Indecent Proposal: A Reverse Harem Romance

by J.C. Valentine

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Or apologizing to any of you,” she added, because that wasn’t going to happen today either.

  “Wouldn’t be much of an apology if I forced you.” He shrugged.

  Sabrina was having trouble reading him. Oliver was a bit of a blank slate. She wasn’t used to that. Everyone had a tell, something they did to give away their thoughts and emotions. Oliver was like the best poker player she’d ever met, giving nothing away.

  “Then what do you want?” she questioned, maintaining her edge.

  “Just to make sure you’re okay. I’m sorry we upset you. Like my brothers said, we were just concerned. When you didn’t answer your phone, we came by to be sure everything is okay.”

  “It is.”

  He looked around her room, at all of her possessions in perfect order, and nodded. “So it appears.” When his gaze came back around to her, she noticed it catch briefly on the bottle of aspirin on the bedside table. “Are you sick?”

  Sabrina dropped back on her pillow and sighed. “No, just a headache and I didn’t sleep well. I overslept my alarm.”

  She flinched at his unexpected touch, his fingers gently moving a few strands of hair around her face, and then touching her skin lightly, tracing her cheekbone and jawline.

  “You seemed fine last night. What kept you up?”

  Sabrina’s mouth suddenly went dry. She wasn’t about to admit the real reason she’d been up all night. Not to him. Not to anyone. It was so inappropriate. So wrong. So…dirty.

  Her gaze swept over him. He was every bit as handsome and sexy as his brothers. Broad shoulders, wide chest, strong arms, thick neck with a little Adam’s apple that moved with his speech and each time he swallowed. Her heart beat faster as her body quickened with the memory of the few dreams she’d had last night.

  Physically, Oliver was so much like his brothers, they could be triplets. Their stature, their looks, the way they carried themselves. All three wore confidence like a second skin and as well as the tailored suits that covered it. It seemed a crime of nature to have such a potent gene pool produce three perfect specimens such as the Hargreaves.

  She felt guilty wanting them all for herself. Well, almost guilty.

  The light, sharp intake of breath was just loud enough for Sabrina to hear in the quiet room, and she looked up into his eyes, realizing that he’d noticed her preoccupation…and the reason behind it.

  The little flash in those dark eyes reflected knowledge and awareness…and a sudden desire that matched her own.

  Women’s intuition told Sabrina that Oliver wanted to kiss her just seconds before he began to lean in and act on it.

  She watched as he brought his face toward hers, having only seconds to shove him away if she didn’t want it.

  But she did want it.

  Sabrina was already making excuses for herself about why she was going to allow this to happen: she was tired, not thinking right; her reflexes were too slow to react; they were too sexy for her to resist. All of them might be valid arguments had she not grabbed ahold of the front of his shirt and met him halfway.

  Oliver all but fell on top of her, their combined weight and being on an odd angle to blame for their balance issues.

  Sabrina didn’t mind. As their mouths crashed together and his tongue slipped past her lips, she decided she fairly enjoyed the weight of his body on top of hers. It was a familiar weight, like the night Conner had taken her on the couch, but his kiss was very different.

  Oliver—quiet, soft, gentle demeanor Oliver—was a beast.

  His mouth moved over hers with a surety and determination that shocked her. The way his hands explored her breasts, grabbing and massaging before slipping under the oversized cotton T-shirt to pinch her nipples and repeat the process was uncharacteristically bold, but more than welcome.

  Sabrina gasped and moaned into his mouth as her back arched up and her breasts pressed into his palms. He shifted, then the full weight of him moved over her, pinning her beneath the blankets.

  The more he kneaded and kissed her, the more Sabrina needed, until she was writhing beneath him, her body screaming for his touch. His erection was rock hard, pressing between her pinned-together thighs, causing her core to pulse and clench. She flexed her hips as her fingers found his hair and gripped it in fistfuls.

  But just when things should have escalated, Oliver broke the kiss, carefully extricated her hands from his hair, and moved off her.

  Sabrina lay panting in desperation and confusion as she stared up at the man who now stood beside the bed, looking strung out, as if he needed her as badly as she needed him.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Don’t tell me you don’t want me.” She looked down at the decidedly huge bulge in his pants, hanging heavy between his legs. It was at least as big as Conner’s, and if he could make her feel half as good as his brother had, then she wanted it inside of her—now.

  Oliver raked a hand through his hair, his gaze shooting to the closed bedroom door and back, almost pained. “I do, but I…can’t.”

  Sabrina frowned, that boiling heat reducing to a simmer. “Why?”

  “I—we don’t…do things that way.”

  Did he mean they didn’t have sex with single, available women? Or they didn’t have sex with their boss? Because she knew that wasn’t true. “Conner didn’t seem to have a problem ‘doing things’ that way,” she said almost mockingly.

  His eyes narrowing, Oliver asked, “What do you mean?”

  Shoot. She’d stuck her foot in her mouth, hadn’t she? What brother would want to enjoy his brother’s sloppy seconds? Not that anything about Sabrina was sloppy. She hit the gym several times a week, and she only allowed herself one cheat day that she tried never to go overboard on. She was in great physical shape, if she did say so herself. But that didn’t mean a man wanted to share in another man’s pleasures, especially if those men were related.

  “Nothing,” she dismissed, wishing she hadn’t opened her big, fat mouth. Now she wouldn’t get to sample the rest of the brotherly trio. “Forget it.”

  He moved closer, pegging her with his intense stare. “Did you fuck my brother?” he asked, and the way he said it, without any anger or hostility, but just simple curiosity, made Sabrina confess a breathy “yes.”

  He watched her for a lingering moment before a small fraction of what could be called a smile appeared. “That asshole. I fucking knew it,” he murmured.

  Sabrina frowned again, this time deeper. What was he going on about?

  “Look, I don’t want to cause problems between you,” she said, trying to fix any problems that might arise out of this whole crazy situation. “It was a one-time thing, a mistake, and I take total responsibility for it. I’ll understand if you and your brothers want to leave the company, just please don’t allow this to come between you. A bond like you have shouldn’t be severed over something like sex with the wrong person.”

  “Wrong person?” he asked, his head tilted.

  “Me. I mean me,” Sabrina clarified. Okay, this was getting uncomfortable. Grabbing the corner of the duvet, she flipped it aside, prepared to get up and out of bed and issue that apology she swore she wouldn’t give, but Oliver stepped up and in her way.

  “You got that all wrong,” he said softly, reaching out to touch a single finger to her lips, which parted as she looked up at him, unsure of what he meant or how to proceed.

  Something was different. The energy in the air had changed. But rather than cooling off as one might expect in a situation like this, she felt the heat increase, stir…thicken. Even if her mind was confused about what was going on here, her body already seemed to know. She felt feverish, inflamed, and that burning, tingling feeling between her legs had returned, demanding relief. If she’d been alone, she would have taken care of it herself, but it would have been a poor substitution for the man in front of her.

  “Tell me what you want,” Oliver requested, his gaze holding hers captive.

 
“You,” she said honestly.

  “And Conner?”

  Her words floundered for a moment, caught between telling the truth and lying in order to avoid the potential and probable fallout, but Sabrina was listening to that little voice inside of her that was saying it was okay to be honest, that it was what he wanted.

  “Him too.”

  That fraction of a smile grew, as if he was pleased with her answer. “And what about William?”

  He was just as hot as Oliver and Conner, and she could see herself with him, riding him, if given the chance. “Him too,” she repeated.

  Now, Oliver’s smile was full, brilliant, and inspired confidence. He…liked her answers. Again, Sabrina was filled with confusion. What did it all mean? What was going to happen next?

  Bending down, Oliver hunched over her to kiss her lips. “What would you say if I told you we all want you too?”

  A little laugh popped out of her. “I would say that I already know that.” It was obvious. The way they each looked at her, watched her, it couldn’t be denied.

  “Good,” he said firmly, then rose up again and began walking toward the door.

  Sabrina felt an immediate sense of loss, followed quickly by a flash of fear. What was he going to do?

  With his eyes on her, Oliver opened the door and called out to the next room. “Conner? William? Could you come in here please?”

  He left the door ajar and returned to Sabrina’s side, urging her to move over and allow him to sit on the bed beside her. Taking her hand in his, he laced his fingers with hers just as his brothers entered the room and took a wide stance at the foot of the bed.

  “Did you two have a chance to talk?” Conner asked Oliver.

  “Some. Not everything though.” His tone hardened, but not angrily—playfully. “Unlike you, brother. You’ve been keeping secrets.”

  “You told him?” Conner asked Sabrina at the same time William asked, “What secrets? What am I missing?”

  Sabrina stayed mute, unsure once again how to proceed.

  “They had sex.” Oliver outted them to William, and William turned and socked Conner in the arm in response.

  “You fucker. You were supposed to wait.”

  “Wait for what?” Sabrina blurted out, her head whirling from jumping from one emotion to another.

  All three men looked at her, but Oliver was the one who spoke, and when he did, Sabrina couldn’t believe her ears.

  “For us.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Us?” Sabrina couldn’t believe her ears. In fact, she was certain she must have heard him wrong.

  “Let me explain.” William approached cautiously, settling himself on the end of the bed by her feet, and risked resting a hand on her ankle, which make Sabrina jump just a fraction at his touch. “My brothers and I have a very close bond. Always have, since childhood. Because we’re so close in age and have similar tastes in…everything, we’ve had to learn how to share.”

  The corners of Sabrina’s mouth were pulled down and creases had developed between her eyebrows. She didn’t have to guess to understand his meaning. She just had a hard time believing it. They shared…everything? She was afraid of what that meant for her.

  And, if she was brave enough to admit it to herself, she was also intrigued.

  Conner’s expression was filled with tension, completely focused on her face, as if attempting to read her thoughts and struggling to find an answer. “You’ve been on our radar since before the meeting, Sabrina. Ever since our father raised the question of us joining the firm.”

  “I did the recon,” Oliver volunteered. “I didn’t like the idea of merging our business with anyone. But then I found out who we would be working with.”

  For, Sabrina corrected him in her thoughts, but she withheld commentary. Trying to absorb this new information was difficult enough without adding more conflict to the pile.

  “You’re our type.” William took over the conversation again. “Exactly what we look for in a woman.”

  “Strong, independent…beautiful.”

  “And willful with a sharp tongue,” Oliver added, but his fond smile indicated that he liked that quality about her most of all.

  Sabrina considered the ramifications of their admission. These men—these brothers—were laying it all on the line, telling her they wanted her, equally, and while she’d entertained a couple of fantasies about each of them, could she really buy into what they were trying to sell her?

  A relationship with all three of them?

  She’d wanted someone to come home to, to confide in, to comfort her and love her, but she hadn’t expected it to look quite like this.

  How would something like that even work? Were they talking about just sex, or something more? Would there be a schedule to uphold? Of course, there would have to be. They couldn’t possibly go out as a unit for dinner and dates. That would draw attention and open them up to criticism of the highest order. And what would her colleagues say if she did sign on to…whatever they were asking her to sign on to? As men, they would get a slap on the back for a job well done, seducing the boss and making her their plaything. As a woman, she would be vilified, called a whore, a slut, and her reputation would be so tarnished, she’d probably lose her job because no one would take her seriously anymore.

  That thought brought her to her father. He wasn’t one to judge her, never had been. But he had his own moral compass, and he wasn’t exactly of the modern, progressive mindset. It had taken a lot of persuading and proof that she could handle the job before he would even consider her taking over as the head of the company. Before that, he’d been looking at men who’d worked there a fraction of the time with a quarter the experience she had to be his successor.

  It was all she needed to know to reach the conclusion that if she took on this little venture with these men, her father would give her the boot without blinking an eye. Plus, he’d never look at her the same again. How could she live with that, when he was the one man she looked up to in life, her inspiration and driving force behind everything she did? All Sabrina ever wanted to do was please her father, make him proud of her. Make him see that he didn’t need a son because she could be the heir he’d always wanted.

  It occurred to Sabrina in that moment that all her life, despite her efforts to prove to the world that she wasn’t bound by the patriarchal notion that men were above women in anything, she’d been subscribing to that very idea in her relationship with her own father.

  It angered her that, all along, she’d been weak where she thought she was being strong.

  Which helped her reach a conclusion before the Hargreaves had to work too hard to sway her.

  “So, if I have this right,” she said, pressing her palm to the air between them as she tried to wrap her mind around all the facts, “you three want to, what, have sex? Together? As in, sharing my bed?”

  “Or our bed.” William shrugged.

  Conner spoke up. “We can figure out the details. However you feel most comfortable.”

  “It can be one-on-one, or all three at once,” Oliver offered. “We’re open to whatever you want.”

  “As long as we all get to have you,” William clarified.

  Sabrina’s eyebrows rose. “This is a lot to take in.” She tried to think of the logistics, in both scenarios, and she had a hard time seeing how any of it could work in the long-term. Of course, she didn’t even know if there was a long-term involved.

  “How do you see this going?” The question was directed at all three men, and Sabrina was holding her breath in anticipation, unsure what she truly wanted, but certain that she was willing to explore something new, even if it meant pushing every boundary she thought she had.

  “Well, I’d like to start off with one-on-one,” Oliver said first. “Get to know each other on a more personal level before we leap into anything more.”

  “Personally, I like that idea, but I also think it could create conflict down the road if we each develop an ind
ependent relationship,” William said seriously.

  Conner’s expression matched his brother’s. “I agree. It might create a bond that, later, you won’t want to cross for the other two out of fear of betrayal. Ideally, we should all bond together from the start so there is no misunderstanding or hurt feelings or anything like that down the road.”

  Sabrina thought she understood his point. Since she’d already had sex with Conner, she automatically erred on the side of wanting to explore more with him. Her attraction to him was solidified, and she already had butterflies just thinking about allowing William or Oliver to kiss her, let alone have sex with her.

  “What do you suggest then?” she asked, hoping the answer wasn’t what she thought, but also hoping that it was. Her feelings were torn, and for once, she didn’t want to be the deciding factor. She wanted someone else to take the reins and lead the way.

  “I think the only way this will work,” William began, a wolfish glint developing in those dark eyes, “is if we all jump in as one, make the first time memorable. Cross that hurdle together.”

  Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

  Seeing the questions in her eyes, Oliver said, “Together. What my brother is trying to say is that we should all have sex together, at once, before we get into the one-on-one stuff.”

  Sabrina gulped. Looking from one brother to the next, meeting each of their eyes, so alike but so different, she realized she had a huge decision to make. Was she willing to compromise the picture of perfection she’d created with her constituents, with her family, in order to pursue her carnal desires that were now flaring to life in every cell of her body like a deadly inferno?

  The answer was simple. No. She wasn’t willing to risk it. But neither was she willing to walk away from it. A part of her craved the adventure, screamed for her to take the risk. Just jump! But Sabrina was nothing if not practical, and as a businesswoman, she could see only one way to make this work that made any sense.

  “If we’re going to try this,” she began, “then I need to protect myself.”

  “Of course. We have plenty of condoms, and we get tested regularly. We’re clean,” William supplied.