The Gallery_A Reverse Harem Romance Read online

  I braced myself for a scolding.

  “…I can’t out those guys for their particular proclivities just like you can’t out me for being gay. And, are you kidding? Of course, they were gonna like you. You’re amazing.”

  “Well, thank you. Anyway, no one needs to out you for being gay.” I said.

  He hmphed. “I’ll take that as a compliment, thankyouverymuch. But back to you. You’re a big girl. You don’t need me to warn you about boys.”

  “Well, it might have been nice to know they’re into this sharing thing.”

  “Look, Av. They are a nice, good-looking bunch, and I’ve known them for many years. I wish they played for my team, but I gave up on that long ago. If you like them, date them. If not, move on.”

  Move on? He was right, I guessed.

  But I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

  Chapter 12

  CHASE

  Our Kink Lab party from the night before had been a smashing success, as always. I hadn’t stayed until the end because I wanted to get home to my baby girl, but we’d had about a hundred and fifty guests—our largest party to date—and everything came off smooth as silk.

  ‘Course, it was no accident when things worked out well. We busted our asses to ensure everything fell perfectly into place for our guests. After all, if you were paying two thousand dollars to attend a party, you’d expect it to be fucking perfect, too.

  And the best news was that the lovely Avril was willing to let us test-drive an event at her gallery. According to Ash and Blu, it was the perfect space for Kink Lab, even better than the loft where we’d been holding it for the last two years. Every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose…

  I’d never worried about finding a new venue for the parties. New York was chock-full of fascinating old buildings. I knew it would just take some work to find the perfect one. And then Avril’s gallery just fell into our lap, thanks to good old Blu.

  But the absolute best thing Blu did was bring Avril into our lives.

  Yeah, it was early days, but I had a good feeling about her.

  I mean, sure, we were part of the same general social circle and all. I recognized her because I’d seen her around—usually with her cocksucker husband—but I didn’t know her at all. The minute Blu started talking about her, I saw her in a different light. One where she wasn’t in the shadow of an unappreciative husband, or just some other spoiled, rich wife, but where she was a smart, accomplished woman with her own business, whose life had just been unexpectedly shit on by some of the people closest to her.

  She’d earned her battle scars, just like we guys had. And I liked that.

  Sumner had let me know he’d dropped our ‘bomb’ on Avril. I say that because you never know how someone will react to the idea of being shared. So far, so good—she hadn’t run away screaming. ‘Course she hadn’t signed on the dotted line, either.

  I’d watched her from across the room at the party the previous night, letting Blu ease her into the sex club vibe. Everyone reacted differently their first time. Some people went apeshit wild, tearing off their clothes and wanting to fuck everything in sight. Some people stood in a dark corner, wondering what the hell they were doing there. Most people fell somewhere in between. They were, without a doubt, intrigued and maybe dying to jump in, but they also took their time easing into whatever it was that turned them on.

  Avril was one of those people in the middle. They were the best kind, in my opinion. Gutsy but wise enough to get the lay of the land first.

  So it had probably come as no surprise to her when I called her the morning after the party to ask her to lunch. I did it on the pretense of discussing business, but if I could steer things in a more intimate direction, so much the better. The guys had asked me to seal the deal, at least with regard to securing the gallery for our next party. But if I could interest her in our amorous intentions, everyone would be happy. Especially her, I liked to think.

  When I arrived at the gallery, I entered through a huge, heavy door. The building had most likely once been something industrial. The owners had clearly tried to keep some of the place’s old charms intact.

  It was huge and sunny, with twenty-foot high ceilings and wide wooden boards for hardwood floors. Low voices floated through the air, and while I couldn’t make out what they were saying, I could detect Avril’s voice and that of the clients she’d told me she’d be meeting with that morning. I grabbed a seat on the cushy sofa in the corner and opened the phone app that allowed me to check in on Ruby when she was napping in her crib. Voila, there was my gorgeous little girl. She was lying in that funny position babies do, where they’re flat on their backs with their arms reaching overhead. Her face was turned to the side, and I had to say, her profile was so goddamn beautiful, I got a lump in my throat.

  Funny how one of the worst things to ever happen to you can turn out to be one of the best. Little Ruby’s mom might have bailed on us, but our baby had brought more joy into my life than I ever knew was possible.

  I watched Avril escort two men, the couple she’d been discussing the artwork with, to the door. She shook their hands.

  When she turned to me, her face brightened.

  “Hello!” she said, clicking across the room toward me in her stiletto heels.

  She wore a plain, black knit dress that clung to her every curve. On anyone else, it might have looked like a sack, but on her curvy figure, it was perfection.

  The woman was gorgeous by any measure, but to see her in her element, conducting business like a champ, only added to the appeal that left me wanting so badly. The rest of the guys often teased me that a shift in the wind got me hard, but this was the real thing.

  I stood to kiss her cheek, lingering for a moment to experience her light perfume. Christ, it was going to be hard to keep the conversation to business.

  “The gallery is amazing,” I said, looking around.

  She nodded. “Thank you. It’s my baby. I love it too.”

  I could have sworn I saw something wistful wash over her pretty face. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She pursed her lips before answering. “Well, I’ve had some concerns about whether or not I’ll be able to keep it going. I mean, that’s why Blu brought us all together.”

  That wasn’t the only reason. He knew our tastes as well as we did.

  “That’s one of the things we’ll talk about over lunch then,” I said, smiling. “Shall we go?”

  Just a few minutes later, we settled into a window table at the best steakhouse in the city. It also happened to be owned by a frequent guest at Kink Lab. He’d stopped by the table to thank me for a great time the night before.

  What could I say? We aimed to please.

  “I guess I should have asked first if you ate meat.”

  She reached across the table and patted my arm. “It’s all good. I love it, actually.”

  “Whew. Thank goodness. I wouldn’t want you to think I was an asshole. At least, not yet. Wine?” I asked.

  “Yes, I could totally go for a glass of wine.”

  We ordered, and the waiter scurried away.

  “Thank you for joining me for lunch,” I said.

  She blushed the tiniest bit. Goddamn, that was cute.

  “I’ve always wanted to try this place.”

  “So tell me about the gallery,” I said.

  She nodded as the waiter opened our bottle and poured. “I used to be an art teacher. Before I got married.”

  Her happy face faltered for a moment, but she rallied. With a deep inhale, she pulled her shoulders back and plunged into her story.

  “After I married, I began volunteering at the children’s art center. I met several gallery owners and worked for one part-time for a year. That owner retired, and my husband suggested we buy the business.” She took a bite of her pork chop. “Oh, my god. This is like heaven. Anyway, it’s been a kind of hobby job until now. It’s yet to be profitable. We do okay, but with the cost of rent and other expenses here in Manhatt
an, my husband always supplemented things. He never minded. But that’s changed now.” She shook her head.

  “Shit. That’s a lot of pressure.”

  And she was right. Our lunch was incredible. I’d have to compliment the owner next time I saw him at one of our parties. It was funny to see someone working a dining room whom you’d watched doing sixty-nine with a woman just the night before.

  She continued, “So, things might be looking up for the gallery if hosting your parties works out…”

  “Avril, this could be very lucrative for you.”

  “It sounds like it. I’m giving it a shot. We’ll see how it all goes.”

  “That’s great news. We’ll iron out all the details in the next few days, but you won’t be sorry. In fact, this could be good for you in many ways.”

  “Like I might get more clients for the gallery,” she said with a hopeful smile.

  “I think there’s a strong chance of that.”

  We ate in silence for a few more minutes, and I refilled both our wine glasses.

  “So, I understand you have a baby,” she said. “Blu told me.”

  “I do. The light of my life.” Sounded sappy, but I couldn’t help it. Nor did I care. “Her name’s Ruby.”

  “I’ll bet she’s gorgeous.”

  “I think so.”

  “Where’s her mom?”

  “Dunno. She took off. Left me with our little angel. And good riddance to her,” I said, raising my glass.

  Avril toasted me back. “Ruby is lucky to have you.”

  “Ah. I’m lucky to have her.”

  I grabbed the check and found our wine had been comped. One of the fringe benefits of my life…

  “Shall we head out?” I asked.

  We walked back to the gallery, and when we were inside, I locked the door behind us.

  “Do you have any more appointments today, Avril?” I asked, leaning my back against the heavy door.

  She gave me a shy smile. “No. I was just going to do some paperwork this afternoon.”

  Yes.

  I walked toward her, slowly and deliberately. “You know, when I saw you at that Hamptons party, I really wanted to talk to you.”

  “Why didn’t you?” she asked, tilting her head.

  “You looked so alone. It didn’t seem like the right time to chat you up. Plus, you were married.”

  “Good thinking. That was quite the day,” she said.

  I leaned toward her, and our lips met for the first time. As soon as they did, I knew it would not be for the last time.

  In fact, I knew there would be many, many more times.

  But because she didn’t know that yet, I would be patient.

  Chapter 13

  AVRIL

  Wow. Chase Roman. Blond, dark-eyed, clean-shaven with a delicious little cleft in his baby-faced chin.

  And a single dad.

  That was some seriously grown-up stuff. A man, raising a daughter on his own. To be honest, it made my problems pale in comparison.

  And when our lips met, well, I knew I had to know more about this man. He was part of a great group of guys.

  Three of whom I’d now kissed—Ash, Sumner, and now Chase. Would Gio be next?

  God, I was feeling slutty, but what was the harm in kissing? And they all knew about it, so there would be no deceiving going on.

  “C’mon,” I said, taking Chase’s hand, emboldened by the hand life had dealt me.

  If anyone had told me just a few weeks ago I’d be lusting after a man—actually, men—other than my husband, well, I never would have believed them. Not in a million years.

  But I also never would have believed my sister would leave me so young, or that my once-adoring and attentive husband would dump my ass.

  I led Chase to my office in the loft. I’d filled it with lots of white, slipcovered furniture. Not very practical, I knew, but I’d wanted something girly to soften the industrial feel of it.

  “It’s nice up here,” Chase said, looking around.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  The new Avril was taking no prisoners. No, I had things to accomplish, and that included spending time with this gorgeous man.

  And possibly his friends. In a sex club. That also happened to be my gallery.

  Chase’s lips hit mine, and the stress in my body dribbled away. I didn’t know where it went, or if it would come back, but for that moment in time, I felt better than I had in ages. Better than I had when I was married. Almost better than I had before my sister died.

  He pulled me to him, gently enough to let me know I could turn him away at any time, if I wanted to.

  Which I didn’t.

  I opened my lips to accept more of him, and wouldn’t you know, that hot and bothered feeling between my legs started up, just like it had when I’d kissed the other guys.

  Boy, I was in for some trouble.

  He ran kisses down the side of my neck, while grasping handfuls of my ass and squeezing.

  Just as I was contemplating tearing my dress off, he excused himself, explaining he had to get back to work.

  What was it with these guys?

  Chase hadn’t wasted any time in setting a date for the next Kink Lab. I’d be lying if said I wasn’t a nervous wreck. I mean, I couldn’t afford to have the one thing in my life right now that was worth anything, damaged or destroyed. They’d all promised there’d be no problems, but I was leaving nothing to chance.

  The party’s ‘advance men,’ as they called them, arrived at four in the afternoon, several hours before the actual event was to start. I’d already stored the gallery’s most expensive artwork in a locked closet, just in case. I watched the movers take over my gallery with an efficient expertise, emptying their moving truck of furniture into the place in less than thirty minutes. Then, Blu appeared on the scene to tell the movers what to place where. Using my ladder, they even hung some filmy fabric from the pipes running across the ceiling.

  The transformation was incredible. My gallery was now ready for a sex club.

  “Whew, that was a lot of work. But the place looks fucking great,” Blu said, plopping down into one of the several fluffy sofas he’d brought in.

  “It really does,” I said, looking around in disbelief.

  “Hey, Av, you look nervous. Relax, why dontcha? When the party ends at midnight, the crew returns, moves everything back into the truck, and cleans the place from top to bottom. When you come in tomorrow morning, you’ll never know anything happened here,” he said.

  I took a deep breath. “I hope so, Blu. I really do.”

  He grabbed my hand and pulled me down on the sofa next to him. “Av, sweetie. Trust me on this. Have I ever let you down?”

  “Well, you let me marry Devon even though you thought he was a jerk.”

  He nodded. “Okay. I did let you down in that area. But I’m not going to any more. Promise.” He held up his small finger for the pinky promise we used when we were looking out for each other.

  I loved him for that. And the funny thing was, it really did make me feel better.

  “So, on to more important topics. What are you wearing tonight?” he asked, waving his hand over me like a fairy godmother.

  Which, he sort of was.

  “Well, um, I was just gonna wear what I have on,” I said, checking out my dress and shoes as if I hadn’t already done that a dozen times before I’d left the house that morning.

  “WHAT?”

  “What do you mean what? What’s wrong with my outfit?”

  “How many times do we have to go through this?” he said, drawing out his words like I was some sort of thick-headed toddler. He did that sometimes.

  “I think my black sheath dress is perfectly appropriate.”

  “Okay. It’s a sex party, not a board meeting of one of your charities. That DVF wrap dress you had on last time was way better.”

  “I could go home and get that.”

  “Av, what you don’t understand is that this is your pla
ce. You are partnering with us guys. You are a hostess.”

  Well. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I’d imagined myself perhaps watching from the sidelines, not meeting and greeting.

  “Um, okay,” I said.

  “Here,” he said, furiously texting a message on his phone.

  “There isn’t time, Blu. I’ll dress differently for next time.”

  “There’s plenty of time,” he shrieked. “Okay. I just texted my boy Juan up at Barneys New York. Is your driver nearby?”

  I wished. “No. Asshole cut me off from him, too.”

  “What a fucker. Okay, then. We’ll go out front, and I’ll hail you a cab. Meet Juan in the designer department at Barneys. He’ll have a dressing room full of clothes for you to try.”

  “All right, boss. Whatever you say.”

  “He’ll also extend to you the fuck-buddy discount he gives me. Just this once, though,” he added, shaking a finger at me.

  I really didn’t need to know about Blu’s fuck-buddy discounts.

  Although, I wondered if he got one at Bendel’s, too.

  Not two hours later, I was back at the gallery, where Blu was giving last minute instructions to the beautiful young women who’d be tending the bars. They were all wearing cute little getups of suit jackets and bow ties with nothing underneath. Not even trousers. Thigh-high stockings and stilettos finished the look with mini top hat fascinators.

  Could I pull off a look like that?

  Blue came rushing up to me and tore the shopping bags from my hands. “Lemme see! Lemme see!” he said, greedily.

  Tissue paper and fabric began to fly as he approved my—or should I say Juan’s?—selections.

  I lowered my voice. “I like what the bartenders are wearing. Maybe I could try a getup like that?”

  “NO! Not only NO but HELL NO.” He looked around and then lowered his own voice. “You are not one of the hired help. Do you understand that?” he hissed.

  Geez. Maybe I was a novice in this business, but he didn’t have to talk to me like I was an abject idiot.