Erogenous Zones: Monica's Secret (14 page)

“Let’s do it,” she said a moment later and began to focus.

The two men remained quiet and observant and let her do her thing. She began where she’d felt something that morning, touching Jane’s Mooney’s desk inquisitively. Again she was flooded with the unfulfilled desire, and images of Sheila.

“Jane Mooney is unhappy in her job, that’s for sure.” She moved her hands across the desk and down the front of the drawers in the unit beneath. As she touched a handle on one drawer, she felt something else, and images flashed through her mind. The way Sheila talked to Jane when no one was around surprised her. “Oh!”

“What is it?”

“She’s really browbeaten by Sheila and that makes her unhappy.” She moved her fingers around the drawer handle and felt the frustration in Jane. A moment later she nodded and broke contact. When Jane was unhappy, she went for sweet treats that she kept in a drawer. That clashed with her concerns about fitness and remaining slim. The results were not pretty. She would never have guessed that Jane was bulimic.

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It wasn’t anything that her companions would be interested in, but it made her feel even more uncomfortable about what she was doing. It was too close for comfort, reading the experience and emotions of a colleague. It was one of the things that she was very careful not to do. “This is the sort of thing that is going to make my job difficult. She’s rather fatally attracted to Sheila. I never knew it.”

“And you don’t think they’re involved?” Alec asked.

“From what I can see Sheila plays on it, demanding Jane’s loyalty. It’s not very pleasant.” She couldn’t keep the distaste from her tone. She pressed on, moving to the mouse on the computer then the mouse mat. Concentrating, reaching past the sexual energy, she sought for clues. Eventually, a wisp of an image floated through her mind, and Jane’s emotions with it. “This might be more relevant. Jane found something that wasn’t right in the books. I’m sure of it.”

She pulled her hands free, unwilling to commit herself if she wasn’t sure. Most of all it was the heavy and pressing sense of guilt that had built over the course of the evening taking her over. Ever since her meeting with Flynn it had got a grip. She wanted to help Owen and Alec, but the guilt made her drag her feet. Her heart wasn’t in it, and she felt bloody awful doing this.

She stood up, restless and uneasy. “I’m sorry. This is making me uncomfortable.”

“Then stop it, right now.” Owen moved closer and put his hands on her hips.

The way he was—so gorgeous, so powerful and commanding—she would do anything for him. But she still didn’t feel right about it, because she felt she was betraying so many of the things that she had put her faith in, things that had been her anchors for years.

There was no doubting the fact that she had to pull free from the situation and gather her thoughts. She’d become vulnerable. Too much had been said, and she knew that there was pressure on both sides. It was getting to her, and she couldn’t tell if she was being manipulated and, if so, who or by what?

Desire, most of all, is what it is
, she thought with irony as she glanced from Owen to Alec and back again.

“Hey.” His hands moved quickly and he stroked her upper arms.

He’d sensed her turmoil. That made her ache.

“This feels good.”

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She nodded and glanced away to Alec, his long-term lover. Instinctively, she reached out for him, and he touched the back of her hand. That made her melt. They remembered her boundaries more than she did.
That’s because I’m losing control.

Owen looked deep into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

No, I’m not.
“I’m confused.”

It was the understatement of the century, but it was enough.

Concern spilled from him. “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have let you do this, it was wrong and I—”

Instinct led her and she put her fingers to his lips, interrupting him. When she did and her fingers made contact with his mouth, it affected her deeply.

“Oh, I shouldn’t have done that.” She went to pull her hand away, but he wouldn’t let her. He held her hand there and kissed her fingertip before he let it go.

The rush of sexual energy that hit her made her ripple and sway, and she latched her hands behind his neck. Before she could say another word, he was kissing her. With his arms locked around her back he drew her closer, and pushed away the moral obstacles standing between them.

God help me I want this man so badly. All of it. I want everything he brings, including Alec.

When he drew back, he eased her towards the desk, trapping her between him and it.

“You saw something when you touched my mouth. What did you see?”

He was asking because it had turned her on. “I saw myself…I saw you, making me come.”

His eyes glowed with certainty, as if he made some discovery and he was pleased by it. “Crazy as it sounds, and hard though it is for you, I love that you saw that.”

Oh, how that primed her for sex, sending her pulse wild.

Alec walked around them, observing. “There is a certain fascination about it.”

He reached in and stroked her cheek, tenderly, then strolled on.

“Nothing that frightened you off?” Owen asked.

“No. It was brief, and…” She felt for the edge of the desk with her hands, the urge to have his body over hers taking her over. “…incredibly hot.”

When she rested back on her elbows, Owen moved on it. He pushed up her skirt until it was bunched at the top of her thighs. “Hot, hmm?”

She nodded.

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He put the back of his hand to her underwear, rocking his knuckles from side to side against the swell of her pussy. “Well, I can confirm that the heat coming off you is immense.”

She laughed softly, the pressure of their work situation fading away for a few moments while she allowed herself to fall totally under his spell and his attention was so fully hers. “You started it.”

He kissed her again while he pushed her knees apart to stand in between them. She clasped her hands round his neck, unwilling to let go. She knew she would have to do just that, soon, but right now her body craved more of what it was getting.
Quickly, here and now,
then break with them tomorrow. One last night
of adventure
.

“Still confused?” he whispered as he moved down to kiss her in the dip of her cleavage.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.” She lifted her hands away from him, closing her fingers into her palms as she rested them on the desk above her head. “One thing I am sure of, I need you now. Quickly Owen, please, before I change my mind.” The knowledge that she was going to break with them made her desire soar, lust taking control of her.

He rested his hands on the desk either side of her chest and looked deep into her eyes.

Silence stretched, and she thought he was going to refuse her.

“Alec, take control of Monica’s hands,” he instructed without breaking eye contact with her.

The urgency she felt was reflected in him too, and her breath caught in her throat when he grappled for her hips and quickly found the band on her underwear, hauling the barrier down.

Alec had moved to the opposite side of the desk and gripped both her wrists in his hands, pinning her down. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Hush.” He kissed her right at the corner of her mouth.

Her hips rolled when Owen tore off her underwear. He went for his belt then the zipper. The sound of the zipper opening ran ragged over her nerve endings. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a condom packet. Then he had his cock in his hand and was rolling the rubber onto it.

Sheer lust had taken over. Wantonly, she undulated against the hard surface of the desk, her head rolling from side to side.

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Owen put his hands around her hips and hauled her closer, positioning her bottom right on the edge of the desk. Her arms were at full stretch and Alec leaned over her so that he could hold her wrists with one hand. With his free hand he reached over to her shirt and popped open two buttons so that he could reach inside and touch her breasts. She was limp as a rag doll, the nagging ache at her centre controlling her every thought, her body desperate for what they could give her.

Owen positioned his cock at her opening and moved it there, as if testing her. He shook his head. “Christ, you’re wet.”

She nodded and her hips had began to roll, inviting him in. Owen watched her a moment longer then he lifted her legs and drew them over his shoulders. That way, when he did thrust in he went really deep, and she cried out.

“Alec, silence her,” Owen said from between gritted teeth. “Security will be down here and we can’t have the lovely housekeeping manager being caught
in flagrante delicto
on the accountant’s desk now can we?”

He grinned, and she looked at him in his designer suit and his white shirt, with her legs over his shoulders and his cock buried inside her—here, on the accountants desk—and all the guilt and longing and regret and desire bunched in her chest, making her anxious.

He eased out, only to slam back in, making her buck.

Alec, meanwhile, had moved around to the side of the desk. He took his hand from her mouth and silenced her with his kiss instead, his hand back inside her shirt, fingers inside her bra tweaking her peaked nipple. The thrust of his tongue into her mouth and the thrust of Owen’s cock inside made her crazy for it. She heard her skirt rip, but didn’t care.

Her legs were bent double and Owen thrust into her hard and fast, so deliberately rough that she could feel the desk vibrate.

“You’re determined to bring the security down here, aren’t you,” she accused breathlessly when Alec came up for air.

“No,” Owen responded, “I just love the way you feel and once I get started…”

The squeak of the desk legs against the floor made her bow against him, resisting his thrusts, yet inviting him deeper. Her chest knotted when the blunt head of his cock thrust up against her centre. “Oh!”

“Oh, yes.” His cock turned to steel, then jerked in release.

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Her core clamped on him. She turned her face away but met Alec’s mouth. Her womb buoyed up then release barrelled through her. Her muted cry let loose in Alec’s mouth.

This moment would stay with her forever.

Tomorrow, it’ll be over.

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Monica got out of their bed next morning and concentrated on the act of getting dressed for the day.

“Aren’t you staying for breakfast?” Owen asked, rising from the bed.

He was blatantly aware of her mood. Overnight he’d held her close against him as if he knew she was going to break from them.

“I’ve got a bunch of stuff I have to do before I can make myself available to you today.

And I have a lunch meeting. It’s a family thing that I can’t get out of.” It came out like a business comment, but she couldn’t help that. She was retreating into her shell. Once she’d had that discussion with her sisters and put everything into perspective, she would tell him that she couldn’t carry on their affair.

Owen was about to reply when there was a knock at the door. He frowned at it. Before he had a chance to get to it, it opened.

“Oh no.” Monica stared at the intruder and her heart sank. It was one of her own housekeeping staff.

Linda stared at them with a look of astonishment on her face. Monica burned up.

Owen was completely naked. It didn’t matter that she was fully dressed, the implication was more than obvious.

“I’m so sorry,” Linda said, hurriedly, and then backed out of the room.

“That’s all I need.” Monica grabbed her bag and threw him a regretful glance.

“You might have just arrived,” Owen offered.

Monica gave a soft laugh at the comment, and glanced at his naked body, regret and anxiety filling her. “Discretion is part of a housekeeper’s duty, and Linda is reliable. I’ve never known her to gossip, but I still can’t guarantee it.”

Owen took her in his arms, and kissed her forehead. “I know that is important to you.

You are important to me. Increasingly so.”

Doubts crowded in on her.
Important, why
? Because she was convenient, and useful?

The more he held her like this, the more difficult it was going to be. She knew that she should

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talk to Flynn and ask to be relieved of her duty to escort them. One thing was for sure, she needed her support network. She needed her sisters.

“I’ve put my phone number in your phone,” he said, “under my name. Call me when you’re done with your duties.”

Monica couldn’t even bring herself to look at him. Instead she nodded, then turned away.

* * * *

Owen’s mood nosedived. Tension had built overnight. The evening before she’d wanted them both, and had made love to them both, but there was resignation and sadness in her and it bugged the hell out of him.

After she’d gone he distracted himself for a while by making calls. He talked to his father and alerted him to the fact they were getting closer. Then he grabbed cold coffee from the breakfast tray he’d ordered, showered and dressed. Once he’d done that, he found Alec busy on his laptop in the sitting-room.

When he went to join him, he saw that there was another note on the carpet by the door. “Oh, great.”

He ducked down and scooped it up.

“Our friendly neighbourhood psycho thief?” Alec asked.

“Yes.” He’d been hoping that it was some kind of in-house pamphlet, but it was the same scrawled capital letters on a piece of printer paper. He shook his head as he read it.

We know that you’re fucking the housekeeping manager, Mr Clifford.

If you do not want the information to be passed to headquarters, leave now.

“Who the bloody hell has sent this?”

Alec looked at it over his shoulder. “What about housekeeping? You said someone came in this morning.”

“Monica thought she was sound. Of course Monica thinks everyone is as professional as she is, to a fault. All it would take is for the housekeeper to have whispered it to one buddy, for it to get passed around. Doesn’t mean it was anyone in housekeeping who sent this.”

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Sometimes, that was the trouble with the hotel trade. Gossip amongst the staff passed around like wildfire. They were looking for stuff that would break the routine, and this would be a juicy piece of gossip. Especially if Monica hadn’t had any relationships here before. Monica would be upset by it. That was the killer. She had an unrealistically pure view of the working world that sadly wasn’t the case. He didn’t want to be the one to break it to her, but she would be better off knowing that there were unscrupulous people in all walks of life.

The situation was screwing with his head. He was almost ready to walk out on his job here, because Monica was unhappy. One glance at Alec assured him that he was uneasy too.

They’d shared women before and they worked well as a team. Up until now, however, the women had wanted all the attention for themselves. With Monica, she was into their relationship too. It turned her on, and that kind of balance was the Holy Grail as far as he was concerned.

“What the hell am I going to do? I can’t just ignore it.”

Alec gave a wry smile. “Of course you can. What you have to ask yourself is how likely to pull a prank like that are they, if they are involved in illegal activities? And, if they are loopy enough to do that, does it even matter to you?” Alec gave him that look, the one that drilled way deep in his soul.

Owen gave a wry smile. “What would I do without you? You’re right. It’s safety I’m concerned with, not reputation. I’m not a married man, she’s not a married woman. As long as you’re okay with me having a relationship with Monica, that’s all I care about.”

Alec smiled and his eyes twinkled mischievously. “In that case ignore it.”

“Agreed. We do need to tell Monica about this though.”

“We can do that tonight when we get back here,” Alec responded. “You do realise she could probably tell us who sent it, just by holding it?”

Owen gave a quiet laugh as he processed that information. “Christ, you’re right.”

They looked at each other for a long moment, silently sharing the depth of how they felt about her. “She’s an amazing woman,” Owen eventually added, because he felt humbled by everything she was.

* * * *

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Being with her sisters made Monica feel so much better. The familiar activity and the understanding company grounded the contrary and disturbing emotions that held her captive, if only for the duration of their time together.

Once a fortnight the Evans’ sisters convened for lunch, midweek. Monica had requested they bring the meeting forward because she needed to talk. They met at their favourite Italian coffee house, Luigi’s. It was just a short walk from the hotel, and they got the most delicious toasted paninis there, and coffee that even Monica admitted rivalled Cumbernauld’s best.

She smiled across the table at her sisters. Faye looked fine, if a little concerned about her siblings. Holly looked dreadful. Her face was paler than ever and a perma-frown was etched between her eyebrows.

Monica reached out and covered Holly’s hand with the back of her own. “You look tired.”

Holly nodded. “It’s this thing that’s happened with my neighbour. Since the accident he was involved in I can’t sleep at night, not for long, not when he’s awake.” Her eyes flashed closed. “It’s the weirdest thing.”

Monica exchanged knowing glances with Faye. Emotion and arousal had sprung from Holly as she closed her eyes, and they’d both felt it. There was something meaningful between her and this neighbour. Faye mimed a beating heart. Monica hushed her with a hand gesture, but nodded.

“So are you saying you sleep when he sleeps, and wake up when he does?” Faye’s delicately arched eyebrows were drawn together as she tried to get her head around it.

Holly sighed. “Yup. I was there just after he was knocked over. I kept him conscious until the ambulance came and since then it’s like my psyche is wired to his.”

Faye drummed her silver lacquered nails on the table top. “Hmm. It reminds of that eastern belief that when you save someone’s life you become responsible for it.”

“Oh god, please no,” Holly replied. “I can’t be responsible for him, please no.”

Holly was quite obviously attracted to this neighbour of hers, but she’d barely processed that information herself and she definitely wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

A moment later the waiter arrived with their coffees.

Holly looked grateful. She pushed back her thick blonde hair, automatically plaiting it over one shoulder as she chatted. It was waist length and she obviously hadn’t had time to

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sort it before their meeting. “Sorry, this isn’t supposed to be about me.” With effort, she smiled. “You asked for the meeting, Monica, please talk. It’ll do me good to think about someone else’s problems, besides…Joshua.”

Monica nodded. “If you need us, just say. Whenever you want to chat.”

So, his name was Joshua. Again Monica exchanged glances with Faye. She was willing to bet they would soon be hearing more about this Joshua bloke.

Faye took a sip of her coffee, sat back in her chair and peered at Monica. “Come on, spill. How did your date go?”

“You had a date?” Holly asked, eyes rounded, her own problems temporarily shelved.

Monica tried not to bristle, but she couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her reply. “Yes, I had a date, and yes I know it’s about time and no I’m not about to turn into a grey-haired spinster.” She ran her fingers along the edge of the table then snapped them away when she opened up residual memories of erotic conversations that had gone on here in the past. “To cut a long story short, the date I had was with two guys.”

“I knew it,” Faye interjected. She grinned. It made her look even more elfin than usual.

With her short cropped hair dyed vibrant blue-black and her clothes and make up influenced by her art school days, their Dad had nicknamed Faye the mad pixie of the family.

“You sensed there were two men, yes. But what you didn’t know was that they actually came as a pair.”

Faye’s expression altered into one of wonder. “How does that work?”

Monica fanned herself as she thought back on it. “They’re bisexual.”

“Oh, right.” Faye’s lips pursed as she thought it through. “Are you saying that you had a threesome?”

Monica adjusted her collar then leaned over the table. “Keep your voice down, please.

Yes, I had a threesome. That’s not what I wanted to talk about, that bit worked out fabulously.”

“Ooh, hark at you.” Faye was in the mood to tease. “Suddenly you’ve gone from no men to two at the same time, and it worked out ‘fabulously’?”

She had a point. A disbelieving laugh escaped Monica. “I know, ludicrous isn’t it?”

It
had
worked out fabulously, that was the truth. It had been way beyond good. It had been steaming hot, and most important of all it had worked for her, really well. Never before had she been able to let go and have an orgasm and she’d had more than one.

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Holly was observing with curiosity. “Maybe that’s it—you needed
two
men because of your psychic ability.”

Monica thought about that, and nodded. It was a good part of it, and there was the bondage angle too, but she wasn’t ready to talk about that as yet. “The problem is I’m working with these guys, and now I feel muddled. It’s like I’m not sure of their motives.”

Her gaze dropped. She was going to have to confess to her sisters that she had told Owen and Alec about her psychometric ability. It was a secret the three of them had sworn to. Monica’s gift made her the most vulnerable. Her talent could be used, as she was all too quickly discovering. If anyone else had to be told, she was supposed to confer with them first.

“Motives?” It was Holly who asked, and Monica noticed that her colour was getting better now that she was focused on someone else’s problem rather than her own.

“Look, I hate to admit it, but I told them what I can do. I had to.”

A flicker of disapproval crossed Holly’s face, but Monica saw none in Faye’s. She was the most chilled of them all.

Faye shrugged. “You must have had to, right?”

Monica nodded.

“Has it put you in danger?”

“I don’t think so, not like we thought it might, at any rate. It is complicated though.

They are investigating fraud at the hotel, and when we got involved Owen knew I was hiding something. I had to reveal that it wasn’t anything to do with the investigation. As it turned out, the set up with the two of them meant I could, well…let go a bit and enjoy it, and you know…without the flood of information crowding me.”

“So let me get this straight,” Faye said, with humour sparkling in her eyes, “you finally had a good orgasm, but these two men think you’re behind fraud in the hotel?”

“They know I’m not, now.” Monica couldn’t keep the tension from her voice.

“It figures,” Faye added, “that it would take two men to handle you, sexually.”

“It’s not funny,” Monica responded.

“I wasn’t being funny, I meant it.”

That and the bondage, yes.
Even as she thought about it, her body yearned for more of the same. “The thing is now that they know what I can do, they want me to help them with their task. And I can’t decide whether that’s why they want to be with me.”

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“You want it to be for another reason?” Faye was so sharp, so intuitive. “You like these guys, I can tell.”

“I do. What if they walk away and I never see them again?”

Faye reached for her cup, turning it in its saucer. “If they walk away, you had fun, you let go for a while. Don’t regret it when it’s not even over yet, just enjoy.”

Monica looked at Holly. “What say you?”