I finished her off with my mouth and then made some bullshit up about not feeling great and could we end it and call her another time.
When Jacqui had left, I glared at him.
“So what’s up with this one?”
Flynn scowled at me. “She made the most stupid noises when she was excited. If they annoyed me now what would they do years down the line?”
“I’m going to brush my teeth. Then I think it’s time to call an emergency meeting.”
Jayden and Smith arrived at my place within the hour. Well, it wasn’t my place, it was my parents', but each of the four of us still lived with our parents having our own large suites. There had been no reason to move. The four of us had grown up together, schooled together—albeit in different years—and passed women between us. We also had a super deep dark secret that only we and our families knew. It made us tight. I know that made it sound like we were some kind of fraternity who lived up to our nicknames of the Filthy Rich Playboys, but the truth was we’d realized we’d be happier if we got to share one perfect woman between us.
The problem was we couldn’t find one.
The four of us were so close that when we’d dated separately, girlfriends ended up causing trouble. Like with Flynn. He’d really struggled to juggle us with his long-term relationship and it was after that ended that we had an idea. If we could find one woman that we all liked, and that wanted four men all to herself, then problem solved. No one trying to take us away from each other and we’d have one completely satisfied woman—how could she be anything else?
I opened a bottle of Jack Daniels while the guys got comfortable.
“So, Jacqui’s a bust.” I told the others.
“What? I thought she was a firecracker,” Jayden said.
“She didn’t do a lot for me,” Smith added.
“Well, we’re back to square one because Flynn didn’t like the noises she made. Do we think finding someone is in any way realistic now? Maybe we should go back to dating the usual way and forget the idea.” I sighed.
“How long we been doing this now for? Eighteen months? We’re getting a reputation for playing women and dumping them. If we carry on ain’t no women gonna want to come anywhere near us, never mind around our dicks.” Jayden’s gaze met ours in turn.
“So what are we going to do?” I asked them.
Flynn’s intense stare met my own. If you didn’t know him you’d think he was trying to read your mind or make you feel inferior, but it was just those blue eyes. He was the calmest of all of us, the most easygoing. “I think instead of us choosing a woman in turn to try to date and it all going wrong, we should find and get to know someone, all of us, before we even think of asking them out. If our personalities were a match we’re halfway there and I don’t know, maybe we can interview their old lovers or something to get an idea of what they might be like in bed? In any event I think first we all find one person that doesn’t make at least one of us want to drown ourselves in the infinity pool.”
I looked around at the others. “What’s everyone else’s thoughts on that?”
Smith and Jayden shrugged.
“Okay then. Last chance, as far as I’m concerned to go for our ideal lifestyle. It’s time for a week of getting to know more women in Malibu, doing a little flirting, and then we report back this time next week and see if we’re coming up with the same names? Sound good?”
The group agreed, so we moved onto a few games of poker.
There wasn't much I couldn't have in my life. I know that sounded terrible, but it was the truth. My parents were billionaires. Famous A-listers, they went from being a couple who fell in love on a comedy show—both on-screen and offscreen—to a complete brand of their own. My mother now ran a whole beauty and fitness empire and had a clothing range, and my father was now a film director with shares in the merchandising company that provided merch for all his movies. They didn’t need to work but were workaholics, vacationing at their home here in Carbon Beach when they got too strung out and needed a timeout. The rest of the year it was mine.
All four of us were single children which was another reason why we bonded together. It was hard when your parents were obscenely rich to find people who understood what that was like. Mainly we attracted hangers on—people who pretended they wanted to be friends but really wanted money to launch some get rich scheme they had in their minds. The only genuine people I had ever met—who I’d lay my life on the line for—were the other three guys. It took a lot for bros to admit they'd miss the shit out of each other, but at the times when we’d dated that’s how it had felt. It had been a drunken night over a year ago that had led to the search for one woman.
We’d been at Jayden’s and he’d been hosting a pool party. The four of us had gathered at the back watching everyone cut loose and he’d said, “Anyone else get sick of this scene? There’s gotta be more to life, right, than party until dawn?”
We’d looked at him, mouths open. What was he saying? Had he had enough of Malibu?
As if he’d read my thoughts, he’d turned to me. “It’s wondering which chicks actually dig me, or which have come to say they partied with Jayden Bryant and just want to post shit on Instagram. Sometimes it gets me down instead of giving me a high like parties are supposed to. Look at us, we’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves. Instead we’re stood at the back like teams are being picked and we’re the ones no one wants.”
“We’re bored,” Flynn stated. “That’s why we’re not joining in. It’s the same old, same old. And if we’re bored now, how are we going to feel later in life? We need something new.”
“What we need,” said Jayden. “Is our own party. Women just for us.”
“But they cause trouble between us.” Smith said. “Unless we can find like four best friends, or sisters or something, that would be happy with the four of us.”
“Or one woman.” Jayden said, his face lighting up. “One woman who’d be willing to share. No jealousy. We just love her as much as we can between us. We’ve done threesomes before. I have no problem with seeing any of your dicks, dudes. We could do quads, quints, whatever she or we wanted.”
“One woman. We share one woman?” Smith verified.
“Yeah, and when we want babies, we play Russian roulette and see whose spunk hits the target. Our woman would be spoiled, our children spoiled. They’d have four partners and the babies would have four daddies. It wouldn’t be like our childhoods when we got left or dragged around with nannies and wondered who the fuck the strange people who said they were our parents were.”
We’d nodded our heads at this. It was the damn truth. “This way at least one of us could always be around.”
I waited for one of the guys to say this was the stupidest idea he’d ever heard. But that didn’t happen. We all went silent, having gone deep into our own thoughts.
“We could give it a try,” Flynn said. “What’s to lose?”
And that was the start of our hunt for a woman to share our lives.
We’d find someone individually, date them and then leave them hanging. Then one of the others would seek them out and do the same. We rarely got beyond two of us having dated them before something went wrong. Someone didn’t like how the woman talked, or how they ate, or how they spoke.
There had only been one woman who’d gotten to sleep with all four of us—who’d almost been the one—Leonie. But we’d realized we would have been settling. Sexually she didn’t light us on fire. We’d been tempted because she had been such a lovely woman and it was the first one we’d all liked. But at the eleventh hour we realized we’d have been making a mistake.
Then Smith fucked things up beyond redemption anyhow.
To be honest, though we should have pulled away when we found out she didn't like Twilight or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
It was a red flag when four vampires were considering being your husbands.
Yes, that was the super dark secret we shared. Our parents were all vampires, and we were the o
nly children of each. It was rare that vampires sired more than one child biologically and so the other advantage to sharing a woman was the prospect of more than one child. We lived on blood though sex came a close second in terms of sustenance. Sex and blood, well that was just the icing on the cake. We wouldn’t age beyond thirty. Of course, the rich and famous were surrounded by the best plastic surgeons, beauticians, stylists. Lack of aging could be given an excuse and many of our kind used a long-term glamor so that humans saw an older person and not the real face of the vampire.
The four of us were brothers through everything but biology and we’d decided nothing would delight us more than to settle in our own nest with the woman of our dreams. We would, however, need to turn her and that was the point that so far we had been unable to get past. We needed a highly sexual woman with almost addictive needs in the bedroom and who wouldn’t run a mile when the love bite she got actually punctured her skin.
And so now here we found ourselves. Giving it one last shot before we decided it was never going to happen. Honestly, I was really into finding someone to settle down with. My childhood had been chaotic. As the child of two of the most loved actors on television, cameras had followed our every move. The hysteria everywhere my parents went had been terrifying. Bodyguards holding people back who wanted to touch them, to touch me. They felt like they knew us personally. My mother would carry me and then would get me to put my head inside her coat, away from the flashing lights. I’d realize later that she only did it if it was a good photo opportunity and her concern for my eyesight and fear of the crowds didn’t really appear all that genuine when she’d organized it in the first place. As I got older, I was given the part of their child in the sitcom. Like most comedies the child only appeared now and again when relevant to the plot. Then a kidnapping threat had led to the producers saying I could no longer be their on-screen child. It was too dangerous. I’d been offered other acting roles as a child and could have gone on to be a child actor, but instead my parents banned me from doing so and once the comedy they were in came to a natural close after eleven seasons, my mother started her lifestyle brand. Yes, my vampire mother used a glamor to sell her cosmetics and skincare products. She actually made herself look older but still in prime condition and she made obscene money. My father got the lead role in a cop drama before moving into directing the series and then moved into directing movies himself.
But he wouldn’t give me a part. He said my being his son wasn’t going to make him give me a break into acting. That I had to make my own way, and he made sure his fellow businessmen knew his feelings on the subject. Which meant getting into acting hadn’t happened for me. Either people felt taking on Carter Cole, as I’d changed my surname to, was too much of a risk with my playboy reputation, or they knew my parents. So instead, I spent my days surfing and my nights partying. What else was there to do but enjoy myself? One thing my parents did do was to make sure I had enough funds at my disposal to want for absolutely nothing.
I was also lucky that they’d stayed together. They had one of the most enduring marriages in Showbiz and they did love me, had shown me their love. Only they just hadn’t been around a lot. I guessed that was why the idea of one woman and whatever number of children we might be blessed with, being cared for by the four of us, appealed. There would always be love and there would always be someone there as a parent. I knew what it was like to be without.
I hit the sack, kicking off my clothes and throwing them into the antique chair near the desk in my room. Staff would pick them up the next day and launder them.
I climbed under my comforter and jerked off to the thoughts of fucking Jacqui, something I’d not been able to do in real life with Flynn sitting there looking bored. In my imagination she was eager for my cock. If things didn’t work out with our shared woman idea, then I might just give Jacqui another call.
The next morning, I rose and went into the kitchen where our cook served me my protein shake and waffles, before leaving me in peace. No, we did not sleep through the day and my protein shake had a mixture of blood and the other nutrients needed to keep me as healthy as possible. Staci, our cook, had been with my parents for years. Her husband Taylor was our security guy. Both were also vampires. I could feel the call of the surf and so I quickly swallowed my breakfast and changed into my board shorts before heading down to Surfrider Beach.
I rode the waves for a while and after drying myself down with a large towel, I handed in my surfboard and headed to the beach cafe for one of their delicious burgers and a soda. Surfing was thirsty work.
My cock perked up as soon as I got through the door because sat at one of the booths was the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen and believe me there were some hot babes in the Bu. I felt my fangs tingle. Something about the way this woman carried herself spoke straight to my dick. Sitting relaxed, her gaze moved between her drink and the surf. She had a notebook and pen with her and would casually make a note in it. She was so caught up in what she was doing that she’d not noticed me place my food order or be delivered my drink. It was rare I got ignored in here.
So, intrigued, I picked up my drink and walked over to her, stood right opposite her and said.
“Is this seat taken?”
I wasn’t expecting her to startle and knock over her drink. Warm coffee hit the front of my board shorts as she swept a hand up to that perfect pouted mouth and said, “Oh shit.”
Chapter Three
Serena
So, there I was making notes in my book, gazing at the surf and wondering how I could get an ‘in’ with the FRAP boys when one of those very men appeared in front of me like Aladdin’s genie.
And a man he most certainly was. I thought he’d looked good on his photograph, but that failed to capture the inbuilt charisma of the man himself. He had the X-factor that was for sure. No one judging him would buzz him off stage. His face was sun-kissed, no doubt from hours spent at the beach. In fact, his presence was so blinding I knocked my coffee over, which splashed straight onto his board shorts, coating his crotch in a dark liquid which I watched drip off—every last drop.
Eyes up, Serena.
“Oh, shit.” I exclaimed, whipping my still dry, thank God, moleskin off the table and stuffing it into my purse.
“Hold up, I’ll get a cloth.” He said and left me for a moment. It gave me a minute to compose myself. Don’t fuck this up, Serena, you can start the game.
I began my act the moment he returned to the table. “Thank you so much.” I gushed at him. “Sorry. I’m not usually this careless. I was just staring at the surf. It’s so beautiful.”
“It sure is.” He said, stopping his mopping up of the table and staring directly into my eyes. “You surf?”
“Oh no. I can barely swim.” I lied. “Trying that would scare me to death. Do you?” I asked.
“Every day if I can. It’s where I feel most at home.” I could tell from his expression that this statement was honest and straight from the heart. He smiled and held out a hand to me. “Carter Cole.”
“Serena Ripley.” I’d assumed a new surname for my employment here in Malibu and thought giving myself the surname of The Talented Mr. Ripley was a touch of irony.
“I’ve not seen you around here before?” There was an inflection at the end of his sentence and he waited for me to fill in the gap in his knowledge.
“I just arrived yesterday. I’m from New York, but I’ve come to work at The Malibu Dream as their new Conference and Event Manager.” I filled him in on my make-believe back-story. How I wanted to spend some time at the beach and this seemed as good a way as any. How I’d wanted to escape the city for a while.
“Well, I doubt you’ll ever want to leave.” He told me. “Now I know this is forward of me, but can I get you another coffee and sit and chat to you a while? Only I’m feeling kinda lonely today.”
Oh, he was full of the charm all right, giving me that touch of vulnerability in his gaze. The man was a total player.
/> “That would be lovely.” I simpered. “I have no plans for today. My new job doesn't start until tomorrow.”
He went to the counter and ordered while I quickly took my compact from my purse and checked my appearance over. I didn’t want him remembering me as someone with syrup on the end of my nose or something worse.
“Coffees will be here shortly.” He said taking a seat opposite me. He was tall and muscular, and he filled the space opposite me. It seriously was like a Greek God had come visiting and sat in front of me. Maybe Neptune had come to earth?
Remember why you are here and that he’s a total bastard, I told my brain, and my traitorous core which was feeling damp and I’d not been hit by spilled coffee.
“So, have you been to Malibu before?”
“No. I’ve not traveled beyond New York before. I’ve lived quite a sheltered life to be honest.” I was going to be struck by lightning for all these lies. “My long-term relationship with my high school boyfriend fizzled out, and I decided to spread my wings a little, try new experiences. I kinda thought I'd pick somewhere totally different, but somewhere I could do the same type of job as hotel work is all I know, and so, well, I picked here. I figured if I didn’t like it I could just move someplace else.”
“You’ll not want to move. It’s like heaven on earth here.”
“So, what do you do?” I asked him.
“I surf.” He laughed. “To be honest, I don’t do a lot. I’m Ross Parish and Linda Cannon’s son. Their only child.”
I looked at him blankly. It was killing me not to laugh.
“From the series 'Couples?'” He pressed, watching my reaction.
“Oh. I heard of that. I think my parents might have watched it? But it’s before my time." I drew in my brows. "So, what does that have to do with you not having a job? Do they not want you to work?”
Filthy Rich Vampire Playboys Page 2