Indecent Proposal: A Reverse Harem Romance

by J.C. Valentine

  While Sabrina waited for the driver to open her door, Conner helped himself. William and Oliver followed right behind, leaving her alone in the back seat. Sabrina used that brief moment to collect her bearings and get into business mode. She usually had the entire drive to get her thoughts together and remind herself of all the things that needed to be said and gone over, but this trip had proven quite the distraction.

  When her door opened, Sabrina moved to swing her legs out, only to be met with an open hand, palm up, in her face. Rearing back to avoid poking her own eye out, she tried to make sense of the appendage.

  “Miss Colloway,” came Conner’s smooth voice, and she realized with a start that he was offering to help her out of the car.

  It wasn’t the first time, but Sabrina had grown so used to doing everything herself and declining such offers from her drivers that the whole thing felt almost foreign.

  After a brief hesitation in which she considered pushing Conner’s hand aside and asserting herself, once again, as an independent woman, Sabrina slipped her hand into his and allowed the gentlemanly gesture to slide.

  She wasn’t a bitch, and she didn’t want to carry herself as one. While she was feminist, she could also appreciate a nice gesture and accept it with womanly grace. In her mind, there had to be a balance. Men had their roles to play, and women theirs. The trick was finding a place in the middle to meet.

  As she rose out of the car, Sabrina was met once again with the appreciative stares of William and Oliver, who stood just beyond the vehicle on the sidewalk, the soft yellow lighting of the restaurant’s dining room silhouetting them as it spilled out onto the street.

  She hated leaving work so late, but she loved the ambiance nightlife provided. Especially in the city, when all of the lights twinkled and flashed, turning night into day, but without all that heat and glare that came with it.

  “You look ravishing,” William commented as she stepped closer and Conner closed the door behind her with instructions to the driver to return in an hour.

  “You already said that,” she said, aware of the blush creeping up her throat and into her cheeks. Why did these men affect her this way? She wasn’t unused to the attention, and she certainly had worked with her fair share of attractive men, but these men… There was some kind of magnetic draw that kept pulling her attention, tugging on it as if tethered by some invisible string, luring her into their web. Them the predator, her the prey.

  The wolfish smile William wore as he hitched his elbow out for her to take coupled with Oliver’s quiet demeanor and Conner’s tangible strength bringing up the rear only solidified that feeling of being stalked, corralled, and cornered.

  She should be scared, but the only feeling Sabrina could seem to muster was invigoration. Somehow, among all other men, they managed to make her feel appreciated, wanted, and somehow even more confident and bold.

  Dangerous. That’s what the Hargreaves men were. And she was standing right in their cross hairs.

  Chapter Six

  Mr. Thomas was a nice man, laid-back and easygoing. He didn’t make a fuss, and he didn’t raise his voice, ever. If a person wasn’t familiar with him, they might think he was a real nice guy, a pushover. But he was far from it. Mr. Thomas was like a shark circling the waters, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And he always drew blood. The trick was to avoid making waves, avoid showing weakness, and ensure that he was always well-fed. Otherwise, the moment he smelled blood in the water, he’d strike.

  It was a good thing Sabrina’s father developed a good rapport with him years ago, and she’d taken up the torch.

  “Oh, Harvey, you are incorrigible! I hope you don’t talk to your mother that way,” she said, laughing.

  “And you stroke an old man’s ego, Miss Colloway,” he accused, but his milky blue eyes told her he was enjoying their banter. They both knew he was old enough to be a grandfather to everyone in the restaurant.

  Smiling demurely, Sabrina lowered her eyes. Picking up her glass of Chardonnay, she cast a brief look at the men to either side of her, soaking up their heated looks of approval. Just as a woman found it sexy to watch an assertive man take control of a situation, she’d found that a man, generally, felt the same about a woman. Confidence was a stronger form of flirtation than any perfume or well-crafted pick-up line.

  “Well, the hour is late and my glass has runneth dry,” Harvey stated as he pulled out his wallet to pay the bill.

  Oliver stayed his hand. “Please, Mr. Thomas, dinner is on us tonight.”

  Harvey’s milky eyes met Oliver’s dark ones, and he nodded his consent. “Very well. Far be it for me to argue a free meal.”

  After the waiter took Oliver’s black AmEx back and the receipt was signed, they stood as one. Oliver, once again surprising Sabrina with his forwardness, was the first to extend his hand and shake Harvey’s.

  “Thank you for your company tonight. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

  “If you’re paying,” Harvey said with a wink.

  “It was a pleasure meeting you, sir,” William asserted, taking his turn to shake hands. “We may be new to the company, but I can already see that you are a great asset. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that I hope we have a long and fruitful partnership.”

  “I’ve circled your father for years. He has a nose for business. If you three share the same talents, I’m looking forward to seeing what you bring to the table. As long as this little lady is at the table, that is.”

  Sabrina shook her head, laughing along with the men. Harvey was an old coot with a saucy personality. He was also a huge flirt and could at times be inappropriate, but she’d learned to deal with it.

  The way Conner’s jaw flexed and the tight smile he wore when he reached out to shake Harvey’s hand suggested he didn’t find the man quite as humorous or likeable as the rest of them, but he remained professional.

  Harvey turned to Sabrina. Ignoring her proffered hand, he pulled her into a warm embrace that wasn’t entirely fatherly, but close enough not to spark her irritation. There was nothing worse than being groped by a client and having no recourse to rebuff them without suffering the consequences. In business, you had to choose your battles wisely.

  As a group, they walked Harvey out and waited curbside for the valet to bring his car around. When it pulled up, Sabrina delighted in watching the stunned expressions of the three Hargreaves. Harvey might have been a tycoon with millions in the bank and several houses in exotic locations to his name, but when it came to automotive matters, he was a classic American-made man.

  The rumble of the old 1942 Chevy convertible was distinct, and even though she wasn’t a car guru, she could appreciate the look and cut of the old wagon. It was sleek, painted a shiny maroon, and detailed in chrome, with pristine leather interior and white wall tires. Sabrina knew, because Harvey had told her about it at great length at a previous dinner, and it called everyone’s attention, whether they liked cars or not.

  William let out a long, low whistle as the valet stopped in front of them and held the door open for Harvey. “That’s a hell of a ride you have there, Mr. Thomas.”

  “She’s a classic, isn’t she?” Harvey ran his gaze over its body lovingly. “She was my father’s. I inherited her after he passed and had her fully restored. She runs even better today than she did the day she came off the line.” He shot the men a conspiratorial look. “The ladies love her.”

  “I have no doubt,” Conner commented, a slight edge still present in his voice. It made Sabrina wonder if he was soured to the old man simply because he was an incurable flirt. The idea that he was territorial over her made Sabrina’s senses tingle, giving her an acute awareness of Conner that was somehow even stronger than it had been at the club.

  Shaking it off, she said, “Well, I’m sure you have lots of ladies to choose from. We won’t keep you waiting. It was great seeing you again, Mr. Thomas.”

  Harvey wore a ready smile. “As it was you, my dear.” He
leaned in and kissed her cheek, his breath smelling of wine and garlic from dinner, and, with a simple wave, he got into his car and pulled away.

  Sabrina was ready to call it a night. With a wave of her hand, she flagged down their waiting car, indicating to their driver, who was as punctual as ever, he should bring the car around.

  “Well, that was an interesting meeting,” Conner said moments later as he opened the back door for Sabrina to climb in first.

  “Mr. Thomas is an interesting man.”

  Sliding in beside her, Conner allowed his knees to fall open and touch hers in comfortable intimacy as they waited for William and Oliver to get settled in the seat opposite and the car to pull away before continuing the conversation. “You two seemed pretty friendly.”

  Sabrina huffed a disbelieving laugh. “Are you accusing me of sleeping with Mr. Thomas?” She was already at the top. She didn’t need to degrade herself to climb even higher.

  “Not at all. I just noticed you two seemed…familiar.”

  Sabrina shot him a sideways glance. “He’s been a longtime client, starting when my father ran the company. I’ve known him practically my whole life.”

  “So a family friend?” William interjected. “That would explain it.”

  “Explain what?” she snapped, feeling touchy.

  “He treated you almost like a daughter,” Oliver spoke up.

  “Is that how you saw it? Because I wouldn’t call his behavior tonight fatherly,” Conner denied.

  “What would you call it?” Sabrina asked. Despite her almost waspish tone, she had to admit she felt the same way. Harvey was still living in the thirties mindset with an old man’s libido who’s surrounded by too much wealth and power and women. Everything was an object to be bought.

  The muscle in Conner’s jaw flexed as it had been doing all evening. “He’s a pervert. An old man poking at everything with boobs to see what’s willing to fall into his lap. I don’t like him.”

  “He’s an important client,” she muttered, agreeing with him fully.

  “And that’s the only reason I didn’t break his hand when he touched you.”

  Those dark eyes fell on her, filled with malice and fierce desire to protect and claim her that shook Sabrina down to her core. She wasn’t sure if she should be afraid or turned on, but a quick gut check revealed she was a little bit of both.

  “He doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s just an old man.”

  “No, Conner is right,” William said, drawing her attention. His eyes, so like his brothers’, met hers, and the intensity in them deepened that shaky, nervous feeling in her stomach. “Mr. Thomas takes too many liberties. Maybe because he’s comfortable with you or because he’s an old man with too much money who thinks he can do whatever he wants, but he oversteps. I don’t think he’s a deviant or in any way a danger, but the next time we have a meeting like that, you’ll be sitting between us and far from him.”

  “I agree with my brothers,” Oliver said, breaking his silence. “He was disrespectful tonight, and if that’s the way he conducts himself, there are going to be problems. You might allow him to get away with that behavior, but we won’t tolerate it.”

  Sabrina should be standing up to them, reminding them she was a big girl who could take care of herself. She didn’t need men fighting battles for her. But as she looked at each of them in turn, gauging their sincerity and witnessing the same protective, territorial streak in their eyes, the drive to correct them, to scold them for looking out for her, melted away.

  Experiencing such an outpouring of concern and knowing how much they liked her, wanted her, brought to life something inside. What had only been the spark of a lit match was now a tall flame, burning bright and strong, creating a building, creeping heat inside of her that filled Sabrina with a desire so profound, she had to cross her legs and squeeze to stave off the burning between her legs.

  Flashes of the three of them over her, under her, surrounding her with their strong, virile bodies as they claimed her body with their hands and mouths and cocks threatened to burn her alive. A flush swept across her chest and up her neck into her face, and she was glad it was dark inside the car so they couldn’t witness her growing desire that was now written all over her face.

  Sweat collected under her arms, and Sabrina wished she could roll down the window and let the cool night air inside, but she didn’t dare risk giving herself away. She’d already given herself over to Conner. She needed to practice self-control so she didn’t repeat the same mistake with his brothers.

  Still, as they dropped her off at home, waiting until she was safely locked away inside, she couldn’t deny that her burgeoning attraction to them was quickly becoming a problem. If only they would stop being so damn nice and sweet and putting her needs before their own, she wouldn’t be thinking about things she shouldn’t.

  Except, as she readied herself for bed, Sabrina couldn’t stop thinking about how Conner had taken her right there on the couch. He’d felt amazing. Beyond amazing. And his cock had been so big, filling her, stretching her. Best of all, he knew how to use it to bring her pleasure she’d never known possible. It had all ended far too quickly, and now she had that damn picture of all three of them moving inside of her playing in her head, whispering things to her that she’d do best to block out.

  But she couldn’t.

  Because Sabrina wanted them. She wanted the Hargreaves brothers so bad, she could already feel them, smell them, taste them on her tongue.

  She was in trouble. If Sabrina couldn’t shake this demanding need, she was going to have to satisfy it. And if she did that, she was risking everything her father had worked his entire life to build. With one majorly bad decision, she could ruin everyone’s lives.

  It was that thought that jockeyed with the sensual fantasies of her and the Hargreaves brothers tangled in multiple positions as she tried and failed to fall asleep that night. By the time the sun came up, she finally managed to fall asleep from pure exhaustion, missing her alarm entirely, which resulted in consequences she couldn’t have predicted.

  Chapter Seven

  The banging on her door was a rude awakening. As was the thorough scolding from Conner, William, and Oliver. Well, not Oliver exactly. He didn’t speak a word, but he didn’t have to in order to get his point across. Where his brothers were vocal about their concern when she neither showed up for work nor called in sick, Oliver stood a silent sentinel, a force filled with the same fear and worry and upset over the unknown as his brothers.

  Sabrina’s head was whirling with their slew of words they took turns throwing at her, sleep deprivation preventing the majority of them from sinking in fully. Holding up a hand, she squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head, cutting them off. “Just shut up, okay? All of you.” She dashed a look of warning mixed with admonition at each of them, even Oliver. “You’re not my fathers, my husbands, or even my boyfriends. And even if you were, you still wouldn’t have any right to come in here talking to me like I’m a little kid. Last I checked, I’m your boss, and I don’t answer to you.”

  “You’re a partner, actually, and we were worried about you. It was inconsiderate of you not to call in. You had everyone in the office upset. Shawna said it was completely out of character for you not to call in, and you haven’t missed a day in over a year. We had every right to be concerned.”

  When put that way… Sabrina hated that Conner was right. She didn’t like his delivery or his macho-man attitude or that he was standing up to her in any way, and it ruffled her feathers that he—that any of them—stood in a position to express any feelings whatsoever to her, but a part of her understood.

  She forced herself to calm down so she wouldn’t say anything she might regret later. “I appreciate where you’re coming from, but this is so out of line, I can’t even…” Running out of words and lacking the will to try to come up with any, Sabrina rose off the love seat she’d planted herself in when the guys barged into her apartment and walked away, Binx o
n her heels.

  “Where are you going?” William called after her.

  “Back to bed.” She would have considered getting ready to go into work late, but they’d thoroughly pissed her off, and she wasn’t in the mood to deal with them or look at their handsome faces anymore today.

  Slamming the bedroom door shut behind her, Sabrina fell into the mattress and laid with her face buried in the blankets, listening for the front door to close, indicating the men had seen themselves out. She heard no such thing.

  Fine, they could sit out there until the cows came home, waiting for her to reappear. She didn’t give a damn.

  After a good fifteen minutes had passed, time in which Sabrina didn’t sleep so much as reviewed her schedule and everything she needed to do but wasn’t, she heard a faint knock on the bedroom door followed by its opening on a whisper that aggravated her to no end.

  “Do you make a habit of invading people’s privacy?” she barked, rolling over and sitting up partially to glare at whichever of the men it happened to be. Binx, who’d been lying beside her, gave a mew of protest and jumped down, disappearing out of sight.

  Oliver greeted her with wary but soft eyes that somehow managed to disarm her. How could she be mad at a face like his when he never spoke a cross word or raised his voice at her? Oliver just came across so sweet and gentle, she couldn’t bring herself to shout the words that were ready on her tongue and would have flowed easily for Conner or William.

  “Typically, no. But this seemed like a special occasion,” he remarked as he approached her side of the bed and casually sat down on the edge of it, as if she’d offered him an invitation.

  “I hope you’re not going to try to talk me into leaving this room,” she said, the warning in her voice clear. She would hurt someone if they tried.