by Calista Fox
TWELVE
“This redesign of the department stores is fantastic,” said Anna Christie, Senior Vice President of PR and Marketing, as the group sitting around Michael’s executive conference room table viewed the final mock-ups on a projection screen. “Revolutionary, even.”
“It’ll put us a bit off our budget,” added Michael’s CFO, Thomas Vance. “A couple million over, but when I do a reforecast we might be able to balance the scales better.”
“We’ll make those two million back immediately following the reopening of each store,” the COO chimed in.
“And then some,” Thomas concurred. “Especially since we’re retooling the restaurants in each one.”
“I want Rory St. James to work up the menu,” Michael announced from the head of the table. “Internationally acclaimed and his and Christian Davila’s restaurants hold three Michelin stars. We’ll have a formal dining room at the top of each of our buildings and I want every one of them to be starred.”
“He won’t be easy to hire,” Anna said. “Not with the success of his newest steakhouse and culinary show.”
“Or cheap,” Thomas lamented.
Folding his arms over his chest, Michael told the group of senior execs, “Our department stores will rival Harrods from the onset. But I want them to surpass that benchmark. Exceed expectations. The restaurants are critical when it comes to elevating the prestige of our collection, just like the locations I selected: Dubai, Paris, Milan, and New York.”
“Chef St. James has a restaurant in Paris,” Anna noted. “Do you think he’ll open another restaurant in that city?”
“We’ll make it worth his and Davila’s while,” Michael assured everyone. “I’m already laying the groundwork.”
Thomas lifted his hand in the air. “Now, Michael. I already said we’re going to be over budget on this project. This isn’t like our usual mergers and acquisitions. We’re keeping this collection of stores in our portfolio. The operational costs alone—”
“Will not impede our profit margin,” Michael interjected. “We’ll make a fortune on this acquisition once we’ve remodeled and relaunched. The crowning jewel will be St. James / Davila-designed dining rooms. The epitome of elegance, the height of sophistication. Panoramic views, an impeccably trained staff, and a menu that will put us up there with the ‘best of the best’ restaurants globally.”
For over half a decade, he’d been dreaming of this transformation of a well-known chain that hadn’t been keeping up with the changing times and was hemorrhaging cash at a horrific rate. Michael had watched the decline over the past six years as location after location was closed. The flagship store was in New York, and even though Michael would be gutting the place and almost starting from scratch—not to mention he was adding his name to the original branding—he wanted to maintain the exclusive Fifth Avenue address and the centuries-old history of the chain.
It’d taken a long time and some very bold and daring investments to reach the point where he could purchase the flagship and the square footage in his other desired cities. But it’d finally all come together. He’d signed on the dotted line following that dinner meeting at the Crestmont. Intuition told him this most enterprising endeavor would also be his most lucrative one. Particularly if he could get Celebrity Chef St. James onboard.
Michael wrapped up the meeting and headed down the corridor to his office. He had a number of calls to return and e-mails to read, as well as additional meetings scheduled for the afternoon. But he managed to find a few minutes to phone Scarlet.
“I was starting to feel the sting of a brush-off,” she teased. Though Michael did not miss the hint of vulnerability in her voice.
“My apologies,” he sincerely said. I’ve been busy. And … I figured you were immersed in your investigation.”
“Yes. Montana turned out to be an adventure. Scenic, hazardous, and a dead end.”
“So you went to see Sam.” Michael hadn’t had time to follow up with his stepbrother. Nor had Michael been able to project how long Scarlet might be with Sam. A couple hours? A couple days? So he hadn’t pestered her. Let her do her work. Though he was curious as to the outcome of the visit, so he asked, “How’d the two of you hit it off?”
She said, “I definitely enjoyed his company.” Now there was a suggestive tinge to her soft tone.
Michael grinned. “I’m sure. Most women do.”
“Speaking of … Why didn’t you mention that he was in the guesthouse with you and your ‘wildly passionate brunette and luscious Scandinavian blonde’? I do believe those were your exact words.”
“Beautiful and a mind like a steel trap.” Michael chuckled. “How is it that you’re still single, Scarlet Drake?”
“Answer my question first, please.”
Michael knew better than to be evasive. She’d pin him down one way or another. So he told her, “I was just trying to get a rise out of you the night we discussed my alibi.”
“Assert your sexual prowess?”
“Something like that.”
“Okay. But you also didn’t specifically mention Sam’s presence when you gave your statement to the FBI.”
“He’d already been questioned. I didn’t feel the need to be redundant. Or go into detail as to what the evening entailed.”
“Yes, Sam did that for you.…” She paused. Then added, “I got the big picture from him.”
Michael’s groin tightened. “And what was your reaction to the big picture?”
He heard her draw in a long breath. Let it out slowly. “Misty Ferrera and Pembroke Peterson are extremely fortunate women.”
His grin returned. “Did you tell Sam that?”
“Not in so many words. But he likely got the sense that I found the idea of your threesomes … intriguing.”
“You can’t just admit it makes you hot?” he challenged.
“Wet,” she brazenly said. “It makes me wet.”
A low growl escaped his parted lips. His cock sprang to life. Christ, how she revved him in a heartbeat.
“You realize I could make this happen,” he said. An unabashed warning.
Did she really know what she’d be getting herself into?
“I would have put a stop to this conversation the second it started if I didn’t want you to make it happen.”
Adrenaline shot through him.
It’d been years since he and Sam had shared a woman. Michael had missed the intensity of the lovemaking and the way he and Sam were so damn good at working in unison to get off the object of their desire—and the explosive orgasms it led to for him and Sam as well.
He told Scarlet, “I want to clear up all of your inquiries regarding the case before we go any further.”
“I told you that I believe you weren’t involved. I believe Sam, too.”
“But you still have your eye on my family?”
“Yes. I’d like to speak with your father and Karina, though that’s proven even more difficult than reaching you.”
Michael stood and crossed his office to the windows overlooking Madison Avenue. A light snow fell and black umbrellas dotted the sidewalk twenty stories below.
Thinking quickly, he said, “I imagine you want to see the estate as well. Snoop around? So why don’t you come out for the weekend?”
“To the Hamptons?” she tentatively asked.
“That is the scene of the crime.”
“Yes. And you’re just going to invite me out for the weekend, knowing the exact reason I’m there?”
Michael snickered. “That won’t be the only reason you’re there. I’ll sweeten the deal and call Sam. All you have to do is tell me when to expect you at the airport and I’ll have the helicopter waiting for you to take you to the estate.”
Silence filled the line.
He’d pressed her back to the wall. How would she respond?
She could finish her investigation into his family and put that to rest. Have her cake and eat it, too, because he and Sam would take adv
antage of the convenient situation of holing up in the guesthouse for the weekend.
A win-win all the way around.
One corner of his mouth lifted. A bit devilishly. Michael didn’t have a doubt in the world that his stepbrother would be all in with this particular threesome. Scarlet was irresistible. And both men had similar tastes. He was certain the temptation had been as difficult for Sam to fight as it had been for Michael.
Now he just had to get Scarlet to consent.
“You still there, sweetheart?” he prompted.
“Yes. Um … Just checking my calendar…”
His brow lifted. Was she really? Or was she stalling?
Had he called her bluff?
Was all of her bravado a load of crap?
“Scarlet—”
“I’ll be there Saturday afternoon.”
He heard the clicking of her keyboard in the background and assumed she was already looking at flights. That ratcheted his excitement to all-new levels. He’d never wanted a woman as fiercely as he’d wanted Scarlet from the time they’d met. To share her with Sam … Christ, that would be the ultimate in sizzling affairs.
Michael told her, “Send me your itinerary when it’s booked. I’ll let Sam know his presence is requested in the guesthouse.”
“Do you really think he’s going to want this?” she tentatively asked.
“Hell, yes,” Michael assured her. “I was more concerned about whether you’d agree.”
“I’m a bit mind boggled we’re even talking about it.”
“We’re doing a lot more than that, sweetheart.”
“Right.” Another long pause. Then she said, “For the record, I’ve never been in this sort of situation before. But I do know what I’m doing. At least, in a sense. My two best friends have enlightened me with their ménage relationships.”
“And you’re sure you want one of your own?”
“I’m sure that I want both of you.” Her tone dropped an octave, sounding sultry and evocative.
“Then pack light.”
She sucked in a breath.
Michael smirked. “What did you expect me to say?” he taunted. “I’ve seen you naked. Now I want to see you naked while Sam’s fucking you.”
“Jesus,” she said on a moan. “How am I supposed to get any work done with you talking like that?”
“I have to make it through the next two days myself. And chances are good this erection isn’t going away anytime soon.”
“You had to give me that visual.”
“Fair play and all that,” he taunted. “You did tell me you were wet. You don’t expect me to have a physical reaction to that?”
“Which begs the question … Whatever it is that’s going on between us—is it purely physical?”
She’d caught him off-guard. Though that shouldn’t have been the case. Scarlet obviously wasn’t one to leave loose ends. He liked that about her. Respected it.
So he very earnestly told her, “I’ve had significant trouble concentrating on business this week while wondering when I’ll see you again.”
“Yet you’re not bothered that I was with Sam?”
“No,” Michael insisted. “Had it been any other man? Yes. But it’s different with Sam. We have an understanding. We’re typically on the same page when it comes to a woman we’re both attracted to. I don’t really know how to explain it, except to say that from the first time we partnered up to satisfy one we learned how to share her beyond the physicality of the situation.”
“Were either of you in love with Misty or Pembroke?”
“No.”
Scarlet took a moment before posing her next question: “Have you ever been in love, Michael?”
“No.”
She sighed. “But Sam has.”
“Yes. Unfortunately, it ended tragically.”
“I do feel bad about that.”
Michael nodded in agreement, even though she couldn’t see the gesture. He asked, “What about you? Ever been in love?”
“Deep like a time or two. That’s about it. I guess since I was a kid coping with the sudden death of her parents, I sort of phased that out of my life plan. My philosophy has always been that I could do without the additional heartache if something goes awry.”
“And you automatically assume something will go awry?”
“Yes.”
He was interested in her position on this because Michael had always had a similar concern. His mother had passed away when he was sixteen. And his father had remarried less than six months later.
Less than six months.
That’d seemed outrageous to Michael back then and still did today. Made him wonder if his father had ever truly loved Michael’s mother. Whether Mitcham had been as broken up about her death as Michael had been. It was difficult to tell, because Mitcham hadn’t shown his emotions during that time. Or his face, in all honesty. He’d mostly spent his days and nights in the city, at the office, while Michael was at the estate.
Then, suddenly, Karina had arrived. The wedding ceremony and reception had been held at the mansion with a small gathering. At least that had provided a show of respect for Michael’s mother—that the newlyweds weren’t flaunting their relationship in an ostentatious way. Still, Michael couldn’t fathom how his father had moved on so damn quick, and it’d been a source of contention between the two men ever since.
Because Mitcham Vandenberg was not a man who had to explain himself. Plain and simple.
Oddly enough, though, the new union was one of the things that had bonded Michael and Sam. Sam got what Michael was going through. And Sam had been just as disturbed at how Mitcham could bury one wife and marry another one in such a short span of time; however, Michael’s stepbrother had expressed that what mattered most to him was that his own mother was happy. She was. Mitcham made sure of it.
Another conundrum: Michael’s usually tightfisted and uncompromising father would give Karina the moon and the stars if she asked for them. That Michael was aware of, she never did. Karina had not done anything in the fourteen years he’d known her to give him cause to label her a gold digger. From the start, she’d seemed genuinely, madly in love with Mitcham. Always did whatever she could to please him, without expecting anything in return. In fact, when he gifted her with jewelry or a car she appeared taken aback. And wholly appreciative.
Admittedly, Michael liked her. Would have cut her more slack when he was still living in the mansion had she not replaced his mother so hastily. So out of the blue.
Scarlet interrupted his errant ruminations by saying, “Thank you for being more amenable to my questioning.”
“About the theft?”
“About you.”
He said, “How else will we get to know each other better? And, Scarlet, I do want to know you better.”
“That means a lot to me, Michael.”
“I’ll let you go now. Don’t forget to send me your flight information.”
“I’ll see you on Saturday.”
She hung up. Michael grinned. He hadn’t missed the elation in her tone. And couldn’t wait for the weekend.
But he had one more call to make. He gathered his iPad and a thick file folder for his next meeting and hit the speed dial number for Sam on his cell as he left his office.
“I’d wondered when I’d hear from you,” was the first thing his stepbrother said.
“Apparently, it’s my day to be harangued for my lack of communication skills.”
“I just figured curiosity would be burning a hole in your brain.”
“Indeed it is. I was speaking with Scarlet a few minutes ago. She seems a bit taken by you.”
“I assumed the same regarding you.”
“And doesn’t that bode well for the two of us?”
Sam was quiet for a few moments. Then said, “She’s the first woman since Cass who really struck a chord with me. I wouldn’t say I jumped right into something with Scarlet, but it didn’t take long to accept that there’s a myst
ique about her that crawls under the skin and stays there.”
“Yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
“Certainly I enjoyed her on my own,” Sam said. “But I’ll confess that I’ve been thinking what it’d be like if the three of us got together.”
“That was one of our topics of conversation.”
“You don’t say?”
As Michael made his way down the corridor to his conference room, he told Sam, “She’s flying out here on Saturday. Staying the weekend at the estate. Why don’t you join us?”
“Ah, damn,” he groaned. “That’s almost impossible to pass up.”
“So don’t pass it up.”
“When it involves Scarlet Drake, I wouldn’t. Except … I’ve got a lot scheduled for the weekend.” He shuffled papers that Michael heard over the line. Then said, “I do have a trainer coming up from Phoenix. She could take over my lessons.”
“Had a feeling you wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity.”
“Not sure it’s a golden one. I hate to rain on your parade, but if Scarlet’s investigating the family that’s going to put a damper on things if Mitcham and my mother are around.”
Michael explained, “I have a perfect solution for that. They’ll be in the city Saturday night for the opera and I’ll arrange for us all to have brunch on Sunday at the mansion. That gives Scarlet the chance to look around and appease her inquisitive side; then we have the evening to ourselves. She can interview Dad and Karina before she leaves and that’ll put an end to her suspicions.”
“Provided Mitcham allows an interrogation.”
“She doesn’t interrogate.”
Sam chuckled. “No, she doesn’t. She’s quite good at turning her questions into general discussion.”
“That’s not all she’s good at.”
This time, Sam let out a strangled sound. “Yeah. That woman possesses one hell of a body. And she knows how to use it.”
“She fits the ideal for us both.”
“Yes, she does.”
Michael said, “Then make arrangements for the weekend.”
“And let’s hope she doesn’t set off Mitcham.”