by Zoey Thames
Brian came next, his thrusts becoming erratic as his cock began to spurt inside her, and seconds later Dominic followed, pounding deep inside her and then he tensed and groaned as he came, filling her with his seed.
She collapsed onto Brian, made absolutely boneless with the power of her orgasm. She was dimly aware of Dominic withdrawing from her and curling up alongside. Brian kept his cock inside her, and she felt it finally softening until it slipped from her. Part of her was grateful, because she didn’t think she could take another round of lovemaking like what these men had just dished out. But he kept her wrapped tight in his arms. Dominic put his arm around them both. And as she finally drifted into sated sleep, she thought to herself that this had been the most amazing night of her life.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ruth woke early the next morning as the sun just started peeking over the horizon in the east. The dawn light streaming in through the open blinds spurred her awake. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned…and realized she was sleeping in a huge king bed, the most comfortable she’d ever slept on, and she was lying between two very naked men sprawled on either side of her. She froze, her heart pounding. Images of last night flashed back into her mind—the incredible pleasure, how they’d made her feel like the diamond at the center of a precious ring, their kisses, their hands on her. How warm they’d felt. How high into ecstasy they’d driven her.
She turned slowly and looked at each of them in turn. Brian slept all composed and dignified, as if he were acting in a commercial for a good night’s sleep. Dominic, on the other hand, sprawled everywhere and nearly took up the whole bed like a greedy dog. She bit back a laugh. Dominic was also snoring gently. She wanted to kiss them both awake, but she was suddenly filled with doubt. Sure, last night had been a blast, but she’d always been told that famous guys wanted you gone in the morning. Fun for the night, hit the road before breakfast. It wouldn’t hurt her feelings. She wouldn’t allow it to hurt her feelings. And if anyone mentioned anything about a walk of shame, some bitch was gonna get a fistful of knuckles. Because it wasn’t like that. They’d treated her right, but they hadn’t made any promises to her, and she hadn’t demanded anything from them either. It was a fun time. One she would always remember. It wasn’t as if she’d fallen completely in love with these two gorgeous, kind men…
She shook her head and sat up carefully. That was it. She was too close to this whole thing. Best to get out now while the getting was good. Besides, it would save everyone the possibility of an awkward morning. The night had been so perfect that she wanted the memory to stay pristine, untouched, and certainly not damaged by any next-morning awkwardness.
Neither man stirred as she crawled down the center of the bed and off the foot to escape without having to climb over either of them. Dominic snorted, stirred, then rolled closer to Brian and cuddled up against him. Her heart contracted at the adorable sight. Adorable and sexy as hell, because both of those gorgeous male specimens were still buck-naked and she had a perfect view. She paused a long moment, trying to burn it into her memory. Two male-model-level, muscular, handsome men sleeping naked and next to one another as the dawn light fell on them, in tousled sheets, in a five star hotel room.
Then it was just too much. She turned away, gathered up her uniform, and got dressed quietly. Then she scrawled a quick note on the hotel’s fancy stationary. Had so much fun! Thank you both for a wonderful time!
Yes, it was probably the worst good-bye note ever, but she had nothing else. She hesitated over how to sign it. Would they freak out if she wrote love? That had made beautiful love last night, so she guessed she had the right. But at the last minute, just as her pen started the L, she changed it and simply wrote Ruth.
She left the note on the counter where they would see it. Then she slipped out the door, took the elevator to the lobby, and headed out for her limo. Ten minutes later, she was on the road and dealing with Manhattan traffic again, a mite bit better on the weekends, but only barely. She called dispatch and checked back in. Cindy was on shift now.
“Hi, Cindy. This is Ruth. I’m bringing back the limo. If he’s there, tell the boss I’ll be back in twenty.”
“Will do, hon.” Then she dropped her voice into a conspiratorial whisper. “You’re all the talk of the place this morning. Did you have fun?”
Ruth smirked at the two-way radio even as she felt heat climbing up the back of her neck. “Cindy, you know this is an open channel and everyone can hear you, right?”
“Shoot, wasn’t nobody who wasn’t rooting for you last night, girlfriend,” Cindy said, exaggerating her words for effect. “If you won’t share the juicy bits, I’ll just make them all up myself.”
Ruth sighed. “How about I tell you when I get there?”
“Sounds like a wonder-brilliantful idea. Looking forward to it!”
Back at Mirage Confidential, she checked in the limo, verified her hours, part of the night listed under a special rate for exclusive client services. She told Mr. Thror, who never seemed to leave the business, to erase that part and simply pay her until she’d arrived at the hotel. He protested, but she held firm. She certainly could have used the extra money, but some part of her pride had balked. She had just had sex with two men at once and it had been the most incredible sex of her entire life, but she still didn’t want to be paid when she was having sex. That sent the wrong message to the universe. She would be happy to take the pleasure, the happy memory, the wonderful feeling of being truly sated, and the high of new experiences and she would call it even.
She took the subway back to her dingy little apartment in the Bronx. It wasn’t a bad neighborhood, really. Simply a little tired, a bit run down. But the rents were affordable—well, as affordable as New York City ever got. She had to take the stairs because the elevator had been out of service for six months now.
Inside her apartment, her dog Skootz circled around her feet, his tail wagging furiously. She petted him and bent down to look him in the eyes. “You’ll always be there for me, won’t you, Skootz?”
Skootz replied by trying to lick her to death. She laughed, tossed her handbag on the small table, and went into her bedroom to finally get out of this uniform. As she peeled it off, she couldn’t help but catch a whiff of the scents of the two men, Brian and Dominic, a male scent, almost woodsy, and it made her close her eyes and enjoy it for a few long seconds.
Next she refilled Skootz’s food dish and took him out for a quick walk, moving like a zombie as she cleaned up after her little dog. Even though she’d caught some sleep last night, she was a day sleeper, having to work until the wee hours of the morning. So once back inside, she turned off her cell phone and crashed on her bed in the tiny bedroom where she’d had to cover the windows with tinfoil to help keep out the daylight so she could sleep better. Skootz curled up at the foot of her bed.
Ten minutes after that, she was asleep.
* * *
Brian woke to the sound of Dominic’s frustrated growl. “She’s gone.”
He blinked open his eyes and sat up. He could still scent the wonderful feminine aroma of Ruth on his body, on the sheets, and it already had his cock stiffening. He clenched his teeth and took a deep breath of air.
“You sure she didn’t just step out for coffee or breakfast?”
Dominic shook his head and held up the note. Brian took it and read it carefully. It was certainly friendly and appreciative enough, but it was not exactly promising anything else either.
And strangely, that bothered him. It was always a cliché that men wanted the female to bounce in the morning—that old wham bam thank you ma’am. But with him and Dominic, when they brought a woman into their relationship, it was a far deeper thing. He wasn’t used to having a girl take off on her own before he’d even woken up.
“She’s the first one to do this to us,” Brian said wonderingly. “Ever.”
“And that is both damn frustrating and makes me want to go find her right now and kiss some sense
into her.”
Brian smiled. His lover certainly had the right idea. But still, he held up his hand. “We need to respect her boundaries. She’s definitely trying not to intrude on us—”
“Screw boundaries! My wolf wants her. I want her. What about you?” He glared at Brian as if daring him to disagree.
He only nodded his head. Hell, he could feel his wolf pacing restlessly in his mind. The wolf wanted to find out where his female had gone. He wanted to make sure she was okay, he wanted to mate with her again, wanted to share food and to howl and run through Central Park.
“Okay, we know she’s something special,” Brian said carefully. “She’s not a big city girl, even though she’s here in one of the biggest cities. So we can’t be surprised if she does something surprising.”
“You’re not making sense, as usual,” Dominic growled and started to pace. “I’m just afraid maybe she didn’t have a good time. Maybe she’s feeling down on herself.” He turned and fixed Brian with another glare. “I don’t want her hating herself because of what she did with us.”
Brian lay back on the bed, contemplating that. Their lovemaking had been wild, it had been fun, and it had been utterly fantastic. He couldn’t see anything wrong with that. But maybe she was feeling some kind of shame, being with two men, which was a little more swinger than some people were usually comfortable with at first. That wrenched his heart a little. He’d wanted to give her a night to remember, and now he wanted to give her more nights to remember, and he certainly didn’t want her feeling bad about any part of what the three of them had experienced together.
“Okay, look. I’ll call the limo agency and ask for her again. I’ll pay whatever price they want. We can take her to the Soho Gallery, Delmonico’s, Central Park, wherever her heart desires.”
Dominic nodded and turned to stare out the hotel suite windows. The windows of the New York buildings flashed in the sunlight. Then he plopped his ass on the bed, clasped his hands together, and leaned forward. “I don’t know why she hit me so hard, Brian. But I don’t want to leave things like this.”
Brian hated seeing Dominic upset, and he was more than a little concerned about the situation himself. Even if Ruth wasn’t interested in seeing them again, the alpha wolf in him needed to make sure she was okay, that things between them were good, even if she chose never to have anything to do with them in the future. His ego told him there was no way she would turn them aside, but he ignored it. When a man was rich and powerful, he got used to having his own way. Brian was a billionaire and an alpha shifter, but his mom had also raised him not to be an entitled bastard, using people and throwing his weight around with no care of who he might hurt. So he would have to talk to her again, in person if possible. And if he couldn’t convince her to go on another date with him and Dominic, then he would wish her life path to lead her to whatever happiness was her destiny and he would move on. He would treasure the memories of their time together, but he would move on.
As bitterly disappointed as that would make him…
He dialed the limo service even as Dominic resumed pacing around the room like a…well, like a caged wolf.
He glanced at his friend. “Can you knock that off? You’re making me nervous.”
“No,” Dominic snarled back. “I can’t knock it off until I know we can see her again.”
Brian stared at him, frowning. He’d never seen Dominic this upset before over a woman. Somehow, Ruth had come to mean more to him, to them, in one night than any of the girls they’d allowed into their relationship before. That gave him pause. There was a brief spark of jealousy back in his mind, that she could have this kind of effect on his lover. But he quashed that immediately. He’d never been the jealous type and he wasn’t about to become one now. Besides, he felt as unnerved and restless as Dominic seemed to feel. His wolf wouldn’t rest easy until he knew for certain whether or not he would be able to see Ruth again.
“Mirage Confidential Limo Service, this is Cindy,” a cheerful voice answered. “How may I be of assistance?”
“Cindy, I need a favor. My name is Brian Barrington. I used your limo service last night and I was really pleased with it. It was fabulous. Outstanding in every way. But my friend and I are going to be in New York for a bit longer, and we’d like to use your service again tonight. Is it possible to have the same chauffer?”
“I’m glad to hear you were pleased. We can usually accommodate that request. Which driver were you interested in?”
“I believe her name was Ms. Ruth Hadley. She really was an exceptional driver. Usually I’d have my assistant set this up, but I wanted to make sure to convey how eager I am to have her chauffer us again tonight.”
His heart sank the moment he heard the tone of her first word. “I really must apologize, Mr. Barrington. But tonight Ruth has the night off. We do have plenty of very skilled drivers available if you would like—”
“You don’t understand. I really do need to get in contact with her.”
“May I ask what for?”
He recognized the drop in the temperature of her words. She was being protective of her people. He liked that. As an alpha, he understood that. Although it did make him frustrated that she was in the way of something he wanted. He took a steadying breath and tried to put his smile in his words.
“Yes, of course,” he said. “We didn’t get a chance to give her the gratuity she earned. I believe in paying well for superior service.”
“I would be happy to enter any gratuity onto your final invoice. She will certainly receive it, I can assure you.”
He had to grit his teeth to avoid a growl of frustration. “I’d love to thank her in person. It really would mean a lot to me.”
“I completely understand and applaud your sentiment, sir. But this is simply a security issue. We can’t give out the addresses of our associates to our clients. I’m sure you understand.”
“I do understand,” he said, struggling to keep his voice warm. “Thank you for your time. Please add a forty percept gratuity to our final invoice.”
When he hung up, Dominic nearly pounced on him. “What did they say? It didn’t sound good. Do I need to go down there myself?”
“Whoa there, big guy. Don’t get your fur all ruffled.” He rolled out of bed and stretched, locking away his own frustration. Right now, despite his disappointment, he was focused on keeping his alpha calm and making sure that the situation didn’t get out of hand. Dominic really needed to calm down or they were going to get arrested for stalking or scare poor Ruth to death, hunting her down in New York. This had to be played very carefully and absolutely perfectly.
“Ruffled fur, huh?” Dominic snarled, for once no joke in his tone. “We could go a few rounds in the ring, I guess. Beating your ass might help me calm down. A little.”
Brian mere paused on his way to his coffee and looked hard at the other man. They were lovers, and they were closer than brothers, but no wolf got away with calling out an alpha. Not without some serious repercussions. Luckily, Dominic seemed to realize his mistake. He dipped his head and glanced away first, mumbling under his breath. With his heightened wolf hearing, Brian caught the grumbling clearly, but he decided to let it go. The wolf had submitted. And Dominic’s fire was one of the reasons he loved the man.
“Grab yourself some coffee and come out on the balcony with me,” Brian said, keeping his voice soothing, yet still full of command. He wanted Dominic to know this wasn’t optional.
He made his own coffee in the k-cup coffee dispenser and headed outside. The wind blew back his hair and brought with it all the scents of the big city, not all of them pleasant. He shook his head. With human cities, you had to take the good with the bad sometimes. A moment later, Dominic joined him and leaned against the Plexiglas windbreak at the edge of the balcony and frowned into his cup.
“So what’s the bad news,” Dominic demanded.
“No luck on getting her address, and she’s off work tonight and probably the next day.�
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“Shit. How are we—?”
Brian held up his hand. “Peace, my friend. I’m going to call Gerald. He can get us in touch with someone who can search city records and get her current address. It’s easy and all completely legal.”
“Then what? I mean, she bounced out of here faster than a superball this morning. Why do you think she wants to see us again?”
“She may not. Or maybe she believed we expected her to go as soon as we were done with her.”
“I’m not done with her,” Dominic said, his voice full of threat.
“That’s enough,” Brian said. “Control your wolf. You’re going to scare her if you come across like that. She deserves better.”
Dominic closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Yeah.” He shook his head and took a long drink of coffee. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m an out-of-control asshole right now.” He met Brian’s eyes, and Brian could read the gratitude there. “Thanks for setting me straight.”
“No problem. Now, we know we can find her. The question is, how are we going to convince her to go out on a second date with us?”
“Promise her more incredible sex?” Dominic said hopefully.
“Well…we will leave that as implied. A hope for the end of a perfect night. What we really are going to do is treat her to some romance she’ll never forget.” He felt his grin grow so wide, he was surprised it didn’t stretch from ear to ear. “And here’s how we’re going to do it.”
* * *
Ruth was snuggled up on the couch, under a blanket, with Skootz on her lap. She was doing a crossword puzzle to rest her mind a little from the business books stacked on her coffee table that she’d been poring over all day. If she couldn’t afford to attend the school of business at NYU right now, that didn’t mean she had to put a halt to her learning. So she bought all the used business books she could from a local bookstore and did her own independent study. It wouldn’t get her the degree and that piece of paper that opened up so many opportunities, but it would give her an edge in the business world when she finally crashed her way into it.