With nothing to do Saturday, since I was no longer a live-in nanny—Prue gave me the weekends off unless she and William had a business engagement—I finished unpacking all the boxes downstairs. The kitchen was now stocked and ready for Marco’s cook to come back to work next week. I’d gotten used to having a cook living with the Burberrys. It sure made it easier than having to think of what to make, buy the ingredients, and then cook.
Being married to a wealthy man had its perks.
I ran on the treadmill until I’d worked up a sweat then eyed the pool with longing but opted for a shower instead.
The day dragged. I explored for more things to do and found Marco’s office with a stack of boxes. I may as well unpack them too since the woman he’d hired hadn’t come back, and I didn’t think she would with her dad so ill. If it’d been my dad, I would have dropped everything and rushed to his side too. I couldn’t fault her for putting her family first.
All the boxes held a mountain of folders. I eyed the filing cabinets. Alphabetical order seemed the most logical way to organize them. Since I’d somehow opened the “W, X, Y, Z” box, I started at the end of the alphabet and worked my way up. Familiar famous names flashed before my eyes, but I didn’t dare open one folder no matter how curious I was.
Until I found one with the name Burberry.
Curiosity got the better of me. I knew about how Prue and William met when she’d worked as a waitress at a restaurant he owned, and how he’d offered her a prenuptial contract. Since a short time ago I’d signed a prenuptial contract myself, I was burning with curiosity to know what was in the Burberry’s.
I bit my lip. No, I shouldn’t. I lifted the file to the cabinet. My hand paused before the drawer. If the folder fell open, then it wouldn’t be like I examined it on purpose, would it? I let go and the file fluttered to the floor in a disarray of papers.
“Oops,” I said.
I bent and picked up the papers, they were a mess. I carried them to Marco’s desk, sat down, and spread them out sorting them by page number. Wait, there were two contracts here. I needed to read each page to make sure I had the right pages in the right contracts, but with each page I read, I got more and more confused. An involuntary glower wrinkled my brow. I sat back and stared at the piles, my frown deepening.
I can’t have read what I just read.
Picking up the prenuptial contract, I read the papers again. William was paying Prue for each child they had together. The baby clause didn’t sit right with me. But I knew Prue, she loved those kids, she wouldn’t have had them for money. Still, I was glad Marco hadn’t put a baby clause in our prenuptial.
My hand shook as I picked up the other contract. I had to read it wrong. I read each word with care. Nope, I hadn’t read the contract wrong.
I rammed back from the desk as though it was on fire.
Tears burned in my eyes.
Marco had a threesome with Prue and William. The words were simple. To the point and exact.
Did they love each other? Is that why he wouldn’t be able to love me? I squeezed my eyes shut to stop the tears from falling. It all made sense now. Why he wanted a marriage of convenience. Why he bought a house next door to them.
I stood and ran out of the room, upstairs to our bed. I threw myself across the mattress and cried into my pillow. How stupid was I for agreeing to all this? To fall for a man who already loved not one but two people. I never would have thought they had a sexual relationship, they were close, but I’d never witnessed sexual tension between the three of them like I did between Prue and William. How did they hide their feelings so well?
Rolling over, I scrubbed my eyes and cheeks and stared at the stark white ceiling.
“Kennedy, are you ready for the pool party?” Marco called out.
I sat up with a start. Marco appeared in our bedroom. His gaze zeroed in on my face.
“Why are you crying?” He sat on the bed beside me, reaching for me.
I flinched and scurried across the bed.
“What’s wrong?”
“You…” I sobbed. “Prue.” I sucked in a breath. “William.”
He rose an eyebrow.
How dare he act like it was nothing?
“You had sex with them,” I hissed.
He sighed, tugging his tie free. “How did you find out?”
“You’re not even going to deny it?”
“I’m not a liar.” He shrugged out of his jacket.
“Do you love them both?” I whispered while my heart cracked.
He laughed. Of all the gall. What an asshole.
“I do, but not in the way you’re thinking.” He unbuttoned his shirt and stood. “William is my best friend, that’s how I love him.”
“But you had sex with him.”
“There was no sex between William and me, I’m not into men, so you’re clear.” He shrugged out of his shirt and walked into the wardrobe.
“What then?” I said, following him and standing in the doorway.
He sighed and unbuttoned his pants. “Prue wanted a threesome. William always wants to give Prue whatever she wants.”
“So they wanted you? And you jumped at the chance?”
He dropped his pants, leaving me gawking at his boxer shorts. Even though he might love someone else, my body still burned for his.
“I offered.” He dropped the boxer shorts and stood stark naked staring at me for a solid minute before tugging on board shorts.
I snapped my gaze from his nakedness and asked, “Why? Do you love Prue?”
“I love her for making William happy.”
“That didn’t answer the question.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Are you in love with Prue?”
“No,” he said with ease.
A relieved breath filled my lungs. “So why, then?”
He ran a hand through his hair, the first sign he wasn’t enjoying this conversation.
“She’s pregnant.”
“So?”
“So it’s not something I can do.”
I snorted. “What, be pregnant? Oh, you mean to get a woman pregnant.”
My heart softened a little. I understood that kind of pain. Of wanting a baby. The pain of almost having a baby then having it ripped from you and leaving you with nothing. Not even the person you thought you’d spend your life with. In a way, we’d both suffered the same loss.
“I wanted to know what it was like to be with a woman while her stomach was round carrying a baby.”
“But a threesome? With your best friend and his wife?” I blew out a breath.
He shrugged. “I’ve had threesomes before.”
“Great.” I spun away. Did I know anything about him? Or his past life? Would I ever know?
“Kennedy.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “It was for one night and no more, it meant nothing between us, it was a bit of fun.”
“Fun?” I shook his hand off my shoulder. “Our ideas of fun are different.”
“Come on, you’ve enjoyed our fun.”
I faced him. “That’s all it’ll ever be for you, isn’t it?”
My phone peeled with the ringtone.
“What?” I snapped into the cell.
“Hurry up and get over here,” Prue said. “The food is ready and you’re late. Tell Marco to let you get out of bed.” She laughed and hung up.
I tossed my phone onto the bedside table as if the device would bite me. “I can’t go to the pool party.”
Marco crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Put your swimsuit on and let’s go.”
“No.” I copied him.
“Stop acting like a brat.”
“Excuse me if I don’t want to hang out with you and your sex buddies.”
He rolled his eyes. “It was one night. It won’t happen again.”
“How can you say that?”
“We signed a contract.”
I tensed.
His eyes narrowed. “Is that how you found out? You’ve been going through my files?”
“I dropped the folder by accident.” My gaze fell to the carpet. “I was trying to help by unpacking.”
“You’re such a terrible liar.” He stepped closer. “How many other files did you snoop through?”
“None,” I said.
His gaze roamed my face. “Now, that I believe.”
“You expect me to sit next to Prue knowing you’ve been inside of her, knowing you both want to do it again.”
“I don’t want to have sex with her again.”
“She’s still pregnant, you know.”
“I know.”
“So if she wanted to have another threesome, you’d offer again.”
“I wouldn’t, and she wouldn’t.”
“How do you know? She could ask William right now for it to happen again. What if she even asked you herself?”
“Why would she ask me when she didn’t even know it was me the first time?”
I gaped. “How is that even possible?”
“William blindfolded her.”
I closed my eyes because I’d seen William blindfold Prue and I’d watched the sex they’d enjoyed while blindfolded. I’d also heard the orgasms she’d experienced that way too. Now all I thought about was Marco there with them.
God, I was so jealous I couldn’t think straight. Jealous of everyone who’d had a piece of my husband. I was jealous he offered me the same piece of himself and nothing more.
“We’re married now. I won’t cheat on you.”
I opened my eyes to his earnest words. They rang with truth, but the truth of his earlier words still hurt me. Even if I hadn’t fallen in love with him, they’d still hurt.
My phone rang again. I ignored it.
“We should go, otherwise she’ll come looking for you.”
Knowing Prue, he was right, and it’d be easier to go next door, show my face, then pretend I was sick and leave. Yes, that would work. I walked into the wardrobe and changed into my bikini, wrapping a sarong around my waist, and slipping my feet into a pair of flip-flops.
We walked next door, the tension between us like a live current ready to zap whoever touched it first. Prue smiled and waved us over. Everyone stared at us, from William to Tiff, Dex, and Dieter who all lounged beside the pool, drinks in their hands.
“Trouble with the newlyweds already?” Dex asked, a cheeky grin on his face.
“I don’t feel well,” I said.
“Marco, dude, go home and make your wife feel better,” Dex said.
My face burned with scalding heat.
“Flowers work too,” Dieter said.
Tiff grinned and snuggled into Dieter. She’d forgiven him after he’d broken her heart and they looked happy now. Could I forgive Marco for something that happened before we got married?
Prue rose from her lounger and slung an arm over my shoulders. “Ignore the men, they can be idiots. What did Marco do?”
More like who did he do. Her. But if what he said was true, she didn’t know it.
“Nothing,” I said. “I have a headache, that’s all.”
“Do you want me to get you painkillers?” Prue asked, the concern clear in her voice. “You’ve had a busy week with moving, it’s no wonder you have a headache.”
“Yeah, that must be it. Do you mind if I head home and go to bed? A night of good sleep will help.”
“Go on, shoo.” Prue urged me back toward where we’d come from.
Marco stepped to go with me, but Prue grabbed his arm.
“Nope, you can stay here, otherwise Kennedy won’t get any sleep.”
Seeing her hand on his arm made me want to slap him. Not her, for some strange reason. Because she didn’t know it was him in their threesome. Would she have agreed to the night if she’d known?
I hurried out of the gate.
“Prue, it’s up to Marco if he wants to stay,” William said.
“I’ll stay for a bit,” Marco said.
My heart cracked in two. He’d rather stay with them than go home with me.