Tease Me (Private Listing #4)

“I never had anyone to their house.” Madison’s brows furrow. “Why would he say that? He acts like he doesn’t even remember me.”

The benefit comes to mind. When Patrick acted like he didn’t know who Madison was even though their firm put through the background check. Maybe Madison didn’t list Patrick and Anna as previous employers, but he still should have recognized her name.

“Andrea was my push.” Blake’s voice draws me out of my memories. “I thought she’d be perfect for us. I trusted her. Convinced you guys that this could work. With her. And then she backstabbed all of us.”

“That’s your baggage.” I squeeze Madison’s hand. “I get it. We’ve had a lot of issues. Andrea. Rachel. Elizabeth. Leighton.” I glance at Noah. “Beth.”

Noah pushes out a breath. We don’t talk about Beth much, but we all knew the toll it took on Noah when she tried to make him choose us or her. Madison’s gaze grows curious as she looks at Noah.

He lifts her knuckles to his lips and presses a kiss to them. “College girlfriend. Thought I spent too much time with the guys. Made me choose. I chose them.”

She brushes his hair out of his eyes and leans her forehead against his. I don’t have jealousy about a lot of things, but that connection between them seems so easy. I wish things could be that easy in my world.

“No one should make you choose,” she whispers.

And none of us would insist she choose just one of us. We all want her and love her. She loves and wants us.

At least she did until Blake and Seth made waves.

“What made you decide to test Madison’s loyalty?” I meet Blake’s eyes head on.

He sighs and finally looks at Madison as she lifts her eyes to meet his. “Everything works with you. Everything. You fit us. All of us. No one has ever been that for us before.”

She rests her head against my shoulder and warmth fills me. He’s not wrong.

“At first, we were all attracted to you. Your body. Your looks. Your mind. But then you were here with us and we needed to be more, craved more. We protect you. We fuck you. We talk to you. We love you. And it’s so effortless.”

He stands abruptly and paces away before coming back. Resting his hands on the table, he blows out his breath. “It’s fucking terrifying. It’s like someone looked into our brains and created a woman built just for us. This shit doesn’t happen. We don’t find someone who wants all of us the way we want her.

“Coop would fuck anyone, but connect with a woman on an emotional level? And Noah. Fuck, we all knew how the other women felt about him. He’s too smart, too distant, too introverted for them, but not for you. You two connected that first day, and fuck, did that make me jealous. Not jealous of Noah but of what you had with him, because I knew I couldn’t be that easy to love.

“Seth and I were burned hard. We set this whole contract up so our emotions wouldn’t get tangled in it. We wanted you, but we didn’t think we’d need you. We definitely didn’t plan to love you, but we do. We didn’t love the others and they nearly destroyed us. And that’s scary shit.”

Blake runs his hand over his head and straightens.

“Seth didn’t want to test you. I planted the doubt. I stoked his fear the same way Patrick stoked mine. Don’t punish Seth for being a fool for you and letting his fear drive him.”

Madison straightens, but before she says anything, Seth’s phone buzzes.

“The food.” He gestures to the phone and takes the call, heading toward the door. Rising, Noah kisses Madison on her head and joins Seth as they head out of the apartment.

She leans back on the chair and presses her lips together. The silence is daunting.

“There’s something off about Patrick.” I rub my chin. It keeps churning through my head.

Blake lowers into his chair. “You noticed too?”

She looks between us but says nothing.

“Why wouldn’t he recognize her name from the background search? She was his children’s nanny. Surely he ran a background check on her. It was only four years ago.”

“Three,” she says.

“What?”

She clears her throat. “I hadn’t seen Anna or Patrick for three years. I worked for them my entire freshman year and the summer after. So it’s been three years since they last saw me. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t even know the new nanny’s name. Anna always took care of the household.”

“Maybe.” Maybe the guy doesn’t look at other women since he’s married. Madison is a beautiful woman, but she would have been young for him at eighteen. He’s older than me by a few years at least. I’m not sure I’ve really noticed other women since Madison. But I know my employees. “But you were with them for a year. That has to be significant.”