A Bride for Two Tycoons Part 1

The Male Order, Texas Collection

A Bride for Two Tycoons, Part 1: The Courtship Determined to secure funding to save her non-profit, Madeline Spencer heads to Male Order, Texas, a town just east of Dallas known for its enormous wealth and generous philanthropists. Her first stop is Ellis Enterprises, and she hopes a corporate donation from the elite multinational company will help make her dream come true. Unbeknownst to her, Male Order is menageamous and the powerful Ellis brothers are loaded in more ways than one. The moment Dalton and Garrett see her, there’s no denying their overwhelming urge to claim this single-minded and sensual woman who thinks a romantic entanglement can only be a liability. During a whirlwind courtship the brothers introduce her to the lavish pleasures of a Male-Order lifestyle but learn they don’t need to open their pocketbooks to open Madeline’s heart. They just have to convince her that mixing business with pleasure isn’t so bad after all. Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys Length: 53,691 words

A BRIDE FOR TWO TYCOONS Part 1: The Courtship Male Order, Texas

Ava Mitchell Sydney Holiday

MENAGE EVERLASTING

Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

A BRIDE FOR TWO TYCOONS Copyright © 2010 by Ava Mitchell and Sydney Holiday E-book ISBN: 1-61034-042-6 First E-book Publication: October 2010 Cover design by Les Byerley All art and logo copyright © 2010 by Siren Publishing, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers Dear Readers, If you have purchased this copy of A Bride for Two Tycoons by Ava Mitchell and Sydney Holiday from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book. The authors and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment. This is Ava Mitchell and Sydney Holiday’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect their right to earn a living from their work. Amanda Hilton, Publisher www.SirenPublishing.com www.BookStrand.com

DEDICATION We would like to dedicate this book to our fans, who we hope will enjoy the trip from the warm, homespun charm of Liebling to the lavish and sophisticated world of Male Order.

A BRIDE FOR TWO TYCOONS PART 1: THE COURTSHIP Male Order, Texas 1 AVA MITCHELL AND SYDNEY HOLIDAY Copyright © 2010

Chapter One Garrett Ellis pushed the remains of his chicken salad sandwich around on his plate with a fork. He counted the minutes until the dessert course would arrive and he could finally excuse himself and get on with his day. Well, at least high tea at the Dallas Arboretum included champagne. He took a sip, savoring the way the tingly bubbles danced on his tongue. The sun was out on an ideal early-summer day with only a few wisps of clouds in the clear blue sky. The ambience would have been picture perfect with the right person. Garrett looked up briefly at the socialite his sister had set him up with as she continued her incessant yapping. Sometimes it even sounded like the high-pitched yipping of an actual dog. Perhaps boredom was making him go insane, and he was hearing things. He also noticed she had a strange habit of every now and then casually breaking off a piece of her sandwich and then slipping it under the table. Garrett wondered if this was part of some weird diet she was on. At least it wasn’t that ridiculous cayenne pepper, maple syrup thing. In any case, she didn’t seem to notice his inattention. Good. How long had she been talking now? And what about? Probably something about how cultured she was and how much she loved fine things—hint, hint. All these beastly gold diggers were the same and, frankly,

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he was becoming utterly bored by them. Sure, they were good for a fuck every now and then to help distract him from anything troubling him, but he thought the shallowness of it all was getting a little stale. He could hardly believe it himself, but he actually was ready for a little substance, something and somebody real whom he could truly devote himself to. The girl laughed, and automatically, Garrett mimicked her back. He reminded himself to nod and smile every now and then, just to keep up appearances though he didn’t know why he should even bother. This date was strictly a favor for his sister who flagrantly used her friends and loved ones to get her new business off the ground. Bea’s Billionaire Ménage Matchmaking was her most recent venture and her most annoying one yet. At least for Garrett. He didn’t understand why Dalton, his older brother, somehow was excused from these ridiculous dates. After all, if by some fluke Bea actually made a match for them, they’d be sharing the lucky girl anyway. Perhaps it was because he was busy running the family fortune. Then the deafening sound of silence moved him from his thoughts. “Are you even listening to me?” Busted. The blonde bombshell sneered at him with collagen-injected lips. The thought of those glossy red plastic lumps on any part of his body made him ill. Garrett briefly weighed the pros and cons of how he should reply to the polymer cougar snapping her perfectly manicured fingers at him. Be polite, apologetic, and make the woman and his sister happy? Or the alternative— being honest, which would be interpreted as rude, but would get him the hell out of there? “Hello? Earth to Garrett. Garrett Ellis, can you hear me?” She waved her hand in front of his face a few times until he finally made eye contact again. Her look of disdain immediately returned to saccharine sweetness. She smiled wide at him, revealing a row of glaringly white teeth. He practically had to squint when the sun hit it at certain angles. Garrett mentally rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe this woman would still give him the time of day considering he treated her with absolutely no interest at all. He hadn’t even bothered to shower or shave but threw on a wrinkled lemon-yellow polo shirt and hideous neon-green plaid madras shorts, a gift from his great-aunt Mabel. His canvas once-khaki-colored-now-splotchybeige boat shoes were the ones he’d worn deep-sea fishing off the coast of

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Costa Rica this past weekend, and they had a distinct fishy odor. Apparently, when she looked at him, she only saw dollar signs, and the smell of money overruled the stench of rotting fish. “Yes, Darla, I hear you perfectly well. You were talking about…” Garrett looked her up and down, trying to assess what would interest someone so vapid. She kept stroking her hand down the length of her hair, as if to polish it. “Your new highlights. They’re lovely.” Her eyebrows knitted, as best they could considering all the Botox injected there, and Garrett realized he must have missed the mark. “No?” Garrett reached over and grasped a lock of her hair, twirling it around his finger. “Well, if I were you, I’d be talking about them all day. They’re beautiful.” She immediately bowed her head and batted her eyelashes. Garrett couldn’t believe himself sometimes. He could hardly stand this woman, and yet he couldn’t help but crank up the charm. He needed to get out of there before he got himself any deeper. Pecan tarts and petit fours would have to wait another day. Tea time needed to be cut short. “Oh, Garrett, you’re such a charmer. Your sister was right about you.” Darla giggled and then arched her back, pushing her breasts out. “You know, I’m quite interested in learning a little bit more about your brother, Dalton, too. I have some family in Male Order, so…” She looked up at him expectantly and bit her bottom lip, causing the tips of her blindingly white teeth to stain with lipstick. He smiled blankly at her for a few moments, trying to think up some plan of escape. Then a child’s high-pitched scream rang through the gardens. He scanned the area and saw the source of the noise jumping up and down frantically at the edge of a large water fountain. The little girl looked anxious as she pointed to a lifeless brown lump floating among lily pads while the fountain spurted water perilously close to it. “Oh my goodness, I think the child needs help. I’m really sorry but—” Garrett had started to stand when Darla’s talons gripped his arm, urging him to stay. “But, Garrett, it’s just a child. I’m sure she’s fine. And look, there are plenty of people clamoring to her aid.” The desperation on her face crinkling its way into her voice was sad, but not Garrett’s problem. He had no interest

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in the woman, and truly, it was wrong of him to lead her on at all. He shook her grip off his elbow and pulled away. “Just a child, Darla? Just a child?” Garrett tried his best to look wounded and disgusted. “I thought we might have something special, but now I see this was never meant to be. I need to be where I am needed, and that child,” Garrett pointed, his face twisted in anguish, “needs me. The least I can do is render aid somehow. I must go.” “But, Garrett, I need you. Wait!” “So sorry, Darla. I’m sure Bea will have another wealthy suitor for you. I’ll have her call you…” Garrett ran off, trying to hide his grin as he went. As Garrett jogged toward the scene, he could see a gaggle of kids surrounding the fountain. He briefly considered veering toward the parking lot, but then he noticed a young woman in the midst of all the mayhem, her exquisite auburn hair glimmering in the afternoon sun. It cascaded down her shoulders in fiery waves and perfectly framed her porcelain complexion. She looked to be desperately trying to calm all the children down. Garrett slowed to watch the scene unfold. “Kids, kids, please calm down,” she said, as her chocolate brown eyes darted around. “Please,” she lowered her voice, “you guys are going to get us all in trouble.” The little girl screamed again, tears streaming down her reddened face. “But, Miss Maddie, my bear. Antoine threw my bear in the water, and it’s gonna drown!” “I assure you it won’t drown.” She bent down and said something that Garrett couldn’t hear, but whatever it was, it quieted the girl who now stood obediently, nodding her head. The woman popped up and again her eyes darted around, searching for what, Garrett wasn’t sure. The rest of the kids also hushed as they watched the woman lean on the edge of the fountain and stretch an arm out for the bear while the other one kept her steady and on dry land. Her perfectly round ass jutted out as she leaned forward. Garrett chuckled. He thought the woman certainly had to know she was far too petite to reach the stuffed bear. But, for some unknown reason, she kept trying, reaching and stretching. Garrett wondered if she was perhaps a superhero in disguise with amazing powers of expansion. One would

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assume that based on the look of determination on her face. Or perhaps she thought sheer will alone was enough to accomplish anything. Garrett’s dick stirred in his pants. Something about her tenacity impressed him, a feeling he rarely had with most of the women in his social circle. They tended to be over-pampered gold diggers who went to the best schools money could buy and yet were as feeble-minded as people could get. And before him stood a woman with natural beauty who he hoped had brains to match. He walked up to see if he could help. He thought the role of knight in shining armor would suit him well. **** Madeline Spencer could feel her calves starting to lock up and ache from being overextended. She knew the bear was impossibly out of reach, but she had to try. It was Jasmine’s favorite toy and likely her only one. She couldn’t let that little girl down. She took that dusty, endlessly patched-up thing with her everywhere. “Please, Miss Maddie, you have to save him. If he stays in there much longer, he’ll sink and drown,” Jasmine whined as quietly as a child could in that situation. Really, Madeline was very impressed with how well her kids were behaving. These were good kids, but they grew up in and lived in a rough part of Dallas’s inner city. Discipline and stable environments were difficult things to come by. Normally, they would be running and jumping around screaming, singing, perhaps uttering a few profanities here and there, words that children shouldn’t know, and yet, that was reality. “I know, honey, I’m trying. I promise you he’ll be okay.” She cringed a little at her words. Well, if it got a little soaked, that wouldn’t be the end of the world, so it wasn’t necessarily a lie. But to a six-year-old girl who viewed the stuffed animal as her best friend, watching it sink to the bottom of a murky fountain could amount to that. Madeline sighed heavily and then inhaled deeply, sucking in her breath and bracing herself for one final stretch. She watched as the bear’s body began to sink under its own waterlogged weight until all she could see was the top of its head, rounded ears, and little plastic eyes and nose bobbing up and down in the water.

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So freakin’ close. Her middle finger grazed the bear’s nose, but only resulted in pushing it farther away. Her shoulder started to cramp up, and tears formed in her eyes in reaction to the pain. In an effort to get the bear to coast on the current, she paddled the water toward her. It got caught on a lily pad. Even though her sleeves were rolled up, they still dipped into the turbulent fountain waters. The wet, crumpled fabric clung to her elbows, but she was beyond caring. In frustration, she’d stood and almost jumped in for the bear, knowing full well that would just land her knee-deep in water when a whiff of fish and a big, warm hand stopped her. “Whoa, there, sweetheart,” a low voice drawled. “It looks like you were about to jump for that soggy-looking thing. That’s no place for a lady. You could get soaked.” Madeline looked up into the cool blue-gray eyes of a man who she instinctually knew was too handsome for his own good. He exuded sex and trouble. The heat that radiated from his hand on her waist ran straight through her entire body. She hoped he had no idea of the truth in his words at that moment. His thick fingers dug into her flesh, willing her to move her body, which she seemed to suddenly have no control over. He reached to her damp elbow. Was he pulling her toward him? Toward his body? Madeline swallowed hard as she tried to get her bearings, but it was damn near impossible considering she couldn’t move a muscle or wrench her gaze away from his. “Are you all right?” The smooth tone in his voice seemed to melt through her. She nodded slightly in affirmation but couldn’t tell if it was visible. “Is she always like this?” He smiled and broke his gaze from hers as he addressed the children standing around them. The sound of snickering brought her back to her senses. Thank God. How long had she been like that? Was it just for a moment? It felt like an eternity. She shook her head, took a deep breath, and tried to speak, but no words came. “Um, uh,” she stammered. Her brow furrowed. A breeze swept through, chilling her dampened skin. Goose bumps prickled up and down her arm, and she shivered.

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He pulled her close, the heat from his body searing her. “Cold? Your clothes are all damp.” Then a small body squeezed between them. She looked down and saw Jasmine’s braided hair, done up with little white plastic clips of daisies. “Mister, my bear. Miss Maddie was trying to save my bear.” Jasmine looked up, her eyes glistening with tears. That brought Madeline back to her senses completely. “Yes, that’s right.” Madeline nodded vigorously. “I need to get that bear and quick, before a guard finally notices what’s going on here.” She kicked off her shoes and hiked up her skirt, shaking off the man’s lingering effects on her body in the process. Again, a hand on her body, this time on her arm, stopped her, but this one didn’t feel the same. She turned and faced a different man, one who was much older and paunchier than the mysterious stranger who first got her attention. Her stomach seized as she realized that a security guard had finally caught wind of their shenanigans. Damn. If only I hadn’t wasted all that time drooling over— “Excuse me, ma’am, but you can’t go in there. There’s no wading in the fountains.” The gruff man pointed to a small sign staked into the ground stating exactly that. “Oh, I wasn’t planning on wading. You see, I’m trying to get that stuffed teddy bear. One of my kids threw it in there by mistake, and I just need to grab it real quick. It will just take a mo—” She started for the fountain again and even got a toe in the lukewarm water before the guard grabbed her firmly on the arm and pulled her away. “Ma’am, you cannot go into our fountains. I can get a maintenance man over here, and he’ll fish it out.” Madeline took a deep breath. “Okay, that sounds fine. Right, Jasmine? That sounds good. We can get a real professional out there to save Teddy for you.” Madeline nodded and smiled encouragingly, hoping to elicit a matching response from the little girl. The guard walked off a bit and spoke into a walkie-talkie. Between the static of the device and the use of police code, Madeline couldn’t really make out what he was saying. The guard nodded and returned. “Well, we’re a little short-staffed right now and all our maintenance people are busy cleaning up around the café. Turns out some lady went

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ballistic and set her dog loose on the grounds. She had the little yapper in her purse and no one noticed, so they’re trying to chase it down and repair the damage.” The guard chuckled. “Apparently, it’s pretty amazing how much damage a three-pound Chihuahua can do.” He cleared his throat as he slipped the walkie-talkie back into its holster. “Unfortunately, what this means is that it’ll be about thirty minutes, if not more, before we can get one of our guys out here.” Madeline glanced down at her watch and was startled at the time. She had to have the kids back at the children’s center in twenty minutes, and, including traffic, that meant she needed to get the kids in the car immediately or else they would all be late. Her colleague Erika was probably waiting for her with the other kids. Many of the parents worked on very tight schedules with a small window of opportunity to pick up their kids and couldn’t afford to wait around. Double damn! “But that won’t do. We need to leave now. There’s no time. What do we do?” Madeline glanced back at the teddy bear, its sandy brown fur now a dark mocha from moisture, and then to Jasmine. “Oh, Jazz, I’m afraid we might have to leave Teddy for now. But I promise we’ll get him later.” Jasmine burst into tears and began throwing one of her trademarked tantrums. “No! No! No! No! We can’t leave Teddy.” After a moment, she took a breath, calmed herself as best she could, and looked up at her with those big brown eyes, the sight nearly breaking Madeline’s heart. She spoke softly. “Miss Maddie, he’s my best friend. I love Teddy.” Madeline squatted so she could be face to face with the girl. “I know, Jazz, but you need to be brave, for Teddy, okay? We’ll figure this out.” She turned back up to the guard. “Isn’t there something we can do? Some way around this? I mean, it’s just a little water. What harm could it do if I just ran in real quick?” “I’m sorry, ma’am, but that’s just the way it is. I can put it in the lost and found in the main office for you, but that’s the best I can do.” The guard shrugged. In the tiniest whisper of a voice, Jasmine said, “No, Miss, no, we just can’t leave Teddy behind. We just can’t.” Her lip began to tremble again. Even in all the excitement, Madeline remained aware of the heavy presence beside her. She turned when the mysterious stranger squatted down

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with them, as if they were three conspirators. He crooked his finger and lifted Jasmine’s chin. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I think I’ve got a solution. Now, promise me you’ll turn that frown upside down and show me a little smile.” Jasmine easily obliged, completely charmed by the stranger. “That’s a girl. Look at those beautiful pearly whites.” The girl giggled. She was missing her two front teeth. Madeline wished it was as effortless when she tried to get the kids to behave. “Okay, watch this.” With that, the stranger got up and pounced into the fountain. He hadn’t even bothered to take his shoes off. “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” the guard yelled as he pushed through the small crowd of kids, trying to get to the man. “You can’t do that. The sign says no wading.” The stranger easily sidestepped the guard’s attempt at capture and grabbed the bear, tucking it under his arm like a football. The guard continued to chase him around the fountain, but he could never quite reach from the sidelines. The man splashed around as he ran, thoroughly soaking himself, including the most god-awful-looking shorts Madeline had ever seen. She figured he must have scrounged them up from the discount bin at the Salvation Army. She had procured some excellent finds there in the past, but for every decent-looking piece of clothing, there were scores of hideous ones. Madeline’s cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Erika. Shit. “I know, I know, we’re running late, but I’m trying to get out of here as soon as I can,” Madeline said the instant she answered the call. “Well, you better hurry your ass up. The last thing I want is to pull up to the center with a bunch of angry parents waiting. I’m parked at the front entrance so all you have to do is grab the kids and hop in the bus. But seriously, you needed to be here, like, five minutes ago. What the hell is going on? It sounds like a circus.” “I’ll explain later. Bye.” Madeline snapped her phone closed and slipped it back into her messenger bag. She looked back up to gauge the progress of Operation Bear Rescue. The man continued running in circles around the fountain, evading the guard and making a complete fool of himself in the process. But the kids loved it, and the man seemed to know it as he hammed

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it up for them, purposefully letting the guard get really close only to run off again. She hadn’t seen all of them so jubilant since…ever. The kids always had their moments, but it was never an all-out display of pure elation. Not a single child looked troubled or sad or angry. For a bad dresser, the man was devastatingly handsome, Madeline thought. He looked naturally athletic, and his wet shirt clung to his chest so she could see the contours of his chiseled body. She realized she could stare at him all day, but unfortunately, at the moment she didn’t have the time. The man made one more lap around the fountain before Madeline finally caught his attention. “Excuse me, sir. Can I have the bear please? We really must be going. We’re running awfully late.” Madeline pointed at her watch. The man nodded and smiled. His teeth were so perfectly straight and beautifully white he could’ve been an actor in a toothpaste commercial. “Here, catch.” He tossed the bear at her, and she clumsily caught it in her arms, pinning it tightly to her chest. She looked down and realized she’d squeezed the bear too tightly. The wet bear had soaked her top, and her bra was clearly visible now underneath her sundress. It wouldn’t have been quite so embarrassing if her nipples hadn’t also been so damn hard, from the chill or as a reaction to the man, she didn’t know. Then an utterly mortifying realization hit her. She turned her attention back to the crowd and saw that both the guard and the stranger stared at her, or more like ogled. “Sorry about that,” the stranger called out with a shrug and a smirk. To her chagrin, the guard initiated a high-five, which the handsome stranger reciprocated. Men. She rolled her eyes so high she thought they might pop right out. Madeline quickly counted heads to ensure that all the children were accounted for and herded them toward the botanical garden’s main entrance. “Come on, kids, let’s get a move on. Erika and the others are waiting in the bus.” “Wait!” the man called out. Madeline turned to see him hobbling out of the fountain, but the guard held him back. “My name’s Garrett. What’s yours?” By the time she registered the question, she was too far away to answer. Not that it mattered. She’d probably never see the man again.

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She saw Erika waiting in the bus with the door open, and she hustled all the kids in. They did one final head count and took off. Madeline plopped down in the seat behind Erika so they could see each other through the mirror poised above the driver seat. “What happened to you?” Erika’s piercing green gaze looked Madeline up and down through the mirror. “Why are you all wet?” “It’s a long story. One of the kids,” Madeline turned around in her seat and scanned the rows of little faces behind her and said loudly, “Antoine, took Jasmine’s bear and threw it in a fountain.” The kids snickered as Antoine stood, pumping his arms up and down like a bodybuilder. Located in South Dallas, the youth center Madeline worked at allowed kids to attend once they started kindergarten and they could stay until they graduated high school. Generally, the older kids would become mentors for the younger ones. At thirteen, Antoine wasn’t old enough to be a mentor, but he still should’ve known better. “Sit down before I pull this bus over!” Erika rolled her eyes with a smirk, then turned her attention back to Madeline. “So how’d you get it out?” Madeline spoke more softly, trying to keep the conversation just between them. “Well, this strange man came up and he…he just jumped right in.” “He just jumped right in?” “He just jumped right in. I don’t know. It was ridiculous.” Madeline giggled as she remembered the way he looked, splashing around, the way the droplets of fountain water glittered around him, seeping into his shirt, plastering it against his muscled flesh. And that million-watt smile could charm the pants off anybody. I wouldn’t mind if he charmed my pants off. Madeline felt her body flush with heat. She cracked a window open and gratefully let the cool breeze waft against her skin. “What was that look on your face?” Erika asked, startling Madeline out of her reverie. “What look? I didn’t have a look. Shouldn’t you be keeping your eyes on the road?” Madeline blurted out in one breath.

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“Madeline Spencer, you are trying to hide something.” Erika’s smile turned wide and deviant. “Don’t even try. Your face gives you away every time.” Madeline cringed. Erika was right, and she knew her friend wouldn’t let her off the hook easily. Not until she had wrested every last thought and detail Madeline had out of her. “It’s nothing. Anyway—” “Kids, I’d like your attention please,” Erika said loudly. “Did anybody notice anything interesting with that man who jumped in the fountain?” Madeline could just kill her. She sank down in her seat as all the kids started talking at once. “Whoa there. Okay, why don’t y’all go one at a time? Let’s start in the back. Kenneth, go ahead. You look like you’ve got something to say.” “That guy was funny lookin’. He had on these crazy pants.” All the kids started laughing. “He jumped around like he was insane, splashing everywhere.” “And that security guard was chasing him around, too,” another child volunteered. “But he couldn’t catch him ’cause the man was too fast. He was all zipping around,” Kenneth finished. “And you should have seen the way he looked at Miss Maddie,” Juliette said with a taunting tone. “Ooh, and how she was lookin’ at him,” another girl finished. “I think Miss Maddie was drooling, too.” The kids, especially the older ones, all erupted in laughter again. “Oh, really? Is that so, Miss Maddie?” Erika asked. “No, that is not so. Now, everyone sit back down,” Madeline said. “End of discussion.” **** Garrett laced his fingers together behind his head and leaned back against the park bench that faced the fountain he had recently run around in. The image of that woman’s succulent breasts swaddled in a lacy bra beneath a shirt so wet it was translucent had him grinning from ear to ear. They looked so beautiful, so tender, so damp. He’d wanted nothing more than to

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cup those breasts in his hands while gently toweling them off only to lave them with his tongue to repeat the process over again. “You still thinking about that chick’s tits?” the guard asked as he stood beside the bench. “They sure were pretty little things.” The guard licked his lips and held his hands out as if weighing them in his hands the way one would fresh produce, like two ripe melons. A pang of possessiveness hit Garrett hard in the gut as he watched the man fantasize about the female stranger who had so unexpectedly piqued his attention. His hands itched to ball up and slam into the guard’s face to teach him a thing or two about respecting his future woman. “No, I’m not, and you shouldn’t be talking about a lady that way anyway. Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?” “Didn’t your mother teach you how to dress?” The guard chuckled as he pointed out Garrett’s ensemble. Garrett rolled his eyes and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “Har, har.” He looked at his watch, noting with ambivalence that the alligator band was now saturated with water. Where the hell was Bea? Did she always have to be late to everything? Right after his mystery woman had disappeared, Garrett had called his sister to bring the family check book, as he had failed to bring it or his wallet with him that day. Whatever damage he had caused, he could afford to repair and then some. Once a check was signed and given over to the guard, he would be free to go and find that beautiful, mysterious damsel. “Listen, buddy, how much longer is your sister going to take?” The guard crossed and uncrossed his arms, clearly losing his patience. “You have my word as a gentleman that I, Garrett Ellis of Ellis Enterprises, will make a sizable donation to the gardens to make up for my little dip in the fountain. You don’t have to stand there guarding me.” He eyed Garrett suspiciously. “You keep repeating that you’re so-and-so Ellis, but I’ll believe it when I see it. With no I.D., do you really think I’m gonna let some schmuck off the street just disappear after what you’ve done? You’re in a lot of trouble, mister.” The guard pointed his nightstick at Garrett as he spoke. “I left my I.D. in—” “Yeah, yeah, your other pants. Whatever.”

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Just when Garrett thought he couldn’t take another minute more of this, he heard the distinct sound of his sister’s pointy shoes clicking along the asphalt. “Garrett, what the hell is going on? I just got off the phone with Darla. She’s hysterical.” Bea adjusted the leopard-print Birkin bag on her shoulder and extended her hand to the guard, completely ignoring Garrett. “Hello, my name is Bea Ellis. I’m this numskull’s older sister.” In reality, Bea was only older by about three minutes. If Garrett had known at the time how much his sister would hold those three minutes over his head as evidence of seniority, he was sure he’d have tried harder to be first out of the womb. After releasing the guard’s hand, Bea dug into her purse. “I hear we’re making a donation today.” She turned and looked at the fountain over the top of the sunglasses perched on the tip of her sloping nose. “Twenty-five thousand dollars should cover the cost of replacing the water, plants, and any sea creatures living in there. What are those? Lily pads?” She pulled out a pen and her checkbook, holding the pen as she waited for the guard to respond. “Umm, sure. There were only plants in the fountain, but I guess that sounds about right.” The guard seemed mesmerized by his sister. Maybe the glare from her platinum blonde locks blinded him, Garrett thought, amused. “All right, then. I’ll make it out to the Dallas Arboretum.” Bea scribbled on the check and tore it from the book, handing it to the guard. “I could escort you to the main office, ma’am. That’s where the check will go.” “No, that’s fine. Why don’t you take it over there while I have a little talk with my brother?” She glared at Garrett. The guard nodded slowly and sauntered off toward the office, as if not even registering his sister’s completely patronizing tone. It amazed Garrett the way an attractive woman could so totally disarm a man, even one who carried a big stick and a shiny badge. He counted his lucky stars he wasn’t one of those saps who had that issue. He had never had problems holding his own with a woman. “I’m assuming the date with Darla didn’t go well?” Bea looked down at Garrett with her hands on her hips. Even though he couldn’t see her eyes hidden behind her Gucci sunglasses, which made her look like an insect, he could see the barely noticeable ridges in her forehead that should have been

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expressive wrinkles. Even Botox couldn’t completely conceal the fact that she was glaring at him. “No, it didn’t. And don’t expect me to go on any more of your dates. I don’t want to be with any woman who just wants me or Dalton for our money. Expecting anyone to find love that way is preposterous and one of your stupidest ideas to date.” “You’re wrong.” Bea sighed and her lips pooched into a pout. “Come on, just one more date. You owe me. I don’t know what you said to Darla, but she’s beyond pissed. It took three security guards to chase her and her Chihuahua around, and she had to be sedated.” “They sedated a Chihuahua? That must have been what was under the damn table.” Garrett chuckled. “No, they sedated Darla. But she’ll be fine. I called for a car to pick her up and deliver her safely to her condo, but because of your insensitivity, I’m going to have to go over there later and smooth things over.” “All you have to do is get her another rich man, and she’ll forget about me in no time.” “That still doesn’t account for why you won’t go on another date for me. Melissa Jennings is a catch, and I know that you and Dalton would love her.” Bea reached into her bottomless pit of a bag and took out her date book and began flipping through it. “We could schedule something for next weekend.” “That won’t be necessary, sis. I already have plans. A date, as a matter of fact.” “Oh? Who with?” Bea’s contemplative look turned to a smile. “You’re gonna give it another go with Darla? Am I right? Of course I am. I knew you’d love her! I am an awesome matchmaker!” Bea beamed with delight. Garrett couldn’t believe how dense his sister could be at times. “As usual, no, Beulah. You’re wrong. It’s actually the woman I jumped in the fountain for.” “I should have known a woman was the reason behind this whole fountain fiasco. And what have I said about calling me Beulah in public? Never do it. Anyway, who is this mystery woman? Who are her parents? What’s her pedigree?”

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“Why does any of that matter? Besides, the answer to all three questions is I don’t know. I don’t know a thing about her except that she’s beautiful and was surrounded by children.” Bea crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him skeptically. “Since when have you been interested in children? You’ve never dated a mother before. If I had known, I could have set you up with Cynthia Ashbury. She’s a lovely woman and has two sons.” “Again, you’ve got it all wrong. I doubt they were her own children, unless she was vying to be the next Angelina Jolie. I think she’s a teacher. It looked like a field trip.” Garrett thought for a moment. “They called her Miss…Miss Maddie.” “Maddie? Is that a first or last name?” “I don’t know. I didn’t catch that. But, make no mistake, I will find her.” “And what about Dalton? Do you think he’ll like her?” Garrett sighed heavily. “I don’t know. Who knows what or whom Dalton will or won’t like anymore. He’s a completely different person now.” Bea sat down beside Garrett and put her arm around him. “I know what you mean.” Garrett studied his sister for a moment. “You know, I think we’ve probably all changed.” “How so?” “Well, for a while, I’d fuck any woman with a pulse, and you?” He looked at his sister’s face, trying to determine whether she was ready for his honest assessment. Truth was he thought his sister was losing her mind, jumping from one random project to the next to distract herself. Usually a complete flirt, she would pursue and then dump any man she fancied. And the men? If they didn’t try to wrangle her first, they were more than happy to be caught in the clutches of Bea’s perfectly manicured nails. But she’d recently completely shut herself down from men, instead forcing them to date others. The earnestness in her face told him that today was not the day for honesty. “Bea, I think you’re actually handling this quite well.” Bea put her hands in her lap and shook her head. “You really think so?” “Sure.” Garrett knew his twin could almost always tell when he lied, but he hoped this was one of the few times he could get one past her.

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Bea sat quietly for a moment and shifted in her seat. They both hated silence. “You think they’re gonna name that fountain in our honor?” Garrett asked as a joke. He couldn’t take another second of quiet. Bea slowly nodded, and her face brightened. “You better believe it. For twenty-five grand, I want the Ellis name etched into the side of it in big, bold letters. Tastefully, of course.” **** Madeline took a deep breath and exhaled, rolling her shoulders and stretching her neck back and forth. The tension in her muscles had only gotten worse after nearly dislocating her shoulder from reaching for that bear for so long. She waited in the office she shared with Erika for her to get off the phone. She spoke with one of the board members of the children’s center. Even though Madeline could only hear half the conversation, the look on Erika’s face, the furrow of her brow, her clipped “I understand” and “Are you sure?” responses, and the way her usually full lips tightened to a thin line spoke volumes. Erika hung up the phone with a groan and put her head on the desk. “That bad?” “That bad,” Erika said into her arm. The knot forming in Madeline’s stomach suddenly undid itself and flipped over. She felt queasy. “So what does that mean exactly?” “The board fired Spencer, so it looks like we’re down a director of funding.” “Are you serious? What happened?” “Remember how you thought Spencer was a little shady? Well, it turns out you were right. He never did a damn thing.” “I knew he was sitting at his desk doing nothing all day.” “We lost our federal grant, and his ineffectual fundraising efforts have come up completely empty-handed.” Erika sat up and put her head in her hands, massaging her scalp. “How do such incompetent people get put in charge of anything, let alone a massive non-profit with so many children’s lives in the balance?” “So what now?” Madeline asked.

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“Unless somebody comes up with the funding, the center is closing.” “So how much longer can we stay open? Six months?” That would give them enough time to transition the kids into other programs if they couldn’t raise the money. “Ha! More like one. Maybe two months. If we can’t raise at least two hundred thousand dollars by the end of next month, the center is going to have to shut its door—” “Two hundred thousand dollars? That is impossible. We can’t raise that much money in a month. How could this happen?” “It’s just ridiculous. I think our kids in remedial math could’ve handled the money better than Spencer did.” “Yeah, especially if we could have had more time to work with them. The extra tutoring has made a big difference in a lot of these kids and now we’re going to have to turn everyone away. All that progress erased. And all our kids will be back on the streets with nowhere else to go.” Madeline sighed deeply. “I don’t know how we’re going to tell the kids and their parents. It will just break their hearts.” “It breaks my heart just thinking about it.” The knot in Madeline’s stomach slowly but steadily traveled up to her throat until it seemed to reach her eyes, forming hot tears that threatened to break free. She quickly swiped under her lower lashes before the tear had a chance to fall. She glanced at Erika who looked to be going through the exact same emotional response. Hating the sight of her friend looking so despondent, Madeline tried her best to find a way to transform hopeless to hopeful. She sat up, straightening her spine and lifting her chin up. “You know what? We can do it. We can be the new directors of funding.” “But you’re already the director of programming, and I’m director of marketing, and we already spend what free time we have with the kids. How many more hats can we wear?” “One more wouldn’t hurt, Erika. We can’t let the kids down, and I refuse to let poor management close this place down. What is it that we always tell the kids? That if you work hard and put your mind to something you can accomplish it.”

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Erika got up from her desk and walked over to Madeline’s without saying a word. She put the back of her hand against Madeline’s forehead and then her own. “No sign of fever.” “Erika, stop! I’m serious.” “Yeah, seriously crazy.” “I’ll even work for free if I have to. That’s how we got started here when we were in college, as volunteers, and we did it happily.” Erika was silent for a moment and just the very corners of her lips curled up in a hint of a smile. “We did have a lot of fun back then, huh.” Her brief yet blissful trip down memory lane was immediately cut short by her famous pragmatic side. “But we ate nothing but Ramen and cereal. I can’t go back to that kind of lifestyle.” Madeline sighed, waiting for Erika to burst her bubble with a sharp dose of reality. “But that’s not the point anyway. Do you know how much work you’re going to have to take on? You won’t be able to be with the kids as much one-on-one.” Madeline slumped down in her chair. Erika was right. She hated the idea of losing time with the kids. But then her mind went back to the field trip and how she could barely keep her kids in line all day. If it hadn’t been for the handsome stranger, it could’ve been complete pandemonium. Her cheeks warmed again, and she felt herself grinning during what could possibly be the most inappropriate moment. No, she needed to focus. What she loved was helping these children and perhaps being behind the scenes raising money would ultimately serve them better. It was time to move forward. “It’s fine. We can do this. We have to at least try. Come on, Erika, please help me. Please. I promise I will never ever, ever ask for anything again. Plus, I’ll come over and do your dishes every night and all the vacuuming and—” “All right, all right, fine. I’ll help you. Just stop begging. I can’t take that puppy-dog face anymore.” Erika smiled as Madeline stood and grabbed her friend in a warm embrace. “Thanks, Erika. This means so much to me.” Madeline let out an excited giggle and then took a deep breath. “No time for celebration though. We need to get busy.” Madeline picked up her yellow legal pad and a pencil. “Funding. We need funding. Without money, we can’t do a damn thing.” Erika chewed her bottom lip as she thought.

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“It’s too late for us to apply for federal grant money, and even if we could, it wouldn’t get to us in time, but we could hit up private donors. Dallas is full of millionaires wanting to dole out cash to make themselves look better at their galas and whatnot. And there’s always the surrounding suburbs.” “Yeah,” Erika’s eyes lit up, “there’s Preston Hollow, Highland Park, Lakewood, and, of course, Male Order.” “Male Order? What kind of name is that?” “I’ve always wondered that myself. It seems so strange. Anyway, it’s a small town less than an hour away. It’s known for the SoMale shopping district and museums. It’s completely loaded with lots of old money. I can’t imagine how they’ve managed to keep it so small and remote, though.” “Hmm…well, it sounds interesting. Maybe I’ll make a list of businesses there and start setting up a few appointments to convince these bigwigs it’s time to spend their money on other things besides caviar and mink coats.”

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Chapter Two Dalton Ellis tuned out his brother’s nonstop chatter. He had flown in from China at four o’clock that morning after conducting some business with sister corporations overseas for the past week. His head pounded, his eyes were gritty from not getting enough sleep, and he still had yet to drink his coffee. “About a week ago, we got a fountain named after us down at the arboretum in Dallas,” Garrett quipped in an altogether too-cheery manner. “It cost a pretty penny, but it was worth it because—” Dalton mumbled something but it was unintelligible, even to himself. He just wanted his brother to stop talking about all the inane events that happened while he was gone and get back to business. “Uh, hello? Dalton?” Dalton sighed. “I’m listening.” “Fine, fine. Touchy this morning, are we?” They walked through the lobby of Ellis Energy, their clipped strides and long legs quickly covering the distance from the front entrance to their private elevator. Their employees gave him a wide berth, and those brave enough to meet his eyes gave him tentative smiles and rushed in the opposite direction. Thank God. He really did not have the patience to play Mr. Nice CEO this morning. “Yes, I am a little touchy this morning. Remember that conference call we were supposed to have?” “What conference call?” “My point exactly.” “Aw, come on, Dalton, you can’t really expect me to get out of bed before seven, can you?”

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“Oh, of course not, little brother. I completely understand that you need to get your beauty rest and a few more rounds out of the lucky ladies you bring home.” He barely managed to keep the annoyance out of his voice. He understood his brother’s acting out. He really did. He’d been there, done that and wished he was still at that point in his life, but things were different now. When Garrett’s acting out interfered with the company’s business, Dalton could not help but get just a tad pissed off. They had to put on a united front, especially since things at Ellis Enterprises were currently unstable at best. Their parents’ deaths in a car accident a little over a year ago had unhinged more than his and his siblings’ lives. Garrett made a show of brushing off his suit jacket. “Of course they’re lucky.” “Right.” “Anyway, what I was talking about was the fountain that now bears the Ellis name.” Dalton stopped and faced his brother, deciding that it would be more efficient to humor him and get this conversation over with. “A fountain. How the hell did that happen?” “Well, I was on this horrible date Bea forced me into.” Dalton smirked. “Another one of those grubbers?” “Yeah. And category-five clinger.” Garrett shivered. “I hate clingers, and then—” Dalton waited for his brother to continue, but Garrett’s eyes homed in on something over Dalton’s shoulder. When their gazes met again, something predatory sparkled back at Dalton. That was the look Garrett got in his eyes when he saw something—someone, really—he particularly liked. “What?” “I’ll be right back.” Garrett stepped around Dalton and headed toward the receptionist’s desk. “Goddamn it, Garrett—” Dalton watched, impatient, as Garrett crossed the lobby and casually leaned over the desk, his best I’ll-get-in-your-panties smile on his face. Shit. Dalton knew that look. Hell, he used that look himself. What was Garrett up to? Dalton checked his watch, saw they had a few minutes to spare, and then observed his little brother close the deal. Garrett sidled up to the secretary

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and said something suggestive, judging by the cocksure half-grin on his face. Then, there it was—the blush, the looking away, the goo-goo doe eyes. Garrett gestured toward a petite woman flipping through a magazine without even looking at the pages. Her purse overflowed her lap and the chair she sat in seemed to swallow her, but he caught a peek of the tops of her high, sweet-looking breasts and, damn, did she have the most amazing hair he’d ever seen. It had every shade of red, gold, auburn, and amber in it, and even though she had it in some sort of twisty do, her features were still soft and delicate in the morning sunlight. Perhaps he stared at her too long. Her fingers stiffened on the edge of the page they held, and she looked up, her eyes somehow landing on him even through all the people bustling between them. Dalton held her gaze, assessing her sloping cheekbones and softly squared jaw. What really held his attention, though, were her eyes. For having such creamy, luminous skin and all of that fiery red hair, she had brown eyes. She gave him a polite smile and went back to absently flipping through her magazine. And he kept staring at her. The need to cross the room and talk to her stirred within him, and he’d almost taken a step toward her when he came to his senses. He did not have time to pursue anyone right now, let alone a woman who appeared to be as sweet as she looked. Hell no. If he planned on going for anyone at the moment, it would be someone looking for a no-strings-attached fling—a woman who would not demand anything from him and Garrett other than more orgasms, which was more than fine by him. He could use some of those himself, but he drew the line there. He turned his attention back to his brother and saw Garrett strutting across the marble floor toward him, the look on his face saying he was pretty damn smug about something. Dalton turned and strode toward their personal elevators. Garrett fell into step with him. “I was thinking we should schedule a last-minute meeting this morning.” “For what?” “You know, to discuss some stuff.” “Let me get this straight. You actually want to sit through a meeting?” “Yeah. Of course.” “All the way through?”

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“Sure, why not? I’ve been thinking about some stuff for a while and, hey, I think it’s a pretty decent idea.” Dalton called bullshit on that one. The only good ideas that came out of his brother’s mind dealt with women and maybe, just maybe, some decent business savvy every now and then. But Garrett only acted like a grown-up when he wanted to, and for the past few months, Garrett had been anything but. He was getting impatient waiting for his brother’s big reveal. “What idea, Garrett?” “I’ve been thinking about playing a more active role in our company’s philanthropic efforts.” Philanthropic efforts? Dalton halted in mid-stride and gave his brother a thorough once-over. He still looked the same, but something was off. Garrett was never one to suggest boosting the company’s philanthropy, let alone getting hands-on involved. “Garrett, what the hell are you talking about?” He just gave a mighty shrug. “I don’t know. I just think we should be more active in the community.” “Garrett, you’re wasting my time.” He started toward the elevators again, but Garrett stayed on his heels. “What? Why am I wasting your time? Philanthropy is a huge part of our company’s philosophy. I mean, Mom really loved helping the kids out.” Something about the way Garrett pressed the subject made sirens go off in his head. “What is this really about?” “What’s what about?” Garrett’s face resembled that of a five-year-old sneaking candy out of his mother’s purse. “We’ve never personally handled philanthropy before, Garrett. You know this. That’s what we have a public relations department for.” “True, but—all right, fine. I met this girl.” Dalton clenched his teeth together to keep from ripping his brother a new one. “It’s always about a girl with you.” “Hey! I resent that comment. This one is different. She was at the park with all these kids, and it got me thinking.” “I don’t have time for this,” Dalton snarled. “You should be thinking about how to please our shareholders, Garrett, not scratching that constant itch of yours.”

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A red slash formed on Garrett’s cheekbones. “Don’t get high and mighty with me, Dalton. You were the same way before everything happened.” “But everything did happen, Garrett, and now we have to keep things going. Why can’t you get it in your head that you need to grow up?” “And turn out like you? You walk around this place like a damn zombie, Dalton. You don’t sleep, you only eat because I remind you that it’s a bodily necessity, and you hardly spend any quality time with the opposite sex anymore.” “Why does everything go back to that?” “Because I don’t know where you’ve gone, Dalton. Ever since you took over the company, you’ve completely shut down. It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.” They stood there in the middle of the lobby at a stalemate, neither of them willing to give in to the other. **** “Are you ready, Miss Spencer?” Madeline looked up from the spot where her eyes bored a hole into the floor and looked at the secretary, who now stood next to her. “Ready?” “For your meeting,” Lori—according to her silver-plated nametag— said. “Oh. Um, sure.” Madeline stuffed the magazine into her already overstuffed bag and hefted it over her shoulder. “I didn’t expect Mr. Howard to be ready so soon. It sounded like he was really busy.” “Oh, he is. But you won’t be meeting with Mr. Howard,” she said over her shoulder and started walking. Lori’s heels clipped smartly over the floors, and Madeline scurried after her, trying to keep up with a woman who stood at least six inches taller than she. “You’re meeting with the Ellises.” Her stomach dropped. Ellis? She was meeting with the Ellis brothers? “The Ellises? As in ‘Ellis Enterprises’ Ellis? You must be joking,” Madeline said breathlessly when they stopped in front of a row of elevators. She reminded herself that she needed to make time to get to the gym more often. Lori wore high heels and showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever.

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Lori looked at her. “Don’t look so nervous. You should be thrilled. It’s not every day that just anybody gets to meet with them, especially with how hectic things have been around here lately.” Madeline was not nervous. She was nauseated. Everything depended on this meeting. Representatives from the other corporations in Male Order had yet to respond to her, and rumor had it that they tended to follow each other’s examples when it came to business ventures or philanthropy. She heard whispers around Dallas about something having to do with five families, but she did not have a clue as to what “five families” meant. The elevator door chimed and opened. They stepped in and turned around as the golden doors shut behind them, their surface so clean and polished that Madeline saw her reflection staring back at her, pale and wideeyed. She looked so small and stubby next to Lori in all of her supermodel glory. The woman positively glowed, even in the dim elevator, while Madeline felt windblown, sweaty, and too conservatively dressed. Madeline snuck a peek at her impromptu tour guide again. Lori looked like she did a lot of yoga. Maybe that was a hobby Madeline should take up. She ran her fingers through her hair and patted the stray pieces back into place before the door chimed again and opened. The Ellises? She wanted to think about this as a huge breakthrough opportunity. She had spent nearly a week working on her proposal and hoped it was good enough to garner the attention of the people who owned Ellis Enterprises. This was huge. Monumental. Oh, God, she was going to be sick. “Just don’t mind their manner,” Lori said out of the corner of her mouth. “Wait. What’s that supposed to mean?” Madeline asked, confused. Lori just smiled at her. “You’ll see.” Madeline chased down the grand hallway after the other woman. “Here you go.” Lori rapped on the right door three times, pushed it open, and stepped aside for Madeline to walk through. “Enjoy your meeting.” She winked. “Thank you.” Madeline adjusted the strap of the purse she got from T.J. Maxx and set her shoulders back, then took a deep breath. Confident walk. She was doing her confident I-will-get-this-grantmoney walk when she stopped.

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The sheer size of the corner office amazed her. There were more things in here than the typical office, and it almost made her wonder if its owners lived in it. To her left was an understated yet masculine sitting area with a large, U-shaped couch. The leather was a deep, rich brown with subtle red tones when the sun hit it, and tasteful art hung on the walls that complemented the color scheme of the room. Just beyond that sat a grand conference table, and a well-stocked wet bar was located along the left wall. From where she stood, she looked out of the floor-to-ceiling windows and could see the tree tops of the surrounding green belt, and past them, she saw the heart of downtown Male Order. Her palms got clammy, and she started seeing spots. Oh, God. “Fancy meeting you here,” a deep, smooth male voice said from somewhere behind her. Madeline jumped and spun around, her big bag smacking her hard in the back. There, standing in the doorway, was the very man who played erotic havoc on her dreams every night since the fountain incident—Teddy’s rescuer. What was he doing here? “You’re the man from the arboretum,” she blurted. He gave her a devilish little half smile. “In the flesh.” “How did you get in here?” The half smile turned into a grin. “I work here.” She shook her head in confusion. “Wh–what?” How could the man running all around the arboretum in those disgusting shorts work here and wear that suit? Oh, that suit. It fit him as if it were tailored just for his lean, athletic body. And, boy, did she remember that body and the way his wet clothing clung to his huge, square shoulders, his chest, his abs, his… Madeline snapped her gaze back up to his face and swore he looked more than a little smug. “How’s Teddy doing?” He walked toward her, and she took a step back. “Oh, he’s fine. Recuperating after his traumatic experience.” “Good. I’m glad I could have been of service.” The way he said “service” made her think of other things. Her cheeks warmed. “Oh, well, I’m sure Jasmine is, too.”

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He walked—stalked, rather—into the room and approached her with such casual confidence that she nearly missed the heated, almost predatory look in his eyes. She took a step back and pulled her bag in front of her chest, clutching it like a shield. “You didn’t tell me your name.” His voice was soothing and lyrical, and he enunciated his words surprisingly well based on what she saw of him before. She backed up another step, but her voice sounded sure. “I was pretty occupied.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Still, I told you my name. Reciprocating is the polite thing to do.” She stared at him blankly, not knowing how to respond. He let out a knowing chuckle and inched closer. “You don’t remember my name.” She felt the flush rising in her cheeks. “Garrett?” His eyebrows rose ever so slightly. “Are you sure?” “Of course I’m sure.” He closed the distance between them, and she had to tip her head back to look into his face when he stood this close. He smelled like expensive cologne and something earthier, spicier. “How sure are you?” His blue-gray eyes skimmed over her hair, her face, and then he leaned back so he could look lower, down her body. Her nipples hardened, and her hand itched to explore the way his chest and shoulders filled out his suit jacket. She could not help but notice the way the top button on his crisp shirt was undone or the way his tie was a little loose. “As sure as I can be.” He leaned back into her. “Are you now?” “Y–yes.” Madeline’s heart jumped into her throat, and heat licked down her spine, diffusing through her body. Oh, no. She felt the flush rising from her chest. Garrett’s nostrils flared for a moment, and his eyes sharpened to a steely gray. The woman inside her recognized the look of a practiced playboy. Crap! She scrambled for something to say, something to keep him from getting closer to her. His scent already surrounded her, tempting her to stick her hands in places they did not belong.

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“You don’t know my name,” she blurted with all the finesse of a nervous schoolgirl. “Not last week, but the receptionist downstairs is extremely loose-lipped about stuff like that.” He leaned toward her and had lifted her hands when a deep male voice cut through the spell Garrett wove around her. “Jesus, Garrett, can’t your nonsense wait until after lunch?” Madeline tried to peek around Garrett in an attempt to match a face to that sexy, gravel-like voice, but his shoulders blocked her view. “Who is that?” “Meet my charming brother, Dalton.” “Your brother—what is going on? I’m supposed to be meeting with Mr. Howard’s boss, Mr. Ellis.” Garrett rocked back on his heels and grinned down at her. “You’re looking at him. Well, one of them.” “Wait. You’re Garrett Ellis? You?” There was no way in hell. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t realized it sooner, but what kind of selfrespecting corporate boss would run around in public fountains wearing those terrible madras shorts? “Is it that hard to believe?” Dalton’s wry tone threw her off, and her mind went blank. Garrett was beautiful in his own right with his clean-cut playboy looks, but Dalton was different. Dalton was refined in a masculine manner, the energy around him tense, but coiled, as if hiding under a mask of cold aristocratic grace. The hair on her arm prickled, and her skin tingled. Something about him made her want to bolt from the room, but his hypnotically green eyes pinned her to the spot, seeing through her, seeing everything. Garrett looked between them, a secret smile playing on his lips, and cleared his throat. “Dalton, this is Madeline Spencer. Madeline, this is my brother, Dalton.” Dalton wore his suit with graceful disdain, as though it was a sign of authority he respected but really wished he did not have. It draped over his broad shoulders and his chest, giving him the look of a sleek panther held in check by the buttons holding his suit jacket closed. She knew it cost more than six months’ rent at her apartment. Well, if this business meeting did not go well and she got desperate, she could always ask him to donate his suit,

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right? If he did, she would have more than enough money to fund her nonprofit for a month from the look of the cut and fabric. Oh, and the fit. Maddie chewed on the inside of her cheek and admired the way Dalton filled out his jacket, the whole room—just like his brother. Except that whereas Garrett filled the room with his excitement and restless energy, Dalton somehow made things electric. Funny, she never realized when people said he was larger than life that they meant it in the literal sense. “Miss Spencer.” He inclined his head toward her and held out his hand. She took it and could not help but notice the way his hand completely engulfed hers or his long, well-shaped, and blunt-tipped fingers. He stood at least a foot taller than she. Maybe even more. “Have a seat and we’ll discuss whatever it is you wanted to speak with Mr. Howard about.” Dalton pulled out a chair for her and tucked it under her when she sat. She tried not to notice the way his pants molded so nicely to his back side when he moved away from her to return to his seat. Despite his manners, tension radiated from him and buzzed around her. He obviously did not want her there, but for some strange reason, he agreed to this meeting without even knowing who she was or what she wanted. This did not bode well for her at all. Madeline managed a slight smile at Dalton, but he simply regarded her with his green gaze as he lowered his big body into the desk chair behind him. He leaned back into it, giving the impression of being calm and relaxed when Madeline saw the tension in his shoulders. He rested his index finger on his temple while his thumb rested under his square, unshaven jaw. His features were startlingly impassive. Oh my. His dark, wavy hair curled a little at his forehead, and he looked as if he did not particularly care about the fact that he needed a haircut. There was an intensity about him, something that boiled and churned. Maybe it was the hard, jade-like glint in his eyes, or maybe it was the sharp and calculating character in them, a certain shrewdness that made something inside her tense with a hint of fear. His sharp cheekbones gave him the look of a scarcely tamed animal wearing an expensive suit, and he looked ready to pounce on something—including her—at a moment’s notice. The air around him felt full, charged, occupied, as if it belonged only to him.

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And why wouldn’t the very air feel as if it were claimed by him? He was Dalton Ellis, for Christ’s sake. Madeline concentrated on not paying attention to the floaty feeling in her head and noted Dalton sat waiting, as if expecting for her to speak. And then she realized that was exactly what was happening. She managed her bravest, most confident smile and straightened in her seat. “I am the director of funding at the South Dallas Youth Center, which is a non-profit afterschool program for less privileged children. We concentrate on building reading and math skills and taking the children around the museums so they can actually interact with the history they’re learning at school.” She kept smiling like a fool at him, hoping he would share her enthusiasm, but Dalton just looked at her with those intense eyes. “How did the two of you meet?” “I rescued Mr. Teddy for one of her kids a week ago.” Garrett’s voice came from the back of the room, and Madeline turned to see he’d closed the door and leaned a shoulder against it, one leg bent while the other supported his weight. He could have been on the cover of GQ. What would it feel like to have Garrett’s hands all over her, touching her in places she knew were wet from just looking at him? Madeline shifted in her seat and crossed her right leg over her left. Was it hot in here or was it the men in the room? “Are you all right, Miss Spencer?” She jerked and looked into Dalton’s hard gaze. “I’m sorry?” He lifted a brow. “You seem flustered. Are you all right?” “Oh, I’m fine! Just fine.” Her voice sounded high-pitched and squeaky. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t understand why you would want to see me personally.” “So you two met at the arboretum.” Dalton did not phrase his questions as such. He stated things as if they were facts. And he did not seem the best at answering other people’s questions promptly. “Um, yes. One of my kids had her teddy bear thrown into a fountain, and Garrett fished it out for her.” “I see. And thanks to that particular episode, the fountain is now named after us.” The wry quality in Dalton’s voice had started to grate on her nerves. “It wasn’t the little girl’s fault, Mr. Ellis.”

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Dalton held up a hand. “Dalton, please, and I understand it wasn’t. If anyone was at fault, it was my sibling here.” There was something sharper in his gaze now that made Madeline realize some mystery went on behind those eyes of his. “I just remembered that Garrett mentioned meeting someone there. What a coincidence that you showed up here today.” “Hey! It was purely coincidental.” Garrett came up behind her and pulled out the chair next to her, thighs splayed. She wanted to hike her skirt up and hop on. “Right.” Dalton’s shrewd gaze pinned her in place with its hypnotic intensity. He regarded her briefly, and then he turned his attention to his brother with an altogether different look in his eyes. “Coincidence.” They had a silent conversation only the two of them understood, and then Garrett just shrugged and grinned. “What can I say?” “What brings you to Ellis Enterprises?” Dalton’s voice could be deceivingly soft. Although his voice was deep and dark, he did not speak loudly. He spoke as if they were lying under the sheets together, after their bodies were spent. She found herself listening to his every word, attuning her ears to catch the soft, intimate sound of his voice that barely hid the steel intensity underneath. “I’m here to see if Ellis Enterprises is interested in making a corporate donation to the South Dallas Youth Center.” “What does your organization do, specifically?” Dalton asked. “How does it help young people?” “Take Jasmine, for example.” She glanced at Garrett, hoping to see some recognition in his eyes, but he just stared at her as though he was hungry and she was a club sandwich with extra bacon. She turned away from him and choked down her nervous arousal. “According to her teachers, she’s too quiet in the classroom, but whenever I’m with her, she’s a little more talkative and less shy. It’s so amazingly rewarding to see that the South Dallas Youth Center is a place where they can stay for a little while and continue learning instead of being out on the streets. Some of them also have really bad home lives, and I love giving them a safe place to just be kids.” “I see. And do you have your business plan with you?” “Of course.” Madeline dug into her oversized bag, plucked it out, and leaned toward him to hand the portfolio over.

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He took it from her, his gaze slipping from the documents they exchanged to where the neckline of her dress fell slightly away from her chest. If her breasts could blush, they would have gone beet red from the heat in Dalton’s eyes. She leaned back into her seat slowly, as if trying not to startle a riled beast, and shifted her legs against the pangs shooting from her painfully aroused nipples to her thrumming clit. What would it be like for his eyes to look upon her like that when there were not any clothes rubbing against her skin? Dalton would be a slowburning inferno in bed, his strokes precise, every movement intended to bring his partner to the most mind-blowing, white-hot, most out-of-bodyexperience orgasm she would ever have. Her skin tingled, and her body warmed, making her uncomfortably aware of the fact that she’d started to sweat in her dress. And the heat between her legs only intensified when Garrett shifted next to her. Garrett would be the type to tease and tease until a woman could not handle the torture any longer. He would play kinky games in bed, power games meant to thrill and entice until his lover’s inhibitions all but melted away with every orgasm he gave her. Then, finally, he would really get to work. The silence seemed interminably long until Dalton finally pushed her proposal to the corner of his desk. “Why did you come to us, Miss Spencer?” “Wh–what do you mean?” Damn. She knew, just knew, he would ask that question to test her, but for some reason, she could not come up with anything other than the stupid fluttering of her eyelashes—her reaction to anything that momentarily floored her. “Why Ellis Enterprises? There are four other multinational corporations in Male Order. Why us?” “I’m visiting other companies around Male Order, but I wanted to come here first because of your well-known generosity in support of youth programs.” He seemed to ruminate on her words for a moment, then looked at his brother. “You’re sure that’s all.” “If you’re insinuating that I worked some sort of feminine wile magic while your brother ran in circles inside a fountain, you can rest assured that I

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did nothing of the sort. It was your brother who did all the finagling. And besides, I already made it clear that I had no idea who he was until we met again in this very office.” Dalton, who was obviously a master at keeping his features schooled, actually smiled. His smile transformed his face, and for a moment, she saw the shock that registered on his face when he did. “I’m sure he did,” Dalton agreed. “That sounds exactly right.” “I don’t know why you think that’s so funny, Dalton,” Garrett said. “Because that’s how you are, little brother.” Garrett shook his head in denial. “Whatever.” **** Just one tug. Just one tug on the bow of her little “fuck me, please Mr. Big Bad Businessman” wrap-around dress and she’d be naked. She had a thong on. He saw the indentation on her oh-so-nicely rounded hips when he checked her ass out before Dalton, much to Garrett’s disappointment, pulled out a chair so she could sit down. Were her panties black? Lacey? Both? Maybe they were that see-through material he loved so much. She could keep those naughty Catholic school teacher heels on while he fucked her. And there went his cock trying to claw its way out of his pants. Garrett shifted in his chair, adjusted his pants, and took her in from head to toe again while Dalton droned on about something. Damn, but she was delectable, every softly rounded inch of her. He licked his chops and stared at the inches of bare flesh between her knee and the hem of her dress. He wanted to put his hands there and skim them up her thigh until he— “Does that sound all right to you, Garrett?” His head snapped up, and his gaze met Dalton’s. “I’m sorry. Run that by me again.” Dalton gave him a look that said he would humor him in front of their very lovely company. For now. “I was just saying that there isn’t enough time to discuss the whole matter this morning. I was telling Miss Spencer that she should reschedule an appointment with us as soon as possible.” Oh, he had just the perfect spot for their little meeting. “Sure. Sounds great. I’ll think of something.”

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Dalton regarded Madeline for a moment, then looked back at him. “I’m sure you two can arrange something and fill me in on the details.” Garrett felt his grin growing on his face, and he tried his best to hide it from Madeline. His big brother was cooking up a plan, and Garrett planned on going along with it. Damn, this felt good. He and Dalton had not played this game in a while. He really missed this. Garrett looked at Madeline and knew he would do almost anything to get his hands on her. “I’m sure we can arrange something.” Madeline gave him a wide-eyed look and shook her head as though trying to rid herself of something. He hoped it was errant thoughts of him and his brother. “Why don’t we just arrange it for the same time tomorrow or the next day?” Garrett gave her a shit-eating grin. “Sorry. Can’t. We’re booked for meetings all week.” “Are you?” She sat up straighter in the chair. “Well, what about next week?” “I’d rather just get all of the logistics out of the way in our meeting as quickly as possible,” Dalton said. “Besides, we’d like to keep this under wraps until we finalize everything, and meeting somewhere a little more private would be best. Don’t you think?” Dalton’s gaze held fast to Madeline’s face, and Garrett swore he saw her squirm. “I…” She swallowed, and Garrett trained his eyes on her delicate throat, wishing he could run his lips along her jaw. Someone knocked on the door, and the sound cut off her response. He turned to see Vincent Pierce standing at the door and gave a mental sigh. Vincent had the worst timing of anyone Garrett had ever met. “I’m not interrupting anything with the lady, am I?” Vincent asked with a wink as he strode into the room. “Should we reschedule our meeting?” Dalton shook his head. “No, it’s fine. We were just finishing here.” Madeline’s gaze flicked between the two of them, and she shot to her feet. “I think it’s time for me to go. Thank you for your time, gentlemen. I can see our meeting has run a little long. I’ll be in touch with your secretary by tomorrow.” Garrett homed in on her ass as she bent to pick up her huge bag. He shifted in his chair and admired the way her skirt stretched over her ass

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before she straightened to her full height, which was not much at all, even in her heels. Damn. He did not have nearly enough time to fully admire her ass. Once he got her under him, he would teach her to stay bent over for his viewing pleasure until he teased himself with her beauty to the point where he could not stand it any longer. “No, by all means, stay.” Vincent’s gaze swept up and down Madeline’s body, and Garrett wanted to punch the admiring smile off the man’s face. “I’m sure your company is well appreciated.” Madeline’s brows furrowed, but she gave him a polite smile. “Thank you, Mr.—” “Pierce,” Vincent supplied, offering his hand. Garrett swore he would see red if Vincent tried to do the sleazy handkiss thing. But Madeline was all gracious manners. She did not even cringe when Vincent took a step closer to her so that the tips of his shoes touched hers. She just moved her upper body away from him and gave a polite, albeit tight, smile. Thank God. If she looked the least bit uncomfortable, he would have stepped in. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Pierce, but I should get going since you all have a meeting to get started.” She stepped away and turned so quickly the hem of her skirt spun out. Garrett stood and looked at Dalton. “I’ll escort her out.” “You do that,” Dalton said dryly. **** Breathe, Maddie. Just breathe. Passing out from hyperventilation was not the first impression she wanted to make on the Ellis brothers. Holy crap, those men were beyond sexy. She almost did not want to stand up after that meeting for fear her arousal would be evident on the back of her skirt. Speaking of which… She ran her hand along her fanny and checked for wet spots. Nope. Everything clear. Thank God. Everything seemed too bright, too intense. Her skin had never felt this sensitive.

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Madeline clutched her bag tighter to her shoulder and thought of the way Dalton and Garrett moved with a measure of cold, detached reserve, as though always aware of the fact that they were not ordinary people. There was a certain self-assured swagger about their gait, about the way they swung their arms, and the way their shoulders rolled with their steps that made Madeline realize these were not just everyday businessmen hiding behind suits purchased at Macy’s. Those two were some of the biggest power players in the country, maybe even the world. And they met with her personally. What in the hell could they want from her? These men got everything they wanted. Nothing and no one said no. And if someone dared to, Dalton and Garrett Ellis would stop at nothing until they won. She saw it in the stubborn sets of their lips and chins, in the steady and shrewd quality of their eyes. They were ruthless and sharp— commanders of the corporate world. They bowed to no one. She reached the elevator, pressed the down button, and took a step back. Right into a hard, defined chest. The low chuckle immediately told her whose body now pressed against hers. Who knew Garrett Ellis’s suit hid all of that under there? He stepped around her and leaned a shoulder against the wall. He gave her a half-cocked smile, and his eyes were alight with something the hopeful side of her recognized as lust. She rubbed the tops of her thighs together. He smiled down at her, and her nipples tightened. “You walked out of there without saying good-bye.” “Well, how nice of you to escort me out, Mr. Ellis.” Her tone dripped with too much sweetness. “My pleasure.” His smile widened. She waited for him to turn away, but he stayed right where he was, making her hot with excitement and arousal. She was about to tell him that she was a big girl and could wait for the elevator all by herself when a tall, willowy strawberry blonde walked by, sending Garrett the most intensely sexual look Madeline had ever seen. But Garrett just gave the woman a generic smile and tilted his chin toward her. “Oh,” Madeline breathed. She could tell by the way the blonde’s eyes lingered on Garrett knowingly that something had happened between the two, something carnal, something that made Madeline feel inexplicably

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envious. She stared at Garrett and felt the corners of her eyes tighten into a glare. “What? A man’s gotta do who a man’s gotta do.” Her brows shot up on her forehead. “I think you meant to say ‘what.’ A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” He grinned this time and shrugged. “Who, what. It’s all the same to me as long as it’s good.” Madeline took in his loose tie and imagined it binding her wrists together as he put his tongue to her. Her pussy clenched with the need to be filled, and her clit pulsed with every throbbing rush of blood coursing through her body. “You know, I should be going.” She forced herself to swallow, but her mouth and throat were suddenly parched. She pressed the down button again. And again. “Where to?” Away from you before I do something stupid. “I have a couple meetings this afternoon and later this week I need to prepare for.” “Fair enough. Just don’t forget about our meeting tonight.” “What meeting tonight? I thought we were planning on something in the near future.” “Tonight’s almost as soon as possible as it gets. I don’t see any point in waiting any longer than that. We’ll meet at Hester’s Steakhouse. It’s where all the real business is done around here.” She tried her best not to find his smug look sexy. “Real business, huh?” She angled her body to face him fully. She wanted him to back her into the elevator with his huge body, drape her legs over his forearms, and take her against the back wall. She wanted to watch her reflection in the elevator doors as he slammed into her until she quaked around him. She met his eyes, and the corner of his mouth rose as if pulled by an invisible string. His body loomed larger over hers, and his heat scorched her through her dress. “Meet us at eight. We’ll talk in detail about your proposal then.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And you’re free so soon?” He just shrugged a shoulder. “Yeah, sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” “Well, because you have your family’s corporation to run and all that.” “Nah, Dalton and I have plenty of time.”

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Madeline got the distinct impression he was humoring her. She lifted her chin and met him square in the eyes. Well, square in the chin. “Strictly business only, right? I know it might be rude of me to say this, but I’m on a really tight schedule and I have a lot of work to finish up tonight. I can’t afford to spend a lot of time having a long dinner.” “I see.” He dipped his head so that his lips brushed against her ear. “You do realize that I am aware of the fact that all your bluster is to hide the fact that you’re ready for me right now. I can smell it on you.” She jerked back and stumbled into the elevator doors as they cracked open. He looked like her personal devil incarnate. His body screamed sex, and his eyes promised heaven. God help her, he was right. Her body was so ready for him, her nipples so painfully hard that her bra rubbing against them sent sparks of tingling arousal straight to her pussy. She backed all the way into the elevator and pressed L to take her to the lobby. “So eight’s good for you, then?” Garrett stood directly opposite her, the expression on his face one of pure male smugness. That bastard. Madeline straightened her spine and set her shoulders. “Eight-thirty.” He grinned. “My pleasure.” **** Dalton sat with his hands folded into fists on his desk and waited for Garrett to return. He couldn’t stand the way Vincent looked at Madeline even though he barely knew her. He could already tell this meeting would likely not go well. He wanted to get this over with. Vincent slouched in his seat and fiddled with his tie, his dark eyes shifting from one corner of the room to the next. The man looked like hell. Something about him made Dalton’s skin crawl, but for whatever reason, their fathers had hired Vincent before they died. In fact, it was stipulated in their will that he would take over Ellis Eco-Energy. Garrett finally sauntered in, closing the door behind him, but with a ridiculous smile on his face, not the look one should have during this kind of business meeting. He came up behind Vincent and squeezed his shoulders, which made Vincent flinch and look even more uncomfortable than before.

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Leaning in, Garrett said, “Why so tense, Vincent?” He smiled as he stood and took a seat off to the side, just behind Vincent’s line of sight. His brother loved to unnerve people they had meetings with. Whereas Dalton liked to simply get things over with quickly, like ripping a Band-Aid off, Garrett liked to draw it out. It was like a game to him, and he was a cat batting around its prey before gobbling it up, bite by bite. “All right, let’s get started.” Dalton flipped open the file on his desk, revealing the quarterly earnings report of all the various companies and subsidiaries that made up Ellis Enterprises. All the lines on each graph continued their upward trend of profitability, except for one. “So, Vincent. Our fathers put you in charge of Ellis Eco-Energy, for what reason I have no idea, and after heading it for about a year, it’s become clear that you are running it into the ground.” He slapped the spreadsheet down on his desk in front of Vincent. After pausing a moment too long, Vincent finally leaned forward and picked it up like a dirty tissue. He barely glanced at it before answering. “And?” Dalton wanted to just punch the smug look off his face. He could hardly stand this insufferable asshole. He took a breath, knowing how easily another asinine comment or look could set him off. “And? And out of all our companies, yours is the one that should be having no trouble turning a profit. Green energy has the largest growth potential in the energy market right now, and wind farming is at the forefront of the trend. Doing well should have been a breeze.” “Pardon the pun,” Garrett interjected as he got up and headed toward the bar. Dalton glanced at his watch as he heard the sound of ice hitting a crystal highball glass. Not even five minutes had passed, and his brother was already bored with their meeting. Great. Dalton rolled his eyes and sat forward in his chair, casting his hard gaze on Vincent as he waited with all the patience he could muster for the man to respond. “These numbers don’t mean anything. We’re doing just fine—” “No, Vincent, these numbers mean everything. This is business we’re talking about here. Cut and dried, black and white. Either you’re making money or you’re not. And you’re not. In fact,” Dalton flipped through the file, looking for another spreadsheet, “your company is damn near hemorrhaging money. Everything is running grossly over-budget—”

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“It’ll be fine. Once we get the wind farm up outside of Male Order—” “That project should have been completed six months ago, and now it seems to have at least six more months to go. We could have had the largest wind farm in the world, but now that title goes to the farm in Roscoe. I wanted Ellis Enterprises at the top of the clean energy heap, but do you know how far behind we are? How is it that I know more about your company than you do? It’s ridiculous. You don’t get to the top to micromanage and babysit, but that’s what I have to do with you.” Vincent cringed at the last sentence, and a darkness swept across his gaze. “You mean how you and your brother worked your way to the top? Inherited from Daddy. Or should I say Daddies?” Dalton cracked his knuckles before standing and leaning over his desk with a finger pointed at Vincent. “Listen here, if you paid any attention at all, you’d know that my brother—” “To a lesser degree,” Garrett interjected. Dalton chose to ignore him and continue. “—and I have worked our asses off at this company. We’re the ones who started Ellis Eco-Energy before our fathers passed away and forced us up the ladder, putting you in charge there. That company was running just fine until you got your hands on it. I don’t know what you’re up to, but believe me, I will find out, and if there is anything amiss, get ready to have your ass handed to you on a platter.” Vincent’s entire body stiffened, and he gripped the armrests of his chair until his knuckles turned to a ghostly white variegated with the red and blue streaks of his constricted blood vessels. He looked like he was about ready to pounce, and he just might have if Garrett hadn’t picked that exact moment to plop a glass of scotch in Vincent’s hands. “On the rocks is okay? I think it’s high time for a beverage break, no?” Garrett handed another drink to Dalton and gestured for them to clink glasses. Dalton held the drink up, his elbow resting on the desk and waited. Garrett tapped the side of his glass against Vincent’s and then Dalton’s. Dalton just sat there, forcing Vincent to stand and lean toward him for their glasses to meet. After everyone took a sip, Garrett exhaled. “So where were we?” Vincent downed his drink then, and when it had been fully drained of liquor, he slammed it on Dalton’s desk. Ice cubes bounced out upon contact,

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leaving puddles on the antique Brazilian rosewood. Dalton grabbed the glass, took out his pocket square, and wiped the offending ring of condensation and ice puddles away. Then he set the empty glass on a coaster. Dalton hated seeing fine things being abused or neglected. “If all you fellas wanted was to share a drink, as you can see, I’m done. So I’ll just be—” Vincent had started to rise out of his chair when Dalton stopped him. “Sit down, we’re not finished here.” Dalton took a sip of his whiskey and allowed the liquid burning down his throat to ease his tension, and then he took a deep breath. “Listen, Vincent. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know why our fathers put you in charge over there, but you are treading on very thin ice. That company is turning to shit before my eyes when I know it was gold before. I called this meeting to help you. For whatever reason, our fathers took a shine to you, and I am giving you an opportunity to get your act together. I know the value and potential of Ellis Eco-Energy. We’re having an external auditor come to check out your books and find the weak spots and get rid of them. If that includes you, then so be it.” “But your fathers stipulated that I head that company. It’s mine. I deserve it,” Vincent protested like a petulant child, and it made Dalton cringe, the man’s voice like nails on a chalkboard. “I know what they said, but make no mistake, I will do what is best for Ellis Enterprises and the Ellis name no matter what. When the report comes back, I’ll present it to the Board, though, depending on what it finds, but I might just fire you myself if you don’t get it together and fast.” Dalton took a breath and figured it was time to include a few choice words of positive encouragement. “Vincent, we want everyone at Ellis Enterprises to succeed, and since you are still a part of this team, that includes you. Just get it together.” Vincent opened his mouth to speak, but Garrett gripped him by the shoulders again and patted him hard on the back. “Vincent, my man, I think it would be best if you went on your way. You have a lot ahead of you, and I know my brother and I can trust that from here on out it’ll be smooth sailing over at Ellis Eco. Am I right?” Vincent slowly nodded as he glared while Garrett urged him up out of his chair and toward the door.

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“Ta ta.” Garrett closed the door behind him. “What a fucking twit that man is.” He picked up his glass and sat back down across from Dalton. “Something’s just not right about that man. I don’t know why Vincent was picked to head this company anyway. It came out of nowhere. I tried to just let it go and put my trust in our fathers’ final wishes, but this is getting out of hand.” “The only green he cares about seems to be money, though he isn’t so interested in making it as he is spending it. I have never seen a budget get so out of control, and you’ve seen my checkbook.” Garrett chuckled. “I’ve never gone over-budget.” He smirked as he put the glass of whiskey up to his lips and took a sip. “Garrett, you don’t have a budget to go over.” Dalton rolled his eyes as he sat back down. He turned his head back and forth, stretching his neck to ease the tension that had built there. He knew several board members who could easily handle this business instead of him, leaving him to be nothing more than a figurehead. But he couldn’t take the risk of losing control and having the Ellis name tarnished. He knew that no one would protect the best interest of this company and his family better than him. It was a lot of responsibility and not a job he took lightly. “That’s true.” Garrett laughed and lifted his glass as if to salute Dalton. He cut his eyes at his playboy brother as he absentmindedly chewed the liquor-infused ice in his nearly empty glass. Dalton wondered if Garrett would ever be mature enough to handle this kind of responsibility and pressure. Then again, he figured that’s what he was for. Wasn’t it the job of the eldest male to take care of the rest of the family? His fathers had certainly thought so when they put him in charge of the company. “So where is all the money for the project going?” “I think I have an idea where all the money went. Carlton Eastman was at the racetrack at Grand Prairie this past weekend and says he saw Vincent there, cursing up a storm, drink in hand.” “So, he’s a gambling drunk. Is that what you’re telling me?” “Pretty much.” “Why don’t you just fire him now?” Dalton sighed heavily, feeling the entire weight of the world on his shoulders. “Believe me, I would and will if it comes down to it. But first and

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foremost, I have to do what’s right. Our fathers wanted him around, and Ellis Enterprises is big enough to absorb a heavy loss in one sector. The least I can do is give Vincent a chance to straighten out his act. I have to know I did everything I could to do what our fathers wanted.” “You’re a better man than me, Dalton.” Garrett took another sip of his drink. “So what exactly is the state of the wind project? How behind is it?” Dalton exhaled deeply and ran his fingers through his hair. “We sent our guy out there, and he says only half the turbines are up. The rest of them are just lying around, probably getting rusty. He said the grass had started to grow up around them, so he knew it had been a while since anyone’s been out there. Construction probably stopped right around the time Vincent got the company.” “Christ. I can’t believe it.” “The project has hemorrhaged money. The upfront investment was already huge, and on top of that, I doubt Vincent ever filed the final paperwork applications for federal grants and subsidies for the project. We won’t know exactly how bad everything is until the audit is completed. This level of oversight is unprecedented here.” Dalton drank the last bit of liquor in one big swallow that burned on the way down, a sensation he relished at the moment. “This never would’ve happened when our dads were around.” “No, Dalton. This is a problem caused by our dads, as much as you hate to admit it. They weren’t perfect. Something odd is definitely going on, and sooner or later the truth will come out.” Garrett squeezed Dalton’s shoulder. “This isn’t your fault.” “But it’s my responsibility.”

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Chapter Three Garrett pressed his hand against the small of Madeline’s back, his thumb barely caressing her silky skin, and gently guided her through the front doors of Hester’s, one of the places to see and be seen in Male Order. Hester was actually his and Dalton’s great-great-aunt, and the restaurant, which she had owned all those years ago, had been passed down through the generations and into their hands when their parents died. Garrett could not fight the pride he felt when he watched Madeline’s eyes widen. Her steps slowed to grinding halt, forcing him to slow down as well, and she gazed around the room slowly. “This is…” She started. He looked down at her, then followed the line of her gaze to the huge chandelier that took up the majority of the center part of the ceiling, flanked on either side by two staircases that landed in the center of the dining room and drifted up to the second floor. The chandelier really hung down from the ceiling of the second floor, and the first floor ceiling opened in a wide circle, framing the chandelier in all of its shining, crystalline glory. Round tables encircled the perimeter around the stairs, and couples and small groups were already seated at most of them, their faces glowing in the dancing candlelight. Garrett gently urged her forward with his hand, and as they drew closer, he saw the balustrades that ran the perimeter of the second floor. Each of the five founding families had a private room there for their own personal use, and they had an unspoken “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy about the goings-on in those rooms. Glancing to his right, Garrett saw that the bar was already full. Ladies wearing silk and shining diamonds gracefully flirted with men in crisplypressed dress shirts and suit jackets. Behind the bar, the mixologists, as they like to call themselves, shook their silver mixers with efficient precision,

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and there were already several martinis—the house specialty—in different colors resting on the bar. Booths upholstered in smooth, buttery leather ran along the opposite wall of the restaurant, and patrons had the option of choosing between an open booth and a private booth, depending on their fancy for the evening. Garrett hid his smile at the sight of an excited-looking woman sliding between her two men and trailing her fingers down one the lapels of one of their jackets before the hostess snapped the curtains shut around their booth. Dalton stopped at the landing of the stairs. “After you,” he said to Madeline. She gave him a polite smile. “Thank you.” She had stood directly between Garrett and Dalton, and when she started climbing the stairs, he and Dalton were left facing each other. Garrett was certain that the carefully banked hunger in Dalton’s eyes matched his own. Garrett took a second to grin at his brother before turning and following Madeline up the stairs, admiring the way her hips swayed. He jogged to catch up, and once he reached her, he led her around the curved row of balustrades toward his and Dalton’s private room. Alfred, the maitre d’, already stood in front of the open door, looking crisp and polished in his black uniform. He inclined his head respectfully when Garrett led Madeline into the room, Dalton following close behind them. “Maddie, why don’t you have a seat here? That’s right, just scoot on in.” Garrett watched as she slid into the booth, her dress riding up her delectable thighs as she maneuvered into the center of the round booth. She quickly pulled the hem of her dress down, but it was too late. Garrett had already caught a glimpse of her flesh, and his dick began its uncontrollable growth in his trousers. He followed behind her while Dalton sat down on the other side, effectively sandwiching her between them. There would be no way for her to escape. “This place is incredible from what I can see of it.” Madeline let out what sounded like a nervous giggle. She picked up the linen napkin, and her dainty hand seemed to get lost in the material. She placed it carefully on her lap and folded her hands on top of it. Garrett lamented the fact that all the money in the world couldn’t buy superpowers and he couldn’t magically transform into that napkin in her lap. He briefly considered telling Alfred to close the door to the room and using the discreet intercom system to order

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their meals, but judging by her slightly nervous demeanor, Garrett decided that now was the time for a meal that private. “Yes, we like to keep it dim here for the ambience.” Dalton smiled, showing a precise row of pearly whites. It was nice to see a genuine expression of happiness on his face again. There were moments, particularly during an important meeting about the control of their empire, when Garrett didn’t think he’d ever see his brother happy again. “I hope you have a good appetite.” “And, if you don’t, I’m sure we can do something to work one up.” Garrett leaned in, knowing that his actions bordered on sexual harassment, but he didn’t care. He just couldn’t help himself. He noticed that when he was around Madeline, he seemed to get lost in a fog permeated with her glorious, delicate scent. It overpowered him, and she infiltrated every one of his senses. It was maddening but marvelous. When he expected his words to make her blush or demure, she did the exact opposite. She narrowed her gaze at him, straightened her spine, and cleared her throat. “And I’m sure that you and Mr. Ellis here both understand that I am here solely on a professional level. All that I hope to work up is some funding for my organization.” She reached beside her and pulled a binder out of her purse. “I’m not sure whether you were able to look thoroughly enough at our proposal, but I’m sure if you did, your company would definitely—” “That won’t be necessary, Miss Spencer.” Dalton put his hand over hers and stilled it, his huge hand completely dwarfing hers. “We can discuss the details later. First, we eat. Alfred, can you please bring me and my brother our usual and—” He turned to look at Madeline before Garrett interrupted. “Let’s also start off with a plate of oysters on the half shell with plenty of horseradish.” “And for our guest here,” Dalton glanced at her for a moment and then crinkled his brow in thought, “how about a petite filet, juicy, red, and medium rare. What would you like to drink, iced tea? An iced tea, Alfred.” Madeline attempted to protest, but Dalton held his hand up, silencing her. Garrett almost laughed out loud at the look of utter shock and revulsion written as clear as day on Madeline’s face. Her jaw dropped, leaving her bottom lip in a tantalizing pout.

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Alfred bowed before he turned and marched off, most likely to call the order down to the kitchen. Moments later, he returned and took his original place, out of hearing range but close enough that either Garrett or Dalton could summon with just a look. Dalton turned back to Madeline and smiled. “You were saying something?” “With all due respect, I just think it was quite rude of you to order for me. I don’t even eat red meat.” She crossed her arms over her perfectly round breasts and pushed them up a little in the process. Garrett knew it would help ease tensions if he stepped in to mediate this obvious lapse in communication, but he knew the show would be worth it. He sat back and just watched. Dalton let out a low chuckle, the edges of his eyes crinkling in amusement. “Don’t eat red meat? Why the hell not? It’s delicious. And good for you, too.” “Good for you? Ha! Everyone knows that red meat is terrible for your body, and it takes forever to digest. It just sits in your colon, fermenting.” Madeline’s eyes widened, and then she quickly cast her gaze down to her hands. “I’m sorry, that’s not appropriate dinner conversation, even though it’s true.” She mumbled the last part, and Garrett had to strain to hear. The three of them sat there silently for a moment, but for once, it didn’t feel awkward. At least not to Garrett. He thought it was hilarious, watching her and his brother squirm a bit in their seats. He could see that it was taking all of Dalton’s control to keep his mouth shut. “And besides, what makes you think I’d want a petite filet?” Madeline’s chin jutted out defiantly. “What do you mean, exactly?” Garrett asked, turning at the waist so that he completely faced her. “Well, what makes you think that I would want a small steak? Just because I’m a woman or I’m small? Petite people don’t solely eat petite foods.” Dalton sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay, I guess I should have asked. What is it that you want, Miss Spencer?” After a pause, she looked him dead in the eyes. “I’ll have what you’re having. Exactly what you’re having.” She said those words deliberately

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without a moment’s hesitation. Her exterior exuded confidence, but Garrett wondered what she was feeling beneath that façade. “You want a porterhouse? Rare?” Dalton looked incredulous, and Garrett was sure the look on his face mirrored his brother’s. “If that’s what your usual is, then yes.” Madeline sat up ramrod straight and nodded firmly. “Very well then. Alfred, please cancel the petite filet and double my usual. It seems our guest wants something…bigger, more satisfying.” Dalton smirked, which surely drove little Madeline crazy. “Right away, sir. Ah, here are your oysters,” Alfred said. He turned at the waist and took the plate from younger-looking server, who had quietly approached the table, and placed it on the table before them. Then Alfred set their drinks down, which included a Dalmore 62 Single Highland Malt Scotch on the rocks for Dalton and a black and tan for Garrett. After asking if they needed anything else, Alfred bowed respectfully and returned to his post. “We have the oysters shipped in daily so they’re always fresh and delicious, no matter the season.” Garrett picked one up and put a dollop of cocktail sauce and extra horseradish on it and held it out for Madeline. He intended for her to eat from his hand, perhaps share a fabricated moment of sensuality, but instead she shook her head at him. “No, thanks. I don’t eat my oysters with all that stuff on them. You’re just masking the flavor. I like it,” she picked up an oyster shell in her slender fingers and held it to her lips, “pure.” She dipped her head back, exposing the graceful, creamy length of her neck barely cloaked beneath a silk scarf tied in a small knot to the side. Then she gently sucked the briny morsel into her mouth. When she swallowed, her throat bobbed subtly up and down, creating an image that sent Garrett’s imagination meandering through an assortment of wicked thoughts and fantasies. The way Dalton’s gaze fixated on her told Garrett that his brother likely felt the exact same way. His cock thumped at the thought of what he and his brother could do to Madeline’s beautiful little body, the carnal sounds that they could wrench from her, the contortion of her lips on her perfect, moon-shaped face. “Mmm, that’s a good oyster. So fresh. It’s like the purity of the ocean is just swimming in my mouth.” Madeline’s eyes were shut as she spoke, and a

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tiny smile played at her lips. She seemed almost lost in her gustatory experience. When she finally opened her big brown eyes and looked at them with a startled expression, Garrett realized that he and Dalton were ogling her, salivating. Her eyes were round and wide, like a rabbit who had just realized she’d been cornered by two wolves. **** Madeline set the oyster shell back down on its bed of crushed ice and wiped the corners of her mouth with her napkin. The way the men looked at her unnerved her. She got the distinct sense that they wanted to eat her alive, which was ridiculous. These were two powerful men who could have anything and any woman in the world. They certainly wouldn’t want her, at least not for anything meaningful. Despite her earlier argument, she was petite and maybe even a little on the mousey side. The Ellis brothers probably dated tall, lithe models or heiresses with legs that went on till next Tuesday. She didn’t come from a wealthy, well-connected family and had never once in her life said, “Do you know who my father is?” in a defiant or haughty manner. Madeline was just a regular girl with regular dreams. Except, a part of her knew that her dreams would soon be infiltrated by two not-so-regular guys. “I know it sounds ridiculously cheesy, but I have never seen an oyster eaten so lusciously in my life. Truly.” Garrett leaned toward her and again held an oyster out for her. This time it was plain, simple and pure, just the way she liked it. “Please, have another.” She took it genially, though it was suddenly the last thing she wanted to put in her mouth. Garrett ran his tongue across his lips, and she wanted nothing more than to have him inside her. She thought she heard a low growl to her left and turned to see Dalton still eyeing her with that same ravenous look. She offered Dalton the oyster. “You look hungrier than I am. You want it?” God, she needed to get out of there or at least out from under their stares. The intensity in Dalton’s dark green eyes, like two smoldering emeralds, bore deep into her, and she felt like she would melt beneath his gaze.

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Dalton let out a low chuckle. “Darling, I’m starving, but what I want wouldn’t be on the menu.” His voice sounded husky and thick, guttural. “Oh?” Madeline’s mouth went dry. Her panties became damp as her pussy throbbed at his words and the way his deep voice drawled each syllable in that rough way. She wanted it to be her that he hungered for. But was she? How could he possibly want her of all people? And, besides, this was not the right time to start a relationship and, anyway, whom would she choose. Ha! As if she had a choice. It was more likely that neither man had any interest in her, let alone both. No, Madeline had a job to do. People, families depended on her. She couldn’t let them down, especially not for something as frivolous as a roll in the hay with someone who could secure the future of her organization. It was a risk not worth taking. Just when her resolve had been re-cemented, a single touch began chiseling away at her. She felt warmth spreading across her thigh and realized it was Garrett’s hand. Even though it was through a couple layers of fabric, his touch singed her skin. She wanted to be professional, and a professional would be offended at this intimate and unsolicited contact, especially at a business meeting. But she wanted it there. She needed his hand on her, all over her. Then an even stronger heat surrounded the left side of her body as Dalton inched closer to her, invading her personal space and her wanton fantasies at the same time. It had been a long time since she’d been with a man, and the prospect of being with either of these men both frightened and tantalized her. Then the image of both of them on her flashed in her mind, and the onrush of feelings and sensations that flooded her body from within verily scared the wits out of her. Being with two men, especially these two men, at the same time was ridiculous. She wasn’t that kind of girl. She suddenly struggled to remember why she was there in the first place. All she could think about was the overwhelming heat surrounding her body that was ignited by these two brothers. “You know, this place has been in our family for generations and was named after our great-great-aunt Hester,” Dalton said. “That’s right. Since we were children we’ve been eating USDA Prime grade meat,” Garrett drawled. The children. She chastised herself for her unprofessionalism, her lack of focus. She had a purpose and that was getting funding for her kids. She

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couldn’t let misdirected hormones get in the way. She knew Ellis Enterprises could afford to spare a few thousand dollars. And once she secured this deal, she would move on to the next corporate sponsor and then the next. She couldn’t think about herself right now. There wasn’t time for that. She had other obligations that were far more important than what her vagina wanted. She cleared her throat and thanked her lucky stars their dinner was being brought out. “Great, food,” she said cheerily. One waiter set down Garrett’s ample steak while another hefted to the table two plates of the thickest, juiciest, bloodiest hunks of flesh that Madeline had ever seen. Instead of being repulsed, she found her mouth watering at the sight and the smell. Her eyes fixated on the large T-shaped bone, and salivating for it made her feel like an animal. “You look a little surprised, Madeline. It’s a porterhouse. That’s what you ordered. This is what real men eat, not some sissy steak where they take the bone out for you,” Dalton teased his brother. “Well, I don’t see the point in messing with all that if what I want is the tender, juicy, flavorful parts. More payoff for far less work.” “A little hard work never hurt anybody. Isn’t that right, Miss Spencer?” Dalton ate a piece of steak, and the way his jaw muscles worked mesmerized her. Her thoughts momentarily flitted back to her desires, and she imagined those strong muscles tantalizing her before she determinedly pushed those thoughts away. “My sentiments exactly, which is the reason I’m here tonight. As we were discussing before, I am trying to start a non-profit organization for—” “You got the money, Miss Spencer. Now can we enjoy the rest of dinner? You haven’t even touched your steak yet. It’s not getting any deader.” Dalton put another forkful of red meat into his mouth and smiled smugly. “Wait, what did you say?” “I said it’s not getting any deader, meaning—” “No, before that. About the money?” “Yeah, you got it. How much do you need? We’ll write you a check in the morning. I don’t carry my corporate checkbook with me everywhere I go.”

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Madeline sat there for a moment, stunned. Well, that wasn’t so hard. She then realized he was waiting for her to respond. How much money should she ask for? She didn’t want to say too little, but she also didn’t want to offend them with an exorbitant amount. “How about twenty-five thousand?” “You’re saying it like it’s a question, as though you want me to haggle or something. Ellises don’t haggle. We demand and that’s how you get what you want. Now, try it again. Tell me how much money your organization needs.” “Twenty-five thousand…and not a penny less.” “Twenty-five thousand? Is that all?” Dalton smiled broadly at her in a way that made her think he was toying with her. “Thirty thousand,” Madeline countered. “Done.” She felt proud of herself and yet had a niggling doubt in her mind that she should have asked for more money, but this would make up more than half of what they needed to run the center for the first six months. Her mind raced with what that money should go toward first and calculated how much she would need, estimating how much more time she needed to raise the funds. “Madeline? I can’t decide whether your jaw is hanging open because you’re surprised or hungry.” Dalton held a forkful of steak up, brushing the meat to her bottom lip. “You want a bite?” Dalton chuckled as did Garrett. She shut her mouth with a snap and then covered it with her hand, but she got a hint of the meaty flavor, and her stomach grumbled. Her body seemed to yearn for it, just a taste, just a nibble, but it seemed so wrong. What was it she said earlier about red meat? “Sorry, I was just thinking about the center and how important your donation is to keeping this organization on its feet.” “And we’re happy to help any way we can.” Dalton smiled. “Yes, and I am eternally grateful.” She looked down at her watch. As much as she enjoyed their company, she had gotten what she wanted, and it was time for her to get back home and start planning for the next day. She had an entire list of companies to visit, and she doubted the meetings would go as smoothly as this one. “Do you need to be somewhere?”

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“How rude of me. Actually, yes, I really ought to get going soon. It’s getting rather late, and I have a lot of planning to do still and organizational needs to attend to before morning.” There was an awkward silence, and both the Ellis brothers looked displeased. She cringed inside, realizing she still had a lot to learn when it came to public relations and corporate schmoozing. Wasn’t business like a game? She needed to learn how to play if she was going to succeed. Dalton had a somber expression on his face. “It does sound like you have a lot of work to do, and I understand if you have to leave—” “But,” Garrett said, “I think we have another option that we could discuss tonight, since you’re here. I mean, it would be a waste of a beautiful steak and your time for you to leave right now before you fully explore all the opportunities before you. For your company.” Garrett smiled devilishly, and his eyes twinkled. She had a feeling his intentions were less than sincere, and she could swear he had inched even closer to her. Her gut told her something was amiss. But when her stomach growled again, she realized it wouldn’t be the worst idea to stick around a while longer. Running out on a free meal was something she never did as a college student, and it was that kind of frugal ethos that she needed to get back to for a while. Yes, that was exactly the reason for her staying, nothing more. “Umm…that—” “Is a good point, Garrett.” Dalton finished her sentence and made up her mind for her. She swallowed nervously and studied each brother. She normally didn’t like pushy or chauvinistic men who were more Neanderthal than Nobel Prize winner, but something about Dalton and Garrett made her insides turn to hot jelly. Maybe it was just nerves, she reasoned. It wasn’t every day that she met with two of the most powerful men in the Dallas area, and she had a lot on the line, too. Still, she wouldn’t let them absolutely dominate her. If they were planning on working together in the future, she’d have to lay the ground rules down now. “So what did you have in mind?” She tried to sound confident and strong, picturing herself poised above them, controlling them and their sexuality as they clearly tried to do with her. But then those thoughts turned to the simple want of having a cock insider her.

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“We, my dear, have something that you want, that you need, but don’t have.” Garrett’s words rolled seductively off his tongue. She nearly choked right then and there. Had they been reading her mind? Or was she just that obvious? A mini panic attack began to take hold. She felt like all her blood had just rushed from her brain to her pussy. It was like a hungry bear had awakened from a long hibernation. “And what is that?” Her words came out sounding too meek and breathless to her. She wanted so badly for Garrett to kiss her with that wicked smile of his while Dalton wrapped her up in his oversized hands. “Connections, sweetheart.” Garrett smiled and pulled back. It was like the breath had been sucked out of her. She felt stupid for hoping. “Connections? That sounds promising.” She looked down and started cutting her steak, praying any sign of disappointment wouldn’t reveal itself on her face. She tended to be a blusher, a constant source of embarrassment. She wanted to spend the whole evening cutting that damn steak, but the meat was so tender, the knife so sharp, it took no time at all. She took a bite and chewed slowly, letting the juices and flavors of the perfectly seared meat explode in her mouth. It tasted intense, smoky, and satisfying in a most primal way. “My, would you look at the appetite on this one?” Dalton said as he sat back, resting his wrists on the edge of the table. She felt eyes on her again and paused from her voracious eating to see Garrett eyeing her mouth. She thought perhaps she had remnants of cow on her face and gingerly wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Who knew such a pretty little thing could put away food like that?” Garrett chuckled. “Darling, something tells me you really have been deprived of meat for quite some time.” He made eye contact with Dalton and grinned devilishly. “Looks like you found us just in time.” He tilted her chin toward him and wiped the corner of her mouth with his white linen napkin. The contact was so intimate and unexpected, Madeline again found herself in a chaotic state of mixed emotions. It made her heart flutter, her pussy purr, and her mind reel all at once. Was this just how big executives handled themselves in Male Order? That old Texas cowboy attitude still thrived in this little town? Was it just the Ellises?

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Madeline cleared her throat. “So, you were saying about connections?” She pulled back from Garrett, pushing her plate away, and closed her fists together, resting them on the table. She angled her elbows out to force personal space. His face seemed to fall ever so slightly. Good. Dalton seemed to have a hint of a smirk, but she had no idea why. Maybe he always looked like that, though something told her that wasn’t likely. Garrett cleared his throat. “Yes, uh, there are several powerful families in Male Order who all have an interest in philanthropy. Every year we, the five founding families, have an annual meeting. I could put in a good word, even introduce you to them.” “That’s an excellent point, little brother.” Dalton’s smirk remained as he leaned toward Madeline. She couldn’t help but angle her elbow a little farther into her body. “If you can get in good with them, it’ll be like killing five birds with one stone.” “If you go alone, cold calling, you’ll have to hit the pavement hard. I promise you, getting funding for your organization won’t be as easy as it was with us.” “As you may have noticed, my brother is very easy.” Madeline couldn’t help but smile at Dalton’s statement. “Think about it. If you want, we can set up time for another meeting tomorrow or the next day. I see a bright future for you and your organization, Madeline. Partnering with the Ellises might be the best choice you ever made,” Garrett said with a wink. Staring from one brother to the next, she wondered if she really had a choice, in business or anything. Their charm was so magnetic. Though she prided herself on her iron will, they broke her easily. Then Garrett rested a finger on the top of her hand so his arm barely rested on hers. He had taken his coat off and rolled up the sleeves of his pressed shirt to his elbows. She could feel the hairs of his forearm tickling her skin. Dalton reached his arm behind her, but rested it on the top of the booth so that it only pressed ever so slightly against the back of her head. She would only have to lean twenty degrees in his direction, and she could be cradled in the crook of his shoulder, pressed against the solid mass of his body.

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Madeline fought to breathe. It felt as if the world had closed in on her. Every sip of air she managed was inundated with the spicy male scents of the Ellis brothers. It intoxicated her. She reasoned with herself that it might have been the heavy meal or the stress that came with starting any new enterprise, but deep down she knew she simply did not have the power to resist having two beautiful men on either side of her body. She radiated heat from the top of her scalp to the tips of her toes. She could feel the telltale flush of crimson spreading on her face and down the length of her body. She knew even her ears burned a dark red. She rested her forehead in her hand while putting her other hand to her chest as if that would still the overwhelming beating of her heart. Maybe she was having a panic attack, something she’d had only once, during her freshman year of college. This seemed different, though. “Madeline? Miss Spencer, are you okay?” Dalton put his big hand on her shoulder, which only made the tingling sensations radiating through her intensify. “Garrett, give her a glass of water or something.” Madeline took a deep breath and looked up. “I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s probably all this rich food.” She put a clammy hand to her cheek and forehead before fanning herself a little. “It seems warm in here, doesn’t it?” She untied the silk kerchief around her neck and raised her hand to fan herself. Instead, she knocked over the glass of ice water that Garrett had set in front of her. The chilly contents of the glass seemed to flood the table, sending a waterfall into her lap and likely the laps of Garrett and Dalton. She vainly pushed the ice and water away with her scarf, but the little scrap of material could do nothing to halt the deluge. Instantly, Alfred and four other servers, each wearing matching uniforms complete with vests, crisp white shirts and bowties, descended on the table with expert ease, quickly and efficiently clearing the table and wiping up the spilled water. “Oh, crap, I’m so sorry. I’m so clumsy. I didn’t see it there.” She couldn’t look at either man but focused all her attention on the mess in front of her, dabbing and dabbing even though the servers had already cleared most of it off. “You know, I think you’ve done all you can with your kerchief, Madeline…but if you’re intent on helping out, I do have a couple cubes in

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my lap that could use some attention.” With a sly smile, Garrett leaned back and pointed to his crotch. Madeline felt her mouth drop in horror, though she wasn’t sure what exactly horrified her so. Was it that this man whom she’d just met would come on to her with such a lascivious and crass line or that she actually wanted to do exactly as he told her? She cautiously followed his finger to where it pointed, and indeed, there were exactly two cubes of ice in his lap. Great. Dalton chose to take care of the cubes in his lap on his own, collecting them in his hand and dropping them unceremoniously onto the table. He turned to Madeline and smiled, but she doubted the sincerity of it, even though it was truly one of the most beautiful smiles she had seen in a long time. “Let’s move to a neighboring booth. Alfred will have the entire meal prepared again in no time at all.” “Or would you prefer to skip ahead to dessert?” Garrett’s eyes seemed to twinkle as he spoke. She nodded, though she realized belatedly that she may have agreed to more than she had intended. Or perhaps that was only wishful thinking. She doubted extreme awkwardness did much to rouse a man’s loins. Both brothers began to stand and exit the booth. She slid out following Dalton, and she took his hand when he offered it. It practically engulfed hers in its masculine firmness. It made her heart still. Then a pool of water dripped down her lap and into her shoes. Madeline had never felt more embarrassed in her entire life. Being drenched did nothing to cool her down, and if anything, the incident inflamed her body even more. Turned on and mortified? It was time to make a hasty retreat. Dalton tried to lead her to the booth next to the one they sat at, but, as much as it pained her to do so, she pulled away. **** When her little hand slipped out of his, Dalton felt like a piece of him had been ripped away. It had just felt so incredibly right, as if it belonged there. He tried to take it again, but the way Madeline’s brow furrowed made him think she needed her space. And who was he to stop her? He had no

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claim to her, and frankly, trying to start a relationship with Madeline wouldn’t have been the honorable thing to do anyway. He wouldn’t be able to do the auburn-haired beauty justice. She deserved to be lavished with attention, to be pleasured from dusk until dawn and then back again. To be loved. He decided he couldn’t provide that for her right now, and Madeline should have nothing but the absolute best. She looked up at him with her chocolate-brown eyes, and he wondered if perhaps his decision had been made a little too hastily. Perhaps he could at least try? Damn how this woman made him second-guess himself and completely lose all ability to think rationally. “Thank you for everything and your offer to help with my organization. I’m sorry I’ve made a mess of dinner, but I really must be leaving.” She gestured down at her wet dress and the small puddle that she had formed around her shoes. “Nonsense. As you can see, we’ve all gotten a bit wet.” Garrett smiled again, and Dalton had the sudden urge to backhand him in the face. “I completely understand. Your car will be waiting for you up front.” Dalton looked at Alfred, and the man nodded and left. “Thank you.” “And if you’re not doing anything next week, the five families will be having our annual meeting and brunch in Male Order. It would be a perfect networking opportunity.” Garrett grasped her hand and put his other hand on her lower back, dangerously close to her ass, guiding her to the front of the restaurant. “We’d be more than happy to introduce you, and I assure you, your center won’t ever need help with funding again.” His brother turned and looked at him. “Isn’t that right, Dalton?” Dalton cleared his throat. “Yes, absolutely. Our secretary, Lori, has all of your contact information, and she will be in touch with you shortly to set everything up.” “That sounds like a great idea.” As they walked through the front entrance, Dalton heard the distinct sputtering of an ancient motor and the unmistakable squeal of brake pads in desperate need of a change. A white AMC Gremlin with a red racing stripe across the side pulled up, and Dalton was dismayed to see Madeline head straight toward it. The thing looked like a death trap on wheels.

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“And we’ll send a car for you.” Dalton held his hand up to stymie any potential objections. “No arguments. Lori will call you.” “Okay, thank you both. I look forward to hearing from Lori.” Madeline looked at him and then his brother before she gave a little wave and then disappeared inside her car and drove away. “Well, I’m gonna have to get a change of pants.” Garrett chuckled as he slapped Dalton in the back. Dalton pushed him off and headed back to the restaurant. “You are so juvenile. Could you have laid it on any thicker?” Dalton quickly cut his eyes at his brother, realizing how his question sounded. “Don’t answer that.” Garrett held his hands up. “What? I’m just having a little fun. And it’s not like you’ll be making any moves on her. You’re Mr. Serious all of a sudden.” “Well somebody has to be. And besides, Madeline’s not the kind of girl you just have a little fun with, so watch it.” “What do you care?” Dalton stopped walking for a moment, not knowing exactly how to answer. “I don’t.” “Yeah, right. I know you too well. I think you might like her. Underneath this grouchy exterior, methinks the pretty lady has gotten to your soft squishy parts.” “You’re full of shit and don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.” But truthfully, Garrett was pretty much right on the money. She had gotten to him. **** The moment Madeline got in her car, she cranked the air conditioning as cold as it could go. Even though her clothes were soaked, her body still seemed bathed in heat that she didn’t think would ever dissipate. She fanned herself with her left hand and was absentmindedly reaching for the scarf around her neck when she realized she wasn’t wearing it anymore. Damn it, I left it at the restaurant! That was her favorite little scarf. She wore it for luck and kicked herself for using it as a damn rag to sop up her embarrassment. Generally, she never had a problem with nerves, but when butterflies did appear in her stomach,

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they tended to quickly turn into seagulls that overtook her entire body, pecking away at any last vestige of sanity and decorum she could hold on to. Those men just did something to her, something she had never felt before, something she couldn’t even fully comprehend. She could imagine them doing all manner of dangerous and erotic things to her body, every inch of it, imagine it so vividly it almost seemed like a memory of actual events. Almost. Though every part of her rational self screamed at her to stay away from these men for so many reasons, her body would have none of it. Her sensual self, the part that wanted and needed, the half of her that craved love and passion, yearned for it, screamed even louder. Her mind raced with thoughts of them, thoughts of both their tongues exploring her every crevice, lapping at her womanly fluids, penetrating her, and satisfying her. Her body demanded attention so loudly she almost turned the car around. But then the cloud of gray smoke coming from the engine cut her dirty thoughts short. Madeline pulled over and then popped the hood. She didn’t know much about auto maintenance, and although her Gremlin sounded like a jalopy, it had actually been pretty reliable. Of course it would choose the moment she was in the middle of nowhere at night to break down. It was too dark to see. With the overhead light on, she started fumbling in her purse for her phone to call a towing company when two headlights blinded her as a car pulled up behind hers. A vision of a poor, helpless woman on the side of the road being hacked to pieces by a “helpful” stranger popped into her mind. She clutched her cell phone like a weapon, prepared to bludgeon him to death with the slim, useless device. The brightness of the headlights prevented her from seeing the person who walked toward her, but as he entered the circle of light around her, she recognized him, and her racing heartbeat began to slow. “Hey, Madeline, right? Yeah, I thought it was you. Small world,” he said cheerily. She had met him that morning at Ellis Enterprises. What was his name? She got out of her car to greet him, and the man extended his hand. “I’m Vincent, from earlier today. Do you remember me?” She cringed to herself when his clammy palm made contact, pressing into her skin. She resisted the urge to wipe her hand against the side of her dress. “Oh, yes, of course, Vincent. It is a small world.” “You having car trouble?”

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“Seems like it. She’s usually so reliable, but I guess when you have a car this old, it’s bound to die eventually. I was just about to call a tow truck when you arrived.” “Don’t I have perfect timing? I happen to be pretty handy around cars. Why don’t I have a quick look at it? Just let me run to my car to grab a flashlight.” He jogged back to his car and popped the trunk and rummaged around. Madeline realized she had been holding her breath the entire time. He seemed friendly enough, but something about him struck her as odd. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it and decided to ignore it. She’d had a whirlwind of a day. Vincent fiddled around, shining his flashlight everywhere. “Ah, this is the problem. The cap to your oil reservoir is unscrewed a little. That just made the oil bubble over and smoke. It’s no big deal.” “Thanks for your help, Vincent. I really appreciate it.” “Don’t mention it. As an employee of Ellis Enterprises , it’s my duty to do what I can to protect what’s in the company’s best interest, and the Ellises seem to have taken a shine to you.” “Oh?” Madeline didn’t know what else to say. It didn’t seem like this man’s business, but he seemed to have good intentions. Vincent held his hands up. “Sorry if I crossed the line there. But between you and me—and this is just water cooler gossip, now—the two of them are quite the playboys, if you know what I mean.” Vincent looked uncomfortable for a moment, as if he wanted to say more but couldn’t. Against her better judgment, Madeline prodded him. “It seems like you want to say something else. What is it you’re not telling me?” “Word is, they share their women. You know, one girl with both of them. At the same time.” Vincent shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s none of my business. It’s just that…you seem like a nice girl. I’d just be careful not to get too close to them.” Madeline’s cheeks burned. “Thanks for the advice, but I think I can manage well enough on my own. Nothing’s going on between us anyway. It’s just business. I’m only trying to get them to help fund my non-profit. That’s it. Nothing more.”

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Vincent grinned. “Right. Anyway,” Vincent gestured to her car, “do you have a rag or something?” Madeline thought back to her abandoned scarf and shook her head. “That’s too bad, me neither. The oil that’s still there is going to continue to smoke until you wipe it down when you get home. Do you have far to go?” “I live in Dallas, so not too far.” “Not too far? That’s at least half an hour, isn’t it?” “Not quite, but I’m sure I’ll manage.” “I don’t know. That distance with all the smoke blocking your view is pretty risky, especially at night. Who knows what crazies are out there, right?” Vincent smiled, showing every tooth in his mouth. A strange glint flashed in his eyes. “I’ll follow you home and make sure you get there all right.” He closed the hood of her car. “I wouldn’t want to trouble you and make you go out of your way.” “It’s no trouble at all, really. Like I said, I’m only doing my duty as an Ellis employee.” Vincent put his hand on her upper arm and led her into the driver’s seat. The contact felt more personal than Madeline would have liked, but she decided the best option was to just go ahead without saying anything. The sooner this was over with, the better. Besides, she suddenly had more on her mind now. “Go on. I’ll follow you.” Madeline nodded, closed the door, started her car, and pulled out of the shoulder, watching Vincent do the same behind her. As she drove home, all she could think about were the same four words repeating in her mind on loop. They share their women. She didn’t know whether to believe it or not, but it did make her pause. Everything in her brain told her to stay far, far away from these men, to do everything in her power to maintain a strictly professional relationship with them. It would be best for her and, most importantly, her non-profit. But a teeny, tiny niggling part of her raged for these men, to consume them as they consumed her. The prospect of two men frightened her, but also sent her insides reeling at the possibilities.

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Chapter Four A few nights later, Madeline made her usual walk-through of the center, making sure books, crayons, and action figures were in their proper places, before turning off all the lights and locking the place up for the night. Assuring herself that the door was, in fact, locked, she gathered her purse close to her body and started walking down the dimly lit sidewalk. Her steps echoed off the cement and the walls of the buildings she passed, making her feel oddly isolated even though cars and people passed her. She checked her watch and picked up her pace. She needed to make it to the bus stop or she would have to wait for another half hour in the dark. Well, it was not completely dark, but she hated the idea of being all alone at night while she waited. She had taken her car to a mechanic that morning and learned it needed its oil changed, and she hadn’t had time to pick it up before the shop closed at five. Perhaps it was her imagination, but she felt someone watching her, and the beginnings of nervousness tingled down her spine. She pulled her cell phone out of her purse, then tightened her grip on her shoulder strap. Just one more block to the bus stop. Just one more. She’d come to an intersection and looked to her left when a shiny black sports car squealed to a stop in front of her. “Holy Jesus!” Panic flooded her, and she turned to hurry the other way. “Madeline, wait.” She stopped mid-step and pivoted around none too gracefully. Taking a close look at the car and its driver, Madeline realized that Garrett Ellis sat behind the steering wheel of an Aston Martin, and he looked like temptation incarnate. “Why are you walking by yourself at night?”

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Madeline’s lips pursed, and she felt herself taking up her kids-you-needto-behave stance—hands on hips and toe tapping. “Some people don’t have chauffeurs. Or cars that work.” “Yeah, I’m starting to get that. You want a ride?” he asked nonchalantly, as if corporate tycoons always showed up in rough neighborhoods at night. “A ride? Mr. Ellis, what are you doing here?” It had been three days since she saw him last Friday at Hester’s. He shrugged a shoulder. “Well, I wanted to catch you earlier, but I got held up. But I thought, hey, why not see if she’s still there? I’m on my way back to my place.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “And I have a present for you.” “A present?” She crossed her arms over her chest, not knowing exactly how to respond. “Come on. Get your nose out of the air. You know you’re curious.” The way he said it made chills shoot down her body. “Can’t it wait till tomorrow?” “Presents should never be put off until tomorrow.” “I really do have to get home, Mr. Ellis,” she hedged. “Garrett, please. It’ll just take a few minutes. I promise. Scout’s honor.” Madeline took in his impish grin and decided that a man like Garrett Ellis would never have been a nice, sweet, honorable little boy scout. No, Garrett Ellis would have been seducing those guys’ sisters under the bleachers at football games. And she somehow doubted that anything with him would take just a few minutes. It would be more like long, unending, gasping hours of hands and mouths everywhere as his cock— She shook herself out of her fantasy. Oh, what the hell. “Fine,” she conceded. He reached over to open the passenger-side door and looked up at her with a smile. “Hop on.” She halted. “You mean ‘in.’ Hop in.” “Nah.” He grinned. “I meant on.” “Right.” She took a deep, fortifying breath and slid onto the passenger seat. The leather was so buttery soft and smooth that she wanted to run her fingers all over it and imagine it was Garrett’s skin, but she stopped herself.

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Having him so close that she could feel his body heat was more than enough to put her on sensual overload. Madeline sat perched in her seat the entire ride to his house. At least, she thought it was a house. “Where are we going, exactly?” “My condo. Dalton and I share it, but he has his own private abode in town that we share, too.” There it was again. That word. Share. It seemed she could not get away from it when it came to the Ellis brothers, no matter how hard she tried. And why, though the idea shocked her, did she find it so appealing? She had never entertained such fantasies before she met Dalton and Garrett, and she doubted that if they ever showed any sincere sexual interest in her that she would live up to their expectations, and yet… And yet she’d found herself thinking and dreaming about it when she took her morning shower, when she was alone in her room, or really anytime she had a moment of peace. She glanced at him from under her lashes. “You, um, share a lot of things, don’t you?” He turned to her, his eyes narrowed just a fraction, curiosity and something else written across his features. “Yes. Dalton and I share quite a few things. We think having a monopoly on something is pretty boring and selfish, especially between brothers. Don’t you?” Madeline did not know what to think. She just gave him a smile and faced the front, tension working its way into her back while Garrett’s warm, masculine scent drifted over to her and made her pussy ache with the need to be filled. She shifted in her seat and pulled her skirt lower over her thighs as though it could mask her body’s reaction to him. Garrett’s mouth curled into a smile. “You okay?” “Fine.” Her voice was tight and high-pitched, and she sat up straighter in the seat. They flew past parked cars, skyscrapers, and people at an alarming speed. “Just fine.” He looked like he held back a grin. “If you say so.” The car finally slowed and turned. “We’re here.” A glass high-rise of luxury condos reached to the night sky in front of her. The windows of the top five floors were larger than the others, and Madeline guessed those were the penthouses. She could not stop staring.

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The building practically screamed that middle-class nobodies like her did not belong there. Garrett pulled into the garage and drove toward a spot that sat open with other luxury cars surrounding it. “Let me guess,” she said wryly, “your own personal spot.” He shut the car off and sent her a radiant smile as he opened his door. “Of course.” She followed suit and began to open her own door, but Garrett had already rounded the back of the car and pulled the door open the rest of the way. “That’s my job.” He offered her his hand, and she took it with a grateful nod. Madeline tried to take her hand back, but he tucked it into his elbow and pulled her close as he led her toward a set of elevators that opened when he pressed the up button. “Is this your own personal elevator, too?” she quipped. He pressed P, the topmost button in the long column of them, and then pinned her with a glare. “What is with your extra sass today?” She opened her mouth to say something, but her raging lust hormones made formulating a sharp retort impossible. His glare turned into a playful yet smoldering and self-indulgent smile. “That bad, huh?” The doors closed, and she yanked her hand out of his grasp. “Excuse me?” Garrett turned toward her, and his body crowded hers into the far corner of the elevator. She fought the urge to close her eyes and take in his scent and the warm feeling of his nearness, but she locked her gaze on his and refused to back down, no matter how wobbly her knees were. His hand came up, and his thumb traced her lower lip. Everything inside her froze, and her breath hitched audibly in the small space. “I thought so,” he said as he lowered his lips to hers. He used his thumb to pull her lower lip down a bit, and he kissed her fully and so sensually that she leaned into the wall behind her, needing its solidity to keep her grounded. He stepped into her so that his hard, unyielding body pressed against hers, making her breasts pillow up on his chest. He dwarfed her even as he held her gently, his fingers weaving through the hair at the base of her neck and tilting her chin. His kiss deepened, intensified until she could not

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breathe. Her mind reeled as it tried desperately to process what had just happened. “Mr. Ellis, I—” “For the last time, call me Garrett,” he said huskily. He kissed her again as if punctuating his statement. She realized then that he wanted no more discussion of the matter, that there would be no need or even use of bringing up their, up until that moment, strictly professional relationship. And besides, Madeline knew instinctually she couldn’t have mustered up any kind of protestation at that moment even if she had truly wanted to. But the truth was, stopping him was the last thing she wanted to do. The elevator came to a stop with a soft ding. Garrett pulled away and, holding her gaze, stepped out with an inviting smile playing at his unimaginably seductive lips. “Come on. I’ll show you around.” Madeline pried herself away from the wall with effort and took a few shaky steps while he sauntered into the room with an extra spring in his step. She was so busy staring at the way his pants cupped his taut ass that she was shocked when she actually stopped to take in her surroundings. She stood in a huge kitchen full of modern appliances, all looking so new that she wondered how long Garrett had lived here. Garrett’s steps moved farther away from her. She followed blindly, so busy staring at all the shiny knobs and appliances in the kitchen that she did not watch where she was going. Did he and Dalton use all of these things? Did they know how to cook? Surely they had some sort of personal chef. She let out a squeak when she ran into something hard and solid— Garrett’s wide back. “Watch your step,” he said over his shoulder, and she nodded even through the face-full of his suit jacket. Garrett pulled something to the side—a door—and she stepped into the place he vacated for her, then took in the glorious sight of the Dallas skyline twinkling at her against the dark night sky. Madeline stepped out onto the huge terrace and gaped. It felt as if the whole world were spread out before her and waiting at her feet. So this was what it all looked like from the Ellises’s point of view. Garrett came up beside her, his tall, athletic frame towering over hers. “I bet you’ve never seen Dallas like this. New York, Chicago, both cities

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known for their amazing skylines, but Dallas has a certain charm that can’t be beat.” “I see what you mean.” But she was not looking at the skyline anymore. She was looking at his profile in the semi-darkness. His eyelashes were enviously long and gave his whole face a boyish appeal. His nose was straight and well-formed, and his pouty lips made her want to press her own against them. He needed a shave, and his collar was unbuttoned. Her pussy clenched. Garrett always looked primed for sex. Always. She closed her eyes for a brief moment to gird herself against his maleness. The warm summer breeze blew across her skin, and the sounds of life so far down below them caressed her ears. When she opened her eyes again, her gaze collided with Garrett’s. He pulled something out of his pocket. “You forgot your scarf at Hester’s, but since it got dirty, I decided to get you a new one.” Her scarf. Of course. She had been in such a hurry to get out of there that she’d forgotten it. “You really didn’t have to do that, but thank you.” She held out her hand expecting him to give it to her, but Garrett just wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her to face his wide, hard chest. He smelled like warm, virile male, and his fresh-out-of-the-shower scent made her mouth—and other places—water. The corner of his mouth curved up. “Let me tie it for you.” Warning bells went off in her mind, but the mad thumping of her heart quickly drowned them out. She nodded, not trusting her voice. Fingering the silky material and making her wish he was touching her skin in that lazy, sensual way, Garrett closed the short distance between them. The heat radiating from his wide chest was the only thing she could feel. He lifted his arms and draped the scarf around her neck, his arms bracketing her, almost caging her in. Or maybe that was the terrifying, never-ending lust raging inside her that kept her rooted in place. His fingers grazed over the sensitive skin of her neck, lingering and caressing her until sparks of arousal swam down her back, loosening her tense muscles and winding her up for him at the same time. “You’re trembling.” Garrett’s breath tickled the fine hairs that framed her forehead.

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The sticky, sultry air coated her skin and warmed it, making her perfume drift up in lazy waves. It scented the air around her and mingled with Garrett’s cologne. Lordy, even their personal products wanted to fuck. She grew uncomfortably warm, and Garrett was not helping standing so close that his body brushed against hers. He looked so damn edible. His suits always fit him so perfectly and molded to his impeccable form like nothing she had ever seen before. They accented his broad shoulders and wide chest, his narrow hips and his long, thick, well-formed thighs. She admired the faint shadows that collected under his cheekbones and darkened his face. It made him look less boyish and more like Dalton. In her deepest, darkest fantasies, she imagined both brothers fucking her at the same time while she rode their cocks, coming like crazy until she could not hold herself up. She wished Dalton were here with them now, looking at her with his dark, hypnotic eyes. Garrett’s mouth curved into the sexiest, most wicked smile she ever saw. Her clit thrummed with her every frenetic heartbeat, and she breathed past the dizziness in her mind and the aching arousal in her pussy. He leaned down, dark intent in his eyes, and used the ends of the scarf to pull her closer to him and fit his lips against hers. Madeline’s whole body stiffened, and her heartbeat spiked, making her blood roar through her ears. His scent rose and surrounded her, blanketing her in his very essence as his hands roamed over her arms, her shoulders, her hips. His hard body grew harder still, bigger, more virile as he held her in his embrace. She was suddenly very aware of how his hands spanned her back and how his hard, thick length pressed against her belly. Then the tip of his tongue swept against her bottom lip, and she opened up to him on a gasp. A low rumble came from deep within his chest, and he wove the fingers of one hand into her hair and angled her and deepened his kiss. She did not need to secondguess her instincts about his sexual prowess. She now knew everything she would ever need to know about him. He touched her as if he owned her, as if he had been touching her like this for years. And her body accepted him as if it were the most natural thing to do. Madeline rose up onto her toes and grasped the lapels of his jacket between her fingers. Then everything spun out of control. His hands slid down her sides, tracing her waist and hips, then dipped around to cup her

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ass. She tensed in his arms, but he just pulled her flush against him until she felt the ridges and ripples of his muscled torso. She pulled her lips away from his. “Garrett, wait. I think—” “Shh. Stop thinking.” His voice was low and gravelly, and the rough sound grated against all the right nerve endings. His lips made their way down her neck and to the top of her cleavage and her shoulders. Then, holding her gaze with his, naughtiness written all over his full mouth, he lowered himself in front of her and ran his hands up the backs of her legs. His lips followed the path of his hands, and Madeline had to grip his shoulders and lock her knees together to keep from toppling over. He grinned up at her as he fiddled with the elastic band of her panties. “You won’t be needing these.” Madeline gulped in a breath as Garrett hooked his finger inside the crotch of her panties and started pulling them down. She gritted her teeth against the moan that threatened to escape her when his finger brushed against her pussy lips. Madeline watched, entranced, as he pulled her panties down her legs, and they landed around her feet. “Step out,” he commanded, his glittering eyes still holding hers. She nodded lightly and used his shoulders to balance herself. He tossed her panties somewhere and slid his palms up and around to where her legs met her groin. Her pussy throbbed, and her clit ached for some attention, but he suddenly pulled away. Garrett straightened to his full height, and Madeline craned her neck back to look up at him. Then he kissed her, this time lifting her up with the strength of his arms and forcing her to wrap her legs around his lean hips. His fingers kneaded her ass cheeks and ground her against his hard cock. Even through his pants, she felt the graceful ridge of his cockhead rasp against her clit. She moaned into his mouth and locked her heels together, using her newfound leverage to rub herself against him. “Oh, yeah, Maddie, that’s it. Use me.” He pressed his lips against hers, violently this time, and she kissed him back, clinging and grinding and moaning as he walked them across the terrace. He laid her down on a cushion-topped bench and hovered over her, bracing his weight with his arms. Holding her gaze, he slid his hand from

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her knee and up her thigh until his fingers slipped under her skirt. His wandering touch jolted her back to reality, and Madeline pressed her thighs together and hoped to God she could find some way to keep her dress on because she was so turned on for him it was embarrassing. But he probably knew that already. “Um, Garrett, are you sure this is a good idea?” “Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?” “W–well…” He kissed her quiet and moved his lips across her cheekbone to her jaw. His warmth and his weight surrounded her and made her body vibrate with her awareness of him. “Shut your mind off, Maddie. Just sit back and let yourself go.” His breath rasped against her ear, making her shiver. His hands moved over her skin, leaving it overheated and sensitized in their wake, and every ounce of pleasure and anticipation pooled in her pussy and pearled her nipples. Garrett kissed the sensitive patch of skin under her ear, then made his way down her neck, switching between hard and soft kisses, testing her, gauging her reactions even as she silently begged for more. She was aware of him being aware of her, of his eyes on her face and of his ears listening for every hitch of her breath, sigh, and gasp. He made her feel torn open at the seams. He was undoing her, unlacing her tightly kept control and reserve with just the touch of his lips against her skin. With his eyes locked on hers, Garrett pressed a kiss to the top of each of her breasts while his hand drifted up her side. Madeline sucked in a breath, and her heart stopped beating. His big hand grasped the neckline of her dress and pulled. Hard. Apparently, he grabbed her bra, too, because her breasts popped out, and her hardened nipples practically begged him for attention. Her hands shot up to cover her bared flesh. “No, don’t do that. Don’t hide.” “But—” She felt herself flushing pink. What was she thinking? Here she was, Madeline Spencer, a non-profit activist, with Garrett Ellis who was known for his love affairs with models and movie stars and his ungodly amount of money. She tried harder to cover herself, but Garrett held fast, his grip surprisingly strong yet gentle.

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“I just want a peek. Just a little glance at you. I’ve been fantasizing about it for days. All I can see when I lie down to go to sleep are those naughty Catholic school teacher shoes.” Her head popped up off the cushions. “My shoes?” “Oh, yeah. Especially the way they wrapped around your ankles.” Saying that, Garrett straightened and plucked her leg from where it was wrapped around his waist and lifted her ankle to his lips and moved up to her calf, the back of her knee, her inner thigh. “I’m going to look at every inch of you, starting,” his gaze shifted from her face to her heaving breasts, “here.” He bent his head and pressed light kisses to the undersides of her breasts, sending tingles of sensation to her nipples and lower—much lower—to her pussy. His kisses traced the circumference of her breasts, teasing her with the fleeting pressure and achingly sweet flicks of his tongue over her nipples. She pressed herself against his face, begging him, commanding him silently to stop teasing. He pressed his lips between her breasts, and Madeline felt him smile against her skin. It felt so good. Dangerously good. “Garrett…” “Hmm?” “I, um, I—” “You’re still thinking, aren’t you?” He nuzzled the underside of the breast closest to him and lifted himself up. Garrett’s blue-gray eyes were so intense in the illuminated darkness as he lifted the hem of her skirt up over her hips and her belly. He kissed, touched, and caressed every inch of flesh he revealed until Madeline undulated beneath him. Madeline was not usually self-conscious about her body, per se, at least she hadn’t been until that moment. There were times when she wished she could fine-tune things so she was taller, her legs longer, her breasts bigger, but in that moment, with Garrett staring down at her with a look of male triumph and devilish intent on his face, she wondered what he saw with his jaded eyes. She looked down her body and saw that her nipples glistened from his attentions and her body writhed as he slowly, teasingly made his way down her body again.

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“I can’t wait to taste you.” His body hummed with his energy, and his grip on her flesh tightened the higher his palms slid up her legs. “Come on, Maddie. Open up for me.” How the hell did he manage to sound so coaxing and teasing at a moment like this? She started to loosen the death clench on her knees, but as his palms slid an inch closer to her pussy, she panicked. Oh, God, she could not do it. She had never felt so vulnerable, so exposed. She was out of her depth, and she knew it. Garrett Ellis would eat her alive and leave her in a gasping heap of gluttonous lust. But he had woven a spell around her with his beauty and his skill and finesse, and she was helpless to break it, to deny him. Closing her eyes, she stopped squeezing her legs together and let him open her up for his viewing pleasure. His hands crept higher and higher, and the tension in her stomach curled tighter and harder into something that Madeline did not know how to handle. On an instinctual level, she knew Garrett would leave her in countless shattered little pieces in the violent wake of his loving. And he seemed intent on doing just that. He was determined. It was as if he wanted to do something to make sure he branded his name on her so that she would always remember him. He pressed a kiss against her pussy, and Madeline jumped at the contact. The idea of this man pressing his lips against her hot, dripping flesh made her toes curl. He used his thumbs to separate her pussy lips. Madeline was torn between wanting to watch and wanting to pull away and clamp her thighs together. He stared at her pussy as if staring at a painting at an art gallery, and she did not know how much more of his careful appraisal she could handle. She moved her hips to shift away, but his hand shot out and gripped her inner thigh, digging into her flesh. “No. Don’t move. I’m not done looking yet.” She let out a huff of breath, and the loose hair around her face danced around her eyes. “I think you’ve been looking for long enough.” “Don’t be shy. I’m just taking my time. After all, it’s a rather momentous occasion when I come across the prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen.” Butterflies flapped madly around in her stomach, and elated, nervous glee coursed through her veins and pooled between her already overly moist thighs. She refused to let him see how much he affected her.

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“Oh, please. You’re such a sweet talker.” She sat up and inched away, pulling her legs in like a pussy shield, to convince him she wasn’t as caught under his spell as he thought, that she still had her own free will. But the way his eyes flashed when he looked at her let her know he could see right through her, could see how helpless she really was every time they were together. “Just accept the compliment. You should be flattered. I consider myself a pussy connoisseur, and I like what I see…” He trailed off, something devilish glinting in his eyes before he used his grip on her thigh to throw her off balance. She tumbled back onto the cushioned bench, her legs splaying every which way. His tongue flicked out, and she watched, horrified and horribly turned on, as the pad of it licked her—torturously slow—from her dripping pussy opening to her throbbing, swollen clit. “…and what I taste.” She almost came right then even as she wiggled her hips at him. She dug her fingers into the cushion she sat on and clung to it to keep from melting into a puddle at his feet. She looked down her body to where his shoulders separated her thighs and his head hovered over her empty, aching pussy. He looked thrilled, excited, and just a bit too pleased with himself. “Watch, Madeline.” His voice was almost as hypnotic as the sight of his tongue gliding between her pussy lips. His eyes glowed with erotic intent and expertise, and they held hers as he flicked the tip of his tongue over her clit. Pleasure sparked through her, and every nerve ending in her body jumpstarted. Then he pulled away, a half-cocked grin on his face, and pressed a finger into her pussy. Madeline sucked in a shaky breath, and her head suddenly felt very heavy. “Garrett…” “Damn, you’re tight. How long has it been for you?” She fought to think, to form words, but the only thing that swirled through her mind was pleasure. “Wh–what?” Garrett gave her clit another heavy lick. “How long has it been for you?” “Oh, God. I don’t even remember.” “So no one’s touched you here for a while, then?” She shook her head with too much fervor, and she felt her hair knotting on the cushion. “No.”

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His palm slid under the back of her thigh and cupped her ass cheek. Suddenly, his teasing, sensual mood turned raw and sexual. “What about here?” For a moment, Madeline glimpsed Dalton’s raging intensity in Garrett’s eyes. She flinched away from the heat she saw there and from the fingers on her bottom, but he did not let her move very far. “Answer the question, Madeline.” He lowered his face toward her, and his lips and tongue made love to her pussy and gave her clit a tongue lashing. The bastard teased her until she could not take it anymore. “No. No one has ever touched me there.” The smile he sent her was all sex. “Dalton is going to be very happy about that. I’ll leave that part of you for him to inspect.” What in the living hell does that mean? And then Garrett lowered his mouth to her pussy, and her mind went blank as her body took over. He tormented her with pleasure, saturating all of her senses until she became a bundle of nerve endings that awaited his next touch. He swirled her clit with his tongue, then sucked it between his lips the moment he pressed a thick finger into her pussy. Madeline gasped, and her eyes shot open in shock. For a brief moment, the barely visible stars above downtown Dallas twinkled back at her, and then her vision went blurry as he swirled the tip of his tongue around her clit and gently sucked it into his mouth. Madeline’s orgasm erupted through her without warning, pulsing and throbbing through her body until her fingertips tingled and her back arched off the bench cushions. On and on it went, her body like a wave undulating against his face, tongue, and hands as she rode the pleasure and crested until she could not keep track of how many times she came. Garrett would not let her come down. He kept tonguing her and pressing against that spot inside her pussy. “You like that, sweetheart? That’s your G-spot.” “Oh?” “Yeah, Garrett’s spot.” She rocked against his face, in time with the fingers fucking into her. She must have looked like a complete wanton all spread out before him and presenting her pussy to him so shamelessly, but she could not muster the mental capacity to care. And Garrett seemed perfectly happy with that.

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Thrilled, actually. He growled against her sopping cunt, and the vibrations converged in her clit, making it light up for him again. The exquisitely painful torture he gave her seemed unending. Vaguely, she felt him move up her body, pressing kisses against her overheated flesh as he went—her hip bones, her lower belly, her nipples. “Garrett!” She wove her fingers through his hair and clutched him to her breasts, lost in the wet tongue-lashing against her nipple as his fingers toyed with her clit. He claimed her lips, and she tasted herself, tasted him. “One more, Maddie, because I’m feeling greedy tonight.” She wanted to tell him that he was being self-indulgent, but he gently pinched her clit between his thumb and forefinger, and everything from this evening converged inside her, and she came so hard her vision spotted.

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Chapter Five As Madeline settled herself inside the sleek black Bentley, the smartly uniformed chauffeur closed the car door for her. She could not get over how odd it might seem to the other residents of her modest-looking apartment complex that she had been picked up in this fancy car. They’d probably think she had either won the lottery or had started working as a high-end call girl. Oh, well. She shook her hair back and tucked a stray piece behind her ear. She watched through the car’s heavily tinted windows as the hustle and bustle of downtown Dallas, the buildings and traffic and people, changed into the quieter outskirts of Male Order. The town was on the small side, with only about ten thousand people calling themselves native residents, but Madeline sensed that it would be growing soon. Family-owned shops and markets dominated the local business scene here and so did family-owned restaurants—the kind where great-great grandma’s secret lasagna recipe was Friday night’s dinner special. Yet, for all its soft, quiet, almost rugged quaintness, there was a certain sophistication underlying everything in Male Order. The streets were clean without any hint of trash littering the perfectly hedged grass lining the sidewalks. The landscaping was elegantly done, with Texas wildflowers constituting the majority of the flowers that peppered the planters with their bright bursts of orange, blue, and yellow. They drove toward downtown Male Order. Fully restored and maintained buildings from the town’s illustrious past mixed with newer, trendier buildings along the waterfront and into the heart of the town. Once they drove into the center of town, Madeline could not take her eyes off the charming rows of shops, the coffee houses, and the grand, elegant, beautifully structured gazebo in the middle of the old-fashioned roundabout. It was its own little green island, perfectly maintained and starkly white

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against the bright flowers running along the base. There was a sophisticated, timeless beauty about everything here, even the public restrooms, she was sure. Erika also told her that there was really good shopping up here, especially at Jacqueline’s flagship location, which she saw out the window to the left of the car. Its carved, elegant façade made her want to jump out of the car and take a picture of it. She was sure that if she posted that picture online, people would think she had gone to Paris or London for the day. Apparently, the huge and very high-end department store had started in Male Order, but she would have to make a special visit some other time. She barely had enough money to pay all of her bills and rent. As they passed through downtown, the newer shops took precedence over the old ones, all of the famous high-end shops—Chanel, Fendi, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Armani, David Yurman, Tiffany, and countless others—lined the street on either side, practically begging her to pass through their shiny glass doors to experience their glamour and magic. If only her credit card would let her. “Welcome to SoMale,” the driver said. SoMale—South Male Order—was the high-end shopping district, Madeline recalled from her research of Male Order when she put together the funding proposal. Madeline looked out her window and observed the locals in their natural habitat. Some of the most beautiful women she had ever seen breezed right along in their perfectly tailored dresses and pants, accentuating their toned figures. She swore that more than half of them could gloss the covers of fashion magazines. Their hair, whether it was short, curly, or long, was perfectly groomed, their skin luminous and clear, and their shoes were breathtaking. Madeline came to the conclusion that the typical Male Order woman had to be at least five-eight and look like she did Pilates or yoga twice a day. It really was not fair. The high-end shops, museums, restaurants, and cafes lining the streets in the heart of downtown Male Order turned into business offices housed in restored Victorian-era homes the farther they drove, and while the buildings and landscaping were not as lavish, they were still stunning in their pristine beauty and overall perfection. Once again, her thoughts returned to Dalton and Garrett, and she wondered what it was like for them growing up in this town. Thinking about

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them made her mind wander into erotic territory, a place it was quickly growing accustomed to. The past week had been peppered with evening phone calls from Garrett, and even when they only talked about the weather he fueled her desire for him. Suddenly tornados and barometric pressure took on new meaning. She thought about all the things he had said to her, especially that night on the terrace. What did Garrett mean when he said Dalton would be happy no one had touched her back entrance yet? And why did she want to let Dalton do the honors while Garrett worked on other parts of her body, namely her pussy? What in the hell was going on with her? The thought of their hard cocks inside her—together—turned her on more than anything else ever had. It was turning her on even as she sat in the car. The flesh just under her skin heated up, making her feel as if she were wrapped up in a thermal blanket and standing outside in the middle of July. God, if she did not stop thinking about what would have happened had Dalton been there with them at Garrett’s bachelor pad, she would erupt in girl sweat and her nether regions would start aching to be filled. She fiddled with the hem of her dress and tried her damndest to calm the mental hard-on she had for the Ellis brothers. The non-profit. She needed to think about the youth center and social networking and making connections with the Male Order elite. She could not do it. Images of Garrett laving her pussy with his tongue while Dalton fingered her back hole bombarded her. Damn, damn, damn. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Miss Madeline.” The driver’s voice cut through her sexual fantasies and dropped her rather ungracefully back into reality. “I’m sorry?” Her voiced wobbled a bit. She cleared her throat and sat up straighter in her chair. “I didn’t catch that.” “You’ve got nothing to be worried about. Except their sister. She’s a little on the eccentric side, but she always means well.” “Their sister?” Neither Dalton nor Garrett ever mentioned a sister. “Yes, ma’am. She’s Garrett’s twin. If they haven’t mentioned her, it’s because Garrett’s usually upset with her.” Garrett had a twin? “Why is he upset with her? Garrett seems too carefree to ever let anything bother him.”

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The driver sent her a curious glance via the rearview mirror. “Garrett’s got a hot temper on him, Miss Spencer. Don’t let all those smiles fool ya. He and Miss Bea are constantly bickering. She’s always trying to set him up on dates with all of her rich friends, you see.” The driver spoke with a casual ease that sounded more like an uncle or old family friend than an employee. She sensed he had been working for the Ellis family for a long time and was speaking as if he were catching her up on old times. “He doesn’t seem to be the type to let someone do all the fun work for him.” “Which is where they start fighting. Miss Bea thinks she’s going to be the premiere matchmaker for the upper crust of Texas society, and she plans on total world domination.” The driver chuckled. “At least that’s what she says. She always has projects going, and Garrett is usually her test subject. He’s usually very popular with the ladies. Second only to Dalton.” Something inside her froze. Her heart, maybe. Of course Dalton and Garrett would have cut a swath through the beautiful women of polite society. How could they not? They were charming and intelligent and possessed more than their fair share of handsome between the two of them. Madeline could have slapped herself. Here she was, on her way to a networking meeting with the most influential people in the Dallas area— maybe even the nation—and she was bothered about the other women—the competition—who came before her. She did not have any clue as to how she got to this point, but somehow, the two of them felt right to her. Dalton and Garrett came to her together in her fantasies, her waking dreams. She had never been one of those girls who was overtly sexual or even completely experienced, but the idea of the two brothers kissing her, caressing her, loving her together did more for her lady parts than any past experience ever had. “What kind of women do they usually like?” she blurted out. The sound of the road rushing under the car’s tires filled the silence. Then he said, “It’s funny you should ask that.” “Why is that?” “I think you’ll find that out soon enough.” The car drove up a gently, steady rise, then came to a stop at the top. The driver stepped out, rounded the trunk, and opened the door for her. “I’ll

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be waiting for you when you’re done to drive you back, Miss Spencer. Enjoy your meeting.” Madeline took his proffered hand and used it to balance herself as she straightened from the car. “Thanks,” she said, smiling at him. She stepped aside to give him space to close the car door and looked at the building in front of her. The building’s glamour was straight out of the twenties and included four massive marble pillars framing the main staircase at the entrance. Embellished Roman columns framed the large, graceful windows, and as Madeline let her gaze track upward, she saw there was some sort of terrace on the roof, judging from the balustrade lining its entirety. When she turned her attention to the huge staircase leading up to the main entrance, she saw the men she came all the way out here to see were standing at the top. Dalton already had a glass of scotch in his hand. She glanced down at her watch and cringed. She was a little late. She’d had no idea what to wear to a lunch gathering. She would usually dress casually, but this was the Male Order elite she’d been dressing for. Their seasonal wardrobes would pay her bills and rent for an entire year. She smoothed down the front of her ruffled silk dress and hurried toward them. Dalton stood still, his face blank, but the air around him was charged with his quiet intensity. Everything seemed to revolve around him while he stood in place, commanding with his hypnotic eyes and his dark, focused persona. Garrett, on the other hand, paced around, back and forth, his big body a huge ball of energy needing to be expended. She wondered what kind of children they might have been—Garrett running around and getting in trouble with his teachers because he could not sit still. She imagined Dalton was the child who took everything too seriously, who had to remind himself to have fun, who would be devastated by an A minus instead of an A. Madeline approached them, and all at once, all their attention focused on her. She felt the very moment it happened. Her breath lodged in her chest, and her pussy started thrumming with the insatiable need to be filled. She choked down a rough gasp of air and bridged the rest of the distance between them. She did not trust her legs to get her to them. Just looking at Garrett walk toward her with his proud, fluid gait brought back memories from the other night. She felt her skin heating and focused her attention on

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Dalton to distract herself. Bad idea. He positively stalked toward her with all his swarthy man grace, his suit clinging to his body in all the right places, including the thickening bulge in his pants. She reminded herself that she was in a proper public place with proper upper-class people and that she should not be acting like a hormonal teenager, but her body refused to listen. Garrett reached her first and wrapped a steely arm around her waist, curling her into his big body. Chills and tingles ran down her body in sensual little rivulets, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Wait. She opened her eyes, and her gaze collided with Dalton’s emeraldgreen, smoldering stare over Garrett’s shoulder. Dalton’s sexual heat burned her even with Garrett standing between them. The throb in her pussy turned into full-blown desire that she could not ignore, not with Dalton looking at her like that while Garrett’s hand skimmed down her side toward her ass. She wanted nothing more than for Garrett’s fingers to lift her skirt, curl around her ass, and press into her pussy while Dalton watched. Then she wanted Dalton to take over and drive her as crazy as Garrett had on the terrace. “You look ravishing as always, Maddie.” Garrett pressed a kiss against the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. A tremor went through her, and Garrett pulled away with a very knowing smirk on his face before he stepped back. “I thought this was supposed to be strictly professional.” The grin playing across Dalton’s perfect lips was the only thing that told her he was speaking in jest. That and his hand pressed against her lower back—or more accurately, her upper ass—as he led her up the stairs. Heat radiated out from where his hand touched her, and desire gathered in her stomach, killing the nervous butterflies that flitted around inside her. With Dalton and Garrett at her side, she had nothing to fear. She knew on a level beyond the instinctive that they would do anything and everything in their power to protect and shield her. Not that she wanted or needed those things, but the knowledge that they were there did more for her confidence than they could ever know. “Thank you both for inviting me. I think this will be a great opportunity for my organization, and I really appreciate your help.” “It is our pleasure, Madeline, and you’ll be happy to know that I brought up your non-profit and need for funding this morning at our annual meeting, and all five of the family heads said they’d love to speak with you about it.

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Well, technically, it was only four. I’d like to speak to you about something different altogether.” Dalton said the last sentence more quietly, lowering his voice as he lowered his head so his lips just caressed her ear. Even standing a step or two below her, Dalton still had to hunch a little to speak directly over her shoulder and the power of his stature made her feel delicate and vulnerable. She knew he could effortlessly overpower her, even break her in half, and that suddenly became the most tempting fantasy she’d had in a long time. She took a breath and swallowed to collect herself and rein in her wanton, wandering imagination. “I can’t wait to speak to them.” Madeline tried her damnedest to sound confident and sure of herself, but she still couldn’t keep the slight quiver out of her voice. She wasn’t sure whether it was from her occasional bout of social anxiety or the loss of blood from her brain to her aching and greedy vagina. “You’ll soon have your chance, sweetheart. The crème de la crème of Male Order awaits.” Garrett held the door open for them and then followed close behind. Madeline glanced around and noticed they led her down a separate hallway off the main entrance. She eyed the black-and-white checkered marble, the high, breezy archways, and the elaborate crystal chandeliers and wondered just where they were taking her. She did not have to wonder long. Soon, they entered an elegantly decorated ballroom. One long table covered with an elaborate buffet sat parallel to the back wall, chefs in crisp white uniforms and tall toques stood proudly behind each gleaming copper chafing dish, ready to be of service. A carving station ended the buffet, and there the chef wielded a pointed carving fork and an impressively long and sharp-looking knife. Waiters in black, sharply pressed uniforms walked around the room, hovering about the tables attentively. From what Madeline could see, every glass was topped off, and no finished plate sat for more than a second before a waiter whisked it away. The walls were an understated shade of antique blue, and the gold trappings on the wall made the room glow with a rich warmth. Some people were already seated while others milled around, beverage in hand. Heads turned when they entered, and Madeline noticed everyone was stunningly beautiful before they all politely turned their attentions back to each other. Huh. No wonder there were rumors about there being a mafia in Male

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Order. It looked like an intimate gathering of privileged families rather than the business lunch Madeline had planned on. As Madeline’s gaze skimmed over the room, taking everything in, a blindingly blonde woman perked up in her seat, her head tilting slightly to the side as she watched Madeline walk between Dalton and Garrett. Something akin to glee flashed in the woman’s eyes before she shot to her feet and almost tip-toed toward them in the highest pair of stilettos Madeline had ever laid eyes on. Madeline was still pondering how the woman defied the laws of physics by remaining upright when the blonde came to a stop right in front of her with an ecstatic smile on her face. “Well, who do we have here, big brother?” the woman asked. “Christ, Beulah, lay off, will you?” Garrett snapped. Beulah cringed and raised her manicured finger in the air, clearly about to stick it in Garrett’s face when Dalton interrupted. “Both of you lay off,” Dalton commanded in a low voice. He pressed his big hand against the small of Madeline’s back, presenting her. “Madeline, this is our sister, Beulah. Beulah, this is Madeline Spencer.” Beulah gave Madeline a tight smile, then turned to her brothers. “I told you two not to call me that in public,” she said in a sing-songy voice between her clenched teeth. “Please, call me Bea.” “Yeah. As in Queen Bee.” Madeline heard the mental eye roll in Garrett’s voice. “It’s nice to meet you, Bea. Thank you for having me.” Bea opened her mouth, but Dalton cut in. “Let’s stop the bickering before we scare Madeline away, okay?” “Yeah, and she didn’t come here to meet you, Bea,” Garrett said. “Maddie’s here to—” Bea’s eyes lasered in on her. “Miss Maddie?” “Um, yes.” Madeline’s cheeks heated. “That’s what my kids at the center call me.” “Is that so? Which center?” But none of this was directed at Madeline. Some sort of psychic twin conversation played out over her head, and Dalton watched them, his eyes sharp and observant. For once, his expression told her something his eyes did not—that he understood the silent family pow-wow going on, and he was not going to tell her anything.

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Madeline fiddled with her watch and tried to look occupied. The sound of metal tinkling against glass caught her attention. She turned to see Dalton tapping his glass with the tip of a thick gold and black pen. “Can I get everyone’s attention please, for just a moment? I wanted to say a few words before everyone settled down to enjoy this wonderful lunch buffet the Abrams family has so generously laid out for us. The Founder’s meeting this morning was productive as always, and everyone will receive a copy of the minutes in our monthly Male Order newsletter, so I won’t bother spending any more time here discussing it. That is, unless you all would like to hear all those boring details now…” Dalton grinned as the room erupted in polite laughter. “That’s what I thought. Anyway, I’d like to say what an honor it is for our family to be hosting the Male Order cotillion again this year. As you all know, Bea is the committee chair, so please, any questions or suggestions about decorations, the auction, or anything along those lines should be directed at her.” Bea waved a manicured hand at the crowd. “Hello, everyone! While I already have the décor and theme pinned down, I am still considering the local recipient of the proceeds raised by the auction. Please feel free to offer me any suggestions, but know that while I will take it into consideration, I will ultimately do whatever I damn well please.” “And finally,” Dalton nudged Madeline in front of him, “I would like to introduce everyone to Miss Madeline Spencer. She is the director of funding at the South Dallas Youth Center, a non-profit organization that helps the community of inner-city families there, most notably the children. Ellis Enterprises is helping to sponsor Madeline’s organization, and we hope that we are only one of many Male Order businesses who will help back this admirable cause. Madeline, would you like to say a few words?” In her panic, she sought the Ellis brothers, and they just looked back at her, their expressions telling her she should have expected this, which she had, just not quite so soon. Madeline looked back at the people looking at her, inclined her head to the group at large, and felt her face positively burn. “Um, yes. Hello, everyone. As Mr. Ellis said, I am the director of funding at the South Dallas Youth Center, and we strive to serve the youth of South Dallas by offering a safe environment for the children to study and practice the skills they learn in the classroom. I look forward to speaking with you

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today and in the near future about my experience and the details of my proposal. Any contribution you can make to this cause will certainly be rewarded back to you tenfold when you see what an impact it will make on these young lives. Thank you.” “Okay, great. Well, everyone, enjoy the rest of the luncheon.” Dalton smiled and directed everyone’s attention to the buffet spread. And just like that, all the attention on Madeline disappeared and refocused on personal conversations and settling down for a nice meal among friends. “You did wonderfully,” Garrett said breathily into her ear. The adrenaline rushing through her from having to speak in public mixed with her desire for him, and she thought she might pass out. She leaned into Garrett’s muscular embrace when she felt a thin arm lace around her elbow. “There’s plenty of time for that later.” Bea smiled warmly at her. “You’ll be sitting next to me.” She sent a scowl over her shoulder as she led Madeline toward the beautifully set table. “Us girls have to stick together in this town. All of these men think they can just boss us around.” Bea leaned her head toward Madeline’s. “I’m so glad I finally get to meet you. The boys have been so sneaky lately, and I didn’t know what to think of it, but now I get it.” Madeline didn’t know what to make of that statement, what exactly Bea was “getting” all of a sudden. She looked behind her at Dalton and Garrett for some hint, but both men had already busied themselves shaking hands and making small talk with the other guests as they walked by. She caught Dalton’s eye, and she must have looked particularly helpless because he instantly excused himself from his conversation with a tall older gentleman and ran to her side. “Bea, where are you taking her? Madeline, would you like to meet—” Dalton tried to grab Madeline’s hand, but Bea jerked it away. “Oh, can’t it wait, Dalton!” Bea snapped as she seemed to possessively pull Madeline closer. “The girl hasn’t even had a beverage or a bite to eat yet. Where are your damn manners?” Dalton’s nostrils flared, but he smiled diplomatically. “Don’t you think you should let Madeline decide whether she’s thirsty or hungry?” “I’m actually not that—” Madeline began, trying to pull away, but right on cue, her stomach rumbled. Garrett walked up, and Madeline was grateful to see he hadn’t heard her belly growling like some gauche beast.

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Bea’s eyes widened. “You sure sound hungry to me, honey. Let’s sit a spell. Garrett, why don’t you get us girls something to snack on, okay? Thanks and buh-bye.” Bea waved the men away with a flick of her wrist and the blinding flash of diamonds on her tennis bracelet. Garrett looked like he wanted to smack his twin, but he just crossed his big arms across his broad chest and chuckled, shaking his head as if in disbelief. “I see you’ve already begun trying to take over our love lives again, eh, Bea,” Garrett called out as he and Dalton followed her to a table. “I don’t think this obsession is healthy.” “Shut up, Garrett,” Bea snapped. Madeline, helpless under the force of this tiny, blonde Texas tornado, looked up at Dalton and Garrett as she was pushed into a seat. “You okay with being left alone with this lunatic sister of mine, Madeline?” Dalton asked. “Of course she is,” Bea said without giving Madeline a chance to respond. “You’ve got two grown women on your hands who want you to bug off, so beat it and give us some precious girl time!” “Fine, but just one goodbye kiss.” Garrett leaned down, but before his sensual lips had a chance to even graze Madeline’s cheek, Bea swatted him away. “Later, bucko. Now, shoo, and I don’t want to hear another word from you men.” Bea eyed each man as if daring them to say another word. As they shrugged and walked away, Madeline realized, despite her Southernbelle charm and gentility, Bea was not someone to mess with. “There, that’s better, isn’t it?” Madeline sat in stunned silence until Bea smiled and started her friendly chattering again. “Let’s get situated first. I’ve just been dying to finally meet you. How do you like Male Order so far?” “It’s great. This cotillion sounds very interesting. Having to plan it must be quite the task.” “It is, and if I have anything to do with it, which I do, it will surely be the biggest one yet. As you heard Dalton say earlier, it’s our year to host the Male Order cotillion, you see.” Bea flicked her platinum hair behind her shoulder. “Every year, a different family takes over. It’s just a big cycle, really. It’s a masquerade every year. Masks, vintage dresses, corsets, lace,

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pearls, the works. I have an entire staff of wonderful assistants at the ready to carry out my every whim. It’s going to be absolutely fantastic.” A waitress approached them and asked what they wanted to drink. Her voice sounded odd, but judging someone else’s speech was the farthest thing from Madeline’s mind at the moment. Bea ordered a bellini. “Just a water for me, please,” Madeline said. The waitress nodded and walked away, flicking her thick brown hair over her broad shoulders and swaying her slim hips in an exaggerated fashion. Well, someone sure is trying hard to impress the rich men here. Madeline couldn’t help but mentally pat herself on the back for not coming off as desperate or money grubbing. Bea laid a perfectly manicured hand on her arm. “Did you just order a water?” “I—” “A water? Honey, you’re in Male Order. You should be sharing with me.” She got the waitress’s attention and called out, “Make that two bellinis.” The waitress came back within the span of a few seconds and set two full champagne flutes and a whole carafe full of bellini in front of them as well as Madeline’s glass of water. She looked around and realized she was the only person there drinking plain water. “Honestly, I don’t know why you’re even bothering with that.” Bea gestured at the glass of water. “Usually they’ll bring the bottle out with it, but this looks like it came from the tap. Ugh, tap water. Must be new help.” Bea sighed and pushed the glass out of the way along with the plates that were already set on the table before she brought the cocktails directly in front of them. Bea winked at Madeline and then leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. “Don’t worry. It’s mostly for me. But we have to share. Otherwise Dalton will throw a fit.” Bea lifted her champagne flute and held it up to Madeline. “Cheers, hon. I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other.” Madeline followed suit, washing down her confusion at Bea’s words with her drink. “Wow. It’s delicious. It tastes so fresh.” “Oh, that’s because it is. Fresh peaches from a personal orchard down in the Rio Grande Valley. It doesn’t belong to one of the five families, but I

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believe it’s extended family.” She subtly gestured with her chin to a table in the corner of the ballroom. “We’re a tight-knit community and extended family members and friends are always trying to find some way in. Unfortunately, everyone wants to be closely associated with at least one of the five founding families, but it just can’t always be done. We’re not snobs or super exclusive, but you either have that certain je ne sais quoi to be fully accepted or you don’t.” Madeline nodded and took another sip. The alcohol, encased in more sugary sweetness than Madeline was accustomed to on an empty stomach, hit her belly hard. She decided to go ahead and drink the water, clearly a liquid only reserved for peasants. Swallowing it in thirsty gulps, Madeline quickly set the water glass down as a strange flavor permeated her mouth, coating her taste buds. It almost tasted bitter. Perhaps that was the reason no one in Male Order drank water. Maybe it was well water or flowed through old pipes. Madeline shrugged and went back to her bellini. Bea scooted her chair a little closer. “I’m sure you’re curious about the other people sitting around you and checking you out.” Of course she was curious. Madeline continued sipping her bellini and listened to Bea as she discreetly pointed people out around the room. “Everyone seems to already be talking, so I’ll officially introduce you to everyone right after lunch, but for now I’ll give you a quick run-down of everyone that matters.” Bea scanned the crowd and tapped her chin. “There’s a real hottie around here…Dylan Caldwell. When they were teenagers, my brothers and the Caldwell boys got into a lot of trouble together. There he is!” Madeline followed Bea’s gaze and saw a tall, dark-haired man. He did not look like he had a care in the world other than finding the next beautiful girl to take to his million-dollar bachelor pad. It was obvious that he knew how good he looked. “He’s got swagger, doesn’t he? Dylan was the first person I went to when I found my calling as a matchmaker. But as you can tell, he doesn’t need any help in that department. “The woman with the Aphrodite hair is Mrs. Lucy Bartlett. She’s the head of the Bartlett brood. Her son, Brodie, couldn’t make it today, which is a shame because he’s so handsome. He and his best friend are in L.A. at the

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moment, and they own their own social networking website, The Velvet Rope.” “Yes, it’s something like Facebook for socialites,” Madeline said. “It’s really taken off in the past few years, and they’ve been too busy to come visit poor little me. But I digress. The man sitting next to Mrs. Bartlett is Alexander Abrams. His great-grandfathers built this very building where the cotillion is held every year, and they also built the movie theater downtown.” Madeline took in Alexander’s hazel eyes, olive complexion, and broad shoulders as Madeline spoke and found herself wondering if every man in Male Order was as beautiful as he was rich. “I’ll introduce you, if you want,” Bea offered. “Sure, but maybe in a second…after I finish my drink.” Madeline felt Bea could see right through her. Both of them knew she was being timid, and she wanted to slap herself for it. “I think it’s important to be properly hydrated.” What a lame excuse. Yes, Madeline would definitely have to slap herself later. Bea looked at the drink in her hand. “Well, I couldn’t agree more.” Bea downed her glass and poured herself another. “There’s plenty of time for introductions later. Hardly anyone’s even started eating yet. Besides, everyone already knows you’re here with my brothers.” Something about the way Bea said that last part made Madeline pause. “You mean here, professionally with your brothers, right?” “Of course, honey. Professionally…as well as personally.” Bea looked at her as if confused by Madeline’s question. “Yes, you are with my brothers professionally and also on a personal level.” “Personal as in together? Brothers. As in, plural. Like, both of them?” Madeline asked with a hint of confusion tingeing her voice. She hadn’t realized herself that the three of them were a thing let alone a personal thing. And this was something the entire town seemed to know already and in such a matter-of-fact way. Madeline was definitely confused. Bea sat back down and took Madeline’s hand in hers. “You do realize Male Order is ménageamous, don’t you?” Bea’s eyes searched Madeline’s, and, finally, Madeline let herself acknowledge the truth she had been working so hard to put out of her mind. Dalton and Garrett shared.

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Apparently, all the men in Male Order shared. But what she desperately wanted to figure out for herself was if she wanted to be shared. Bea’s eyes searched hers. “Madeline?” Unable to come up with a prompt response, Madeline let her gaze peruse the bustling crowd of fabulous people around her. How odd that the most life-changing moments in her life happened in the middle of chaos. Everyone had paired off or formed circles, talking over glasses of wine or mixed drinks, hands touching wrists and shoulders to gain attention. Some were getting food while others already sat eating. Each person certainly looked happy and relaxed. She seemed to be the only uptight one in the bunch. “Is that all right with you, Madeline?” The corners of Bea’s full magenta lips dipped down as if in worry or concern. “I, um…I…” “It’s not that they’re kinksters or anything,” Bea said in a reassuring tone. “That’s just the way Male Order is. Our five families—us, the Kingstons, the Caldwells, the Bartletts, and the Abrams—founded this town over two hundred years ago, and since there weren’t enough women, brothers just decided to share a wife. It’s worked out really well, I swear. The divorce rate here is pretty near zero, and the women are constantly walking around with huge, satisfied smiles on their faces.” “So they’ve always shared? Dalton and Garrett?” Bea nodded. “Of course. That’s what we do here. That’s just how it is.” “I just—it’s just that it’s all so new. I mean, I suspected something…they were so forward together, you know? But I’ve never shared or been shared, really. I mean, two men? I just—” Bea’s slender hand on hers stopped her babbling and cooled the anxiety flush that had already begun to take over her body. “Shh, honey. You sound like you need another drink.” Bea promptly refilled the half-full bellini Madeline had resting in front of her. “You’re getting all worked up over nothing. This is the last place to fret over being with two men. It’d be like worrying about your tiara being too big and sparkly at a Miss Male Order pageant. It’s just not done.” Madeline thought that statement over and realized Bea was right. She looked at the groups of people surrounding her, the happy women

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surrounded by at least two men each. Regardless of whether it was a lifestyle she could pursue, she certainly wouldn’t be judged for it here. She took a sip of her bellini, and as the peach-sweetened champagne warmed her fingers and toes, loosened her muscles and tongue, she realized the value of alcohol as a social lubricant. “You know, I don’t think I mentioned this before, but I really like your outfit.” Bea positively beamed at her. “Thanks! I knew I liked you.” She ran her hand across the neckline and gazed up almost wistfully. “My mother always told me, a true lady can never go wrong with Dior.” Madeline nodded as if her mother had given her the exact same advice and buried her blank expression in her glass, inhaling the sweet perfume of perfect summer peaches mingling with the unique fruity richness of champagne. She glanced around the room and looked at all the perfectly polished and elegant people surrounding her. The men somehow managed to be both rugged and refined. She took pride in knowing that only the men in Texas could pull that off. She finally let her gaze land on Dalton and Garrett, standing at the buffet table, and the hand holding her bellini started shaking. She put it down before anything spilled over the rim, and she took a deep breath. She had never reacted this way to any man in her life. Sure, there had been men she was attracted to and acted out that attraction with, but nothing ever felt this right, this intensely magnetic or passionate. And yet, she felt as though she could stay in place longer than five minutes with them. She was always jumping from one project to the next—volunteering, working, trying to earn a living—but with Dalton and Garrett, time stood still and waited for her. Or maybe she just lost track of it. Either way, there was a sense of peace and calm, like something inside her could finally stop and take a breath. Dalton was speaking to Mr. Abrams as Garrett chatted with Mrs. Bartlett. She tuned everything around her out except for Dalton’s hypnotic voice. It ran like the blackest silk over her senses, luring her to drop her defenses so he could cast his spell over her. There was no need. She was already there, could already feel the pull from his fathomless eyes every time she was near him. She admired the authority with which he commanded a room. If she did not know any better, she would call him an overly proud alpha male, and maybe he was, but there was definitely more

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to him than that. She always knew the moment Dalton entered the room. Everyone did. Dalton’s steady gaze landed on her, heating her whole body and making even her fingertips tingle. Overwhelmed, Madeline shifted her attention back to Garrett, who continued charming the older woman as he seemed to be able to do with all women. Garrett had already charmed Madeline’s panties off. She watched him as he talked, studying his movements and gestures, his proudly mocking face, his devilish grin, the sensual set of his jaw. Oh, and his lips. They were so soft and full, yet were so commanding when against hers. She knew his taste and his scent, knew the way he could use his mouth to send bursts of pleasure rocketing through her body. Garrett’s gray eyes twinkled at her in that way of his that promised there would be pleasure to pay when he got his hands on her. She shivered and turned away before her panties got any wetter, as if that could somehow turn off the surge of emotions building inside her. The things they did to her. She couldn’t help but fan herself with her hand. “You all right? You’re looking a little…overheated. Anything else bothering you?” Bea asked. “What’s the matter? Booze got your tongue?” Was she becoming drunk already? There couldn’t have been that much champagne in the skinny glass. “Sorry. I think I’m just a little nervous about meeting everybody. And having to ask for money is so awkward.” She looked around at all the beautiful, glamorous people surrounding her. Coming here to ask them for funding suddenly made her feel more like a beggar than a do-gooder. “Why?” Bea shrugged a skinny shoulder and sipped at her bellini. “You need money—for a wonderful cause to boot—and they have it to give. I don’t see what the problem is.” “I guess it’s just that…” Madeline sucked in a deep breath, working to will away the queasy sensation creeping around her stomach. “If you’re feeling intimidated, don’t. You’re in Male Order, sweet cheeks. I admit, we’re all pretty fabu. Nothing is ordinary here, and now that you’re here, neither are you.” “But—”

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“Bea, stop harassing her.” Dalton’s deep, rich voice sizzled down Madeline’s nerve endings and buzzed through her body, making her clit thrum. “I am not harassing anyone, Dalton. I’m simply letting her know who everyone is here.” Bea narrowed her eyes at him. “If anyone is harassing anyone else, it’s you. Butt out. You’re polluting my air with your hostility.” Dalton just looked puzzled for a moment, then looked at Madeline pointedly as he set down a plate with two slices of prime rib with a mound of horseradish resting in pink-tinged jus. “I brought you some food. Garrett should be right over after he’s done flirting with Mrs. Bartlett. Let me know if my crazy little sister is pestering you.” Bea sent him an overly sweet smile. “I resent that comment.” “And I resent you hogging her when she’s supposed to be networking, not serving as your drinking buddy while you gossip.” Dalton sat down beside Madeline and sliced the meat as he spoke. “You’ve had her all to yourself for long enough, Bea.” “I’m just acquainting her first and getting her acclimated.” Bea lifted a very hostile-looking brow and settled back in her chair. “Where’s my food?” “I’m sorry, I brought this for Maddie.” Garrett, holding a plate of roast chicken with mixed vegetables on the side, chuckled as he sat down next to his sister. “Didn’t you say you were worried about getting fat?” Bea’s jaw dropped before she raised her hand, ready to slap her brother in the face. Garrett flinched even as he laughed at her. Bea grumbled and crossed her arms over her ample chest. “You think you’re so funny. You’d just love for me to start a scene, wouldn’t you?” “And satisfy your need to be the center of attention?” Garrett teased. “Never.” Madeline felt her side warm and tingle as Dalton leaned in closely. “Don’t worry, Madeline. They don’t fight all the time. They take a break for about eight hours while they get their beauty rest.” Madeline couldn’t keep from laughing no matter how rude she thought it was. But despite their constant bickering, she could tell there was a lot of love between them, and she suddenly missed her own sister. “Maddie, aren’t you hungry? We brought this for you, you know.” Garrett pushed the plate closer to her, but a wave of queasiness returned, and food was the last thing she wanted.

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“No, I’m fine. I ate a big breakfast this morning,” she lied. “Well, then why are we wasting our time sitting around?” Garrett wiped the corners of his mouth with his napkin as he stood. “We’ve got some networking to do.” “Very well, then.” Dalton also rose and pushed his chair in. “Are you ready?” Garrett asked. Both brothers stood at her side, clearly waiting for Madeline to stand so they could escort her. Their huge shoulders and chests formed a great wall around her, so large that she had to lean back to see anything behind them. They were so noble, so gallant and handsome, so seductive and tempting. “Yes,” she whispered, and she had a feeling she was saying yes to more than allowing them to introduce her to their friends. “Hey! You promised me food and didn’t follow through, so as far as I’m concerned, you don’t get to take her yet,” Bea complained, standing and pushing her brothers out of the way. “I have a few people I want to introduce her to first.” Bea handed Madeline another full glass of bellini. “Take this.” With that, Bea snatched her up and pulled her out of her seat. She whispered into Madeline’s ear. “Those boys always get all the fun. Plus, this’ll make them jealous, which I know will pay off for you down the road.” Bea grinned devilishly and winked. Madeline followed Bea around the ballroom, past the buffet table, and let the little woman introduce her to the well-to-do people there. Even though they were all friendly, Madeline could not help but feel out of place. They walked all the way to the other side of the room. Bea clearly wanted to get as much space between them and her brothers as possible. Although she hated being so far from Dalton and Garrett, she had to admit it was fun running around almost clandestinely with Bea. “Now, I’m about to introduce you to Randolph and Geoffrey Kingston. They’re a hoot. I would introduce you to their sons, but one of the brothers is in the Amazon right now and the other one is at some sort of conference. Lenore and Andrea are quite the mother-daughter duo, but I don’t see them anywhere.” Bea gestured with her gaze toward a man who looked like he was in his sixties and who, to Madeline’s enjoyment, looked like an older version of Roger Moore as James Bond. “There’s Randolph. The family runs Kingston Pharmaceuticals, you know.”

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“Really? That company is as big as Bristol-Meyers Squibb!” Madeline suddenly felt as if she were wearing ankle weights, but she shook it off. Surely, Bea was not dragging her to talk to that man. “Oh, come on, Madeline. Stop being so nervous. Here, he’s just Randolph.” Bea reached for Madeline’s arm and dragged her. “He’s a nice man. Great sense of humor. He smokes like a chimney and throws back hard liquor all the time, but whenever anyone complains or nags about it, he always shrugs it off and says the scientists at his company will come up with something to save him.” “Right.” Madeline’s heart rate sped up as a cold sweat began prickling on her skin. It was surely the beginnings of a panic attack. She decided she was not equipped to deal with all of this shuffling back and forth between new people. Thinking perhaps more alcohol would help calm her nerves, she was raising her champagne flute to her lips when a perfectly manicured hand seized it out of her grip and threw the contents of the half-full glass in Madeline’s face. Madeline froze in horror as she felt the drink seeping into her clothes and sloshing down her chest and between her breasts. “Oh, my God.” Madeline tried to blink the stinging out of her eyes while she bent at the waist and blotted at her chest with the hem of her dress. Among the rush of voices that swirled over her head, the only thing she could focus on was the pair of impossibly blue shoes that stepped into her line of vision. Madeline glanced up into the face of a woman whose fat lips looked like they were about to burst. “Oh, I’m sorry,” the woman said, “but since my family owns the orchard that produced the juice for that bellini, I reserve the right to refuse you service.” Madeline’s body started shaking with embarrassment and fury, which only spiked when a sticky piece of hair fastened itself to her cheek. Bea snatched the glass from the other woman’s hand and brandished it like a dagger in her face. “Oh, please, Darla. You aren’t a close enough relation to the Caldwells to pull that crap. I swear, you’ve just gone and pissed me the fuck off. You don’t deserve to be here, so get your secondcousin-by-marriage ass out of here before I do something I won’t regret.” Madeline bent down to try to clean the mess up somehow since her dress started dripping and little puddles started forming around her shoes. But really, all the excitement had started to make her feel dizzy, and it was

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comforting to be low to the ground for a while. She wished her men were with her, but they were probably too far away to notice. It was likely for the best. She didn’t need them making an even bigger scene. “Madeline, what are you doing?” Bea snapped. “Well, I was cleaning—” “No! No, no, no.” Bea’s hand wrapped around her upper arm and yanked her up and to Bea’s side. The movement made blood rush from her head and black dots spotted her vision. If Bea hadn’t had such a firm grip on her, she probably would’ve fallen down. “This crazy ass here needs to get you a brand-freaking-new dress. And hopefully you’ll die on the way to the Galleria, Darla. What the hell is your problem!” Darla pointed an accusatory finger in Madeline’s direction. “She’s here with Garrett and Dalton. What the hell is she doing here with them, Bea?” Bea stepped toward the other woman, any signs of teetering over in her ridiculous heels now completely gone. “My brothers get to date whomever they want whenever they want. Listen, Darla, it wasn’t going to work out. It just wasn’t there.” “You didn’t give me enough time! I always get the guy, Bea. Always. I just needed a few extra days, and now I see this little girl in her department store dress with them? I don’t think so.” Madeline leaned against a marble pillar to steady herself. She looked down at her dress, then at Darla’s and decided that, though Darla’s might cost a few grand, her own was much classier than that scrap of whatever the hell kind of fabric it was. How dare that woman come in here and ruin a perfectly good luncheon with this asinine scene? Madeline straightened to her full height and met the artificially smooth, almost expressionless face of the tall, willowy yet full-breasted blonde woman. Her body was like two balloons tacked to a board. Her dress was perfectly tailored and fit her lithe dancer’s body with the perfection of a silk glove. A very tiny and revealing glove. Madeline fought down the angry rush of adrenaline that made her fingertips twitch and met Darla’s eyes. “How dare you?” the blonde seethed. “I’m sorry, but you’re the one who attacked me, so how dare you?” Madeline shot back. Ha! Take that! She had never been in an argument like this before, and she thought she was holding her own pretty well. Bea standing beside her didn’t hurt, either.

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Darla stepped closer, and the smell of her perfume and hair products burned Madeline’s nose. Personally, she believed less was more where perfume was concerned. “You better watch your back, missy, because I always win. You might have stolen Garrett from me, but they’ll forget about you. Trust me. It happens with all of them.” “Okay,” Madeline said as if she were speaking to a hostile student of hers, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Darla took a menacing step toward her, and Madeline took a half step back before she realized she needed to hold her ground or the deranged socialite might use it as an opportunity to beat her to death with her blue satin Manolos. “What the hell is going on here?” Dalton’s angry voice only emphasized its deep baritone. Even though Darla still towered menacingly over Madeline with her model’s height, Madeline’s body still reacted to Dalton’s voice, and her heart sped up when she heard Dalton’s and Garrett’s clipped steps quickly approaching them. Bea jumped right in. “Darla here thinks she has some sort of claim on you, and to prove it, she threw Madeline’s drink in her face.” “She what!” Dalton thundered. “She has no right to be here, and she has no right to step in and flaunt her fling with the two of you in my face!” Darla’s heavy bosom heaved. Madeline wondered if it was hard for her to breathe. They were that big on her skinny body. Garrett stepped between a seething Dalton and the incensed socialite. “Aw, come on now, Darla,” Garrett positively crooned with a charming smile on his face, “we had a great time, and you’re a wonderful woman, but it’s just not a good fit. I don’t think I’m the man for you.” “Oh, but the two of you are,” Darla said, her gaze snapping between Dalton and Garrett as they stopped in front of Bea and Madeline. There it was again. The number two just would not stop taunting her today. Madeline rolled her eyes at the gentle way Garrett handled Darla. He had done this before. “You know, that might have been the truth had things worked out, but we’ve found someone else,” Garrett said as he smoothly skimmed his hand

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over Madeline’s belly, then used it to push her behind him while he and Dalton faced off with Darla. Bea just stepped behind them, too, crossed her arms over her chest, and sent Madeline a look that said everything was handled now. “So this is her, Garrett?” Dalton’s head dipped down and up again, as if he were assessing her. “Our date was magical, Garrett. You told me I was beautiful!” Darla whined. Madeline cringed. Of course Garrett would think a woman like that was beautiful. Of course. Those were the kinds of perfectly sculpted women who ran around and married men like him for their looks and their money. “And you are, Darla,” Garrett answered smoothly, “but…” “It’s her, isn’t it?” Darla glared at Madeline over the men’s shoulders. “Yes,” Dalton answered, his voice cold, “and don’t ever think to threaten her again. You need to leave, now, before I lose my patience.” No wonder Garrett did all the talking with crazed women. Dalton would just make them snap completely from all his cold, haughty disdain. Bea and Madeline glanced at each other, and the elated look on Bea’s face said it all to Madeline. Darla raised her chin and started walking backward, an angry fist in the air. “Fine. But you will rue the day you got between Darla and her man. Rue!” Her right eye twitched, and even under all of her sweet perfume the woman wore, Madeline could smell the crazy as Darla strutted out of the room. The room buzzed with energy even with the awkward silence that had descended upon it. Madeline glanced around and saw that the rest of the people stared at their four-person circle, and she felt her whole body blushing. But then, just like they had when she walked into the room for the first time, everyone politely turned away and started conversing with the person next to them. “Well, so much for your matchmaking business, Bea. I’m sorry.” Garrett actually managed to look contrite when he said it. “No, Garrett. If anything, I’m more determined than ever. Did you see how intense it was? God, I’m good. This just let me know that I can bring passion into people’s lives.”

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“Yeah, and now we have crazy, pissed-off Darla. Great passion there, Bea. Just great.” Dalton’s tone dripped with checked anger. “Oh, please. I need to start branching out to different areas of the state. These Male Order wannabes can be a little crazy when they don’t get what they want. Ugh, the nerve of that girl,” Bea quipped, her hand on her hip. Dalton grunted. “Speaking from experience?” Bea scoffed and narrowed her eyes at him. “I resent that, Dalton.” “I really don’t care, Bea. After that scene, all I want to do is get Madeline back home.” His gaze fell upon Madeline as her world started swimming. “Are you all right?” She rubbed her eyes, taking care not to smear her makeup, and blinked. She didn’t know if it was all the alcohol or sugar on an empty stomach, her previous nerves, or being assaulted, but Madeline suddenly didn’t feel quite right again. Her mouth felt dry and her tongue thick and sandpapery. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just a little startled, I guess.” He gave her a light smile, and it lit up his entire face. A wave of drowsiness swept over her, and she straightened her back to steady herself. Bea touched Madeline’s wrist. “Hey. You sure you’re okay?” Up this close, Madeline saw that Bea’s eyes were just as intense as Dalton’s, but her lips were as full and expressive as Garrett’s. Madeline nodded emphatically. “Oh, I’m fine. Just a little adrenaline aftereffect, I guess. That’s never happened before. I mean, we get some crazy parents every now and then, but I’ve never had another woman get in my face about a man.” “You mean men,” Bea supplied. “Oh. Right. Men.” As her head started feeling light and airy, Madeline stepped into Dalton’s body and leaned against him. “I think I might need to go home.” “How many bellinis did our sister force you to have?” Though Garrett’s words were joking, his tone was serious. Madeline turned her chin up and gave them a weak smile. “I’m not a big drinker.” “Are you sure it was a Bellini and not a screwdriver, Bea?” Garrett asked as he moved to close the Ellis circle around Madeline.

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“Well, that’s insulting. Of course I know it’s a bellini, Garrett. Please. I know my alcohol. Besides, she’s wearing most of what she had in her last glass, so that’s one serving she didn’t have.” The same bitter taste from before that coated her tongue now seemed to be thickening in her throat, making it difficult to swallow. Madeline struggled to breathe, and it took all her energy to stay standing. Dalton’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at his sister. “Are you all right, Bea? Who gave you your drinks?” “I’m fine,” she answered. “It must’ve been the water. I don’t ever drink tap water. Who does? I don’t know what’s wrong with her. The same waitress gave us both of our drinks. Didn’t you see her? She was a big girl.” “What waitress, Bea?” Dalton’s voice tightened, and he gripped Madeline’s shoulders. “For all we know, someone—Darla, even—put something in her drink.” Madeline swayed in his grip, and she locked her knees to keep from collapsing on the floor. She buried her fingers in his suit jacket and took a deep breath to calm herself, but when her vision swam, she started panicking again. “Dalton…” He pulled her into his embrace, and as she buried her face in his hard chest, his warmth and strength washed over her, calming her shaking body. His arms wrapped around her like steel manacles, though his touch was gentle. He said something about a car over her head to someone, but her eyelids felt so heavy, her eyes so dry, and everything sounded like voices coming through over radio static. The world tipped, and her feet slipped off the ground. She struggled to right herself, but a rock held her in place. “It’s all right, Madeline,” Dalton said in her ear. “I’ve got you. You’re fine. I’m just getting you to the car.” Her world started spinning and sloshing, and she needed something to hold on to. She tried to hug herself against Dalton’s big, hard body, but her limp arms would not move. Finally, she gave up and let the blackness drown her.

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Chapter Six Madeline floated in a cool lavender breeze, the gentle wind caressing her skin like a lover. She breathed in deep and snuggled into her pillow— Wait. Her eyes flew open, and she brushed her wild mane of hair out of her face. Where in the hell was she? How the hell did she get here? She slowly sat up and glanced around, the room gradually coming into focus—the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, the expensive, lavish furnishings—and realized she was either in a fancy hotel or at the Ellis family compound. Madeline fell back into the sheets and came to the conclusion that this was the softest bed she had ever had the privilege of being in. The sheets were so cool and soft, and the lavender scent went straight to her head, making her relax her tensed muscles. She heard voices coming from the other side of the door and knew, regardless of where she was, the Ellises were close by. Madeline strained her ears to hear. A male voice said, “Beulah…Beulah” in perfect Ferris Bueller intonation. The voice did it again, and Madeline recognized it as Garrett’s. Of course he would make fun of his sister like that. Why in the hell would someone name their daughter Beulah? That was just asking for Garrett to make fun of her. “I told you never to call me that, you ass!” Bea screeched. “I’m leaving! Madeline’s alive, and I have donated my clothing to your cause. I’m done. I’ll see you at the benefit.” A door slammed, and Garrett’s laughter rang throughout the house, but Madeline’s glee from their lighthearted joking froze. What the hell was she going to do about this situation? How was she supposed to get her non-profit off the ground when all her thoughts were of Dalton and Garrett, and all she wanted was for them to see her the way she saw them—sexy, brilliant,

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beautiful. There was no time in her life right now for a relationship with one man, let alone two, but she wanted them, yearned for them whenever she was alone. Both of them. Together. Perhaps that made her crazy, but she was beyond caring. And she was beyond hoping that anything would ever happen or work out between the three of them. Who was she to think she could belong in their world, and what made her think they wanted her there, anyway. Besides, there was so much to do with the non-profit, so many things to set up, so many meetings, so many children and parents depending on her. God, this was hopeless. It was time to nip all of these ridiculous feelings in the bud and get back to business. Her heart deflated as the door opened and Dalton walked in, holding a tray loaded with food. His shirt clung to the muscles in his arms and chest, making her head spin from something other than whatever put her in this bed in the first place. His gaze landed on her, and he smiled. A real smile. “You’re awake.” She nodded and gathered the sheets closer to her chest. Her nipples, among other things, came to life when he flashed her that damn smile of his, and she had no desire for him to see her free-boobing it so early in the morning, especially when she was wearing— Oh, shit. Madeline pulled the covers back from her chest to take a peek. Now she knew what Bea had been talking about when she said something about clothing. She was dressed in some sort of oversized girl tank, but since Bea preferred her clothes on the tight side, the shirt made Madeline’s boobs look extra large. She snapped the sheets back up to her collarbone when Dalton drew closer. “What happened?” she asked when he set the tray on the nightstand. “I don’t know yet.” Dalton’s back was to her, but his voice was hard. When he faced her, his jaw was set in a hard, firm line. “But Garrett and I will find out. Did you see anyone who looked weird or out of place?” Madeline thought back, but nothing caught her attention. Out of everyone there, it seemed that she was the only one who did not belong at that lunch. Brunch. Whatever it was.

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“No.” She shook her head. “Nothing. And it happened so quickly.” She looked up at him and saw he was stewing in his own juices. “Thank God you were there. I don’t know what would have happened if you weren’t.” Dalton’s jaw ticked. “Don’t focus on that. You’re perfectly healthy and you’re safe. That’s what’s important. We had our family physician come and check you out right away. He said you were probably drugged, but based on the stability of your vital signs, the drugs probably just had to work themselves out of your system on their own.” Anger rolled off him in waves, making the air pulse around him. Her clit started thrumming. He was so beautiful, so magnetic when he was angry. So dangerous. His face needed a good shave, and there were circles under his eyes, but they only served to make their color stand out like a neon light. He had changed from the suit he wore to the luncheon. His clothing was more relaxed now, and the first few buttons on his shirt were undone, giving her a glimpse of his chest hair. Madeline suddenly felt that this moment was strangely intimate because of it. His corporate costume was off now, and only Dalton stood next her. Not Mr. Dalton Ellis. Her fingers and lips ached to touch and explore. He sat on the bed next to her, and the mattress dipped with his weight, making her slide toward him, close enough that she could smell his male spice and cologne. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I had our cook prepare a few things for you. There’s tea, scones, eggs, fruit, bottled water. Everything.” She laid her hand on Dalton’s arm and felt his hard muscles underneath his shirt. “Thank you. Thank you for taking care of me. How long was I out?” “All day yesterday.” “Wait, what? It’s tomorrow?” His lips curled into a wry smile. “Yes. It’s almost eight in the morning.” The grating in his voice made her wonder if he even slept at all. “Oh, my God.” Terrified she had worn out her welcome, she tried to get out of bed, but Dalton just pressed her back into the pillows. “No. Stay as long as you want. In fact, I’d rather you stay here until we’ve found the son of a bitch who did this to you.”

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His words, stated with purpose and passion, let her know he would not accept no for an answer. She decided she needed to try anyway. “Dalton, I can’t do that. I can’t intrude on your lives like this, and—” Dalton’s eyes flashed. “You won’t be intruding.” “Of course I will be! You don’t want some gimp hanging around you, messing up your game.” He looked at the ceiling and then down at her, his brow raised and his lips tightening in the corners in a way that made her want to lick them. “There is no game, Madeline.” “Okay, fine. Garrett’s game,” she teased. Garrett popped his head in the door. “Ah, so the sleeping beauty is awake.” Madeline felt herself blushing from her chin to her toes. He looked at her as though she were lying there naked and spread out for their enjoyment. She started wondering who, exactly, had changed her out of her Bellinisoaked dress. Garrett strutted right into the room and shut the door behind him, making the room seem so much smaller now. Not that the room was small by any means. But with the two of them in there with her together and the door closed, the walls seemed to inch closer and closer to her until the air felt hot and thick. Their manly scents pervaded the enclosed space and mixed with the lavender-scented sheets, forming a heady combination that made her pussy wet. Never had she encountered two men who smelled so good all the time. She did not even think such a thing was possible, but the Ellis brothers seemed intent on proving her wrong about almost everything she knew—and about firing up her long-dormant urges. When Garrett reached the bed, he plopped onto it and stretched out next to her. His long, lean, athletic body was about a foot longer than hers, making her feel dainty and small compared to his excessive size. It seemed everything about the Ellis brothers was excessive—their money, their good looks, their broad shoulders and chests. “So who was that Darla lady?” she asked when she could not take the buzzing in her body from the sexual tension anymore. Dalton snickered. “That’s all on you, Garrett.” Garrett gave a great, martyred sigh. “I really hate how you get out of Bea’s set-ups. It’s not fair.”

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“I’m the oldest. I get special treatment. And besides, I don’t hear you complaining all the time.” “Well, this one is particularly disturbed. More like profoundly disturbed.” He pointed to Madeline with his chin. “Obviously.” “So you went on a date with her?” Madeline found it hard to believe Garrett would want a crazy woman on his hands. Garrett plucked her hand out of her lap and massaged her inner wrist with his thumb. “Yeah, I went on a date with her. I was trying to fulfill my brotherly obligations to my pesky twin sister. The dates don’t usually end with the girl going all female praying mantis on my ass.” Madeline had a pretty good idea about how the dates usually ended, and she was sure any woman Garrett touched would purr the day away like a well-fed kitten. “So how did the date go? Why is she so angry with you?” Garrett turned his head on the pillow and looked at her. “She was pretty horrible, if I do say so myself. It was actually that day we first met at the arboretum. I was desperate for a way to get out of there. I even dressed like a grungy frat boy to make a bad impression.” “Oh, so that’s why you looked so terrible.” An image of Garrett darting around the botanical grounds in those awful shorts popped in her mind. Dalton chuckled beside her. “Seems like your bag of tricks is running low, Garrett.” Garrett rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I saw that little girl needing help, so I shot out of there real quick. It happened by chance that I saw you, but I don’t know, something happened, and I knew I had to talk to you.” Something fluttered in her stomach. “Really?” “Oh, yeah. I think it was the way your skirt hiked up your legs when you reached for that damn bear.” The look of pure glee on his smug face made Madeline’s hand itch to slap it. Instead, she covered her face with her hands. “I wasn’t the only one looking, you know. The security guard was pretty taken with you, too.” She uncovered her face. “No! No, he was not!” Garrett grinned, showing off his perfectly straight teeth. “Oh, yeah, babe. He was checking out your, um, assets.” “Well, so much for putting that delicately, Garrett,” Dalton said wryly. “What? I’m just telling her the truth.”

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“No, no, it’s fine,” Madeline protested. “I’m just a little embarrassed. I must have looked terrible!” Dalton lay down, rolled onto his side, and pinned her with those intense eyes of his. “You’re always beautiful.” He reached for the cloth bunched between her fingers and peeled the sheets from her body slowly, deliberately. “Your skin is so creamy and delicate.” He moved in and brushed his lips over her shoulder. “So soft.” A shadow of something she didn’t understand swept over his features. “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you again.” Madeline’s heart swelled and then jumped into her throat and stayed there as Dalton exposed more of her body to their gazes. Her flesh was so hot and sensitive that the air puckered her skin into goose bumps. Down the sheet went until it pooled at her knees. She lay there completely open and exposed between two huge, virile men who looked more like hungry, savage wolves than men at the moment. They seemed to grow bigger, broader, until their bodies were like hard walls of living flesh surrounding her. Dalton’s hand slid up from her knee and up her thigh, hooking under the material of her borrowed top and pulling it up to her hips. She turned to her side, arching into him. Dalton’s hand skimmed the sensitive flesh between her ass cheeks, and when she flinched, he used a bolder touch, his body language letting her know he would have his way. Dalton hovered above her, his weight supported by one meaty arm as the other one traversed her body, pushing more insistently between her cheeks until his finger grazed her asshole. “Garrett told me no one has touched you here.” Dalton’s eyes burned as he gazed down at her. Madeline swallowed past her arousal and nerves and shook her head. “No. But now you are.” His nostrils flared, a male scenting his coming victory, and his gaze grew more focused, more intense. “We will have you here. Not now, but soon.” Oh, the grittiness of his voice, the intensity of his touch, of his eyes, made her cunt more aware of his masculinity than ever. She was sopping wet and aroused beyond belief. Her skin tingled with her desperation for relief, and her clit ached to be touched. She shimmied her hips, and he gripped her ass cheek, making her groan.

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Dalton growled. “Don’t tempt me any more than you already are, Madeline. You can’t handle the consequences yet.” She did not care. She was way beyond that point. Dalton yanked the shirt up the rest of the way, exposing her breasts to them before she knew what hit her. She moved to cover them, and her hand brushed back against Dalton’s hard cock. She stiffened. “Sorry. I didn’t mean…” But Dalton ground himself against her palm, making her feel his hardness, his imposing thickness. Madeline wanted it in her, now. But Dalton shifted his weight and positioned himself next to her again while Garrett made quick work of her underwear, gripping the waistband and pulling them down her legs and tossing them somewhere in the expanse of the room. When he straightened, his gray eyes locked with hers, and the words bubbled out of her before she could stop them. “Take off your shirt.” Oh, God, she felt herself turning red. “I just, um, want to see you.” Garrett grinned down at her and pressed a quick, hard kiss against her lips before pulling away. “Anything you want, babe.” His hands crossed at the front of his shirt, and she watched, entranced, as he pulled the shirt away from his torso. Madeline’s eyes widened at the sight of his tanned chest, his strong arms, his rippling abs. He looked so powerful, so potent, so masculine, that her body cried out to him, to Dalton, yearning to be filled, fucked, taken. Her nipples hardened into sensitive pebbles at the tips of her breasts, and her pussy swelled and thumped, preparing for the pleasure she needed. As Garrett lay back down beside her, Dalton’s hand trailed down her side, tracing the indentation of her waist, the rise of her hips, before he pulled her body tighter against his. Lust overwhelmed her, and her skin started tingling. He pulled her leg over his, exposing her pussy to him and Garrett. Tightening his hold on her, Dalton slid his fingers between her legs and between her pussy lips. She was so swollen for him. She could feel it. He flicked her clit, and she tried to squeeze her legs together, but he held her leg down with his hand. He spread her pussy juice around and around, toying with her thrumming, exposed clit until her back bowed off the bed every time he touched her. The pleasure was so luscious, so intoxicatingly thick as it flowed through her and out of her.

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Dalton’s touch was deep and raw in its absolute sexuality. There was no fooling around with him. His intensity speared through her and pinned her in place. He knew exactly how to touch her, when to touch her. He let her come multiple times—small, light orgasms that left her pulse pounding furiously in her temples and coiling her body tighter into itself—but he did not let her fall over the edge of the furious pleasure he created inside of her. Madeline sat up to let Garrett lift the shirt completely off her body. Hell, even her breasts were swollen with how aroused she was, her nipples sitting like ripe berries on the high mounds. Garrett groaned and sucked one into his mouth. “Oh, God.” Madeline’s head fell back onto the pillow, and she lost herself in the wet, swirling sensations of Garrett’s mouth. Every sweep of his tongue shot sparks of jagged pleasure to her clit and her aching, clenching pussy. She writhed between them, pumping her hips against Dalton’s fingers, fucking herself against his hand as she thrust her breasts higher into Garrett’s exquisitely skilled mouth. The high-pitched gasps streaming from her mouth sounded foreign to her ears. She never made sounds like that. Not even when she was by herself. Her cries sounded shocked and overwhelmed—like a woman on the verge of the biggest damn orgasm of her life—and that was just from Dalton’s fingers. She might die when he finally decided to use his cock on her. Well, in. Dalton’s fingers circled around her clit again, but this time he pressed harder as he swirled and rubbed. Madeline’s legs started trembling, and her breathing hitched. “I–I…” I’m going to come! Her lips were too busy opening on a gasp to form the words. “You’re what?” Dalton’s deep, gritty voice caressed her like a hot breeze on a summer night. “You’re going to come?” “Mmm,” she muttered as she flicked her hips higher. Dalton pinched her clit, hard, then nipped her earlobe with his teeth and nuzzled the sensitive flesh under her ear. “Not without my permission.” The dark undertone in his voice ravaged her insides and made her anticipation soar, made her desperate for more of him and his addictive

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touch. Dalton’s body shifted next to hers, and he kneeled between her legs, kissing down her body—her ribs, her tummy, her hipbones, the top of her mound. His hot breath fanned over her sensitive pussy lips, and her clit started throbbing to the point of pain. Holding her eyes with his, Dalton gave her a firm, long lick from cunt to clit. “Dalton!” Madeline spread her thighs as far apart as they could go, and she did not even try to fight Dalton when he pushed her knees high and wide, opening her up for his questing, demanding tongue. Her body still hummed from her arousal, her nerve endings tingling and buzzing as she came down only to start climbing up…up. The tension in her body coiled around itself in her lower belly, and Madeline did not even try to fight it. The way Dalton mastered her body let her know there was no way in hell he would let her take control. She was at their mercy, and she let the pleasure they gave her take over her entire being. She became a thing of feeling, of utter subjugation to the sensations swirling and thundering through her, over her. Dalton flicked his tongue over her engorged clit until the need to come burned like a hot brand between her legs. She glanced down her body to where Dalton’s dark head lay between her legs, and his hot, intense gaze was upon her, ravishing her just as thoroughly as his tongue and his fingers while Garrett sucked the nipple closest to him, twirling the other with his fingers. The pleasure combined somewhere below her belly button, pulsing, spiraling until she grew crazed with it. She writhed and groaned, but they shackled her to them with their tongues, lips, hands. Then Garrett pulled away from her breast, leaving the wet, pebbled tip to shimmer in the light. She missed his heat and his weight. But then Dalton spread her pussy lips with his fingers, fully exposing her clit to his laving tongue. She grabbed his head and pulled his face closer to her cunt as she ground her pelvis into him. Dalton’s growl vibrated against her intimate flesh. “Come now.” The leash he kept on her pleasure broke with the command, and she flew apart, crying out her release as her body shook from the raw, uncontrolled power of her orgasm. It was overwhelming and felt like

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nothing she had ever experienced before. Even though she knew her body was completely at the mercy of these two extraordinary men, she felt strangely free and empowered. When the pulses finally stopped and she slowly drifted back down into her own body, she realized Dalton still stroked her lightly, helping to bring her down and ease her through it. “You taste so sweet, like the flesh of a fresh, juicy plum.” The erotic lilt in Dalton’s voice almost set her off again. Her limbs were heavy and numb, tingling and sensitive. But they did not give her time to catch her breath. Dalton went at her with his mouth again, and Garrett lifted her upper body and stuffed a pillow under her shoulders, then kneeled next to her face. “Open up, Maddie.” She turned her thrashing head to the side and came face to face with Garrett’s long, thick cock. It was just as extravagantly large as Garrett’s personality, the graceful ridge of it glowing red with his arousal. Madeline gripped his cock in her palm and stroked it down to the root. His pubic hair tickled the outside of her wrist when she lifted up to lick the drop of pre-cum off the tip of his dick. He sucked in a breath above her, and he ran his fingers through the hair that fell over her face, brushing it aside. “Oh, yeah, Maddie. Suck me.” Garrett’s thighs shook as he spoke, and when Madeline wrapped her lips around his cockhead and slid her mouth down his thick stalk, his lower belly started to shake as well. Dalton’s tongue flicked over her clit just right, and she moaned around Garrett’s cock. “Shit.” Madeline glanced up, and Garrett’s eyes were fastened on where he disappeared into her mouth. His face was a mask of rigid control, and his touch was gentle, even though his body told her otherwise. His body told her he was holding back, and she would have none of that. Not while he was in her mouth. Holding his stormy gaze, Madeline gripped him harder and, holding the base of his cock, she sucked her way back to the mushroom tip and swiped the pad of her tongue over it. Garrett’s head snapped back on his shoulders, and Madeline reveled in her moment of glory until Dalton pushed a thick finger inside of her as he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked. Madeline sucked Garrett’s cock harder to keep from letting go, and he gave a rough groan above her.

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“Oh, yeah. That’s it.” Garrett’s hand cupped the back of her neck, and Madeline reveled in her moment of victory. She was slowly undoing him. She sensed it in the way he started bobbing his hips, thrusting his cock into her mouth ever so gently, and the way his breathing grew shallower and sounded as though he were sucking in air between his teeth. His cock completely filled her mouth to the point that she found it hard to breathe, but the taste of his man flesh, and the feel of his blunt cockhead on her tongue were too hard to resist. She loved the earthiness of going down on him, loved the musky scent of his skin as he grew hotter to the touch. But mostly, she loved the way his muscles tensed and bunched as he moved. His abs were so defined that shadows danced under the ripples of his hard flesh. She sucked, licked, and caressed Garrett’s cock in time with Dalton’s tongue-lashings against her clit, with the rhythm of his fingers fucking and swirling inside her. Deep in the recesses of her mind, Madeline marveled at how Dalton controlled everything—everyone’s pleasure—with just the tip of his tongue. Madeline was growing close again. She felt the pleasure rising up in her like a living being, and her body demanded to be sated, but she did not want to be the only one this time. She rose up on her elbow and cupped Garrett’s balls. His virile sac was heavy in her palm, and when she gently applied pressure, Garrett grabbed her hair and started fucking her mouth, his strokes shallow and desperate. Dalton hummed something against her cunt, and Madeline clenched on his fingers, needing to feel fuller, to hold the pressure against her G-spot right there. Right there! “Oh, God. Dalton!” she cried as he pushed her right to the edge of the precipice. Her heart sped up again as the storm built in her body, the pleasure so acute, so intense that she almost shied away from it. “No you don’t,” Dalton growled over her clit. He worked her again, fucking two fingers into her as he pressed his thumb against her clit and rubbed, circled until she pumped her hips to catch more of the overwhelming friction. “Oh, fuck. I’m going to come.” Garrett tried to pull away, but she sucked hard on his dick as he erupted on her tongue. She took everything he

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had to give her, and held his gaze as she swallowed his cum. For a moment, a bolt of electricity flowed between them, and then Dalton did something magically wicked to her clit, and she flew apart. Garrett’s cock popped out of her mouth as she gasped, and her back arched off the bed. The satisfaction of making Garrett come heightened her pleasure, making this orgasm more intense, even more overwhelming than the last, if that were possible. Never before had she experienced this much pleasure. Apparently the Ellis brothers had no qualms about exploring the number of times a woman could orgasm before they got to the real stuff. She did not even want to think about what they could do with their cocks if their foreplay skills said anything about their other abilities. When Madeline finally had enough strength to open her eyes, she saw that she had somehow moved down the bed with all of her thrashing. She turned her head and saw that Dalton leaned against the headboard, naked, with his thick thighs spread in blatant sexual invitation. She let her gaze wander lazily down his masculine form, starting at his wide shoulders and down to his muscled chest and his rippled abdomen. A thick vein ran down the center of Dalton’s heavily muscled biceps, but even though he was muscular, he was not overly bulky. Her gaze traveled lower, to the muscular indentations just above his hips. His long, thick cock rose like a club from the thatch of man hair at the base, and his balls, full and heavy, drew against his body with his arousal. With erotic mischief in his eyes, Dalton reached down and wrapped a big hand around his dick, and Madeline’s pussy watered at the sight of his muscles bulging as he fucked himself for her, his cock so long and thick that he had to use broad, sweeping strokes. His was the most imposing, most virile-looking cock she had ever seen, and it terrified her with its size. The tip of it stretched up to his belly button, and a drop of his pre-cum landed on his muscled abdomen, inviting her to lick it up. So she did. Crawling forward until she was face to face with his impressive cock, Madeline let her tongue run over Dalton’s skin as she lapped at him, purposely teasing him with her nearness to get him back for torturing her so exquisitely and to work her confidence up a bit. Dalton’s cock was like a big-girl ride at the carnival, and right now, she did not know if she was woman enough to suck on it, let alone ride it. He was so different from

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Garrett, who made her feel comfortable with his devilish sexual charm. A few days ago, Dalton had just plain intimidated her with that damn poker face of his, but now she had seen his softer side. He smelled good, like earthy, sexual man and a hint of his soap. The tang of his skin mixed with his pre-cum made her tongue hungrier for more even as her nervousness mounted at his blank features. The only hint he gave of his arousal was the intensity of his eyes, the way they went from cold jade to a blazing, flashing emerald green Making sure he watched, Madeline flicked her tongue over the slit in his cockhead, lapping up the seeping pre-cum and savoring his taste. The tendons in Dalton’s neck stood out, and his breathing quickened, but he made no other movements, gave no other signs of his desire, so she wrapped her lips around his tip and sucked while she cupped his balls. “Shit,” he whispered, clenching his jaw. She smiled around his cock and got to work, bobbing her head over him, sucking his hard flesh, exploring his silk-over-steel texture. She licked him, used her hands along with her mouth, and worked him until he surged heavily into her mouth, groaning. Whereas Garrett pressed against the back of her neck, Dalton wove his fingers into her hair but did not press or pull, just left them there, stroking her scalp as she stroked him with her mouth, guiding her, encouraging her with his words. “Just like that, Madeline. Oh, fuck, that’s good.” The desperation in his voice made it more guttural and grating. She loved it. She sucked harder and moved her head faster, until Dalton groaned with every movement of her tongue. His hips surged under her touch, and she accepted him in the back of her throat, loving the way he no longer held the reins of his control. She did, and she let the knowledge feed her confidence. She took him deeper, then dragged her tongue over him from base to tip and down again. Then, doing something she had never done before, she took one of his balls into her mouth and suckled gently while working his cock with her hand. His back stiffened, and he sat up straighter. “Madeline.” Dalton gently tugged her hair, but she moved to the other side and took his cock into her mouth, running her tongue over the bottom of it. He groaned from deep in his chest. “Keep going, Maddie,” Garrett said, his voice deep and dark. “He’s close.”

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She smiled to herself, then pressed her lips against the vein on the underside of his cock, following it back up to the tip. She looked into his face and saw his pleasure-ravaged features and knew Garrett spoke the truth. She sucked Dalton into her mouth again and used her hands, her mouth, her tongue, to work his hard cock until he growled, grabbing her head and fucking himself between her lips, surging, pumping. Then, suddenly, he let go of her and grabbed the sheets below him. “Aw, fuck! Like that, Madeline.” And then he exploded in her mouth, his cum shooting out of his cock, forcing her to swallow multiple times as he heaved under her. His belly quivered, and his breath sawed in and out of his mouth. But when he looked at her, it was with such fierce possession and power that his reaction did not make him seem spent at all, but rather charged and ready for more. “You’re amazing,” Dalton said as he panted. “Let’s get out of here and do something special.” “Like what?” Madeline sat up, bewildered at the sudden change of plans. “Like a road trip, but Ellis style.” Dalton smiled. “What do you think, Garrett?” “I think that’s a fantastic idea. Treat this princess of ours the way that she deserves to be treated.” “But now? I thought we were…” Madeline’s body still clenched with need, a desire to be filled by their cocks, to be completed by them. She pouted, drawing her knees into her chest. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” Dalton asked. Madeline let out a heavy sigh and forced herself to look at them as she spoke, no matter how embarrassed she felt. “It’s just that, I thought foreplay was supposed to lead to…you know.” “Princess,” Garrett picked up her hand and pressed a warm kiss into her wrist, “what makes you think foreplay is over?” “That’s right,” Dalton said, scooping her up in his big arms. “We’ve only just begun with you.”

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Chapter Seven Madeline reclined in the plush leather interior of Dalton and Garrett’s private jet and marveled at how supple it was. The smell of it was nothing short of absolute decadence. From the outside, the plane looked like a regular commercial airliner, but its unremarkable exterior belied a luxurious interior that she couldn’t have dreamed possible. “So where exactly are you boys taking me?” She crossed her arms over her chest and couldn’t help but notice that the action pushed them up a little bit. Her body still vibrated with need from each man’s previous ministrations and she looked forward to continuing their foreplay. “That, sweetheart, is a surprise.” Garrett poured a glass of champagne and handed Madeline the delicate crystal flute of bubbly before sitting down beside her in the aisle seat. The seats were arranged in facing pairs on each side of the plane. She imagined Dalton would sit across from her, and the thought of those hypnotic eyes staring at her made her juices flow even more. She couldn’t wait to land so they could finish what they started. “Is it far?” She hated not knowing, but the mystery did intrigue her. She sipped her champagne and looked at Dalton who had just left the cockpit after speaking privately with the two pilots. “Too many questions will ruin the surprise. Is that what you really want?” Dalton leaned across his brother and kissed her on the forehead before heading behind her to the bar, likely to pour himself a scotch. “No, I guess not.” Madeline sighed and took in her surroundings. She had never paid much attention to things like corporate jets or personal planes and what they might look like inside. It all always seemed so frivolous, so self-indulgent. Why not fly in coach with the rest of the “little people,” she would muse. It had always suited her just fine. Well, now, as she stretched her legs out, she finally saw what all the fuss was about.

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The Ellis plane was like having a small apartment with wings, and it put her own landlocked, humble abode to shame. The plane could have easily accommodated hundreds of seats, though all but eight had been taken out. The rest of the space was devoted to a small office, a dining area, and a living room with comfy-looking chairs and a flat-screen television. She traced her finger along the striped wood grain of the side table she had set her champagne glass down on. The rich reddish caramel-brown gloss was veined with a darker chocolate-brown. It reminded her of a tiger’s stripes. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Garrett said. “Yes. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” “Cherry rosewood. It had always been Mother’s favorite. You can’t really smell it now, but it has the most magnificent scent that Mother just couldn’t get enough of. They’re great big trees, but it actually is part of the pea family.” Dalton sat across from Madeline and buckled his seatbelt. “All right, sweetheart. It’s about time for takeoff. I would hold your drink if I were you.” Dalton reached over and squeezed her hand. “You’re not nervous, are you?” The sound of a metallic click drew her attention to Garrett’s hands securing the seatbelt in his lap. Even underneath the stainless-steel buckle she could see the distinctive bulge in his pants. Madeline swallowed the saliva that had begun pooling in her mouth and thought for a moment. “No, not nervous at all.” At least, not about flying. She took another sip of champagne, hoping the bubbles would settle her stomach the way ginger ale always did. She certainly felt loosened up, at least. The plane began to rumble as it lurched forward. A hand crept its way underneath her skirt, resting on the top of her thigh. “We’ll do everything in our power to make this flight enjoyable for you.” Garrett smiled mischievously as his fingers inched closer to her inner thigh, though he had to push back the armrest and lean in a bit to reach her. “Are you comfortable, stretching like that?” Madeline asked. “Does it matter? I couldn’t keep my hands off you if my life depended on it.” Garrett leaned farther into her. Madeline sucked in a breath, and the plane began its ascent. The force of it pressed her against her chair, and she wondered if that had anything to do with Garrett’s hand pressing harder

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against her pussy. Garrett’s hooded gaze told her his movement was anything but accidental. “You say you’re not nervous, but you sure look tense to me.” Dalton smirked and then turned his gaze to Garrett. “Doesn’t our lady look a bit tense to you? I’m sure there’s something we could do to alleviate that. Perhaps we should continue where we left off.” Garrett pulled the edge of her skirt up and his hand started to creep into her panties when Dalton’s big hand stilled him. “Oh, no, little brother. Allow me.” As Garrett sat back in his seat with what looked like a pleasantly surprised grin on his face, Dalton pulled the latch on his seatbelt and knelt down before her. “What are you doing?” Madeline asked. The feral glint in his eyes unnerved her. “It’s not safe to not be in your seat during takeoff.” She wanted to resist him, but she found herself spreading her legs, giving him ample room as he pushed her skirt up to her hips. “I’m getting my complimentary drink early, beautiful.” Dalton tore her panties off and dove in. The force of the plane’s takeoff helped press his face into her sopping pussy, though she doubted if he needed any more encouragement. Still, she hoped the plane would never get to cruising altitude and would just keep on climber higher and higher. He put both hands beneath her ass and held her up, coaxing her body with his movements. Dalton’s warm tongue lapped her from asshole to clit and back. He took one hand from her ass, moving the other one to cup both cheeks, and used it to separate her labia, the roughness of his hands creating the most pleasurable friction. He ate at her, devouring her and causing the most incredible sensations inside her. She pressed her thighs tightly around his head, never wanting him to leave. Though she wondered how he could even breathe, he somehow still managed to maneuver his fingers inside her. Dalton pulled at her insides with the pads of two fingers and massaged her, fucked her. Perhaps he put in another finger, but Madeline didn’t know nor did she care. All that her brain centered around was the sensational feeling of being finger-fucked by one man while another waited his turn. But he doesn’t need to wait. Oh, please, don’t wait. As if he could read her mind, Garrett reached over and began unbuttoning her blouse. He reached underneath the lacy fabric of her bra and

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cupped a breast, kneading it and her taut nipple. She angled her body and rotated it toward him to give him more access. He readily took the invitation and reached behind her to unclasp her bra while his other hand worked on her other breast. As he leaned in, he bit and kissed her neck, his trail turning into licks as he entered her décolletage. She shrugged out of her blouse and bra and wrapped an arm around Garrett’s shoulders while her other hand gripped Dalton’s thick hair. Her fingers curled around his ear, bobbing along with the thrusts of his head into her pussy. As Garrett’s fingers worked through her scalp, easing any tension that could possibly remain, Dalton continued furiously working on her cunt. When his soft tongue seemed to contort itself around her clit, she felt the unmistakable warmth of an oncoming orgasm blossoming inside her. The heat radiated outward toward her limbs and wrapped her up, swaddling her in a blanket of sheer ecstasy, before she climaxed and screamed her release. Her pussy throbbed around Dalton’s fingers, and she felt her slick fluid coating the insides of her thighs. He seemed to lap up every last drop as she began to come down from her natural high. His tongue glided along her inner thighs and soothed the dying spasms of her cunt. Garrett kissed her face, his heated breath making her skin tingle. She heard a distant ding and then realized the plane was no longer ascending. “I see we’ve reached cruising altitude, sweetheart.” Dalton sat up and smiled as he patted his face dry with a silk handkerchief. “And right in time.” Madeline pulled her skirt back down past her knees and tried to catch her breath. She felt all warm and pliable. “In time for what?” “Do you really think we’d let you stay strapped in that seat for one minute longer now that your pussy’s slick and primed for my cock?” Garrett smiled devilishly as he pointed to the distinct bulge in his pants. “Excuse me?” She felt clouded by her post-orgasmic haze. “I think what Garrett is trying so eloquently to say is that we’re now free to move about the cabin,” mischief glittered in Dalton’s eyes, “and we fully intend to move you to the bedroom, beautiful.”

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Madeline sat helplessly as Dalton unlatched her seatbelt and then scooped her into his arms. She pressed her face into his chest as he carried her to the back of the plane. “Bedroom?” She looked over Dalton’s thick shoulder and saw Garrett undressing as he walked behind them. His grin widened as her eyes followed suit. He had unzipped his pants and let his cock hang out over the waistband of his boxer-briefs. It jutted toward her, beckoning her silently as it bobbed up and down with his steps, as if it were nodding, telling her that yes, this was going to be good. The heavy planes of his muscled chest seemed to ripple as he walked, and she gripped tighter to the chest that held her. “Well, look at that. I think our girl is starting to squirm. You do want this bad, don’t you?” Dalton’s gaze positively sizzled. He adjusted her in his arms so that one hand cupped her ass. She moaned when his thick finger nudged between her pussy lips, spreading the juices that still flowed from her around toward her ass. Then his thumb, slick with her juices, pressed firmly and purposefully against her asshole. She held her breath and froze, not knowing what to expect next and not knowing whether she wanted it or not. They had touched her there before, even licked her there, but it was always a soft caress or perhaps accidental wandering that just so happened to slip into that region. The forbiddenness of it always titillated her then, and she had wondered what it would be like to be played with there, but she always pushed it out of her mind. It was just too taboo, too naughty. She wasn’t a prude, but Madeline never thought of herself as that type of girl, whatever that meant. She also had thought she wasn’t the type of girl who would be with two men at once. My, how quickly people can change. Dalton rubbed his thumb back and forth, the rest of his fingers gripping her ass tightly. “Well, Madeline. What is it that you want? You want me to press in here? You want me to take you here, sweetheart?” At the end of each question, Dalton pressed harder into her rosette as he massaged it. Madeline moaned softly and bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from crying out. She didn’t want to encourage him further if this wasn’t what she wanted, and she knew he would take any sound of pleasure as a definitive yes. Yet, she couldn’t help but press her body harder against him. Of their own volition, her arms held his neck tighter.

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“You can say no if you ever want to, darling,” Garrett cooed as he brushed her hair back off her face, and she looked up at him, drowning in his adoring gaze. No man had ever looked at her that way. No man ever held her the way Dalton did. Having the word no tumble out between her lips seemed an impossibility at that moment. She could not deny these men anything. **** Dalton stilled as Garrett maneuvered around them and pushed the door open. He could hardly make anything out, the room was so dim, but Garrett quickly opened a few of the velvet curtains, allowing light to shine through the circular windows. “Do you like it?” Garrett asked as he kneeled on the bed with his arms spread, gesturing to the large room around them. He’d mentioned to Dalton earlier that he knew the size of it would surprise Madeline and, hopefully, impress her enough to forget her inhibitions. Dalton already figured the size of their cocks would take care of that. “Usually there are two beds in this plane,” Garrett said, “but the moment we considered the possibility of taking you on a trip we had a king-size bed put in here. It practically takes up the whole room, but I think you’ll agree it was worth it.” “Anything for you is worth it,” Dalton said softly into her hair before he kissed it and set her down on the bed. “It’s incredible,” Madeline said breathlessly as she crawled up the bed on all fours. The rounded curves of her ass shifted with each movement and nothing short of the plane catching on fire or falling out of the sky could tear away his gaze. He so wanted to possess her in that most intimate of spots. He had already touched it, subtly explored it, but he wanted it, needed it. But he wanted her to want it too. Yes, she would beg for it before he was done with her. “This is probably the nicest bedding I’ve ever seen. Not an imperfection in sight.”

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Dalton looked his woman up and down. “I couldn’t agree more.” She looked away, a blush rising to her cheeks, and fiddled with a loose thread on the comforter, although he knew no such thread existed. “Maddie, we have something else for you to see.” Garrett held up a large wooden box and opened it for her. She looked at it curiously and reached a tentative finger out and ran the tip along the medley of shiny, feathered, or leathered objects inside. “We have even more in the closet, but I think we might save those for later.” Dalton could see the subtle bob of her throat as she swallowed. “Have you used toys before, Maddie?” He knew he could do a lot to a woman with his tongue alone, but Dalton was dying to see how Maddie would come out in a battle between man and machine. “I’ve never seen a vibrator like that before. Is that really gold?” “Of course. Eighteen karats.” “What’s the point of that?” Madeline’s left eyebrow was raised in a look of pure skepticism. “Honestly, I don’t know,” Garrett grinned sheepishly, “but it was the most expensive one we found, and we decided that you would always get nothing but the best.” “Besides, seeing you in the midst of transcendent pleasure is priceless, so I’ll give you anything you want to get you there, beautiful.” Madeline cast her gaze at the comforter she sat upon, and her slim fingers traced the quilted pattern again. A small smile lifted the corner of her lips. “Maybe all I need is you two.” She looked up at him through her eyelashes as she kept her head down. “I don’t doubt that, sweetheart. But won’t it be fun to find out for ourselves?” Dalton could tell she was a little afraid but still curious. He sensed that she wanted to be pushed. Otherwise, she would never cross her own sexual boundaries on her own. She needed to be taken there, and he would carry her all the way if he had to. He leaned down and cupped her face. It looked so small in his hands, and he held her gently for a moment like the delicate creature she was. And when she ran her pink tongue across her bottom lip, he took that as a signal that she was ready for more. His grip hardened, and he pulled her face toward his until their lips met in a crushing kiss. He wanted to devour her, to taste her flesh from the outside in, to have every part of her be a part of him.

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He needed to control her pleasure and guide her down an erotic path that she would never ever want to stray from. Dalton took the vibrator and turned it on. He pressed it against her swollen folds and her lovely clit. He marveled at the way the vibrator’s eighteen-karat sheen seemed to bathe her pussy in a golden light until it glowed almost ethereally. Instantly, her legs spread wider, and her pelvis rose slightly off the bed to meet the vibrator harder. She slowly rocked her hips against it. “That’s my girl. Work that clit.” Dalton massaged her inner thigh with his free hand and then moved it to tickle her pussy lips. A low moan rumbled out of her chest, and her fingers gripped the blanket tightly until it bunched underneath her palms. “Yes, yes, I love when you do that. Please, more.” She moved her hips in wider circles and then thrust up. Dalton chuckled when he realized she was trying to force his thick fingers inside her. Garrett had shucked all his clothes and stretched out, lying beside her. He cradled the back of her head with one hand while the other massaged her neck and shoulders. He then ran his hand across her chest, clinging to each breast and tweaking a nipple as he passed it. He reached behind him and took a feather tickler from the nightstand and ran its plumes against her body. She sucked in a breath. Madeline reached up and pulled his brother’s head down to hers, devouring his mouth when it made contact. She sucked in his lips and kissed him with such hunger Dalton suddenly felt the need to have her in his mouth again. Dalton adjusted the vibrator so that it only touched her clit and lowered his mouth to her glistening cunt. It looked so sweet and delicious. The tip of his tongue caressed each of her pussy lips before delving inside to take a long drink of her. “Why are you teasing me, Dalton?” She squeezed her thighs together around his head, holding him against her pussy. “You know I want more,” she growled through gritted teeth as her words were broken by a moan. “What is it that you want?” Garrett asked. “I want your cocks, I want your thick cocks inside me, filling me, and I want them now.” Her hands wandered all over her body and then found Garrett’s engorged cock resting against her thigh. She wrapped her delicate

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fingers around it and pumped up and down. Garrett’s lips parted, and his eyes rolled back into his head before he stilled her hand. “No, sweetheart, you’re going to make me come before I’m ready to and I’m saving that.” “But I’m ready. I don’t want to wait anymore.” She glared at them and pouted, which surprised Dalton, but her petulance had his cock hard as a rock. Oh, how he loved to spoil a girl, and this one was clearly becoming spoiled rotten. He looked at Garrett, and they shared a knowing nod. The glitter in his brother’s eyes told him he felt the same way. **** Madeline swallowed, her throat feeling like sandpaper. She was terrified and yet completely tempted. Her cunt throbbed with such need, she questioned her own sanity. Madeline found herself wanting to do exactly as she was told, and part of her hated herself for it. The other part didn’t care a bit and screamed for more. Garrett had moved off the bed and now kneeled beside her. He held up a strange object so close to her face she couldn’t even focus on it. The tears of pleasure blurring her vision didn’t help either. “What is that?” Madeline flipped to her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows. “Ah, Garrett, sometimes your genius amazes even me.” Dalton chuckled as he took it from Garrett’s hands. “This is a butt plug.” “It is?” It didn’t look like any butt plug she had ever seen, though, granted, she hadn’t seen many. Most of the time they looked like small plastic torpedoes, not something she’d want near any of her orifices. But what Dalton held in front of her looked like art, like sculpture. It was carved from jade and had a lotus flower on one end. The plug end was smooth and tapered. She wasn’t sure whether it was something she wanted to put in her ass, but she wouldn’t mind humoring her men for a while. She knew deep down that every time she’d felt a hot breath or soft caress against her there, it made her excitement level rise tenfold. But she didn’t understand it. Her rear had never been an area she felt compelled to explore, but now she didn’t know what to think.

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“We’ll work you up to this, though.” Dalton gestured for her to take the diminutive stone sculpture. “Um, sure.” She rolled it around in her hand and looked at it from all angles, getting a sense of its weight. It really was beautiful, the varying shades of green creating delicate swirls of color. “You don’t look so sure.” Garrett sat on the bed beside her and rubbed her back with one hand, his long fingers extended. He pulled a strand of hair from her eyes with the other. “Don’t worry. She doesn’t need to look sure. She just needs to feel it.” Dalton edged closer to her hip and ran his firm hand in rough circles around the seam of her ass. Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t stop her ass when it rose up to greet his hand, inviting it to delve deeper. “See? I think she’s ready to begin.” Madeline swallowed hard but didn’t say a word. She just clutched the jade and stared at it, focusing all her attention on it instead of what was happening behind her. “Garrett, hand me that vibrator again. Let’s try a little more warming up.” At the subtle sound of eighteen karat gold buzzing, Madeline held her breath and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Then the sound translated into feeling as Dalton gently rested the device on the seam of her ass, rolling it from side to side against her ass cheeks. Her cunt throbbed, slowly at first, but with each roll of the vibrator, it sped up and grew stronger. More hands gripped her rear, and she realized Garrett had spread her cheeks apart. Dalton tipped the vibrator down until it touched her asshole. A moan escaped, and her body bucked. Dalton’s big hand rested against the small of her back, stilling her. “Shh, that’s right, love. I’m going to take it nice and slow.” Drawling out the last word and bending down to her face, Dalton breathed against her skin. His voice was like plush velvet against her ears. The sound of a bottle cap opening and closing was soon followed by a gentle, oiled massaging against her shoulders, which loosened her up even more. “That’s a girl.” Garrett kissed her hair and smiled at her so sweetly she thought she’d melt all over the perfect bedspread. A finger prodding her cunt told her Dalton may have believed the same thing. She certainly felt juicy inside.

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“Oh, brother, she is wet. I’ll take this as a good sign.” Dalton lifted her pelvis and pushed his finger inside her while his other hand worked the vibrator more firmly against her asshole. A pool of cool lube in her backside made her squirm, and her eyes popped open. “Wait, why are you doing that?” “Easy, darling, easy. It’s just in preparation, just in case.” Dalton eased the vibrator away from her rosette, though it still remained wedged between her cheeks. Garrett cupped her face with the tips of his fingers, forcing her to look him in the eye. “You need to trust us, trust that we only have the best intentions, that all we want is to pleasure you and you alone. Just let us do this for you.” “What about your needs?” Madeline couldn’t believe a man existed, let alone two, who would put the woman’s needs ahead of his own. But these men had her questioning a lot of her beliefs and assumptions lately. “Doesn’t matter, immaterial. We know that once you get yours, we’ll get ours. The other way around is never as good.” Garrett kissed the tip of her nose before moving to capture her lips. She marveled at how one brother could do something so sweet while another did something so naughty at the same time. “You’re like a cup. Once you fill up with pleasure, everything that spills over is all ours.” “And I don’t think I’ll have any trouble filling you up, darling.” Dalton continued working his slicked fingers inside her cunt, tugging and rubbing her pussy lips. He rubbed her clit with another digit and worked her cunt masterfully, sending sensations racing up and down her body that had her pussy juices flowing. He pressed inside her vaginal walls, his thick fingers filling her up and massaging her until a warmth built inside her. It seemed to radiate from deep within her and, after a few more strokes, manifested in her screaming his name as she ground her cunt into his hand and her body bucked wildly with her release. Garrett tilted her chin to look at his brother, and Madeline watched as Dalton lifted his hand to his mouth and took her juices in. He seemed to roll her fluids over his tongue, as if tasting some fine, priceless delicacy. “See,” Dalton breathed, “you’re already overflowing, and my cock’s as hard as a goddamn rock.”

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Dalton returned his hand as if that were the most natural thing he could do, as if his hands were created for the sole purpose of giving her pleasure, as if their rightful place was inside her. His thick fingers worked over her clit again, massaging her. She couldn’t believe her body was even capable of experiencing all this pleasure. Could she even handle it or would she completely fall apart? The orgasm built again, and as it grew, Garrett leaned over from where he sat at her side and went back to slowly, sensually massaging her upper back and shoulders, his oiled fingers gliding easily over her skin. She couldn’t help but rock her hips, chasing her release again. She had already had a taste for it and now was thirsty for more. When did she become this unquenchable lust-filled woman? The way Dalton moved his hand with such focused and methodical movements told her that he was purposefully holding her orgasm at bay. She knew that he could have her coming in a heartbeat on command as if she were an orgasm machine and all he had to do was just a push a button to turn her on and have her going. Touch by agonizingly slow touch, he worked his magic until she thought she would explode. He pressed the tip of the vibrator against her asshole then, and instead of wanting to shy away from it, she found herself wanting desperately to have it plunge deep within her. Dalton, as if sensing her innermost desires, pressed it even harder against her hole until she was bucking against it, trying to force it to penetrate her. “That’s my girl. Now beg for it. I want to hear your need,” Dalton drawled, his voice husky with arousal. Words that she never thought she would ever say in her life tumbled out of her lips in stutters and gasps. “Please, I want you to put it in me. I want more, I need more.” Madeline felt almost liberated after she finished. It was almost cathartic to express herself in this way. “Is that the best you can do?” Dalton asked, toying with her. “Is that what you call begging?” “If you ask me, I don’t think she really even wants it. You might as well just put the vibrator back in the box it came in.” The mirth in Garrett’s eyes made her want to both slap him and stick her tongue down his throat and devour him.

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“All right then.” Dalton began pulling it from between her ass cheeks. Unable to fathom the reason for her action, Madeline found herself panicking. “No, no, no! Please, don’t. I’ll beg, whatever you want, just please, please put it inside me. I want it, I need it.” Her throat tightened as though she were about to cry and the frenzy seemed to overtake her brain. She couldn’t imagine not having the release they promised. At that moment, it was the greatest of injustices. She tried to reach her hands back to force Dalton’s hand, but Garrett gently slapped them away. “No, no, sweetheart. None of that.” Garrett stood and moved back to the center of the bed. “Dalton, I think it’s time to take this to the next level. Plus, I’m getting a bit bored watching you have all the fun.” The playful tone of his words bubbled over her and curiosity fought through her haze of pure need. She lifted her head up to see what Garrett was doing when the vibrator shut off. She watched it roll on the ground like a golden ray of sunshine. Before she could find Garrett in the dimness of the room, Dalton stood, lifting her with him, his fingers still plunged deeply inside her. He gently placed her on the bed facing the headboard, lying prone on Garrett’s hard, lean body. “That’s right, beautiful. That’s exactly where I want you.” Garrett gently skimmed her body from her waist up to her arms, tracing the length of them before he wrapped his hands around her wrists. He gently gripped them as Dalton lifted her hips up slightly from behind her, silently commanding her to shift her weight. Madeline hastily rose up and scrambled to her knees, straddling Garrett’s torso in the process. From her new position, Madeline watched as Garrett, lying between her open thighs, tied a smooth nylon rope around each wrist, lifting them above his head to hang upon a hook on either side of the headboard. “I’m just preventing your wandering hands from causing any more mischief.” Madeline considered arguing, but, truthfully, she liked the seductive feel of smooth rope caressing her bare flesh and then the tight strain around the bindings. Plus, she couldn’t muster the strength to work her mouth and hold her boneless body up, so she complied without a peep. She wondered if her men would be smart enough to take advantage of this situation, because she didn’t anticipate this being a common occurrence. Then she saw the dangerous glint in Dalton’s eye as he held the jade plug, and she knew her

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thoughts had been misguided. She knew without a doubt that they wouldn’t let this opportunity pass by without squeezing every last drop they could out of her, and she knew it would’ve been smart to resign herself to life as a pliable, oversexed mute. She sucked in a breath when Garrett writhed underneath her body as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. Without warning, he licked her from the hollow between her collarbone, up the side of her neck, and finished by nipping her on the ear. Their gazes met, and he stared at her so intently, she almost felt embarrassed at the intensity of his gaze. “What are you looking at?” Her voice cracked when she spoke, and she knew it was a feat for words to have come out of her mouth at all. “It’s not what, it’s who, and I’m looking at someone who doesn’t know how wonderful she is and how happy she’s made this spoiled brat of a man.” He kissed her so lightly on the lips, she almost wouldn’t have been sure it happened if she hadn’t been able to taste the lingering sweetness he left. She heard what sounded like an appreciative sigh before the bed dipped down and she felt Dalton’s heavy presence behind her. “Look at that marvelous ass.” He gripped her ass cheeks hard, kneading her flesh between his massive fingers. She jerked when she felt his teeth bite down on her before he soothed it again with a bouquet of kisses all over her tingly flesh. “I have another surprise for you, love.” Garrett held up another gold vibrator, but this one was wider and shorter than the first one, reminiscent of a large bean. “Eighteen karats?” she asked breathlessly, already knowing the answer and still not understanding the logic. “Eighteen karats.” Garrett nodded and smiled as he lowered it to her cunt and it disappeared between their bodies. Madeline bucked and writhed, her wrists pulling on her restraints. She bit her bottom lip and even then her squeals of pleasure broke through. While the vibrator hugged her cunt, Garrett pushed two, possibly three, fingers inside her, working her, rubbing on all her inner walls, paying special attention to her G-Spot, Garrett’s spot. The sensation was almost too much to bear. Her orgasm built inside her until Garrett’s ministrations nearly pushed her over the edge. But right before she plummeted into an abyss of pleasure, Garrett removed his fingers while the vibrator continued buzzing between them. Distantly, she heard the tear of a foil wrapper, and just as she was about to complain about the

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sudden emptiness inside her, Garrett wrapped both hands around the gentle curves of her waist and lifted her up. In one smooth motion, he impaled her onto his thick cock. Her orgasm was instantaneous as her slick, swollen pussy stretched around him. It rocketed through her, sending flashes of pulsating light behind her eyes and little, tingly fingers of pleasure racing up and down from her throbbing core to the outermost tips of her body. Her cunt spasmed around Garrett’s shaft, milking him. Unable to move or control any part of her anatomy, Madeline let Garrett command her pleasure. She gave herself over to him completely. “How’s that feel, Maddie? You like that?” Garrett asked. Unable to speak, she hoped her appreciative-sounding moans registered her pleasure. “Do you even need to ask?” The rough timbre of Dalton’s laugh was met with his hands gripping the outer contours of her vibrating buttocks. “I’d say she’s having a ball, and it’s only going to get,” he lowered a slicked object to the seam of her ass cheeks, “better.” Sliding it in, he completely penetrated her ass with the plug in one slow and smooth motion. Madeline was surprised at how brief the pain of it entering her was, but she was even more surprised by how much she enjoyed the pain and then the pleasure that followed. “I wish you could see her face right now, Dalton. She looks so beautiful when she’s coming.” As he fucked her, Garrett continued massaging the golden toy against her clit. The sensation traveled to the stone in her rear, making it vibrate within her. Being filled on both ends gave her a sense of satisfaction she never realized she’d been missing. Dalton’s large hands rubbed the round curves of her ass as he bent down to kiss, bite, and lick the entire surface of her back. One especially well-placed nibble along her side, just above her left hip, seemed to hit a nerve directly connected to her throbbing cunt and sent her rocketing toward another climax. Coursing frantically through her body, her orgasm seemed almost dangerously out of control, like her body didn’t belong to her anymore but was only a vessel for orgasms to exist. She cried out, her voice sounding completely foreign and wild to her ears. ****

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Dalton watched the jade plug peeking out from the seam of her ass as Madeline’s body trembled with her orgasm and sighed. How he wanted to possess her there. The need was so deep-seated he wondered if it was somehow part of his DNA. “I don’t need to see her face to know how beautiful she looks right now.” Dalton ran his fingers through her silky hair as his gaze wandered up and down her body. “Seeing this jade flower coming out of you is just gilding the lily, though. It’s all so,” he bent down to kiss each cheek, “so perfect.” “She’ll be stretched out just right in no time,” Garrett said from underneath their woman’s quivering form. “If she stays this eager, it’ll be no time at all.” Dalton lowered himself until his lips were just above her ear. “I can’t wait to get my big, hard cock inside this sweet ass.” When she shuddered and tilted her head, he knew his words, or perhaps his warm breath against her soft skin, did something to her. She gasped and then seemed to regain her previously waning strength. Madeline rocked herself hard on Garrett’s cock. Her body caught in the throes of her passion was truly a magnificent sight to behold. Her skin glowed and glistened with her heat and perspiration. Her auburn hair seemed like flames cascading down her back. The tips of Garrett’s fingers tightened around Madeline’s tiny waist. “Fuck, this is incredible. I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for this one moment.” Garrett moved his hands to cup Madeline’s breasts as they bounced with each thrust. Dalton couldn’t wait for them to switch places with his brother. “Oh, Madeline, I’m not going to last much longer inside this perfect pussy of yours,” Garrett said through gritted teeth. Dalton smiled. By the sound of it, he wouldn’t have to wait long at all. He slapped Madeline’s ass, savoring the slight sting of her firm flesh against his palm. She squealed and rocked even harder. Garrett groaned, pumping harder and faster inside her until he shuddered and his hands dropped back down to the bed. With a sigh, Garrett gently maneuvered out from underneath their woman, holding up her limp body as he lovingly kissed her face and neck. It was nice to see his brother treating a woman with such tenderness and obvious care. “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” Madeline said hoarsely, gasping for breath between words. “But I don’t think I can handle

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much more of this.” Her limbs trembled, and Dalton could tell she was having trouble maintaining her position, but it didn’t concern him much. His lady had more than enough to lean on with both him and Garrett as a support system. Dalton slipped on a condom, and he and his brother switched places. He settled himself between her warm, slicked thighs, gazing at her dewy face, the apples of her cheeks a gorgeous hue of deep pink. Sitting up, Dalton kissed her, slipping his tongue between her pouty lips for just one small taste of his beloved. He could not believe how right it felt to be with her, and as he lifted her onto his cock, a sudden feeling of schoolboy nerves bundled inside his stomach. He poised her juicy cunt just over the engorged head of his cock until he could feel the carnal heat of her pussy radiating against him but stopped before plunging into her depths and took a breath. He knew undoubtedly that once he entered her, he would never be the same man again. Madeline rocked herself over his cockhead and whimpered. “Dalton, please. What are you waiting for?” He couldn’t help but grin. “I thought you said you couldn’t handle any more of this.” “Well, I change my mind.” Her arms pulled against her bindings in obvious frustration. Without saying another word, Dalton slowly penetrated her, reveling in the feeling of his cock sliding into the tight, slick heat of her pussy. Madeline moaned and sighed. “That’s better,” she said in a whisper. Being inside her felt so divine, Dalton had to close his eyes as if in reverence. He quieted the animal inside him that hungered to pound into her. Dalton intended for this to last. With the heel of his hands on her hips, stilling her, he massaged her ass cheeks around the small jade plug with the tips of his long fingers. She would get used to the feel of the plug eventually and would beg him for a bigger one, and he’d be more than happy to oblige. Even better, he’d use his cock, but only when she was ready, and he knew that time had not yet come. But soon. The more he squeezed and rubbed her ass cheeks together around the sculpted jade inside her ass, the tenser her muscles became and the more she trembled.

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“Oh, no, not another one. I can’t again,” she whimpered, “I just can’t.” She bent her head down, and her fiery hair fell around her face. Garrett reached from behind her and pulled it back. “Sure you can, sweetheart. It’s okay to be greedy when it comes to coming.” Garrett chuckled. “I assure you, we don’t mind. You need to know now just what your body is capable of.” Dalton moved his hands to the clit crowning her lovely pussy and rubbed it with his thumb. His fingers traveled along her pussy lips as they stretched around his cock. He knew she was stronger than she thought, and it was up to him and his brother to show her just how limitless her pleasure could be with them. Beginning to thrust slowly, carefully, he continued working her body like a finely tuned instrument, plucking and strumming in just the right spots until her screams came out like music to his ears. This orgasm seemed even stronger than the last one. He thought she would have started becoming desensitized from the contact by now, but no, somehow hers intensified. It was magical to watch her. “Will…it…ever…end?” Madeline asked, each word sandwiched between gasps and squeals. He hoped to God it wouldn’t. Dalton would have stayed inside her forever, if he could, making her come over and over again. He felt the room shaking and, for a moment, wondered if it were caused by the sheer force of her climax alone, but then realized the plane had hit a pocket of turbulence, something his excellent pilots usually had no trouble avoiding, but for once Dalton actually welcomed it. “Oh, God, what’s happening? What are you doing to me? Is it just me or is this an earthquake?” “No, sweetheart, we’re on a plane, remember?” “Whatever. I like it. It feels so, oh, oh—” Her sentence was broken by an intense scream that seemed to have grown from the center of her cunt, building volume and momentum as it traveled up her body, through her throat, and out her mouth. Holding Madeline’s feminine physique firmly in his hands, Dalton ensured she would be safe as the plane continued to make its way through the choppy air. Each time the plane bounced, Madeline would rise off and

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then land hard on his dick, making it impossible for him to hold back his release. A flood of indescribable feeling swelled in his cock and deep within his balls. He groaned as his hot seed shot out of him. Coming inside Madeline was like nothing he had ever experienced. Again, he had to close his eyes, and he marveled at how this small, delicate woman could make the powerful Dalton Ellis completely at her mercy. And the funny thing was, she didn’t even realize her effect on him. By the look of utter wonder and warmth in Garrett’s eyes, Dalton knew his brother was just as taken as he. “I think she might have reached her limit.” Garrett gestured toward her bindings, and all Dalton could do was nod, letting his brother know he could untie her wrists. Her boneless body collapsed onto him, and her breasts pillowed softly against his chest, her pebbled nipples pressing firmly into his flesh. Even now, after the most incredible orgasm of his life, Dalton felt his dick stir again beneath her. He could be ready for her again in a heartbeat if he knew she were up to it, but no. Dalton willed his cock back down. Madeline needed to rest. He reached around and gently pulled out the jade plug. Garrett took it from him and took it into the adjacent bathroom. Dalton folded her into his arms, and Garrett then moved to lie beside her. “Madeline,” Garrett whispered, “Madeline, how are you feeling, sweetheart?” He pulled a strand of hair away from her face. She nestled her face into Dalton’s shoulder and mumbled something. “What did she say?” Garrett asked. “It sounded like, good, so tired, good.” Dalton chuckled. “I think we wore our princess out. She’ll get a good night’s sleep, that’s for sure. And then she’ll be well rested for all the surprises we have waiting for her.” His hand swept down the graceful length of her spine, and he felt the thin mist of perspiration on her soft skin. Dalton hated the idea of Madeline waking up sweaty and sticky. If he could help it, she’d never feel uncomfortable or unhappy again. With the last of his strength, Dalton shifted her into Garrett’s arms and stood to fill a copper bowl with warm water. He threw in a few splashes of rosewater for good measure. Using a plush sea sponge, he began to carefully clean her. He knew she would appreciate it when she woke up. As he bathed

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her, he examined every inch of her smooth porcelain skin, her womanly curves, even the adorable way her fists curled up into little balls as she slept. She looked so small and delicate in his brother’s arms, Dalton wanted nothing more than to care for and protect this precious woman. The feeling tugged at his heart, a sensation he savored for as long as he could until it started to hurt too much, and he had to push it away. “She’s an angel, isn’t she?” Garrett said as he pressed a kiss on her forehead before he unfurled her body, allowing Dalton to wash her other side. “She’s more than an angel. She’s a goddess.” Dalton cleaned himself off and set the sponge in the bowl, placing it in the sink. He wanted her back in his arms. Getting back into bed, he looped his arm around her and pulled her against his body. He lifted his head to address his brother. “I cleaned her up. Now it’s your turn to clean up this room. While me and our lady take a nap.” “That hardly seems fair.” Garrett slowly got out of bed and did as Dalton said. Dalton chuckled. Even though being the oldest meant having to have certain responsibilities, it also came with a few perks now and then. Dalton kissed each of Madeline’s eyelids before closing his own, allowing sleep to take him. Hours later, before the plane began its final descent, Dalton carefully scooped her sleeping form, cocooned in layers of down comforter, into his arms, to buckle her in her seat. “Safety first” was always his motto, at least when it came to the safety of his woman. He walked slowly and softly, trying not to wake her, though he realized it likely wouldn’t be an issue when he heard soft snores curl from her parted lips. He put her in her seat, which Garrett had already put in the reclined position, and moved the thick blanket aside to buckle her seatbelt underneath it. He was greeted with the warm scent of his woman and her silky, sweet flesh before covering her back up again. Running the pad of his thumb across the bottom of her lip, so plump, so juicy, so pure, he had a hard time believing something so innocent could wreck such dirty havoc on his cock. Before taking his seat beside his brother, Dalton bent down and kissed her as she slept. His little angel, who brought out the devil in him.

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When the plane finally landed, he, again, gently picked her up so as not to awaken her, this time out of necessity. If she woke up as they exited the plane, it might ruin the surprise. She stirred a little as they stepped outside, nestling farther into the crook of his arms. “It’s cold,” Madeline mumbled. A more precious and awe-inspiring face, he had never seen before. He never wanted to let her go. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll get you somewhere warm soon.” Despite the near-freezing temperatures, Dalton’s heart and soul had never felt more warm and full, as if a long-dead fire had finally rekindled inside him. Even with the snow spiraling down in gusts around him, he knew, with Madeline at his side, he would never feel cold again.

End of Part 1: The Courtship To be continued in Part 2: The Promise

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