The Satin Sash

“Where’s Heath?”

“Heath can go to hell!” She stormed outside with Grey following, a cool breeze blasting her face when she hit the sidewalk.

“What did he do?” He whirled her around, his eyebrows drawn menacingly low. “What did he do to you,Toni?”

“Apparently, Ms. Kearny here thinks I’m only good for seconds.”

She bristled against the sound of his voice coming up behind her, near the bouncers by the entrance.

“I didn’t know I was for her exclusive use this weekend,” Heath went on in a sneering voice she instantly hated as much as the rest of him.

“Exclusive use!” she scoffed.

With his usual grace and self-possession, Grey spoke to the valet and guided her forward. Seconds later, their driver pulled up with the limo. She wrestled her arm free. “He’s crass and embarrassing. He practically violated a poor girl on our table. Before she knew what hit her, she’d been ravaged by this . . . this . . .”

“Bastard,” Heath said wryly.

“Heath,” Grey warned.

She gritted her teeth as the three of them got into the car. She’d hoped this evening would be special, something the three of them would remember as fun and sexy and cherish in their memories. What a nitwit! Romanticizing her dirty little ménage weekend with a perverted, horrible jerk like Heath.

Sitting across the limo from her and Grey, Heath gazed out the window, his jaw flexing. Toni couldn’t believe she’d once thought nice things about him. She wanted to take her shoe off and fling it at him—and then at herself because it should not even matter!

“She’s pissed because it wasn’t her I kissed,” Heath told Grey as the car lurched forward into the streets.

“Hah! Like I’d want your tongue in my mouth.”

“You’re dying for it.”

“By all means, keep deluding yourself.”

They fell silent, and Heath’s barely leashed fury was like a tangible force around him.Toni could feel it calling to hers, daring her to fight, inciting her to a death match.The shadows in the interior of the car flickered with passing lights as Toni directed her attention at Grey, who seemed to be assessing the situation.“He almost drew blood from that girl’s mouth—he kissed her like some demented wild man,” she told him.

“Did he?”

“Yes! She was just some stranger. I doubt he’d even remember her face if I showed her to him. He just grabbed the first thing that came strolling by. He’s not even selective.”

Grey had been strokin

g her hand between both of his when he paused and without inflection said, “I asked Heath not to kiss you, Toni. If that’s what’s bothering you.”

“Of course it’s not—what do you mean?”

Grey’s words were so unexpected that for a moment she didn’t register them. She glanced from one man to the other, humiliation spreading through her. Her voice was full of indignation when the meaning sank in.“You mean he could do all sorts of dirty things to me, and the most basic—”

“Yes,” Grey interrupted.

“Why?”

He wore that cautious, assessing look he got when she was starting to get pissed and he was determining what to do with her. “To keep it under control,” he said calmly, reaching for her hand.

She was stupefied and folded her arm protectively around her chest to avoid contact. “What else did you give him—lines to rehearse?”

Grey groaned.

“What did you offer him—a medal for obedience? Instructions on how to fuck me like a robot?”

“Work yourself into a fine temper, Toni, why don’t you?”