Her Three Entrepreneurs [The Hot Millionaires #8]

by Zara Chase

  Athena’s raised voice caused the few other patrons in the bar to look up.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking—”

  “Save it,” Bay said curtly. “We know that Jennings here is calling in Athena’s grandfather’s loans so that he can repossess the property and that this gentleman,” he added scathingly, pointing at Foster, “will grant planning permission when redevelopment projects are proposed. What we don’t understand is where you come into it all,” he finished, waving at Paul.

  “I think I do,” Athena said. “I remember now. Paul’s an architect. He recently got the push from a big firm in Southampton—”

  “I wasn’t fired. I resigned.”

  “Whatever.” Athena waved his interruption aside. “He now works freelance from home, which is why he’s cooked up this little scheme to feather his own nest.”

  The three crooks exchanged glances. “Your grandfather has taken advantage of my father all these years,” Paul said, sneering. “It’s about time he felt a taste of his own medicine.”

  “Taken advantage of him how, precisely?” she asked, placing her hands belligerently on her hips. “By employing him all these years, by paying him for almost a year when he couldn’t work because he was stricken with asthma, by being godparent to you, by supplying your mother’s kitchen with organic produce free of charge?” She enunciated each word with icy disdain. “Did I miss anything out?”

  “He pays him a pittance.”

  “He’s a farm worker and Gramps pays the going rate. Not that he can afford it, but he pays it anyway precisely because he doesn’t want to take advantage.”

  “And so you bashed an old man over the head, hard enough to fracture his skull, just to get your hands on his property.” Bay glowered at the three of them. “That must make you very proud.”

  “We had nothing to do with that,” Jennings said, looking scared. Bay had a feeling he was telling the truth. “You have to believe me. We had no need to do that. We had Peter Lloyd right where we needed him.”

  Unfortunately, that was probably true.

  “Look,” Foster said, extricating himself from behind the table and edging toward the door. “This is nothing to do with me.”

  “Really?” Bay blocked his path. “Then how come you were meeting with these two, discussing illegal applications?”

  “It was just an outline proposal, nothing definite. It was all a mistake really.”

  “So was the day you were born,” Dex said, holding the man in a deathwatch glare.

  “You’ve exploited your position,” Bay told him. “Resign and keep your pension or your bosses will hear all about this.”

  “You can’t prove anything.”

  “Wanna bet?” Marty asked.

  “You’re the Yanks who want to buy the farm,” Paul said, pointing a finger at Bay. “That’s all you care about. Well, Lloyd won’t sell, not to you.”

  “He won’t sell to you, either,” Athena said. “My grandfather’s good friend here,” she added scathingly, pointing to Jennings, “is going to restore our line of credit—if he wants to hold on to his job, that is—and there will be no need to sell.”

  “Why would I do that?” Jennings asked.

  “Because if you don’t,” Bay said, “your wife will hear all about Celia Philpott—”

  “The solicitor’s wife?” Athena gaped first at Bay, then Jennings, who looked like he wanted to crawl under the table and stay there.

  “Jennings is screwing her,” Bay said. “I’m guessing that Paul here got to hear of it and blackmailed Jennings into joining his fraudulent scheme.”

  “I didn’t, I—”

  “Shut up!” Marty said, cutting off Paul’s pathetic attempts to explain.

  “His mistress is expensive. Jennings has three kids at fee-paying schools and a wife with three credit cards to support,” Bay continued. “It must have seemed like manner from heaven when Paul suggested this fraud to you.”

  “Look, I’m sorry, Athena,” Jennings said. “Your grandfather’s old. The farm’s too much for him. He would have benefited financially once his debts were cleared.”

  Athena curled her upper lip and turned away from him.

  “Don’t ever try anything like this again,” Bay said to Paul, standing close enough to crowd him. “If you run home and keep your nose clean, your father won’t hear about what you tried to do. Not for your sake but for his.”

  “What’s it to you?”

  “Trust me, buddy, you don’t want to know.”

  Marty and Dex took Athena’s arms and walked her from the pub, Bay bringing up the rear.

  “Sorry you had to hear that, babe,” he said as they reached the parking lot again.

  “We should have forced Jennings to resign as well,” she said. “I hate the thought of him getting away scot-free after what he tried to do.”

  “A new manager might have cut off your credit anyway. Jennings won’t dare to.”

  “Yes, I guess.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe that Paul would actually have gone through with it. I’ve never liked him. He came on to me once, but I didn’t want to know. Perhaps—”

  “Paul’s a failure, out for a quick buck. He saw acquisition of the farm as a good opportunity and used his father as an excuse to justify what he was doing.”

  “How did you know about Jennings and Celia Philpott?” Athena asked. “She’s very attractive and quite full of her position as wife of the local solicitor. I never would have imagined she’d risk all that by having an affair.”

  “I did a bit of creative searching online this morning when you were outside,” Dex said.

  “In other words he hacked into Jennings’s e-mail,” Marty added, grinning.

  “Yeah, I found e-mails between Celia and Jennings. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to join the dots.”

  Athena shuddered and then took a deep breath. “So that’s it. I guess you’ll be on your way now,” she said casually.

  “Not quite,” Bay said. “Don’t be in too much of a hurry to get rid of us. We still haven’t found out who clouted your grandfather.”

  “You believe it wasn’t them?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” Bay nodded emphatically. “They haven’t got it in them.”

  “So,” Marty said, “it begs the questions, who did and why?”

  “Let’s all go and visit your grandfather,” Bay suggested. “Perhaps he might have remembered more about the attack.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “That didn’t get us any further,” Athena complained when they arrived back at the farm a little later.

  “No,” Bay agreed. “It’s unfortunate that your grandfather didn’t actually see his attacker.”

  “He can’t even think why anyone would want to attack him,” Athena reminded them. “I’m glad we didn’t tell him that it was a deliberate attempt to kill him. That would have either upset him or, more likely, given him reason to discharge himself so he could figure out who’d done it to him.” She smiled. “Gramps isn’t the passive type.”

  “Must be a family trait,” Dex said, swooping in to kiss the back of her neck.

  “Why did you make me park my Jeep in the barn, along with your car?” Athena asked Bay. “I always park right outside the door.”

  “Just a hunch,” Bay replied. “Let’s see if anything comes of it.”

  “You want to pretend there’s no one at home, hoping the attacker will return?”

  He shrugged. “It’s a long shot but still worth a try.”

  “Won’t they see all these lights?”

  “I’m guessing that if they come, it’ll be late at night.” Bay grinned at her. “By then we’ll have thought up something that can be done in the dark.”

  “That narrows it down a bit,” Dex said, laughing.

  They had Indian takeout food that night, but Athena’s appetite was almost nonexistent and she merely pushed her food round her plate. The guys obviously picked up on her mood and plied her wit
h wine and cheerful conversation. She tried to respond, but her heart wasn’t in it. Her thoughts flitted between the attack on her grandfather and the perfidious plot hatched against them by people she had thought she could trust.

  Tellingly, the main reason for her depression was the prospect of losing the guys. Despite their confident attitudes, there was no way they’d be able to find out who attacked Gramps. The perpetrator would be long gone by now. It probably was just an opportunistic burglary gone wrong. Gramps interrupted the thief, who took fright when he saw what he’d done to an old man, and legged it. No other explanation made any sense. The guys would come to realize that and call it a day. They had business of their own to take care of. Entrepreneurs like them couldn’t stick around a small English country farm for much longer. They presumably had far more important things to do.

  Athena felt their loss even though they were still in her kitchen, swapping banter and insults like the tight buddies she knew them to be. She’d fallen hopelessly in love with all three of them, which wasn’t smart. Athena was slow to trust, slower still to place her faith in anyone. She’d only known these three for a few days, and already they enjoyed her complete and absolute confidence.

  And her unconditional love.

  Shame she’d never get to tell them, she thought as she watched them move about the kitchen, clearing away plates and leftover curry. Instead of sitting here moping, she should probably make the most of them while she still could. Perhaps tonight they’d take things a step further once they got upstairs. Her pussy leaked, but her heart withered a little inside her chest. They could obviously screw her without involving their emotions. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite that easy for her.

  Athena jumped out of her skin when strong arms wrapped themselves round her waist from behind and a muscular chest collided with her back.

  “What is it, babe?” Bay’s lips nuzzled her neck. “You’ve been quiet all evening.”

  “Just thinking,” she said.

  “Not wise.” Dex pulled a face. “That’s an activity I try to avoid at all costs.”

  “We know,” Marty said, rolling his eyes.

  All three of them crowded round her now, so damned handsome, so charming, so concerned for her, that she was almost tempted to send them away. Having them here but knowing they would soon be leaving felt like death by a thousand cuts. Better to get it over with, and then her life could go back to normal.

  “What are you thinking about?” Bay asked, still holding her from behind.

  “I was just wondering what was for dessert,” she said, making a superhuman effort to appear carefree.

  “Now that,” Dex said with an engaging grin, “is a very good question.”

  “How do you feel about having all three of us?” Bay asked. “At the same time. Do you think you’re ready for that?”

  “Ready?” She smiled at each of them in turn. “I thought you’d never suggest it.”

  “What are we waiting for?” Marty asked, leading the way up the stairs.

  * * * *

  Bay switched all the lights off and walked up the stairs behind Athena, trying to decide if this was a good idea. The urge to dominate her was compelling. The desire to love and protect her was even greater. All three of them felt the same way about her. A redheaded firecracker had stormed into their well-organized lives, throwing wild accusations at them, changing them beyond recognition, without even realizing what she’d done. None of them had been looking for love or a long-term commitment. He knew from individual conversations with both Marty and Dex that that situation had changed. They’d only known Athena for a few days, but already they couldn’t imagine their lives without her in it.

  How they would bring that situation about, they had yet to conjecture. First of all they needed to find out who had it in for her grandfather, and why. They then had to figure out a way to keep her permanently with them without disadvantaging the only family member she cared about—an old man whom she would never agree to leave.

  They reached the spare room—the room that Bay looked upon as their playroom. Marty had changed the linen and brought a few new toys with him. The thick drapes were drawn tightly closed, and the small table lamp burning would never be visible from outside. The three guys headed for the couch and sat down. Without being told what to do, Athena stood in front of them, hands clasped in front of her, eyes cast down submissively. Bay’s prick jerked. Christ, she was a natural at this!

  “Take your clothes off for us, Athena,” Bay said.

  She did so, taking her time, making them wait. She was so goddamned perfect that Bay wanted to laugh aloud at their good fortune. Imagine finding such a treasure in this quiet backwater. When she was naked she reassumed her submissive position but not so quickly that Bay didn’t notice the gleam of anticipation in her eye, or the pulse beating out of control at the base of her throat. She was excited, which was good. She’d been quiet throughout dinner, but it seemed they’d finally found a way to distract her. Marty stood up and fastened her collar around her neck.

  “Go and stand in the corner with your back to us while we decide how to punish you,” he said.

  She walked slowly away from them, hips swinging provocatively in time with the motion of the long hair swaying across her back, and stood with lowered head in the farthest corner.

  “She didn’t eat enough,” Dex said.

  Bay nodded. “That’ll earn her a spanking.”

  “She stepped forward in that pub when you told her to stand back,” Marty added.

  “That’s definitely another violation.”

  Bay grinned at his buddies, watching Athena’s body trembling as they discussed her punishment as though she wasn’t there. He was pretty sure she wasn’t shaking because she was afraid. The pressure of his cock against the denim of his jeans was intolerable. He unzipped, sighing with relief when his erection sprang free. Dex and Marty did the same thing. When they gave her permission to turn around she would see three virile men with impressive erections jutting out from their flies. He had a feeling that she wouldn’t voice too many complaints about the view.

  “Turn round, Athena,” Bay said. “Get down on your hands and knees and crawl across to us.”

  She moistened her lips and did as she was told, large tits swinging beneath her with enough force to make Marty groan. Dex produced a paddle and beckoned her over to him. She remained on all fours as he brought it down across her cute ass. She made a choking sound in the back of her throat but held her position and took the spanking, her eyes glistening as she absorbed the pain. Then it was Marty’s turn.

  “Sit back on your haunches,” he said.

  She did so, allowing Marty access to her tits. He squirted lube over her nipples and attached the clover clamps once again.

  “Comfortable?” he asked.

  “Wonderful!”

  Marty didn’t attach the chain to her collar this time because she would need freedom of movement if she were to take all three of them together. He still wasn’t sure it was wise to take her so far so soon, but the others had persuaded him that she was a responsive enough pupil to cope.

  She walked toward Bay on her knees with the clamps on her tits, a question in her eyes. He laughed, leaned down to grab a searing kiss, and then ordered her back on all fours. The cheeky madam turned and wiggled her butt right in his face as she got into position.

  Dex laughed. “She’s got your measure, buddy.”

  Bay squirted lube over her ass, bringing his hand down hard on it at the same time. She didn’t try to fight him as he slid a plug into her, and sighed when it was in place.

  “Okay,” he said, standing and helping Athena to her feet. “You’re gonna make yourself come for us now.” He helped her onto the bed, sitting her up against the headboard. “Spread your legs wide, honey.”

  He slid a large vibrator into her dripping cunt and switched it on to a low speed before rejoining the guys on the couch.

  “We know our three cocks aren’t eno
ugh for you,” Marty said in a teasing tone. “You’re so damned greedy that you need to come more times than we can bring you off.”

  “You’ve got clamps on your tits,” Dex added, “Bay’s plug up your ass, and a huge vibrator up your cunt. You’re not allowed to speak, but show us through your body language how it makes you feel.”

  Given the green light to play with herself, Athena lost no time getting to work. She slid the vibrator in and out of her cunt, licking her lips and not once breaking eye contact with the three of them. The little witch knew precisely how to push their buttons. Watching her, Bay had never been closer to losing control. She brought her knees up, giving them a clearer view of the plastic sliding in and out of her pussy, wiggling about to get all she could from the butt plug. Marty groaned when she played with a clamped nipple with the fingers of one hand, while the other pushed the vibrator deeper and deeper, her thumb playing with her clit.

  She rotated her shoulders and groaned softly as her hips started to move, and she kept up a continuous keening sound. Her body tensed, she rammed the vibrator as deep as it would go and pinched her nipple despite the pain it must have caused her with the clamp already in place. Then she closed her eyes and rode the orgasm she’d given herself for what seemed like an impossibly long time.

  When she stilled and opened her eyes again, all three of them were naked. They approached the bed, crowding her as they kissed and caressed every part of her. Tongues licked and lips sucked, hands roamed and pricks teased. Athena moaned, digging her fingers into Bay’s hair as he lavished attention on one of her nipples.

  “I need to be punished some more,” she said, sounding a little desperate.

  “Do you now?” Bay reached for the fluffy restraints. “On your knees,” he said, attaching them to her wrists and then the headboard. “The Japanese flogger, I think,” he said, holding out his hand so that Dex could pass it to him. “Get beneath her, Marty. Keep her entertained while I flog her.”

  Marty slid into place, kissing and tormenting her nipples as Bay meted out the punishment she’d begged for. Gentle at first, when it became obvious that she loved the sensation, he increased the pressure.