by Tina Donahue
He didn’t, ignoring her pleas and questions as he pulled her down the stairway through another door into Shoshana’s office.
The young woman wasn’t inside, but Connor was looking as infuriated as Mitch had been. What in the hell was happening here? Were they going to spank her in this office, then fuck her senseless?
Mitch released her wrist and moved away. Connor didn’t come anywhere near her. Gesturing to the sofa, he said, “Get dressed.”
Nikki’s body went hot, then cold at her blouse and capris on the furniture. Next to the clothing were her sandals, underwear and purse. She backed up. The movement caused her bustier’s underwires to dig into her flesh like the bra from Hell, her face was sweaty beneath the mask and her feet ached from her four-inch heels, but no way was she going to remove the fucking costume. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”
“We don’t want you working in the club,” Connor said.
There was absolutely no hesitation or sympathy in his voice. Nikki blurted, “Why? What did I do wrong? Is this about that guy putting his arm around me? I stopped him. He behaved. I was nice to him and all the other customers just like Shoshana said I should be. They seemed to be having a good time. They seemed to like me.”
Mitch snapped, “That prick and his friend bid on you so you’d be whipped.”
“So? They won. What’s the problem?”
“What do you think,” Connor growled. “We don’t want anyone doing that to you, all right?”
Given how he’d acted a few second before, his sudden concern surprised Nikki. It also confused her. What happened in the club was just playacting. No one got hurt. Didn’t he get that? Or was there something else behind this? “You want me to work in the Garden Room or the Virgin Room instead?”
“No,” Mitch said first. “This was a mistake. We don’t want you working here at all.”
“Oh hey,” she said, panicked. “You’re firing me? After you kissed me in the BDSM Room and in the stairwell, after you felt me up like there was no tomorrow and stuck your tongue halfway down my throat, you’re going to fire me?”
Connor frowned. “You kissed her in the stairwell?”
“Do you know a better way to shut her up?” Mitch countered, then turned on her. “I wanted those guys to back off, all right?”
“Bull.” She crossed the room, standing on her toes, pushing her face toward his. “That kiss and your roaming hands had nothing to do with keeping me quiet. Tell me something I’ll believe.”
“Fine,” he shot right back. “We don’t want you working in this club. Take the fucking check I offered earlier. With it and the cash you already have, you can pay off your parents’ mortgage with enough left over for you to get back on your feet.”
And for her to never see them again, unless she came up with the money to pay them back. How was that supposed to happen when she was essentially unemployable given her arrest and all the bad press? Why in the hell were they really doing this? Did they want her out of their lives that badly? Did they dislike her that much despite their obvious attraction? Fighting tears, Nikki crossed her arms beneath her breasts, not caring how she plumped them.
Both brothers’ attention fell to her nipples, then her moist slit. Unmistakable desire flared on their faces. Big deal. Nikki wanted to see more, a hint of emotion that they’d missed her even a little bit. She thought back to Mitch’s kiss. There had been lust in it, sure, but also affection, especially in the way he’d held her so close afterward. That moment of tenderness gave her the courage she needed. “No, I won’t take it. Let me go back to my job.”
Mitch caught her arm before Nikki could move past. “You’re not working here any longer.”
“Then put me in one of the films. I’ll do that.” She spoke to Connor. “Shoshana told me you use the girls from the club. The pay’s even better than what you guys offer here.”
Connor looked as if he wanted to spit. Mitch’s fingers tightened on her arm.
“I’ll take the check if you put me in the films,” she offered. “That way I can pay you guys back that much sooner.”
Mitch spoke through his teeth. “They’re erotic films, Nikki. You do know what happens in them, don’t you?”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “I’m still on birth control if that’s what you’re worried about and I’m as free of disease as the performers you have working here. What goes on in those movies is no different from what happened during Ty’s parties. They were filmed too, by the way. The prosecutors had a great time watching them, then using what went on to nail Ty to the wall.”
“Jesus fuck,” Mitch muttered.
“Let’s get something straight right now,” Connor said to her. “No way am I filming you having sex with another guy.”
“A guy other than you?” Nikki asked.
His features went slack, his complexion flushed, its color finally matching his brother’s. She’d definitely hit a nerve.
“I can take care of myself,” Nikki assured them both.
“Like you’ve done such a good job so far?” Mitch asked.
She sighed. “Okay, I’ve fucked up big time. Don’t punish me by keeping me from doing this.”
“Punish you?” Connor asked.
“I want to work with you guys.” I want to be close to both of you. “If I can’t, then I’ll have to go to one of the other clubs in the area and work for—”
“No fucking way,” Mitch warned. “I’m not going to let you do that.”
Nikki liked the way he talked, so damn male and dominant, but kept that approval hidden. “Then I’m either going to go back into your club tonight or I’ll be making those films. Which is it?”
Mitch seemed torn between spanking her and hauling her close for another kiss. Nikki suspected Connor wanted to do both and then some.
“Fine,” Mitch said first. “You can make a film. One film.”
“What?” Fists clenched, Connor went to his brother. “I am not filming her going at it with one of the guys here.”
“You don’t have to. She’ll be going at it with me.”
Chapter Five
Connor blinked. Perspiration trickled from Nikki’s cheek to her jaw.
“Take off that ridiculous mask,” Mitch ordered. “Here.” He offered his handkerchief.
She tossed the leather mask on the sofa and blotted her face, her attention never straying from him. Her color was high, her expression not quite believing what he’d just offered to do.
As if he had another choice. If Nikki was planning to make X-rated movies her new career, she sure as fuck was going to be doing them with him, not any other man. Unless it was Connor.
His brother didn’t object. Wouldn’t matter if he had. Mitch was prepared to argue Connor down so they could help Nikki no matter what she wanted. What in the fuck was the matter with her to be doing this to herself? How could she have led such a crappy life with that SOB Ty? All these years, Mitch had imagined she’d been Little Ms. Confidence, that nothing bothered her. She was young, lovely, rich and happy. Since her return and what she’d confessed in his office, he kept seeing the unvarnished truth on her face. She’d been as lonely as he and Connor. As wanting.
Arousal drained her initial shock, softening her features, making her eyes glassy with desire. “You?” she breathed.
In spite of her reaction, Mitch asked, “You have a problem with that?”
“I sure as hell do,” Connor broke in. “Don’t you know what happens in my films?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Mitch planted his hands on his hips. “So I’m not an actor. I can definitely manage the erotic stuff.”
“I’m not talking about your damn acting skills. We own this place and you want to fuck in my film that’s going to play in one of our rooms?”
Ah. Mitch saw the problem…which had an easy solution. “Don’t show my features, just my body. None of the men here have ever seen it, so they won’t be able to recognize me.” He spoke to Nikki, asking again, “You have a
problem with me being in the film?”
She studied his ginormous erection, which his boxers and pants couldn’t hide. A bead of sweat trickled down her throat, heading for the valley between her breasts. Lucky sweat. “Will the women recognize it?”
Was that jealousy he heard? “Answer my question.”
“I’ve no problem at all,” she said. “Thanks. It’s a deal.”
Muttering beneath his breath, Connor turned on Nikki, crowding her as Mitch had in the stairwell. She leaned into him rather than retreating, her face brightened with excitement.
Connor frowned. “Why would you agree to something like this?”
“Mitch is a great-looking guy. So are you.”
“That’s not what I meant and you damn well know it.”
“You’re right.” She touched the diamond stud in his lobe, smiling in approval as she did, then trailed her fingers over his mustache. His mouth twitched while the rest of him seemed incapable of movement. “I’m doing it because I trust both of you,” Nikki murmured, her thumb on his lower lip. “I know neither of you would ever hurt me. Not like I’ve hurt you.”
With her admission, patches of red rose on Connor’s cheeks and forehead, but his expression turned stony, the past again hanging between them.
Before his brother said something he didn’t mean but would surely regret, Mitch broke the difficult silence. “We’ll start filming at the end of the week and through the weekend. Be here Friday morning at six.”
Nikki regarded the monitors. “We’re filming in one of the rooms?”
“Of course not.” Connor went to Shoshana’s desk, offering nothing more.
Mitch took up the slack. “In a mansion we own on Sea Island. It’s a great backdrop for the stories and very secluded.”
Connor spoke over his shoulder. “That doesn’t mean we’ll be alone. There’s the extras and crew.”
“No one’s touching her but me,” Mitch warned.
Connor’s jaw tightened in challenge, as though to say, don’t be so certain of that.
Nikki made fast work of getting dressed, not wanting to push either brother any further than she had tonight. It hadn’t been her intention, except when she’d agreed to being punished, hoping they’d at least notice she was in the club. Who would have thought it’d lead to Mitch taking, using, enjoying and pleasuring her in one of Connor’s films?
Her body buzzed with anticipation. It took all of her will not to stare at the bulky bulge behind Mitch’s fly, his strong hands and rich mouth. At the end of this week, he’d be brushing his lips over hers, parting them with his tongue while Connor directed the action. He and the others would watch Mitch exploring the intimate parts of her body, demanding she take his cock and balls inside her mouth, tending to and loving them. Once she had, he’d mount her in every position he desired, plundering her cunt and anus, delivering himself and her to orgasm.
With carnal images dancing in her mind, Nikki gestured in farewell, unable to speak. Mitch nodded once in reply. Connor kept his back to her. She slogged down the hall to the outside, sensing both brothers were watching her on the security monitor. Already, she missed them. How in the hell was she supposed to wait until Friday to see Connor again and to have Mitch provide blessed relief for her insatiable desire?
With her arms crossed over the top of her car, she gulped the night air, heavy with humidity and the flowers’ perfume. Muted music poured from the club, growing louder suddenly as though someone had opened the front doors. A moist breeze carried men’s and women’s voices from the guest parking lot, the sounds they made joyous and young, filled with adventure.
Beneath it, Nikki heard something else, the slap of shoes, someone running in her direction. Connor? On shit, no. He couldn’t have changed Mitch’s mind so quickly. He couldn’t be tearing out here to deliver the awful news that he and his brother didn’t want to see her again. That she had to stay away. There was no other choice.
Steeled for the worst, she refused to turn around.
“Nikki?”
Shoshana? The wind snatched the hem of her dress, blowing it up her shapely thighs. Like Marilyn Monroe in that ancient film The Seven Year Itch, she pushed the wispy fabric back down. “Glad I caught you.”
Nikki wasn’t. She pressed into her car, needing distance from whatever Shoshana intended to say. No way could it be good. She had to be out here to announce the deal was off.
“You all right?” she asked.
Nikki’s stomach rolled with a new wave of queasiness. Trapped, she blurted, “What do you want?”
Shoshana observed her with frank curiosity. “Not what I figure you’re thinking. Mitch and Connor asked me to give you this for Friday.” She held out a slim book.
They were still on? Hot damn! Nikki wanted to bounce on her heels. “Is that a script—do erotic films without dialogue have scripts?”
“It’s Connor’s graphic novel, Eve. That’s what you’ll be filming, at least the next chapter of it. The first is already playing in the Virgin’s Room.”
On the cover was a photo. Seemingly yellowed with age, it depicted a naked woman, her wrists manacled to a ceiling beam in a candlelit room, her eyes lowered in supplication, her nipples erect, legs parted to present her cunt. Which now belonged to her master. Fully clothed, he faced her, the cut of his jacket and breeches reminiscent of styles worn in the 1700s. In his hand dangled a leather strap. Surrounding them were other nobles intent on the coming show. Punishment and domination. A man taking a woman just as he liked with no restrictions.
Nikki sagged against her car door.
“Change your mind?” Shoshana asked.
Silly question. Nikki couldn’t recall the last time she’d been as stoked or nosy. “Are you dating Mitch or Connor or both of them?”
Shoshana’s exquisite face registered no surprise at the out-of-line inquiry, merely a flicker of what appeared to be regret. “We’ve gotten together a few times. Nothing serious on their end.”
Nikki’s pang of jealousy mingled with relief. She clawed her windblown hair away from her neck. “How about on yours?”
“They’re easy men to like and to love.” With one hand, she kept the breeze from blowing her hair and used the other to hold down her skirt. “Hot as hell. Generous. Honorable. But you know that already, don’t you?”
It was more of a challenge than a question. Nikki answered the only way she knew how. “They told you about me—us.”
“Didn’t have to.” Her regret had returned. “I saw how Mitch and you stared at each other when you were shackled to The Frame, how Connor watched you from the monitors. Each one of you had the look addicts do when they’re in deep pain and want their drugs, booze or whatever it is that gives them some relief. You’re the girl from their past, right? The one who fucked them up when it comes to trusting other women.”
If Nikki could have taken a step back, she would have. “I thought you said they hadn’t told you about what I did.”
She frowned. “They didn’t. They haven’t said anything except that they knew you in high school. I’m guessing you didn’t approve of their circumstances.”
“Oh hey, it wasn’t their fault, I knew that. I didn’t care what everyone said.”
“About their mom or grandmother?”
Both. Their druggie mother had abandoned them when they were six and their grandmother’s problems had only added to the mess.
Shame for her past actions pressed in on Nikki, making it difficult to speak. “Is their grandmother still hoarding?”
“Not in any of Atlanta’s upstanding neighborhoods.”
What did that mean? “They said she was okay. She is, right?”
“Never been better. They bought her a place outside the city with lots of land and great security. There aren’t any neighbors around to get upset and kids can’t wander onto the property to hassle her or make fun. Just to be certain things don’t get too out of hand with her stuff, there’s a caretaker on site. She has everything she�
�ll ever need.”
Far more than they had. “I know she’s got issues,” Nikki said, “but damn, she could have at least bought food. Did either of them tell you how they all went hungry because she spent every cent she had at these dumb thrift shops and yard sales, buying crap she didn’t need, cramming their house with stuff until none of them could move around?”
Nikki shook her head, recalling the one time she’d gone to their place, what she’d seen through the windows and in the backyard. “The place was so filthy even a bum wouldn’t have wanted to stay there. Not once did Mitch or Connor have a real meal or nice clothes. When the other kids were screwing around during the summer, they were doing odd jobs at the neighbors’ houses, including mine, so they’d make enough cash so they and their grandmother could eat. I asked them to dinner whenever I could. A lot of times they said no. I knew they were ashamed. It was obvious they worried about her more than they did themselves. I was so damn stupid. I just wanted to be liked.”
Shoshana muttered, “It’s my guess they did like you.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Nikki sighed. “Everything was fine between us until school started and I met the cool kids, the ones that can kill you with one snotty glance or a sarcastic laugh.” She groaned, remembering. “They treated Mitch and Connor like lepers. Rumors circulated that they weren’t really fraternal twins. That their mother was a whore and got pregnant from two guys she screwed at the same time. It was so awful.”
Shoshana frowned. “Then why didn’t you defend them?”
“Are you serious? I tried.” She rubbed her neck before the tension in it gave her a migraine. “I thought I’d succeeded at first. The other kids backed off. Little by little, they started approaching me, becoming friendly. God, it was such a freaking relief. I’m not making excuses, but my father’s job had us moving around a lot. I was always the new kid at school and never popular. Everyone made fun of my hair color, freckles, the way I talked, you name it. Before then, I’d always been the target and I didn’t want to be anymore. I wanted to belong and here was my chance, except there was a catch.”