Watch Me (Private Listing #1)

He steps out of the closet and closes the door. As we pass by the bed, I resist the urge to run and jump on it. Though I promise myself that if I get to this part of the job, I will most definitely do that. He leads me back through the mini apartment, out to the shared living space.

“What do you think, Madison?” He stops in the center of the space and turns toward me. One of his dark eyebrows arches. “Do you think you could live with the four of us? Work with us day and night?”

If I can get over lusting after them, then yes. “Of course. This is perfect. I’d be lucky to live here.”

Away from creepy neighbors and absentee roommates. It truly seems like a dream come true, but I can’t help but wonder if the other side of the coin is waiting for me in this meeting with Seth.

Chapter 4

Consent

Seth

My palms are clammy. Maybe we should go about this differently. We all agreed to this, but it’s not exactly the best idea. This could blow up in our faces. Again.

There’s this window of opportunity. If we broach it too soon, they run away. If we wait too long, they feel foolish. This time, I decided to be upfront. That means entrusting this woman with a lot of information when trust hasn’t been earned yet on either side.

We’re strangers to her, and she’s a stranger to us.

A knock on my office door makes me stand. My door opens, and Blake walks in without waiting for my say-so. We’ve worked together for so long that we’re usually good at reading each other’s mood, but I can’t tell if Blake is as nervous as I am.

Fuck, I’m never nervous, but this has me tied in knots.

“Cooper is finishing up the tour.” Blake glances over his shoulder as if they will appear there at any moment. “Are you sure you want to do this? She could get to know us better. We can wait and see how the two weeks go before scaring her away.”

Tuesday, I studied Ms. Harris closely during our interview. Her blue eyes were wide but far from naive. Her blond hair fell loose around her shoulders. The clothes she wore didn’t fit her quite right. Definitely not tailored. The shirt was stretched across her good-sized breasts but wasn’t too big around her small waist. Her skirt, though, showed the curves of her ass nicely and gave enough glimpses of her thighs and her well-shaped calves for me to want them wrapped around my waist.

As she met each of us, her full lips parted and her cheeks flushed. Her pupils were blown with desire. She might be hesitant to take what we’re offering, but where there’s a spark, we can coax it into a flame.

I lower myself into my chair and lean back. “We’ll take it slow. A trial run before she moves in with us is best. We may decide she won’t suit our needs.”

“She’s young.” Blake raises an eyebrow.

Just out of college, starting out. It was one reason we pulled her resume. We need someone fresh to do this job. Someone who’s ambitious. Who wants to do more than just sit at a desk and give us reports. She’s driven, graduating in four years with an MBA and doing internships at the same time.

Her resume looks like ours would have.

“We aren’t that much older than her.” Yes, we have a company we built from the ground up. But we’re all in our upper twenties. Only Coop has already turned thirty. Blake and I were a year behind him in school, while Noah was a year behind us, but he skipped a grade early on, so he also got his degree the same year Blake and I did.

“Twenty-nine is a long way from twenty-two.” Blake snorts and glances over his shoulder again. He steps in closer. “NDA first. God knows, if she spreads this contract business around, we could all be toast.”

“I haven’t forgotten how to do my job.” I straighten and walk around the desk. “We all agreed we want her, so what’s this about?”

I rest my hip on the desk and cross my arms. We all want her. Probably too much.

It was an easy decision, and surprisingly, everyone was in without any convincing.

“I don’t want to fail again.” Blake always needed to be the best at everything. Throughout high school and college, there were athletics and academics, but in the real world, it’s more difficult to figure out how to be the best.

Our company is almost number one. Almost. Our industry is super competitive and being ranked that high is amazing. Which is why we push ourselves so hard.

Blake takes failure a lot harder than the rest of us.

“She hasn’t even started.” I lower my arms. “We’ll know up front if she’s interested in pursuing the contract or not. She’ll still make an excellent executive assistant. She’s got the brain and hunger for it.”

He nods and leaves.

He’s not wrong. The last time we tried this, we lost an outstanding executive assistant. We all weren’t into her, though. Madison has something that draws even me. This had better work, or I’ll be taking a lot of cold showers.