Page 6 of Opening It Up (Humbled Superstars #2)

Lily-Mae

I woke up with Harley’s arm wrapped tightly around me and his face buried in my hair.

For a second I didn’t remember, and I only sighed with comforting pleasure, leaning back into his arms as his sleeping boner jabbed me in the back.

Then I woke up fully and I remembered.

My husband was bored and we were in an open marriage now.

And he had gotten home late last night.

I looked over at Harley’s fingers, checking for his wedding band.

Whew, it was still there, the motto he’d had engraved on it glinting at me.

‘Bind me to thee’

I almost turned away, because I didn’t want to read the whole thing, didn’t want to remember our wedding.

But wait, what was that?

I looked closer.

It appeared there was something on the tips of his long, strong tanned fingers.

Glitter.

And lots of it, too. Like he’d been smearing his fingers in it.

What in the world? And then I remembered.

Makayla .

Her sleek beautiful hair, sexy clothes, the flirty banter.

The sparkling eyeshadow, the way even I had noticed that her thighs shimmered in the light.

My husband had been smearing his hands all over her goddamn body glitter and brought it home with him.

With a start, I jerked away from him and rolled out of bed.

No.

He’d said the open marriage was about more than just one woman. It wasn’t a way to have sex with her without guilt.

Harley had lied .

I suddenly felt furious.

Maybe I wasn’t going to just wait it out.

Maybe I was going to participate in this open marriage, too.

I went into the bathroom and looked at myself. Old-ass sweats, frizzy hair, shirt looking like it had been through several sticky slime experiments.

Goodbye to that.

Game on then.

I was so pissed I actually took the time to fix my hair, and I decided that even though I was only teaching Gentle Yoga today, I would leave it down around my shoulders in these riotous strawberry curls.

“You look so beautiful,” Harley said as we got in the car after dropping the boys off at school, but I was in no mood for him today.

“I heard your podcast,” I said coldly. “The next time you want to announce you’re bored of me, I would appreciate a heads-up first. Instead of having to learn it along with all your other listeners.”

Harley looked shocked, and he began to sputter inarticulately.

“I’m not—that wasn’t—that wasn’t what I meant. I didn’t mean for that to go live.”

“I see,” I said.

“No, really,” Harley protested as he started down the road. “I’m so embarrassed you heard that. Of course, I’m not bored of you, darling.”

I said nothing.

I suppose I’d have to get on one of those dating sites.

The thought gave me a flicker of unease.

What if no one gave me a second look?

“You do believe me, don’t you?” Harley asked as we pulled into his parking spot. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

When I didn’t reply again, he went on. “Lily-Mae? You do believe me, don’t you? We don’t have to do this whole open marriage thing, we can?—”

But I shook my head. I wasn’t going to call it quits because he felt sorry for me.

“Nope. I’m all in.”

Even if I never got a date, I refused to let him know how much it had hurt.

However, as I was rolling up my yoga mat after class, I heard a door open.

“Sorry, class just ended—” I began, then stopped.

The newcomer was a very handsome, powerful-looking older man in his 50s.

“Hello, Lily-Mae. I’m Leopold Beauchamps.”

“As in Beauchamps Towers? As in, the name on this skyscraper? If you’ve come in to complain about not getting paid, I’ve already sent the check this month,” I said tartly.

He chuckled, a low, unexpectedly sexy sound.

“Oh, I got it all right. I just haven’t cashed it.”

“What?” I cried. “Why?”

Leopold was a silver-haired fox, a big, broad bear of a man with a thick mane of hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His face was a bit harsh but it split into a smile as he saw me staring at him.

“Because you and your yoga classes are good for the building. Maybe I like having happy, healthy tenants. Or maybe. . . because I can’t take my eyes off you every time I walk by the studio.”

For a minute I couldn’t breathe with the way he was looking at me, the naked interest that gleamed in his eyes.

The diamonds in his cufflinks glinted at me as he took one slow step closer.

“Those damn glass windows,” was all I could think to say. “I’m putting curtains up.”

He laughed again.

My heart was beating faster. What exactly was happening here?

Why was this massive, powerful man here in my yoga studio?

“Would you like to go out on a date with me?”

Before, I would definitely have said no.

I was not the kind of woman who was out here trying to get the attention of 55-year-old silver fox billionaires. I loved Harley, and that was that.

But since Harley was now a lying bastard, I was going to go out on dates as well.

“Cash my check first,” I said.

Leopold grinned again, his teeth bright and white.

“It’s a deal. Name the day, Lily-Mae. Whenever you’re free, I’ll clear my schedule.”

He took two more steps toward me as my heart pounded and offered up his business card.

“I don’t have much free time,” I parried, looking at how big his hands were, the handsome square-cut nails, and the way the massive diamond cufflinks gleamed.

“I’ll take whatever you can give me,” Leopold said in a low voice. “I mean it. Any day. Any time. I’ll be there.”

I reached out my hand for the card, feeling a little jolt of heat as our fingers brushed.

For the first time in 17 years, I felt new butterflies in my stomach.

Was I really going to do this?

Yes, yes I was.