Her breathing changed as she moved a bit, snuggling in closer to me. Her voice was but a murmur, “David, I love you so much. I hate fighting with you. Let’s not do that anymore.”
Kissing the top of her head, I said, “I love you too. Let’s never fight again. Night, baby.”
How I wished that we could actually never fight again. All couples fight. That’s just a fact. But, damn it, she and I sure knew how to make up, didn’t we?
Chapter 19
Kaye
I had been humming to myself from almost the moment I rose in the morning and stepped out of bed. Even the confusion of finding myself passed out in the guest room hadn’t been able to take the spring out of my step.
Even as I looked around the room that was so strange to me, I knew that everything was okay, as David was there with me. His chest was rising and falling as he continued to sleep, a slight smile on his handsome face. We’d made up, and we’d done it in grand fashion. Never had I felt so much love radiating out of the man.
We would work things out. David wasn’t perfect, but he was the man I loved, and I thought the things we’d said and done the previous night were actually quite hopeful.
Any marriage would have bumpy patches, but I was just as determined as ever to stick it out.
The way David had reacted to me, I couldn’t help but feel like he was feeling the same way. It was like we’d recommitted to each other. Or it felt like it, anyway.
A little while later David was in the shower and I was making us breakfast. I had the day off work, and spending it with my husband seemed like the absolute best use of my time. With my hands on my hips, I glanced around at the pancakes, bacon, and eggs I had going all at once.
Maybe I’d gone a little overboard, but I liked cooking. I liked cooking for my husband even more.
A light knock came at the door and my good mood instantly retreated a little bit. It didn’t completely go away, but I was definitely wary.
There was only one person I could imagine coming to our house this early and he wasn’t a person I was sure I wanted to speak to right at that moment.
Still, I went to the door and slowly opened it. What was the worst that could happen, really? Brent had never forced anything on me. His only crime was being perhaps a bit too interested in me, and hopefully, I’d nipped that right in the bud.
“Kaye, good.” Brent gave me one of his charming smiles, but there seemed to be a hint of anxiety in his eyes. “I’m glad you’re alone. I wanted to talk to you.”
I looked at him thoughtfully, then nodded. He didn’t seem to be looking at me inappropriately, and if we could have this all out, it would be better.
Brent was a part of David’s life, and I honestly didn’t want to get in the way of their friendship. I had seen how hard it was for David to really connect with people, and Brent was one of the few he actually called his friend.
“Please come in,” I finally decided, hoping I didn’t regret the decision. I stepped aside to let him enter and walked back to the kitchen. “Can I get you some coffee?”
He agreed, and soon enough we sat at the table, facing each other. Brent looked more serious than I was used to seeing him, and I sipped at my coffee and waited. He had, after all, come to see me. He could tell me what this was all about.
“I wanted to apologize,” he admitted, and my eyebrows rose. I hadn’t expected anything of the sort. It was a real apology, as opposed to his ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’ that he’d tossed my way casually before. This one seemed much sincerer.
When I opened my mouth to speak, he raised his hand, and I subsided. There was some sort of dominant energy about this man—something that pretty much demanded I do as he said. David had it, too, and I found it fascinating. But not intimidating. I could hold my own and had proven that.
I also admired that in the men. At least when it wasn’t being used to try to force me to do things I didn’t want to do.
“Just let me get this out. I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” He looked at me earnestly across the table, and for some reason, I found I believed him. He seemed awfully sincere. “If I made you feel that way, I am deeply sorry. I’ll be more careful.”
I let out a soft sigh of relief. Maybe things would be okay after all. I had liked Brent before, and pushing away a potential new friend hadn’t been easy. I just wasn’t willing to give him the wrong impression. I wanted him to know, without a doubt, that I was in love with my husband and I would never be with another man in any way, shape, or form.
“It’s okay,” I assured him and gave him a smile. I didn’t reach over and touch his hand, though, like I normally would have done. It had taken very little to encourage him before, and I was still just a little bit wary. As I had every right to be.
Not many men were so forward with their friend’s wife.
“I hope we can still be friends,” Brent commented, and I nodded, smiling more widely. It was exactly what I wanted too. I wanted my friends to be David’s friends, and vice versa.
Which made me think—could I carry this whole friend-making thing to a new level? I had an idea and it might just be the most brilliant idea of all time, especially because I knew my friends could hold their own and wouldn’t be too intimidated by Brent, even as handsome as he was.
“Me too. Actually, speaking of friends …I have a couple of single ones,” I admitted. “Maybe you could meet them.”
As a matchmaking attempt went, it was pretty transparent. I was absolutely sure he knew just what I was doing, and he shot me this devastating, wicked little grin and nodded.
“I’d like that,” he admitted. “If you think they can handle me.”
He even shot me a little wink, but it made me laugh. It was just so over the top, there was no way it could be seen as an attempt to seduce me. He probably couldn’t help flirting, at least a little.
I wasn’t going to encourage him, but I did find it sort of funny.
“I could have a party. I haven’t entertained here,” I realized. “I’m sure David wouldn’t mind. I’ll check with him. We could invite his friends and my friends and have some fun.”
He’d extended me an olive branch, and this was my way of accepting it and letting him know it was okay. I didn’t hold any grudges. We could still be friends, as long as there were no more incidents.
“I’d like that,” he murmured and he smiled at me. I smiled back and my heart felt lighter within me. Things were back to how they should be.
I had never liked the idea of being at odds with my husband’s best friend, and if things kept going as they were, I wouldn’t have to.
David came in soon after and he nodded at Brent in greeting. There was a strange look on his face, like he wasn’t entirely happy to see the man, but it was probably just my imagination.
Surely David knew he had no reason to be jealous, after the incredible night we’d just had in each other’s arms.
Well, I definitely didn’t want to cause any trouble, so while I was polite to Brent, I made sure most of my attention was on David. I chatted with both of them and we ate a nice, relaxed, comfortable breakfast together.
Brent had to go to work afterward, so while David and I cleaned up the kitchen together, it was just the two of us. I figured it was a good time to ask him about the party.
“I think Brent’s lonely,” I admitted, scraping some plates into the garbage. I loaded them in the dishwasher, smiling a little. It was nice to be doing even this sort of boring, domestic chore, at least while I was with David.
“I think you’re right,” David replied, and then looked at me with his eyebrows arched, as though to ask what the point of my statement was.
Turning to look at him, I smiled a little. He was so handsome—as sexy to me in the kitchen as he was in the bedroom. Maybe even more so here, because it was everything about him that appealed to me, not just his physical body.
“We should throw a little party. We never had an engagement party or a housewarming par
ty,” I pointed out, leaning against the counter.
He arched an eyebrow at me, a slight smirk quirking his lips upward. “Okay, Kaye, what’s this really about?” he asked, and I had to laugh. He could see right through me sometimes. I probably didn’t have an incredible career ahead of me as a spy or anything.
“I have single friends,” I admitted, grinning at him. “And, you know, Brent’s single. Maybe he’d be happier if he got with someone special.”
The strangest look crossed his face, like he was somehow conflicted—like part of him wanted Brent to be with someone else and part of him didn’t. It probably had something to do with him being afraid his best friend might have less use for him when he wasn’t single. Something like that.
“Did you ask him about it?” David asked, his expression thoughtful. I nodded, and David gave a little shrug. He considered it, then grinned at me and nodded back. “I think it sounds like a really good idea,” he murmured, and there was a strange, almost furtive light in his eyes, as though part of him was ashamed by what he was doing.
Probably just my imagination. Why would he think he shouldn’t hook Brent up with one of my friends? I was getting paranoid and seeing things that weren’t there.
“Okay,” I murmured and sidled over to him, nuzzling my face against his strong, warm chest. I could hear the beating of his heart, just as I had the previous night, and it comforted me deeply.
He put his arm around me and I snuggled into him.
“I’ll arrange it, then,” I continued smiling. This was going to be fun. It had been a long time since I’d done something that was just for fun with my friends, and hopefully if all went well, I’d end up helping one of them out too. Joan, maybe? Or Angela?
Or maybe neither of them, if they didn’t like Brent. I honestly didn’t see how they couldn’t, though. Even when he’d been slightly less than appropriate with me, his behavior had really only been questionable because I was already married.
My friends didn’t have the same impediment, and I couldn’t help but grin as I thought of it. Even if nothing happened, it should be a good time.
Something told me the party would be eventful, though. I wasn’t sure what it was. Call it some sort of intuition. I just had the idea something would happen, I just wasn’t sure what.
Hopefully, it was something good.
Clinging onto my husband, breathing his musky, masculine scent, I wanted this for everyone. For all of my friends. I wanted them all to be even half as happy as I was, and that went for Brent too.
It went for everyone in the whole world.
I held David and he held me, and for one moment at least, everything was completely perfect.
David
Kaye wanted to set Brent up with someone.
Damn it. She was supposed to be thinking of Brent at least somewhat romantically by now. Or, at least, she was supposed to want him sexually. What on earth was she doing wanting to hook him up with one of her friends? It defied all of my expectations.
And made me far too happy. Happiness was dangerous, and I knew that for a fact. Dad had been happy with mom once upon a time, until she’d left us both behind to do only God knew what. She had never bothered to let us know anything about her, other than that she wanted a divorce from my father and didn’t want custody of me.
I thought maybe I had accidentally shown just a little bit too much of my disappointment to Kaye. There had been a look in her eyes, sort of thoughtful, that made me think I hadn’t hidden my emotions as well as I might have wished.
How amazing would it be if Brent did fall for one of Kaye’s friends? I’d met them a few times and they all seemed lovely. Nowhere near as perfect as Kaye, of course, but who was?
Brent would fall for one of them, maybe, and then …
And then what?
I’d be out a lot of money.
To say I was conflicted was a definite understatement.
I didn’t know how to feel. I should be pissed off because Kaye was trying to set Brent up with someone else, but I was actually kind of relieved about it too. Confusing, to say the least.
“Hey, man.” Speak of the devil. Or, in this case, think about him. It was Brent, poking his head into my office, strangely reserved and almost sheepish as he slunk in when I waved to him.
“What’s up?” I asked, and I could tell something definitely was. I had rarely seen Brent as agitated as he was, fiddling with his own fingers and running his hands over his legs as he seated himself.
“I have a confession,” Brent admitted, and he focused his eyes on mine, but it was like he was forcing himself to do it.
“Spit it out.” I tried not to grit my teeth. Whatever this was, I was absolutely certain by his reaction I wasn’t going to like it. Better to get it out of the way so we could focus on damage control.
I had no idea what to expect, but what he said next wouldn’t have made it onto my list of ten guesses, if I had made one. It wouldn’t have made it even onto a list of a hundred.
“When I seduce Kaye, I want to keep her,” Brent spoke quietly, as though ashamed of himself, but firmly, as though resigned to the shame. As though what he was saying was worth it.
“You want to do what?” I asked, feeling suddenly quite faint, my head spinning. I couldn’t have heard him right, or he was messing with me, or I was misunderstanding.
This can’t actually be happening.
“I like Kaye a lot. I think I might even …I’ve never loved a woman before, but if I could love one, it would be her.” He looked at me, and I looked back, utterly dumbfounded.
This was Brent—the most devoted bachelor in the world, one who was never seen in the company of the same woman more than a few times. The things coming out of his mouth were absolutely ludicrous in the face of his entire personality.
“You want to keep her?” I didn’t even recognize my own voice. It came out small and stifled and my heart barely seemed to be beating. My breathing was very slow as I almost held it to listen to his response.
“She’s one in a million,” Brent murmured, and he got this little smile on his face, one I could almost swear couldn’t be faked. I’d never seen him smile in exactly that way before and it would have been fascinating in any other situation. “I hope it doesn’t offend you, but I want her. I just …wanted you to know. I’m going to keep her for myself.”
He wasn’t even asking my permission, I realized. This was something Brent fully intended to do, and what he was telling me—in his own subtle way—seemed to be that he had no intention of changing his mind, no matter what I thought about it.
And I was taking it pretty well, all things considering. Or I thought I had been, until I found myself on my feet, looming over Brent’s seat, bending over the desk, and glaring at him as though my expression could somehow keep this all from happening.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” I said. Well, no. I didn’t say it. I yelled it, and I was glad for the good construction of the house, which should keep this conversation relatively private.
But my voice kept rising and I fought it for a short time, but ultimately lost the battle. I was soon screaming at him, looming over him, and he rose to his feet to face me.
“You can’t just take my fucking wife, you son of a bitch,” I growled, and I only realized my hands had clenched into tight fists when I saw his doing the same. He was getting ready to protect himself against me, and I wasn’t entirely sure he had no cause.
I wanted to rip him apart. My rage roared through me, a wild beast that wouldn’t be tamed. This man dared to come into my house and tell me he was going to just keep my wife! Of course I was going to be mad.
“David …”
Brent still wasn’t backing down. The bastard was standing his ground, even in the face of my anger. More than ever before, I found myself having to fight down the urge to tear him apart.
It was another battle I was losing, I feared.
When I saw his defiance, I moved around my desk, almost
jumping over it as though it wasn’t even there. It had been all there was to protect him from me, and in seconds, it was behind us both. I stood in front of him, hands still clenched into fists.
I was going to destroy this man. Maybe I would even kill him for the things he had dared to say about my Kaye.
“Shut up,” I snarled. “Don’t talk to me, you son of a bitch. You stay the fuck away from my wife.”
Brent didn’t cower back. He probably didn’t have it in him. He was naturally a dominant person, even more than I was, and he stood up straight and tall, icy cold in the face of my fiery fury.
“You’re acting crazy,” Brent commented, almost offhandedly, where most people would have been trying to get away from me. I could be sort of intense, even when I wasn’t this utterly furious.
I just snarled at him, anger robbing me of my voice. My body tensed, flushed through with a fury that actually felt pretty good and numbed everything else I could be feeling. But he was once more undeterred.
“David, calm the hell down,” Brent demanded, and I tensed up, my whole body wanting to launch itself at him. I held myself back. Barely. It was quite hard not to knock the living shit out of the man I had considered my best friend for years. “You’re acting completely insane. Why do you care so much?”
The question took me aback, and I actually stepped backward a few paces. Something about his certainty undermined me, and I listened, still furious but not quite as unreasonable about it—a little bit back from homicidal.
Why do I care so much?
The plan was for me to have a legitimate reason to leave Kaye after all. Why couldn’t Brent keep her?
Oh, yeah, because I fucking love her, that’s why!
“I just do.” I managed to find my voice, and Brent actually had the nerve to smirk at me.
“That’s bullshit. You’re acting like a jealous husband. Like this marriage is real to you or something. Are you really in love with her?”
He was so bold, and it froze my tongue again, making me choke back any words. To hear my conflicting feelings said aloud by another human being freaked me the fuck out. I had only ever said those words to Kaye, and I wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone else. Especially not Brent, who was supposed to be in this whole thing with me. Instead, he was busy falling for Kaye, too. Things had officially gotten too messy for me to deal with. “I …I …I …” that was all I could muster.
Vengeful Seduction_A Submissives’ Secrets Novel Page 19