Leah Braemel - Private Property

6. I’d like to have a mйnage with Mark and another man that we could trust.

A mйnage? While she’d secretly fantasized about that particular scenario, she’d not realized she’d actually written it down, nor that Mark wouldn’t consult her on who the third person might be.

Wait a minute! This whole thing had been a setup? From the first time Mark mentioned the owner’s challenge to break through the current security, to how he’d manipulated the roster so she pulled the majority of the surveillance? And this morning, when she’d tried to finagle the evening off so they could spend her birthday together, he’d insisted she be the one in the van…that she be the one infiltrating the estate. It had all been a lie?

“So you’ve been planning this for…what? A month now?”

“Yup. Ever since you wrote that list.” Mark wore a smug, satisfied smile, like the proverbial cat who’d captured the canary-and still had yellow feathers clinging to his mouth. “Fooled you, didn’t I? Happy birthday, babe.”

Letting out a small screech, Jodi tore the list into pieces and flung them in Mark’s face. She ripped off her knit cap and clutched a hank of her still-sweaty hair, holding it out at right angles. “So you made me spend twelve hours cooped up in a van until I smell like I spent all day in a swamp and thought that would put me in the mood for sex? And not just sex, but for fucking my future boss?”

“Told you you might want to rethink the idea of just springin’ it on her, ol’ buddy,” Sam murmured.

She continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted, poking Mark in the chest with one finger. “Did you think I might not like to have a say in who is the third? Or that it might affect how Mr. Watson judges me in the future?”

“Two-way street, sweet pea. You don’t need to worry about me judgin’ you for your sexual preferences if you don’t judge me. An’ I told Mark I wasn’t gonna participate unless you were willin’.” Sam tamped the cigar out in the ashtray once more, his face a carefully blank mask. “Guess I got my answer. No harm, no foul.”

“Sam, wait,” Mark said, running a hand over his thick strip of hair. “Look, Jodi, maybe I should have let you in on it from the get-go, but if you remember when you wrote that list, I promised that I’d try to fulfill all your fantasies. That’s what I am trying to do.”

She attempted to resist him when he tugged her close, refusing to look at him. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her until she melted against him.

“Babe, I trust Sam more than I’d trust any other man with you.” He pulled back and looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Or did you have someone else in mind?”

“No,” she sighed. “I can’t think of someone else.”

“Tell you what,” Sam said. “Why don’t you two take a couple minutes and discuss it without me around? Go on up to the master bedroom and use that whirlpool tub big enough for six, or take a shower or something while you make up your mind. You might remember it since you did such a good job cleaning it when you played maid on the weekend-Bianca.”

Jodi winced at Sam’s use of the fake name she’d used.

Mark folded his arms across his chest and raised one eyebrow. Though he was attempting to be stern, the edges of his lips twitched as if he were trying to stop smiling. “So that’s how you found out the security code.”

“Girl’s gotta have some secrets,” she muttered.

“I’ll be back directly.” Sam picked up his cigar and stuck it in his mouth. “If you decide to stay, pick up the phone and dial pound-one-two.”

He stopped in the doorway and winked. “Oh, and Bianca? Call me if you need any help scrubbin’ up. I’m real good with a loofah.”

Mark closed the bathroom door behind them, watching as Jodi wandered over to the long cherrywood vanity and stood in front of the gold-tapped white marble sinks, her lips pursed. She’d been quiet while she’d led him out of the study and up the stairs. He noticed she hadn’t taken him to the master bedroom with the massive tub Sam had mentioned. Obviously she still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of Sam joining them.

He should have at least given her a choice of who should be the “other man”. And he should have realized she’d have wanted to primp a bit before the main event. Way to go, Rodriguez.

“We don’t have to have the threesome. Just say the word and we’ll go home and I’ll never mention the list again.”

Frowning, Jodi pulled the headset from her ear and set it on the white marble counter, watching it spin as it settled into place. Her tongue darted out, licked her top lip before she looked up into the mirror and met his gaze. “I know you meant well…”

Mark hesitated before voicing a concern that had raised its ugly head when he’d seen her reaction to Sam reading her fantasies aloud. “Jodi? Those things on the list-the bondage, the anal sex? Were they really things you wanted to try? Or were they just things you thought would keep me happy?”

Color rose up her neck and into her cheeks. He wondered if she realized she was wringing her hands.

Her tongue slid across her full upper lip again. “Some of them were.”

“Which means some of them weren’t.” He crossed the room in three strides, tugged her by the hips until she rested against him. “Why did you feel you needed to put things on the list if you didn’t want to try them? You know I’d never force you to do something you didn’t want to do.”

“Well, some of them I didn’t know I wanted to do until we did them. Like you fucking my ass, but then…” One shoulder lifted as her chin went down along with her lids, and the pink in her cheeks brightened to deep red flags. “I liked it.”

Mark barked a laugh that echoed around the room. “Liked it? That’s an understatement. I thought the neighbors were going to call the cops that first time, you screamed so loud when you came.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head back up so he could finally see her eyes were filled with a mixture of embarrassment and mirth. “And the night you tied me up was a real turn-on too. I had no idea I was such a control freak and that letting go would be so enjoyable.”

Her answer let him relax slightly. Her headstrong intensity when she’d stood up to clients-and him on occasion when their opinions had differed-was something that had first attracted him to her. He wanted to savor the fierce passion that simmered beneath her cool exterior. Forever.

He kissed the tip of her nose as he reached down and tugged her T-shirt over her head. “You don’t have to decide right now. Think about it while you take your shower.”

She stepped out of her pants, leaving her once again in her thong and bra. He shifted so he stood behind her and pulled her against him. He looked at the image of them in the mirror and wondered why she-one of the most beautiful and intelligent operatives he’d ever met-had chosen him. And why she’d agreed to his no-attachments stipulation. He marveled at how her hair seemed to glow in the vanity lights. At how her full lips, slightly parted, urged him to kiss her. And how the light skin of her breasts contrasted with the tanned skin of his forearm cradling them. His dick firmed at the memory of three nights before when he’d come between them.

Though she’d never said a word of complaint, he knew his sexual demands had challenged her. He’d hated the thought that she might have done things she hadn’t wanted to simply to please him. Those idiots who she’d dated before had her convinced she wasn’t desirable. Damned if he’d let her think he thought the same thing.

“Open your eyes, babe.”