I interrupt her. “Stop, babe. Don’t go in there.”

She laughs. “What are you up to? Some kind of birthday surprise?”

Of course she doesn’t suspect there’s a near-naked woman in our bedroom. She trusts me but I swallow hard as I prepare to tell her what’s happened. There isn’t a way to present this that isn’t going to look heinous so basically, I’m fucked. Thanks a lot, Bianca. “L, hear me out before you totally lose it.”

“You’re scaring me. What’s happened?” I look toward our bedroom door, dreading—yet hoping—a fully dressed Bianca will appear at any moment. I really don’t want L walking in and seeing her without her clothes on. “Why are you acting so weird? And why are you watching the door?”

“There’s been a misunderstanding.”

She knows something has gone awry—I see it all over her face—as she pushes past me into the bedroom. “Well, let’s not make it two.”

I enter behind her and it looks really fucking bad for me because Bianca is topless and pulling on her shorts.

Laurelyn gapes as she stands in the doorway, I’m sure unable to believe her eyes. “What the fuck?” she yells before she charges Bianca and punches her. I go after her but she hits her a second and third time in the face with her fist before I’m able to restrain her.

I pin her arms behind her back and she uses my hold on her as an opportunity to lift her legs up and kick Bianca in the arse with her boots.

I’ve never seen Laurelyn like this—she’s a total scrapper—and I’m surprised at how stout she is for her petite size. “You need to get out of here.”

Bianca’s nose is bleeding and the blood smears down the front of her white shirt as she pulls it over her head. “I know you’re pissed off but please don’t think Jack had any part of this. It was all a misunderstanding on my part and I’m so terribly sorry. And embarrassed. This will never happen again.”

Laurelyn is unmoved by Bianca’s promise. “You say that as though you think there’d be an opportunity. This isn’t baseball, honey. You don’t get three strikes before you’re out.”

“What? But I need this internship if I’m going to graduate on time,” she says.

“Well, that sucks for you since you won’t be back,” L tells her.

“Jack, I have to have this,” she pleads.

I don’t give her time to make an argument. “You’ll have to find another internship because you can’t come back here ever again.”

My birthday plans for L were shot to hell and back last night. Imagine that. Neither of us was in the mood for celebrating after Bianca’s little stunt, so we’re having dinner at Ash tonight. It’s not a surprise like I had planned but they’re going to give us our corner table when it becomes available.

I had a last-minute business meeting come up so L is driving into town to meet me. She says she doesn’t mind because she wants to drive her new SUV. At least that part wasn’t ruined.

I text L to let her know I’m finished with my meeting and waiting for her at the bar. I take a seat on a stool to wait and order two Pinot Noirs—not from my own vineyard—because I’m curious about the competition. It’s decent at best, certainly nothing to brag about, so I gloat because I know mine is much better.

I check the time and see that Laurelyn is considerably late, which isn’t like her at all. “Get stood up?” The voice belongs to a woman sitting a couple seats away. I briefly glance in her direction and see a leggy blond wearing a plum business suit, a fitted jacket and short skirt with very high heels. I can’t see her face because she’s looking straight ahead but I can tell she’s beautiful.

I choose to reply since I don’t wish to be rude but probably more so because I want to let her know I’m not on the market. I don’t want her flirting with me when Laurelyn arrives. “Nothing like that. I’m waiting for my wife.”

“Her mistake. If she was wise, your wife wouldn’t leave you sitting alone in a hotel bar for me to invite upstairs.”

I’ll be damned if I’m not stunned. I haven’t even made eye contact with this woman and she invites me up for sex. Sure, it sounds a lot like what I once did, but now it just sounds insane. “Sorry. You’ll need to find someone else.”

She leaves her chair and moves to the one next to me. “I don’t think your wife will mind.” She unexpectedly places her hand on my head and pulls me close so she can whisper in my ear. “I know for a fact that your wife won’t mind if you take me upstairs and fuck me like a champion.” Her faux Aussie accent is gone, replaced by a more natural southern twang.

I turn to look at the woman next to me and recognize the golden-brown eyes staring back. “Laurelyn?”

“Shh … no names. I only want a companion for the night. No complications. No communication afterward.”

My brain registers the fact that my wife is sitting next to me in a public place wearing a blond wig and a sexy business suit and I get what this is. It’s all for me. L admitted during our confessional that she was afraid I would miss having different women, so she’s become someone else for me tonight. I push L’s glass of wine in her direction and hold mine up. “A toast to the best wife ever since she has no objections to this.”

She clinks her glass to mine and takes a tiny sip before putting it on the bar. I forgot. She’s avoiding alcohol since we’re trying to conceive. “Would you like something without alcohol instead?”

She puts her hand on my leg and slides it up. She brushes my still-soft cock, causing it to stir. “No. What I’d really like is this.”

“Well, who am I to stand between a girl and what she wants?” I toss some bills on the counter in front of the bartender. “No change.”

“Thank you, sir.”

We leave the bar and enter the lobby area. “Do I need to get a room?”

She holds up the keycard. “Already taken care of.”

“Perfect.” I wasn’t looking forward to standing at the check-in desk with a raging hard-on.

We enter the elevator and I wait for the doors to close so I can descend upon … hmm. What do I call her? She isn’t Laurelyn tonight. “I need something to call you.”

She tilts her head and grins. “You can call me yours for tonight.”

“Then you may call me incredibly pleased.”