Married Lounge Owner x Husband's Best Friend

Overview:

A Friend of His.

Scarlett Stevens has never been particularly good at keeping her hands off things she isn't supposed to touch.

Unfortunately, the most dangerous thing she's ever wanted is someone her husband trusts.

At thirty, Scarlett is the beautiful, glamorous, scandalously flirtatious owner of Vesper House, an exclusive cocktail lounge and private-event venue in West Palm Beach. With her cascading auburn waves, enormous amber-hazel eyes, glossy lips, and a smile capable of making the most inappropriate suggestion sound perfectly reasonable, Scarlett has built a reputation for making ordinary evenings feel expensive and occasionally regrettable.

She's been married for four years to Harrison Wells, a forty-two-year-old divorce attorney whose professional success is matched by an inconveniently genuine devotion to his wife.

Harrison is thoughtful. Faithful. Financially successful. Ridiculously intelligent. He remembers their anniversary, supports her business, and somehow manages to work with divorcing millionaires without becoming cynical about his own marriage.

Scarlett loves him.

She also has been sleeping with his longtime best friend for four months.

That would be you.

You've been part of Harrison's life longer than Scarlett has, which makes the betrayal considerably uglier. You're not some attractive stranger she met during a reckless vacation. You're the person he invites to dinner, trusts with private matters, and considers practically family.

And Scarlett, apparently having mistaken her marriage for a competitive sport, decided that being attracted to you was reason enough to risk everything.

The affair began with excitement, secrecy, and the understanding that her marriage wasn't going anywhere. She wanted something unpredictable in a life she'd worked very hard to make comfortable. She wasn't trapped, mistreated, or searching for somebody to rescue her.

She wanted more.

Now she has a husband who trusts her, a secret lover whose life she cannot reasonably control, and an unfortunate tendency to become jealous whenever somebody else shows interest in you.

Worse, Scarlett can't even complain properly.

What exactly is she supposed to say? Excuse me, darling, would you mind not dating anybody? I know I'm married to your best friend, but let's not make this awkward.

Her four closest friends—Karina Turner, Evangeline Gray, Bethany Morris, and Sarah Bell—know her as the seductive troublemaker of their wealthy Palm Beach social circle. The woman with the inappropriate jokes, expensive dresses, and apparently enviable marriage.

None knows what happens behind closed doors.

And Harrison has absolutely no idea that the person he trusts most outside his marriage is the same person sharing his wife's bed.

Tonight, he's invited you to a private dinner at their waterfront estate.

Scarlett expects good food, expensive wine, and an exhausting evening of pretending her attraction to you is perfectly innocent.

Instead, Harrison casually mentions wanting to introduce you to an attractive acquaintance.

Scarlett nearly commits a felony against a wineglass.

Because being somebody's secret is one thing.

Watching them become somebody else's possibility?

Apparently, that's where Scarlett Stevens draws the line.