by Katee Robert
“Your loss, my love.” He returns to the couch with two glasses of wine and sinks down next to me. “You sure you don’t want to come skiing tomorrow? We can take you on the bunny hill.”
I smother a sliver of disappointment that we’re moved on from the conversation of passing me around. It’s only ever been joking. Grayson and I can get freaking in the bedroom from time to time, but adding in another person is something we’ve never discussed. If we did ever go that route, doing it with his best friend would be a terrible idea.
Because I’m not the only one attracted to Derek.
I take a sip of wine and try for a smile. “I’ll take a pass. There’s a really cozy chair next to the fireplace with my name on it, and half a dozen books to work through while I’m on vacation.” Not to mention the fifty others that are sitting unread on my e-reader. Really, I should stop buying new ones until my reading catches up to my purchases, but it’ll never happen.
Derek drops into the chair across from us. He really should put on a shirt. It’s distracting as hell to watch his muscles move beneath his skin as he sits forward and back. The man is all restless energy, and always has been.
He catches me looking and skates his own perusal down my body. I’m suddenly aching aware of how my black leggings cling and the fact that I didn’t bother with a bra under my slouchy sweater. Derek grins. “You two are almost a matching pair.”
I glance from Grayson’s sweater to mine. They’re both gray, though mine is light and his is dark. “That happens after being married for a small eternity.”
“Seven years last summer.” Derek sips his wine, watching us with those witchy hazel eyes. “The seven year itch is a real thing.”
I give a nervous laugh. “Right. As if you’d know with all the long-term relationships you’ve been in.” In all the time I’ve known him, I haven’t met a single girlfriend or boyfriend, though I know there have been a scattering of each because Grayson told me.
“We’re not talking about my relationships. We’re talking about yours.” He leans forward, expression intent. “How are you spicing things up these days?”
His willingness to ignore any and all social boundaries is something I love and hate about Derek in equal measures. I can’t count on him to back off from asking questions no polite person would ask. He and Grayson are too close, too willing to share things. Neither are particularly good at boundaries.
I very carefully don’t look at Grayson. “Our sex life is fine.” Better than fine, really. Even after all this time, we can’t get enough of each other. At least a few days a week, he stops by and we fuck on his lunch break like a bunch of horny newlyweds. We meet in bars and pretend to be strangers and fuck in the bathroom, in the parking lot, in the car itself. The games just get more elaborate as time goes on.
“Fine,” Derek repeats slowly. He glances at Grayson, and I don’t miss the fact that he gives my husband the same thorough once-over that he gave me. “That sounds depressing as hell.”
Grayson laughs. “So we’re back to you being jealous.” He finishes his wine and sets the glass aside. Both Derek and I have most of our glasses left, but there’s a new tension in Grayson that wasn’t there before. I recognize it even before he looks at me. “You finished?”
There’s only one answer to that question, and I’m already nodding, my body flushing hot in anticipation. “Yes.” I set it aside and take his hand as he rises. He moves quickly, scooping me up and tossing me over his shoulder. My exhale whooshes out in a breathless laugh. “Grayson!”
“If you’ll excuse us, I’m going to go have fine sexy with my gorgeous wife.”
“Well, fuck you, too.” Derek laughs. “Have fun, kids. I’ll be in my room with my hand to keep my company.”
I catch sight of him through the long fall of my blond hair as Grayson hauls me away, watching us with a viceral heat in his eyes. I can’t tell whose ass he’s most intent on—mine or my husbands. In the end, it doesn’t matter. I’ve survived yet another conversation with him, yet another teasing that isn’t quite teasing.
Grayson carries me into our bedroom and drops me on the bed. I barely get my hair out of my face before his mouth is on mine. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve done this, he kisses me like he might never get a chance again. I’m already going for the front of his jeans, desperate to purge the uncomfortable thoughts, the desire that I have no business feeling. It doesn’t matter where it originates, only that I slake it with my husband. Except that reasoning feels flimsy at best.
Especially when I’ve fantasized about Derek more times than I care to count.
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Acknowledgments
This book feels extra collaborative, because it was written so quickly and because the support it got when it was still in the idea stages is the reason I started writing. If you saw that tweet or instagram post and went YES, thank you! You gave me the push to just do the damn thing.
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Thank you to Amy Ball for both series and book title suggestions. They’re perfect!
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Big thanks to Nikke Sloane for writing such an outstanding series that sold me on being into father-in-laws. If you haven’t read the Filthy Rich American series, I cannot recommend it enough!
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Thank you to Piper J Drake and Asa Maria Bradley for being there while I was in the midst of writing this.
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Big thanks to Jenny Nordback, Nisha Sharma, and Andie J Christopher for giving me a big thumbs up and DO THE DAMN THING throughout drafting. I appreciate you!
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As always, thanks to Tim. This time for not blinking when I’m like “So I’m writing this book about a woman who fucks her former father-in-law.” Of course you are, babe. LOL. Love you!
About the Author
Katee Robert is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Entertainment Weekly calls her writing “unspeakably hot.” Her books have sold over a million copies. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, children, a cat who thinks he’s a dog, and two Great Danes who think they’re lap dogs.
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Website: www.kateerobert.com
