Chapter 302: The Harem Plan?
Martin told them about clients who approved a project, changed their minds after delivery, and then acted shocked when the extra work cost more money. His stories involved smaller sums and fewer headlines, but Katherine listened with open amusement. When he mentioned a client who had delayed payment for six weeks, Cassandra asked for the company’s name so calmly that he changed the subject before she could turn an overdue invoice into an acquisition.
By dessert, Martin had stopped worrying that his stories would sound small beside theirs. Neither woman treated his work as trivial, and he finally felt at ease in Cassandra’s penthouse.
Cassandra reached for his hand. Her fingers threaded through his and stayed there.
"You shouldn’t return to your studio tonight," she said.
Martin turned toward her.
"The guest bedroom is available." Her thumb moved slowly over his knuckles, and her gaze slipped toward the hallway before returning to him. "I’m just not sure I want you sleeping there by yourself."
The invitation sounded bold, yet the uncertainty in Cassandra’s eyes kept Martin from assuming more than she had offered. She wanted him nearby tonight. Anything beyond that would have to be chosen when they reached it. Before he could respond, Katherine’s orange eyes dropped to their joined hands.
She set her own glass on the table, took Martin’s from his free hand, and placed it beside hers. Then she slid closer and wrapped herself around his arm. Her breasts pressed warmly against it, leaving him caught between the two women.
"Well, this is hardly fair," Katherine said. "You’re getting all his attention after I worked so hard to create the mood."
Cassandra did not release Martin’s hand. "Ordering dinner does not entitle you to all of his attention." Enough of her old composure had returned to make it sound like a correction.
"I also chose the wine. Civilization depends on women like me." Katherine rested her head against Martin’s shoulder, entirely pleased with the arrangement. "Maybe I should tell you about my little sister’s plan."
Martin went still. He knew exactly which plan she meant.
Cassandra’s fingers tightened around his. "What plan?"
Katherine leaned closer. "The Harem Plan."
Cassandra stared at her long enough for Martin to wonder whether she had misheard, then shifted closer.
"Alexandra proposed an actual harem?"
"She did."
Katherine stayed curled around Martin’s other arm while Cassandra took that in.
"Alexandra spent hours reading history and fiction. Most of what she found was awful, though one webnovel finally showed her something close to the arrangement she had already begun imagining." Katherine smiled faintly. "My little sister took this far more seriously than I expected."
"Most of that research gave her reasons it could end badly," Martin said.
"That’s why the plan has rules," Katherine said. "Everyone chooses freely, and no one says yes just because she’s afraid Martin will leave. He has to treat every relationship as real, and the group stays small enough that nobody gets pushed aside."
Cassandra listened without interrupting. "What would Alexandra expect from the women?"
"The women involved would have to care about one another beyond Martin. They wouldn’t need to become best friends, but Alex wants something closer to a family than a group of rivals sharing one man."
"That sounds unusually practical for her."
"She spent a lot of time thinking about it," Martin said. "Her safest idea was to begin inside the game, where we already spend time together, and see whether any of us could handle it before making real-world promises we didn’t understand."
Cassandra turned toward him. "Did you agree?"
"At the end of our first date, we agreed to try. I care about more than one of you, Cassandra. Dating Alex didn’t make that disappear." He held her gaze. "We only made an agreement for ourselves. She didn’t answer for anyone else, and neither will I."
"Alex told me afterward," Katherine said. "She was so pleased with herself that I heard nearly every detail."
Cassandra’s expression remained composed. "Start at the beginning."
Katherine settled more comfortably against him. "Martin cooked for her. Later, Alex pulled him off his planned route and made him dance along the tree paths. He also got permission for them to climb the Light Tree because it reminded her of a scene from one of her favorite novels."
"A piece of bark broke beneath his foot while they were climbing," Katherine continued. "Alex caught his wrist, and even after he grabbed a vine, she held on until he found his footing. When Martin reminded her that he would come back if he fell, she told him that wasn’t the point."
"She was right," Martin said. "I promised I’d be more careful."
"They reached the branches safely after that," Katherine said. "Once they settled into the canopy, the date stopped being quite so innocent."
Cassandra’s gaze sharpened. "Stop circling around it. What happened?"
"They kissed more than once. Then Alex guided Martin’s hand to her breast."
Cassandra looked down at the hand she was holding, then raised her crimson eyes to his. "Did you want her to?"
Heat climbed into Martin’s face, but he answered her directly. "Yes. She made the first move, but I wanted to touch her."
Cassandra’s thumb went still against Martin’s knuckles. The silence stretched long enough for the heat in his face to become uncomfortable.
"That should have come from you."
"I wanted it to. You were gone before I had the chance."
Her gaze dropped. "No. That was unfair. You meant to tell me, and I disappeared before you could."
"What Alex and I agreed to doesn’t wipe away anything we talked about tonight," Martin said.
"I know, and I’m not going to treat this as forgiveness or assume I’ve already earned another chance."
Katherine let the silence between them settle. "Elisebeth knows about the plan too. She refused."
"How did she react?"
"She refused very loudly. By then, she had caught Alex and Martin kissing and created an Epic spell that blasted Alex off the road. She confessed afterward, then held on to Martin’s sleeve all the way to the guest lodge because she refused to leave him alone with Alex."
Cassandra’s lips curved faintly. "So her feelings for you didn’t vanish simply because she said no."
"No," Martin said. "She said no to the arrangement, and the rest of her feelings don’t change that."