He wasn’t excusing his own behavior. His first doomed marriage—Kelly—was, in retrospect, an attempt to find another Leah. She’d been the spitting image of his best friend’s wife. Even Leah gently teased him about it in private.
Paula was a money-grubbing bitch who was more interested in how high Seth could raise her credit card limit.
Then, of course, there was Jackie. She’d sworn for richer or poorer, but when he told her he might have to file corporate bankruptcy because of the housing market tanking and his business going under, she’d taken off like a scalded cat.
Seth closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cool shower tile.
Kaden’s dying.
Fuck.
He’d fought the urge—and lost—to look up pancreatic cancer at the university library between classes. After five minutes of reading he closed the book and shoved it back onto the shelf.
No, Kaden wouldn’t want to go out like his father had, wasting away in a hospital bed, sick for months before that from chemo and weakened by surgery to try to remove the tumors on his lungs.
As Kaden’s friend, after sitting on the sidelines and watching it unfold, Seth couldn’t blame him either.
Seth dug a pair of khaki slacks out of his closet and found a button-up shirt that didn’t need ironing. Normally he would just wear shorts and a T-shirt. Tonight was different.
He wasn’t sure what Kaden was asking of him. The knowledge that his best friends had this secret life for decades still shocked him. They were so…
Normal.
Kaden was a successful corporate lawyer, for chrissake. Leah didn’t work, but she volunteered tirelessly for a couple of charities and nonprofits. Hell, when they went swimming in their pool she wore a one-piece bathing suit. He’d never seen her in anything racier than a sports bra and jogging shorts.
It’d shocked him several years ago when he’d seen a tattoo on Kaden’s arm, circling his left bicep, an intricate vine pattern highlighting a small, round symbol of some sort. Kaden with a tattoo?
That was almost as shocking as seeing Santa in a lace bra and panties.
At the time, when Seth asked about it, Kaden had smiled and shrugged, said Leah liked it, and left it at that.
Seth sat in his car outside his brother’s house, simultaneously trying to talk himself into and out of dinner. If he didn’t go, maybe that would mean this wasn’t real.
But he’d promised.
Over the years, Kaden and Leah had been better to him than he could have ever asked. They’d never asked for or expected anything in return.
Ever.
Was he really going to pull the chickenshit move now that Kaden was finally making a request of him?
Just to hear him out.
He pounded the steering wheel, which set off another round of throbbing in his iffy head.
Kaden’s dying.
He didn’t handle death well. Not his own grandparents or parents. And this was Kaden.
He started his car and pointed it toward Kaden’s house.
At the front gate, Seth punched in the code he knew by heart and drove in. The small, luxury-gated estate community was comprised of large, wooded lots of over five acres each. It was hard to believe there were fifty homes in the development. He’d built some of them, including Kaden’s. Kaden and Leah’s home sat far enough off the road you could barely make out the lights through the trees.
He parked his beat-up Mustang behind Leah’s Lexus sedan. Kaden’s new Ridgeline was parked to the side.
They’d never lorded their wealth over him. He’d never asked Kaden for money even though there were times Kaden hinted to him that if he needed a hand he’d help him out.
It was the last thing Seth wanted to do, ever, to bring money into their friendship. Even when Leah begged him to handle building their house he’d reduced the final price, not wanting to make a profit off his friends. Kaden had nailed him on that, too, asking why the cost was lower than the others he’d built and wanting to pay full price. Seth had refused to let him do that.
He’d managed to make it on his own and would keep figuring it out somehow. He’d asked Kaden for help with plenty of things over the years, but money was never one of them. And never would be.
The silence as he shut off the engine nearly deafened him and allowed the mental heartbeat to return.
Kaden’s dying.
He forced himself out of his car and walked up the winding concrete path to their front door, rang the bell.
A moment later, Leah answered.
He noticed her normally beautiful green eyes first. Tonight they looked puffy, red, swollen. Kaden had obviously broken the news. His eyes traveled down her body…
Holy fuck!
She wore a short, black leather skirt that barely hung past the bottom of her ass. He didn’t know she owned shoes like that—black, strappy, stiletto fuck-me pumps—much less ever wore them. He’d never seen her dressed in anything remotely like this. Obviously braless, her short crop top was cut low enough to nearly expose her nipples, which was ironic, because it was high enough that it barely concealed her breasts. She wasn’t big-chested, just naturally perky, more than enough for a pleasant mouthful…
Holy fuck, what am I thinking?
She normally wore her shoulder-length brown hair either down, for dressier occasions, or pulled back into a plain ponytail. He rarely saw her wear makeup. Even then she was always very conservative. Tonight she’d not only set her hair in an alluring updo, but her makeup was just a few sexy breaths on the legal side of slutty. Around her neck she wore a dainty black leather collar, with a heart-shaped lock and small silver tag affixed to the buckle.
For the first time he realized she normally wore a delicate, intricately braided silver choker around her neck, with a small charm and tag attached.
A charm like the symbol in the tattoo on Kaden’s arm. But tonight, she wore the collar.
“Hi, Seth,” she softly greeted him.
Shock briefly overrode his ability to speak. He finally managed to open his mouth and make words come out. “How are you doing, sweetie?”
A weak smile caressed her face. He fought the urge to hug her like he normally would. He couldn’t do it. Not tonight. Not when she was dressed like this, looking hotter than hell and…
Jesus, what sort of sick freak am I?
His dick throbbed in his pants anyway. He was only human. He’d been best friends with his right hand for over a year.
“I’m okay,” she replied. Her voice sounded weaker than normal. He suspected it was from grief because she wasn’t showing the slightest bit of discomfort from his eyes crawling all over her. The Leah he’d known all these years was a strong, feisty, playful woman, never mean or cruel. The two of them had developed a pleasant friendship, teasing, almost like brother and sister with a little more spice to it. He’d always carefully steered away from blatant sexual talk with her, because she was his best friend’s wife.
But he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t attracted to her. He’d always thought she was beautiful.
Especially tonight, dressed like this.
“Is he here, Leah?” Kaden called from the kitchen.
Leah motioned Seth in and closed the door behind him, started walking toward the kitchen. “Yes, Master.”
Seth had started following Leah. At her words he stopped, as if plowing into a brick wall.
Master?
Holy fuck!
He had a feeling that would be a common expression for him tonight, if what he’d just seen was any indication.
As she continued walking he spotted her tattoo, one he never knew she had. Her skirt rode low on her hips, exposing her lower torso in a way he’d never seen. In the center of her hips, just above where he imagined the cleft of her ass started, she had a tattoo, a vine design similar to Kaden’s, with the round insignia over her spine.