Falling For Them: A New Adult Reverse Harem Collection

by C. L. Stone

  I jumped, nearly exposing myself completely, and Nicholas groaned, flopping onto his back. Seconds later, a door opened on the other side of the house, and Ace scrambled to greet whomever had arrived. I heard Cole address Ace and then bid goodnight to Shane.

  Lying next to Nicholas, I ached to pick up where he left off, but my conscience pricked at me. Letting myself have sex with any of them while I was still dating all three felt wrong. How long can I keep this up? I’d been back from Indiana a couple of days, and I was already struggling with temptation.

  “I like it when you call me Nic.” He took my hand in his, most likely sensing that the moment had passed.

  I thought back, unsure of when I’d even used his nickname. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. It means you’re feeling comfortable with me.”

  I shifted positions so that we were face to face. “And the striptease didn’t give that away?”

  His expression turned overly pained. “Tease is right.”

  “Oh, you’re one to talk.” I glared playfully. “Don’t worry, next time, I’ll change in the bathroom.”

  “Not on your life.” Nicholas pulled my body against his and stroked the back of my upper thigh. “All stripping is encouraged, tease or not.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Please do.”

  He moved his hand from my thigh to under the sweatshirt and began rubbing circles on my lower back. It was more soothing than anything, and I eventually started getting drowsy.

  “Nic?” I whispered.

  “Yes?”

  “I really like your bed.”

  “Good. Hopefully you’ll be seeing a lot more of it.”

  * * *

  Waking to unfamiliar scents and sounds, it took me a few seconds to remember I was in Nicholas’s bed. And what a spectacular bed it was. I burrowed deeper under the covers and tried to guess how much his mattress cost. Way out of my price range, that was for certain.

  I heard the shower in his bathroom shut off, and a minute later he emerged wearing only a pair of black frame glasses and a towel. Hot damn.

  “Do not look at me like that, or we’re going to have a problem.”

  My eyes followed a droplet of water down the planes of his chest to the top of his towel, which was resting a little too low to be considered decent. “You call that a problem?”

  “When your other boyfriends are in the kitchen making you breakfast, I do.”

  I jerked to a sitting position. “What?”

  “Shane . . . Cole. Did you forget about them already? If you did, I’m totally okay with that.”

  “Shit!” I jumped up and stretched Nicholas’s sweatshirt down as far as it would go. “They know I’m here?”

  Nicholas cautiously approached me and spoke softly, like he was trying to calm a wild beast. “It’s fine, Emma. Take a few minutes to freshen up and then meet us in the kitchen. I laid out a new toothbrush on the counter. Okay?”

  I took a few deep breaths and nodded. I so wasn’t ready for this, but I needed to woman up. After collecting my clothes from the floor, I scurried to the bathroom and washed my face, brushed my teeth, and finger-combed my hair. Thankfully, my jeans looked okay, but studying my wrinkled top, I wondered which would be worse—walking out there in Nicholas’s sweatshirt or in clothing that had obviously been tossed on the floor. The sweatshirt wins.

  The muted sounds of male laughter made my stomach clench with dread. Why did I think I could handle dating three men—best friends and business partners, and apparently roommates, no less? It was uncomfortable at times when I was alone with each of them, but facing them all together? Triple shit.

  I straightened my shoulders and strode down the hall, putting as much confidence in my step as possible. When I reached the kitchen, I couldn’t help but smile. Although Nicholas was freshly showered and wearing jeans and a button-down, both Cole and Shane had that just-rolled-out-of-bed look that was pretty darn irresistible. And, to make things even better—or worse, depending on my ever-changing mindset—Shane was shirtless. He was slimmer than Nicholas but every bit as ripped and seriously hot.

  “There she is!” Cole called with his usual exuberance as he stirred something on the stove. “I was starting to think we’d have to drag you out of bed.”

  Shane poured coffee into a mug. “You may want to tone it down. Emma’s not a morning person. Sugar and cream?” he asked me.

  “Yes and yes.” Ace ran to me, and I bent down to pet him, laughing as he lapped up the attention.

  When Shane walked around the kitchen island, I almost swallowed my tongue. His sweatpants were riding low enough to provide a perfect view of his hipbones and those delicious muscles in between. My eyes were glued to him as if we were the only two people in the room, and before I knew what was happening, he was kissing me. The kiss didn’t last long, but it was intense enough to wake me the heck up.

  “Good morning, babe,” he said huskily.

  I ducked my head in embarrassment. “Morning.” Did Shane really kiss me right in front of Cole and Nicholas?

  “Dude, is that all you got?”

  Nicholas playfully shoved Shane out of the way and dragged me to him before dipping me back old-movie style. His kiss was slow and sensual, and if I hadn’t been utterly aware of the two other sets of eyes on us, I would have loved it.

  Pulling back, he said, “That’s more like it,” with a satisfied smirk.

  I rolled my eyes. “It was all right.” Clearly, Nicholas didn’t need an ego boost.

  There was rustling and banging in the kitchen, and then I saw Cole headed our direction out of the corner of my eye. He pushed through the others. “Step aside, amateurs.”

  Cole gave me a devilish smile, and I gasped when he picked me up under my butt, forcing me to wrap my arms around his neck and legs around his waist. He walked forward until my back hit the wall and then ravaged my lips, completely stealing my breath. At least a minute later, he released my mouth and allowed me to slide down his, very hard, body until I was standing, barely, on my own.

  “Show off,” Nicholas muttered.

  “Well, then,” Shane said. “Why don’t we eat?”

  If I was embarrassed before, there were no words for how I felt now that all three of them had practically mauled me. Not that I was complaining, exactly; it was just odd that they seemed so calm about the whole thing. Were they not jealous of each other? And, if not, did that mean that they didn’t like me as much as I liked them? I was seriously confused.

  “Are you okay?” Cole whispered.

  “Of course.” Undoubtedly, my flushed face gave me away, but I needed to hang on to some semblance of control. “You cook?”

  “Not much, but I can whip up bacon and eggs with the best of them. And Shane made pancakes.”

  “Sounds better than my usual breakfast of Greek yogurt.”

  Cole smacked my butt. “If that’s why you’ve got such a great ass, keep it up.”

  “No, that would be from regular yoga and Pilates.”

  “Ooh, can I watch?”

  I laughed. “Maybe, if you’re good.”

  “I’m always good, Emma. Pretty sure I demonstrated that for you mere moments ago.”

  “Haven’t you heard, Cole? Women like men who are confident, not cocky.”

  “Hey, I’ve never received even one complaint about my—”

  “Okay, okay. I concede. You’re amazing.” I sat down in front of a plate filled with food and hoped my stomach wouldn’t audibly growl.

  Shane shook his head sadly. “Emma, Emma. You must never encourage him.”

  “That’s right,” Nicholas said. “I consider it my sacred duty to remind Cole every single day that he’s an ugly failure.”

  “Don’t listen to them, Emma. They’re just jealous that I’m a genius who made millions without daddy’s help. And, I’m hotter.”

  I swallowed a bite of pancake. “Um, I think you’re failing in your sacred duty, Nicholas.”

 
The guys laughed, then dug into their food while they discussed a minor security incident at the club the night before.

  “What’s on the schedule for today?” Cole asked.

  Shane checked his phone. “I have a closing, so I’ll probably be wrapped up with that until late afternoon.”

  “I have a meeting with our accountant in an hour to discuss a few end-of-the-year details,” Nicholas said. “Aren’t you nailing down the music for the party, Cole?”

  “I am.” He looked at me. “You’ll never guess who I convinced to DJ our New Year’s Eve party at the club.”

  I stared at him blankly. It wasn’t like I was familiar with many Vegas DJs. “Who?”

  “Dark Angel.” He winked and I blushed. Of course they wouldn’t let that go.

  “Well, I hope her assistant was extremely helpful.”

  Nicholas cleared his throat. “Speaking of the party, we were wondering if you would like to be our date? We’ll technically be working, but things should go off without a hitch.”

  Our date? I took a sip of coffee, trying to figure out how to respond. “Won’t people think it’s weird if you’re sharing a date?”

  Shane shrugged. “First of all, it’s Vegas. Enough said. And, we’ve cultivated a reputation of being a bit eccentric. Nic and I don’t socialize as much as people expect, and Cole is spotted with different girls all the time. I don’t think many people will even look twice.”

  “Was spotted,” Cole corrected, not that I was surprised by Shane’s comment. Cole fit my idea of a player to a T.

  “You’re welcome to invite friends, as well,” Nicholas said. “Just text me the names so I can add them to the list.”

  “I’ll ask my friend Simone, but she might already have plans. I doubt anyone else will be back from break already.”

  “What do you think?” Cole asked. Was it possible that he sounded nervous? “Will you be our date for New Year’s Eve?”

  I must be absolutely crazy. “Yes.”

  12

  After my rather stimulating breakfast with Cole, Nicholas, and Shane, I spent the rest of the day attempting to work ahead on some of my assistant editor duties. Between the paper, classes, and figuring out what the hell to do with my life, I knew the upcoming semester would be brutal. Not that I managed to get much done. What had they been thinking, showing off their kissing skills like that?

  I was staring blankly at my laptop screen when my phone beeped with an incoming text. Thank goodness, a distraction.

  Simone: Have a foursome yet? Please say yes!

  Me: They each kissed me in front of the others. Does that count?

  Simone: No, but I still need details!

  Shaking my head, I called her, knowing she wouldn’t let up until I explained. After I filled her in on the last couple of days, she sighed loudly into the phone. “Emma, I love you, but you don’t know how to take advantage of dating three gorgeous men at the same time. A million girls would die to be in your designer red stilettos, and instead of being over the moon, you sound glum. Snap out of it!”

  “I know, trust me, I know. But, it’s harder than it sounds.”

  “Tell me, Em, how hard is it? Wait, I mean, how hard are they?”

  I snorted. “You are so immature sometimes.”

  Laughing, Simone quipped, “And, you’re too serious all the time. You need me, admit it.”

  “Fine, I need you.”

  “Good, now that you’ve confessed how much you love me, I need to tell you something.”

  “Okay?”

  “I was Googling the Ts, because you haven’t sent me photos, and I was distracted when we were at Loft25 . . .”

  I rolled my eyes at her use of “Ts,” her shortened version of “the triple triple threats.”

  “. . . And, I ran across a photo of Nicholas with his arm around a skinny blonde three days before Christmas. Apparently, she was his date to some charity ball.”

  Three days before Christmas . . . so, the day after the Lying Bastards confrontation, he went on a date with someone else?

  “It was probably nothing,” Simone quickly argued. “He could have made plans with her before he even met you.”

  “If you think it was nothing, then why did you bother telling me?”

  “Because best friends don’t hide stuff from each other.”

  “Send me the link.”

  “Just a sec.”

  I paced while I waited. Seems like I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, I thought. When the text came in, I immediately tapped on it and scowled at the photo that popped up. “She is really pretty. And, her name is Alyssa. Pretty name, pretty girl . . . and I sound pretty jealous.”

  “Why don’t you just ask Nicholas about her?”

  “Why didn’t he tell me about her? He had the perfect opportunity last night.”

  “Probably because he’s smitten with you and the date with Alyssa didn’t mean a damn thing.”

  “Maybe.” I wanted to believe that was true, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I was merely convenient since I was here and Alyssa was likely in Pasadena. After last night, I didn’t question his attraction to me, but was that all it was?

  Simone groaned. “You’re driving me crazy, but don’t worry, I know what will cheer you up!”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “I’ll be back in town tomorrow, so we’re going to get our groove on at Loft25.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What’s not to know? Free drinks, your sexy boyfriends, sounds like a good time.”

  “Fine.”

  “I’ll let that go for now, but I expect more enthusiasm tomorrow night.”

  “Can’t wait.”

  * * *

  Walking into Loft25 with Simone on my arm felt different this time. I still admired the club’s design, but I saw more than cement walls, black metal accents, and wood beams. I saw Nicholas’s creativity, Shane’s business acumen, and Cole’s energy. While some might attribute their success to their fat bank accounts, I knew different. This club was a hit because my talented boyfriends worked hard and made it happen. Am I seriously referring to them as my boyfriends now?

  I scanned the floor and what I could see of the upper level for Shane, Cole, and Nicholas, not surprised when I didn’t spot them. Although it wasn’t as packed as the last time I’d visited, plenty of bodies filled the space. And, since I’d decided to drop in on them, I wasn’t certain all, or any, of them were actually working.

  “Bar?” Simone mouthed to me, and I nodded.

  I ordered a beer, hoping to unwind without getting tipsy. We stood at the bar, talking, and Simone flirted with one of the bartenders when he wasn’t busy mixing cocktails. I was starting to feel relaxed when I caught sight of a familiar head of thick blond hair. My mouth widened into a smile, and I suddenly didn’t care that I’d been annoyed with Nicholas for the past day. That is, until I saw who he was speaking to . . . very closely.

  Alyssa was even more beautiful in person than she’d been in the photos online. Her blonde hair was longer than mine and styled to perfection, and she held her tall, thin frame with the air of a supermodel. She probably is one, I thought bitterly.

  “What’s wrong?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away long enough to answer Simone, but she must have followed my line of sight, because I heard her say, “Shit.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Emma, it could be totally innocent.”

  “That’s what you said about the photos, too, but she’s here. In Vegas. Not Pasadena.”

  Simone called the bartender over. “Miguel, do you know who that girl is?” she asked, pointing to Alyssa.

  He laughed. “The rumor is, she’s Mr. Hayes’s girlfriend from California. She’s stunning, huh?”

  His theory was pretty well corroborated when, at that precise moment, Nicholas placed his hand on her back and steered her toward a door marked “Private Office.” After they disappeared behind it, I stared blankly at the closed door, unsure whether I fe
lt more like throwing up or throwing down.

  Simone gave me a hug. “Okay, we need tequila shots. Stat.”

  I shook my head. “No, I need to leave.”

  “What you need is to get wasted.” She pushed a couple of shots and a wedge of lime in front of me. “Drink. Now.” Numb, I followed her instructions, barely even registering the burn of the alcohol down my throat.

  “Emma, I didn’t know you were here.” Nicholas’s voice broke through my tequila haze one or two shots later, and I turned around too quickly, bumping into him. “Whoa, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I heard my words slur a little bit and forced myself to focus. “And, I might have told you I was here if you weren’t so busy with your supermodel girlfriend.”

  His forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “Alyssa. You know, your date to the Christmas ball and the girl you were probably just screwing in your office.” Damn it. I never should have let Simone talk me into shots. I sounded like a jealous idiot.

  “Emma, it’s not what—”

  “Mr. Hayes.” Nicholas was interrupted by a fierce-looking bouncer. “I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but it’s urgent.”

  Nicholas sighed. “I have to go, but please don’t leave until we have a chance to talk. You can hang out with Cole in the VIP room.” He started to walk away, but called back, “Miguel, their drinks are on the house.”

  I leaned my elbows against the bar and held my head in my hands, regretting the tequila. In order to figure out what to do about Nicholas, I needed a clear head. He’d started to say, “it’s not what it looked like,” or something along those lines. Was it possible that his interactions with Alyssa were actually innocent?

  After gulping down a glass of water, I headed for the stairs. Simone stayed at the bar to “chat” with Miguel, so if I didn’t find Cole after a few minutes, I was calling it a night. Nicholas would have to wait and talk to me tomorrow.

  When I didn’t immediately see Cole, I gave the burly bouncer standing guard at the velvet rope a confident smile. “Hello, I’m with Cole.”

  He didn’t reciprocate my greeting or smile. “Is your name on the list?”