Two for Alex

They heard a car crunching up the gravel of the driveway. Liam glanced up but didn’t move. Daniel resisted the urge to run to the window and peer out. The doorbell rang. After a beat, Liam looked up again, smiling. “You want to get that?

Daniel jumped up. Without even glancing through the peep window, he pulled the door open, eager to meet Alex Stewart.

He stared, confused. The person standing there was slight, not much over five feet, slender as a willow switch with silky blond hair and green-gold eyes above a pert nose and wide, generous mouth.

“Hi,” she said brightly, “I’m Alex.”

Chapter 2

Alex, known as Alexandra Stewart on her driver’s license, looked up at the very handsome guy standing in the doorway. He was staring intently at her, his mouth slightly open, making her suddenly self-conscious. Did she have something on her face? Had she, like in those horrible dreams one sometimes had, forgotten to put on her clothes before leaving the house?

“Um, are you Daniel? I’m Alex,” she finally ventured.

“You’re Alex? Alex Stewart?”

“Yes. Is something wrong?” She clutched her duffel bag, in which she’d packed a change of clothing and fresh underwear just in case things went well. Alex was nothing if not prepared. If the other guy was anywhere near as good-looking as this one, she certainly hoped things would work out. But something was clearly wrong. Daniel was behaving as if she had two heads, as if he expected someone completely different.

Suddenly the coin dropped. “Shit,” she said softly.

When she’d received the email from Daniel, he’d said she would be expected to submit to two men. She assumed then they might be gay or at least bisexual, which had been fine with her. It would be interesting, if nothing else—a new experience.

“You thought I was a man,” she said, a smile threatening at the side of her mouth at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“Daniel? Is everything all right?” She heard a deep, masculine voice from behind Daniel.

He stepped back, pulling the door wide. Another very handsome man, taller and a bit older, with dark hair and brooding dark eyes set in a pale face appeared beside Daniel. He seemed to take in the situation more quickly than Daniel had. “You must be Alex,” he said with a gracious smile. “Please come in.”

~*~

“But she’s a girl,” Daniel hissed. They were standing in the kitchen. After showing Alex to a chair in the living room, Liam asked her to excuse them a moment.

“I’m just saying, let’s not dismiss her out of hand. She’s not what we were expecting, but she’s here so why not just sit down and check her out? It’s not like either of us has a problem with women, right?”

Daniel shook his head. “No, I guess not. It’s just thrown me for a loop, is all. I was expecting a dude, not a little slip of a girl, which is what she is. She barely looks legal.”

“Let’s go talk to her. We can’t leave her out there sitting all alone. If nothing else, it’s rude. We should at least explain the misunderstanding. If you want, we can send her away with an apology.”

“You’re right,” Daniel said slowly. “Let’s at least talk to her. She is pretty hot, for a girl.”

“She is that,” Liam agreed, smiling.

~*~

Alex looked around the living room as she waited for the guys to decide what to do about the woman in their midst. It was clear the tall, dark one was far more comfortable with the idea than the blond, built one. But wasn’t he the submissive? Wasn’t his Master’s word law? Maybe he was being read the sub riot act back there in the kitchen. Alex grinned to herself.

The room contained large bookshelves built into one wall, lined from floor to ceiling with books. Someone around here was a scholar, she thought, impressed. The room was nicely furnished with large, comfortable pieces set on a beautiful antique Persian carpet that covered most of the hardwood floor.

She noticed the arrangement of flowers on the highly polished wooden side table, the same lush purple irises that lined the front walk. To distract herself from her nerves, she stood and moved toward the flowers, leaning down to smell them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small alcove just off the living room. With a glance back toward the kitchen she stepped inside, intrigued by the long, wide bench upholstered in red velvet just below a large bay window. What a wonderful place to read or write on her laptop. She ran her hand over the soft velvet as she looked out the window. She was riveted by the beautiful flower gardens set along the rolling, lush lawns and growing around the trunks of huge old trees that had to be several hundred years old.