Goose bumps raced across her flesh. He was laying down the law with her as well as with Isabel. His voice did something to her. His attitude. His strength. Her breath felt shallow in her chest, and her fingertips tingled. How would she feel having him watch?
Terrified. Excited. Mac. Oh my God. She was completely enthralled.
“No, I’ll drive her,” he was saying; then he nodded. “What about remuneration?” He listened.
Isabel was obviously telling him a bit about how Courtesans worked. The agency got a finder’s fee. The courtesans didn’t charge; they received tips, which could be anything from cash to jewelry and other gifts. The price wasn’t set; it was alluded to. Isabel, however, didn’t suffer cheapskates for long.
“Fine,” he said. “You can call me when you have someone.” He rattled off his cell number. “Sure.” He held the phone out. “She wants to talk to you.”
Laying the cell on the table, he slid it across to her, as if he were afraid he might accidentally touch her again.
She retrieved it, not allowing her eyes to drop as she put it to her ear. “I’m here.”
“Honey,” Isabel murmured, “this is going to be good for you, I swear it. Just go with it. Don’t fight it.”
“I don’t have much choice,” she said, and Mac’s mouth curved in a slight 32
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smile.
“You have more choice than you know.”
Right. Isabel hadn’t seen Mac’s anger and incredulity, but she wouldn’t argue the point in front of him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
They ended with polite good-byes. Snapping the cell closed, Dani clasped her hands, holding it against her abdomen. A hiccup of emotion rose up. Kern’s phone. They’d done it all as if Mac had stepped right into Kern’s shoes, right down to using his cell phone.
“There, it’s arranged.” Mac tipped his head as if waiting for her reaction.
“Fine,” she said. It wouldn’t be good to let him think he had the upper hand in any way.
“You’ll meet them with me.”
She raised a brow.
“We’re partners now,” he explained.
Her heart tripped. With Kern, she’d led. He might have done the arranging and created the illusion of authority, but she’d made her own choices. Mac was a whole different story. But she was in control; she could call a halt to it at any time, and she’d play along only until she didn’t like it anymore. Right now, the priority was paying off the debt. Her emotions about how it was done were secondary. “All right, we’re partners. We’ll meet them together.”
“When the date comes off, I go with you. I drive you. I make sure you’re safe. I’m there.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “Or the deal’s off.”
Oh yeah. She’d bitten off more than she could chew. Yet her body thrummed to this new development. She felt compelled to see it through, that primeval part of her brain shouting at her, Yes, yes, yes, anything he wants. “Fine.” She wouldn’t, however, completely roll over for him. “But don’t push me too far.”
He rose, buttoned his suit jacket. “You need to remember one thing.”
“What?”
He leaned over her, grabbing the arms of her chair, caging her. God, he smelled good. Yeah, right, she was so in control.
“I’m not my brother,” he said softly, drawing one finger down her cheek.
“And I’m not going to just sit in the corner and watch.”
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5
SATURDAY NIGHT, SAN FRANCISCO, THE RESTAURANT WAS PACKED and noisy, the menu, Greek food. Which was only natural when you considered the client’s name was Spryo Stamos. He’d secured them a secluded booth in the back corner, which, Mac was sure, was due to both his wealth and the fact that he reserved this same booth every time he and his much younger wife visited from New Jersey.
What happens in San Francisco stays in San Francisco, Mac thought. Like the good little madam Mac assumed she was, Isabel had called him Saturday morning, two days after that heart-to-heart with Dani. She had a suitable couple in mind. Since he was the pimp, he didn’t ask for Dani’s input, but instead made a date for dinner that evening. If he approved, he would allow her to go to their hotel room. He enjoyed the power of giving the thumbs-up or down. Of course, if he decided to say yes, he would accompany her at all times. The couple understood that dinner was the interview. His blood swooshed through his veins, his heart a steady throb, his senses attuned to Dani’s every move, every breath. Next to her, touching her, he felt fucking alive.
“We’ve never done this before,” Jessica Stamos was saying. The meal plates had been removed, the coffee and baklava ordered, the polite conversation at an end, and now they were down to the details. Mac seriously doubted it was Jessica’s first time for a little kink as she fluttered her heavily made-up eyes at him. Obviously she thought he was on the menu, too. He laid his arm along the back of the booth, twirling his fingers in Dani’s hair. She wore it down and curled. It was close to silk against his skin. “Everything is a first with Dani,” he said, his voice low enough that Spryo, seated across from him, had to lean in to hear.
The noise level, in effect, cocooned them. Mac had seated the women on the inside, the men on the outside. He didn’t want Spryo touching Dani until he, Mac, was ready. If. He’d been making up his mind during dinner, assessing, analyzing, and making sure Dani felt his presence every moment. Right now, her body was plastered against his. He could feel each twitch of her body. 34
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“Tell me, Spryo, what do you and Jessica have in mind for the evening?” he asked.
Somewhere in his early fifties, with a large beak of a nose, steel gray hair, and eyes so dark they were almost black, Stamos was a barrel-chested man and no less powerful in spite of his diminutive height. It didn’t seem to bother him that his wife wore heels that put her at least five inches taller. The high heels spoke more to his self-confidence than to hers. Spryo Stamos would be hell in a boardroom, Mac was sure. He’d have enjoyed any ensuing battle. Yet here, Stamos was milquetoast for the little lady. Taking Jessica’s hand in his, he turned her wrist to his lips and laid a kiss on her skin. “My Jessica wishes to pleasure me with another woman’s help.” He spoke with a slight accent. Raising his brows and giving an eloquently European shrug of his shoulders, he added, “Who am I to deny her such a thing?”
Who indeed? Was he doing it for the wife, or she for him? Mac couldn’t tell. He trailed a hand down Dani’s bare arm. She wore a sexy, strapless evening dress that hugged every curve.
“How do you feel about that, sweetheart? Helping Jessica to pleasure Spryo?”
She was ten of Jessica Stamos. Mac had never been into the buxom redhead type. Dani shivered against him, whether from his caress or the mental image, he couldn’t tell. He knew only what it did to him. He couldn’t keep his hands off her now if he tried.
Dani batted her eyelashes at Stamos, then smiled sweetly at Jessica. “It would be one of the most exciting things I’ve done.” Her voice was low, husky, seductive, designed to make a man hard in an instant. Christ, she was good. Mac was totally into the game. It was no mystery now why this had been such a hot scenario for Kern and Dani. But tonight, she wasn’t his brother’s wife; she was just Dani, and she was his to give away as he wished. Or not. Mac was as hard as ever in his life.
He leaned in for the scent of her hair, laying his hand on her thigh a moment. A tremble only he could feel coursed through her body, and her breasts rose with a deep breath, giving him a magnificent view straight down her cleavage. Dani touched Jessica’s hand, and there wasn’t the slightest note of reaction in her voice as she said, “What else would you like to do for your husband?”
Jessica cast her green eyes from Stamos to Mac and finally back to Dani. “I think I’d like to watch him fuck you, help guide his cock inside you, kiss him 35
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while he’s doing it.”
She ended with a giggle, a hand over her mouth. “He’s very big, you know. I like big men.” She wasn’t talking about his height. Giving Mac a long, meaningful look, the woman’s scheme became clear. She’d give this to her husband, and it would be her turn next. If not tonight with Mac, then some other night with another man.
Dani made an appreciative sound, then tipped her head to look at him through her lashes. She’d figured out the score, too. Since Stamos was obviously no idiot, Mac decided he’d figured it out, too, and was fine with it. Stamos let his gaze trail Dani’s curves above the table, her mouth, her hair, then back to her breasts. The look was a visual licking of his lips. Something swirled inside Mac. Jealousy. Desire. An image of Stamos’s cock driving into Dani. Jessica’s greedy eyes. The combination of Dani’s body heat along his side, her scent in his head, and his raging emotions thrust him higher, made him harder. This was living on the edge. Where you couldn’t decide whether you wanted a thing, yet were almost sure it would be so fucking hot, you’d explode with the first touch.
He rose from the booth. “If you’ll excuse us, I believe it’s time for my lady and I to confer in private.” He held out his hand to Dani. As she laid her fingers across his, a core of heat burst inside him. His suit jacket still buttoned, his erection hidden beneath, he wanted to drill her here and now.
“Back in a moment,” she said lightly, fluttering her hand at the Stamoses. The couple bent their heads together the moment he and Dani were swallowed up by the restaurant’s cacophony.
“What say you, oh Master?” Dani quipped.
He squeezed her fingers. “Outside.” At the front, he pushed through the queue waiting for tables, and once on the sidewalk, he pulled her into the small alcove of a closed shop next door. The street teemed with people, cars, and noise, but here in the dim entry, they were all but invisible.
“So?” Dani’s gaze darted over his face.
He shoved her up against the wall, pressed his body into hers, bracketing her throat with his hand. She was close enough to eat. “I never thought I’d say it,”
he murmured, his mouth within striking distance, “but fuck, I want this.”
MAC’S BREATH PUFFED IN, OUT, CARESSED HER LIPS. AS BAD AS HE
wanted it, Dani wanted it more. She’d always thought him so staid and vanilla. 36
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He was anything but. He’d teased her mercilessly during dinner, touching, caressing, drawing in the scent of her hair and her skin as if he were stating his ownership to the Stamoses. If he lifted her dress, she’d let him fuck her right up against the wall.
Her chest ached with need. It had to be the newness with Mac, the sense of the unknown. Yet even in the beginning, Kern had never vibrated with such intensity. Nor had she. Her heart ached with the knowledge.
“We’re going to tell them yes,” Mac went on, his body setting her on fire.
“Yes,” she whispered as if he’d hypnotized her. Maybe he had. Kern’s emotions had always been so muted. If he hadn’t told her things, she’d never have known. Mac’s body radiated everything he felt, from his hard cock to the rise and fall of his chest to the burn in his eyes.
“Tell me what you want,” he demanded, his voice diamond hard, his eyes glittering.
Fuck me now. She didn’t want to go back inside, didn’t care about the money, didn’t give a damn about the Stamoses. She’d do anything Mac wanted. God, this was the kick she loved. Feeling it with Mac was so good yet so damn bad. She swallowed, her throat rippling against the hand that imprisoned her. “I want—” She couldn’t find the air she needed to finish. She gulped, swallowing his breath along with hers, and started again. “I want you to watch me do whatever you tell me to do.”
“Anything?” he snapped out.
She nodded. “Anything.” It gave him carte blanche to take her if he wanted. His chest rose against her; then slowly, as if prying himself off her, he used one hand to push from the wall. Cool night air blew between them. He dropped his hold on her throat. “I’ll tell them you’ll do what I say.” He jutted his chin down, his face in hers. “And they’ll give me the money.”
She felt like his woman, not his whore. Spryo was handsome. She could do him for Mac. She could love having Mac watch, savor the blaze in his eyes, the heated looks they would share. Oh God, yes, for tonight, she wanted it exactly this way. Where she was dying for his kiss, his touch, his cock, while another man took her.
If he wasn’t her husband’s brother, the moment would have been perfect. He pulled her inside, and she thrilled to his power, his strength. At the table, the Stamoses sat much more closely than before. Spryo’s eyes sparked with 37
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heat, and Jessica’s cheeks were flushed, her lipstick slightly smudged. Mac ushered Dani into the booth. “Here’s how it’s going to work,” he said. “I will be there to watch. I will take all gifts on Dani’s behalf. You will ask me for what you want, and I will make the decision as to whether you may have it. I will direct her and tell her when she’s gone too far and when she hasn’t gone far enough.” He passed his gaze over the two of them. “Is that all clear?”
Jessica was breathing hard, faster than when they’d sat down. She liked it, Mac’s stern voice, his power. Dani felt a surge of possessiveness. He’s mine, bitch, hands off.
Spryo smiled. “Fuck, that’s hot.” He grabbed his wife’s hand, held it to his chest. “Perhaps we need to think about adding their kind of scenario to our repertoire, my sweet.” He tipped her chin to him. “What do you think?”
His voice a whisper, Dani read his lips. Jessica nodded as if words escaped her.
Slipping his fingers between Dani’s thighs, Mac spoke to Spryo. “I trust we have an agreement, then.”
If he’d touched her pussy, even through her panties, she’d have come.
“We’re in complete agreement.”
Two powerful men making a deal over their women. Yes, by God, it was hot. One more thing,” Mac said. “If I see fit, I will join in.” He turned his head, looking pointedly at her. “But I will touch only Dani.”
Heat raced across her skin, just as it had the moment he’d told her that he would never just sit in the corner and watch as Kern had done. She’d tried to tell herself then it wasn’t what she wanted.
She knew herself for a liar now. God yes, she needed it.
“We have a deal,” Spryo said. “Now let us drink coffee and eat baklava.” He smiled. “The sweets will give us a much-needed energy boost.”
Mac laughed. “I agree.” He chose a piece of the confection from the plate in the center and fed it to Dani. Instead of letting him go, she sucked the stickiness from his fingers.
His gaze heated. He got the message. Two could play at this game. There’d be no if about it; she would make sure he couldn’t help but join in. 38
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6
STAMOS HAD BOOKED A SUITE IN A UNION SQUARE HOTEL, A LONG room with a king-size bed on one end, faux fireplace, sofa, and chairs on the other. The perfect setup for the show the ladies had already begun. Seated on the sofa, Mac put his feet up, crossing his ankles. He’d removed only his suit jacket and tie.
While the ladies were powdering their noses or whatever the hell women did when they went to the restroom together, Stamos had handed Mac an envelope thick with cash. He took it with a momentary hiccup in his pulse. He’d truly become Dani’s pimp. Without counting or checking inside, he’d shoved the packet in his inner suit pocket right next to his heart. Now, fully dressed, Stamos sat on the end of the bed, his wife and Dani on either side of him.
God, she was gorgeous, enough to stop a man’s heart midbeat. Mac had no clear memory of how he’d stopped himself from looking at her for all the years Dani had been with Kern.
Her skin was golden with two sets of lines, bikini and her jogging clothes. High, firm breasts smaller than Jessica’s—who had the overstated curves of Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit—they were no les
s suckable. Mac ached for a taste of Dani’s nipples.
“Master”—Jessica giggled—“may Dani and I undress Spryo?” Arms akimbo, hands on her hips, she was definitely a natural redhead and proud enough to display her body without any simpering or false modesty.
“Strip him down, ladies.”
Jessica loved it, asking permission for each article of clothing she removed. But it was Dani Mac loved watching. Her hair tumbling in sexy disarray, she showed no self-consciousness, either. Despite how often she must have done this, he’d assumed it would be different with him in the room, but she’d bared all as quickly as Jessica, damn near giving him heart failure. Now she shot him a sly smile as she helped Stamos to stand and went for his belt while Jessica unbuttoned his shirt.
Flanked by the two women, Stamos was shorter than both by inches. But damn if he seemed to mind.
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“Oh my,” Dani murmured as his chest was bared. “Look at all that lovely hair.”
“He’s hairy all over,” Jessica whispered loud enough for Mac to hear. Mac himself had a minimum of chest hair. He wondered which Dani would prefer.
“Good Lord,” Dani said on a breathy note as she revealed the man’s cock. Already wicked hard, it sprang from his slacks.
“I told you he was big,” Jessica said, almost as if she were shining up her nails on her sleeve.
Dani laughed. “You weren’t lying.” Then she glanced down. “I guess we should have undone his shoes first.” Together, they went to their knees and took care of one shoe each.
They talked about him, around him, over him, never to him. Stamos merely grinned as they oohed and aahed with every bit of clothing they removed and each inch of skin they revealed. Mac had figured him to be overweight, but beneath the shirt and trousers, he was mostly muscle. Dani pinched his nipple, and Stamos tipped his head back, groaning.
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