Ethan Southern was also a billionaire, the heir to Redhead Scotch. The thirty-two-year-old did little more than party his life away. Phoenix Nelson had stumbled into his fortune. He was the illegitimate son of a candy billionaire who had left him a few hundred acres in a tiny place called Karnes County in Texas. He had struck it rich when oil was found on the property not once, but 27 times. It seemed the men were all billionaires, and Julia had been the one to come on to them all.
As they got into the restaurant and were seated, the three laughed as they ordered the same drink, a Rob Roy. It had been the first step in how Julia had introduced herself to each of the men. She’d send one over, and a bit later she’d have them come to her table where she always sat alone.
Griffin mimicked the way Julie had wiggled her finger to get him to come to her. The others laughed as they too had been wrangled in by a mere drink, a corny pick-up line, and the wiggle of a single finger in their direction.
“How do you think the woman was able to pick out three men with massive amounts of money?” Phoenix asked as he sipped on his cocktail.
“She was a witch,” Ethan said with a hearty laugh. “I believe that with all my heart. She could turn a man inside out and make him beg for more. But somehow, she left him without a tear shed being shed between either party. She had to be a witch. There’s no other plausible explanation.”
The three clinked their glasses together. “A toast to the enigmatic female who knew how to reel a man in and set him free, all without ever harming his fragile ego or feelings,” Griffin said.
“Hear, hear,” the other two added.
A kinship had been found amongst the three men who shared the knowledge a young woman had given them. It was possible to have unimaginable sex after knowing each other for only a few hours, without having to hand your entire soul over to another human being. It could be done with no one being hurt.
With the realization that all three came to at the same time, an idea was born between them.
A terribly fantastic idea!
Chapter 2
“Are you two gentlemen busy tomorrow?” Ethan asked them, then popped a fried mushroom into his mouth after dipping it in ranch sauce. His auburn waves hung to his shoulders and danced around them as he nodded and moaned with how good the food tasted.
“I’m never busy,” Phoenix replied. Then he picked up a shoot of fried asparagus and plunged it into the creamy white depths of the dip.
“Me neither,” Griffin added. “Why do you ask, Ethan?”
“Because I too am never busy and I have an idea. But it would require an overnighter.” Ethan drank the last of his Rob Roy and motioned to the waiter for a refill.
“What kind of idea?” Phoenix asked with curiosity.
“You know how Julia lured us all in, having her way with us so easily,” Ethan said with a grin as he recalled some of those times he and she had had.
Griffin nodded as his lips pulled into a sly grin. “I do.”
“And you do recall hearing about how she gave to various charities?” Ethan asked as he took the drink the waiter had brought to him.
“I do,” Phoenix said. “Can I have a beer? The cocktail isn’t hitting the spot for me.” The waiter gave him a nod and pointed to Griffin’s nearly full glass.
“Anything else for you, sir?” he asked Griffin.
“Bring me a beer too. I never did like this drink,” Griffin confessed. “I ordered it just to remember someone.”
“Beer me too,” Ethan added. “I don’t really know why I ordered another one of these. They’re much too sweet for me.”
As the waiter walked away, Phoenix asked, “So, what about the charities? Do you think we should donate to some of them?”
“I do,” Ethan said. “But I think we should make it interesting. I believe we three should make a bet. One that will remind us of Julia.”
“Like what?” Griffin asked as he watched a tall blonde woman walk behind Ethan and give him a double take.
“Like find a small bar and see who can get laid first,” Ethan said with a huge smile. “You know, using the tactics Julia used on us. The whole thing—the cheesy drink, the wiggle of one finger, the terrible lines. We all fell for them.”
“I suppose the two that don’t win have to make the charitable donations,” Griffin said. “In what amount? That needs to be decided.”
“Can you two do a million each if you lose?” Phoenix asked.
When the others nodded, the three reached out to the middle of the table, placing their hands on top of the others.
“So, it’s on,” Ethan said. “The first one to score wins, and the other two make million dollar donations to the charities the winner chooses.”
“Agreed,” Griffin and Phoenix said in unison.
A pact was formed between the three men. An agreement that would mean some poor women might well become unsuspecting pawns in their little game. Griffin added a bit more detail to their bet.
“To make sure things are fair, I think one of us should choose for the other. Like I can pick who Ethan can go for; Phoenix can find me a woman; and Ethan can find one for Phoenix. We can make sure the women look like the type that’ll give us a good fight. It’s no fun if we all pick tramps.”
Nods had the other men agreeing to the terms, and Phoenix felt like he should add something to the arrangement as he said, “And if no one scores tonight, we keep playing the same women until one of us does score. You know, no trading out. I think that makes it more interesting, don’t you?”
Ethan raised one thick brow as he contemplated what Phoenix had come up with. “That might mean we have to spend some time in the same place. Let’s choose a place wisely.” He pulled out his cell and searched the names of places near Boston. When a particular word caught his attention, he said, “Middlesex County sounds fun.”
“It sure does,” Phoenix agreed.
“There’s a town called Ashby in that county,” Ethan added.
Griffin pulled his cell out of his jacket pocket and searched for places to stay while Phoenix took his phone out to find bars in the town. Ethan had chosen the town, so all three were active participants.
“There’s a quaint bed and breakfast that only has three bedrooms,” Griffin said. “It looks nice and homey. A great place to spend a night or two.” He turned the phone around to show the other two the pictures of the two-story home with white siding and yellow trim. Colorful flower gardens filled each side of a wide staircase that led up to a porch that looked as if it wrapped around one end of the large home.
“I like the looks of those rockers on the porch,” Phoenix said. “I think it looks cozy.”
“I’ll book it for a couple of nights,” Griffin said, then tapped away to set it up. “For the next couple of nights, O’Toole’s Bed and Breakfast will be our home away from home.”
“Why not make an Irish time of it?” Phoenix asked as he showed the others a picture of a pub he’d found. “Flannigan’s Pub and Grill sounds like an excellent place to catch women. There’ll be some food to keep us from getting wasted while we’re trolling for babes.”
Ethan clapped him on the back. “Irish! I love it! Let’s make a pact to try our best to pick an Irish lass for each one of us. I can tell you boys, they’re not so easy to get into the sack.”
“Sounds like you’ve had a few,” Griffin said with a chuckle.
“A couple,” Ethan admitted. “Our tempers never combined well, to be honest. But we’re not talking about finding wives now, are we?”
The three laughed and found the waiter bringing them mugs of cold beer. With a tap to each glass, they sealed their bet. The details were done; all that was left to do was get to Ashby and begin their adventure in sexual deviance.
“Wait a minute,” Phoenix said as another thing came to his mind. “We should set spending limits. As we all know, money can be a significant catalyst in drawing a woman to your bed. There should be a daily spending limit.”
“Dail
y?” Griffin asked. “Just how long do you expect this to go on? I’m quite adept at closing bedroom deals within the space of one night, Phoenix.”
“But we’re going to be choosing hard-to-get women,” Phoenix reminded him. “It could very well take a while. Even a few days. I don’t want one of us to go buy our woman a fancy car and get her that way. I think time and energy should be used, rather than tons of money.”
“Right ya are,” Ethan agreed. “I say none of us can spend more than 50,000 dollars a day.”
Griffin nodded, as if that wasn’t an extravagant amount of money. But Phoenix shook his head. “You two have always been rich. I haven’t. That’s an amount that’s much too high. A more realistic price is 500. It shows we have money, but we’re using our wits to make our woman feel special enough to let her guard down and give us what we want.”
“500 it is, then,” Ethan said, and Griffin nodded in agreement.
Griffin pulled a pen out of his pocket and grabbed a napkin off the table. “Now to get to know what each man likes in a woman. It wouldn’t be fair to saddle any one of us with a lady who’s not to our taste.”
“Right ya are,” Ethan said with a flourish of his hand. “I like the dainty type. Blonde, top of her head near my chest area. I like to be the beast to her beauty. It gives me the upper hand right from the start. Oh! And big boobs and an ass that won’t quit! Those are important too.”
“I like big boobs and asses too,” Phoenix agreed.
“Big assets all across the board. I like blondes too. But I like them tall, lithe, gazelle-like,” Griffin added as he wrote it all down.
“I like curvy women. Hair color isn’t an issue at all. I like them all. But curves are a must,” Phoenix said. “And I like them to be cute rather than gorgeous. Don’t ask me why. Perhaps it’s because I wasn’t born rich, but I don’t like women who demand upkeep.”
“I need to remind you,” Griffin said. “We’re not searching out wives. Just a quick piece of ass, then we’re out of there.”
The others nodded and took a drink to let that bit sink into their heads. This was not to be a love connection; this was a quick tryst and then on to other things.
Just how Julia had taught them to do.
Chapter 3
Salty air filled the car as Griffin rolled down his window. “I love this smell. In Montana, the air is crisp and clean. Here, it’s damp and full of aromas.”
The driver pulled up to O’Toole’s Bed and Breakfast. “A quick check in, then we can get going to the pub,” Ethan said as they all got out and took the bags they’d picked up from their Boston hotel rooms before they’d left the city.
A sweet looking, short, older woman with white hair pulled into a loose bun on top of her head greeted them at the front door as they walked up the steps. “You must be our guests for the next couple of nights. I’m Stella O’Toole. Welcome to our home.”
“I’m Ethan Southern, Mrs. O’Toole. A pleasure it is to make your acquaintance.” He took her hand and kissed the top of it, making her giggle like a young girl.
“Oh, my! A Scott, I dare say. A pleasure to meet you, Ethan,” she said as she blushed. “What a bunch of handsome devils you three are. Tell me what has you in our little township.”
Griffin put his bag on the floor by the desk and filled out the paperwork that was on top of it. “Just visiting. The place looked like something out of a romance novel on your website. We’re in Massachusetts for reasons that aren’t exactly happy. We wanted to make something positive out of it.”
The woman looked over the names on the registry. “Griffin Houser, you must be.” She turned to Phoenix and looked him up and down. “And you must be Phoenix Nelson. Now you have got to tell me what bloodlines you’re from; you look like a movie star.”
“I’m nearly full-blooded Karankawa. I resemble my mother. Only I’m a couple of feet taller,” he said, then took her hand and left a kiss on top of it. “And thanks for not calling me an Indian, Mrs. O’Toole.”
With a curt nod, she turned to lead the men up the stairs to their bedrooms. “On the right is where your rooms are. The one restroom you will share is at the end of the hallway. There’re fresh towels in the linen closet. When you’re done, please deposit them in the laundry bins that’re in your rooms. I’ll pick them up when I clean your rooms each morning after breakfast.”
“When’s breakfast?” Griffin asked as they stopped at the first bedroom.
She pushed the door open as she asked them, “Are you all early risers or not so early?”
Being as none of the men really knew each other, they all looked at one another with quizzical expressions. “I get up around nine every morning,” Ethan said.
“I can do nine,” Phoenix replied.
Griffin walked into the first bedroom, claiming the room decorated in deep greens, his favorite color. “I can do nine as well.”
“Then I’ll have breakfast served at ten. Will that be okay with you all?” she asked them.
All nodded, and she led the others to the next room, done in tans and browns. “I’ll take this one,” Phoenix said as he walked into the room.
Mrs. O’Toole gestured to the last door and Ethan opened it, finding a room done in lilac colors. “How charming,” he said with a smile.
“Glad you’re firm in your masculinity, Ethan. I thought you’d be,” she said with a laugh. “The front door remains unlocked until ten each night. If you come in after that, you’ll need the code to the keypad to get in. I’ve left a card with that information on the nightstand in each room. Don’t forget to take it with you if you know you won’t be back before we go to bed. Mr. O’Toole can be a real bear if he’s woken up.”
“I’ll be sure to take the code,” Ethan said as he made his way into the room that smelled like the flowers that bloomed beneath the open window. “We’ll be out late. But we’ll be sure to come in quietly, so we don’t wake you two.”
“Thank you. That would be greatly appreciated,” Mrs. O’Toole said, then left him alone.
A short time later, the three congregated in the hallway after putting their things away. “It’s half past nine,” Griff said. “Time to be on our way to Flannigan’s.”
Having let the driving service go, they called a cab and waited on the front porch as they rocked in three of the massive white rockers that were strategically placed on the large porch.
“It’s nice out here,” Phoenix remarked as he looked up at the sky. “You can’t see as many stars as you can where I live on the third coast in Texas, but it’s nice just the same.”
“It appears you two are a couple of country gents,” Ethan said. “I’ve lived all my life in cities. Edinburgh, Scotland, is where I grew up. A country night, I’ve never had.”
“Then you’ll have to make a visit to our Montana ranch sometime if you want to see all the stars,” Griffin offered. “You too, Phoenix. Montana is closer to heaven than Texas is.”
“Don’t go knocking Texas, friend,” Phoenix said as he chuckled. “But thanks for the invite. I’d like to come see your ranch.”
The cab pulled up, and the three went to it. “This is where we start our bet, men,” Ethan told the other two.
“Flannigan’s Pub, please,” Griffin called out to the driver.
“Flannigan’s it is,” the driver said, then pulled away from the curb.
Though seasoned in the ways of love, each man felt a bit nervous as he rode to the pub where he’d try his hand at beating the other two men to the bedroom with the woman chosen for him.
Though only a Thursday night, they found the pub’s parking lot packed. “Glad we took a taxi,” Phoenix said as they got out of the cab.
Ethan walked ahead of the other two and opened the heavy wooden door. “Authentic,” he muttered as he let the other two walk in before him.
Dim light lit the pub. The smell of fried foods and alcohol filled the air, combining with the many perfumes and colognes the people in the crowded place were wearing.
A young woman wearing a T-shirt with the pub’s name on the right pocket, blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a black apron came to them. Her smile was bright, and her doe-like brown eyes were sparkly as she greeted them.
“Hi, welcome to Flannigan’s. Are we drinking, or eating and drinking this fine evening, gentlemen?”
“Both,” Ethan answered for them.
“Fancy a table or a booth?” she asked as she turned around to grab some menus.
“Table,” Griffin called out, so he could be heard over the noisy crowd.
With a nod, she led them away, seating them at a table for four.
With the menus placed in front of them, she asked, “What can I get you fellas to drink?”
“Pints,” Ethan said. “For all of us. Run a tab. It’s on me tonight.”
“Generous,” she said, then left the men to go get their drinks.
They scanned the room, searching for the women they’d like for themselves while also keeping in mind who they were to pick for.
There were short, tall, skinny, and chubby women of all kinds and hair colors. A buffet of beauties to choose from. It wouldn’t be easy to narrow it down to one each.
“Wow, we have some fine choices here tonight. You picked the right place, Phoenix,” Griffin said, then high-fived him.
“I sure did. I can’t pick any one of them out as the best,” Phoenix agreed.
“But you must,” Ethan reminded him. “Don’t forget our personal preferences either.”
Phoenix nodded as the tall mugs full of dark beer arrived. “Guinness, huh?” Griffin asked the waitress, who was a different young woman than the one who had seated them.
“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” she asked.
“It is, darlin’, and can we have some hot wings to go with them?” Ethan asked her.
“Sure. Really hot or kind of hot?” the waitress asked them as she placed the frothy mugs in front of each one of them.
“Kind of,” Griffin said. “We don’t want dragon breath now, do we?”
She nodded. “I’ll make sure there’s some celery to cleanse your palates, gentlemen. And blue cheese with them?”
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