CHAPTER 00: POOLSIDE SURPRISE

“That’s weird,” Myla whispered, her brows furrowing as she stared at the open glass door leading into the indoor pool. “I could have sworn I locked them.”

Myla hesitated in the wide, dim hallway, biting her bottom lip until it hurt.

Her first instinct was to turn around and tell her husband, Hayden, that someone may have broken into their house.

Since his accident, he had become obsessively paranoid about doors being left open or unlocked.

But her resolve stiffened as the memory of the way he’d ignored her earlier that evening, when she had tried to talk to him, flashed through her mind.

Myla let out a quiet sigh, her stomach knotting. She wasn’t sure she had the emotional bandwidth to deal with his sharp, brooding mood again.

“You can handle this yourself,” she said out loud, straightening her shoulders as she marched to the pool room. “It’s not as if any intruder can sneak through all the security Hayden put in this place.”

She peered into the room, but there was no one in sight.

She was about to close the doors when a sharp noise echoed through the room.

Fear spiked instantly through Myla’s veins, and she literally dove behind a cluster of the thick indoor plants lining the edge of the space.

With her heart in her throat, she poked her head out and frantically scanned the luxurious layout of the space for an intruder, while her hand hovered over a heavy ceramic planter in case she needed it to defend herself.

The indoor pool had been built to resemble a secluded private island, fed by a grand artificial waterfall and enclosed by a dense wall of tropical greenery.

Hayden had designed and built every single inch of it specifically for her, tailored precisely to everything she loved.

Myla swallowed back a sudden lump in her throat. She missed the good old days when her husband had been attentive and couldn’t keep his hands off her.

Now, he was just a cold stranger she lived with.

A soft, subtle gurgle drew her attention back to the water.

Myla blinked, realizing that the waterfall was on but set to its secondary, silent feature, where the water flowed smoothly and quietly into the pool without making the usual roar that mimicked a real waterfall. It was another testament to how much thought Hayden had poured into the design.

Someone was in the pool.

Is it one of the house staff? Myla thought, her heart slowing down a fraction. The gardener, maybe?

Even though she didn't mind someone taking a midnight dip to relax, Hayden’s terrible temper lately meant he would fire them on the spot if he found out.

Not wanting to get anyone into trouble, Myla began to quietly crawl backward, preparing to leave.

Suddenly, two male heads broke through the surface of the water.

Myla paused. As the two men began walking up the steps out of the pool under the soft golden accent lights, she recognized the intricate, bold back tattoos on one of them immediately.

A relieved smile spread across her face. It was Jared Lotto and Beck Garner, her husband's best friends.

Nobody should question the fact that she could recognize them by their tattoos. Anyone who had ever seen those broad, inked shoulders even once would remember every single line of them.

She opened her mouth, about to crawl from behind the plants and greet them, but the words died instantly in her throat when they stepped fully out of the water and she realized that neither of them was wearing a single stitch of clothing.

Myla’s breath hitched, and heat rushed so fast into her face that she felt dizzy.

Oh my God, she thought, her brain short-circuiting as her eyes darted helplessly between their sharp jawlines and the water running down their chiseled bodies.

Her gaze caught on a single drop of water trailing slowly down the inked lines of Jared’s back, and for one wild second, she imagined pressing her lips to his skin and following its path all the way down.

She snapped out of the trance, her face burning. I need to get out of here. When did I start thinking about my husband's best friends like that?!

“Really?” a wicked little voice whispered in the back of her head. “You're really going to pretend you haven't always wondered?”

“Shut up,” Myla scolded herself under her breath as she glanced toward the exit door, which suddenly felt a million miles away.

Her heart hammered against her ribs as she tried to think of a way to leave the room without them noticing her.

A low, rough sound drifted across the water, and her head snapped back toward the men.

Her eyes widened, and a soft gasp caught in her throat.

Jared had his hand wrapped around the back of Beck’s neck, and he was kissing him with a hunger so fierce and possessive that Myla felt it all the way down to her toes. Beck melted into him without a single word of protest, his fingers sliding slowly down the hard ridges of Jared’s stomach until Jared shuddered against his mouth.

The deep growl Jared let out sent a wave of heat rushing through Myla’s whole body, and she pressed her knees tightly together behind the leaves.

Jared tightened his grip on Beck’s nape and pulled him back just far enough to look into his eyes.

"You’ve been testing my patience all night," he murmured, his voice low and dangerous, his eyes flaring with raw dominance. "Haven’t you, baby?"

Beck only smirked up at him, his blue eyes gleaming with a daring, challenging light.

Without another word, Jared pressed down on Beck’s shoulder, and Beck sank slowly to his knees on the wet tiles in front of him, his eyes never once leaving Jared’s face.

Myla’s jaw slackened as she stared at them from behind the leaves, her pulse roaring in her ears.

She knew exactly what was about to happen, and she knew she should look away.

She didn’t.

Jared’s head fell back, his fingers tangling in Beck’s hair, and the broken sound that left his throat was nothing like the cool, controlled man she had shared dinners and holidays with for five years.

“You’re perfect, baby,” Jared rasped, his voice shaking. “So perfect.”

Myla couldn’t tear her eyes away from them. There was something so raw and beautiful in the way Beck looked up at him with complete trust, and in the way Jared’s hand stayed gentle in his hair even as his whole body trembled.

God, she missed this.

She missed being wanted like that, missed the weight of Hayden’s hand in her hair and the sound of her name breaking on his lips in the dark.

Her own hand drifted down slowly, almost as if it belonged to someone else, and when the first trembling touch made her bite down on her lip, she didn’t stop it.

She stopped thinking at all after that.

Everything narrowed down to the sound of Jared’s ragged breathing, the soft, desperate noises Beck was making, and the rising, unbearable heat inside her own body as she followed their rhythm without meaning to.

When Jared finally cried out Beck’s name and Beck’s answering groan echoed off the water, Myla pressed her free hand hard over her mouth as she came apart behind the leaves, shaking so badly that her vision blurred.

For a long moment, the only sound in the room was the quiet whisper of the waterfall.

Then Jared bent down, pulled Beck up into his arms, and kissed his flushed face with so much tenderness that Myla’s chest ached.

“I will always love the way you look at me like that,” Jared murmured, stroking his hand slowly through Beck’s damp hair.

His voice dropped into a low, dark promise as he brushed his lips against Beck’s ear. "And when we get upstairs, I’m going to take my time with you until you’re begging me for mercy."

"Please," Beck whispered, his voice shaking. “I can’t wait.”

Hearing Beck, one of the most masculine and imposing men she knew, sound so completely undone awakened something in Myla she hadn't known existed.

A soft, helpless sound escaped her lips before she could stop it.

The sound was tiny, but in the quiet space, both men's heads snapped instantly toward her direction.

Myla ducked instantly, dropping flat to the floor as panic swept away every last trace of heat in her body.

She turned and hurried out of the pool room, her heart beating frantically and her legs still trembling beneath her.

Shame and guilt were eating her up inside. She couldn’t believe she had just lost control of herself like that while watching her husband’s best friends.

What she didn't see, as she fled, was that Jared and Beck hadn't missed her at all.

“Did you manage to catch that cute shadow?” Beck whispered, his voice rich with dark amusement.

“Oh yes,” Jared replied, a slow smirk spreading across his face as he looked toward the empty doorway, and the hunger in his eyes flared all over again. "She looked so divine when she fell apart.”

“God,” Beck rasped, his tone dropping into a thick, desperate murmur as he stared at the door she had disappeared through. "I wish I was the one who put that look on her face.”