Indecent Proposal: A Reverse Harem Romance Read online

  INDECENT PROPOSAL:

  A Reverse Harem Novel

  J.C. VALENTINE

  INDECENT PROPOSAL

  By J.C. Valentine

  All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book is copyrighted material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any form without the prior permission of the publisher, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

  INDECENT PROPOSAL

  by J.C. Valentine

  Copyright © 2019 by J.C. Valentine

  Cover design by Bukovero

  Edited by Mitzi Carroll

  INDECENT PROPOSAL is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events portrayed in this eBook either are from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, establishments, events, or location is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. Please do not take offence to the content, as it is FICTION.

  Trademarks: This book identifies product names and services known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective holders. The author acknowledges the trademark status in this work of fiction. The publications and use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Books by

  J.C. VALENTINE

  Night Calls

  Stranded

  That First Kiss

  Surrender to Love

  Trust

  Wayward Fighters

  Knockout

  Tapout

  unDefeated

  Blue Collar

  Sweetest Temptations

  Noel: A Blue Collar Christmas

  Forbidden

  Dance for Me

  Lie to You

  Fall for Him

  Forbidden Valentine

  Spartan Riders

  Grit

  Mettle

  Vigor

  Brash

  Cocky

  For more titles, visit your favorite online retailer!

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  You know me, I like to change things up a bit (and often!), just like my reading tastes. That’s how we’ve come to reverse harems. Who can resist the allure of a well-educated, endowed, and sexy man—or three! No, one, and I’d bet that’s why you’re here now, getting ready to read this tantalizing new adventure down Naughty Lane with me. Well, I have one thing to say about that: Thank you for taking another chance with me! I hope you enjoy every indecent part of it.

  (This next part I won’t change, because it still very much applies.)

  I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my family and friends. Mom, Mitzi, Mia, Holly, Cheryl: you have been the anchors in my life. You’ve kept me strong, even through (numerous) moments of self-doubt. You’ve kept me focused and cheered me on every step of the way. Thank you for never losing faith in me even when I did. There aren’t enough words in the world to describe how much I love and appreciate you.

  Finally, I have to thank my kids, because they’re my driving force in this world. Everything I do, I do for you!

  Chapter One

  A well-made cup of coffee meant the difference between a good day and one better meant for the trash. Today, Sabrina was ready to throw it all in the bin and wash her hands of it. Mondays. Ugh. If the devil had a designated day to conduct his business, it was today.

  First, her blow dryer had burned out—in her hand—leaving her with damp hair unable to be curled. She’d had to leave the house that way and hope for the best. Then some jack-off had taken her cab, the one she’d called ahead of time to come pick her up so she wouldn’t be late for a meeting she’d scheduled a month in advance with a client who was as rigid as a steel pole. When she’d finally arrived at the office nearly twenty minutes late, she’d overlooked a heating grate in the sidewalk and snapped the heel off her lucky—and extremely expensive—Garavani pump. And to top it all off, her assistant, the one Daddy had promised was at the top of her game and couldn’t be replaced, had scorched the damn coffee.

  “Jesus H. Christ, Shawna,” Sabrina snapped, thrusting the mug at her, “can’t you do anything right?”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Colloway. I don’t know what happened.”

  “Well, figure it out. Later though. Right now, I need you to make a run to the nearest coffee shop and grab me a double expresso with a shot of bourbon.”

  “Uhhh…” Shawna had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look of fear in her eyes.

  Sabrina waved her off. “Shit, Shawna, have a sense of humor for once. Scratch the bourbon and get me one of those double chocolate brownies instead.”

  “Do you still want the expresso?”

  “That would be a yes.” How did her father call this woman irreplaceable? It must be that whole innocent vibe she had going on that endeared her to him. He’d always liked those mousey types. Thank God she hadn’t turned out that way herself. Otherwise, the family business would still be stagnant.

  “And please hurry,” she called after her retreating form. “I can’t go back in there without a shot of caffeine in my system.” Sabrina rubbed her temples, not for effect, but because she had a migraine coming on.

  This day had been one for the books, and it wasn’t even noon. The meeting she’d been late for had also gone on for longer than expected. Her client, Mr. Hargreaves, was a stuffy sixty-something with graying hair and a British accent that was more grating than it was attractive. Probably because he kept looking at her like she was prime rib and down talking her every chance he got.

  One thing Sabrina hadn’t found a shortage of in this business was sexist men. They just couldn’t seem to get used to seeing a woman at the head of the table. Most of these men had dealt with her father or late uncle in some fashion, so they were, in fact, used to dealing with a man at the head of the table. But Sabrina was determined to teach them, one by one, that girls had balls too. Hers, in particular, were large, and she wasn’t afraid to swing them around and show them all who was boss.

  Since Daddy’s diagnosis, she’d had no choice but to step in and take over. She’d spent most of her life running around the boardrooms and listening to him speak, and he’d always taken time out to teach her what he was doing. She’d observed his interactions with clients and how he handled business deals so often, she could mimic his words and approach almost perfectly. So it’d made sense that she took over for him, picking up where he left off and steering the ship in the right direction.

  Although, she knew her father would have preferred a son to pass the business down to, but that just wasn’t in the cards. After a complicated labor, her mother had been forced to give up having more children, and they’d stopped at her. Did it hurt her feelings that she was in charge by default? Of course, but that wasn’t going to stop her from taking what was rightfully hers.

  Sabrina had been running the show for nearly a year now, while her father followed doctor’s orders and traveled, rested, and enjoyed what time he had left. It was morbid to think that he was living on borrowed time, but she chose not to focus on that.

  There was a million-dollar business that needed a master at its helm, and she was the woman for the job.

  “Here you are, Miss Colloway,” Shawna said, startling her out of her thoughts. “I had them add a little foam on top,” she added with a smile.

  “That
was fast.” Sabrina grabbed the cup as if it were a lifeline and, as quickly as she brought it to her mouth, took gingerly sips so she didn’t burn her lips clean off her face. Leaning back with a satisfied sigh, she looked at her assistant. “Thank you so much, Shawna. You’re amazing.”

  She meant it, too. Even though she could get moody and snappy sometimes, she actually liked the woman. She was kind and loyal and never complained. It was hard to get good help these days. So yeah, in lieu of her bitchiness, she could understand why her father had kept her around.

  “I’m sorry for being bitchy earlier. Mondays,” she said with a shrug and a crooked, apologetic smile.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Shawna brushed it all away with a flip of her hand. “It’s been a rough morning for all of us. The afternoon will be better,” she assured her.

  “I hope you’re right. Is Mr. Hargreaves back yet?”

  “He just called up. I’ll escort him to the conference room as soon as he steps off the elevator.”

  “Perfect. Thank you.”

  Gathering her coffee and notes, Sabrina headed for the conference room to wait. Although he’d given her a hard time for being late, despite it being out of her control, he’d made no such apologies for wasting her time when he’d forgotten to bring the financial reports for his own business—the main reason they were here today.

  It took an inordinate amount of time for her client to arrive back at the conference room, considering he’d been on his way to the elevator some ten minutes ago. Of course, being the staunch professional her daddy had taught her to be, Sabrina merely smiled and indicated they should take their seats.

  Hargreaves was proceeded by several of his top people, all male, young and good looking, and who bore a startling resemblance to the man of the hour—his sons?—and who barely spared her a glance. Whoever they were, it wasn’t hard to see what side of women’s rights they fell on.

  Typical, she thought with a smug lift of her chin. Standing tall, she waited until everyone was comfortably seated, as was her method, before she took her own chair. Her father always said that it reminded them who they were answering to. The fact was, as manly as he tried to behave, Hargreaves was here for one thing and one thing only: a merger. His company was only months away from folding, and if his proposal was on par with what she was looking for, then she was his Hail Mary.

  The scent of power was sweet, like the warm strawberry preserves her mother used to make in the summer, with a bit of citrus tang. She loved this part.

  “I trust you were able to find everything you needed?” Sabrina asked, refraining from adding, “This time.”

  “Indeed we did. Thank you for being patient with us,” Mr. Hargreaves said, then extended his hand which now contained a rectangular golden box with a matching sparkly gold ribbon and bow wrapped around it. “Consider this a gift from all of us at Hargreaves Direct for your time and patience.”

  Sabrina accepted the gift reluctantly but with a forced smile and without any of the social graces required in a situation like this, viewing the chocolates as yet another jab at her femininity aimed at reminding her she was merely a woman, prone to womanly vices.

  Sabrina didn’t even like candy. Much. She was more of a salty carbs kind of girl.

  “Please present your files, Mr. Hargreaves, and stick to the highlights. This morning’s delays have put me behind in my schedule and I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this meeting short.”

  With a bit of a stutter and rushed directives to his little helpers, who she’d caught eying her with no small amount of appreciation that turned into resentment in a snap, they got to work trying to gain her favor, while Sabrina looked on with bored satisfaction.

  Chapter Two

  Binx was purring the moment she opened the door.

  “Hey, boy,” she said, her voice tired. Slipping off the cheap ballet flats Shawna had picked up for her after this morning’s shoe emergency, she dropped everything on the entryway floor and stooped down to pick up the only man in her life who wasn’t a raging manwhore.

  And that was all thanks to Doctor Kale who chopped off his little pom-poms when Binx was just a kitten.

  “How was your day?” she asked him as she scratched behind his ears while carrying him back to the bedroom.

  “Meow.”

  “Sounds like it was better than mine.”

  “Meow.”

  “Oh, you don’t want to know all the gory details. I just want to put this awful Monday behind me and sleep.”

  “Meow.”

  “No, I’m not hungry…unless you’re offering?”

  “Meow.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t think so.” She plopped him on the foot of the bed where he liked to curl up and started searching dresser drawers for something more comfortable to wear. “You know, Binx, you’re lucky you’re just a cat, or you’d be a shitty roommate and I’d have evicted you a long time ago.”

  “Meow.”

  “Yeah, I know. You do give some nice massages, even if they are focused mostly on my boobs.” Giving him a little pat on the butt, she headed for the bathroom for a little self-pampering session.

  After securing the Hargreaves account after reluctantly agreeing to keep the three men who turned out to, in fact, be his sons in her employ, and then meeting another pretentious client who she declined to continue working with primarily due to his flagrant use of the word irregardless, she was running on mental fumes. Made even worse was her lack of anyone to vent her frustrations to. Her parents were out of town, her friends were busy with their own lives, and she was completely alone.

  Binx was her only reliable confidant, and they didn’t even speak the same language.

  Filling the bathtub with hot water and dumping lavender scented Epsom salts in, Sabrina slid into the bath with a sigh and put her head back to relax away the tension.

  As tough as she carried herself and as hard as her thoughts toward the opposite sex were, she needed a man in her life. Someone to listen to her complaints and offer advice and massage her breasts—the good way—and to give her amazing orgasms and just be there for her. Good God, she wanted someone to come home to, eat dinner with, and fall asleep next to. At twenty-eight, it shouldn’t feel as if she’d missed the boat on her life, but that’s exactly how she felt.

  And she had one person she could track all of her life’s misgivings back to: Lance Carter.

  Unlike how most sob stories went, Lance hadn’t been a playboy or a jock who moved away and left her behind. He hadn’t broken her heart. On the contrary, she had broken his.

  Yes, all the blame for her current dissatisfaction sat directly on her shoulders. At the ripe age of eighteen, just graduating high school and with a full scholarship to Princeton, she simply hadn’t appreciated the riches right in front of her.

  When Sabrina let Lance go, she hadn’t realized it was going to be a pivotal moment in her life. She’d just thought she was making the best choice for both of them. Love in person was hard enough to maintain, let alone across states. She’d even told him that they should use the time to explore other options and focus on their studies, and if they were meant to be, then they would find their way back to each other. It was her way of letting him down easy. It’s not you; it’s me.

  Lance had begged and pleaded with her not to do it. He’d told her they could make it work, that he loved her to the moon and back and so many other clichés that she couldn’t remember now, and she’d rolled her eyes at all of them, thinking he’d been acting ridiculous. Her impatience had ended in an argument that resulted in her walking away on not-so-good terms, and she’d always kind of regretted it.

  Especially now, when she was alone in a bathtub with no one to share her day with. At times like this, she missed Lance like crazy. Walking down memory lane was a torture she couldn’t resist, not that she ever tried. The saddest part of all was that life hadn’t brought them back together. If anything, it just pushed them farther apart, which was probably for the best. They were
two very different people and they never would have worked, but he was the only man she’d ever been serious enough about to look back on when she had a bad case of the mopes.

  Lance was probably married now, highly successful and happy. Maybe he even had kids. And here she was with only an overly expensive condo, a fat bank account, and a sleek feline to show for all her hard work.

  Maybe Sabrina took life too seriously. She often wondered about that, but at this point, where was the incentive to change? If she slowed down even for a moment, she’d just have more time to hate her life than she already was beginning to.

  What she needed was a night out with a couple of girlfriends. None of them were the partying type, but they still knew how to have a good time. She’d call them, she decided as she soaped up her purple loofah. Janet always had some fun idea up her sleeve that she wanted to try out, and Sabrina was in the mood to be her guinea pig.

  As soon as she finished her bath, she found her phone and dialed, eager to find out what kind of mischief she had to look forward to.

  ***

  Drake played over the sound system that was bumping against Sabrina’s ears. She wasn’t old, but damn, she wished they’d turn it down a notch. She couldn’t think with all this noise. But that was a club for you. They specialized in loud music and booze, and this place that Janet had dragged her to was definitely an expert in all of that.

  Of her many options, Sabrina had chosen to stick with screwdrivers for the night, figuring the shot of juice would supply her with a bit of energy for the night and the morning ahead. She didn’t give a lick that it was Monday night because her first meeting wasn’t until eleven the next morning, which meant she could sleep in and be fully refreshed when she walked into the office tomorrow.

  “Hot guy, three o’clock,” Janet shouted in her ear.

  Sabrina casually turned her head and searched the throng, until she caught the eye of the sexy stranger across the bar. Except he wasn’t a stranger at all. “Ugh.” Her lip curled involuntarily at the sight of one of the Hargreaves sons, despite how good he looked in the open white dress shirt and black slacks. She found the semi-casual outfit hotter than hell on a man, and with his dark hair and features, he was delicious. Or, she’d bet he was.