Ménage Material [La Belle sans la Bete Ménages] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (9 page)

Alexei shrugged. “And? Sometimes, a wife has a need for her husband.”

“I’ve never called him out of work before,” she muttered, then bit her lip as guilt assailed her.

“Then he is very fortunate! I think I shall have to teach you not to be a mouse around him. You can roar. He won’t break, and he won’t throw you out.” He spoke with wisdom and a shrewdness that had her narrowing her eyes at him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Even if you did not agree to this today, he would not ask for a separation. You would have to make the request. He approached you because of me, but he did not ask you to be his wife for the same reason. You didn’t have to be his wife for this relationship of ours to work. He asked you to marry him of his own accord.”

“He wanted me, you mean.”

“Yes.” He shook his head at her scowl of disbelief. “Is that so difficult to understand?”

She hooted. “You ask me that when we had a similar experience at college, Alexei? Try losing your virginity at twenty-three, because you were jailbait to every single guy in your class—even when you started on your Masters! As inexperienced as I am with sex, I’m even worse with men. You might as well be Martians. In fact, I’d probably have more fun trying to understand you if you were!”

Alex’s lips twitched. “I see what he means now.”

Devvy scowled. “About what?”

“You have a tendency to run off on a tangent and then throw the strangest comment into the mix. Charming,” he breathed and leaned toward her.

“Well, I’m glad being a social pariah is a turn on for both of you. It looks like my luck is finally in!”

“Oh, it was two years ago, Devvy. Today is the first day of the rest of your life,
mignonne
. Whichever path you choose to take is up to you, but know we will be here for you. Either way.”

“I’m sure.”

“Your cynicism wounds me.”

“If an American guy said that to me, I’d probably ask him which Jane Austen novel he fell out of.”

“Then it is a good thing that I am French,
non
?”

“Maybe.”

The fact Bastien was French sometimes worked against her. Trying to argue with a man with an accent as sexy as her husband’s was counterproductive. Not that they argued often. As Alexei had rightly assumed, she tended to stay quiet even if something annoyed her.

And the fact that he was right on the money pissed her off all the more.

Now, she was adding another man to the mix. She’d never get anything done! The thought almost made her groan at the very idea of what they would be doing instead of arguing…

She sighed, forced herself to stop thinking about French words being muttered in her ear as Alex rutted away on top of her, his mouth brushing her ear, her entire being surrounded by his scent, his power. Devvy cleared her throat and said, “Anyway, you were telling me about how you two met.”

“I am wise enough to change the topic for the moment,
ma petite
. But be aware, you are not powerless in your marriage. In fact, you hold a lot of power. And now, you hold even more. If you allow me into your life, into your partnership, you will have two men who want you. Who need you. Just remember that,
hein
?”

At the very French “filler” word,
hein
, Devvy had to withhold a sigh. Those sounds were incredibly sexy, especially to a non-speaker of the language. There were times when just listening to Bastien on the phone made her want to climb onto his lap and ravish his mouth with her own.

Not that she’d ever done that.

Sighing at her lack of balls, she took another bite of ham. Maybe Alex was right. Meekness had gotten her nowhere in her life.

Why did she have courage as a scientist but not as a woman?

She let Bastien get away with blue murder. All out of gratefulness.

It was time for that to change.

“Neither of us have leanings toward men, Devvy,” Alex dropped that little bomb and blasted her thoughts of her uselessness as a woman away.

She choked on the ham and grabbed her glass of water. Croakily, she muttered, “Then I completely misunderstood what the two of you mean to each other.”

He laughed. “No, Bastien and I are lovers. In every sense.”

“Then, what do you mean?”

“What I said yesterday. I do not like to be labeled and neither does Bastien, mostly because we’re neither gay nor straight nor bisexual. We like what we like and we want what we want. For twenty years, I’ve wanted Sebastien. And now, I want you.”

“Have you slept with any other men?”

He eyed her, pondering her question. “Why do you want to know?”

She shrugged. “I’m just curious.”

“There have been three men in my life. Bastien is one of them. But I’m fussy.”

“Bastien does that to a person,” she mumbled.

Alex’s grin nearly split his jaw in two. “Yes, he does. I am fortunate, am I not, that you find me attractive for my brain. Otherwise, I would be standing in the shadow of our great industrialist.”

“Not just for your brain,” she replied, speaking the truth. Even if it was embarrassing.

“That is nice to know,
chérie
.”

“I’m just being honest.”

“I know and I thank you for it.” He sank a little deeper into the cushions and studied her. “As you correctly assumed, none of my lovers even compared to Bastien. But, he has one failing.”

“He does?” She cocked her brow at him, her curiosity piqued.

“He does not have a
chatte.
” At her frown of confusion, he waved his hands. “A pussy, I think you call it?”

Laughter gurgled out of her, and she nearly spilled her glass of water down her front. “No, I think I’d have noticed if he did.” Grinning at him in return, she asked, “And you like pussy?”

“I do,” he told her softly. “Very much.”

His eyes flared at her, the lids widening slightly, exposing her to those violet orbs. They were truly beautiful. Enough to lose herself in them.

“You want mine?” The awkward question came out breathless, and had her stomach cramping with lust. It flashed through her, setting her skin to tingling with gooseflesh.

“Very much,” he repeated. “Are you going to give it to me?”

Devvy scored her bottom lip with her teeth as she looked at this man, a creature who made her feel things not even Bastien had made her feel. Edgy, nervous, needy.

Bastien was rough. Not in a mean way, but he took. He conquered. When they had sex, afterward, it was like she’d been steamrollered. Every part of her ached, in the best possible way. Her pussy pulsed with the aftermath of the orgasms that throttled through her. Her breasts and nipples were sore from his teeth and tongue, the mouth that could suck those nubs of hers until she’d cum from that alone. He’d drag her over his lap and spank her. Roll her onto her knees and fuck her in the ass.

She was borderline passive with him. Letting him do whatever he desired, taking serious pleasure in letting him have his way with her. But she was with him at each step. Wanting more, needing everything he could give.

Devvy had a feeling Alex was a different kettle of fish. She could sense that he would tease and toy with her. He’d push her over the edge and then drag her back before she could fall, only to force her over once more.

Sebastien would let her fall. He’d glory in her tumble down to an orgasm.

Alex would make her beg for it. He’d make her work for every single sensation.

That hypothesis, based only on this conversation and his silky tone, was hardly concrete. But as with yesterday and her belief that Bastien had been cheating on her, Devvy’s instincts were solid.

She sensed it and knew he was as different to Bastien as night was to day, and not just where their coloring was concerned.

She also knew that if she walked away from him, if she didn’t experience his touch, just the once, she’d forever regret it.

At her prolonged silence, he merely stared at her, waiting for an answer. Until finally, when the doorbell rang, the sound jolting the pair of them, he gritted out, “Well, Devvy. Will you?”

She could do nothing less than nod her compliance.

Down the rabbit hole I go
, she thought, almost fatalistically, but knew she’d be a willing player in the madness that was to come.

He’d have been lying if he’d denied being thrilled by this unexpected outcome. But that was just what it was.
Unexpected
. And damned if Alexei Ivanov didn’t want to kiss Devvy Jacques’s feet for giving him one hell of a surprise.

Her coming at all today had been a shock. He’d expected an apology call, or an irate one saying that she couldn’t go anywhere near him without her divorce lawyer present. Although if that had been the case, Bastien would have called him. Probably in tears.

Their marital dynamic was beyond peculiar. In fact, it was intriguing. Both granted the other one more power than either realized, and felt as though they were the weaker, or less powerful, one in their relationship.

Devvy had absolutely no idea of the hold she had over Bastien. Who yes, had instigated the relationship on Alex’s say-so, but who hadn’t proposed for the same reason. Their cosmetics magnate had managed to skip the bonds of matrimony for over two decades, but with Devvy, he’d decided to cement it with a ring. Apparently, Alex was the only one to see the meaning behind that.

As he stood and murmured to a shell-shocked-looking Devvy, “I’ll just go and open the elevator for him,” Alex pondered how interesting it would be to enter the unusual dynamic the two of them shared. He couldn’t help but wonder how the power would shift and who would retain the most of it.

Bastien had been born a leader. It was in his blood. He wasn’t cruel, and while he had a domineering streak, he wasn’t dominant per se. He could be rough, and sex with him could cause a person to walk awkwardly the next day, but the man’s arrogance was ingrained.

Devvy, on the other hand, was a loner. There was a power in that. She was self-reliant and accustomed to doing things for herself. That made her strong. Incorruptible. While he knew she valued herself, he also knew she didn’t see her own attraction. Unusually, this wasn’t because society had worked its magic on her. Her belief in her own lack of appeal stemmed from her adolescence. The time when her sexuality should have started to blossom, and instead, she’d been among a too-old crowd. To Devvy, she was still the young teenager amid the twenty-somethings, and therefore, unattractive and unappealing as well as awkward to the average guy. That in turn made her susceptible to Bastien, because she thought herself lucky to have him.

It was interesting that yesterday she’d refused their overtures even though it seemed like she gave in to Bastien a lot. Out of gratitude for him having taken her on—something that would rankle Sebastien if the other man were to learn that his wife was
grateful
to be married to him. Just the thought made him chuckle, for Sebastien’s arrogance would weep at that.

Alex had appreciated Devvy’s show of strength. That display of self-worth in the face of what she believed she could lose for saying no. And after their conversation this morning, it came as a relief to realize she was here for herself, and not to please Sebastien.

He could have doubted that if her body hadn’t sent him the message. Loud and clear. One his own had reacted to, and responded to in kind. For the first time in his life, being Alexei Ivanov was a blessing, and not a curse. This woman, this amazing creature, lusted after him for his smarts. Oh, it wasn’t the first time it had happened, it was just the first time it counted.

Alex moved out of the salon and into the hall, opening the downstairs door after a quick glimpse at the video footage, and at Bastien’s tense if gloriously handsome face. He stood and waited for the other bell to ring, the one that told him someone wished to come to his floor, and then released the lock when the elevator pinged.

Bastien entered the apartment looking…the only way Alex could describe it was flustered.

It was amusing to see him that way,
and
touching. They’d both invested a lot of their hopes and dreams in this one woman, and to see them coming to fruition, even if it was only the first step down that path, was something worthy of celebration.

“You should have used your key,” was all he said in the face of Bastien’s meltdown, as he pressed a kiss to his lover’s mouth.

“I didn’t want Devvy to think I was sneaking in.”

Considering that made no sense to him, he wondered what the hell his lover was thinking about, but shrugged rather than make a comment that would set Bastien off. “Well, she definitely knows you’re here now.”

“So she hasn’t left?” Bastien sighed, literally sagging with relief as the elevator doors closed gently behind him. “Where is she?”

“In the salon.”

“What the hell made her change her mind?”

Alex watched as Bastien raked a hand through his hair and from the dishevelment, it wasn’t the first time he’d done so. If Devvy saw their mate now, she’d realize how tightly she had Bastien wrapped around her little finger. Alex foresaw a future where he was just as whipped, and rather than dread the prospect, he reveled in the idea, because she was his.