“Max, I can't…” She tried to find the words, any words for that matter, as he leaned over her and slowly ran his tongue around the edges of her taut nipples.
He murmured an unintelligible response as his kisses alternated with light but forceful nips on both of her breasts, tormenting her with a divine mixture of pleasure and pain. Every ounce of her body was telling her this was right, and the flood of moisture flowing from her spread a delicious heat throughout her body.
Yet the image of Silas kept haunting her. Audrey struggled against Max, loving the feeling of him pushing back and holding her firmly in place. He let the muscled weight of his body settle on top of her as he continued to plunder her mouth.
“Max, please…” She couldn't find the words to stop him, didn't want to stop him. But Silas' azure eyes kept haunting her, and the prospect of ruining what they had forever made her ache uncontrollably.
She had unleashed something deep inside the older Abrams, a feral hunger she guessed had lain dormant for quite some time. His gaze burned into her as she finally gathered the strength to push him away.
“Please, Max,” she said forcefully as he withdrew from her embrace, a distant look filling his eyes. He looked ravenous, a panther ready to attack his prey. “I can't do this, Max. I may be angry with Silas, but this isn't fair to do to him.”
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, and seemed to gather his wits. The primal look on his face faded, and he let out a low chuckle. “Don't worry about my little brother, Audrey. He's been begging me to do this for years.”
“Begging you to do what?” she inquired as she did her best to cover herself. “Steal the woman he's courting? I'm sorry, I do not understand at all.”
“We may be polar opposites, Miss Rousseau, but in one area of our lives, we've never had any trouble sharin',” Max replied, his mischievous look making his brown eyes glimmer with trouble. With this devilish look on his face, she could suddenly see the resemblance between the two men. It was exactly what she witnessed at the speakeasy just two nights previously.
Audrey sat up, shocked but intrigued by his ambiguous statement. “You mean you've shared women before?”
Suddenly, she realized someone stood behind her. There was Silas, crashing this party of two at just the wrong—or right—moment.
“Yes, we prefer it. We've always done it,” Silas said with a grin, clearly amused by her confusion. “And I see you’ve met my brother,” he added from the doorway with a chuckle.
“Silas, I…I don’t know what to say.” Audrey wracked her brain, trying to remember if she'd come across any mention of ménage in the research she'd done about Texas before her journey.
No, this is a new one on me.
“Is this some Texas thing I am unaware of?” She did her best to make it sound like a joke, but she wasn’t kidding at all.
“Well, to be totally honest, it is here in Male Order. But no, I would venture to say this is anything but the norm in most of America.”
“I can’t say I completely understand,” Audrey replied, trying to hide the confusion that clouded her vision. She tried desperately to gather her wits and calm the primitive desire that suddenly consumed her body as she imagined being with both of these men at once.
She was speechless, overwhelmed with emotions. Would Silas hate her for finding them in such an intimate entanglement? And, if so, why was he grinning, his eyes glowing with mischief and lust?
* * * *
“The suit looks good on you, Max. Let me take a look. I trust you haven’t ruined the prototype with your surprise little romp.” Silas crossed towards his brother and Audrey, shocked but thrilled by the scenario he had stumbled upon in Max’s office.
He had come searching for her, terrified she had left before he could escape his woeful responsibility of the evening. Taking care of the fragile ego of Jackie’s sister, Katherine, wasn’t exactly his favorite activity, but it was a necessary evil for keeping the fragile relationship of Male Order’s five founding families in check. Katherine needed Silas right now. There was no denying that she was a pain in his ass, but she was family, nonetheless.
Silas approached his brother and straightened the disheveled suit draping Max's body. “The lines are perfect, Audrey. It’s going to be a hit, I just know it. But tonight isn’t about business, and I’m sorry for all the time I’ve lost. There were many people I wanted you to meet, so much I want to show you here at The Arches. What do you think about it?”
Audrey was clearly confused by his lack of anger at the scenario he had stumbled upon. If she had been angry at being left alone at the party, as Mason warned him she was, all that seemed to be left was a gorgeous bewilderment at the news of the brothers’ way of life.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s beautiful,” Audrey managed to say, still looking from Silas back to Max, obviously trying to understand who they were and how they operated. “A house for the twentieth century, there’s no doubt about it. I wish someone had taken the time to show me around, but I did all right alone.”
“I want to make it up to you, Audrey,” Silas responded, taking her hand into his. “Let me give you my special tour, okay? We can forget that the first part of this evening ever happened. The important thing is that you’re here with us now.”
She looked him square in the eye and pulled away, putting as much space as possible between them.
“It’s not that easy, Silas! The two of you can’t explode into my life and expect me not to question your actions. I know how men are, the way you can just use women up and toss them without a second thought. I won’t be a toy for you two. I came here to meet with you both because I want to change the future of fashion in America, not because I wanted to be some piece of ass for two Texas playboys.”
Silas couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous she looked as the anger rose to her cheeks in a deep blush. Her emerald eyes flashed with passion as she stared them down in silence, waiting for their response.
Before he could swing in to rescue their situation, Max chimed in, firmly holding Audrey by the shoulders and looking her straight in the eye.
“Look, I barely know you. I don’t know what words or moments passed between you and my brother. And I know the way we live is a bit…unorthodox. But you have to believe me when I tell you that we don’t play around. We only open the door when we find something truly exceptional.”
Silas was amazed to hear his brother speaking this way. Locked behind a cloud of grief and loss for the past three years, Max had barely spoken three sentences in a row to anyone if it wasn’t strictly related to business. What had she unlocked in him?
“Just stay the night, Audrey. Tomorrow we’ll have breakfast and talk business. You can go on your merry way back to Dallas and forget all about what’s happened here, if you wish. But we would never use you. You are far too special, you must know that,” Silas added to his brother’s argument.
He locked eyes with her, attempting with all of his spirit to melt her inhibitions. What had she been through in the past, to want to guard herself from something so obviously right?
“Stay the night here with both of you. Together.” The words slowly leapt from her tongue as she appeared to be processing what could happen between them.
She looked from Silas to Max, and then at Silas once again. Her eyes filled silently with a lust she seemed desperate to conceal.
Silas watched her as she closed her eyes for a moment and took a long, deep breath. After the brief pause, she seemed sharp once again, ready to play the game he and his brother had laid before her.
“Nine AM, sharp. I want you prepared to make a presentation to me about the past, present and future of the company. And I will in turn tell you about my vision and what I might offer you.”
“We'll roll out the red carpet for you. You will learn more than you ever wished to know about our store,” Silas retorted.
“Facts and figures included. I have quite a head for business, you must realize.”
“I realize, Miss Rousseau. I realize,” Silas said as he closed the distance separating their two bodies. He played at examining her head, running his fingers through her soft, brunette cropped locks as he forcefully pulled her into him. He kissed her on the mouth with silent authority, making her body immediately soften in his arms.
After a long kiss, he stepped back and cupped her face in his hands, silently reassuring her as they stared into each others’ eyes. Their approach clearly succeeded as she seemed to melt when Silas reached again for her hand, this time achieving victory. She returned the warmth of Silas’ charismatic smile as he led her towards the door, with Max just behind them.
“You best behave, Mr. Abrams. I’m watching you,” she said playfully as they crossed the threshold of the studio.
“I want to show you everything,” Silas added with a whisper in her ear as they made their way towards the living quarters.
Chapter Seven
“And this is the master bedroom suite,” Max said with an air of mock formality as the three of them reached the end of the long corridor of rooms.
He face suddenly became serious as his gaze searched her face. He quietly added, “It currently remains unoccupied.”
She wondered at his soft, thoughtful tone as his hand paused for a moment on the handles of a pair of heavy French doors. He finally led them into the most luxurious room Audrey had ever seen, decorated from floor to ceiling in rich shades of gold and mahogany. Thick drapes hung from a wall of windows and an enormous canopy of silk lined a massive bed clearly built for three. The room was incredibly comfortable yet felt more like a hotel than a home. She wondered why and how they could possibly leave such a miraculous room unused.
The three of them paused quietly as they took in the empty feeling
,
immaculate space. She glanced from one brother’s face to the other, mirrored reflections of desire engulfing her before she could pause to think. Silas shut the doors behind them as Max closed the distance between them, his fingers reaching out to gently stroke her hair. The silence of the room was stark, their breaths the only audible sounds in the cavernous space.
Her heart leapt wildly in her chest as she looked from one man to the other. She did her best to calm the wild combination of panic and hunger coursing through her veins. How had this happened? She longed to let go completely and surrender to the gorgeous absurdity of the moment.
Both men closed in on her, no longer hesitating for another second. She felt as if they were there with her in that moment entirely, all other cares in the world temporarily falling by the wayside.
As they both peered down at her, a low moan surfaced from somewhere deep inside her, a foreign sound to match the unfamiliar sensations radiating through her as they slowly began to stroke her body. Her backside leaning against Max, she braced herself as Silas explored the depths of her mouth and slowly ran his hands down the length of her torso. He palmed the gentle curve of her hips through the fabric of her dress and firmly held her in place between the two men.
Silas fearlessly captured her lips with his, his tongue making lazy spirals, then deeper and deeper circles with hers. Audrey became acutely aware of the levels of sensation happening simultaneously, simply through his soulful kiss. The subtle scratch of his five o’clock shadow combined with the caress of his tongue caused a trickle of moisture to spread down her thighs, and she deliriously surrendered herself to the manic rhythm of his explorations.
Her muscles settled into the firm hold of Max’s body against her back and buttocks. His enormous frame enveloped hers as he held her tightly against him, the back of her head pressed against the hard planes of his chest.
“Come over here with me, darlin’,” Max whispered in her ear as he took her hand. “Let’s get you comfortable.”
He sat down in the wide armchair behind them and gently pulled her backwards onto his lap. She stretched out along the length of his body, and the firm edges of his muscles pressed against her deliciously. Holding her tightly against him, she could feel the hard span of his cock pressing through the layers of cotton and silk that separated their bodies and kept them from acting as one.