There was also a series of offices. I’ve been to Kohara’s so I recognized that lordly office with the enormous heavy wood desk and big leather chair. The room was furnished with dark colors, made all the darker from the bank of windows behind the desk, shedding brilliant light inside the dark room.
A second office I guessed belonged to Notus. It wasn’t large, but there was a bank of monitors and I could just make out the familiar grid of a spreadsheet. I grinned like a little girl to see them and was even more convinced that it was Notus’ office. There was a coffee mug on the desk and a jar of sharpened pencils.
Biting my lip, unable to get the silly smile to fade, I moved to a third office. Because there was a bank of books behind the sleek, modern desk, I assumed it was our live-in writer, Zilan’s. There were two large, curved monitors and a curved keyboard. The rest of the desk was filled with to-go coffee cups and scattered papers.
And then there was the office that looked like someone’s living room - Bronte’s waiting room at The Harem Project. A wall filled entirely of cupboards that I knew had photo albums, tablets, brochures, and a host of other informational objects for The Harem Project. The seating area had a large, curved couch that faced a big flatscreen television. There were cushions and pillows, blankets, a tray on the hassock with magazines and a little metal elephant. The desk looked more like a table with a single, comfortable chair behind it.
I knew that the breathtaking image of a waterfall must be one of Tempest’s projects. A location that he’d been raising money to conserve and protect. And while I could guess that he took all the images since there was an incredible artsy quality to them. Maybe I ought to suggest that he also sell pictures. The angle, lighting, and subject matter might be everyday objects and scenes, but they were stunning.
Lastly, there was a wall of images from the house. The kitchen, primarily but also the gym, one of the pools, the garden, the pantry filled with rows and rows of food. This was Gale and Taranis’s domain. Their stay at home life captured in a series of images that proved neither of them slept all day.
“Had?”
I turned to my name to find Neph and Arat in the door. They were beautiful in very different ways. Where Arat looked like an everyday business tycoon in his sleek suit, Neph was wearing scrubs. His hair was long and loose while Arat’s was styled just perfectly right. Neph had a full beard, neatly kept, while Arat was clean-shaven. Their eyes were a similar shade of gray and while their smiles were nothing alike, they were in that they were gorgeous.
“What’re you doing?” Arat asked, leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets.
Shrugging, I glanced at the prints hanging around my room. “Realizing that these were all about you.”
Both men grinned. “Tem spent a lot of time trying to portray something important to us in tasteful and interesting ways. Strangely enough, it’s our work most of the time,” Neph said.
I nodded. “We spend a lot of our lives working, so I get that. It’s nice to think that everyone is happy in their careers.”
“We are,” Arat said, shrugging. “It would be a very long life if we weren’t.”
Which only emphasized that I needed a different career path. The thought of remaining in financial aid for the rest of my life made me scowl.
“Want some company?” Neph asked.
I smiled, nodding, and turning from the images. “Always.”
I watched them walk in, two of the sexiest men I’d ever seen. I was sure that all my men were in the top eleven hottest guys in the world. I wasn’t the least bit biased. Just stating a fact. There’s simply nothing more gorgeous and mouth-watering than a storm.
Neph paused at the image of the puppies, smiling. “Those were adopted out pretty quickly. A stray mama that we took in off the street. She had some beautiful babies.”
“Was she adopted, too?”
He looked at me, smiling. “Yep. She went home with one of her pups, actually. A little girl that was very attached to her mother.”
“That’s sweet.”
Nephele nodded before moving to sit next to Arat, who was perched at the end of my bed where he watched me. I wouldn’t say his look was heated, exactly. But it was sensual - dark, with a sinful little smile.
I’m not sure what it is about that man. He’s worth like a billion dollars (probably more) and while he looks every bit CEO, he’s also breathtakingly gorgeous. He could be a model. He was sharp, sleek lines, confidence, and sex appeal.
Next to him, Neph looked a little more down-home sexy. A man who cares for animals. I can see him visiting farms and taking care of their livestock. He’d be one of those men walking around with low hanging jeans, shirtless, and dropping down with his ass out to get you to smile.
And, you know, become a little hot and bothered by him.
“How’s work?” I ask, moving closer to them.
Arat reached for me as soon as I was within grabbing distance. His hands on my hips, he pulled me between his legs. “Normal,” he said, shrugging. His dark eyes dropped to my lips, and then my neck, down my chest. “Getting ready to offload some businesses and restructure another.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Always changing my portfolio. Sell when something is at its peak and buy when they’re in the ground.” His gaze met mine again. “That’s how you grow big and strong in the business world.”
“You don’t ever lose the ones that are already dying?”
