Mark followed Luke into the living room.  “Luke, this isn’t a great time.  Can I -”

“Julien and Pierre are going to be here on Friday.  They want to meet.”  Luke paced back and forth in front of the couch.

“What?  Why?”

“Did you even read the texts I sent you?”

“I was busy.”  His gaze wandered to the bedroom door. 

“They say they’re going to be here on other business.  They say they want to meet us to get an update on the digital storefront.”

“Okay, well, we have Chloe working on the marketing, right?  Maria says she has interviews lined up next week for the IT part of it.  Chloe can be part of the meeting.”

“I don’t think that’s the only reason they’re here,” Luke said.

“What do you mean?”

“Amy!”  Luke almost shouted his sister’s name.  Mark’s gaze was drawn back to his bedroom.

He returned it to Luke in a hurry as Luke scrubbed a hand through his hair.  “They want to meet with Amy again as well.  They’re interested in investing in a casual line wear with her.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”  Mark said.  “Amy wants to do a casual line.”

“You and I both know they’re interested in more than just business with her.”

Mark’s stomach clenched, and Luke paused in his pacing.  “What’s wrong?  You look like you’re gonna puke.”

“Nothing,” Mark said.  “Amy turned them down before.”

Luke shrugged.  “Doesn’t mean she’ll turn them down this time.  She didn’t mind their flirting.”

“She won’t mix business with pleasure,” Mark said.  His traitorous gaze wandered to the bedroom door again.

“She was the one who encouraged me to go out with Jane.  She has no problem with dating in the workplace,” Luke said.  “Those two guys are bad news and if Amy sleeps with – Mark!  Are you listening to me?”

“Yes,” Mark whipped his head around to stare at Luke again.  “Amy is a grown woman.  She can sleep with whomever she wants.”

Nice work, asshole.  You almost sound like you believe that.

“You’re telling me you’d be fine letting both of those guys have a go at our sister?”  Luke gave him an indignant look.  “They share their women.  Did you know that?  You really want our baby sister in the middle of a Julien and Pierre sandwich?”

“She’s not my sister.”

“She’s close enough,” Luke said with an irritable look.  “Jesus, why are you not more upset about this?”

He was upset.  He wanted to kick Luke out, join Amy in his bedroom and make her promise him she wouldn’t go anywhere near the two French douchebags.  Hell, a big part of him wanted to cuff her to his bed again and keep her there until Julien and Pierre were gone.

Now you’re contemplating kidnapping?  Jesus, get it together, you asshole!

“Why are you this upset?”  He asked.  “I get that you’re protective of Amy but even this is extreme for you.”

Luke stalked to the window and looked out into the darkness.  Mark moved closer, then froze.  Amy’s purse was sitting in the kitchen, tucked under the island but if Luke happened to glance at the floor, he’d see it.  He was just contemplating going over and kicking it further under the island when Luke turned around.

“Keep this between you and me, but I’m worried that Julien and Pierre aren’t interested in doing a casual line with Amy.  I think they just want to get her into their bed and are willing to tell her whatever she wants to hear.”

“Amy’s an amazing designer.”  The hair on the back of Mark’s neck prickled.  “You think she isn’t?”

“I didn’t say that,” Luke replied.  “What I said is that Julien and Pierre have it bad for her – Jane said they text and email Amy all the time – and I wonder if they’re willing to tempt her with a casual line to get her into their bed.”

“You really think they’d invest in a brand-new line of clothing just to sleep with her?”

He hated how that sounded - fuck, he’d hike across the goddamn desert without water just for a chance to sleep with Amy - but Julien and Pierre weren’t in love with her.

“I’m more worried that they’ll sleep with her and then won’t invest in a new line,” Luke said.  He paced back and forth again before pulling his phone from his pocket.  “I’m gonna text Amy, give her the heads up that they’re going to be here on Friday.”

Mark’s eyes widened as he glanced at Amy’s purse.  Fuck, if her cell phone wasn’t on silent…

“Don’t text her!”  He blurted out.

“What?  Why?”  Luke’s fingers hovered over the keyboard on his phone.

“I saw her just before the end of the day.  She said she had a bad headache and was going straight to bed.”

“Oh.”  Luke tucked his phone back into his pocket.  “I’ll talk to her in the morning at the office.”

“She’ll be pissed with you if you tell her what you’re worried about.”  He had no idea why he said that.  No doubt she had heard every word Luke said.

“Don’t I know it,” Luke said.  “Which is why I’m not going to tell her.  I don’t want to hurt her feelings and I swear, if it was anyone else but those two assholes, I wouldn’t even worry about this.  But I can’t shake the feeling that they’re just using this casual line thing as a way to get to Amy and her goddamn bed.”

He ran his hand through his hair again.  “I’m just going to remind her that it’s a really bad fucking idea to sleep with our investors.”

“Sure, okay.  Listen, I don’t mean to be rude but -”

“Hey, you want to go have a beer?  Jane is out with some of her friends from the strip club.  I don’t have to pick her up until ten.”

“Uh, thanks, but I -”

“We could get a bite to eat or…” Luke trailed off as he glanced at the kitchen.

Mark’s stomach made an unpleasant flip flop.  Luke studied the island, his gaze lingering on the two plates and the wine glass with the faint imprint of lipstick.  “You had company?”

“Uh…”

“Holy shit.”  Luke’s face lit up in a grin and he lowered his voice before glancing at Mark’s bedroom.  “You got a woman in your bedroom.”

Mark didn’t reply.  Luke moved closer and held out his fist.  “Nice.”

He bumped Luke’s fist.  Luke glanced at the bedroom again before lowering his voice even more.  “Is it Chloe?”

“What?  No.  I told you, we’re just friends.”

“Just checking.  Who is it?”

“No one you know.”

“One-time lay or something more?”  Luke asked.

“Luke?  Buddy?  Do you think you can fucking leave now?”

“Sure.  You should introduce her to me and Jane, we can do a double date or something.”

“I’ll think about it.”  He grabbed Luke’s arm and pushed him toward the door.  “Get out.”

Luke shoved his feet into his boots as Mark opened the door.  “You can give me details tomorrow.”

“Out.”

Luke laughed and stepped out into the hallway.  “Have fun.”

“Thanks.”  He shut the door and leaned against it, listening as Luke’s footsteps faded.  He headed back to the bedroom.  Amy had her tights and her skirt on and was just slipping into her bra.

“What are you doing?”

She smiled at him.  “Getting dressed so I can go home.”

“You don’t have to leave.  It’s fine, he didn’t know it was you.”

“I know.  He thought it was Chloe.”

He winced.  “There’s nothing going on -”

“I know that.”  She pulled her shirt over her head and smoothed her blonde hair.  “Thanks for tonight, Mark.  I had fun.”

“Ames, just wait.  Talk to me for a minute, okay?”  He took her hand and squeezed it.

“Talk about what?”

“I know you heard what Luke said.  Let’s talk about it.”

“What’s there to talk about?  My brother thinks that Julien and Pierre are only interested in fucking me.”

“Amy, sit.  Please.”  He tried very hard not to use his Dom voice on her and mostly succeeded.

She sighed and sat down on the side of his bed.  He sat next to her but when he tried to put his arm around her, she shifted away.  She studied the photo of the woman sitting at the man’s feet. 

“Have Julien and Pierre been in contact with you?”  He asked.  He wondered if she could hear the jealousy in his voice.

“Yep.  At least two or three times a week since they went back to Paris.”

Jealousy bit a hole in the lining of his stomach and burned like acid.  She glanced at his face before looking back at the picture.  “I’m not going to fuck them, Mark.”

He knew the relief showed on his face.  “Luke is just overprotective.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Tell me what is actually upsetting you.”

She sucked in a big breath and held it for a few seconds before releasing it.  “I think Luke is right.  I think Julien and Pierre are using the casual line investment as a really fucked up seduction tool.  They’re not interested in my work, just how quickly they can get me in their bed between them.”

His hands clenched into fists and his entire body stiffened.  “You’re not to go anywhere near their bed, little slave.”

She gave him a dry look and he flushed, cursing his inability to keep control around her.  “Sorry.”

“Anyway, I’ll meet with them on Friday, they’ll invite me to dinner and we’ll talk about the casual line.  Then they’ll invite me back to their hotel room.  When I decline, they’ll be gracious but their offer to invest in a casual line will disappear.  Just like Luke thinks.”

“You don’t know that,” he said.  “You’re an amazing designer.”

“I’m good at designing business wear,” she said.  “Luke keeps talking about how we might try a casual wear line next year, but he won’t even look at my designs for them.  And if Julien and Pierre aren’t interested in investing in it, then I’m not sure I’ll even be able to convince Luke to try other investors.”

“We don’t need investors to start a casual line,” Mark said.

“It doesn’t matter.  Luke wants to keep going with the business line, and I understand that.  It’s successful.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?”

“What do you want?”  Mark asked.

“Does it matter?”  Amy said.

“Yes.”

She smiled at him before patting his knee.  “Thanks, but I’m not sure that it does.  The company employs a lot of people and it would be selfish of me to try something brand new without the financial backing.  If it failed, it could bring down the company and a lot of good people would be out of a job.”

He wanted to pull her closer but her entire body was tense, and she was leaning away from him.  Instead he said, “I don’t think that would happen.  People would love your casual line, I know it.”

“Maybe,” she said.  She glanced at his alarm clock before standing.  “I need to get going.”

“Stay the night,” he said.  “We’ll finish dinner and then…”

She smiled again.  “I’d better not.”

He stood and followed her out of the bedroom.  She grabbed her purse and pulled her boots on.  He helped her into her jacket and she made a startled noise when she reached for the door handle and he grabbed her wrist.

“Wait,” he said.  He stepped closer.  Every part of him wanted to kiss her, wanted to pick her up and carry her back to his bed, but instead he reached for the collar still around her neck.  A shamefully large part of him had been tempted to not say anything.  To just let her leave wearing it.

He unbuckled the collar and slid it out from around her neck.  Her mouth pursed into an adorable ‘o’, as she stared at it in his hand.  “Oh shit.  I completely forgot I was wearing it.”

He held it in his hand as she cleared her throat.  “Uh, thanks again.  I really enjoyed myself.”

“You’re welcome.”  He wondered just how pathetic she’d find him if he begged her again to stay the night.

She leaned in and brushed her lips across his cheek.  “Good night, Mark.”

“Good night, Amy.”

 

* * *

 

“These are good, Chloe.”  Amy flipped the page on the sketch pad.  “Really good.”

Chloe flushed with pleasure.  “Thank you, Ms. Dawson.”

“I told you to call me Amy,” she said as she studied the sketch.  “You have talent.  It’s a bit raw but it’s there.  I particularly like this skirt and jacket combo.”

She handed the sketch book to Chloe who took it and pressed it against her chest like a schoolgirl.  “You have no idea how much it means to me to have you look at my sketches.  Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome.  And I wasn’t blowing smoke up your ass.  You’re good.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Amy?”  Jane knocked on her doorway.  “You ready?  Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“We were just finishing,” Amy said.  “Come on in.  Have you met Chloe yet?”

“I don’t think so,” Jane said.  She shook Chloe’s hand.  “I’m Jane Smith.  I work in finance.”

“Hi, Jane.  Chloe Matthews, I was just hired in marketing for the new digital storefront.”

“Welcome to the team,” Jane said.

“Thanks,” Chloe replied.  “I’ll leave you two to your meeting.  Thank you again, Amy.”

“Chloe, wait.  Jane and I are going to the café for lunch.  Do you want to join us?”

“I don’t want to intrude,” Chloe said hesitantly.

“You aren’t,” Jane said.  “The more the merrier.”

“Well, if you’re sure…”

“We are,” Amy said.  “Grab your coat and your purse and meet us in the lobby.”

 

* * *

 

“So, did you grow up here?”  Amy asked as Chloe sat down beside her at the café table.

“I did,” Chloe replied.  “My parents moved to Iowa when I was nineteen, but my sister and I decided to stay here. We moved in with my grandmother.”

She opened her water and took a drink before twisting in her seat to study the counter at the front of the cafe.  “Oh shoot, I forgot to get a package of salad dressing.  Maybe I can get Jane to – holy shit.”

Amy followed her gaze and suppressed a grin.  Luke had obviously stopped in at the café to grab some lunch.  Jane was standing at the counter waiting for her salad and Luke was standing next to her.  He had given her ass a quick squeeze just as Chloe looked at Jane.

“Uh, did Mr. Dawson just grab Jane’s butt?”

Amy laughed.  Luke squeezed Jane’s ass again and she batted his hand away before checking their table.  Her face flushed bright red when she realized Chloe was watching them.  She murmured something to Luke who glanced at their table before shrugging.  He leaned down, kissed Jane firmly on the mouth and grabbed the wrap from the counter before heading toward the door.  He waved at Amy and Chloe.  Amy waved back and Luke left the cafe.

“Luke and Jane are dating,” Amy said.

“Ah, okay.”  Chloe twisted back around in her seat.  “So, there’s no policy against workplace dating?”

“Nope.”

Jane slid into the seat next to Amy and gave Chloe an apologetic look.  “Sorry.”

“For what?”

She cleared her throat.  “Um, I don’t usually advertise around the office that Luke and I are dating.”

“I won’t say anything,” Chloe said.

“It’s not like a secret or anything,” Jane said.  “I just don’t, uh, want people thinking I’m getting special treatment or anything like that.”

“I don’t.”

Amy broke the awkward silence.  “So, Chloe is a budding designer herself.”

“Really?  That’s awesome.”

“Mm, I do it more for fun,” Chloe said.  “I don’t have any formal training or anything, but Amy was nice enough to look at my designs.”

“She’s really good,” Amy said.

“Cool,” Jane said. “Hey, Luke mentioned that Julien and Pierre are going to be here on Friday.”

“They are,” Amy said.

“They’re the Paris guys who are investing in the international line, right?”  Chloe said.

Amy nodded, and Chloe poked at her salad.  “Mr. Dawson sent me an email this morning. I’m meeting with them on Friday afternoon.”

“Oh God,” Jane said.  “We need to prepare her, Amy.”

Amy laughed as Chloe gave them a curious look.  “What?”

“Julien and Pierre are going to be all over you,” Jane said.  “They’re very… fond of the ladies.”

“That’s a mild way of putting it,” Amy said with another laugh.  “They’re going to try and convince you to bang them, Chloe.  Just like they’ll try and convince me to bang them when I have dinner with them Friday night.”

“Hell, they’ll probably try and convince the two of you to have a foursome,” Jane said.

Chloe’s mouth dropped open.  “You’re kidding me.”

“We’re not,” Amy said.  “They’re really nice guys – if you don’t mind listening to them talk about themselves – but they’re also crazy horndogs.”

Jane snickered.  “Horndogs… that’s an apt description.”

“They’ll only sleep with a woman if she agrees to sleep with both of them at the same time.”

Chloe’s mouth, which had just closed, dropped open again.  “How do you know that?”

“Oh, they’re not shy,” Amy said.  “They’ll tell you themselves if you’re with them for longer than ten minutes.”

Chloe ate a bite of salad.  “Okay, well I appreciate the warning but I’m not sleeping with an investor in the company and I’m certainly not sleeping with two men at once.  I’m kind of, uh, straight-laced in the bedroom.  I like sex as much as the next girl, but only with one penis at a time.”

Both Amy and Jane burst into laughter and Chloe blushed before shrugging.  “It’s true.  Relationships are complicated and messy enough.  Could you imagine trying to have a relationship with two men?”

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” Jane said.  “So, I take it you’re single right now?”

“I am,” Chloe replied.  “Actually, I was engaged to a man named John, but he broke it off six months ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Jane said.

“It was for the best.  I have a sister who has some issues with alcohol and a good deal of my time and energy goes toward trying to help her.  He didn’t like it.  He wanted me to accept that she was never going to change and to concentrate more on him.”

“John sounds like a dick,” Amy said.

Chloe shrugged.  “I don’t think so.  He had a point.  I did kind of put my sister before my relationship with him and that’s not fair.  But it’s hard to give up on someone you love and have been trying to help for nearly your entire life, you know?  Even if, in the end, it didn’t work.”

“What do you mean?”  Jane asked.

“Almost three months ago, I finally got Lori to agree to go to rehab.  She was doing well but then she left two weeks ago.  She’s drinking again.  John was right – she can’t or won’t change.”

She stared at her salad for a moment, trying not to let the wounds from her past swallow her up.  Jane patted her hand a bit timidly.  “I’m very sorry, Chloe.”

“Thanks.  Anyway, enough about my depressing love life.  How long have you and Mr. Dawson been dating, Jane?”

 

* * *

 

This is called breaking and entering, you know.

Mark ignored his inner voice.  He had a key to Amy’s place so technically it wasn’t breaking and entering.  He stepped inside and closed the door before locking it.  He was about to enter the alarm code when he realized she hadn’t set the alarm.  He scowled at the glowing keypad before taking off his jacket and boots.  He crept down the hallway to the stairs.

This is a bad idea, asshole.

Yeah, it probably was.  But half an hour ago, it hadn’t seemed like a bad idea.  To his exhausted mind and body, it had seemed like the best idea in the world.  He had slept terribly since Sunday night.

Terribly was an understatement.  He didn’t think he’d gotten more than a few hours sleep over the last seventy-two hours.  He was running on caffeine and sheer willpower alone at this point. 

The package he’d ordered Tuesday night after Amy left his place, had arrived at the office this afternoon.  He’d had to pay extra for one-day shipping, but he’d wanted it before Friday.  He was tempted to take it directly to Amy but resisted.  It wasn’t something he could just spring on her at the office.  She would most likely be resistant to wearing it, but the thought of her meeting with Julien and Pierre was an acid bath eating away at his stomach.  He needed something on her that would remind her she belonged to him.  His mind had immediately suggested that alternatively, he could just trust that Amy meant what she said about not sleeping with them.  He’d found that suggestion disgustingly easy to ignore.

After the Al-Anon meeting, he had driven Chloe home.  His place was only a few miles from hers but knowing he would just pace restlessly, he had driven to the club instead.  Selene was surprised to see him, but he’d mumbled something about getting caught up on paperwork and locked himself in the small office they shared.

An hour later he was redoing the same goddamn spreadsheet for the third time when Selene walked into the office.

“You look like shit, Mark.”

“Thanks, Selene.”

“Did you and Amy break up?”

“We’d have to be dating to break up.  This isn’t dating, remember?”  He’d had coffee with Selene on Sunday morning and told her everything.

“I remember.  So, why do you look like you haven’t slept in three days.”

“Because I haven’t.”

“Why not?”

He pulled at his earlobe before leaning back in his chair.  “I don’t know.”

“I do,” Selene said.  “This master/slave training thing you have going on with Amy isn’t enough for you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s all I can do,” he replied as he stared blearily at the spreadsheet.

“Mark -”

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay? Please, Selene, I’m exhausted and not in the mood.”

Her face softened and she reached out and took his hand.  “Go home, honey.  Get some sleep.”

“I can’t,” he said.  “I can’t sleep without her now.”

He cringed at how pathetic he sounded but Selene just leaned forward and kissed his forehead.  “You have to try.  Do you need me to cover your shifts this weekend?”

“No,” he said.  “You already do too much.  I’m not pulling my weight around here as it is.”

She squeezed his hand.  “When you’re not as tired, we’ll talk about that.  Okay?”

“You want to buy me out, Selene?  Get a partner who can actually help?”

“Of course not,” she said.  “But I have something I want to discuss with you.”

“We can talk now.”

“No.  You need sleep.  Go home and heat up some milk or something.”

He laughed.  “I don’t think that works.”

“At least try it,” she said with a small grin.  “Go home, Mark.”

“Yeah, okay.”

He left the club and meant to drive home but half an hour later, he was parked on the street outside of Amy’s home.  It was only 9:30 but the house was completely dark.  It wasn’t like Amy to go to bed so early – she was a night owl just like him - but he doubted she was out somewhere.  She hated the cold and tended to stay close to home during the winter months.  Maybe she had a headache.  Maybe she wasn’t sleeping well either.

He’d told himself to leave but the idea of sliding into Amy’s bed and curling up against her warm body was a temptation he couldn’t resist.  He needed sleep and the only way he would get it was in Amy’s bed. 

So, here he was.  Creeping up Amy’s stairs like a weird stalker.  He told himself to turn around and leave but then opened her bedroom door.  The bedroom blinds were open and cold moonlight spilled into the room, giving him more than enough light to see her curled up in her bed.

He stripped quickly and climbed into the bed behind her.  Amy was a sound sleeper and she didn’t stir when he pressed up against her warm body.  He slid his arm around her and cupped her naked breast before resting his head on the pillow behind hers.

She made a soft snoring sound and stretched a little.  Without opening her eyes, she said, “What time is it, Mark?”

“Just before ten,” he whispered.  He was absurdly pleased that she knew it was him.

“Oh.”  She yawned and snuggled back against him.  She was wearing just a pair of panties and he stroked her smooth thigh before cupping her breast again.

“Is it Thursday?”  She asked before yawning a second time.

“No.”

“Why are you here?”

“The roads were bad, and your house was closer,” he lied.  “Do you mind if I sleep here tonight?”

“No, I don’t mind.”

God, she was adorable when she was all warm and sleepy.  He kissed the back of her shoulder.  “Thank you, baby.”

“You’re welcome.”  Her voice was slowing and becoming lower as she drifted back to sleep.  She made a sleepy sound of contentment and then muttered, “Love you, Mark.”

His hand squeezed her breast compulsively.  He wondered if his heart pounding against her back would wake her.  She didn’t move.  Already her breathing was deep and even.

He kissed the back of her shoulder again and whispered, “I love you too, Ames.”