“Mmph-!”

Startled awake by an intruder in her bed, Katrina barely had time to yelp before a large hand clamped firmly over her mouth.

“Shh, it’s me,” Naylor whispered, his voice urgent.

Her heart thundered in her chest. It took a moment for her groggy mind to recognize Naylor looming over her, and when she did, she punched him hard in the shoulder.

“You jerk! Are you trying to scare me to death in the middle of the night?”

“And how did you even know I was sleeping in this room? And how’d you get in here? I locked the door!”

Naylor leaned down to kiss her, his hands already slipping under the covers to peel away her pajamas. “You figured I’d sneak up here in the middle of the night, but did you really think I wouldn’t figure out you’d lock the door?”

“But how did you know where the spare key was? I don’t even know that!”

She’d lived here for half a year and never bothered to find out where the keys to the rooms were kept. She’d never needed them, so she hadn’t asked Ivy.

And yet somehow, the so-called “newcomer” had managed to find one.

Naylor’s grin was pure mischief. “I doubt even Ivy has a clue where that key is hidden…”

Ivy, the queen of this house, clueless? Katrina’s mind spun. She braced her hands against his shoulders, pushing him back, her thoughts suddenly clear. “You asked Dr. Ludwig, didn’t you?”

Dr. Ludwig had owned the house before them. Katrina remembered, back before Ivy and Dr. Ludwig were together, there was a time Ivy got hurt. Dr. Ludwig had brought them both home, and he’d known exactly where the first-aid kit was.

So of course he’d know where the spare keys were, too.

Realizing all this, Katrina felt betrayed. “Great, Dr. Ludwig’s image as a noble gentleman just went up in smoke for me… Men really do stick together.”

“Oh, please. And what, girls get to help girls but not the other way around?”

Katrina muttered under her breath, “Dr. Ludwig has really let me down. Totally.”

Naylor just laughed, all confidence and swagger. “As long as I haven’t let you down, that’s all I care about.” He batted her hands away and pinned them above her head, leaning in to kiss her deeply.

The world outside remained fast asleep, wrapped in silence.

But inside this house, all three of them were wide awake.

Yes, Ivy was awake too.

Ever since she’d been kidnapped a while back, she slept lightly. Sharing a bed with Jamison lately had helped—maybe it was his steady presence, maybe it was the safety she felt with him–but tonight he was away, and Ivy’s sleep was restless again.

She heard the footsteps going up the stairs, soft but unmistakable. For a moment, her heart leapt in alarm, but when the steps passed her door and moved further down the hall, she figured out who it was.

Naylor, sneaking around after hours. How the mighty had fallen.

She half-expected Katrina to kick him out, to hear Naylor stomp back downstairs, cursing and defeated. But then she heard the faint jingle of keys.

Wide awake now, Ivy lay in bed, picturing her best friend jolting awake as Naylor climbed into her bed. Oh, how embarrassing!

She and Jamison had been married a while; these things were normal for her. But imagining her best friend–her soul sister–being caught up in the same heat of the moment, right here under the same roof, made Ivy flush with embarrassment.

She couldn’t even imagine looking Katrina in the eye tomorrow.

But embarrassment soon gave way to something else–envy.

Katrina had someone who loved her, someone to hold her close, to share that deep, physical intimacy.

Meanwhile, her own husband was away.

Worse, it had been ages since she and Jamison had connected like that. Her brain, already stirred up by the sounds in the house, started spinning, hormones and longing making her restless and achingly lonely.

She fought against it for a while, but finally, she rolled over and grabbed her phone.

1:15 a.m.

Jamison was probably asleep by now.

But she texted him anyway.

Ivy: Did you tell Naylor where the spare keys are kept?

Ivy: I just heard footsteps and a door opening. Naylor’s sneaking into Katrina’s room in the middle of the night!

Ivy: Jamison, you’re terrible! How am I supposed to face Katrina tomorrow?

She knew he was probably fast asleep, and wouldn’t see the messages until morning.

Still, venting helped. She set her phone aside and tried to settle back down.

What she didn’t know was that, alone in his hotel room, Dr. Ludwig was sleeping just as poorly. The chime of her messages on WhatsApp woke him up.

Yawning, he squinted at his phone and couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

[Trust me, tomorrow morning they’ll thank us–for giving them a night they’ll never forget.]

Ivy’s phone, set to vibrate, buzzed loudly on her nightstand, startling her.

He was still awake?

She snatched up her phone, hardly believing it–he’d actually replied!