‘Well, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but there’s plenty of room in Davenport Manor’s private wing. I wondered if you’d be interested in moving into one of the spare rooms? Rent-free, of course, which will save you money, and it will mean you’ll be among friends. Plus you’ll only have to cook one out of three nights.’
Alice frowned. He wanted her to move into the Manor? She could see the logic in terms of saving money, and she wouldn’t have to commute – not that her rented flat was far; that’s why she’d chosen it – but did he just want her to be at his beck and call 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Was that his ulterior motive?
‘I’ll settle up with your existing landlord, so you’re not out of pocket.’
Alice had to stifle a laugh. Did he seriously think her only misgivings were to do with money? She supposed any other woman, given the chance to be with the two men and to live in the Manor, would snatch his hand off, so her reticence must be giving him cause for confusion. Clearly he needed a little education.
‘Thank you. But I can’t help but wonder if your offer is simply work-related, or whether it is linked to your … games. You think I’ll be available for your convenience whenever you like?’
Jeremy looked like she’d slapped him in the face. After a few seconds, he regained his composure. ‘No, Alice. That’s not what it’s about at all. I thought it would help you out and make your life easier. Our games, as you call them, are purely voluntary for all concerned, and will only take place when they are convenient for the three of us.’
A blush coloured Alice’s cheeks, and she looked at her lap. He hadn’t sounded angry, as such, but he was certainly disappointed.
‘I’m sorry, Jeremy. But given all that’s happened, I’m sure you can understand why I might think that.’
Now it was his turn to nod. ‘Yes, I suppose I can. But rest assured that is not what my offer is about. I’m not saying it won’t be easier with you living here, but it’s not my intention to make you into some kind of live-in sex slave.’
She remained quiet, her mind racing. The kinky sex games aside, it was a generous offer. He was going to let her live in his house for free. And what an incredible house. It was her ultimate fantasy come true – she didn’t just get to run the place, she got to live in it! She could pretend she was Lady of the Manor.
‘OK, yes. Thank you. It’s very generous of you. But perhaps you could just clarify something for me?’
A slight incline of his head indicated that she should go ahead.
‘What did you mean about only cooking one night out of three? Do you have a cook or something?’
She trusted he’d be smart enough to realise she didn’t mean the one who ran the kitchens for the public restaurant.
Jeremy shook his head. ‘No, of course not. I may be well off, but I’m just a normal man, not a member of the Royal Family! Ethan and I take it in turns.’
‘E-Ethan lives here too?’
She felt the weight of both their gazes on her. Then Ethan spoke. ‘Yes, of course. The place doesn’t just need security in the day, you know. If an alarm goes off or something, there’s got to be someone around to deal with it.’
Turning to him, she said, ‘Yes, that makes sense. I just didn’t really think about it. About both of you living here.’
‘It’s not a problem, is it?’ Jeremy said coolly.
She twisted back to face him. ‘No, not at all. It’s just this is a bit overwhelming, is all.’
‘You’re right.’ He smiled gently. ‘I’m sorry. You really have been thrown in at the deep end, and we’re giving you even more to deal with. Let’s make it easier for you. You agree to the challenges, you agree to move in. Everything else that’s not strictly work-related can wait. Now then, let’s get you sorted out with a set of keys, your name badge, and everything else you need to greet your visitors when the doors open at ten. Yes?’
Flashing him a grateful smile, she thanked him. Immediately, he and Ethan set about getting her ready and prepared, and by the time 8.30 rolled around, she was ready to give her first staff briefing. She couldn’t help but feel nervous.
‘Don’t worry,’ Jeremy said. He stood beside her at the staff door, ready to let everyone in. Squeezing her shoulder, he continued, ‘You’ll do great. Everyone will love you, and as I said, we’ll all do as much as we can to help. Within a week, you’ll think you’ve been here for ever.’
Within a week, she thought, everything could have changed. We could have started on the list of kinky challenges and I could be ready to run screaming for the hills, reference or no reference.
As it happened, by the end of the day, she felt much better. Everyone had indeed been very kind, helpful, and informative, and already she felt much more equipped for the next day. But of course, there was the evening and night to get through first. Jeremy and Ethan wouldn’t expect her to jump into the games right away, would they? She doubted it. Despite their eagerness to get her to agree, they’d also been very eager to make sure she was settled in, and happy. They didn’t seem the type of guys to force her into anything. Physically, anyway. The blackmail was a different matter altogether. And one she’d condoned by agreeing to it. So anything that happened now, she’d essentially agreed to. What woman wouldn’t, anyway? Sex with two gorgeous men in return for career advancement? It was a pretty good deal, really.
Chapter Six
Ethan came to her as she was closing the house for the evening. The staff were excellent when it came to matters of security, but she couldn’t help but double-check that all windows and doors were closed and locked, blinds and curtains were drawn, and so on. She didn’t find a thing wrong, and she turned to Ethan with a genuine smile.
‘OK?’ he asked.
‘OK.’
‘I’ve just come to see if you need some help moving your stuff? I don’t know how much you’ve got, but I’m pretty good with heavy lifting.’
I bet you are, she thought. But you’d still have a struggle at lifting me, I’d wager.
‘Um, OK.’ She hadn’t been betting on moving that day, but she came to the conclusion that she might as well get it over and done with. She was currently running on the adrenaline of a successful first day and figured tiredness might hit her at a later date. So now was as good a time as any.
‘Great, thank you. Is Jeremy coming? All hands on deck and all that?’
‘No, he’s gone grocery shopping.’
Alice scrutinised Ethan, expecting him to confess that he was pulling her leg. But he appeared to be deadly serious. She couldn’t believe it. She knew Jeremy had said he was just a normal guy – who cooked, even – but she just couldn’t reconcile the image of him walking around a supermarket pushing a trolley. Packing carrier bags, loading the car. It was just awfully domestic, and seemed like something the owner of a manor house would leave to someone else. Or at the very least, get it ordered in.
‘Hasn’t he heard of internet shopping?’
Ethan shook his head. ‘He won’t do it. He likes to choose the vegetables and meat for himself. Well, what veg doesn’t come out of the kitchen gardens, anyway. He’s a fussy bugger, that’s for sure. He only likes the best.’
So what on earth is he doing with me, then? she thought. What is either of them doing with me?
‘Ready?’ he asked. ‘Got your keys? Or would you prefer to go in my car?’
‘No, it’s fine. We’ll go in mine. I don’t want to put you out any more than I already am.’
‘You’re not putting me out. I offered to help, didn’t I?’
He took her arm and they headed to the private exit. Ethan set the alarm before locking the door, and they heard a couple of reassuring beeps before they moved to Alice’s car. He dashed in front of her, stood by the driver’s side door, and grasped the handle.
‘What?’ she said, confused. ‘You want to drive?’
‘No,’ he replied, solemnly. ‘I’m waiting to open the door for you.’
Alice bit the insides of
her cheeks to avoid either laughing or gaping. Was this guy for real? He wanted to hold the door open for her?
‘Um, thanks.’ She pressed the relevant button on her key fob; the doors unlocked, the lights flashing in the approaching darkness. She smiled as Ethan did as he’d promised. Sliding past him and into the seat, she glanced up and observed him as he watched her tuck her legs into the footwell before closing the door carefully behind her. By the time he got around the back of the car and folded his huge frame into the passenger side, she’d started the engine and selected reverse gear.
‘Ready?’ she said.
He pulled his seatbelt across his chest and clipped it in, before giving a nod.
She gave him a hard stare. ‘Are you mocking my driving before I’ve even started?’
He held his hands up. ‘No! It’s just habit. I always make sure I have my seatbelt on before I go anywhere, whether it’s me driving or someone else.’
She narrowed her eyes, but his innocent expression remained unmoving. ‘OK. I’ll have you know I’m a very good driver. Not a single accident or speeding ticket in the whole time since I passed my test.’
‘You shouldn’t say that. You might jinx it.’
‘God, you don’t believe in all that crap, do you?’
‘I dunno, really. I’m yet to be proven either way. It’s like ghosts, isn’t it? If I see one, I’ll believe in them. If someone can prove categorically that they don’t exist, then I won’t believe. But for now, I kind of think that maybe there’s no smoke without fire, you know? So many people believe and claim to have seen them. They can’t all be crazy, can they?’
Alice drove neatly out of her parking spot and turned the car around so it was facing the exit, dropped it into first, then second gear as she drove down the driveway. Out of habit, she glanced across to the junction which led out of the visitor car park, despite knowing all the visitors had gone home long ago. She hoped. It was rumoured that someone had got incredibly lost in the maze once upon a time. The worst part was they’d come on the bus, so there was no tell-tale car remaining in the car park to let them know that someone was still in the grounds. The fact that Mrs Jenkins had chosen to tell Alice the story on her first day made her think that perhaps it was a joke. If anyone else had imparted the information, she would have been absolutely convinced of it – but Mrs Jenkins was adamant, so Alice didn’t bother to argue.
If she was honest with herself, the woman was so stern that Alice was a little afraid of her. She certainly wouldn’t dare to upset her.
She and Ethan shared a companionable silence for a while as she drove to her flat. It meant that Alice had time to be affected by the proximity they shared. She imagined she could feel the heat from his body down her left-hand side. But that was ridiculous. Wasn’t it? Real or imagined, he was making her hot. She was relieved when they reached their destination and she could put some distance between them.
‘So,’ he said, following her dutifully to the door of her ground floor flat and gesturing her in front of him when she opened the door, ‘how many trips do you think we’ll have to make?’
‘Honestly? One, I suspect. None of the furniture is mine, and as it’s a temporary role, the vast majority of my stuff is in storage. It’s mainly clothes, books, and essentials.’
‘Essentials?’ They were in the hallway. Alice had turned to answer his question, which meant he could now see the blush that crept across her face.
‘Yes. You know, toiletries and stuff. Girly things.’
‘Oh, I see. Girly things. You mean teddy bears?’
She took a playful swipe at him. ‘No. Not bloody teddy bears. Right …’ She went to the hall cupboard and pulled out a stack of collapsed cardboard boxes, then crossed the room to the dresser and retrieved a roll of brown tape. ‘You’re on box building duty. You build ’em, I’ll fill ’em. Then you lug ’em to the car. Put them muscles of yours to good use.’
He looked down, twisting his arms at the elbow so his muscles flexed. Then he looked back up at her with a wicked smile. ‘Oh, don’t worry. I intend to put them to very good use.’
Alice threw the roll of tape at Ethan, forcing him to break eye contact as he scrabbled to catch it, and disappeared into the kitchen. She stood where he couldn’t see her through the open door and sucked in a breath. Was he flirting with her? She chastised herself for being surprised. It was obvious he fancied her – though she had no idea why – otherwise he wouldn’t have been into the whole challenge thing. It’s just she’d thought the arrangement was strictly a three-way thing, whether both men were actively playing, or one was playing and one was watching. Either way, she hadn’t expected any sexual advances from either man while she was alone with him.
She pulled in a breath in an attempt to steady her nerves, then moved over to the fridge.
‘Do you want a drink?’ she called.
‘Um, what do you have?’
Alice noticed the tone of surprise in his voice. Surely it wasn’t because she’d offered him a drink? No, it’d be because she sounded so cool and collected after dashing away from him, she wagered.
‘Not much, actually. I don’t drink tea or coffee so you’ll have to make do with juice, squash, or water.’
‘That’s fine,’ he replied. ‘Squash would be great, thanks.’
His voice sounded closer, and Alice turned to see him standing in the doorway. He was still wearing the clothes he’d worn for work, and he looked every inch the security guard. Big, fast, and mean. Except Alice knew he wasn’t really that mean, at all. Not to her, anyway. Teasing perhaps, but definitely not mean.
As though he’d read her mind, he smiled – which transformed his face and made him look very un-scary – and stepped into the kitchen. Crossing the floor in a couple of strides, he stood right in front of her, effectively trapping her between his bulk and the cupboards behind her. The heat she had imagined coming from his body when they were in the car was absolutely for real now. He inched forward until she felt a handle digging into her back.
She had to tilt her head back to look up at his handsome face. It now wore the intense expression he was so good at adopting. She actually gulped. She wanted to say something, ask what he was doing. But her mouth was dry, and she couldn’t seem to get her voice box to respond either. Besides, it was pretty obvious what he was doing, wasn’t it?
Seducing her. Perhaps he’d planned it all along, since before he’d offered to help her move her stuff from the flat to the Manor.
Before she could linger on the thought, Ethan did something that abruptly chased it out of her head.
He leant down and kissed her. She saw it coming, as he had to lean quite a way to bring his towering frame down to her level. He slanted his lips over hers and they’d barely touched when Alice’s hormones started racing around her body at a million miles an hour and a trickle of pussy juice soaked into the gusset of her thong. The action suddenly made her very glad that she’d worn nice underwear that day, as it seemed Ethan would be seeing it – and soon.
Alice was very much enjoying the feel of Ethan’s mouth against hers, but couldn’t help wondering why he hadn’t yet deepened the kiss.
Seconds later, she got the answer to her question. It was delivered in silence. Ethan merely pulled away from her with a guttural – and very sexy – groan, gave her a look that made her feel like a juicy slab of meat to a starving predator, then put his large, strong hands on her hips. Alice frowned, then let out an involuntary squeal as he lifted her onto the work surface. She threw her arms around his neck to steady herself as he shifted her, and once she was safely settled, she couldn’t see any reason to move them.
Tangling her hands in the chin-length hair she’d been dying to touch since she met him, Alice drew in a deep breath. The scent that hit her nostrils was a combination of shampoo and a delicious aftershave. She pulled in another breath, savouring the smell of him. Then she moved in to kiss him.
He accepted her eagerly, his hands on her arse sliding
her to the edge of the work surface so their groins pressed together. A powerful zing of lust rushed through her body as she felt the impressive erection crushed against her vulva, albeit through her thong – her skirt was up around her waist by now, pushed there by the necessary spread of her legs to accommodate Ethan’s hips – and whatever he was wearing. Tight-fitting boxers beneath his trousers, she hoped. Or nothing at all.
Suddenly, nothing at all was her preferred option as Ethan slipped his tongue between her lips and sent her libido climbing to oh-my-God-I’m-so-horny-fuck-me-right-now heights. The touch of his tongue against hers sent searing heat scorching through her body before centring in her pussy. God, she wanted him. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so fired up, wanted a man so much. Because it was him she wanted, not just sex. The tall, handsome head of security, who was on the verge of reducing her to a teeming mass of female hormones with his tongue in her mouth and his hands on her arse, massaging and squeezing her buttocks.
She pulled away and gasped, sucking in a lungful of air. A tiny line appeared between Ethan’s brows. ‘Are you OK?’
Alice nodded, not quite up to speaking. Instead of trying to find the words to tell him how she was feeling, she decided to show him. Reaching around with her right hand, she grasped his left wrist, then moved it between her legs, using her left hand to pull the gusset of her thong to one side.
A glint appeared in Ethan’s eyes, and without hesitation he took the elaborate hint. His long fingers slipped between her already swollen nether lips and touched the sensitive skin there. He gasped, and Alice looked down in alarm, then back up to Ethan, a question in her eyes.
‘You’re just so wet, is all. I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re making me even harder.’ He grabbed her free hand and pressed it to the stiff length which threatened to burst from his trousers.
Now it was Alice’s turn to exclaim. And because her mind and body were befuddled with lust, she said something she’d never have said otherwise. ‘Hmm. I’m very wet and you’re extremely hard. Perhaps we should do something about it.’