“When you meet her you’ll understand.” Ambrose grunted and hefted his end of the desk.

Banner almost dropped the other end, but caught it before it hit the metal stairs. “If a girl is the one, Trouble, a guy will go to ridiculous lengths to win her.” He and Ambrose exchanged glances, and Kate grimaced.

“You just wanted to stick your dick in me.” Kate snorted.

“Yes,” both men replied.

Banner growled. “I’ll drop this fucking desk on your foot, you bastard.”

“Oh, like that was a big fucking secret.” Ambrose rolled his eyes and shuffled backward when he got to the top of the stairs. If Banner thought any straight man on the face of the planet didn’t want to fuck Kate, he was a moron. “Things happen for a reason though. For me, I think Everly might be that reason.”

They moved into the main loft area and set the desk down to rest for a minute. “This fucker is heavy. There’s no way you’ll break this one.”

“Break it? You’ve broken desks before?” Kate asked.

“You don’t want to know.” Banner raised his eyebrows at his wife, and she blushed. How Kate could still be blushing after hanging out with them so long was a mystery, but it was also adorable. “Wow. This place is a complete shit hole, Ambrose. She might leave your ass so she doesn’t end up having to support you.”

Ambrose shrugged, looking around the rough space. He’d signed the lease only this morning, and managed to get everything else in without help, but the desk was too heavy.

It was more of a warehouse than an apartment, but it was warm, and he liked the open feel to it. There was a lot of room to cook, too, especially now that his new stove, fridge, table, and chairs had been delivered. There was a TV and a couch, too, but he’d been careful to choose things that made it look like he had a modest income. The bed was tucked into a corner, and he’d been hard-pressed not to buy top-of-the-line linens for it. Maybe having money was starting to make him a little snobby about some things.

They moved the desk into a big, empty space in the center of the room, and Banner walked around it. “This might be too much of a message, having it front and center here, don’t you think? And did you bring anything to put in the drawers or in your closet?”

Ambrose gestured to a stack of boxes piled off to one side.

“It smells like new furniture in here.” Kate shook her head. “What are you going to do about that?” She laughed.

“Well, I’m cooking dinner, so hopefully that’ll disguise it.”

“Why don’t you just tell her the truth? This is crazy.”

Ambrose frowned, guilt niggling at his conscience. “I just can’t, Kate. Not yet. If she finds out now that I’ve got money, she’ll write me off in a heartbeat. I have to make sure it’s safe to tell her before I out myself.”

Banner grabbed a cardboard box and opened it, then peered inside. “Poor little guy, embarrassed to tell his girlfriend he’s rich. That must suck.” He pulled a couple of coats out of the box. “At least you didn’t have to go out and buy thrift-store clothes for this. Your stuff already looks like crap. What millionaire wears a coat that he sewed back together with fishing line?”

“Ambrose! I told you to throw that out like three months ago.” Kate tsked at him, but took the coats from Banner and hung them on the hooks by the stairs. “You need a woman to keep you in line.”

Ambrose arched a brow at Banner, but his friend only shrugged. “You’re not Kate’s Master. She doesn’t have to kiss your ass. You want respect, you’d better earn it from Beverly.”

“Everly,” Ambrose corrected.

“I knew that.” Banner waved his hand dismissively.

Boxes of cutlery and kitchen implements went into drawers, clothes were unpacked, books went on a shelf. A few files, a stapler, and some BDSM equipment went into the desk drawers. He put his laptop on top of the desk to make it look less like a porn prop. Mismatched throw pillows went on the couch, and he and Banner mounted the TV on the wall while Kate made up the bed.

“Don’t make it look too perfect, Kate,” he warned. “Make it look like a man made it.”

She snorted. “Well, I could throw the pillows on the floor and shove all the blankets off to one side. That would make it look more realistic.”

“I don’t want her to think I’m a slob either.”

“I’m sorry to have to let you in on this horrible secret, but you are a slob.” Banner clapped him on the shoulder.

“Fine. Make it so it looks like I’m a slob on my best behavior, then.” He sighed. “I told her I spent the morning cleaning.”

“When is she getting here?” Banner put the TV box with a stack of other boxes he’d agreed to take away with him.

“Two hours. I guess I’d better get the food in the oven soon.”

“What are you making?” Kate asked eagerly.

“I’m doing stuffed chicken breasts with a pesto cream sauce.”

Kate clapped her hands and grinned. “Let me know how it turns out! If it’s good, I want the recipe.”

“Oh dear God. They’re food nerding again,” Banner said to no one in particular. “Are you going to put anything on your walls? I mean, I know you’re going for this roughing-it look, but it doesn’t even look like you live here. No plaster lions out front, and now bare walls. Don’t you have an extra fluorescent beer sign you can put up?”

“There’s a mirror. I wasn’t sure where to put it.”

Banner found the big, ornately framed mirror, and, without asking Ambrose, he hung it on the wall over the bed.

“Classy,” Ambrose grumbled.

“Oh, like you would have hung it anywhere else. Unless on the ceiling above the bed was a possibility.”

All three of them looked up, but the roof was a long way off.

“No blackboard?” Kate asked innocently.

“Mmm . . . I really should get a blackboard,” Ambrose agreed.

“Don’t encourage him, woman!” Banner narrowed his eyes at Kate. “He doesn’t want to fuck this up. Let the poor girl get to know him a bit before she finds out how much of a pervert he is.”

“If she isn’t a pervert, she doesn’t deserve him.” Kate stuck her tongue out at Banner, and Ambrose politely turned away to prep dinner while Banner dealt with her. The giggling and gasping coming from behind him sounded like she didn’t mind the funishment in the slightest.

“Just fuck her over there somewhere.” He waved them toward the living room area. “I need the table to get dinner ready. There’s always the basement, but there’s no furniture down there.”

“I should find a piece of cardboard to throw down on the basement floor and remind her of what happens when slaves sass their Masters.” Banner growled.

The sound of Kate’s whine reminded Ambrose of the noises Everly made for him at the restaurant earlier, and of the way she’d melted against him when he’d kissed her outside her shop. He glanced at his watch. Had it been two hours yet? Could he order her here sooner?

“I think we’re going to go now,” Banner murmured. “Before this gets out of hand.”

“I’m going to have to get a spray bottle to squirt you with when you start groping her in front of people. You’re married now. Isn’t the sex supposed to stop?” When he looked up, Kate was wearing her leather collar and looking up at Banner contritely. He must have had her play collar in his coat pocket.

For the first time in a long time, Ambrose wasn’t envious of what they had together. Instead, he imagined what Everly would look like in that style of collar. Brattier, he guessed.

And so fucking hot.

He’d been up late the night before, browsing collars on Etsy instead of working, but he kept having to take breaks because the idea of her wearing his collar was making him crazy. She would never be a good girl for him—not without him catching her off guard or blowing her mind—but that suited him just fine. Girls that were chronically good were boring.

“We’re leaving. Unless you need help with something else?” Banner’s eyes were gleaming, as though Kate was still all new and shiny and he couldn’t keep his hands off her.