Erogenous Zones: Monica's Secret (4 page)

Monica took another sip from the glass and reached for the smallest canapé she could see on the table. Food was the last thing on her mind, but she needed the time to think.

30

“There isn’t much to tell. My life revolves around my job and you already know all about that.”

“No man, no family?”

She thought she was being clever with her response, but now she saw what he was getting at. He was checking the path was clear. They really were coming onto her. She knew that already, but she was still astonished by it. Normally she’d be keeping men at arm’s length. Now she had two of them launching their seductive powers on her. What had gone wrong here?
You’ve walked into their world, and now you can’t escape.

The realisation hit her and she swallowed hard. “No, no man. I live alone, if that’s what you're getting at. I have two sisters, both younger than I am, and my parents are retired and live on the south coast.”

“That sounds like a staff bio. I want to know about what makes Monica Evans tick.”

Monica shrugged. She honestly didn’t know what to say. There was more than the job, of course there was, there were two things in her life. Her job was the outer shell of her, the thing that kept the inner world under control. Her psychic self took up much of her energy and thoughts. It didn’t leave much room for anything else, and she couldn’t share it. The more he quizzed her, the more uncomfortable she felt about the fact she was hiding something.
I shouldn’t have come.

“Will you let us try to find out?” It was Alec who had said that, and she turned to look at him.

“Try to find out what?”

“What makes you tick.”

He’d taken a seat slightly behind her, and he’d been observing the exchange all the while. When they made eye contact, he smiled and leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He had a more boyish charm about him than Owen, and he looked at her so adoringly that she knew he was the lesser predatory of the two. But they were predators, and she was in danger of falling completely under their seductive spell.
Can’t do that. Too vulnerable.

She put her glass back on the table, and as she did her hand shook. That was the last straw. “I think I should go. This was a mistake.”

Rising to her feet she got up and walked away from the table as fast as she could.

Owen was at her back in a flash, his hands on her shoulders arresting her.

31

“Let me go.” She braced herself, her hands fisting by her sides as she resisted touching him and obtaining psychic input. If she let his history with Alec in again, it would be too tempting to stay.

“You don’t mean that.” It was a statement, not a question, and he lowered his head alongside hers, breathing against the sensitive skin of her neck. His right hand was against her hipbone, easing her back against him. His left ran down her upper arm, soothing and arousing all at once.

She was helpless to resist. “Maybe not, but this is not appropriate.”

“What isn’t?”

“Fraternising with work colleagues.” Her prepared words came out stilted. Deep down she didn’t want to use her excuse.

“We are all professionals, that won’t change if we socialise outside of work hours. We are both discreet men. Besides, it might be disapproved of, but it’s not actually a rule that is written and enforced. I know the company rulebook inside out, believe me. It’s not unusual for people to meet through work. I could give you stats. I’m very good with stats…” He brushed one finger down the curve of her waist and around her hip. The subtle yet suggestive touch clung to her like static, crackling along her nerve endings. “You know,” he continued, “how many workers have had affairs with their colleagues, how many enjoyed it.”

Affairs
. Monica cursed under her breath, her cheeks flaming. “You don’t believe in beating about the bush, do you?”

He turned her around and tipped her chin up in order to look deep into her eyes. How easily he controlled her when she had every intention of leaving.

“No. Life is too short…and you are exquisite. I want to watch you while you come. I want to be inside you when you do.”

“Bloody hell.” She glanced away, unable to meet his gaze, and yet she was completely unable to free herself from his magnetic draw, even though he only latched her to him with one finger beneath her jaw. It was then she saw that Alec had moved. He stood nearby and when they made eye contact he strolled over and joined them.

“Owen has a tendency to be direct.” He closed in on her back.

“So I noticed.” She felt Alec move behind her, and he kissed the back of her neck.

When she reacted, lifting her chin, Owen smiled.

32

“It’s not often that attraction sparks between three people as quickly as it did with us,”

he stated. “Surely you agree?”

It was the truth. Reluctantly, she nodded.

“You’re hiding something, that’s the only problem here.”

Panic swamped her. “It’s not what you think.”

“Tell me what it is and then there’s no reason not to stay and enjoy the company.”

There was such a seductive invitation in his eyes and the husky tone of his voice as he whispered to her.

She swallowed. “I can’t. It’s personal.”

He continued to stare at her, and it was as if he was reaching down into her soul. “Is it about not being touched?”

“Are you psychic?” A sense of hope flitted through her. Was that what it was about him? The wisp of hope was soon quashed.

“No, just observant.” His eyes narrowed, and he clasped her wrists inside his large strong hands, lifting them up above her head. “How does that feel?”

Stunned, Monica opened her mouth to object, but couldn’t. The containment was too good. The way he took charge and controlled her physically that way shocked her to the core. Heady, delicious arousal sped through her. Her eyes flashed shut. A muted moan escaped her open lips.

“It feels good,” Owen answered for her.

It did feel good. There was no point in denying it. Her reaction had given away just how turned on she was by his sudden manoeuvre. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other she squirmed in his grasp. The pounding between her thighs had taken her over. The fabric of her underwear clung to the damp heat of her pussy, and when her thighs rubbed against each other, it only made her situation worse.

When she opened her eyes he lowered her arms, but kept hold of her wrists. That curtailed her ability to touch him. It was the strangest thing. He had done it instinctively it seemed. She nodded, unable to form a reply. For a moment she thought he was going to let her go. Instead, he drew her closer still and kissed her.

When Owen’s mouth covered hers, she offered no resistance. Desire swamped her and freed her of her secret—if only for a moment—she was all wanting. His tongue teased seductively along her lower lip. Her mouth opened. She heard her own startled moan under

33

relinquishment in it. She couldn’t help herself, she opened her mouth wider and teased her tongue along his. Meanwhile, Alec kissed her neck, his hands cupping her breasts from behind.

It was good that there was one of them on either side of her, because her legs became suddenly weak and her heels felt ridiculously unstable. The brush of Alec’s thumbs over her erect nipples through her clothing made her moan again. Alec moved on it, unbuttoning her blouse and teasing his fingers along the exposed tops of her breasts while he kissed and licked the sensitive skin behind her earlobe. That sent a violent physical shiver through her.

Owen broke with the kiss. His eyes gleamed wickedly, making him look even more devilishly handsome. Alec stroked her from breast to hip, outlining her curves. The twin nature of their assault flooded her eager senses. They were playing her, and between them they were making her crazy. It had been too long, and this was too delicious.

Owen still had her wrists clasped in one hand, and he looked down at them. “Do you still have the handcuffs?”

The cuffs. Of course—that was why he’d done it, she realised. He thought bondage was something that she did, something that she knew. As she realised his intention it took the remaining strength from her knees. She swayed slightly, and Alec moved closer still, so that his body was against hers from the back of the shoulders to the backs of her calves. The hard length of his erection pressed against the small of her back through their clothing.

“I told you, they aren’t mine.”

“I don’t care who owns them,” Owen responded and his eyes gleamed with humour.

“Do you still have them?”

Anxiety and arousal were assailing her in equal measures. He looked like a man driven, and the suggestion in his eyes sent her senses reeling. She shook her head. The handcuffs were locked in her drawer back in the office.

Alec was still tightly pressed against her back, and he nudged her ear with his nose then whispered to her. “We can improvise, if tying you up would make it easier for you.”

That made her dizzy. She barely knew these men, but what she did know was that it was the inability to touch, the relinquishment of power to them, that enabled her to enjoy this crazy moment. Besides, the idea of them tying her up and seducing her was making her insane with lust. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back against Alec’s shoulder.

Alec chuckled softly and squeezed her hips tightly in his hands.

34

Owen bent to kiss her in the dip of her cleavage. Her head rolled. Alec moved his hands and slowly pulled her skirt up the length of her thighs. Each slow tug of the fabric revealed more than her thighs—she felt stripped bare by his actions. The way they took control made her pulse race and the damp heat between her thighs became sweltering.

She could have stopped Alec then, but she didn’t.

And then Owen glanced down at her stocking tops with an appreciative glance. He put his hand between her thighs and cupped her pussy through the sheer fabric of her G-string. Direct and demanding, the touch of his hand on her pussy triggered a heightened need for release.

He stared into her eyes and one corner of his mouth lifted in appreciation. But the gentle squeeze he gave her there at her pussy made her gasp aloud.

“Oh, yes, you’re ready for this. You want this every bit as much as we do.”

We.
The word echoed around her mind. Two of them. Could she really do this? She didn’t have time to think about it because Owen nodded at Alec, and some silent agreement passed between them. Alec grasped her torso, and Owen ducked down and swept her feet from under her, his arms under her bottom and knees.

“Do you always manhandle women this way?” It was a feeble effort to maintain her cool façade, the one that was fast becoming a sham.

“Only beautiful blondes who secretly carry handcuffs on their person.” Owen chuckled darkly as they carried her easily into the adjoining bedroom, where they deposited her on the bed.

It was a massive affair, easily big enough for three or more. Covered in a luxurious black satin quilt, it felt silky and cool beneath her body. It would be warmed through soon enough if things kept heading in the same direction. She was already on fire, and when she watched Alec pull his shirt over his head and abandon it, the temperature went even higher.

His body was hard and fit, honed like an athlete. His fitness and stamina levels were unquestionable. The guy looked like he could go all night. And he was fast, because he was back beside her and taking off her shirt and bra, his nimble fingers quick with buttons and hooks. The proximity of his fit physique almost distracted her from what he was doing.

Meanwhile Owen stood at the end of the bed, watching while Alec undressed her.

Then he lifted one of her feet, exploring the glossy patent leather of her high heel, before he slipped her foot free of it. His large hands clasped her ankle, then he reached up and stroked

35

his hand over the surface of her stockings, an action which left her like a breathless rag doll under their twin assault.

“Beautiful,” Owen commented when he ran his finger around the lace tops of her hold-up stockings, then he put two fingers beneath the lace, and stripped the stocking the length of her leg. When it was off, he tossed it to Alec.

Before she knew what was happening, Alec had used the stocking to bind her wrists together. When Owen stripped the second stocking off, he repeated the action and Alec used it to secure her wrists to the lavish headboard.

So that’s what he meant about improvisation.

“Comfortable?” Owen asked, with no small degree of humour. He was amused by her need for bondage, as if it was a kink of hers. Little did he know.

Monica squirmed, and the tension in her arms and wrists felt deliciously decadent.

Crazy though it was in her current state of arousal, she had never been so liberated in her life, because her number one enemy—her hands—had been locked out of this scenario. As she wriggled against the surface of the bed her breasts squeezed together and the nipples jutted out, hard and dark. Owen was staring at them.

Alec moved his attentions to her skirt. Unzipping it, he pulled it down the length of her legs. The only thing she now wore was her G-string, and when she glanced down she saw a tell-tale damp smudge on the front of the fabric. Pressing her lips together tightly, she moaned softly.

Alec trailed his fingers over her bare abdomen, which made her shiver. Meanwhile Owen stood at the end of the bed with his arms folded across his chest, his eyebrows lowered, and his expression thoughtful. When she glanced lower—and she couldn’t help herself—she saw the bulge of his erection beneath the zipper on his jeans and her eyes flashed closed.

Alec ran his fingers beneath the band of her G-string then slowly pulled it down the length of her thighs. She wriggled her bottom and lifted it to assist. When she was entirely naked, she squeezed her thighs together, suddenly aware that Owen was still fully dressed, and Alec had only removed his shirt. She was naked. That, combined with her arousal, did strange things to her. She wanted to flee.