She was nervously pulling at her black hair with the blue tinge to capture the light in just the right way. She thought about which man made her more excited and couldn’t come up with a definitive answer. They both made her feel things.
The brief spark between her legs was growing and she knew being in close proximity would only cause more harm than good. She almost chickened out and probably would have canceled had she had the foresight to get their phone number. It was rude to keep them waiting for any longer than necessary.
She had brought a bottle of wine. The red high heels were a nice touch to the ensemble. It was enough to take their breath away. She was at the door with her heart in her mouth. She was about to knock when it opened and she found Adam draped only in a towel. His bare chest was chiseled, and his abdominals were railroad tracks.
Adam wasn’t shy about his body and had no problem showing off his best attributes. The glistening shine of the water still clinging to his flesh was done on purpose.
“I was just freshening up. Blake is going over some last-minute details for a business meeting in the morning. Excuse me, but my eyes are up here.” He lifted her chin and smiled disarmingly with a joke that he used to break the ice.
“I can… I can come back if you’re busy.” She stumbled over her words and couldn’t stop staring at a very prominent piece of his anatomy.
“Don’t be silly. I’ll go down the hall and put some clothes on to make myself more presentable.” He took the bottle from her hand and walked away with his bare feet padding across the floor.
With a smirk of evil behind her back, he feigned surprise when the towel slipped to reveal his globes of magnificence.
“Oh, my…” She put her hand over her mouth to prevent a gasp of appreciation from escaping her lips.
“Did I do that?” Adam had his finger between his teeth. He was having fun at her expense by acting coy and playful.
“I should’ve known his vanity would get the best of him. Go and put something on. Your attitude can be vexing to those who don’t know you like I do. Show some decency.” Blake got the middle finger salute from his brother on his way down the hallway.
“I wasn’t expecting an all-male variety show.” She was smiling despite the feeling of being taken off-guard. The scent of male testosterone was hard to ignore.
“He can be incorrigible at times. I’ve lived with his idiosyncrasies most of my life. We are different. You wouldn’t think living together would be in harmony. We have our own space, but we do enjoy some of the same shows. Hockey is a sport that finds us around the big screen on Saturday nights. I’m sure you would find it boring. Let me take your coat.” He went behind her and couldn’t stop licking his lips with anticipation.
He lowered her jacket and his instant arousal sprang into action when the dress made its first appearance. He was tongue-tied for a moment and decided to wait to get his thoughts together.
“I only like hockey during the playoffs. I’m a big New York fan.” She wasn’t much into sports, but the playoffs were in a league all of their own.
“We haven’t met many girls who like to indulge in drinking a cold beer and rooting for their favorite team.” He turned after relieving her of her jacket.
He put it in the closet. He was faced with the insurmountable task of trying to put on a brave face. Blake was careful to angle his body to make sure her opinion of him didn’t change.
“Don’t tell my mother, but I love a cold beer during a game or on a hot summer’s day. I don’t just like any beer. It has to have something more than the obvious notes. I tried to make my own, but it was disappointing.” She saw a twinkle in his piercing blue eyes.
He went to the kitchen, rummaged in the stainless steel fridge, and came up with something of his own design. His hobby in micro-brewing was something of a guilty pleasure. He had several variations, but one was his favorite. It had a blueberry aftertaste.
“I want you to try this and tell me honestly what you think.” He waited with bated breath. She didn’t even bother to pour it into a glass.
Yvette took it by the neck and tipped into her mouth with the bottle poised between her lips. There was something oddly sexual in the way she drank from it.
Blake shifted nervously, wondering what those lips would feel like giving him oral gratification. It was his favorite sexual act and he missed it.
She had a political answer prepared, but found the explosion of flavors dancing on her palate quite an eye-opener.
“I can take constructive criticism. I’m always trying to improve the flavor. Unfortunately, my brother has to be the Guinea pig and sometimes he can be rather opinionated.” He watched as she polished off the bottle and reached out for another.
“It’s not the best I’ve ever had, but it’s one of my top ten. I would say you should bottle it, but it’s not like you have to get any richer than you already are. With that in mind, I believe you said something about a few pieces in your collection I might find interesting.” She walked into the living room with a surround sound 50-inch television and a three-piece sectional, black leather couch taking up most of the space.
She tried not to think about the wardrobe malfunction, but Adam’s posterior was burned into her brain. Blake wasn’t making anything better with the black slacks molded to his body like a second skin. She wanted to make comparisons.
“I’m proud of this one. The artist is relatively unknown. It’s one of her earlier creations. It’s a little dark, but there’s something about it that tells the tale of good and evil.” He stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, kneading the muscles. He heard her moan underneath her breath and it sent a jolt of excitement through his limbs.
“I can see what you mean. It does make you think how life is fleeting and can be over in the blink of an eye. None of us really know when our time is up and you have to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to you when they arise.” She was well aware of how his hands were making her feel.
He moved in a little closer, and over her shoulder he could see the swell of her breasts rising and falling with each breath.
Yvette could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck and it sent a shiver of freezing cold down her spine. His hands didn’t remain on her shoulders and crept slowly down to the small of her back.
“I see the both of you have been getting acquainted with each other.” He could’ve left his brother to have his fun, but he couldn’t bring himself to bow out gracefully.
“Blake was showing me his piece…ahem…I mean…this piece. I have to say you do clean up well. Both of you are very conscientious about your hygiene. You probably don’t know this, but a woman makes up her mind a few seconds after meeting a man whether or not she’s going to sleep with him.” She blurted it out and found them both looking at one another to determine if there was any underlying meaning.
“I feel it’s necessary for us to tell you the real reason why we invited you this evening. We have some clients coming over and you will be the necessary distraction from the boredom. We should’ve been upfront with you, but we weren’t sure if you would be comfortable in a party atmosphere.” Adam had noticed the religious artifacts in her penthouse. His faith was always important to him, but sometimes he did blur the lines between righteous and a devil-may-care attitude.
“The party is going to start shortly and we felt it was necessary to get to know you beforehand. Every man in the room is going to be eating their heart out when they see you in that outfit.” Blake watched her voluptuous curves and felt a certain stirring.
She had some cushion for the pushin’ with her body, the perfect weapon against his self-proclaimed abstinence.
“I don’t know why you would want me here, but I’m flattered.” Blake’s nimble fingers had drawn her into his gravity. She wondered what other things he could do with other parts of his body.
“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You are a very beautiful and sexy woman. It’s a shame you d
on’t think so. I guess all of us have things we hide from the rest of the world. We wear masks, and only when we are comfortable do we take them off to show what is underneath.” Adam wanted to lay his hands on her body and hear her cries of ecstasy while twisting in the sheets.
“Adam, you do flatter me, but don’t think for one second this is going to get me into your bedroom by the end of the night. The both of you confuse me, but not in a bad way. I am recently divorced and this is my first time alone. I came from a very strict upbringing.” She didn’t get a chance to explain when there was a knock at the door.
The room filled up quickly with people talking in hushed tones in various locations in the penthouse. The three of them were glued to each other and pretty much left the others to their own devices. There was a customary toast with people cheering and applauding the brothers Slim for their efforts.
They danced provocatively, touching her body and making her crave something she didn’t even know she wanted. The heat between them was hard to ignore. The music was pumping with the liquor flowing freely. At times, Yvette found herself two-fisting bottles of beer while reveling in how the boys were fawning all over her.
They all knew something would’ve happened had there been no guests to ruin what would’ve been a night to remember.
Blake and Adam weren’t thinking about tag-teaming her. They had never shared a woman and the thought never entered their heads. They did want her and had no problem competing for her affection.
Yvette was feeling no pain and allowing the liquor to dull her senses. She was no longer being controlled by her ex-husband and felt it was necessary to take a page from the brothers’ book. They didn’t allow perception to determine the way they lived their lives.
It was always about the next big merger and how far they were willing to go for the next big adventure. She could see how much fun it would be to have an unlimited bank account.
Money couldn’t buy happiness, but it could buy everything else.
The end of the night was bittersweet. Yvette had the good fortune of having her penthouse one floor down from theirs. There was no way she would’ve been able to drive after indulging in a little bit too much for her delicate constitution. They did escort her down to her penthouse and shared a chaste kiss to leave them all wanting more.
Chapter Four
Yvette’s head was spinning with thoughts of the Slim Brothers. It had been two weeks and she still remembered with vivid clarity the lingering taste of their lips. She tried to make sense of how she was feeling about the two men. It wasn’t like she had any reference for something as insane as wanting to experience what it was like between the sheets with each of them.
The slight breeze coming through the window had given her a wakeup call. She had enough time to take a quick shower and have a piece of fruit on the way out the door. It was fortuitous she had the forethought to grab a few things at a local market down the street. Her cupboards were bare. She did have an interest in trying out some recipes.
She recalled her cell phone ringing at 5:00 AM. It was again making that incessant noise. Her hand went to her forehead and she began to massage her temples, readying herself for the dreaded conversation with her mother.
She felt it was necessary to get it over with. She wasn’t going to stop calling. The more time elapsed, the better chance she was going to be fuming mad with her voice rising in tempo, enough to make her feel uncomfortable.
She hit the speaker of her cell phone and waited for the grating tone of her voice. She could hear her mother on the other end taking a deep breath. She knew this was how she bolstered her courage to say what was on her mind.
“Yvette, I know you have been screening your calls. I don’t think you understand what you do does reflect on me. I thought you were going to give him a chance to make up for his past misdeeds. Imagine my surprise when I got a phone call from his family telling me the divorce has gone through. This better be some sort of sick joke.” Lupe was mad and it had nothing to do with Yvette’s situation. This was a religious matter.
“The only thing you’re worried about is how the public is going to look at you. I’ve always said it was your imagination when you claimed they were staring at you. They have better things to do with their lives than to scrutinize every little thing about our family.” She was trying to keep her tone civil. It wasn’t easy with how her mother could easily touch on the sore spots when it came to her disaster of a marriage.
“I’m embarrassed and I can’t even bear to let anybody see my face outside of this home. His family is beside themselves. How could you do this to me?” Lupe was holding the phone with one hand and the cross burned into her palm of the other. Jesus was looking down at her from a charcoal drawing she had gotten for Christmas one year.
“As much as this might surprise you, everything I do doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with you. It wasn’t working, and he continued to see some young thing on the side. I don’t want to disparage his name, but you have to know this decision wasn’t made lightly.” Yvette didn’t want to say the name of his mistress. It was bad enough they were together.
“Vengeance is not God’s way. Mrs. Garcia told me how you leveraged the penthouse in the divorce agreement. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Lupe was down on her knees saying a silent prayer to the man above to help her daughter find her way back into the light.
“I really don’t have time for this. I’m working at the New York Times and I have an assignment.” She heard her mother’s deep breath of contempt and knew what she was going to say before she said it.
“I can’t believe you would want to be working nine-to-five when you had a good man looking after you. This is not how I raised you. I don’t know where I went wrong. The next time you’re home, we’re going to go see Father Michaels to save your soul from eternal damnation.” She was still wearing her ratty old bathrobe with her hair in curlers. There was a mask over her eyes to make her look younger than her sixty years.
“I do appreciate the concern, but this is my life and what I do with it is none of your business. I have no interest in going back to Tony. You have no idea what I went through and you don’t even care. Don’t call me and I will call you at my earliest convenience.” The boost in her confidence was evident by her unwillingness to let her mother get the last word.
“I don’t know who this is, but this isn’t my daughter. Call me back when you can talk to me without screaming my ear off. I have a good mind to wash my hands of the whole thing. You have to realize men make mistakes and as women, we have to forgive. It’s called a marriage and maybe you’ve heard of it.” She was irate and felt like she had to apologize to Mrs. Garcia for her daughter’s behavior.
“I’m glad you’re not here to judge me. Going away was the best decision of my life. I didn’t realize what kind of influence you had on me until I finally broke away from your apron strings.” She had found the strength to carry on without a man to depend on.
“If you have any good sense, you’ll get down on your knees and beg the Lord above for his forgiveness. Put the phone down and we will do this together.” Lupe was waiting for her daughter’s response and got a shrill dial tone instead. Calling her back was met with the answering service. She had a few choice words to share with her daughter.
Yvette was tempted to delete her mother’s contact information and block her calls, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. To carry out such a heinous act would be met with a visit. There would be no way for her to ignore her mother if that were to happen.
She got dressed in a hurry, drinking a cup of coffee and using the mirror to put on her makeup at the same time. The phone call with her mother had forced her to skip taking a shower, so she freshened up with some perfume and deodorant.
She got on the elevator with her new black leather briefcase and stared at the button leading to the heaven of two able-bodied young men. She touched her lips and thought of many deviant things she would do to each of their bodies s
tarting from the top and working her way down.
The brisk walk to the office almost made her a victim of some overzealous mother taking her children to school. She slammed her hand down on the hood of the mini-van. The woman behind the wheel looked frazzled. Yvette’s mood, from thinking about the two men, had made it unnecessary to raise her fist in anger.
She smiled at the woman and shrugged off the possibility of lying dead in the street. The woman was slightly alarmed but smiled back, feeling like there were still some good people in the world.
Yvette was wearing a white leather skirt a little above the knees with a red blouse to draw the eyes to her. She wasn’t going to need the appointment with the stylist. She knew how to sex it up. The high heels made her legs look long and slender. There was a confidence in her stride. She gave a smile to everyone in her path until she met the scowling face of Tanner standing in his doorway.
“I was hoping you were going to be early, but at least I can count on you to be punctual. I have approved your story on corruption in the mayor’s office. You will have to go out and interview him. This is your time to improvise. They will be expecting someone else. Call this your next test to see if you have a thick enough skin for this job. I believe you will surprise yourself.” Tanner looked at her and felt a stirring in his pants. It made him smile to see her able to throw off the shackles of her mother’s influence.
“I promise you won’t be disappointed. You already know my work ethic is above reproach. I might be a little rusty in the field, but I am getting back into the swing of things.” She wasn’t looking at her shoes and kept eye contact during the entire conversation.
“The first story you did went national. Don’t get a swelled head. In this business, it’s always about what have you done for me lately. You have to keep up this momentum.” The transformation was drastic from how she had looked the first day sitting across from him at his desk.
“I don’t want to be that girl, but my eyes are up here.” She was teasing and found the flush to his cheeks cute enough to make them both laugh at the same time.
Daddy Plus One: A Single Dad Secret Baby Billionaire Romance Page 47