“All of us for sure,” I said. “And you’ll especially like being pampered. Well taken care of. One or more of us will always be around, so you’ll never be without someone to hang out with, or talk to…”
Screw it — it was time. I decided to put out the real bait.
“Oh and you’ll like the house, definitely.”
Sammara had been tracing lazy circles over my stomach with one fingernail. Suddenly she stopped.
“The house?”
I pulled out my phone and tapped PHOTOS before handing it over to her. “Swipe all you want.”
It was a dirty thing to do. We knew from her dossier she did interior design, and that she had architectural ambitions. And we just happened to be in the middle of renovating this beautiful Victorian mansion.
Sammara’s eyes shined like blue jewels in the light of my phone. She swiped furiously through pic after pic, absolutely incredulous.
“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” she swore.
“Not shitting.”
She kept on swiping. A small lock of her hair fell into her mouth, making her look especially sensual.
“And you all live here together? In this?”
“Yup.”
“What’s your budget, if you don’t mind me asking? You know… to finish all these rooms and—”
“There is no budget,” I said simply. “The sky’s the limit.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“We pool our resources,” I shrugged, “the four of us. It’s simpler that way.”
Her expression was reserved astonishment. I could tell she didn’t know whether or not to believe me.
“It’s just money, Sammara. And for the things we do? The danger we’re involved in?” I looked her in the eye. “Trust me when I say the government takes very good care of us.”
She inhaled deeply, her breasts rising and falling as she continued to stare down into my phone. She swiped a few more times.
“And I’d live here?”
“Yes. With all of us.”
She swallowed. Licked her lips.
“And I’d be—”
“You’d be in charge of the whole renovation if you want it,” I smiled. “I know it’s a lot, but none of us wants to deal with the contractor anyway. You’d have free reign over everything.”
“Creatively too?” It was like her mind wouldn’t let her believe it. “You’re seriously saying I could—”
I took her chin and turned her face into mine. “Sammara, you’d have everything you could ever want. Our bank cards, our money, an unlimited budget to make the house beautiful and our blessing to go absolutely nuts. And of course, you’d have us. Four boyfriends. Four military boyfriends, who would be staying there off and on, in between deployments.”
“Sharing me…” she said quietly.
“If we hit it off together? Yes.” I nodded. “You’d be our girlfriend. Exclusively, the four of us. Sharing you emotionally, physically…”
Staring down at the skin of her lovely neck, I could see the pulse in her carotid artery quicken. Her eyes were glazed over, totally lost in thought.