SimoneI didn't want to go to the office the next day. Lately, I never wanted to go, but I knew that Jake was putting a lot of faith in me. He continued to shrug off the bad press and let Mandy and me take off when we needed to. I'd never had a better boss, and I was grateful.Still, I didn't want to face the women of the office. They could be just as catty and mean as the paparazzi. And that wasn't even including Crystal.Crystal, who called me "slut" the second I walked through the door."I'm just wondering," she said nastily. "Do you do them all at the same time, or do you take turns?"I flipped her off and opened my computer."You can ignore me all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that you're a nasty slut," she called to my back. "I bet you'd sleep with any guy who wanted to buy a house from you."I turned to face her, fixing her with my meanest glare."Did you need something, or do you just have to keep talking until you run out of air?"She smirked at me
Simone Thank God it was Friday! So far I didn't have any showings scheduled, so I was ready to just relax all weekend. It had been such a nightmare of a week, I was excited to have some time to decompress and enjoy myself. With Gladys and Bert's listing up, I was looking at a ridiculous commission. I just needed to convince Nick that he needed to buy that house.At lunchtime, Michael texted me to come over after work. I felt excitement building in my chest. I hadn't seen any of the guys in person since the basketball game, and I couldn't wait to see Michael and reconnect with him. I imagined we'd have a lot of catching up to do.Mandy was out doing a showing, so I texted her that I wouldn't be staying with her that evening."Enjoy your night, you minx," she texted back with a wink. She and I both knew that I would have an amazing time with Michael. I always did.I drove to his house, singing at the top of my lungs. I was so happy to be done with work for a couple of days–and
MichaelSimone stirred in her sleep, but I didn't try to wake her. We'd been at it for hours, and we were both exhausted. I'd wake up every hour or so just to pull her to me, and inevitably we'd end up going at it again.I truly wasn't jealous of the other guys. That wasn't my motivation. I just couldn't keep my hands off of her, keep myself from thrusting inside of her. Everything about her set me off, even the smallest details like the way her hair tickled my skin or her breath warmed my face.She talked in her sleep, and I wanted to know all of her secrets. I did worry that maybe Rob and Nick were getting more emotionally intimate with her. Most of our interactions were about f*cking fantastic sex. I tried to fight back the cloud that was growing in my mind.This was why we had the schedule and the rules. Our purpose wasn't to compete with each other; it was to give Simone the best of ourselves. We each wanted to make sure that she was treated like the queen she was."What
RobI was nervous when I knocked on Mandy's door to pick up Simone, partly because I was hoping not to run into Mandy. She intimidated the hell out of me. But it was also partly because I hadn't been with Simone in a while.Nick and Michael were such surprisingly cool guys, but I could help but wonder where I fit into the mix. What did Simone see in me that made her like me as much as she liked them? The goal of the night was to show her what I had to offer.She opened the door and smiled widely at me. She definitely didn't look like she was dreading the evening. At least this time she wasn't crying."Hi," she said shyly.She took a step toward me and wrapped her arms around my neck. She was wearing tall shoes that almost put her and me at almost the same level. My arms easily wrapped around her waist, not having to reach as low as usual.She leaned away just enough to capture my lips in hers. Most of the time, she was the one initiating everything. Tonight, I was going to
SimoneI woke up with Rob's head nestled between my breasts, his arms wrapped around my middle. I breathed in his scent and let out a sigh. Mornings were always the hardest. They meant that our time together was coming to an end, and reality would soon set in.Thankfully, I didn't have anything to do until my evening with Nick. I ran my fingers through Rob's messy hair and listened to him breathe until he started to wake up. It was a perfect moment of uninterrupted calm.When he finally woke up, he slowly looked up at me and smiled a lazy smile. His eyes were barely open, and even so they were the most gorgeous shade of blue. I wanted to dive deep inside them and get lost at sea."Good morning," he whispered, not breaking the calm around us.Then he adjusted himself so he was hovering over me. He leaned down, and I grabbed his face in my hands, giving him a long, yearning kiss."Good morning," I said back after a few minutes."That's one hell of a way to wake up," he grin
SimoneI looked at my clock again and groaned. It was much earlier than I wanted it to be, plus my sexy weekend was officially over. I'd have to go back into the office and face whatever nastiness was happening there. And I wasn't scheduled to see any of the guys until the weekend.They said they wanted to give me alone time, but I didn't want alone time. I didn't want to be away from any of them. I left Nick sleeping while I showered and got ready for work. He'd just wrapped up a big movie and wasn't scheduled for his next one for a few months. He deserved to sleep in as long as he wanted. I was, obviously, very jealous.When I was finished blow drying my hair, I came back into the bedroom to find my bed empty. I didn't like that at all. I walked out to the kitchen to find Nick brewing us both coffee and making me eggs. He looked sheepish when I caught him."It's all I can really make," he said with a shrug.I walked over and kissed him tenderly, honored that he would thi
SimoneI'd just walked into my house when my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID to see it was Michael."What do the rules say about calling when it isn't your night?" I asked in lieu of a greeting."When nobody is scheduled, it's first come, first serve," he joked."That's a shame," I sighed. "You're my last call of the night."He went silent on the other end, so I quickly told him I was joking."Good, good," he said, sounding a little distant."What's going on, baby?" I asked softly.He sighed. "I've got an out of state game this week. I'm going to be gone all week. I'm going to miss the hell out of you."I looked at my schedule, and sure enough, we had nothing planned. How could that be possible?"I really hate this schedule," I whined. "I already miss you.""I miss you too, baby," he said lowly. "What are you wearing?"His voice was sexy and gravelly, and I instantly felt horny."Is phone sex allowed in the rules?" I teased him."I really don't f*cking
SimoneI kissed Michael goodbye and left his house late at night. The very last thing I wanted was to be seen in public wearing nothing but his jacket. I could already imagine Crystal printing out those pictures and plastering them all over the office.Thankfully, both Michael's house and mine were free of paparazzi at that late hour. I drove home in silence, my heart feeling heavy. When I woke up in the morning, the same feeling overwhelmed me. It took a long time to place it, but I finally realized it was grief. I was grieving the fact that Michael was leaving for three days.How ridiculous! I'd known him for a matter of months, and we'd spent more than three days apart since then. I couldn't believe I was so sad to not see him for a few days.I slouched into work, feeling weighed down by the sadness. I knew he was likely already on his plane, headed toward some city I hated. It didn't matter where he was going; anywhere away from me was a horrible place.I made myself c
NickSimone hadn't come over for two days, but I didn't blame her. I was actually grateful because I was a lot worse off than I thought. I spent most of those two days sleeping and having my assistant bring me food. I'd been f*cking ravenous since I got home.When she finally did come over, though, I was ravenous in a completely different way. We stayed up all night, barely pausing to breathe. There was so much pent-up energy between us after everything that had happened. There were a lot of tears shed. Hers and mine. We agreed to go to counseling because neither of us wanted this experience to control our lives. She admitted that she'd been having nightmares. All the more reason not to sleep.We were lying in bed the next morning, so exhausted but so afraid to close our eyes."I notice your handcuffs are gone," she noted, her eyes heavy with tiredness.I chuckled humorlessly."Yeah, I think I'm a little over that particular kink.""Me too," she admitted with a long ya
MichaelAfter the hospital, I took Simone back to my place and forced her to take a nap. She'd been up all night. She'd insisted that she was fine, but I didn't believe her. She'd been through hell, and I wasn't letting her ignore what her body needed.When she woke up, though, it was clear that what her body needed was me."Hi," she said when she opened her eyes to see me lying next to her."Hi," I answered, and moved over her so I could place a kiss on her lips.It started slow and soft. We hadn't been together in almost a week, so I was desperate for her. I also knew that she'd been through an ordeal, and I didn't want to push her. She put those fears to rest quickly.Her hand was pressed firmly on the back of my head, and she pulled me as close as I could possibly get. Her tongue swirled around my mouth, tasting every inch of the flesh there. She moaned into my mouth and moved to grind her body against mine, clearly wanting to be closer.I knew what she wanted. She wa
NickThe incessant beeping wouldn't stop. It was like a nightmare. I kept feeling around, trying to turn the damn thing off. I grabbed around but didn't find my nightstand. Instead, there was a cold, metal bar and then emptiness.What the hell?I opened my eyes to realize I wasn't in my room, or even in my own home. No, I was hooked up to a machine in a hospital. How did I even get here? Was I dead?No, duh, of course I wasn't dead. They didn't take dead people and hook them up to machines at the hospital. Unless this was hell. There was a very good chance it was hell."You're awake," I heard a voice say sweetly.If I were in hell, this voice certainly wouldn't be here. She was an angel. If I was dead, this was a weird introduction to heaven."Nick," she said more firmly. "Can you hear me?"Simone. Of course. Hers was the sweetest voice I could ever hope to hear."Yeah," I said, realizing my throat was incredibly sore. When was the last time I said anything? "What hap
SimoneNick still hadn't woken up, so I knew Crystal wouldn't do anything to him. I also doubted she'd make a pass at him if he truly protested her advances. She was psycho, but apparently still believed in consent. My biggest fear was what she might do if he did refuse her.I couldn't believe how far-gone Nick still was. They must have given him enough tranquilizer to put down an elephant. It hurt me to see him so helpless. And I was helpless. A million more tears fell from my eyes. I just wanted to go home. I wanted my boys.I was sure I was hallucinating when the door burst open and Michael and Rob ran in. I realized, with startling clarity, that they were, in fact, walking toward me looking horrified.Behind them a group of police officers ran in, guns drawn on Crystal. Rather than putting her hands up, she started laughing hysterically. Psycho bitch.Rob was loosening the gag on my mouth as Michael perched in front of me, reassuring me everything was okay. I could barely
RobI'd had to go home to get my other laptop, which had the right software for what I needed to do. As soon as I had the evidence I needed, I raced to the police station with the USB drive clutched in my hand. On it was all the footage I'd been able to compile of the kidnapping. I'd also managed to get footage of Nick's house with my other software. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it was enough to prove that they were in immediate danger.I walked into the station to find Michael already there, sitting in one of the plastic chairs in the lobby. He looked frustrated and antsy."What's going on?" I asked him."They f*cking want me to go home," he growled. "They said they've got this handled and to let them do their job."I was suddenly furious."What?" I shouted. "Hell no. I'm going to go talk to someone."I went to the front desk, where a very rude officer told me to have a seat and that someone would be with me shortly. I was fuming. Between Michael and me, there was proba
SimoneWhen I opened my eyes, everything was different. It was the same room, I was sure, but Nick was no longer in a chair. Instead, he was handcuffed to a bed. I pulled against my own bindings and felt cold metal rather than itchy rope.The bitch had handcuffed us both.Speaking of, she was laying in the bed next to Nick, wearing a sheer nightie and little else. I wanted to kill her."Don't touch him," I managed weakly.My body was so exhausted, despite the fact that I'd just woken up. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since I got here. I had no idea what day it was even.Crystal turned slowly to give me a wicked grin."Oh, Simone," she said. "I'm a lot of things, but I would never take advantage of someone sleeping. I'm not a total whore like you.""For f*ck's sake, Crystal," I groaned. "How are you this mad at me? Or this crazy?"She got out of the bed and stood up, staring me down."I'm not f*cking crazy!" she yelled at me. "You're a nasty slut who wants to
MichaelI looked at the clock again, knowing it wasn't going to say anything different. Simone was over an hour late. She hadn't called, hadn't texted. In fact, I hadn't heard from her since she landed. I tried not to let my imagination get away from me; she was probably just in a dead zone or something where her phone wasn't working. Or, maybe she had jet lag and had taken a nap and overslept. I decided to call Nick. Maybe she was still with him. The line rang several times, but he didn't pick up. What the f*ck? I was ready to punch him in the face for making me worry about her, if that's where she was. I can't believe they wouldn't call if she was going to be late for my night.I decided to make another call"What's up Mike?" Rob answered on the first ring."I wish I knew," I said. "Have you heard from Nick?" I was legitimately pissed. He could have at least called if he was planning on taking more time with Simone. "What's going on?" he asked, confused. "What's up w
SimoneThere was a pounding in my head, and I was vaguely aware that something wasn't right. I couldn't quite remember what, though. All I could remember was being on a plane with Nick. Had I fallen asleep? Did we crash and die?No, that wasn't right. We landed. He took me home. He was coming back to see me and…And what?Something had happened to me, but it was just out of my mental grasp. Had I passed out? I'd been really upset about Michael. Michael! I thought he was at the door.Michael wasn't at the door. Nick wasn't at the door. But someone had knocked, right?My head was swimming with thoughts that I couldn't quite hold onto. The second a thought entered my head it was gone again. Everything was hazy and dark.And my legs and arms felt broken. Maybe not broken, but definitely in the wrong place. I must have passed out, that must be what I couldn't remember.I tried to move my arms, but they were stuck. Was I paralyzed? No, not paralyzed. I definitely had the abil
SimoneNick dropped me off at my house, promising to come back and spend the night after he went home and grabbed a few things. I was still reeling from the news and so heartbroken. I truly wondered why these men would risk everything for me. I really wasn't worth it.The first thing I did when I walked through the door was call Mandy."Hey, babe," she said brightly. "I thought you'd be too busy buried in Nick Morgan's taint to call me tonight.""Mandy," I sobbed, and her tone instantly changed to concern."What's going on, Simone? Who do I need to kill?""Michael is getting cut from the team because of me," I told her miserably. "The new team owners think our relationship is bad for their brand.""They f*cking what?" she roared. "Oh, that's bullshit! I bet we could file a lawsuit against them."I could picture her getting on her computer to start Googling the legalities of the action. It wouldn't matter, though. One way or another, Michael's job was in jeopardy because