LOGINShe hides behind ugly suits and fake names. He's done trusting women. When they meet in a masked sex club, neither realizes they've been fighting each other across boardroom tables for eighteen months. At Taylor Industries, she's Joy Smith—the frumpy CFO who drowns her curves in shapeless polyester and wearing a wig. At home, she's the forgotten wife of a cheating lawyer who hasn't touched her in so long she's starting to wonder if she's broken. When she finds hot pink lace panties stuffed in her couch cushions...definitely not hers, it's not heartbreak she feels. It's freedom. Grayson Taylor doesn't do relationships anymore. Not after walking in on his actress fiancée with another woman. Now he channels everything into hostile takeovers and board meetings, especially the ones where his overcautious CFO fights him on every goddamn acquisition. Joy Smith is brilliant, infuriating, and funny when he pushes all her buttons. But Honey is tired of being invisible. Tired of never having felt real pleasure. So, when her best friend gives her the details of The Velvet Room—Manhattan's most exclusive masked club—she promises herself just one night. One night to find out if her husband's right, if she really is frigid, or if she's just never been touched by the right hands. She doesn't expect the masked stranger who claims her the second she walks in. Doesn't expect the chemistry that ignites between them, the way he makes her body sing, or the orgasms that leave her shaking. Doesn't expect him to hand her an email address with one command: "Only me. No one else touches you."
View MoreThursday, October 5th
Grayson knew he should have been in Boston by now, and yet, there he was, standing in front of his Upper West Side brownstone, a victim of the changeable New York weather. Hail had pummeled the tarmac, which in turn had dismissed all hope of air travel, and sent him home for the night. He had rebooked a flight early tomorrow morning with enough time he needed to arrive for the meeting in Boston… Just
In turn, it gave him an opportunity to surprise Morgan.
Glancing down the street at the brownstones, this was a great place to raise kids, and when he had slipped the engagement ring on Morgan's finger six months ago, she had agreed to move in and have their family here someday.
Using his key, he let himself in, soft jazz drifted through the hallway to greet him. Grayson dropped his briefcase by the door, loosened his tie. He considered calling out, announcing his arrival, but paused when he heard laughter coming from the master bedroom. Two women. Morgan and... someone else. Disappointed that they wouldn't have the evening to themselves, but he really couldn't complain. He hadn't planned to be here. If Morgan had invited a friend over to keep her company that was fine by him.
Grayson smiled. More laughter echoed down the hall, followed by whispers he couldn't quite make out. He hung his coat on the rack, figuring he'd grab a drink before interrupting their girl talk. Heading into the lounge to grab a whiskey before seeing what Morgan was up to. Knowing his luck, they were going through Morgan’s wardrobe and there would be a mountain of clothing laying over their bed.
The laughter grew louder as he approached the bedroom. Giggles. Hushed words. A sound that might have been a moan. He stopped, hand hovering over the doorknob.
A voice that wasn't Morgan's said, "Baby just like that."
Morgan responded with a sound Grayson recognized all too well. Pleasure.
His stomach dropped. The hairs on his arms stood up. A cold feeling spread through his chest. He knew before touching the door what he was about to walk in on.
But he pushed open the door anyway. He couldn't hide from the knowledge. He needed to face it and them head on. Just like he handled business.
But he wasn't quite ready for the sight that greeted him.
Morgan lay sprawled across their king-size bed, naked, her blonde hair fanned out across his pillow. On top of her was a brunette woman, equally naked, the fingers of one hand tangled in Morgan's hair, he couldn't see where her other hand was, but he could guess.
Time stopped. The world tilted on its axis as Grayson stood frozen in the doorway, unable to process what he was seeing. He’d known—sure—even prepared himself for it—but seeing it was something else.
Then Morgan looked up as if sensing him, her eyes widening with shock.
"Grayson!" She scrambled out from under the other woman, grabbing for the sheet. "You're supposed to be in Boston!"
The brunette sat up, making no effort to cover herself, a smirk playing at her lips.
Grayson recognized her. Tina. His sister Emma's friend. The one he'd meet at his sister's engagement party.
"Flight got canceled." His voice sounded distant, like it belonged to someone else. "Hail."
Morgan pulled the sheet up to her chin. "Baby, I can explain."
Tina laughed, a short, sharp sound. "Can you really?"
Grayson stepped into the room. The jazz still played from the stereo system in the corner of the room, which explained why they hadn't heard him come in. He hadn't tried to be quiet, because he hadn't realized what she had been hiding from him. That thought made him ask his next question.
"How long?" His voice was steady. Calmer than he felt.
Morgan looked at Tina, then back at him. "It's not what you think."
"How. Long." Each word clipped, precise.
"It's nothing serious, just—"
"Answer the question, Morgan." His hands balled into fists at his sides.
She looked down at the rumpled sheets. "Soon after Emma's engagement party."
Eight months. Eight months of lies. The engagement party. The day Morgan had met Tina as well. They must have started up within days of meeting each other. Then two months later he had proposed to her, and she had said yes while fucking a woman on the side.
"Eight months," he repeated the words, testing their weight. "Let's get this straight you've been fucking my sister's friend for eight months."
"Don't be crude." Morgan reached for a silk robe hanging off the bedpost. "It's just physical. It doesn't mean anything."
Tina stretched, catlike and unconcerned. "Don't sell yourself short, Morgan. It means something to me." Clearly unconcerned about being caught out. He had never liked Tina. But he could not tell his younger sister who her friends should be. Emma was twenty-seven after all.
Grayson ran a hand through his hair. Eight months. Their entire engagement. A lie. Not just their engagement but their whole relationship.
"You brought her into our bed." Not just that but their lives.
Morgan slipped into the robe, tying it at the waist. "You're making too big a deal out of this. It's just sex."
"In our bed." He felt like throwing up. He would burn the bed before he slept in this room again.
"Why not?" Tina asked, finally reaching for her clothes scattered across the floor. "Morgan said you'd be gone until tomorrow."
Grayson didn't look her way. She did not seem to care that she was standing in front of him naked. The woman had shown no shame.
The casualness of their betrayal struck him like a physical blow. They'd planned this. Waited for him to leave. How many other times had this happened? Had they laughed that he was a fool.
"Get out." He directed the words at Tina.
She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Get the fuck out of my house."
Morgan approached him with her hands raised in a placating gesture. "Really, Grayson, I just don't understand why you are so upset. Let's talk about this like adults."
"Like adults?" He laughed, the sound hollow. "You've been cheating on me for eight months, and you want to talk like adults?"
"It's not cheating." Morgan placed a hand on his chest. "Not really. Tina is a woman not a man."
Grayson’s stepped away from her hand as his eyes widened, he realized she didn't understand cheating was cheating; it didn't matter the sex of the other person. Was she truly that stupid, or did she have the morals of an alley cat? This was not someone he wanted raising his kids let alone in his life.
If he thought he was in shock before, her next words made everything even worse.
"We could invite you to join us sometime. You might like it. Isn't it every man's dream to have two women at once."
"Then what was it like? Because from my viewpoint, it felt like you couldn't get away from me fast enough.""I was trying to do the right thing." His voice was low, rough. "You deserved better than some fucked-up Marine with more baggage than future. You deserved a clean break. You had your whole life ahead of you. Fuck, Prue, you were a virgin.""You don't get to decide what I deserve or need." The tears were coming now and she hated them, hated showing him how much he'd hurt her. "And you especially don't get to make that decision for me and then disappear without a word. What you did was a shitty thing to do."He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, they were darker than she'd ever seen them. "You're right. I should have called. I should have—" He stopped. "I'm sorry."The apology hung between them.Prue wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm not telling you this because I want something from you. I'm not trying to trap you or force you into anything. But you ha
Prue arrived at The Grey Market fifteen minutes early, which gave her too much time to sit there and panic.The coffee shop was busy for a Tuesday afternoon, filled with students from SCAD and tourists wandering through the area's historic district. She'd chosen a table in the back corner, away from the windows, somewhere they could talk without being overheard. Her hands wrapped around a cup of herbal tea she hadn't touched, watching the door like her life depended on it.Which, in a way, it did. She knew she was being dramatic, but she wanted this to go a certain way if all her dreams could come true. She didn't just want her baby she wanted Nate. If she was going to be honest with herself.She'd changed clothes three times that morning. Settled finally on jeans and a loose blouse that didn't cling to her stomach, even though there was nothing to see yet. Her hair was down, brushed until it shone, because some stupid part of her brain thought if she looked good enough, he might… wha
They both knew a woman can claim rape if she was too drunk to make a clear chose. “Fuck, Gray, you know me better than that. She wanted it, and she was sober.” The memory of Prue in that cave, looking up at him with those eyes, begging him not to stop. “She was the one who… it wasn’t like I forced her or anything. But she was in shock, Gray. We’d just watched my driver Jon die, we’d been shot at, we were stuck in a cave in the middle of a jungle. And I should have kept my hands off her, but I didn’t.”“What happened after?”“After?” Nate’s laugh was bitter. “After I realized what I’d done. After I realized she was twenty years old and a virgin and I had no business touching her. So I got her back to her father and I walked away.”“You just left?”“What was I supposed to do? She’s got her whole life ahead of her, Gray. She’s young, she’s beautiful, she’s got an education and a father who can open doors I’ll never be able to open. What the hell was I supposed to offer her? A one-bedroom
Four weeks later, Prue stood in her bathroom in her family home, staring at the pregnancy test lying on the vanity like it might suddenly change its mind. That somehow there was a mistake.Two pink lines. Clear as day.She’d known. Of course she’d known. Her period was two weeks late, her breasts were tender. But knowing and seeing it confirmed were two different things entirely.Pregnant.She pressed one hand to her stomach, feeling nothing different yet, but knowing everything had changed.The house was quiet around her. Her father was at some meeting in Washington, wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Which was probably for the best because she had no idea how she was going to tell him that his twenty-year-old daughter was pregnant by her bodyguard. A man he’d specifically warned her about. A man who’d disappeared without so much as a goodbye.Four weeks.Four weeks since she’d watched Nate walk away on that helipad in Darwin. Four weeks of waiting for him to call, to reach out, to ack






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