SinfullyWicked (8 page)

“A guy other than you?” Nikki asked.

His features went slack, his complexion flushed, its color
finally matching his brother’s. She’d definitely hit a nerve.

“I can take care of myself,” Nikki assured them both.

“Like you’ve done such a good job so far?” Mitch asked.

She sighed. “Okay, I’ve fucked up big time. Don’t punish me
by keeping me from doing this.”

“Punish you?” Connor asked.

“I want to work with you guys.”
I want to be close to
both of you.
“If I can’t, then I’ll have to go to one of the other clubs in
the area and work for—”

“No fucking way,” Mitch warned. “I’m not going to let you do
that.”

Nikki liked the way he talked, so damn male and dominant,
but kept that approval hidden. “Then I’m either going to go back into your club
tonight or I’ll be making those films. Which is it?”

Mitch seemed torn between spanking her and hauling her close
for another kiss. Nikki suspected Connor wanted to do both and then some.

“Fine,” Mitch said first. “You can make a film. One film.”

“What?” Fists clenched, Connor went to his brother. “I am
not filming her going at it with one of the guys here.”

“You don’t have to. She’ll be going at it with me.”

Chapter Five

Connor blinked. Perspiration trickled from Nikki’s cheek to
her jaw.

“Take off that ridiculous mask,” Mitch ordered. “Here.” He
offered his handkerchief.

She tossed the leather mask on the sofa and blotted her
face, her attention never straying from him. Her color was high, her expression
not quite believing what he’d just offered to do.

As if he had another choice. If Nikki was planning to make
X-rated movies her new career, she sure as fuck was going to be doing them with
him, not any other man. Unless it was Connor.

His brother didn’t object. Wouldn’t matter if he had. Mitch
was prepared to argue Connor down so they could help Nikki no matter what she
wanted. What in the fuck was the matter with her to be doing this to herself?
How could she have led such a crappy life with that SOB Ty? All these years,
Mitch had imagined she’d been Little Ms. Confidence, that nothing bothered her.
She was young, lovely, rich and happy. Since her return and what she’d
confessed in his office, he kept seeing the unvarnished truth on her face.
She’d been as lonely as he and Connor. As wanting.

Arousal drained her initial shock, softening her features,
making her eyes glassy with desire. “You?” she breathed.

In spite of her reaction, Mitch asked, “You have a problem
with that?”

“I sure as hell do,” Connor broke in. “Don’t you know what
happens in my films?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Mitch planted his hands on his
hips. “So I’m not an actor. I can definitely manage the erotic stuff.”

“I’m not talking about your damn acting skills. We own this
place and you want to fuck in my film that’s going to play in one of our
rooms?”

Ah. Mitch saw the problem…which had an easy solution. “Don’t
show my features, just my body. None of the men here have ever seen it, so they
won’t be able to recognize me.” He spoke to Nikki, asking again, “You have a
problem with me being in the film?”

She studied his ginormous erection, which his boxers and
pants couldn’t hide. A bead of sweat trickled down her throat, heading for the
valley between her breasts. Lucky sweat. “Will the women recognize it?”

Was that jealousy he heard? “Answer my question.”

“I’ve no problem at all,” she said. “Thanks. It’s a deal.”

Muttering beneath his breath, Connor turned on Nikki,
crowding her as Mitch had in the stairwell. She leaned into him rather than
retreating, her face brightened with excitement.

Connor frowned. “Why would you agree to something like
this?”

“Mitch is a great-looking guy. So are you.”

“That’s not what I meant and you damn well know it.”

“You’re right.” She touched the diamond stud in his lobe,
smiling in approval as she did, then trailed her fingers over his mustache. His
mouth twitched while the rest of him seemed incapable of movement. “I’m doing
it because I trust both of you,” Nikki murmured, her thumb on his lower lip. “I
know neither of you would ever hurt me. Not like I’ve hurt you.”

With her admission, patches of red rose on Connor’s cheeks
and forehead, but his expression turned stony, the past again hanging between
them.

Before his brother said something he didn’t mean but would
surely regret, Mitch broke the difficult silence. “We’ll start filming at the
end of the week and through the weekend. Be here Friday morning at six.”

Nikki regarded the monitors. “We’re filming in one of the
rooms?”

“Of course not.” Connor went to Shoshana’s desk, offering
nothing more.

Mitch took up the slack. “In a mansion we own on Sea Island.
It’s a great backdrop for the stories and very secluded.”

Connor spoke over his shoulder. “That doesn’t mean we’ll be
alone. There’s the extras and crew.”

“No one’s touching her but me,” Mitch warned.

Connor’s jaw tightened in challenge, as though to say,
don’t
be so certain of that.

Nikki made fast work of getting dressed, not wanting to push
either brother any further than she had tonight. It hadn’t been her intention,
except when she’d agreed to being punished, hoping they’d at least notice she
was in the club. Who would have thought it’d lead to Mitch taking, using,
enjoying and pleasuring her in one of Connor’s films?

Her body buzzed with anticipation. It took all of her will
not to stare at the bulky bulge behind Mitch’s fly, his strong hands and rich
mouth. At the end of this week, he’d be brushing his lips over hers, parting
them with his tongue while Connor directed the action. He and the others would
watch Mitch exploring the intimate parts of her body, demanding she take his
cock and balls inside her mouth, tending to and loving them. Once she had, he’d
mount her in every position he desired, plundering her cunt and anus,
delivering himself and her to orgasm.

With carnal images dancing in her mind, Nikki gestured in
farewell, unable to speak. Mitch nodded once in reply. Connor kept his back to
her. She slogged down the hall to the outside, sensing both brothers were
watching her on the security monitor. Already, she missed them. How in the hell
was she supposed to wait until Friday to see Connor again and to have Mitch
provide blessed relief for her insatiable desire?

With her arms crossed over the top of her car, she gulped
the night air, heavy with humidity and the flowers’ perfume. Muted music poured
from the club, growing louder suddenly as though someone had opened the front
doors. A moist breeze carried men’s and women’s voices from the guest parking
lot, the sounds they made joyous and young, filled with adventure.

Beneath it, Nikki heard something else, the slap of shoes,
someone running in her direction. Connor? On shit, no. He couldn’t have changed
Mitch’s mind so quickly. He couldn’t be tearing out here to deliver the awful
news that he and his brother didn’t want to see her again. That she had to stay
away. There was no other choice.

Steeled for the worst, she refused to turn around.

“Nikki?”

Shoshana? The wind snatched the hem of her dress, blowing it
up her shapely thighs. Like Marilyn Monroe in that ancient film
The Seven
Year Itch
, she pushed the wispy fabric back down. “Glad I caught you.”

Nikki wasn’t. She pressed into her car, needing distance
from whatever Shoshana intended to say. No way could it be good. She had to be
out here to announce the deal was off.

“You all right?” she asked.

Nikki’s stomach rolled with a new wave of queasiness.
Trapped, she blurted, “What do you want?”

Shoshana observed her with frank curiosity. “Not what I
figure you’re thinking. Mitch and Connor asked me to give you this for Friday.”
She held out a slim book.

They were still on? Hot damn! Nikki wanted to bounce on her
heels. “Is that a script—do erotic films without dialogue have scripts?”

“It’s Connor’s graphic novel,
Eve.
That’s what you’ll
be filming, at least the next chapter of it. The first is already playing in
the Virgin’s Room.”

On the cover was a photo. Seemingly yellowed with age, it
depicted a naked woman, her wrists manacled to a ceiling beam in a candlelit
room, her eyes lowered in supplication, her nipples erect, legs parted to
present her cunt. Which now belonged to her master. Fully clothed, he faced
her, the cut of his jacket and breeches reminiscent of styles worn in the
1700s. In his hand dangled a leather strap. Surrounding them were other nobles
intent on the coming show. Punishment and domination. A man taking a woman just
as he liked with no restrictions.

Nikki sagged against her car door.

“Change your mind?” Shoshana asked.

Silly question. Nikki couldn’t recall the last time she’d
been as stoked or nosy. “Are you dating Mitch or Connor or both of them?”

Shoshana’s exquisite face registered no surprise at the
out-of-line inquiry, merely a flicker of what appeared to be regret. “We’ve
gotten together a few times. Nothing serious on their end.”

Nikki’s pang of jealousy mingled with relief. She clawed her
windblown hair away from her neck. “How about on yours?”

“They’re easy men to like and to love.” With one hand, she
kept the breeze from blowing her hair and used the other to hold down her
skirt. “Hot as hell. Generous. Honorable. But you know that already, don’t
you?”

It was more of a challenge than a question. Nikki answered
the only way she knew how. “They told you about me—us.”

“Didn’t have to.” Her regret had returned. “I saw how Mitch
and you stared at each other when you were shackled to The Frame, how Connor
watched you from the monitors. Each one of you had the look addicts do when
they’re in deep pain and want their drugs, booze or whatever it is that gives
them some relief. You’re the girl from their past, right? The one who fucked
them up when it comes to trusting other women.”

If Nikki could have taken a step back, she would have. “I
thought you said they hadn’t told you about what I did.”

She frowned. “They didn’t. They haven’t said anything except
that they knew you in high school. I’m guessing you didn’t approve of their
circumstances.”

“Oh hey, it wasn’t their fault, I knew that. I didn’t care
what everyone said.”

“About their mom or grandmother?”

Both. Their druggie mother had abandoned them when they were
six and their grandmother’s problems had only added to the mess.

Shame for her past actions pressed in on Nikki, making it
difficult to speak. “Is their grandmother still hoarding?”

“Not in any of Atlanta’s upstanding neighborhoods.”

What did that mean? “They said she was okay. She is, right?”

“Never been better. They bought her a place outside the city
with lots of land and great security. There aren’t any neighbors around to get
upset and kids can’t wander onto the property to hassle her or make fun. Just
to be certain things don’t get too out of hand with her stuff, there’s a
caretaker on site. She has everything she’ll ever need.”

Far more than they had. “I know she’s got issues,” Nikki
said, “but damn, she could have at least bought food. Did either of them tell
you how they all went hungry because she spent every cent she had at these dumb
thrift shops and yard sales, buying crap she didn’t need, cramming their house
with stuff until none of them could move around?”

Nikki shook her head, recalling the one time she’d gone to
their place, what she’d seen through the windows and in the backyard. “The
place was so filthy even a bum wouldn’t have wanted to stay there. Not once did
Mitch or Connor have a real meal or nice clothes. When the other kids were
screwing around during the summer, they were doing odd jobs at the neighbors’
houses, including mine, so they’d make enough cash so they and their
grandmother could eat. I asked them to dinner whenever I could. A lot of times
they said no. I knew they were ashamed. It was obvious they worried about her
more than they did themselves. I was so damn stupid. I just wanted to be
liked.”

Shoshana muttered, “It’s my guess they did like you.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Nikki sighed. “Everything was
fine between us until school started and I met the cool kids, the ones that can
kill you with one snotty glance or a sarcastic laugh.” She groaned,
remembering. “They treated Mitch and Connor like lepers. Rumors circulated that
they weren’t really fraternal twins. That their mother was a whore and got
pregnant from two guys she screwed at the same time. It was so awful.”

Shoshana frowned. “Then why didn’t you defend them?”

“Are you serious? I tried.” She rubbed her neck before the
tension in it gave her a migraine. “I thought I’d succeeded at first. The other
kids backed off. Little by little, they started approaching me, becoming
friendly. God, it was such a freaking relief. I’m not making excuses, but my
father’s job had us moving around a lot. I was always the new kid at school and
never popular. Everyone made fun of my hair color, freckles, the way I talked,
you name it. Before then, I’d always been the target and I didn’t want to be
anymore. I wanted to belong and here was my chance, except there was a catch.”

“Isn’t there always?” Her frown grew seriously nasty. “You
couldn’t be friends with Connor and Mitch too, right?”

Nikki didn’t much like Shoshana’s judgmental tone but
figured she’d earned it. “It was way worse than that,” she mumbled. “I had to
be as cruel to them as everyone else was, not that anyone actually got in
Mitch’s or Connor’s face. They were too big for that, six feet already when I
first met them. One of the guys said his buddy had tripped Connor in middle
school, thinking it was funny. Mitch broke the kid’s nose. After that, it was
never physical abuse, just mental.”

She fisted her fingers, remembering. “If I wanted to belong,
I had to pretend Mitch and Connor didn’t exist, at least until they walked by,
then I had to laugh to make them think I was ridiculing them. On Halloween, we
all gathered outside their grandmother’s house. The others were going to throw
rotten eggs at it and warned me I had to do the same. ‘Their grandmother
deserves it,’ one of the football players said, ‘she’s a pig’. All during high
school the bullying went on relentlessly with the veiled threat that it was
either them or me. I opted to save myself, not even wanting to consider how
they endured it.”

An image of them rose in Nikki’s mind, their pain, anger and
finally their indifference to everything she was. That hurt the worst and made
her angry with them, wanting to lash out even though she had no right.

She spoke on a weary sigh. “I missed them more than I could
stand. I loved them and still did all those terrible things. When they
graduated, I went to the ceremony so I could see them one last time before they
left for college. They were two kids alone, unsmiling, unwelcomed in this sea
of happy people. I wanted to congratulate them on getting their diplomas and
scholarships to great schools. Hell, I wanted to apologize and beg for their
forgiveness, but by then I was too ashamed and afraid. I wish I could take it
all back.”