Chapter 13 - Tashi
Tashi
All three of them were in my bed at once. Or were they? The three melted and shifted in the scene, a kaleidoscope of each man—Orion clean-shaven, Leo with salt and pepper stubble, and Ares with his sexy short beard—all whispering different things to me.
Leo’s hands traced patterns on my skin, playful and teasing, while his mouth found the sensitive spot behind my ear. “You’re overthinking this,” he murmured, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
Orion’s fingers threaded through my hair, tilting my head back so I had to meet his eyes. “What do you want?” he asked, that controlled intensity making my breath catch. “Tell us.”
Ares pressed against my back, solid and warm, his voice rough against my neck. “All of us. She wants all of us.”
And God help me, he was right.
Did I have to choose? To explain or justify or worry about consequences? Could I have Leo’s laughter and Orion’s focus and Ares’s raw intensity all at once, without guilt, without fear that they’d hate me for not choosing?
Hands everywhere. Mouths on my skin. Three styles of desire converged on me, making me feel like the center of something precious rather than the complication that would tear them apart.
“Stay,” Leo whispered.
“Choose,” Orion demanded.
“Mine,” Ares growled.
And I wanted to say yes to all of them, but the words wouldn’t come because even in dreams, some truths were too dangerous to speak out loud.
The bed shifted. Tilted. I was falling—
I woke with a start, my heart pounding, sheets twisted around my legs like they’d been fighting me.
The suite was quiet. Empty. Just me and the pre-dawn glow filtering through the curtains, painting everything in shades of gray that felt too appropriate for my current emotional state.
I pressed my palms against my eyes, trying to scrub away the lingering images.
It didn’t work. I could still feel phantom touches—Leo’s playful hands, Orion’s grip in my hair, Ares’s solid weight at my back.
My body hadn’t gotten the memo that it was just a dream, still humming with want that had nowhere to go.
“Get it together,” I muttered to the empty room.
But how was I to remain on an even keel when I’d spent the past week being intimate with three men who didn’t know about each other?
I had tried to tell each of them, but I was interrupted every single time.
My subconscious seemed to accept wanting all three men, while my conscious mind screamed that such an arrangement could lead to disaster. I could lose all three men and my job.
My clock wailed a wake-up alarm, and holy hell, somehow I was late for the seven a.m. safety meeting.
I threw off the covers and headed for the shower, hoping cold water would shock some sense into me. Then, after dressing hastily, I gathered my laptop and printouts and headed to the elevator.
For some reason, Marcus, the front desk guy, stood in the executive elevator.
And that was when things got very weird.
“Morning,” he said, his smile too wide, too familiar.
I nodded, keeping my eyes on the floor numbers. The doors slid shut.
We were alone.
“Heard you had quite the night,” Marcus said, stepping closer. “The tour is all anyone’s talking about downstairs.”
“It went well.” I shifted my laptop bag between us, creating distance.
“I bet.” Another step. He was invading my space now, close enough that I could smell his cologne—cheap and overpowering.
“You know, Tashi, you and I got off on the wrong foot.”
“I don’t think—”
“I think we could be friends.” His hand reached out, fingers grazing my arm. “Good friends.”
I jerked back. “Don’t touch me.”
“Come on.” His smile turned predatory. “You’re friendly enough with the bosses. Why not share some of that warmth with the rest of us?”
Ice slid down my spine. “Excuse me?”
“Everyone’s seen the photos. The way they look at you and the way you look at them.
” He leaned in, his breath hot against my ear.
“Must be exhausting, keeping three men happy. Maybe you need someone who doesn’t expect so much.
” His hand was on my waist now, fingers pressing into my hip through the thin fabric of my dress.
“Get your hands off me.” My voice came out shakier than I wanted. “Now.”
“Or what?” His other hand reached for my face. “You’ll tell your boyfriends? Pretty sure they’d be interested to know you’re servicing all three of—”
The elevator dinged.
Conference floor.
I shoved past him hard enough that he stumbled back against the wall. My laptop bag caught him in the ribs—accidentally-on-purpose—and I was out before he could recover.
“Bitch,” he muttered behind me.
I didn’t look back. Just walked as fast as my shaking legs would carry me toward the conference room, my heart hammering so hard I could hear it in my ears.
Marcus knew. Somehow, Marcus fucking knew about me and the Kolykos brothers.
When I entered the executive conference room, it felt different from usual. Colder.
I took my usual seat between Leo and Ares, trying to look like a professional who hadn’t spent the last few hours having raw, desperate sex with one of her bosses and then beating off an employee in the elevator.
Orion sat at the head of the table with an unreadable expression. Leo fidgeted with his phone. Ares looked like he’d slept in his office.
Henri arrived last, impeccable as always in his East Coast money suit. He took his seat across from me without making eye contact.
“Let’s begin,” Orion said. “Ares?”
Ares pulled up a presentation on the wall screen. Security camera feeds, technical diagrams, and lines of code I didn’t understand.
“The security breach the day of the fire was more extensive than we initially thought.” His voice was clinical, detached.
Nothing like the man who’d growled filthy promises in my ear hours ago.
“The camera feeds from the executive floor have been split and duplicated. Someone’s been sending footage to an external server. ”
My stomach dropped.
“For how long?” Orion asked.
“At least three weeks. Possibly longer.” Ares clicked to another screen showing network traffic. “The server traces to a shell company with offshore connections. Professional operation, not amateur hour.”
“What footage?” Leo asked carefully.
“Everything. Executive suites. Private elevator. Restricted access areas.” Ares met each of our eyes in turn. “They’ve been watching all of us.”
The implications hit me like ice water. Every private moment?
Henri hadn’t said a word. I watched him tracking the presentation, his face smooth and unreadable. He finally spoke. “What about financial implications? Insurance liability if this gets out?”
Everyone turned toward him.
“That’s your concern?” Leo asked. “Not who’s behind this, or why?”
“I’m the CFO. Financial implications are literally my job.” Henri’s voice was cool. “We need to consider exposure if clients learn their stays were surveilled.”
“I don’t think that’s our biggest problem,” Orion said dismissively. “Ares, what else?”
Ares clicked through more screens. “The sophistication level suggests this isn’t corporate espionage. It’s comprehensive intelligence gathering. Someone wants to know everything about our…operations.”
Henri’s expression flickered. Just for a second. Something that might have been disgust or calculation before smoothing back to neutral. “And you’ve reviewed all footage?” he asked. “Including private areas?”
“We’re in the process,” Ares said carefully.
My stomach twisted. The private elevator where Orion had held my hand. The hallway where Ares had kissed me against the wall last night. The rooftop with Leo. The jet was private. But what about—
Henri glanced at Orion. “We’ll need to brief the board. Can you prepare a summary of potential financial and legal exposure?”
“Of course.”
Henri stood. “If there’s nothing else, I have quarterly reports to review.”
He left without looking at any of us.
The door clicked shut.
Silence stretched for five seconds.
“Did Henri seem weird to anyone else?” Leo asked. “He barely reacted to learning our entire security system is compromised.”
Orion shook his head. “He asked about insurance. Not about who or why or how to stop them.”
Ares pulled up something on his tablet. “Henri’s been making financial decisions lately that don’t align with our strategic goals. Small things. Vendor changes. Budget reallocations. Nothing obvious, but—”
“But he’s the CFO,” Leo finished. “He has access to everything.”
“Maybe he shouldn’t,” Ares said. “Something is off with him. We don’t need another financial surprise like what happened six months ago.”
“Ares,” Orion said with a warning voice. “I know you think he was behind the money laundering through the casino, but there was no proof.”
“No,” Ares said. “Just the hint that it was an inside job. I’ll keep digging. I’ll find whoever it was.”
“Okay,” Orion said after a moment. “We won’t share all of our investigation with him. Not until we understand the full scope of this.”
“Agreed,” Ares and Leo said simultaneously.
“Tashi stays on the executive floor,” Orion continued. “But we increase security. No one enters that hallway without authorization. No exceptions.”
“I can handle—” I started.
“This isn’t about what you can handle.” Ares’s voice was gentle but firm. “As long as we don’t know who’s behind the sabotage in the hotel, we don’t want you in the line of fire.”
I wanted to argue and insist that I didn’t need protection. But the surveillance revelation had shaken me more than I wanted to admit.
“Fine,” I said. “But I’m not hiding. I have work to do.”
“No one’s asking you to hide,” Leo said. “Just be careful. Be aware. And for God’s sake, don’t go anywhere alone.”
The meeting dispersed. Leo had a vendor meeting. Orion had calls with investors. Ares was about to follow them out of the room.
Someone had been systematically gathering intelligence. This was so outside my experience that I had no idea what to do.
I had to speak to Ares.
“Ares, wait up.”
Immediately, he turned to face me. “Something wrong? You okay?”
“I had a weird encounter with Marcus in the elevator.”
“Marcus? The front desk guy? What happened?”
“He talked about me and the three of you.” My voice cracked.
Ares drew a deep breath. “What did he say?”
“Ares,” I said with pleading in my voice. “Understand I tried to tell you. All of you.”
His eyes turned cold. “Tell us what, Tashi?”
Oh God. How could I say this? My heart pounded. I was about to lose everything, wasn’t I? But it had to be done.
“Well, um—” The words stuck in my throat.
“Spit it out, Tashi.”
“It’s just—” My voice faltered.
“Get to the point.”
I met his eyes with defiance burning through my blood. “Last night when you and I, well. You weren’t the first Kolykos brother I was with.”
“I wasn’t?” he said in a low, dangerous voice.
“Or…” My voice nearly squeaked. “The second.”
“I see,” he said coldly. “And you’re telling me this now, why?”
“Because Marcus implied he had information he’d use to discredit all of us if I wasn’t ‘nice’ to him.”
“Excuse me,” Ares said.
And he flew out of the room without another word, leaving me there alone.
Yep, I’ve lost everything.