Owned: A Mafia Menage Romance(189)

You think that was ballsy?

As the applause died away I hooked my hands inside each brother's strong arm, giving their biceps a firm, lingering squeeze. Then I slid my hands down their arms and dragged them behind me so that each brother could embrace my waist. I leaned my head back and gazed up at Owen with heavy-lidded eyes, allowing the thick buzz from the champagne to fully show on my face.

Owen smiled at me cautiously as though he was waiting to make sure that I realized just how energetically I was throwing myself at him. But I definitely knew.

And Lyle seemed to know too. I rolled my head toward him and lavished him with the same unabashedly flirty smile. He didn't wait at all, but leaned in swiftly to dip his head behind my ear and kissed me at the seam of my neck and shoulder, lighting off a series of sparks just under my skin.

“Is that all right?” Owen murmured from my other side. Their politeness was a contradiction: how could these two be so brazen and so boyscout at the same time?

“It’s more than all right,” I purred. I felt like a movie star. I could sense everyone’s eyes turning toward us as we basked in our victory.

“You’re sure?” Lyle asked. He pivoted slightly, dragging his hip across mine. I could feel the hard bulge in his trousers against my thigh. My mouth felt thick and dry.

Go ahead, say yes. You earned this.

Say it.





CHAPTER 10


I flipped both taps on full blast in the lavish gold and white bathroom and dug frantically to my small handbag for my cell phone.

“Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!”

“No!” she said as soon as the call connected.

I flinched. “What you mean, no?”

I heard Melita hiss through her teeth.

“Well, I assume that you're calling me to ask me for a ride home because you are fixin' to chicken right the fuck out. Am I right?”

“Sort of? Melita —”

“Then, the answer is still no.”

“Melita," I whispered right into the cell phone microphone with my hand cupped around my mouth, “I am in their hotel room!"

A pause.

“They? As in, both of them?”

“Oh my God!” I moaned. I stared at my face in the enormous mirror, trying to see if I looked as crazy as I felt. But no, I had to admit I actually still looked pretty great. It's amazing how appearances can deceive.

“Well, that does change things.”

“Thank you! I can be downstairs in five minutes…”

“No, girl, I mean grab me some of those oatmeal soaps they got there in the bathroom. I love those things!”

“Melita!” I whined as loudly as I could without risking the Jacks hearing me in the next room.

“Brienne, you are bringing new meaning to the phrase ‘getting right back on the horse.’”

I shook my head, knuckling my forehead. How did I get here? Being with them was like a drug. I was not myself. The whole thing had been my idea, and I loved the way Owen’s eyes lit up when I coyly suggested we get a private room to continue talking.

As we strolled down the hallways together I felt pleasantly tipsy, but when Lyle smirked and opened the penthouse door with the key card he produced from his tuxedo breast pocket, suddenly I was as sober as I ever had been in my life. What had I just talked myself into?

Excusing myself to the bathroom to freshen up or whatever it is ladies are supposed to do in the bathroom, I honestly thought making a getaway was a possibility. But then again, I had to admit I was curious about the experiences that lay just behind that door.

“Just tell me one thing,” she said. “Are you absolutely sure this is something you don't want to do?”

"Well… No," I said, the truth of the word ringing in my ears.

"Well, good, because I couldn't come get you anyway.”

“What are you — oh my gosh, are you still with the cowboy?”

“Like a bronco buster!”

“Um, okay, wow.”

“Yeah, wow is right,” she agreed breathlessly.

"Does that mean your date was a success?” I asked as I slowly turned off one of the taps with trembling fingers.

I could hear the excitement in her rushed words. “Let me just ask you: do you believe in love at first sight?”

I stood up straight in the bathroom. Do I? I was not sure I believed in love at all anymore. But I couldn't say that.

“Hmm — I totally think that's possible,” I lied.

“Oh my gosh, Brienne, I am so glad to hear you say that. It's like… It's like a goddamn country song is what it's like. He opens doors for me and says ma'am like a proper cowboy and everything!”

I swallowed hard. “Melita, that is so awesome —”

“Oh, girl, I gotta go!”

My eyes burned like I wanted to cry. What was wrong with me?