Authors: Opal Carew
* * *
Jessica awoke to bright sunshine across her face. She murmured, unwilling to open
her eyes yet, still captivated by sexy images of last night’s exhilarating activities.
Her body felt well used and sensitive, but heat coiled through her at the memories
of the way she had used, and been used by, her two sexy lovers last night.
She opened her eyes, expecting to see Dane lying by her side. But he was gone. She
rolled over. Storm was gone, too.
She glanced at the clock. Damn, it was after nine o’clock. She was late for work.
She pushed herself to her feet and raced to the shower. Twenty minutes later, she
trotted into the kitchen, the aroma of coffee encouraging. There was half a pot in
the coffeemaker, so she poured herself a cup and, spotting a note on the counter,
sat on one of the stools and sipped her coffee while she read it.
It was from Dane, telling her the limo would be waiting for her whenever she was ready.
She knew she should hurry, she was already quite late, but clearly Dane wouldn’t be
angry with her. She rested her chin on her hand, staring at the note. Although she’d
woken up in the warm, cozy bed still enamored of the previous night’s adventure, now
sitting at this cold granite counter facing a note from one of the men who’d fled
her bed, she felt a shiver crawl the length of her spine.
Being with both of them last night had been beyond anything she’d experienced before.
It had been exhilarating and potently erotic. But it had also been taboo. Two men,
let alone two brothers, making love to her at the same time. Especially these two
brothers, with their history.
What had she been thinking?
Well, that’s just it. She hadn’t been thinking.
Her cheeks heated. Both men had rushed off so … what must they think of her?
Sure, they had arranged the adventure, but based on
her
fantasy. Clearly, in the cold light of day, faced with the result of their act, they
hadn’t been happy. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have waited around to enjoy more of the
same? At least, that was the way it always happened in her fantasies.
Fool. The two men probably didn’t even want to look each other in the face.
So she’d made an already complex and uncomfortable situation even worse.
She sighed and finished her coffee, then called to tell the limo driver she’d be down
in five minutes.
She’d just have to steel herself and face whatever awaited her at the office.
* * *
The elevator doors opened and Jessica walked out expecting to see Melanie sitting
at her desk, but she was nowhere to be seen. She was probably off running a quick
errand for Dane, and would be back shortly, but the phone on her desk was ringing
so Jessica rushed over to pick it up.
She jotted a note on the small pad of paper Melanie kept by the phone, then hung up.
She stared at Dane’s office door, which was closed. Was Rafe already here, too?
If she was lucky, maybe both of them would be too busy today to even see her. More
likely, they’d avoid her, which would give her some time to come to terms with what
had happened. Or at least, for the sting of their abandonment this morning to wane
a little.
Dane’s office door opened. No such luck.
But she glanced up to see Melanie exiting the office and … she looked upset.
Melanie walked toward her desk, not seeming to notice Jessica. Her cheeks were flushed
and she brushed her face with her hand. Suddenly, Jessica realized she was wiping
away a tear. She bolted to her feet and rushed toward her friend.
“Melanie, what’s wrong?”
Melanie glanced at her in a daze.
“I…” She drew in a breath and shook her head. “I…” Her voice cracked and then tears
spilled from her eyes. “I don’t work here anymore.”
“What?” Shock rippled through Jessica.
Melanie grabbed her purse from her desk and hurried toward the elevator. Jessica followed
on her heels. Melanie stabbed at the Down button.
“What happened? Did you quit?” Jessica asked.
Melanie shook her head.
The elevator doors opened and Melanie bolted inside. Jessica followed her, but Melanie
shook her head.
“No, Jessica. I don’t want to talk right now.”
Jessica backed off and watched the doors close. What could possibly have happened?
Melanie was the best secretary Dane could ever hope for.
She jerked her head around and glared at Dane’s office, the door still open after
Melanie’s hasty retreat. She turned and marched into his office. He glanced up as
she entered.
“Melanie just told me she’s not working here anymore.”
His lips compressed. “That’s true.”
“Did you fire her?” she demanded.
He was silent for a moment, watching her intently. Then he calmly answered. “Yes.”
Her hands clenched into fists and she sucked in a breath, trying to calm the raging
flood of adrenaline. “Why?”
He shook his head. “That’s between me, Melanie, and Human Resources.”
She scowled, anger surging through her. “How could you possibly fire her? It’s wrong.”
He sighed. “Calm down, Jessica.”
She paced toward his desk, her heart thundering. “Don’t you tell me to calm down.”
“Then sit.”
She sat, automatically acquiescing to that damnable authoritative tone of his.
He stood up and walked around to the front of his desk and sat on the edge. “You may
have forgotten that this is a business. Sometimes people get fired.”
“Not Melanie. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Only because you don’t know the whole story, and that’s not up to me to tell.” He
sighed. “Look, Jessica. It seems that our
arrangement
is blurring the line between our business and personal relationship. Not only that,
it’s causing unnecessary complications. With Rafe. And with Melanie.”
“Clearly you solved the latter,” she said with gritted teeth.
He raised an eyebrow and nodded. “And I intend to solve the former.” He pushed himself
to his feet. “Our arrangement ends now. From here on forward, you will be my personal
assistant. That’s all. If you prefer not to keep working directly for me, you could
take over Melanie’s role as Rafe’s secretary. Or become his personal assistant. I’m
sure he’d be willing to take an office on another floor if you’d like more distance
from me.”
Shock vaulted through her. She bolted to her feet and glared at him. “Oh, my God.
Did you fire Melanie to open up the position for me? Were you tired of me so you wanted
to push me into another job?” She planted her hands on her hips. “Or was that Rafe’s
idea?”
Annoyance flared in his eyes. “No. Rafe had nothing to do with this.”
“Fine. You want me out of here. I’m gone.” She turned and stormed out of his office.
Her stomach clenching, she headed straight for the elevator. She stabbed the Down
button, but couldn’t handle waiting for it to arrive, so she headed for the stairs.
Her heart raced as she realized she’d just quit her job.
But worse, Dane had ended their relationship. She was sure, deep down inside, that
he had some good reason for firing Melanie, though she couldn’t imagine what. But
he’d offered no explanation. Even if he couldn’t tell her why, to keep Melanie’s privacy,
he could have given her some hint that he hadn’t wanted to do it.
But he hadn’t. She never would have believed the man she’d fallen in love with could
be so coldhearted; firing Melanie and then discarding Jessica as if she were nothing
to him.
She sucked back a sob. In spite of everything, the finality of this moment, knowing
that her relationship with Dane was well and truly over, made her ache inside.
* * *
Rafe dragged his hand through his hair as he stared out over the city skyline from
his apartment window. Having a threesome with Dane and Jess had been an insane idea,
but he’d been desperate to find a way to win her back, and somehow that had seemed
like the best option.
Of course, the idea had turned him on. It had always turned him on, but he hadn’t
thought she’d go for it in the past. She’d even said as much. And he’d had a long
way to go to get past his jealousy of another man touching her. But when they’d found
themselves in this situation, where she was already sleeping with Dane, and didn’t
seem inclined to stop, even after Rafe had proposed, then he’d known he had to do
something drastic. He’d been so sure that when she compared the two of them side-by-side,
that she’d know in her heart that it was Rafe she loved.
Watching Dane punish her had been hard, but at the same time, it had turned him on
immensely. So much so, that when she’d come to talk to him in the middle of the night,
and he had taken control, he’d actually beaten her. His hands clenched into fists.
He’d been a fucking idiot. Acting on hormones rather than compassion. As much as she
said she’d liked it, he knew he’d gotten carried away. The angry redness of her skin
had shocked him back to reality. How could he have allowed himself to hurt her like
that?
His cell phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket.
“There is a Ms. Jessica Long here to see you, Mr. Ranier. Shall I send her up?”
Fuck.
He really didn’t want to face her right now.
“Yeah, Benjamin. Go ahead.”
He walked to the bedroom and grabbed a T-shirt from his dresser drawer and pulled
it on. His jeans were worn and threadbare in places, but they were comfortable and
he knew she was used to seeing him dressed this way. In fact, she preferred it to
his more expensive in-line-with-their-family-status clothing he now typically wore.
At least, as Rafe Ranier. As Storm, he wore whatever the hell he wanted and didn’t
give a shit what anyone else thought.
A knock sounded at the door, so he headed toward it and pulled it open.
The sight of Jess standing there, her pretty face drawn into a tight expression, clearly
distraught, was like a punch in the gut.
Was she upset that he’d walked out this morning? Or was it about their midnight dominance
session?
“Come in.”
She followed him into the living room, and they sat down on the couch together.
“What’s wrong, Jess?”
She gazed at him and he could see the turmoil in her eyes. “I quit my job.”
He frowned. “But I thought you loved working for Dane.” Ah, fuck. “Is this about last
night? Did our … escapade make things too awkward in the office?”
“No. Nothing like that. It’s because…” She sucked in a breath. “Dane fired Melanie.”
Shock careened through him. “What? Why?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.”
Rafe understood that. The reason an employee was fired was a privacy issue. But what
possible grounds could Dane have for firing Melanie? She was an exceptional secretary.
“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him. I’m sure we can get this all sorted out.”
“I don’t know. It’s a pretty big mess.” She folded her hands in her lap. “I hope you
can get Melanie’s job back, but mine…” She shook her head. “I don’t think that will
work.”
“Why? What else is going on, Jess?”
“I just…” She sucked in a breath. “I couldn’t believe Dane would do this. And when
I confronted him, he broke it off between the two of us. He said our physical relationship
was interfering with business.”
She and Dane had broken up? He knew he should be happy about that, but he wasn’t.
Probably because deep inside he knew how much she loved Dane. Even while Dane took
charge of her in the bedroom, there was a tenderness in his eyes when he looked at
her. Rafe had no doubt that his brother was in love with this woman.
He rested his hand on her arm. “Jess, I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s good. It’s better I find out now that he’s a heartless
bastard.” She drew in a breath that he was sure was staving off a sob. “And that I’m
nothing more to him than a lay.”
Rafe stroked her cheek. “I’m sure that isn’t true.”
“I don’t want to talk about Dane right now.” She took his hand. “I think we should
talk about last night. Since you were gone before I woke up this morning, I assume
you had a problem with what happened. Were you jealous of me with Dane? Or,”—she gazed
at him questioningly—“were you judging me for the fact I enjoyed being dominated and
punished?”
Her words were like a kick in the gut.
“I wasn’t judging you. It’s just that…” Damn it. He pushed himself to his feet and
paced. “It made me damned uncomfortable.” He turned to face her. “My father was a
real ass. He wasn’t just authoritative, he was abusive. He beat me regularly.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God. That’s awful.”
He nodded as he continued to pace. “Not Dane, though. Dane was more the son the old
man wanted.” He shrugged. “Maybe part of it was, he had no use for a second son. Dane
could take over the business, and I…” He shrugged again. “I was just more effort.
If he could have found a way to send me off to foster care without it reflecting badly
on the family, he probably would have done it. Instead, he kept me around, but made
it clear to me that I’d better not embarrass the family by not being a Ranier. I had
better fall in line and be an appropriate partner in the family business.”
“I’m so sorry, Rafe.” She stood up and wrapped her arms around him.
He enjoyed the warmth and acceptance of her embrace. She always made him feel loved,
something he’d never really had before. He realized that that’s why he’d run away
from their relationship to go on tour. Because it scared him. And that’s also why
he’d run back. Because he didn’t want to be without it.
She raised her lips to his and kissed him, her mouth soft and inviting. He felt her
fingertips gliding under his T-shirt and over his abs. She started to pull the fabric
up and his body ached for the intimacy her actions promised, but he grasped her hands
to stop her.
“No, I can’t,” he said.
She gazed at him in shock. “Why not?”
“Because. It’s not fair to you.”