Chapter 23
RAINA
Ifeel it throbbing through my veins and thickening my blood as I look at Alex, at Max, at Vincent.
“You are really serious,” I say, wrapping my head around the single greatest news I’ve heard in a very long time. “You’re giving me the job.”
“No, Raina, you’ve earned it,” Alex declares and comes closer. “You’ve worked hard here. It only took a few weeks for us to realize precisely how special and how precious you are.”
“As a chef and as a woman,” Max adds.
“I’m speechless—and grateful,” I say. “Of course I want the job. I will do everything in my power to prove I’m worthy of it.”
“You already are,” Vincent replies and gently touches my face. “All you have to do is be yourself, which is what hooked us in the first place. Be yourself, in the bedroom and in the kitchen. It was always your best bet. That’s how you sparkle.”
“Thank you,” I say, trembling to the core. “I can’t wait to tell Kaleb about it.”
The guys exchange glances.
“Kaleb will be thrilled to hear you’ve secured the position,” Alex replies.
Guilt eats its way through the joy of the moment, casting a shadow over my thoughts. “We should find a way to tell him about us, too,” I say, my voice low. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“Kaleb has known us for years,” Max says with a deep sigh. “But in that time, he’s never seen us so gone on one woman. His idea of our personal lives falls more in line with the debauchery of Haus of Sin.”
“Which is why I don’t think he’ll react well when he learns about us,” Alex admits.
I allow myself a bitter smile. “I was a good girl until I let you spoil me.”
“You’re still a good girl,” Vincent says. “All we did was shower you with the affection you deserved, and allowed you to be who you want to be. Is that a crime?”
“It is in Kaleb’s eyes. Three men and his sister? He’ll be so mad.”
“Then we’ll have to figure out a way to make him understand that we’re serious about you, that we actually want to make this work,” Alex says.
My eyebrows raise in surprise. “You really mean it.”
“Every word, Raina. You’re the forbidden pleasure we were finally able to allow ourselves. The moment you said yes to our deal,” Alex says, “it grew into something deeper. We all felt it.”
“I felt it, too,” I admit, softening against Vincent’s massive frame. His hand rests on the small of my back, but his fingers become restless. His touch ignites something within me, something I will soon be unable to control.
Alex adds, “We’re all still new at this. We’re trying to figure out how to make it work in the long term, so perhaps we should keep this secret between us for a little while longer.”
“You’ll need time to settle in at The Black Swan,” Max says. “And Kaleb will get used to the dynamic eventually. He will see you around us enough times for it to click better when we do break the news. We just need to ease him in.”
Easier said than done, I tell myself. But they’re right. It’s a problem we can deal with later. Right now, I would like to enjoy the thrill of new employment, the prospect of my career really taking off.
Most importantly, I’d like to enjoy the quiet of this mansion for a little while longer.
Slowly, I turn to face Vincent again, placing my hands on his shoulders. My fingers dig into his hard muscles, and I see the shadow pulling over his eyes, the hunger, the wanting.
“If I’m not mistaken, we have the house to ourselves,” I say in a low voice.
“The staff is gone for the day,” he replies. “The cleaning crew will be in tomorrow.”
“And Matty left about thirty minutes ago,” I say.
“The hosts and the guests are also out,” Alex mutters. “So yes, we have the house to ourselves. Every playroom is ours.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” I reply with a giggle.
Max is already unbuttoning my shirt, one tiny button at a time, while tracing kisses along the side of my neck. “I’d say we start here and see where it leads,” he whispers in my ear.
“I’ll warn you, though,” I tell him in a raspy voice, “I’m in desperate need of a proper spanking.”
He smacks my ass in a playful manner, and I’m instantly wet and hot and burning.
“Good, because my hand’s been itching all morning for you, baby,” Max says.
Alex pulls me into a kiss. It’s hungry and sinful, sweet and peppery, at the same time. It makes me feel safe and vulnerable, soft and sizzling, as my clothes are left behind, one item at a time, until we reach The Cinnamon Room. It’s our favorite. It’s always been our favorite.
And today, we’re going to unravel between its walls.
I lay naked on the bed, soft against the silken sheets.
My arm and leg stretch over Alex’s body, my gaze wandering and registering every detail: his chiseled muscles, perfectly sculpted as though a grand Italian artist carved him out of marble, and God himself breathed life into his lungs.
His eyes are closed, his chest rising slowly with every breath.
Behind me, Max sleeps soundly, his even breath tickling my ear.
I turn my head to admire his noble profile, his smooth nose and beautifully drawn lips.
I love the silvery specks in his short beard, and the way the corner of his mouth twitches when he dreams. At my feet, Vincent is splayed perpendicularly, gloriously massive and shimmering in the afterglow of our lovemaking, the taste of him lingering on the tip of my tongue.
I don’t know how I got so lucky.
“We’ve got trouble,” Max says.
“I thought you were asleep,” I reply, startled by his sudden speech.
“I was. But now, we’ve got trouble.”
“Why?”
He takes my hand and guides it to his cock. It’s hard and hot and throbbing, making me giggle with delight. “That’s why,” he mutters.
“It’s the kind of trouble I don’t mind getting into,” I say.
Alex stirs beside me and drops a kiss on my cheek. “You say that now, but what if we wear you out?”
“It’s nothing a good night’s sleep can’t fix,” I reply.
A harsh moan escapes my throat as Alex’s fingers explore the slick, sizzling core between my legs. I follow his movement and find Vincent looking up at me, licking his lips with hunger, eager to dive right in. My flesh is tender, but my soul is eager for more.
“I could stay here all day,” I whisper, Alex’s fingers already working their magic.
“Nothing is stopping you,” Alex says.
I kiss Max, then Alex, while Vincent gets up and lifts my knees.
His cock is hard and swollen, eager to delve deep inside me once again.
I stroke his brothers-in-arms with a firm grip.
I love the power this gives me. It’s not just about me giving myself to them; it’s about them giving themselves to me.
That’s why this works so well between us.
But the sound of the front door opening, followed by an echo of my brother’s voice as it thunders through the entire mansion, makes the four of us jump to our feet.
“RAINA! Where are you?”
My heart stops. The blood freezes in my veins. The only thing I can manage to do is pull the silk sheet off the bed and wrap myself in it.
“What the…” Alex’s voice trails off.
Max is already scrambling for his shorts.
Kaleb’s boots thunder throughout the lobby. We all hear the door to the office open with a loud creak. “Alex! Vincent! Max! Where the hell is Raina?”
“Oh, my God,” I whisper, my brain frozen and unable to process.
Vincent manages to slip into his jeans, but as he’s about to close the playroom door, if only to buy us some time, Kaleb storms in. As soon as he sees us, he understands, and time comes to a sudden halt.
The air particles remain still between us as Kaleb’s eyes widen. I see myself in them, wrapped in silk, my hair a mess. My knees weaken, but I manage to stay upright.
“Kaleb,” I mumble.
“Raina, I… You’re okay,” my brother gasps, a brief smile fluttering across his lips. “I got a note in my inbox with this address. It said you were in trouble. I came as fast as I could, but this…” He pauses and looks first at Alex, his mentor, his best friend. “Alex, what the fuck is this?”
Kaleb is in his mechanic’s overalls. They’re smudged with oil and silver paint. He was probably in the middle of a job at the shop when he got the email alert.
The look in his eyes breaks my heart: the anger, the shock, the disappointment.
“We can explain,” Alex says.
I doubt Kaleb is willing to listen to any of it. I doubt he can even hear us as his breathing intensifies, his chest rising and falling furiously. I don’t know how this happened, yet it happened.
And there is no putting this genie back in the bottle.