As if on cue, and to the rhythm of my jaw dropping, Belle meandered into the area. She took a seat on a cozy lounge-chair to the left of the couch we were sitting on. Though her body was relaxed, as she settled into the cushions, her face swarmed with questions. She stared between Leo and I, waiting for Leo to continue speaking.

Had she been listening to our conversation? Not that I'd paid much attention, too busy drinking my wine and digesting our delicious dinner. In fact, I hadn't seen Belle since we'd arrived. I noted after my bath that all the stuff I'd packed was neatly put into the closet or folded into the drawers. I didn't realize that was part of her job—to put our clothes away.

"Belle," said Leo, acknowledging her with a quick nod, "was the one leaking shitty information to Stewart Sfuria."

He spoke so nonchalantly, as if this piece of knowledge was no big deal. As if he hadn't revealed the culprit who'd made our lives living hell for the past month. As if he didn't care that she'd been behind this.

I, on the other hand, didn't feel that way. This was the person who'd spilled all sorts of nonsense to Sfuria, and I'd accused Cameron in her place. This was the person who'd made it so hard for us to live our lives. Who'd made us look like fake assholes in the press.

Which meant Cameron...was right. It was an employee, a close member of Leo's staff, who'd been responsible for this.

I released a gasp that had me falling sideways off Leo's lap. I glared at Belle with fire in my eyes, flames gathering in my mouth. "What?" All the attraction I'd felt for her, all the wet dreams I'd had, the times I'd touched myself re-imagining that moment in the closet—they melted from the heat of my rage. "And she's sitting right here, in this house, and not fired?"

Leo set his hand on my thigh. "Let me explain, okay? There's more to this."

"More?" I barely choked the words out; my throat went dry and Leo had taken my drink hostage. "I don't want to know more, I want to know why? You!" I looked at Belle, but not for long before my eyes burned and my heart beat too fast. "I thought she was..." I flipped to Leo, my glare scalding. "You said she was into me! Why would someone who's into me be leaking my private life and fucking up my relationship? Our relationship?"

"Hey," he said, squeezing my thigh, his grip sliding upward. "Listen, okay? Let me explain, please."

I folded my arms, slamming them hard to my chest. "I'm listening."

He peered at Belle, as if checking to make sure she was ready for him to speak; then he reverted to me, his expression soft, his shoulders relaxed. "She is into you, Emma. She's into," he flinched, "both of us, as it happens. And she's spreading those rumors...to split us up. So she can...have us. One of us." He side-glanced at her. "Both of us?"

Belle set her hands on her thighs and gave him a sharp nod. My jaw again slid open, but this time no fire threatened to roll out my mouth. This time it was shock, and a more comfortable warmth filled up inside me.

This was the confirmation of what Leo had implied before but I hadn't believed.

Belle is into me?

Sure, I'd wanted it to be true, I'd dreamed about it, I'd craved it; but there was nothing I could have done about it, anyway. I was with Leo, and she—

Ah, well she wanted to change that, apparently. She wanted us separated to enjoy us. She'd gone as far as leaking old truths about our fake-dating situation, to get us angry and arguing and, hopefully for her, broken up. She wanted to take her pick, thinking that after that stunt she pulled, we'd want to be with her.

"Both of us," repeated Leo, his hand sneaking a smidgen higher up my thigh.

"I..." I blinked at him, at her, at him again. "You said...you said she wasn't into dudes, though? So me, I get, but you? You said she..."

He sighed, slouching backwards into the couch. "Turns out I was wrong." His fingers wrapped around my thigh, massaging me through the thin fabric of my dress. "We sat down and chatted, once I'd pinpointed that she was the one doing this. When I figured it out, at first I was—" His free hand clenched, shaking, knuckles turning white. "But I calmed myself down and decided to handle this without making a fuss. To have a conversation and understand why she was doing this, instead of scream at her and fire her on the spot. And I'm glad I did that."

He sounded more sober than usual, though he'd been drinking all day. His voice didn't falter, and when he unclenched his fist, he did so slowly, releasing tension. He rested his arm on the arm-rest, his palm facing upward. Belle looked at it, then sucked her lips in as she focused on her lap.

"Belle is also the one who's been watching us." Leo's lips curved up but so discreetly, if I'd blinked, I'd have missed it.

My eyes widened as I fixed them on Belle, watching as her cheeks flared with red. Never, not once since I'd met her, had I seen her so small, so intimidated. She normally held herself in high regard, never hunched over, with a stern look on her face that meant business. Here she was...shy, almost. Quiet.

"And not only at the penthouse, either. As far as I'm aware," this time Leo full-on smirked, "she likes to watch. A lot."

Something jolted in my stomach, and tickled between my legs. Seconds ago I'd been flaring up with rage at the notion of her betrayal; now I was flaring up with intriguing desire.

She likes to watch. Something about imagining Belle watching us as we fucked worked me up more than I'd ever thought possible.

Yes, I'd been turned on by the idea at first, but then I'd clammed up worried that Cameron had caught us, and that bothered me. But her...admiring us as we writhed naked on top of one another...possibly touching herself after, if not at the same time...gaining secret access to us without us knowing...

Fuck, something about that was so damn hot, and I hated it. I hated her. I hated what she'd done, how she'd used her knowledge of our location to spy on us. How she'd tried to pull dirty strings to separate us so she could enjoy us without that barrier of our relationship.

I should have stood up and stormed out, I should have lunged forward and slapped her; but I couldn't move. I...didn't even want to. There was more to this, Leo had said, and a naughty part of me wanted to find out what.

"Emma?" Leo's hand continued its trek to the juncture of my thigh with my hip. He stopped at that juncture, his fingers creeping dangerously close to where my underwear grew wet and my vagina pulsated in curious pleasure. "What are you thinking?"

"I..." I chewed on my lower lip as I finally gaped at Belle. But she wasn't looking at me; her gaze zeroed in on where Leo's hand was, on my leg. Her eyes were big and inquisitive, and her lips parted to show her tongue on the verge of slipping out. "Shit."

I sensed my panties dampening even more, so I wriggled about, but didn't remove Leo's hand. If anything, I silently dared him to touch me where I desperately craved him to. Something about him caressing my slit in front of Belle was...hot. So fucking hot.

As if reading my mind, he gently tugged my dress up my thigh. I again didn't stop him, though I did tense. Imagining this versus it actually happening was a completely different thing.

His hand slithered under the hem of my dress and tickled my skin as he traipsed his fingers all the way to my underwear. I didn't mean to, but on instinct...I spread my legs a little wider apart. Leo reacted with a grin, and without preamble started stroking me over the wet fabric.

"Hmm," he said, touching me while glancing at Belle, who leaned forward in interest. "Belle's been really naughty," his voice croaked, "haven't you? Spying on us like that?"

Belle nodded, rubbing her tongue over her lips, not once removing her gaze from where Leo was caressing me. I wasn't sure if she could see under my dress or not, but if she couldn't, she angled forward enough to show that she wanted to.

I had no clue what came over me, but I hefted my dress up higher, exposing my bare skin, my legs parted, and Leo's fingers roaming over my covered slit. Her pupils widened and she caught her lip between her teeth as she leaned back and spread her own legs. She wore pants, though, so there was nothing to see; but I had no doubt that were she wearing a skirt or nothing at all, she'd be glistening.

Fuck, that aroused me even more.

Likely sensing me unravel under Belle's intent gaze and his persistent touching, Leo traveled his fingers under my panties, colliding with my wetness. He moaned at the contact, and my body spasmed in response.

Belle's focus was sharp, unwavering, as she admired our private moment with intense hunger.

I should have put my foot down. Leo tended to solve everything with sex, and that was where this was leading to. It was an immature, selfish decision; but I kind of wanted this, whatever this was. Was he about to make me come in front of Belle, with no doors or walls separating us? Was he about to straight-up fuck me while she watched?

"We discussed this," said Leo, his voice loud through my raspy breaths. "When she was spying on us, she only ever wanted to see us naked." While he weaved his finger up and down my wetness, dodging my clit, he spoke with ease, as if sitting at a dinner table for a cozy conversation with friends. Not as if he were teasing me, his finger soaked by my pleasure. "She's infatuated, intrigued by us, by our love-making. So we made an agreement."

I was only half-listening, too absorbed in the movements of his fingers, and Belle's increasingly devious stare on my vagina. She kept sitting up, then leaning back, rubbing herself on the chair.

Fuck, I wanted to know how wet she was. How she tasted. What she looked like under those clothes—

"She'll back off, and stop talking to Sfuria, and she'll tell him she was lying about all of it, if we...if we..."

Leo slowed his caresses, but didn't remove his finger from between my lower lips.

I was struggling to keep still, and more so to find my voice, but I had to finish his sentence. I had to say it out loud, to make it real. "If we fuck in front of her?" Leo's grin grew larger, and he shook his head. "No? If she doesn't want to watch, then..."

"Participate," said Belle, breathy as she spoke for the first time since she'd joined us.

My eyebrows raised. "A threesome? Is that what you're saying?"

Leo tilted sideways, blocking my view of Belle. His smile faded, his eyes searching mine. "Yes, but only if you're comfortable with that. Watching is one thing, but being involved..." He took a deep breath. "We can sleep with her separately, if that's easier for you. If you consent to it."

"If I consent?" I couldn't believe what he was telling me. I pointed at myself, then at Belle. "You're saying...you want us to sleep with her? Both of us? To...cheat?"

Leo cringed, all the while leaving his fingers to soak between my folds. To have an adult conversation while he fondled me, and while Belle did everything she could not to fondle herself...this was new.

"No, not cheating, since we'd be together, doing this together. It's an...agreement, like I said. Either we all play together, or she sleeps with you, then with me, and we'll consider it a debt paid, yeah?" With his free hand, he brushed a few hairs from my face. "It's a deal, a contract."

I pursed my lips, trying to ignore his fingers as they resumed their steady touches. "She's black-mailing us for sex, you're saying?" Even as I said it, I shuddered. There was something powerfully sexy about this, no matter how wrong it was.

"I mean," Leo shrugged, "sort of? But if we consent to it, if we're not pressured into it, is it really blackmailing?" He scoffed. "I know you think she's hot."

I gulped. Was I that obvious? Was all my complaining about her a sign that in truth, I was totally into her body?

"And she's," he tipped his chin towards Belle, "obviously attracted to you, or we wouldn't be here." He returned to me and caressed my chin, lifting it up. "It's no use denying it, Emma. It's okay for you to think she's hot. I think she's hot, too."

I didn't answer, but my silence was enough to demonstrate the truth. I was attracted to Belle, heavily so. Since the instant I'd seen her and been on the other end of her scathing glares, I'd been turned on and loaded with hatred at the same time. She irked me, but also titillated me simply by existing nearby.

I hadn't been with a woman in a while, and the image forming in my head was tempting, too tempting...

"There's a contract," said Leo, creeping even closer to me, dragging his fingertip over my clit, subduing me completely. I was at his mercy, and couldn't think of anything else. "An NDA, too. Belle signed it and promised to abide by it. I don't want to fire her, Emma. She's," he twisted his neck to Belle, who had now started touching herself over her pants, "the best in the industry." He approached his lips to my ear, but didn't lower his voice; it vibrated through me. "I want to fix this our way. All we need is you. Your signature, your consent. For whichever option."

Whichever option. This was it; what some monogamous but sexually curious people dreamed of, though most wouldn't admit it. A hall pass, the opportunity to sleep with someone one couldn't get off their mind. And I had the chance to be alone with Belle, have my way with her...or have my way with her in front of Leo and have him take part.

Fuck, it was tempting. So incredibly tempting. It was the ticket I'd fantasized about, and to turn it down now out of intimidation or fear...would be stupid. Right? Most couples would decline something like this; threesomes got messy in relationships. But Leo had thought about this enough to protect us.

He'd thought about this. Had he been planning a threesome for us in the future? He could have fired Belle anyway, and yet he insisted on giving her what she wanted and keeping her afterwards. It could get awkward...

But I'd accept awkwardness in exchange for a night of pure fantasy.

"Um." My cheeks flushed with heat, and not only because of what Leo was doing between my legs. "I've never had a threesome."

Leo kissed my cheek, his soft lips soothing the heat. "And do you want to have one? With me? With Belle?"

Belle watched me eagerly, and though I couldn't see Leo, I sensed his eyes on me, waiting.

I tugged my lip between my teeth. Fuck it, then?

"Yes."

♪♪♪