“You’re definitely wrong about that.” I didn’t fall. Not for Sonya or Quentin or anyone.

  16

  Sonya

  The wind kicked up in the early afternoon, and the people running the project decided to shut everything down for the day and send volunteers home.

  “You’re welcome back at my place.” The way Jeremy tossed the casual suggestion out felt natural. “Both of you.”

  Which was good, since Quentin and I rode to the work site together, but made me wonder if Jeremy only invited me so it wouldn’t be obvious he was inviting Quentin.

  We all agreed it was a good idea, especially since our afternoon plans were cancelled, and the three of us headed to Jeremy’s.

  His house was in an older part of the city, and sat on about an acre of land. The garage he used was newer and next to his house, but there was a second building, a detached carriage house, further back on the property.

  When I stepped into his house, and actual light hit me, rather than the blustery day that had blown in, or the sunlight that filtered through windows earlier, I realized this might have been a mistake. “I’m covered in dust and mud.”

  Quentin raised his fingers to the top of my head and my body clenched in anticipation when he brushed along my scalp. He trailed his touch down a short distance before pulling away with a small piece of plaster in his hand.

  I mentally laughed at myself. It wasn’t like I could expect him to pull my hair and kiss me like I was a lifeline every time he was nearby.

  Jeremy pulled his shirt away from his skin and let go. “I always forget how much sweating can happen, even when it’s barely above freezing outside.”

  “No offense, but I am starting to wonder why we didn’t go home and clean up.” Quentin scrubbed his hand across his head and plaster dust floated free and to the ground.

  “You could’ve done that, but I have a shower big enough for three people,” Jeremy said.

  I liked what he was implying but, “Why do I feel like we were set up?”

  Jeremy shrugged. “I’d like to claim I thought of it beforehand, but my foresight isn’t nearly that good.” He tugged at the hem of my shirt. “You can go, if you want.”

  “I do not want.” Instead of pulling away, I stepped closer to Jeremy.

  Quentin pressed into my back. “If the shower is here, and the two of you are in the shower, I’m in the right place.”

  I needed to keep in mind that my goal was to push the two of them together, but I wasn’t interested in turning Jeremy down. Every time his fingers brushed my skin, tantalizing chills rolled through me. Combined with the heat radiating from Quentin, and I was hooked. I had to have this. Have them.

  I was startled in the best possible way when Jeremy tightly gripped my wrists. “I want to see you pinned down.” The command in his voice was delicious. “I want to see you restrained, squirming in pleasure, and hear you screaming my name when you come on my fingers and my cock.”

  Goddess, I wanted that too.

  He pushed my arms behind me, and Quentin caught me and held me tight.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off Jeremy as heat and anticipation spilled through me.

  His bite on my bottom lip morphed to a hard kiss that ached with desperation in my soul and cranked my desire past its limit.

  “You can do whatever you want to me,” I repeated the promise from the other day.

  He shook his head and smirked. “That’s a long list. Let’s start with a sampler.” He shoved my top up over my head without ever jarring me from Quentin’s grip. The action tugged at my hair and stretched out my shirt and left me even more restrained.

  So. Incredible.

  Jeremy yanked my bra up as well, cupped one breast, and wrapped his mouth around my nipple. While he sucked and flicked the hard nub with his tongue and teeth, Quentin bit along my neck and shoulder. Nibbled at my earlobe. Covered me in kisses and bite marks.

  They continued the layers of attention until need was pulsing non-stop between my legs and I had to squeeze my thighs together. Not that gesture did anything but amplify my desire.

  “This is torture.” I tried to keep my tone light despite my gasps for breath between each tease.

  Jeremy’s smirk grew. “That’s the point.”

  “Do you want me to beg?” I asked.

  “Without question.” Jeremy raised his head and his gaze penetrated my soul. “I want to hear you whimper and beg and scream my name when you come. And I want to know you mean it.”

  “I want that too.” So very much.

  This was the Jeremy who wrote vividly sexy scenes at work. The guy who gave me some of my naughtier ideas for sex scenes in books. This wasn’t the Jeremy who casually hung out with me like a friend…

  But it was, and Goddess, I would never forget again that he was capable of such delicious things.

  He shoved my jeans and panties to the floor, leaving them around my ankles and putting me on display as Quentin held me in place.

  “You’re so gorgeous.” The way Jeremy looked me over, I felt like a priceless display. “Gorgeous mind. Gorgeous body.” He cupped my breast and pinched a nipple hard enough to both hurt and delight me. “Gorgeous fucking pussy.” He danced his fingers between my legs, lightly teasing the skin.

  His sudden penetration stretched me out and stole my breath.

  Quentin captured both my wrists with one powerful hand, and moved the other to my breast to roll a nipple between his fingers, while Jeremy pumped his hand inside of me. He hooked his fingers up, and teased his thumb over my clit.

  Jeremy pushed me to the edge of orgasm, then edged away before I came. Again and then again. Between his attention and Quentin’s, I was gasping with need.

  “Please let me come. Goddess, please.” The words rasped past my lips.

  Jeremy’s wicked grin was almost enough to push me over the edge, and the way he pressed into my clit, harder and faster, yanked orgasm from me. He kept stroking and teasing until it was almost too much. But it felt so good.

  When he finally pulled away, he and Quentin were the only reason I stayed upright on wobbly legs. Jeremy sucked on his slick fingers, licking my juices from them. With me sandwiched between them, he leaned into Quentin for a kiss, and to share my taste.

  So. Fucking. Hot.

  “We should see about that shower.” Quentin’s voice was as rough as my stance.

  “I’m not sure I can make it to the bathroom.” I was only half-joking.

  I squealed when Quentin scooped me into his arms and carried me through the house, following Jeremy. I draped my arms around his neck. “A girl could get used to this.”

  “And you should be able to,” he said.

  He made sure I was steady when he set me down near the shower. The three of us finished undressing, and seeing the two of them help each other out of their clothes was its own flavor of arousing.

  Jeremy made sure the water was the right temperature and we stepped into a surround-water experience of shower jets.

  For a short while, we managed to soap and wash each other. It was tender and sensual, with Quentin’s hands gliding over Jeremy’s body, and Jeremy massaging my scalp as he washed my hair.

  I spent extra time soaping up their cocks, and in return Quentin lingered with his fingers between my legs.

  The space wasn’t quite big enough to maneuver, but the three of us managed. When Jeremy slipped between us and behind me, I was curious. When he captured my wrists again, I gasped in surprise and delight. He pinned my hands behind my back and pressed my front to the wall. The tile was cool against my skin and his touch was fire, sizzling as the shower rained on us from multiple angles.

  His cock dug into my ass while his fingers dug into my skin. “I need to feel your tight, wet pussy wrapped around my cock.” He growled. “Squeezing me until I spill inside you.”

  He slipped along my skin, and thrust inside me without further warning, making me cry out.

  With the side of my face flat against the wall, I had the perfect view of Quentin stroking himself while he watched us, his breathing heavy and his eyes lidded with lust.

  Jeremy hammered inside me hard and fast. The intensity of his grip and raw need in his movements had me hovering on the edge of climax and the way Quentin watched us pushed me into orgasm.

  I lost myself in the sensations when I came, letting pleasure rip from my throat in raw cries.

  Quentin came in short, heavy grunts, squirting across my hip and thigh.

  Jeremy increased his pace, hammering against me with raw abandon, his breathing stopping for a heartbeat, before he let out a long groan and finished.

  For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the shower and us trying to catch our breath. We all leaned into each other, our weight being the only thing keeping us upright.

  We finished showering, helped each other dry off, and crawled into Jeremy’s bed in a cuddly pile.

  This wouldn’t last, what the three of us had right now, but for tonight it was incredible.

  Monday morning I had an appointment with Dominic to discuss the rights contracts I’d received so far. I didn’t have any meetings at work, so I’d asked Jeremy to cover for me for a few hours.

  As I was walking out the door, a text came in from Jeremy. Miss you until you get here.

  Where did that come from? It didn’t matter, because it left warm fuzzies fluttering inside anyway.

  Dominic’s law office was downtown, only a few blocks from the AcesPlayed building. I had no idea what to expect from this meeting, but I was shown to a meeting room almost immediately, and he joined me a moment later. He was dressed in an impeccable suit and held himself like a man who knew he owned the room.

  His handshake was firm and reinforced his presence of you want me on your side. And I did.

  “Congratulations on your rapid rise to fame.” He sounded sincere.

  I still wasn’t sure I’d call it fame, but considering thousands more people knew my name now than two weeks ago, it was probably true. “Thank you.”

  “I’ve looked over the contracts you sent me. From now on, all of this communication will go through me.” Dominic took the seat next to me, opened a tablet, and set it up between us so I could see the screen.

  “I understand.” And preferred things that way.

  He unlocked the device and pulled up a document that looked a lot like a contract. “Before we go through this, is there anything you’re hoping to get from this that you didn’t see in the contracts? This is the first conversation about what you want, not the last, so don’t feel like you need to think of all of it right now.”

  “Creative input. That is… if you think it’s possible?”

  “Anything’s possible. In your case, it may even be probable. Is that a deal breaker?”

  No. The conversation with Quentin and Jeremy flooded back, about the details I shouldn’t concede to my mother about my story. “There are details I won’t allow to be changed. So creative control isn’t a deal breaker, but I’d like input, and if those things aren’t included, I’m out.”

  “Good to know.” He flipped to a different screen and made a note before coming back to the contract he’d opened. “Anything else?”

  “Maybe? Probably? Not that I know of right now.”

  “Okay. Let’s talk about what I’m seeing here.”

  For the next hour, we went through each contract. He pointed out concerns and suggestions. Asking for a percent of net instead of gross, retaining merchandise rights, control over the source material, and several other terms I’d heard my mom toss around but that I never would’ve thought to look for myself.

  “I’m so glad I called you,” I said as he moved from contract three to four.

  “Of course you are.” He didn’t have to scroll far in the Epithet Romance contract. “I’ve never worked with them before, but I’ve heard stories from colleagues. They’re notoriously unyielding and going through this… I see a lot of rights grabs in this line of work, but this is more of a kidnapping with assault and battery.”

  Ouch. “Is this their boilerplate contract?” I wanted to believe my mom had made certain concessions before she even sent me the offer, but she was so anti-nepotism I’d felt the whiplash of her no when I applied for an internship with her during college.

  “If it’s not I’d hate to see worse, but I suspect it is.” He went through pages of things that needed to be removed before I even considered their offer. “The name on this, Mary Russel… relative?”

  “My mother.”

  “Take or leave this advice, but in my experience doing business like this with family is a mistake more often than not.”

  My mom may not think much of my writing, but she was intelligent, driven, and one of the best at her jobs. I bristled at the recommendation. “I’ll keep that in mind.” My reply came out more coolly than I intended.

  “All right.” His expression and tone never changed. I bet he was one hell of a poker player. “Keep in mind a lot of these conversations should be kept between us and the contracting companies. Don’t go discussing details with other people.”

  “Everyone at work knows I have offers, but not details.”

  “That’s fine. Keep it at that, and they’ll understand.”

  We covered a few more things, he promised to send all revisions to me before they went back to the different production companies, and I left his office feeling good about what he had to say.

  I checked my phone on the way to my car, to find two new text messages. The one from Jeremy said, It’s all hands on when you get in. Fair warning, everyone’s freaking out.

  Well shit.

  The second message was from Judith. The instant you’re here, come see me.

  Double shit.

  There were also email notifications from my mom’s assistant, and a huge podcaster whose show I loved. Both were requests that I get back to them soon, and as much as I itched to do that, I needed to know what was going on at work.

  Fortunately it was a short drive.

  “I’ll tell her you’re on your way back,” Ivan greeted me as soon as I walked in the front door.

  I cut a straight line to Judith’s office to find her waiting for me, a sterner look than normal on her face. She never looked out of place or frazzled, but today she was a fraction closer.

  She gestured to a chair. “How was the meeting with Dominic?”

  Hardly important at this very moment. “Good. Can’t say much more.”

  “Figured. Fallyn found a massive exploit in the game and this morning she broadcast it to the world.”

  Triple shit. Jackpot. “Fuck.”

  “Precisely. Though, we’re grateful she found it now while we’re in beta, and not a year from now. The game’s offline until we fix and test it.”

  Story wasn’t typically involved in things like that. Not that we had an issue with helping, but it wasn’t our area of expertise. “What do you need us to do?”

  “Dev has already located the problem,” Judith said. “Apparently Fallyn emailed us the details a few weeks ago, and the information sat in someone’s inbox unopened, because it had her name on it. She included error logs, exact steps to reproduce it, and theories on where the issue stemmed from.”

  I’d ask whose inbox, but I could guess and his name started with Chris and ended with is still a misogynistic asshole. “At least that’s something.”

  “It will take the whole company to help test. Everyone’s priority this week is playing the portions of the game that Nigel assigns, thoroughly, to make sure we’re good. Everyone else is already in the big conference room.”

  Which included Jeremy, based on his text. So why was I getting the personal drill down of the situation? “I’ll get started if that’s all?”

  “It’s not.”

  My gut twisted in on itself, even though I expected her response.

  “What’s happening to you right now is amazing. Once in a lifetime shit, and fuck this is hard for me to say, because you know how I feel about pursuing dreams.”

  Squash anything in your path and sacrifice whatever you must to get there. I nodded.

  “I won’t ask you to turn down or ignore or damage any opportunities coming your way. You deserve what’s happening right now, and you need to take advantage of it.”

  “Okay…?” I couldn’t begin to guess where this was going.

  “But I need someone doing this work this week. I need every person on this. If you aren’t sure you can do that, tell me now so I can bring in a temp or make other arrangements. Bowing out now won’t hurt your job, but I need to know.”

  I couldn’t let the team down and my contract negotiations would move slowly. “I’m yours for the week.”

  “Thank you.”

  As I headed to the conference room, I sent Quentin a text letting him know I’d be home late all week.

  I’ll miss you. Let me know if you need anything.

  Two miss yous in one day, from the two men I was trying to push toward each other. I didn’t know if I wanted them to be just friendly messages or not.

  The big room had been transformed to hold a series of long tables, and everyone else with the company was either already seated in front of their laptops, or walking the room. This was a similar setup to what we’d had the first day we launched our beta, but the mood was much more somber today.

  I took a seat between Jeremy and Luna, across from Art. Jeremy squeezed my knee, never looking up from his own game.

  It was going to be a long week that would feel even longer if I didn’t figure out what I wanted from him. From Quentin.

  17

  Quentin

  By Thursday, I missed Sonya a lot more than I expected. And Jeremy. Sure, she and I didn’t hang out all the time, but she was home many nights and the two of us put in a bit of time in front of the TV just having fun.

  It was lonely with her leaving for work early, and coming home late exhausted with barely enough energy to collapse into bed. And seeing Jeremy so often last week…