Original Match [Ménage.com 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

“You guys, will you please let me tell you my idea?” Shea knew her friends could debate for hours, but ever since the e-mail she had received from Anne, she realized that there was no safe way to have a ménage without the risks Elise spoke of. Not waiting to see if Cyn and Elise would be quiet long enough for her to start, Shea kept talking in hopes they would really listen to her plan. “I think we should start a dating service for people interested in ménages.”

For her two best friends to become speechless, Shea knew she had finally grabbed their attention. She mentally pumped her arm the way Cyn had done earlier. They both sat there, staring at her as if she had just announced that aliens had landed outside the coffee shop. Shea figured she’d use it to her advantage and kept talking.

“We could use the platform as a marketing tool. It’s genius!” Shea leaned forward, getting as excited now as she was when she first thought of the idea two days ago. “The only start-up fees I can come up with are the technology it would take to get it running, because we’d have to hire someone to put the database together. Oh, and some research trips to find men who are interested in ménage. Once we have some people sign up, we promote the dating service with our books and the women who are interested in the lifestyle will flock to the site. Eventually, advertisers will roll in. And the first one we can get on board is our publishing company. So, what do you think?”

Cyn and Elise had yet to move from their original position across from her, both of their eyes wide in disbelief. Or maybe it was in agreement. Shea was having a hard time telling the difference, since their mouths were gaping open like fish. Not wanting to lose momentum or lose them in the process, Shea continued speaking.

“I figure we can split the duties. You know I don’t like to travel that much, so I will be in charge of finding someone who can set up a database for us. You two love research trips, so maybe you can incorporate this on your outings. Elise, didn’t you say you wanted to scope out Arizona?” When Elise tentatively nodded her head, Shea took that as a sign of agreement. “Well, I did a search on the Internet, and it is rumored that there is a ménage town near Phoenix. I think the name of the town is Triple. Isn’t that apropos? And Cyn, didn’t you say you were going to visit your aunt somewhere in Indiana? Maybe there are places out there that cater to the lifestyle of a ménage a trois.”

Shea waited for what she said to sink in to their minds. Yes, it was probably a crazy idea, but hopefully even they could see it was a win-win situation. Even their publishing company would cash in on it, the marketing strategy alone being brilliant.

“Will you two quit staring at me as if I have two heads!”

“I think you need to get laid,” Cyn said, finally breaking her silence.

“How long have you been thinking about this? We were here one week ago and you never said a word!” Elise pushed up her black-rimmed glass again, using her middle finger.

“What does me getting laid have to do with this?” Shea asked, leaning back in the seat with defeat. “And I started thinking about it two days ago, when Anne e-mailed me.”

“You obviously have too much time on your hands to come up with such a solid idea. My God, it’s fantastic!” Cyn leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table. “Just think of the publicity this is going to give us!”

“Okay, that wasn’t what I thought you were going to say,” Elise interrupted, hitting Cyn on the arm with the back of her hand. “Seriously? Do you know how much time a project like this could take? We do have deadlines, you know.”

“We are way ahead of schedule, and you know it,” Cyn answered, focusing her attention back on Shea. “I’m kind of jealous that you came up with this idea and I didn’t. I’m always the one with the great schemes, and here you are, showing me up, girl. I love it!”

Shea smiled, loving Cyn’s enthusiasm. If both of them were on board, then it was only a matter of time before they convinced Elise. “Cyn, Dana loves you best,” Shea commented, bringing up their publisher. “You call her, tell her what we’re doing, and see if we can get her on board as an advertiser. That way, we have a little bit of income to pay the database people I’m going to find.”

“But what about—”

“I’ll call her on my way home,” Cyn said, cutting off whatever Elise had been about to say. “Do you have any idea who can do all the technical crap?”

“You two aren’t considering—”

“Not yet,” Shea answered, ignoring Elise. “I didn’t want to waste my time if you two weren’t going to be on board. But now, I’ll start looking first thing in the morning.”

“Would you two cut it out?” Elise huffed out, blowing her bangs away from her forehead. “I hate when you two ignore me!”

“We wouldn’t ignore you if you agreed with us,” Cyn said, giving Shea a wink. “When that happens, let us know and we’ll let you join in on our conversation.”

“Fine. I’m on board. But I’m going on record that if we end up finding nut-jobs as applicants, we’re going to have women start burning our books.” Elise sat back against the booth seat, crossing her arms. “And I’ll be part of the reason, because you’re assigning me to find the men. Why can’t I take the tech stuff and you take Phoenix?”

“Because I hate to travel and you were going there anyway,” Shea pointed out, giving Cyn a high five that they had Elise on board. “Besides, you’re a tiny blonde with blue eyes and you’ll have better luck than me convincing men to sign up for a ménage dating site. I will handle the business end of it. Besides, I’m lazier than the two of you, so how hard could it be to find somebody to write a program for a dating site?”

“What do you mean six months out?” Shea said, frustrated with the woman on the other end of the phone. She slammed her pencil down on her desk. “How could you not hire enough people to do incoming jobs? Do you really think I’m going to wait six months for somebody to write a software program? And once they start it, how long does it take to complete it then get it up and running? This is not how you should treat potential customers.”

Shea rolled her eyes as she listened to the woman ramble on. She leaned back in her office chair, spinning until she faced the window. Her apartment overlooked the town square, so Shea had picked up the habit of people-watching in between writing her scenes. Some of those men and women even provided some inspiration for when she had writer’s block. Right now, Shea was too mad to enjoy her latest obsession because the person on the other end of the phone was just jabbering on about technical jargon that made not one lick of sense to her.

“Listen, lady, I just want to talk to somebody in charge. You do know that it’s bad business to turn down a customer?”

Right when Shea was about to spin her chair back to face her desk, she caught sight of a man sitting in front of a deli, looking up at her window. He was dressed in jeans, with a khaki windbreaker that looked like it was a decade old, and a blue ball cap shading his face. The way he had his head tilted, as if he was studying a bug under a microscope, gave Shea the creeps. If she weren’t mistaken, he was staring directly at her window. He really couldn’t see her from down there, could he? She was on the third floor of the apartment complex, with the sun shining in. The glare would prevent him from seeing her, let alone the distance between them. But she still found it unnerving.

The woman on the phone was now rambling on, and Shea couldn’t take another minute of it. She was just about to hang up when she heard the woman stutter an apology. There was a muffled sound, as if someone had grabbed the phone, when a man’s voice came across the line.

“This is Grayson Stevens. I apologize on Lucy’s behalf. We would love to meet with you regarding your project.”

Shea was momentarily stunned at the deep voice coming through her cell phone. It was like warm honey being poured over her soul. In an instant, a peaceful feeling settled into her bones. If only she could capture his voice in words.

Forgetting all about the man across the street, Shea sat straight up. Her chair slid backward on the wheels so fast, she almost fell off. What the hell was she thinking? Since when had a man’s voice ever had an effect on her like that? Maybe Cyn was right and she needed to get laid. Her vibrator wasn’t cutting it anymore, and she found herself taking forever to obtain relief.

“Hello?”

“Oh!” Shea held back the urge to pull the phone away from her ear and look at it to make sure she wasn’t dreaming that sinful tone. “Sorry, I was just thinking. I thought you guys were busy for the next six months.”

“Lucy is new, and unfortunately, she didn’t get her facts straight. What project are you needing help with, Ms….”

Shea’s words got stuck in the back of her throat, and she found that she couldn’t tell this man with the molasses voice that she wanted to create a ménage dating site. Maybe she could sugarcoat it until she met with the person who was actually going to write the program. She recognized his name from the website and knew he was the owner.

“Brennan,” Shea filled in his unanswered question. “Um, well, it’s a dating service.”

“A dating site? Ms. Brennan, you do realize that there is an overabundance of those types of sites out there, don’t you? It’s not that we wouldn’t like your business, but we wouldn’t want you to think this is going to bring you a lot of money. The one thing you can count on from our company is our honesty.”

“Oh, I’m not doing it for the money,” Shea said. Scooting back up until her butt was back in the chair, she leaned against the black leather. The silence on the other end of the phone made her realize he was waiting for her to keep talking. She scrambled to continue. “The reasons are complicated, so I would rather wait until I have a meeting with one of the programmers, if that’s all right with you? I can even bring a list to give the person an idea of how we want the men to be chosen.”

“Of course, Ms. Brennan. May I have your first name?”

“Shea. When would I be able to set up an appointment with a programmer, Mr. Stevens?”

“Your name is Shea Brennan?”

Shea didn’t like how his tone deepened and he paused before answering. Surely this man didn’t read her books. The likelihood was minuscule, and Shea shook the thought away, although she had a harder time getting rid of the tingling that started in her neck and ran down her back. His voice was something that needed to be bottled. Her pussy was starting to itch in a way that she wouldn’t be able to scratch.

“Yes. S-H-E-A.”

“How does tomorrow morning sound at ten o’clock?”

“Wonderful.” This was going to work after all. She couldn’t wait to tell Elise and Cyn. “Whom should I ask for when I arrive at your office?”

No answer was forthcoming for a few seconds, which gave Shea the same feeling as when he repeated her name. It was like he knew something she didn’t. She could hear nothing on the other end of the line, not even his breathing. Maybe he was concentrating on two different things, considering Lucy didn’t know what she was doing. Right when she was going to repeat her question, he finally gave her a name.

“Ian will be assigned as your programmer. Once you arrive, ask for Ian, and you can give a detailed account of what you desire. You have our office address?”

“Yes, thank you. I retrieved it from your website. I will be there tomorrow morning at ten o’clock. Thank you, Mr. Stevens.”

“Have a nice day, Ms. Brennan.”

Shea couldn’t suppress the shiver that traveled over her skin when he said her name or the word “desire.” It was like his fingers had trailed down her spine and landed at the sensitive curve of her back. She heard him disconnect and took the phone away from her ear, setting it on her desk. She released a pent-up breath and closed her eyes.

It was a good thing she wasn’t meeting him tomorrow. There would be no way she would be able to sit in front of Grayson Stevens and say exactly what she wanted on this dating site. She might be very descriptive in her books, but those were just words. Having a conversation in person about ménages, with a man whose voice did funny things to her body, was not in her nature. She wondered if he looked as good as he sounded, because unfortunately, his picture wasn’t on the company website.

She glanced at her phone and, just for a second, thought maybe she should call back and request a woman. Shaking her head no, Shea figured the odds of getting a geek, with tape wrapped around the middle of his glasses, were in her favor. After all, that’s what they looked like on television.

Speaking of geeks, Shea looked back out the window and was relieved to see that the creepy man had left. Maybe she should take up another hobby instead of people-watching. That man had not brought on erotic inspiration, but instead that of a horror movie.

Turning her attention back to her laptop, Shea concentrated on finishing up the latest chapter of her work in progress. Who knew how long tomorrow’s meeting would take. It was better to be prepared and not have to worry about her word count tomorrow. Looking at the words on the screen, Shea let Grayson Steven’s voice wash over her and used them as inspiration to finish the sex scene.

Davan threw her head back against the bed as Jasper’s tongue rasped over her clit. The vibrator he had inside of her pussy was set on the lowest setting, tantalizing the nerves. It was enough sensation to keep her on the edge, but not enough send her over. His teeth clamped down on her clitoris. She tried to raise her hips to get more friction, but he had a hold of the base of the vibrator, keeping her in position.