by Zara Chase
“Six thousand,” said a voice from the doorway.
All heads turned to see who the late arrival was. Ellie was the last to swivel round because she already knew. She’d recognize that voice anywhere. Annabel, looking beautiful but deadly in a sleek black dress, had her hungry gaze fixed firmly on Josh. Ellie wanted to scream that she wasn’t invited and have her forcibly removed by security, but how would that look for the Lodge? Frozen with indecision, Ellie stayed where she was and did nothing. What could she do? She chanced a glance at Josh and saw just how furious he was. What did Annabel hope to gain from this? Did she really imagine that she could overcome Josh’s antipathy in one short day? Knowing how highly she regarded herself, Ellie suspected that she probably did.
This was all her fault. Josh must really hate her now. He’d been forced to wash his dirty clothes—no linen—in public, thanks to her. Now he’d have to endure a day in the company of a woman who was out to either control him or, if she couldn’t achieve that ambition, to ruin him.
Suddenly it was all too much for Ellie. Josh caught her eye, and she thought she saw desperation reflected there. She definitely caught his unvoiced plea, and it was enough to transform Ellie’s inertia into an overwhelming need to do something—anything—to save him. She whispered in her father’s ear, and he nodded his encouragement.
“So, we have a new bidder, ladies. Surely we’re not going to let this prize specimen go for the paltry sum of six thousand.” She glanced round the sea of faces, but no one spoke. Ellie, who was looking directly at Annabel, saw satisfaction and a gleam of deep longing reflected in her gaze. She thought she’d won, and it appeared she was right because the silence continued to deafen. “Well, in that case, going once, going twice—”
“Twenty thousand for them both,” Ellie said in a loud, clear voice.
Everyone gasped. Rex and Josh literally gaped at her. Annabel looked ready to commit murder.
“It’s with you, madam,” Carla said, pretending not to know Annabel’s name.
“She can have him,” Annabel said, turning on her Jimmy Choos and heading for the door. “He’s not worth it.”
The gravel came down in favor of Ellie, and she stepped forward to receive her prize. Before Carla could capture Ellie for an interview, Josh swept her off her feet, cradling her against his bare chest, his face swathed in a broad grin.
“Let’s get out of this bear pit,” he said, stalking off to a cacophony of applause with her in his arms and Rex at his side.
“Aw, isn’t that romantic,” she heard someone say. “Just like Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman.”
“Twenty grand,” Josh said as they headed for the apartment. “Thanks for rescuing me. I’ll pay you back.”
“No need. I intend to get my money’s worth.” She flashed a mischievous smile at them both, licking her lips in anticipation.
“But you don’t have that sort of money,” Rex protested.
“No, but my dad does.”
“You hate taking anything from him.”
When you love someone, it’s possible to overcome an aversion to dependency. “Obviously, desperate times called for desperate measures.”
“Thanks, babe.” They reached the apartment. Josh set her on her feet and pulled her against his chest. “I have a few conditions of my own, though.”
“Hey, you’re in no position to set conditions.”
“Oh yeah. Wait until you hear them. You’ve got me and Rex at your feet, but not just for one day.”
“No trying to wiggle out of your commitment, Mr. Cooper,” Ellie said, wagging a finger beneath his nose.
“Who’s wiggling?” Rex asked, running a hand down her spine and cupping her ass.
“You have us both, babe. Not just for one day but forever.”
“But you can’t possibly mean that,” she said breathlessly.
“Do we look like we’re joking?” Josh smiled at her, but she could sense tension behind the gesture. “We love you and can’t hack it without you.”
Ellie blinked. “I’m sorry, I think I must have misheard you. Did you just say—”
“Surely you can’t doubt our feelings?” It was Josh’s turn to seem confused. “Not after everything that’s happened.”
“Frankly, yes I can. I’m hardly glamor model material.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rex asked.
“Well, isn’t it obvious?” All her insecurities returned and she was unable to look at them. “You two can date just about any woman you’d like. The auction should have proven that to you, if you didn’t already know it.”
“Why would we want someone who only wants us for such shallow reasons?”
A small grin broke through Ellie’s reserve. “Well, I’ve never exactly turned you down, have I?”
“You’re different,” Josh said, looking toward Rex who nodded vigorously. “You’ve got principles, and live by them. You could have done what Annabel did and gotten a leg-up with your career by working with your dad, but you proved yourself on your own terms.”
“We really do love you, Ellie,” Rex said quietly. “Please don’t shut us out.”
Ellie wanted to pinch herself. She was convinced she must be dreaming. She took a long look at their identically anxious expressions as they waited for her answer and she knew this was really happening. They were right. She had made her own way and had nothing more to prove to anyone. If they really did want her, she was through with striving to live up to the standards she’d set for herself in her own imagination.
“I love both of you as well,” she said, smiling through the tears streaming down her face. “But if you take me on, it’s only fair to warn you that you’ll have bitten off way more than you can eat.”
“Chew!” they said together as Josh unzipped her dress.
Epilogue
“Nice job, Ellie. I’ve got to say your hot tub scene was, well, hot,” Casey said admiringly as she leaned back in her seat and smiled. “All of those stories are certainly sexy. Any one of them is worthy of a basket of smoking-hot sex toys. But—”
Lana gave a coy smile. “But yours is better? No way. My men are the hottest in Spirit.”
Hannah giggled. “Mine are the hottest in Colorado, no, make that the entire West.”
Ellie shook her head. “My men would dominate your men. Hands down. No contest.”
Selena’s coordination was definitely off, and it took her two attempts to lean her elbow on the table and rest her head in her splayed hand. “You have no idea what I made my guys do to me on the back of that little display at the auction, Ellie,” she said dreamily. “It still gets talked about in our household.”
“Details!” four voices demanded.
“Nope.” Selena adopted a smug expression. “Some things are simply too good to share.”
“Auctioning the guys off was an inspired move,” Hannah conceded. “Those pictures you took of them, Ellie. You could probably sell them to…well, to someone.” She flapped her hands like it ought to be obvious. “Say, perhaps we should get a group shot of all our men together, half-naked.”
“They’d never go for it,” Lana said.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Casey canted her head, a wicked smile playing about her lips. “We have ways of making them do what we want.” She nodded toward the basket of toys, and all the girls laughed.
“So, ladies, I must be the winner.” Ellie had consumed several glasses of wine while she told her story. The booze had definitely helped to dispel her few remaining inhibitions, and she’d held nothing back. “Goodie!”
Lana banged on the table. “Hold on. Casey hasn’t told us her story yet.”
Casey shook her head. “The beginning of the story wasn’t one of the more stellar moments in my life. It’s kind of embarrassing, but you’re my friends.”
Ellie nodded. “We’re dying to hear how you met Sin and Evan. Spill it.”
Casey smiled. “Well, it started the day my boyfriend dumped me.”
>
There was a collective gasp from the group.
“Yep, dumped. The old heave-ho. It was quite a day.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
WWW.ZARACHASE.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zara Chase is a British author who spends a lot of her time travelling the world. Being a gypsy provides her with ample opportunities to scope out exotic locations for her stories. She likes to involve her heroines in her erotic novels in all sorts of dangerous situations—and not only with the hunky heroes whom they encounter along the way. Murder, blackmail, kidnapping, and fraud—to name just a few of life’s more common crimes—make frequent appearances in her books, adding pace and excitement to her racy stories.
Zara is an animal lover who enjoys keeping fit and is on a one-woman mission to keep the wine industry ahead of the recession.
For all titles by Zara Chase, please visit
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