13
Mel
“It was the contacts, wasn’t it?” I blurt out, suddenly feeling very naked. The guys seem to realize I’m acutely uncomfortable, because they jump into action. West cuts the rope bra free, and Rob hands me a robe. I wrap it around myself, but it doesn’t make me feel any less exposed.
“Mel?” West prompts.
“What?” I snap defensively. “How long have you known it was me?”
The two of them exchange glances. “At the bar,” Rob says finally.
What? “That’s not possible. How did you recognize me? I don’t recognize myself.”
“Your fingers,” West says. “When you asked us to show you around, you fiddled with them.” A smile ghosts over his face. “It’s a very Mel thing to do.”
They’ve known the entire time. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rob answers this time. “I don’t know,” he admits. He leans back on the couch and runs his hand over his face. “I didn’t know what to think.” He grimaces. “First, you quit out of the blue, and then you show up here. I guess I wanted to see where things would end up.”
I breathe through the sharp pain that stabs my heart. Rob wanted to see where things would end up, and he’d stopped before any actual sex occurred. I guess that answers my question.
“Yeah, right. Okay. If you wouldn’t mind leaving while I get dressed—”
“What?” West has an incredulous expression on his face. “That’s it?” He runs his hand through his hair.
I don’t meet his gaze. “You knew who I was, and you let me make a fool of myself.”
“Let you make a fool of yourself?” West sounds bewildered. “I’m missing something here. What the hell are you talking about, Mel?”
I don’t say anything and stubbornly keep my eyes averted from his face. West sighs heavily. “One question,” he says. “Answer just one question. Did you want us, or did you want an anonymous encounter?”
Cat’s voice whispers in my ear. Don’t be a pussy, Mel.
“You,” I admit. I worry my nails, and then I realize what I’m doing and make myself stop. “I wanted you.”
Only Rob has removed his mask. West is still wearing his, and so am I.
“Oh, Mel.” West’s voice is a combination of relief and affection. He reaches behind his head and removes his mask, tossing it on the couch where, less than an hour ago, he’d spread my legs and eaten me out.
I finally lift my eyes to his.
“I should be annoyed,” he says. “I don’t sleep with my employees.”
“I’m quitting.”
“There is that.” He opens a bottle of water and drains nearly half of it in one gulp. He offers it to me, and I shake my head. “What was this to you?” he asks. “Did you want to try a threesome? Did you want casual sex? Or did you want something else? Something more?”
“That’s a lot of questions, and I already answered the first one.”
He smiles at me, warm and open. “Chicken,” he says. He turns to Rob with the same smile. “You too. Fine, I’ll go first.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve been attracted to you for over a year,” he says. “It never would have come up. I never would have told you how I feel because you worked for me, and I wouldn’t put you in that position. Tonight. . .” He seems to search for the right words. “Tonight seemed like a dream I don’t want to wake from.”
I release the breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“When you asked us to show you around the club, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this.” He indicates the three of us. “I thought I might be jealous.”