the shoot is a collaboration rather than his sole responsibility. Not too many talented professionals are willing to let an amateur watch and learn over their shoulder.”

  Everett snorted. “I’m sure that the very large check you wrote helped.”

  “Indeed.” Chris smiled, the first completely natural smile I’d ever seen on his face. It gave me chills, though in a good way. I could imagine a shark smiling like that as it swam in lazy circles beneath his prey that frolicked above without a clue that dinner was about to be served. “The bad news is that he’s under contract for another two weeks. We can still make progress in some of the easier compositions I had in m
ind, but I really want to see what he can do before we make a final decision on the marketing campaign.”

  He and Everett started rattling off advertising budgets and magazine spreads and time slots. It all sounded expensive and complicated and over my head.

  I took a sip of my water, trying not to look dumb. All my insecurities came flooding back. I was a waitress. Sitting at a fancy dinner table with a billionaire and his friends while they talked business and casually wrote checks that would probably make me faint if I knew how much was involved. This super luxurious house only emphasized all the ways I was unfit to live here.

  I didn’t have the education or social skills to know which fancy fork to use for the salad set before me. Everett had said “lady of the house,” which to me, meant hostess. With such a big, formal table, they probably intended to host dinner parties with other bigwigs. Maybe business partners. This expensive photographer. Who was going to plan and organize that?

  All I could do was smile and hope I didn’t have lettuce in my teeth. I was better suited to work in the kitchen, bringing people’s plates to the table.

  I was a fraud. I wasn’t anything special or extraordinary or even that beautiful. I knew what I saw in the mirror. I knew how old my driver’s license said I was. They’d find a younger, slimmer, knock-out model eventually. And then where did that leave me? Once they found out that I was just… me.

  When they really learned who I was.

  Chris suddenly leaned closer, his voice wicked soft in my ear. “If your children weren’t here, I’d drag you out of this room and kiss some sense back into you.”

  My eyes flared with shock. Shivers raced down my spine as his hot breath filled my ear. He didn’t touch me. He didn’t have to. The threat of his words were enough. Not to scare me.

  To turn me on. Maybe he had wanted to kiss me in our shoot. Maybe he was just as afraid as I was, and that was why he’d stepped away.

  “I don’t give a fuck about this house or anything in it,” he muttered for my ear only. “Level it. I. Don’t. Fucking. Care. About anything. Except them, and you. If you’re not comfortable here, then I’ll build you a new house. You tell me what you want, and I’ll do it as quickly as only someone with way too much money can.”