But it had ended up being a disaster for her—as well as for him.

He’d had nightmares about it for weeks, but he’d never told her. Piper was already going through a tough time trying to reconcile the act for herself. She didn’t need to feel guilty because Michael had felt inadequate watching her enjoy herself with another man.

In his dreams she always left him for Pete. She would tell him in no uncertain terms that he’d never measure up to what she’d just had. Then she would simply vanish, leaving him feeling hollow and empty.

It’d been awful.

His heart had taken a beating every morning when he woke up for months afterward.

When Piper had finally recovered from her ordeal, and hadn’t wanted to have sex with anyone else, he’d been beyond relieved. He’d actually hoped she would want to stop participating in the lifestyle. But she’d seemed adamant about going back to it—adamant that he keep having sex with other women, telling him that’s what turned her on the most.

He shook his head.

In hindsight, he should’ve come clean with her then. But at the time he had felt he just couldn’t. She had just recovered from a major ordeal, and in the end, all he ever wanted to do was make sure she was happy.

Beth was right.

He loved that woman much more than he loved himself.

* * *

Saturday night had finally arrived. Piper was in her bedroom getting ready for their big night out. She had decided to dress in a sexy, form-fitting silver dress with slits that ran all the way up both thighs.

They were headed to an orgy, after all. Not the time to be conservative.

Michael was buttoning up his dress shirt behind her. “If you’re wearing that, we must be going someplace nice,” he commented. “That’s one of my favorite dresses on you, by the away. It’s totally hot.”

“I know. That’s why I’m wearing it. And I’m not telling you, so quit asking,” she said to him as she turned. “You look dapper in that suit. It’s perfect.”

“I wear dress clothes almost every day,” he joked. “I don’t know how much more dapper I can look in this one versus the other gray one I wore last week.”

“I can tell. That one is my favorite.”

“Should I leave the collar open?”

“Yes. No tie. Plus, that particular gray goes perfectly with this silver ensemble.” She ran a hand down the front of her dress to highlight it. “We’re going to look like a perfect matched pair.”

She turned back to her closet to search for a pair of shoes, oscillating between high heels or higher heels. Michael came up behind her, surprising her by wrapping his arms around her and tugging her close. She giggled as she set her head back on his shoulder. “Why do we need to look like a matched pair?” he whispered in her ear. “Should I be worried?”

“Oh, yes, you should be really worried, you naughty boy.” She turned, sliding her hands around his back. “But the short answer is because where we’re going, you’re mine.”

He nuzzled her neck. “I’m always yours.”

Piper smiled. She felt more and more confident every day, and the sex she and Michael had had the other night had been perfectly wonderful. Tender and intimate. And tonight she planned to show him what she wanted, instead of telling him. A little fear fluttered in her chest that he would want something else, but she tamped it down.

She knew in her heart Michael wasn’t going to leave her.

That had to be enough.

“That’s the kind of thing I like to hear,” she said into his neck. “This is going to be fun. Kind of a celebration of how far we’ve come.”

“Speaking of celebrating…you know, our ten-year anniversary is this summer.”

“I know. I think we deserve a pat on the back for making it this far.” She placed a kiss on his neck. “Don’t you think?”

“I’m thinking we need more than a pat on the back. How about we do something special and go all out? Take a long vacation somewhere. Maybe Europe?”

Piper moved back. “Really? How long is long? You’d have to take a chunk of time off for something like that. That’s not usually…your thing.” She’d been trying to get her husband to take more than a long weekend trip for years, but she’d finally given up.

“I’m going to start making it my thing,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately, and it seems crazy that we’re still in our same jobs, living in the same place, doing the same things we did ten years ago. It’s time to shake things up. I’d have to do some advanced planning, but I think it’s doable. And, more importantly, I want to do it.”

“Are you sure?” Piper could barely contain her glee. “If you are, I’ll start planning something next week! How long do you want to take off?”

“At least three weeks,” he answered. “And I’m thinking Italy and Paris for sure.”

“Oh, that’s music to my ears, Mikey! You know how to make a woman’s year. We both have so much time off that we’ve never used, so it won’t be an issue. We can discuss dates later, but summer is usually the slowest time at the agency.”

“Then summer it is.” He leaned down and kissed her soundly.

She lost herself in the kiss for a second, but regretfully had to break it. “You can’t distract me from our plans tonight that easily, even with dreamy plans of Europe. As of right now, we need to be out that door in fifteen minutes.”

“Well, whatever we’re doing tonight, just know that we’re ending the night fucking,” he growled in her ear.

“That can be arranged.”

23

__________________________

____________

Piper was at the wheel, and Michael was excited to see where the night was going to take them. His current anticipatory mood was fueled mostly by Piper’s excitement. She was ringing with it. Whatever she had up her sleeve, he knew they were going to enjoy it.

After about ten minutes on the road, she pulled into a parking lot he didn’t recognize. “Karma?” he asked, reading the sign.

“Yep,” she said, heading to a parking spot close to the door. “It’s new, and it looks like they could advertise a little better. I’ve heard it’s great, but the place doesn’t look full. Come on, I’m starving.”

They got out and walked in. It was a fairly nondescript building. He opened the door for Piper, grinning. “I think we’re a little overdressed for this place, don’t you think?”

“We would be if this was our final stop,” she said as she breezed through the door. “Which it’s not.”

Once they were inside, the hostess greeted them. Piper leaned in and said something to her that Michael couldn’t hear, to which the hostess nodded once and said, “Right this way.”

They followed her through a room decorated in soft colors to a table close to the back. To Michael’s surprise, Gillian and Brad were already sitting there. “Hiya.” Gillian gave them a wave as they walked up.

Piper bent down to give her a peck on the cheek, while Brad half-stood to shake Michael’s hand. “Hey,” Brad said. “I didn’t know you guys were going to be here.” There was genuine surprise on his face.

Before Michael could say the same thing, Piper said, “You were both kept in the dark on purpose, so just be good and go with the flow.”

Brad sat back down. “If I know my wife, this is going to be one interesting night.”

Gillian gave a noncommittal shrug. “Aren’t all nights with me interesting, baby?”

“Of course,” he said as he slung his arm around her shoulders, “but now that I see the Collinses are here, I have a feeling this one might be a little different than most.”

Brad gave Michael and Piper a smile, which warred with his tough-guy look. Brad wore his typical black T-shirt—this one with an outline of a Harley on the front—his tattoos visible, his five o’clock shadow giving him a look that said, if you fuck with me or mine, you’re going to be sorry.