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“Holy crap,” was all she managed to say.
Trey snickered behind them. “Zane has his obsessive side. He couldn’t help shopping for you in the hopes that you’d hang around.”
“I’m supposed to wear one of these?” She touched a long silk gown in pale peach. It was even fancier than the silver slip thing he’d bought for her. “These dresses are beautiful, but I’m not sure they’re me.”
“They’re you,” Zane said sternly. “The you you haven’t met. Think of them as uniforms for billionaires’ girlfriends.”
She burst out laughing, which she hoped was okay. She looked at Zane to make sure. A muscle ticked in his chiseled jaw. Okay, maybe this was important to him. “Really,” she said, patting his arm. “They’re gorgeous.”
“Pull out the blue one,” Trey urged. “That color is exactly her.”
The blue one was sapphire velvet. The skirt was cocktail length, and the neckline plunged dangerously. She believed it was the sort of dress people referred to as flirty.
“Uh,” Rebecca said at the thought of wearing it.
“Please,” Zane said, holding it out to her. “Try it on.”
Still a little shy about undressing with the men, she took the dress into the bathroom. Naturally, it fit like a second skin, requiring that she remove her bra in order to look right in it. The skirt was snug and shorter than expected. She had booty in it. And legs. Truth be told, it made her a new woman: a glamorous, sexy, thinking-man’s hot female. She didn’t know whether to frown or gasp as she studied her reflection.
Both men smiled when she came out again.
“That’s the one,” Trey said. “Don’t make her try on the others.”
Rebecca was all for not trying on the others. The rest of the program she hadn’t quite signed off on. “Where am I wearing this?”
“The center of the universe,” Zane said.
He made her laugh in spite of her nervousness. “And that would be where?”
“New York. There’s a charity function at the Whitney-Moeller Museum, to raise money for wildlife. Trey and I have been invited.”
“And I’m your plus-one.”
He cupped her face. “Always. For as long as you’re willing.”
She laughed again, because what woman could resist that prospect? “For you,” she said, “I’ll wear the matching heels.”
~
Rebecca didn’t expect him to, but Zane rustled up invitations for the twins. She was starting to feel bad about keeping them from their lives, but both boys seemed keen to come. She assumed this was because they’d be flying in a private jet, not because they loved penguin suits.
Space was also made for Charlie’s geekalicious four-eyed friend. Caroline’s curvaceous body was poured into black leather pants and a sparkly top. The pants made Rebecca jealous—because they allowed the girl to wear flats. Caroline carried an overnight bag and a rather beefy looking small laptop.
“Studying for a final,” the redhead said when she noticed Rebecca’s attention to the computer. “I took summer session over the break.”
Studying on a date didn’t seem right to her, but if Charlie didn’t mind her preoccupation, Rebecca had no business getting upset on his behalf. The girl did take a moment to admire Charlie’s James Bond-ish attire as he took the seat next to her. Pete sat in the same grouping of chairs with them, so she guessed the outing wasn’t meant to be romantic. Then again, what did she know about romance for college kids?
They landed after a brief flight. A private car service picked them up. Inside the tricked-out limo van, Zane and Trey went into mogul mode. Neither made less than a dozen calls, touching base and schmoozing.
“You’re letting people know we’re here,” she said when they finally stopped.
“Here and kicking,” Zane confirmed. “Our associates in Manhattan need to know we’re doing business as usual.”
“Will they be at the fundraiser?”
“Some of them.”
Trey was sitting next to her, with Zane on his other side. Sensing her nervousness, he took her hand. “We show up. We drink. We dance. We write a big check for charity. We act like what we are to each other is perfectly normal.”
“What if I screw up?”
“You can’t,” Zane said. “You look too damn delectable to be anything but an asset.”
Rebecca hoped cleaning up well was all tonight would require of her.
Trey saw her skepticism. “We won’t leave you on your own. One of us will be with you at all times.”
“You don’t have to go that far.”
“We do. The more people see us together, the more they’ll understand there’s more to us than Showergate. We’re serious about each other.”
Rebecca snuck at look at Zane. He didn’t bat an eye at Trey’s claim. She knew he’d heard it. He wasn’t murmuring in his phone. He was slipping that into his tuxedo jacket’s inside pocket.
“We’re serious,” he agreed and straightened his black bowtie. He and Trey were so stunning in formal wear she had trouble thinking straight. She definitely couldn’t afford to dwell on them finding each other stunning too. Her knees wobbled badly enough in these dressy heels.
“You’re not nervous,” she said.
Zane’s sensual lips curved in an amused smile. “I seem to have gotten over that. Maybe all I needed was something to fight against.”
She supposed that would light a fire under a competitive man like him. She wished she had a cure for her nerves. She was serious too. About Zane and Trey. About building some sort of future together. The fact that it was some sort was what threw her. She wanted the men forever, and she wanted a guarantee. Knowing nobody got that couldn’t squelch her wish for one.
Trey leaned over to kiss her cheek. “This isn’t life and death, Rebecca. We get through tonight, and we tackle tomorrow when it comes.”
“Right,” she said, tightening her grip on his hand. When Zane reached sideways to grip it too, she actually did feel better.
~
Zane was better at hiding his nerves than Rebecca realized. He hadn’t lied about feeling ready to be a threesome in public, but he had trickier irons in the fire tonight. He hoped he wasn’t crazy for letting her brothers talk him into Operation Blue Velvet.
Naturally, they hadn’t heeded his request to leave Missy to him and Trey.
In the confusion of the scandal breaking, Zane had shoved Owens’ confiscated laptop onto a shelf in the library. The boys had found it, read Owens’ name on the case, and decided to take a peek. A phone call to Charlie’s brainiac red-haired friend enabled them to crack Owens’ apparently pathetic security, whereupon they discovered the dismissed chauffeur had a long-term fondness for filmmaking.
Their plan for exploiting that was one Zane might have devised in his college days.
Too smart to propose the plot to Rebecca, the boys had come to him.
“It’s the nuclear principle,” Pete had said with frightening reasonableness. “We’ve got a bomb, and the swimsuit hanger doesn’t. If we want her to stop taking jabs at you and Trey and Rebecca, we have to demonstrate we’re willing and able to use it.”
“Plus, Mystique going after you is the reason the bomb exists,” Charlie said. “It’s poetic justice. We’d be silly to feel guilty.”
“You’ll only push the button if she shows up?”
“She’ll show up,” Pete said. “Once she hears the three of you will be there, she won’t be able to resist making more trouble. She’ll dress to the teeth and try to show you what you’re missing. Or play poor misled thing to anyone who’ll listen.”
“Or both,” Charlie added. “I’m betting that’s not beyond her.”
That was a wager Zane wouldn’t take. “I don’t want you getting caught.”
“We won’t,” Charlie promised. “No one but Mystique will guess where the bomb came from. Caroline has, like, criminal level skills.”
Zane saw this didn’t dampen Charlie’s interest in the girl.
He’d accepted their offer with stipulations, which the boys agreed to honor. All that remained was seeing if Missy would act true to form. Knowing it was best to shelve his worries for the time being, he joined Trey in helping Rebecca out of the limo van.
She looked better squirming to get comfortable in her blue velvet dress than Missy could in a hundred designer gowns—with or without photo retouching. The model would never understand why he and Trey preferred their shared lover, why her wobbly ankles were the most alluring, why her happy grin made their hearts stutter. Rebecca was a beautiful woman, but she was also a big bright soul. Being seen with her made him proud, no matter what anybody thought.
