Snow and Seduction: A Steamy Reverse Harem Winter Collection

by Amanda Rose

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “The storage unit,” Yaphet told her. He threw himself onto her small armchair. Pascal perched next to him while Ravi took a seat on the other side of her.

  She was surrounded.

  “They raided it.” She didn’t need to ask the question; she knew what Aaron had planned.

  “Someone did,” Yaphet answered. “Though I’ve been assured by an old friend of mine that we will get the pieces back.”

  “Thanks to you,” Dov stated. He took her hand, but she was too shocked to do more than let it lay in his hands, limp as a dead fish.

  Her shoulders sagged. “Thank goodness.”

  “Director Lohse was arrested,” Yaphet went on, “though Gottleib’s in the wind. For now.”

  “He’ll turn up.” The way Pascal spoke, it sounded like a threat. Wherever Gottleib was, he wouldn’t stay undiscovered for long.

  “I’m glad.” She tried to meet each of their gazes and smile, but she was too heartsore. “So you’re good then. You’ll get your legacy, and Sarah will know everything is as it should be.”

  “Actually.” Ravi spoke for the first time. “She’s why we’re here.”

  Was he going to tell her Sarah had passed? Shira braced herself for the news.

  “Grandma has always been good at reality checks,” Dov added.

  “Yes,” Ravi agreed. “She told us…” He glanced up, toward his brothers who were nodding encouragingly. “First—she told us we needed to apologize. I’ve been trying to do that since the beginning, but this is different. Now you’ll know why I’m sorry. It was all my idea. I’m who made you think you were going to be shot. I’m the one who made you run and get hurt.”

  Poor Ravi. His guilt had been riding him hard.

  “I forgive you,” she said, quickly.

  Ravi gave a half-hearted smile before he went on. “That’s not all, though.” Again, he glanced toward his brothers before continuing. “Grandma told us that love won’t always look the way we expect it to. So we need to give it a chance before we decide to deny it.”

  Shira’s chest tightened, and she peered at Pascal. “What do you mean?”

  “We want to see where these feelings go, Shira,” Pascal explained. “We hope you’ll let us.”

  She wanted that. More than anything she wanted to see more of Ravi and Pascal. She wanted to explore the tenuous connection she felt with Dov, and hash out the mystery that was Yaphet. Each one of these men intrigued and fascinated her, exemplifying everything she thought made someone a good person.

  Honor. Loyalty. Compassion.

  “Yes,” she answered, hoping she was just the right amount of eager. “Yes. I’d like that.”

  As one, the guys seemed to relax, bodies sagging with relief into their seats.

  “We’ve got it all worked out,” Dov said, excitedly. “Yaphet claims none of the times he’s been with you could qualify as a date so—”

  Shira held up a hand. This time her smile came easily. “I’d love to go on a date with you,” she said, facing Yaphet. “But I don’t know the last time I slept. If I’m going to function and not fall asleep in my soup, I need a nap.”

  Dov glanced at his watch. “You haven’t slept?” He frowned. “I thought we woke you up.”

  “It’s the last day of Hanukkah, isn’t it?” Shira asked.

  “For five more minutes,” Pascal answered. “I can’t think of a better way to spend the last night than in bed.”

  Shira lifted her eyebrow and then giggled. “I can fit one, maybe two of you.”

  Ravi and Dov jumped to their feet. “Bed,” they said at the same time.

  Yaphet and Pascal frowned. “Don’t worry,” she told them. “The couch pulls out. You can share it.”

  She stood to go to the bathroom where she kept the clean sheets but Yaphet stopped her. “Thank you, Shira. For what you did. And for giving us a chance. For giving me a chance.”

  Pausing, Shira smiled. Each one of these men were good men. “This is the easiest decision I’ve ever made,” she told them. “I just never thought I’d get to make it.”

  Soon, Yaphet and Pascal were grumpily tucked into their sofa bed, and Shira was wedged between Ravi and Dov. Despite the cramped spaces, her body was boneless and her mind calm. Even if she was about to embark on a journey she never imagined, she was at peace with her decision.

  “Hey,” Pascal whispered from her door.

  Ravi groaned. “What?”

  “Happy Hanukkah,” he answered.

  “Happy Hanukkah,” Shira whispered.

  “Happy Hanukkah!” Yaphet yelled from the living room.

  “Happy Hanukkah, everyone,” Dov grumbled. “Now go away.”

  In the quiet that followed, Shira smiled. No matter what had happened, these men were a gift, and with a silent prayer of gratitude, she fell asleep.

  EPILOGUE

  “Mama! Mamamamamama!” An angry voice yelled at Shira from outside. Dropping her work bag on the cool tiled floor of her home, she grinned. Not one second through the door, and she was going to have to break up an argument.

  Shira passed through the quiet house, past the living room with its bright, comfortable furniture and Camille Pissarro’s painting in a place of honor into the bright backyard.

  “Mama!” Angry blue eyes clashed with hers as her little boy dropped out of a lemon tree and ran toward her. “Tell her! Tell her I can go in the big tractor!” Shira leaned over, lifting her boy into her arms. Five years old, with his father’s bright blue eyes and his uncle’s dimple, Samuel had a very keen, and very loud, sense of justice. “It’s not fair!”

  Before she could make heads or tails of his demands, Pascal came striding out of the barn, their daughter, Sarah, in his arms.

  Samuel pointed angrily at his twin. “Tell her.”

  Pascal laughed and threw their daughter into the air. Behind him, Yaphet carried a huge basket of olives. It was a new crop they were trying on their family farm in Upper Galilee.

  When, a month after they’d all been dating, the four brothers had proposed to her, and informed her of their wish to take her to Israel for the rest of their lives, Shira had been worried. She was a city girl. What could she possibly do on a farm?

  It turned out, not much.

  But she could commute to Tel Aviv Museum of Art where she was offered a job as curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art.

  Now she couldn’t imagine life away from the farm and orchards, surrounded by her husbands and their family.

  “It’s not fair,” Samuel repeated. But his anger hid his hurt and he buried his face in Shira’s neck.

  “I have a feeling Papa has a solution,” she whispered in her little boy’s ear. She breathed in his scent. He smelled like soil and sunshine, and hay. He’d probably been rolling around in the barn, looking for kittens.

  “Why does Papa have all the solutions?” Ravi asked from behind her. He kissed her cheek and blew a raspberry on Samuel’s neck. “Maybe Uncle Ravi has the solution?”

  Samuel laughed and leapt from Shira’s arms into the arms of the man who loved him as much as his biological father. “Well then, you tell me yours, and Papa tells me his, and I decide who has the right solution,” he answered imperiously.

  Sarah’s green eyes, so much like the woman she’d been named in honor of, tracked nervously from her brother to her uncle to her father and then to her mother. “Am I in trouble?” she asked, biting her lip.

  “No, baby,” Yaphet answered. He pulled one of her springy brown curls and released it. “You’re not in trouble.”

  “Uncle Ravi will take you on the buggy to the orchard while Sarah rides in the tractor with Papa,” Ravi offered.

  “Or,” Pascal added. “Papa takes you in the tractor while Sarah rides in the buggy with Uncle Ravi.”

  Samuel pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. He opened them wide and held up a finger. “I’ve got it. I ride with Uncle Ravi in the buggy to the
orchard, and then I ride back with Papa in the tractor!”

  Sarah squealed at the idea, apparently as taken with it as Samuel. Squirming, the siblings wiggled their way out of her husbands’ arms and took off running.

  “Where’s Dov?” Pascal asked, wrapping his arms around her.

  Yaphet squeezed her hand as he walked by them on his way to the olive press. “Missed you today,” he whispered before continuing past.

  “He’s right behind me,” she said, glancing over her shoulder toward the house. The man in question came outside, pulling the knot of his tie as he strode toward them.

  “What’d I do?” he asked his brother.

  “Nothing,” Pascal answered. A squeal from inside the barn had all of them whipping their heads toward the structure. “I better get inside before they jump from the loft again.” With one more kiss, Pascal jogged away to check on their children.

  Ravi moved closer to them, and reached out a hand. He touched Shira’s belly, sliding his palm along the taut, rounded skin. “How’s our baby?” he asked quietly. He smiled as he stared at her stomach, dimple appearing in his cheek.

  Shira covered his hand with hers. “Good. Kicky.”

  Ravi leaned over to place a kiss there. “Soccer player,” he whispered and kissed her again before straightening. “It’s not getting to be too much?” he asked.

  Shira understood his worry. She’d discovered soon after they’d all decided to date each other, that she was pregnant. The baby was Pascal’s, she knew that right away. They hadn’t been careful when they’d been together.

  The brothers had proposed the night before Shira had planned to tell them she was pregnant. They’d sat with Sarah in the final days of her life. It was, Sarah said, the best gift she’d ever received.

  No matter what Shira’s grandmother thought, it hadn’t been a shotgun wedding. Shira had their engagement ring on her finger before they learned they were going to be fathers.

  Or father and uncles.

  The truth was, no one could love her babies more than her husbands did. Pascal didn’t love them any more than Ravi did, or Dov. Or Yaphet. Each one of them thought Sarah and Samuel hung the moon.

  But pregnancies with twins were tough, and she’d had high blood pressure and exhaustion to contend with.

  This baby, however, was a walk in the park after the twins. She’d had the typical morning sickness, but now, in her second trimester, she was feeling fantastic.

  “The kids want to pick olives,” Ravi said, brushing off his pants. “And stand on ladders.”

  Shira laughed. “Okay. Let me change and I’ll meet you out there.”

  “Me, too,” Dov answered. “I want to get the camera.” He kissed Shira quickly before striding into their house.

  Ravi took her hand, and with a gentle tug, pulled her toward their room. His gaze never left her as she dressed, though his eyes lingered on her stomach.

  “I love you so much,” he said. “From the first moment I met you, saw you lying in the street. I knew you were the one.”

  “I love you, too,” Shira answered. She sat next to him on the edge of the bed.

  “I just didn’t realize you were the one for my brothers, as well.”

  Shira took a deep breath. “Ravi.”

  “It’s not what I expected, Shira,” he told her. “But it’s everything I ever wanted. It’s more than I dreamed possible.”

  Her baby kicked, hard. Ravi stared, wide-eyed at her belly. “My boy!” He put his hands on her stomach again. “Or girl. Either way. I’m happy.”

  A knock on the door pulled them out of their blissful baby contemplation. “You coming?” Pascal asked. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “The natives are restless.”

  He came inside and held his hands out to Shira. With a gentle yank, he pulled her to her feet and slid an arm around her waist. “Sarah wants you to ride the tractor with us.”

  “I think I’ll walk,” she said and laughed. “There’s barely room for you and her, let alone you, me, my belly, and her.”

  “She’s worried you’ll feel left out,” Pascal explained. Like her namesake, Sarah had the biggest heart. She wanted everyone to be happy.

  As Shira walked outside, her husbands chasing her children while they giggled madly, she thought about how happy she was. How deliriously, perfectly happy.

  Yaphet emerged from the shed where the press was kept, flung a rag over his shoulder, and winked at her. Pascal left her to lift Samuel into a big green tractor, and Ravi jumped into the buggy next to Sarah, who was trying to reach over his lap to steer.

  Jogging toward Yaphet, Dov unslung the camera from around his neck. The brothers bent their heads over the device, chatting amiably about whatever it was Dov wanted to show him.

  Her family.

  At the start of Hanukkah six years ago, Shira had no idea what her future held, but in her wildest dreams, she’d never pictured a life as happy as this one.

  Ripley Proserpina

  Visit the Author's Facebook Page

  Visit the Author's Reading Group

  Visit the Author's Website

  Visit the Author's Amazon Page

  Description

  For Louisa, the Christmas period has never been full of joy and cheer, unless you counted a drunk mother and her trail of deadbeat boyfriends. So when she gets the opportunity to become a chalet girl in the resort of Alpe d'Huez in the French Alps,she jumps at the chance.

  Only she gets more than she bargained for when her assigned family turns out to be three hot bachelor brothers with a penchant for partying and women. When Louisa is asked to join the brothers on a trip to a remote log cabin high up in the mountains, she has no choice but to go or risk losing her job.

  Only things don't go according to plan when a heavy snowstorm hits, trapping Louisa and the three horny brothers for the entire Christmas weekend. Can Louisa fend off their advances or will she succumb to an Avalanche of Desire?

  Thanks so much for reading Avalanche of Desire. It is an honour to be amongst such talented writers in the Snow & Seduction boxset. Although not new to writing, I am pretty new at writing reverse harem stories, and can’t wait to share my upcoming books with you all! When I started writing this story, I had no expectation for it to go beyond Avalanche of Desire, but I have fallen in love with the characters and I’m plotting and penning subsequent stories of the brothers Freed and Louisa as we speak. So, look out for the next instalment, Storm of Seduction – coming soon! For updates come visit my Facebook page. If you like paranormal reverse harem stories then you might be interested in reading my reverse harem series called the Sisters of Hex, kicking off with Accacia’s Curse which releases on 27th November 2017. Accacia’s Curse is the first book of the Sisters of Hex paranormal romance/reverse harem series. There will be fifteen books in total within the series, all revolving around the five sisters mentioned in the prophecy and their paranormal suitors. Please note: All the books in the series have adult themes and are not for readers under the age of 18. So, a bit about me… Well, I write in two names. Bea Paige is my pen name and she writes paranormal romance / contemporary romance and reverse harem books. Kelly Stock is my actual name and I write urban fantasy books. I already have three books out in The Soul Guide series. So, if urban fantasy books with magic, mystery, evil antagonists, unusual friendships and a dash of romance are your thing then why don’t you check them out. I hope you enjoy the rest of the stories available in this anthology! They are a super talented bunch and, oh my, these stories are HOT! Please remember to leave a review! Thanks Kelly / Bea x

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Louisa! Get your arse down here, NOW!”

  Sighing, I pick up my bag and coat and head into the living room. Sitting on the sofa is my mum, and snuggled up next to her a rather drunk Dom, or Fred, or whatever the hell this new client, I mean boyfriend, is called. “What is it, Mum?” I ask trying not to notice that Dom has his hand up her top.

  “We need more booze. Do us a
favour and go grab us a bottle of vodka from the off-licence.” Noticing the look of disgust on my face she pushes Dom’s hand away.

  “Oy, not in front of Louisa. She’s a prude.” The sound of her laugh sets my teeth on edge.

  “I’m not a prude. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to be all over each other like a couple of teenagers whilst I am in the room.”

  Mum looks at me, her eyes bloodshot. “You’re twenty-two, Louisa, isn’t it about time you got yourself a fella? Might loosen you up a bit.”

  “I don’t need a boyfriend. I don’t need loosening up. I need a mother who actually gives a shit about me. I need a mother who doesn’t spend her whole existence getting pissed and shagging the next bloke for a few quid!”

  Mum pushes Dom off her and attempts to stand, but she is so drunk she only manages to fall forward onto the coffee table ending up on her arse on the floor. I stay where I am, to angry to help.

  “Don’t you look down your nose at me!” she screams from her spot on the floor. “You’re lucky you got a home to live in, girl. Now make yourself useful and go get me some fucking Vodka!”

  I sigh and hold my hand out for the money whilst Dom heaves her off the floor. For as long as I can remember she has been a drunk. My real father left us when I was a toddler and her drinking got steadily worse over the years. Her addiction isn’t helped by the fact that she always has a stream of so-called boyfriends who seem to encourage her bad habits; drinking and being a shitty mother two of her worst. There was only one man who had almost turned my mother around, but she ruined that relationship too, just like she ruins everything else. I am still in touch with Richard, he hasn’t abandoned me even though he gave up on my mother five years ago. In fact, I am on my way to visit him now. He has a job opportunity that he thought I might be interested in and given I am broke and in desperate need of cash, I agreed to hear him out.