ctober 6t

cameras hadn't sent a single notification to her phone. Riley was likely spending anoth

h she'd drunk at dinner. Enough to loosen her tongue, not enough to impair her judgment, a fine line sh

sive members-only club in a discreet location, requiring both a substantial membership fee

ing through the details. "I can't poss

rror, she studied her reflection... the vibrant red hair, the green eyes, the curves

new two wrongs didn't make a right. But she had no clause linked to her name in their prenup.

in his eyes when he saw her... not Joy Smith, but Honey Johnson. The way he'd lo

he'd said with

nt men in the world. Just not the one she'd married. But Grayson wasn't for her. It didn

he king-size mattress with its white sheets. Had he brought Brittany here? Had he t

sleeping there tonight made her stomach turn. Even with fresh sheets, sh

ning," she

the linen closet, pulling out clean sheets, a spare duvet, and pillowcases that

erhaps more force than necessary. Each snap of fab

wasn't just a bed for tonight. It was the first step toward some

ged with a text from Ben: Got initial

quickly: Yes. Yo

he didn't miss Riley's presence. She missed something else entirely... the intimacy she'd never actually experienced, the pleasure

She filled it out methodically, detailing her preferences and boundaries without allowing herself to hesitate. Whe

ng new. Something that refl

hen deleted it. That wasn't her, she

le. A nod to her natural hair color that Riley had never appre

one on the nightstand and turned off the lamp. In the darkness, her pulse thrum

, buried beneath years of compromise and Riley's g

She would see this through. One night at The Velvet Room couldn't hurt. One opportunity to discover if

rely. She didn't have to carry th

October

last month but never worn... it was neither Joy's frumpy work clothes nor the

od, gesturing to the cha

ing a folder toward her. "I have to say the file yo

ing a hotel, his hand possessively on her lower back. Another showed them in the hotel bar, leaning intimately toward each

en explained. "They spent three hours in

h clinical detachment. "He t

their... meeting," Ben said, his t

after

hews' apartment. Staye

for months." She had never liked Paul, found him creepy. At her weddi

aking regular visits to an OB-GYN. Started about ten weeks ago. I tracked down the charges on Riley's credit card,

oney like a physical