The Promotion_A Reverse Harem Romance

by Mika Lane

  “Okay. The pizza will be out in about three minutes. Then I’ll pop another one in, and we’ll eat,” she said, placing a hand on each of our thighs.

  Fuck the pizza. I saw something before me that I was much hungrier for. I pulled her toward me for a kiss, and then directed her to Von.

  I wasn’t going to be the asshole who bogarted the girl. As much as I might have liked to.

  But to be honest, my dick did a double twitch when I watched her kiss Von. I certainly didn’t expect that to be a turn-on. But shit, it was hot.

  Interesting.

  When she finished kissing him, she gave me a look that just about killed. It was sweet but also seductive as hell. Like she knew that my watching her kiss him would get me going.

  How had she known that?

  She was making her way back over to me when the kitchen timer went off.

  Oh, well. There’d be plenty of time for fun later.

  I stole a look at Von, who just looked happy as hell and completely unbothered by the fact that there was another dude there who’d also just kissed his girl.

  I guess you just never know.

  He saw me looking at him.

  “So what about you, Cato? What’s up with your work at the firm? Maizy’s told me what a high stress place it can be.”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. They’re working me hard. I mean, this is the first socializing I’ve done in probably two or three weeks. I don’t usually get out of the office ‘til nine or so.”

  What a douche I was. Here was this guy who’d totally followed his passion. At the end of a day, he was exhausted, but he could go to bed knowing he’d done the world some good.

  Not so much the case for me.

  “That sounds rough, dude,” Von said.

  “Yeah. I’m trying to figure out if it’s for me. I’m pretty sure it’s not. I just have to think about next steps, like what else I’d rather do. That sort of thing.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get it figured out. Our girl here, though, she likes the work she does at the firm. Isn’t that right, baby?” he asked.

  She finished putting the food on the table and waived us over. “I do like the work I do. It’s not nearly as grueling as Cato’s. But my boss is a piece of work.”

  Jesus, did her pizzas look incredible. I almost ran to the table. I couldn’t remember if I’d eaten all day.

  Maizy was an amazing cook, as I’d somehow known she would be. She was good at almost everything she did. It was one of the things I loved about her.

  Shit. Love?

  She’d added to my life in so many ways, not least of which was helping me come out of my shell at work. I mean, sure, I was recognized for the results I produced, but I was just shy enough to want to avoid anything to do with small talk or socializing with others there. She’d shown me how to relax and trust myself in those situations. Whenever the familiar twinge of discomfort crept up on me, I just pictured her face.

  Her beautiful face. Which I happened to be looking at right now.

  The assholes at the firm looked down on her, which really chapped my ass. None of them had an ounce of the character she did. Just because she hadn’t gone to a fancy university and was a paralegal instead of an attorney, they thought they were better.

  But they weren’t.

  Of that, I was sure.

  Chapter 21

  Cato

  I didn’t want to make Maizy feel bad. I really didn’t. But I’d set my sights on dating her so long ago, that now we were finally coming together, I wasn’t thrilled about being one of four. She had to choose one, and if I were perfectly honest, I wanted it to be me. The other guys might be great, but I didn’t really want to see her with them.

  I wanted to see her with me.

  You couldn’t blame me, really.

  But I wasn’t going to be a dick about it. If she wanted us to get to know each other, hang out, even become friends, I was fine with that. On the positive side, it was going to be great to hang out with someone other than attorneys. I was the only scumbag lawyer in the group, thank god.

  Anyway, I upset her with my big mouth when I told her I’d wanted her for myself. Now I felt like a shit.

  “Hey, Maizy, c’mon. It’s all good, everything will work out. Look—at the very least, we’ll always be good friends,” I said, ruffling her hair. “I mean, work would be unbearable without you.”

  She looked at me with a small but grateful smile. The Chianti was making me warm and relaxed, so I pulled her to me. Her lips parted just in time to greet my exploring tongue. God, she was delicious.

  We were interrupted by the doorbell.

  Of course.

  When she pulled away from me to go answer it, I looked around the apartment. I’d never been there before. It was a typical small New York apartment, but it was nice in a girl-ish sort of way—overstuffed furniture and lots of scented candles and throw pillows.

  Maizy came bounding into the kitchen, all smiles, holding the hand of a tall dude, who must have been Von, who had two dogs on leashes. He walked right up to me, hand extended.

  “I’m Von, great to meet you. I understand you two work together. You must have a lot of fun.”

  “Hey, man. Nice to meet you. And I wish the place we worked was fun,” I said, shaking my head.

  He laughed.

  “But we do our best to stick together and not let the bullshit get us down.”

  I got down on my knees to greet the dogs. They were big, happy mutts, and when Von clicked his tongue, they both sat back on their haunches.

  “You trained them well. Look at that,” I said, returning to standing to watch the dogs fight their urge to jump all over me.

  Von reached to pat them on their heads. “They’re good boys. All the dogs are for the most part, but these guys are the best behaved. That’s why I brought them tonight.” They looked up at him, then at me, and then back at him.

  “Chianti?” Maizy asked, handing a glass to Von.

  “Oh, yeah, I need this. I had a hell of a day,” he said.

  “Hey, you’re a vet, right?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Yes, I am. Got my own practice across town. And today was a crazy one.”

  “He also is a sucker for taking in stray animals,” Maizy said with a smile.

  I raised my glass in toast to him. “Can’t blame a guy for that.”

  He raised his glass back. “Better be careful. I can be very persuasive about getting people to adopt animals who need homes.”

  “So what happened at work?” Maizy asked.

  Von settled onto the stool next to me.

  “Someone discovered one of those nasty puppy mills and rescued the dogs. There were about ten of them, and half came to my practice and half went to my buddy’s practice. Poor babies were a mess.” He shook his head.

  “God, I can’t believe people do that to dogs. Fuckers,” I said.

  “It’s unbelievable. We got them cleaned up with a flea bath, dressed the sores they had, gave them their shots, and fed them probably the first good meal they’d had since they were taken away from their mothers.”

  “Wow. That’s incredible. I assume you probably don’t get paid for work like that, do you?” I asked, feeling like a shit for spending my days doing legal work for rich assholes.

  “Nope. You’re right. It’s pro bono. But I have a pretty busy practice so I can absorb it. It’s just tiring when you squeeze in cases like this in addition to the day’s appointments.” He looked over at Maizy, who was putting what looked like homemade pizza in the oven. “It’s time to perk up now, though. Work is behind me, and I am very happy to be here. And that food looks killer.”

  “Cheers to that,” I said. We all clinked our glasses together.

  Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a bad deal. Von seemed cool, and I really respected his commitment to his work. You had to hand it to someone who loved animals that much.

  Maizy walked over and stood before the two of us, looking cute
as hell in her little apron. I’d never considered aprons hot before, but my dick let me know this girl had gotten my attention.

  “Okay. The pizza will be out in about three minutes. Then I’ll pop another one in, and we’ll eat,” she said, placing a hand on each of our thighs.

  Fuck the pizza. I saw something before me that I was much hungrier for. I pulled her toward me for a kiss, and then directed her to Von.

  I wasn’t going to be the asshole who bogarted the girl. As much as I might have liked to.

  But to be honest, my dick did a double twitch when I watched her kiss Von. I certainly didn’t expect that to be a turn-on. But shit, it was hot.

  Interesting.

  When she finished kissing him, she gave me a look that just about killed. It was sweet but also seductive as hell. Like she knew that my watching her kiss him would get me going.

  How had she known that?

  She was making her way back over to me when the kitchen timer went off.

  Oh, well. There’d be plenty of time for fun later.

  I stole a look at Von, who just looked happy as hell and completely unbothered by the fact that there was another dude there who’d also just kissed his girl.

  I guess you just never know.

  He saw me looking at him.

  “So what about you, Cato? What’s up with your work at the firm? Maizy’s told me what a high stress place it can be.”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. They’re working me hard. I mean, this is the first socializing I’ve done in probably two or three weeks. I don’t usually get out of the office ‘til nine or so.”

  What a douche I was. Here was this guy who’d totally followed his passion. At the end of a day, he was exhausted, but he could go to bed knowing he’d done the world some good.

  Not so much the case for me.

  “That sounds rough, dude,” Von said.

  “Yeah. I’m trying to figure out if it’s for me. I’m pretty sure it’s not. I just have to think about next steps, like what else I’d rather do. That sort of thing.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get it figured out. Our girl here, though, she likes the work she does at the firm. Isn’t that right, baby?” he asked.

  She finished putting the food on the table and waived us over. “I do like the work I do. It’s not nearly as grueling as Cato’s. But my boss is a piece of work.”

  Jesus, did her pizzas look incredible. I almost ran to the table. I couldn’t remember if I’d eaten all day.

  Maizy was an amazing cook, as I’d somehow known she would be. She was good at almost everything she did. It was one of the things I loved about her.

  Shit. Love?

  She’d added to my life in so many ways, not least of which was helping me come out of my shell at work. I mean, sure, I was recognized for the results I produced, but I was just shy enough to want to avoid anything to do with small talk or socializing with others there. She’d shown me how to relax and trust myself in those situations. Whenever the familiar twinge of discomfort crept up on me, I just pictured her face.

  Her beautiful face. Which I happened to be looking at right now.

  The assholes at the firm looked down on her, which really chapped my ass. None of them had an ounce of the character she did. Just because she hadn’t gone to a fancy university and was a paralegal instead of an attorney, they thought they were better.

  But they weren’t.

  Of that, I was sure.

  Chapter 22

  Maizy

  Holy lord, I had two gorgeous men in my apartment, and they were devouring my cooking. What girl wouldn’t love that? I just hoped Sparkle stayed out for a while longer so I could really show these two a good time.

  The best part was that they seemed to enjoy each other’s company. No tension. No animosity. At least, none that was visible to me.

  “Damn, this pizza is amazing,” Von said. “I’ve never had homemade pizza.”

  His pups watched from the corner of the living room. They were perfectly obedient but clearly tormented by the smells filling the apartment. I felt better when he threw them a few treats from his pocket.

  “Where’d you learn to make pizza like this?” Cato asked.

  I had to admit, I was pretty proud of my pizza-making abilities.

  “I took a class, and then practiced a lot. It was a little tricky to get the super-thin crust but after I made it about a dozen times, I had it down.” What I didn’t say was that while I was perfecting my pizza, Sparkle and I happily ate the ones that were less than perfect. They were still absolutely delicious.

  Something inside me enjoyed that I’d impressed the guys with my cooking. I wanted them to see that I had a lot of dimensions, and that I was more than just a girl who worked at a law firm. Who was sleeping with four guys.

  Cato cleared the table when we’d finished, and I brought out fruit and my fresh-made gelato.

  “Shall we move over to the living room?” I suggested.

  “Let’s do it,” Von said, as Cato nodded in agreement.

  We settled in, and I looked at both guys, first one, and then the other as we shoveled the frozen goodness into our mouths.

  “Thank you for coming tonight,” I said. “I know this might seem odd, but I wanted the men who were really important to me, to meet.”

  “How’d it go last night?” Von asked.

  I blushed. Shit.

  They looked at each other and laughed.

  “Okay, okay. Anson, Brade, and I had fun. My next step, after tonight, is to get all five of us together and see how that goes.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Von said, raising his glass in a toast.

  Cato, on the other hand, was silent for a moment. He was thoughtful, and if I knew anything about him, it was that he never spoke until he was sure of what he wanted to say.

  “I agree,” he said, leaving me a little shocked. “It’s all good.”

  Whoa. Was he just saying that to placate me, or did he mean it?

  We’d find out in just a few minutes.

  “In fact,” he continued, “I’ve got an idea.” He looked from me, to Von, and back.

  “What?” I asked. “What do you have up your sleeve?”

  “Why don’t you go take all your clothes off and come back wearing just the apron? And your heels, of course.”

  Oh, my. He was a little dirty bird.

  I stood. “I think that’s a lovely idea. You guys chat, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  I closed the door to my bedroom, and before undressing as Cato had demanded, I dialed Sparkle.

  “Hey, girl,” she answered on the last ring.

  “Hey. Guess what. I think I’m about to have another threesome. Two nights in a row,” I said.

  “Dayum, sissy. You’re a big old whore, aren’t you?”

  “Hey. I learned from the best.”

  “Ha. You’re funny. Which guys are there tonight?” she asked.

  “Cato and Von.”

  “Nice. Very nice,” she said.

  “So, we’re gonna be…you know…”

  “Yeah. I know. I’ll stay out. Just keep off my bed.”

  “That’s gross. I would never mess around on your bed.”

  “Okay, ho bag. Talk to you later. Have fun.”

  “Hey, before you go,” I said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Well. I feel kind of bad.” Damn, there was that old familiar lump in my throat. “I actually like them all. A lot. I’m scared.”

  Sparkle’s deep sigh came through loud and clear over the phone. She might have a weird, hippy-dippy perspective on the world, but she was never one to mince words and was always honest to a fault. She would always tell you when your butt looked big.

  “Are you telling them about the promotion thing?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I mean, I have to at some point. Cato knows. He’s the only one.”

  “You know my motto,” she said simply.

  It was true. I did know
her “motto.”

  “Yeah. Honesty.”

  “Yeah, sissy. You need to be honest. Bring them all together and talk to them.”

  Was she crazy?

  Maybe, but I also knew she was right. I might end up with no guy and no promotion, but I suppose I wouldn’t be any worse off than I was when I’d started. Which really wasn’t such a horrible starting place, if you thought about it.

  I took my time undressing, pressing my ear to the bedroom door to hear how the guys were getting on in the living room.

  Geez. It was like they were long-lost friends. They were swapping stories of their travels to Machu Picchu. I wasn’t even sure they missed me.

  So I took the time to brush out my hair, gargle, and touch up my makeup. I removed all my clothes except my lacy boy-cut panties and put the apron back on over them. Checking myself out in the mirror, I had to say, I looked pretty damn good. The sides of my boobs were peeking out from the apron, and the bottom hem barely covered my crotch. I popped my heels back on, took a deep breath, and returned to the living room.

  “Damn,” Von hissed when he saw me.

  “Dude,” Cato said.

  I approached them as slowly as I could, although I really would have loved to run and throw myself at them—Cato in his shirt sleeves and loosened tie, and Von in his outdoorsy, casual duds. Both buff, and hot as hell.

  “Hey,” I said in a soft voice.

  They both leaned back on the sofa, hands behind their heads. They studied me with a heated intensity that made me shake, as if I were prey they were stalking. Craving pulsed through me as they looked me up and down like hungry animals.

  Or was it the other way around?

  I wanted to please them with every fiber of my being.

  Von twirled his finger. “Turn around for us, baby.”

  I rotated in my high heels, one tiny step at a time to draw out the suspense. Their heavy gazes seared my flesh, leaving me starving for touch. It was time to ratchet up the fun.

  With a little strip tease.

  I was facing away, with my back to them. I glanced over my shoulder and hooked my thumbs in my panties, which I lowered just an inch, swaying enough to mesmerize the guys with my ass.