Two Billionaires Next Door: A Dark Bad Boy MFM Romance

by Jay S. Wilder

  “A pretty amazing coincidence, don’t you think?”

  I swallow hard. “Where is she?”

  “I’m right here.”

  She comes in through the doorway, looking from Ethan to me. With her in such close proximity the carnal desires in me wake up in an instant. I itch to pull her close and rip those scrubs right off her curves.

  She gives me another quick glance but then, just as swiftly, looks away. “Ethan lost a good amount of blood, but he’s going to be all right. It’s important that he stay off his feet for at least seven days.”

  Ethan smiles. Mindy stands at the end of the bed and looks down at the clipboard in her hands. She seems to be paying the paper a whole lot of attention. Is she avoiding looking at me?

  “How did you get in here?” she suddenly asks, gazing over at me with a blank face.

  “I...”

  Her lips tighten. “You need to leave.”

  Zack chuckles. I shoot him a glare.

  Mindy nods her head at the door. “Come on.”

  Reluctantly, I follow her into the hall. She hurries ahead of me, her ass tight and high even in the loose scrubs. I gulp. How does she manage to have such defined curves while still being so full?

  “Mindy.”

  She halts and turns. I step up to her, getting as close as I dare to. Her breath catches and she looks up at me. With her dilating pupils and labored breathing, her body’s response to my presence can’t be hidden. She feels the exact same thing I do.

  “I didn’t know you worked here.”

  She clears her throat. “Yeah. For a year now.”

  A long moment passes while we just look at each other. Finally I speak. “I didn’t know if...”

  Mindy looks down, her long lashes sweeping across the edges of her cheekbones. “We can’t talk about this here. It’s not the right time or place.”

  My back straightens and my face burns. “All right.”

  She slowly looks back up at me. “He’s got quite the temperament.”

  “You have no idea. He’s not going to follow doctor's orders, you know. He’s going to be up and back at the office tomorrow morning. Hell, he’ll be trying to go for a run by nightfall. And I guarantee he’s in there right now looking for his underwear.”

  Her eyes roll. “Great,” she mutters. “He’ll pop his stitches out and be right back here within a day.”

  “Can you talk to him?”

  She looks at me with a wary eye. It kills me. Though we’ve gone years without speaking, we’re finally back in each other’s lives. That is, assuming she comes back for another session with me and Ethan. The point is, there’s no reason for her to look at me like that, no reason for her to not trust me.

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  Mindy sighs. “Zack, I told you. We can’t talk about this here. I’m at work.”

  “All right.” I cross my arms, frustrated with myself for even trying. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked her to join me and Ethan. As amazing as it was, perhaps it freaked her out.

  Half the reason I asked had to do with knowing she wouldn’t go out on a date with me. She practically fled when I called her name on the street. After running into her after so many years apart I couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing her again so I used the one tool in my box and got her number with the intention of inviting her to a threesome.

  But maybe nothing I did when it came to her could ever be right.

  She speaks slowly. “If healing is going to be an issue with Ethan… I can go and check up on him.”

  I nod. Not only would Ethan maybe listen to Mindy on account of her being a nurse, her stopping by his apartment would keep her in our lives, even if just in the slightest sense.

  It’s a pathetic move on my part. I know it.

  And I also don’t know what’s wrong with me. I missed my chance with Mindy. Her careful distance today has pretty much shown as much.

  But I can’t help but be a dumb ass and still hope for more.

  “That might work,” I tell her. “I’ll text you his address. If you can just let me know how he’s doing that would be great.”

  I want to ask to be at his place when she drops by, but that’s pushing it.

  “Great.” Mindy nods and doesn’t stop. Her head just bobs away. We look at each other, neither one of us moving an inch.

  “Thank you.”

  She still nods. “You’re welcome.”

  I suck in a breath, inhaling her delicious scent. The inner beast in me groans in lust.

  Mindy clears her throat and goes to tuck some hair behind her ear, though not so much as one strand is out of place. “I’ll see you around, then.”

  “Hopefully soon.”

  Her eyes latch onto mine, so many emotions flying from them. Excitement. Fear. Anticipation. My heart surges with its own mixed bag of feelings. There are so many things to say, but I myself don’t even know where to begin. She already made it clear things would be just sex between us, and that one time didn’t even guarantee a next one.

  But that was her lips speaking.

  Her eyes tell me something different.

  “Mindy...”

  “B-bye,” she stutters, then turns and rushes away.

  5

  Mindy

  I’ll be there in ten.

  I stare down at the text to Ethan for a long moment then send it. No turning back now. Unless I have the guts to fake getting hit by a bus or something.

  Sighing, I slump back against my chair. The coffee shop buzzes around me, full of suits, hipsters, eclectic old ladies in colorful hats and dresses, and Upper West Side moms wearing spandex and steering strollers. I miss the quirky cafe up in Castle Hill, the one Katie and I roll into for pancakes on Sunday mornings when we’re too hung over to walk more than three blocks.

  I shouldn’t be doing this, I grimly think, kicking my sneakers against the base of my table. It’s too complicated. It means getting personally involved. It’s everything I said I wouldn’t do with them.

  I haven’t even told my best friend about what’s happened, which is new for me. Usually Katie and I share everything. Me keeping something as big as banging two men at once a secret says something…

  Except I’m not exactly sure what it is.

  Yep. Should not be doing this.

  But what was I supposed to do with Zack looking down at me in the way he did, begging me with his eyes? Tell him no, I didn’t give half a damn about him and his stupid best friend?

  I could have said as much, but it wouldn’t be true. I do care about Zack and Ethan. Way more than I should.

  And I barely know Ethan, which is funny. Maybe he’s just endearing to me because he’s Zack’s friend. I’m not sure.

  I stir the straw in my melted ice coffee, killing a few more seconds. After getting off the subway, instead of heading right over to Ethan’s, I walked around his block twice and then went into the coffee shop to continue to hide from what I promised I would do.

  Three days. Three long, long days have passed and I haven’t talked to Ethan or Zack once, other than to send them each a text letting them know when I would go by to check on Ethan.

  But I’ve been thinking about them. Turning the corner in the emergency room, ready to treat what I thought would be a stab wound on just another patient, it felt like the wind got knocked out of me.

  If it was any other situation I would have thought Ethan showing up in my emergency room, fresh from an afternoon of uninhibited sex, meant something big.

  Something like we’re meant to be in each other’s lives.

  And then Zack has to pop in as well…

  I shake my head in frustration, probably looking like a crazy person to the rest of the coffee shop. I can’t let my head go that route.

  Things don’t happen in such a fantastical way. Life isn’t all about ‘meant to be’ situations and fairy tales and the right guy showing up at just the right time.

  Or the right guys.

  “Ugh.”
I grab my backpack and can’t get out of the coffee shop fast enough. The sooner I get to Ethan’s and change his bandages the sooner I can leave.

  I already scouted out his building, so I know right where it is. I cross the street with the rest of the jaywalkers and slip under the green awning. A door man greets me and opens the gleaming glass. I smile at him and wonder just how out of place I come across as. Most of the people residing in this building probably don’t make a habit out of wearing ripped jeans and an old Yankees t-shirt.

  The apartment complex is so swanky there’s even an elevator operator. I smirk to myself. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if some of the people living here think they’re above pushing an elevator button.

  The operator takes me to Ethan’s level and I enter a wide hallway with a marbled floor. I find his door number and take a big gulp before knocking.

  My hands shake and yet I don’t know why. It’s not like anything is going to happen between me and Ethan, whether good or bad. I’m just doing him a favor and checking on his physical state and then getting the hell out of here. I’ll change his bandages and make sure he’s been following the doctor’s orders. It’s all pretty simple.

  My stomach twists. Or is it?

  I don’t like how hard it’s been to get Ethan off my mind. I expected there might be some difficulties when it came to trying to not fall for Zack, but I never predicted feelings for both men.

  Because that’s what’s happening, right?

  I’m not entirely sure, but I don’t have any more time to think about it. The door opens. Instead of Ethan standing there, though, it’s a lady with gray hair.

  “Hello,” she smiles. “You must be Mindy. Come on in.”

  She steps to the side and I enter a cavernous living room.

  The woman shuts the door behind me. “I’m Carrie, Ethan’s housekeeper.”

  “Nice to meet you.” I shift my weight, feeling weird and out of my element in the giant apartment. “Um, do you know if he’s moved at all?”

  She laughs and it turns into a cough-like groan. “The more fitting question would be has he stopped moving? He doesn’t follow instructions very well.”

  I purse my lips. “Right.”

  “Maybe you can talk some sense into him.”

  “Here’s hoping,” I wryly answer, knowing full well I probably won’t be trying at all.

  “I need to get going.” She pushes her purse further up her arm. “Ethan is in his office, just down the hall. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You too. Bye.”

  She goes, leaving me all alone in the quiet space.

  I think about calling Ethan’s name, but I’m still feeling oddly self-conscious.

  I finally pin the feeling and realize it’s the one I get when I’m starting to crush hard on a guy. It’s happened plenty of times. My exterior starts to fall away and I begin to get nervous around whoever the man of the moment is.

  Great. My stomach twists. Freaking great.

  I slowly head across the living room and down the hall, peeking into each open doorway. The place is decorated much like a hunting lodge, the bear skin rugs, taxidermy heads of bucks, and dark, polished wood out of place on the west side of Manhattan. Walking through Ethan’s home makes me feel like I’m in the middle of the woods in Montana.

  I like it.

  Way too much.

  Does he ever bring girls back here? Would it be hard with his housekeeper? Maybe not. I didn’t get the impression Carrie lives here. Likely she just stops by during the day to take care of things.

  I halt at a thin table with framed photographs on it. A couple are black and white ones from the forties or fifties. Ethan’s in the biggest one, standing in a small group of people of various ages. I finger the frame. His family? I start to look away but then notice Zack in the photo, grinning up at the camera with his dimples popping.

  I smile to myself. The photo looks pretty recent—from some time in the last few years. It’s good to see Zack happy. As far as I know, his dad was the only relative he had left. Losing him, though Zack knew it was coming, must have been awful.

  It would be nice if he’s found a kind of surrogate family to help fill the void.

  I could have filled it.

  I gulp and pull my hand back from the frame like it’s been burned.

  It’s strange to have thoughts like that when I know damn well I don’t even want things to be that way.

  Realizing I can’t keep creeping around the place like an intruder, I raise my voice. “Ethan? It’s Mindy.”

  “In here,” comes his deep vibrato from the very end of the hallway.

  I follow the direction his answer came from and find myself in a small office. It’s decorated like the rest of the place, with dark walls and thick carpet. Ethan, a wooden desk in front of him, leans back in a leather chair. He’s a bit paler than the last time I saw him but his blonde hair is perfectly combed to the side.

  I clutch my bag a little tighter and halt in the doorway.

  “You’re working?”

  He waves a sheet of paper in the air as an answer.

  I grit my teeth. Whatever.

  “So,” I briskly say, turning it to all business. “How are you feeling?”

  “All right.” He stares at me, his blue eyes burning holes into my face. Heat collects between my legs and I can’t help it. I’m instantly wet.

  “Great,” I say, more energetically than needed. “Let me just take a look. It’s time to change your bandages.”

  He pushes his hands against the arms of the chair and slowly rises.

  “Um, is there anywhere comfortable we can do it?” I ask. “Like the bathroom?”

  “My bedroom is right there.” He gestures past me.

  I turn and look through the door across the hall. A perfectly made bed, no doubt thanks to Carrie, waits there. I bite my lip, thinking about telling him the bathroom would be easier.

  Is sex with just one of them all right?

  I chastise myself. Of course it’s all right. Zack doesn’t own me. There are no rules on what happens between me and him or me and Ethan.

  Though, as his nurse, I really should be banning any and all physical activity right now.

  Ethan moves past me, shuffling his way into the bedroom. I take a good look at him. He’s still healing and I’m not going to be the reason his stitches open up. No matter how sexy he looks right now.

  He takes a seat on his bed and I follow, opening up my bag and dropping it on the carpet. The room, though finely furnished, is nearly devoid of personal touches. With no books, television, or photos, I get the impression Ethan doesn’t spend a lot of time in here.

  He probably works all the time. Not everyone has a multi-billion dollar business by the time they’re twenty-eight.

  “I’m gonna lift your shirt,” I say, touching the bottom hem. My fingers graze his smooth skin and a little shiver goes through me.

  “Zack wanted you to do this, huh?” He helps me pull the shirt off. His biceps flex, so tight and well defined they’re nearly popping. Though I’ve already seen them I have to take a moment to compose myself before I can speak. The dragon tattooed on his right shoulder leers at me, eerily anthropomorphic and totally aware of how turned on I am right now. I swear it’s teasing me.

  I ignore the dragon and gather my thoughts. “He’s worried about you not following the doctor's orders. And it looks like he’s got good reason. Your housekeeper told me you’ve been up and doing things.” I unwind the gauze wrapped firmly around his abs.

  Ethan grunts. “Is this just about me? Or is it about you and him as well?”

  I give him a quick and cold look before returning to my work. The gauze comes all the way off, revealing pink skin already healing beneath the stitches. “What do you mean?” I tartly ask.

  “I mean this whole thing seems kind of suspicious. You and Zack have history.”

  Whatever it is he really wants to say, he’s skirting around it.


  Well if he can be vague so can I. Taking out my scissors and some fresh gauze, I cut a lengthy piece of bandage and begin wrapping it around him. Each time my fingers brush against his muscles memories from the other day return.

  “Our history, as you call it, happened years ago. Zack and I haven’t seen each other in, like, seven years. I barely recognized him.”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  I grind my teeth together, hating how badly I want to know just what Zack has said about me. “You two probably have more history together at this point.” I look pointedly up at him. “So tell me. How often do you guys share girls?” I say the last part before I even know the words are coming out of my mouth.

  His answer comes swift. “Whenever we feel like it.”

  “That’s specific.”

  “Thanks,” he shoots back.

  I give the gauze a yank, tightening it, and he lets out a little grunt of pain.

  I shouldn’t be asking anyway. Just like with everything else in Zack and Ethan’s lives, their relationships with women are none of my business.

  “Have you talked to Zack at all?” he asks.

  “No,” I tersely answer.

  He huffs out a breath. I finish wrapping him up then stand to look down at him. “What?”

  Ethan lifts a shoulder. “The whole thing seems… interesting.”

  “You’re awfully vague.”

  “And that’s the pot calling the kettle black. You’re not exactly divulging a whole lot of information yourself, Nurse Mindy.”

  My hand plants on my hip. Now I’m actually starting to get pissed. Is this guy trying to be a jackass? “We’re not talking about me. So just what are you trying to say, Ethan?”

  He looks back at me. Despite his douchebag attitude, plus the injury, I still feel about two seconds away from pushing him down on the bed and grinding against him.

  He juts his chin at me. “Zack said you were all right with it being just sex between us.”

  “I am.” My face quickly heats up. I don’t know why I’m blushing and I also hope he doesn’t notice it.