The Playboy's Ménage (The Billionaire Bachelors Series) by RG Alexander Page A

“Holly is not Ms. Anonymous. You just told me about her mother’s scandal. Why would she become a gossip columnist after growing up around that?”
    “I thought about that, I did, and I don’t know the answer. But if she isn’t, then she knows the person who is.” Henry was persistent. “You read my emails, man. You know for a fact I put in one or two stories that weren’t true, just for shock value. Use that recording device you have for a brain and think about it. Did they sound familiar? Ms. Anonymous referred to them in her columns before I could tell Holly I was joking. That’s when I started wondering.”
    Peter reached for one of the stools lining the kitchen island and sat down, floored. Henry was right about that. He had seen a familiar correlation. But there had to be another reason.  “And I’m right back to wondering why you didn’t tell me any of this until now. In fact, why are you telling me now? You’re getting what you want. Why this confession?”
    “Because I don’t want any uncomfortable discoveries after she gets here. You’d poke and prod and end up pushing her away, and we need her.” When Peter laughed, Henry scowled and slammed his hands on the counter. “Damn it, I’m serious. Call it closure, call it a satisfying form of payback, but don’t deny that you want this chance with Holly. I’ve seen your gallery, pal—I know you haven’t let it go. She might have been in a bad place back then but so were you. Before she came around, you were the fucking Batman origin story. The rich, genius orphan lurking in the shadows of his giant mansion. We got you into that house off campus after a hell of a lot of arm twisting, but secretly we were all waiting for the cheesy one-liners and the rubber-suited cry for help.”
    “Fuck. You.”
    “Until Holly,” Henry continued, undaunted. “She changed you, changed us both, only I’m not denying it. But it was over too soon. Now we have a chance to taste that again, what it was like to be a part of that, and I don’t fucking care if she is Ms. Anonymous. I don’t care if she’s as commitment-phobic as you are and only suggested this research as an excuse so she could write a tell-all book about us. I know she’s more than that. We were more than that. And whether you’ll admit you do or not, I want her. Are you really going to mess this up for me by sending her away?”
    Peter couldn’t hold onto this anger, not when Henry was right. “No. I won’t mess this up for you. I don’t think I could send her away if I wanted to. What I have planned for the summer will be hard enough without you having to worry about that.”
    Henry looked up at the ceiling with a resigned laugh. “I had a feeling. Care to clue me in?”
    “No.” Peter turned to leave the room but stopped at the door, looking over his shoulder. “Henry, I need your word on a few things before she gets here.”
    “I’m not shaving.”
    He shook his head, hating the vulnerability that had crept into his heart. “No more secrets. And no sex or satisfaction unless we’re all together. You can’t take her unless I’m in the room. For now.”
    Henry held out his hands. “This is your show, boss. As long as Holly’s here and we get to touch her, I’ll read from your script.”
    His “show” was already being rewritten in his mind. He needed to think. To assimilate the new information he’d been hit with and alter his plans accordingly.
    Was Holly Ms. Anonymous, the gossip columnist who’d coined their nickname, The Billionaire Bachelors, and hounded the missteps of his friends with her wit and judgment for years?
    He‘d find out before this was over, but right now Henry had said exactly what he was feeling—it didn’t matter. Didn’t change the plan or stop either one of them from wanting her. And whatever she truly thought about them, she still wanted them. Enough to spend the summer following Peter’s lead, as long as she got her ménage.
    He’d make sure