Everything Changes

In Tempted, Anne gave in to her passion for both her husband, James, and his friend, Alex. Now it’s time for Alex’s side of the story…

When Jamie tells Alex he wants him to sleep with his wife, Alex thinks it will only lead to trouble. Sure, Alex thinks Anne is hot and they’ve talked about sharing a woman before, but that was a long time ago. Before Jamie knew what Alex really wanted.

Still, Alex can’t resist the pleasure of being with Anne—and with Jamie…

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She’d left them on the bed, folded neater than he ever would have and tied with a hot pink ribbon that matched the smiling faces printed on the black material.

Hello Kitty.

Alex Kennedy, thirty-five, single and devastatingly fucking handsome, looked in the mirror. Straightened his tie. Smoothed his shirt. He slicked a hand back over his hair and stared into his own eyes for so long he imagined, for just a moment, he saw something there.

A blink and another slide of his hand across his hair, and he looked at the bed again. They were only pajama bottoms, and they wouldn’t bite. But Genevieve could, and had, and he wouldn’t have put it past her to try again.

She’d written his full name across the front of the card. She was the only person who’d ever insisted on it. Alexander. The Great, she sometimes added with that low, throaty laugh. Usually when she had his cock in her fist. She’d said it the last time she jerked him off while some dude they’d picked up at a club got between her legs and ate her until she came.

The gift had been waiting for him when he got home from the meeting, which had been short and to the point. Global Communicom was buying him out, utterly, and taking over the transportation business he’d built here in Singapore. So sorry, Alex old chap, but there’s no room for you on the executive board, not even in a consultant’s position. Take the money, please, and get the fuck out. Alex wasn’t stupid enough to think it had nothing to do with the fact he’d been fucking Reginald Bell’s wife on and off for the past six months. Which was probably why she’d left him this present, he thought with another glance at the bed and its perfectly made-up sheets, the comforter pulled smooth over the top. She must have used her key to get in while he was out.

He looked again at his reflection. Transcom had meant everything to him, had been built with sweat and blood. He’d left behind his entire life to come here and start it up, and in less than ten years had made himself a millionaire. Take the check, he thought. And get out, fuck you very much, have a nice day.

Alex tugged one end and the smooth, slippery ribbon twisted around his fingers as it came loose from the floppy bow. The pants were cotton, black, with hot-pink Hello Kitty faces all over. Women’s pajama pants, but the elastic waist would be big enough to fit him, easily. She knew him well enough not to misjudge something as simple as a size. He should be considering himself lucky she hadn’t sent him a pair of ladies’ frilly panties instead.

He tried to think if she’d ever left him a note before, but couldn’t remember. Text messages, sure. Dozens of them, usually filthy just like her mouth and just like she loved him to be. Well, not loved. Genevieve Bell didn’t love anything but herself. Even her pets had been chosen for their use as accessories and investment rather than anything as base as an emotional connection.

How many swipes of her tongue had licked this flap closed? He tore the paper, thinking of her mouth. She’d have laughed if she knew. Maybe she did. She knew a lot about people, even the ones who tried like hell not to let her see anything important. Especially those people.

Him.

The front of the card was blank but for a small black square in one corner, a stylized gift. Inside: HappyBirthday. That was all. Two words, no summons or command. Not even a signature. He’d walked out on her, but it was Genevieve who’d cut him loose.

That was worth a thank-you, if nothing else was, but because he was the asshole she’d called him more than once, Alex didn’t call her to give it. He looked around his flat at all the pretty things he didn’t care if he never saw again.

He had enough money to go anywhere and do anything he wanted, but in the end there was only one thing to do. One place to go. One person to call.

“Jamie,” he said when the man on the other side of the world answered his phone. “Guess what? I’m coming home.”

The woman in the kitchen stood with a bowl in her hands, her face crunched in concentration. In profile her features were not as soft as they’d been in her wedding picture, but her hair hung halfway down her back in a mess of red-brown curls a man could get lost in. Alex watched her from the doorway, thinking what a lucky bastard Jamie had always been. Looked like the luck had held out.

“Hello, Anne.”

She screamed and dropped her spoon. He tensed to duck, but she didn’t throw anything at him. She set the bowl on the counter with a clang. There was more to say, an introduction to make, but looking at her wide, startled eyes and her mouth, half-open, Alex couldn’t seem to find one.