By Private Invitation (27 page)

Belle never turned on the hard sell. She didn’t have to. She knew the woman wanted
the piece but she also knew she couldn’t justify paying the price.

If the woman was working Belle, Jared caught no whiff of it. She seemed apologetic
for taking up Belle’s time when she knew she wouldn’t be buying anything.

But Belle knew how much the woman wanted the painting.

“I know what the sticker says, but let’s forget that for a moment,” Belle said. “Tell
me how much you’d be willing to pay for the piece.”

The woman’s eyes widened in surprise and she quickly looked at her husband, who put
up his hands in surrender. “Sweetheart, I’m not the one who watches
Antiques Roadshow
religiously.”

“How’s this,” Belle said. “Let me tell you what I paid for it and we’ll see if we
can come to an agreement.”

Jared had absolutely no doubt that the number Belle quoted the woman was exactly what
she’d paid for it. The markup was high but, as Belle explained, she’d done some restoration
work to the piece. Then she told the woman exactly how much that had cost.

Shaking his head ten minutes later, he watched as the woman and her husband walked
off with the painting, thanking Belle profusely for allowing them to give her their
money.

Hell, she’d made a small profit. Not much, but probably more than if the painting
had sat for another couple of weeks. Or months.

He was still shaking his head when she finally locked the front door at eight, a few
minutes after the couple left.

She didn’t join him. Instead, she went to the cash register, removed the cash and
checks and stashed them in the safe built into the floor beneath the front desk.

Only after she’d set the alarms and made one last trip through the store, straightening
things and making sure the windows and doors were locked, did she finally approach
him. She looked nervous.

And then he remembered Dane upstairs.

His cock throbbed and his muscles tightened with anticipation.

Images from New Year’s Eve ran through his head: the way she’d responded, how she’d
let herself embrace the pleasure. He’d been waiting to see that woman again.

Not that the sex hadn’t been great with just the two of them. It had. But she’d enjoyed
that touch of the forbidden, the thrill of the exotic.

He could give her that with Dane’s help. He
wanted
to give her that.

Wanted to give her whatever she wanted.

“Jared…” she said, seeming to think twice about what she wanted to say next.

He stood, closing his laptop and hopefully covering the lust building every second.
“I thought we could send out for food, have dinner in. Any place you would recommend?”

She opened her mouth then closed it. He saw uncertainty in her eyes, confusion, anxiety.
But beyond that, he saw desire in the flush of her cheeks and the faster pace of her
breathing.

If she told him to send Dane home, he’d do it in a heartbeat. He didn’t want her to
be uncomfortable.

But, damn it, he wanted her to say yes. Without worry, without fear. He wanted her
to want the pleasure as much as he did. And she’d been so damn hot that night at the
Salon when Dane had touched her while he fucked her.

Maybe he was asking too much.

She took a deep breath and he could practically see her back straighten. “You have
three choices: Chinese, pizza, or sandwiches,” she said. “Take your pick.”

It looked like she’d made hers.

He tried to contain the satisfied grin, tried not to let her see how hot her unstated
acquiescence made him.

“Sandwiches sound great.”

She nodded toward the stairs. “I have the menu upstairs. We should order soon. They
get busy on a Saturday night.” A slight pause. “I’ll ask Dane what he wants before
I order.”

The heat in her gaze practically melted his bones. His balls tightened and his cock
throbbed.
Yes
.

“Sounds good.”

It took her a second but she finally nodded and turned to head upstairs.

Jared couldn’t believe the amount of control it took him not to throw her over his
shoulder and race for the bedroom.

Annabelle tried very hard to keep her mind from wandering further than what to have
for dinner as she made her way up the stairs.

Because if she let herself get beyond dinner to dessert…Hell, she couldn’t even think
about dessert because she certainly wasn’t thinking about chocolate.

Unless it was smeared all over two male bodies.

Oh, God, was she really going to do this?

New Year’s Eve had been a step out of time.

Did she really mean to go through with…this?

She took the last step and immediately sensed Dane in the room. She sucked in a sharp
breath when she found him seated at her dining table, typing on his laptop. He hadn’t
turned on any lights other than the one in the kitchen over the sink. Come to think
of it, maybe she’d left that on this morning.

He seemed engrossed in what he was doing, his expression intense as he studied something
on the screen.

She felt like a rabbit who realized the hawk hadn’t seen her yet.

Then Jared came up beside her and her entire body went weak with lust. She tingled
from her scalp to her toes and everywhere in between, a tingle that soon turned into
an achy burn.

God, she really was crazy to even be considering a repeat of New Year’s Eve.

But you have to admit you want it.

She did want it. More than she ever thought she would.

For months after her parents’ murders, the debate about what constituted a family
had raged. Her granddad had tried to shield her from most of the American news machine
and its hideously invasive, and mostly exaggerated, coverage of her parents’ lives.

But even the move to Europe hadn’t shielded her from everything.

And when the discussion had turned from the horror of what had happened to the more
controversial aspect of the ménage and the fact that the three of them had raised
a child in that atmosphere of sexual freedom, her parents had been called perverts.

And worse.

Hell, there’d even been a documentary on CNN about the mental health of children raised
in alternative households that focused mainly on Annabelle. Not that they’d bothered
to talk to
her, to find out how very well-adjusted she’d been until a crazy woman had blown apart
her life.

No, they just assumed she’d grow up completely screwed in the head.

Wouldn’t all those talking heads be shocked to hear she was questioning whether she
should indulge in a ménage herself?

Or was she merely letting the past interfere with what she did want here and now?

Damn it, she was young, unmarried, and healthy. And the man she was sleeping with
was all for it.

So are you just doing this to please him?

Jared moved by her, heading for the drawer where she kept the take-out menus, as if
he lived there.

His movement caught Dane’s attention and his gaze went to Jared first and then to
Annabelle. She expected to see cocky self-assurance there or at least a leering desire.

Instead, he gave her a breathtaking smile.

“We’re going to order sandwiches,” she said. “What would you like?”

God, the man was almost as beautiful as Jared, maybe a little broader and a few inches
shorter but gorgeous just the same. He had pale skin that made his green eyes that
much more striking, especially set against his dark hair.

“Anything dripping with fat and grease. And fries. I’m dying for decent fries.”

He could certainly afford the calories. Neither guy had an ounce of fat on him.

And you get to see that firsthand.

Her mouth started to water and not for food.

“Hey, Belle. What do you want, hon?”

She wanted Jared to strip her naked and lay her on the dining
table so he and Dane could make her come. So they could put their hands and their
mouths all over her body until she couldn’t take the pleasure any more. She wanted
them to fuck her until she couldn’t see straight.

Biting her tongue so she didn’t accidently blurt that out, she took another deep breath,
trying to hide her quickening pulse and the fact that she wanted to squeeze her thighs
together to ease some of the burning ache.

“Just put me in for a grilled chicken salad.”

“Two burgers and fries for me.” Dane handed the menu back to Jared then looked at
her. “Menu says they make the best chocolate cake around. That true?”

Jared snorted in amusement. “Dane’s got a hell of a sweet tooth, Belle. You’re gonna
be old and fat one day, buddy. Just remember that.”

“Then I better enjoy life while I can, right? Don’t bust my ass just because you never
touch the stuff.”

“Oh, I have a sweet tooth,” Jared said, his gaze transferring to her. “Just not for
chocolate.”

If there was such a thing as spontaneous combustion, she’d be igniting right now.

“The cake lives up to the hype, Dane,” she forced herself to answer, tearing her attention
away from Jared before she told him to forget dinner and move onto activities that
would surely burn a few calories. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

Dane’s smile seemed to burn a little hotter as well. “I’m sure I will.”

He wasn’t talking about the cake. She knew that as surely as she knew her own name.

She needed to cool down, collect herself. “I’m going to go take
a shower. I’m sure you two can entertain yourselves until I get back.”

She saw Jared nod as she turned toward her bedroom, and she swore she felt two hot
male gazes follow her all the way.

Without looking back, she closed the door behind her, shutting her in her room, where
she collapsed back against the door and took a deep breath that she released with
a sigh.

Are you really going to do this? And are you only doing this because Jared wants it?

She pondered that question as she stripped off her jeans and sweater and turned on
the water for the shower. Her stomach had tightened into a knot and her hands shook
as she washed her hair and body. As she drew her washcloth across her breasts, she
bit her lip at the sharp pleasure that zinged through her.

Oh, God, yes, I want this. I want it for me.

And that was the bottom line.

She wanted them. Jared because her heart demanded him.

And she wanted Dane because…Well, the man was gorgeous. What red-blooded woman wouldn’t
want him?

The fact that Jared wanted him in bed with them only made her that much hotter.

Okay, maybe you
are
a pervert.

No, enjoying sex did not make her a pervert. Not even when there’d be two men in bed
with her instead of one.

After drying off, she walked into her bedroom and pulled open her underwear drawer,
staring down at the colorful jumble, most of it courtesy of Kate. She hadn’t been
exaggerating her friend’s abilities. Kate truly had a gift for creating breathtaking
lingerie.

What would Jared and Dane do if she walked out there dressed only in a pink satin-and-lace
thong and a pink satin demi bra?
Part her of her wanted to do it, just to prove she could. And to see the looks on
their faces when she did.

Another part knew that wouldn’t happen.

Still, she’d get to see their faces when they took off her clothes later.

And they
would
take off her clothes. She had no doubt about that.

Anticipation made her dress quickly. Over the lingerie she pulled on a clean pair
of form-fitting jeans and a tight, long-sleeved black T-shirt with a rounded neckline.
The shirt showed off a good amount of cleavage, the mounds of her breasts pushed up
and out. She thought about pulling out her red-heeled stilettos but that might be
pushing it so she went instead for bare feet.

Makeup?

No. It’d just get smudged…later.

Now, she just had to leave the bedroom.

Come on, Annabelle. You want this.

Yeah, she really did. After a deep breath, she opened the door and walked out.