Kaden met her gaze and nodded.

She turned back to Seth. “Would you like a beer?”

“Yes, please.” He suspected he’d need something a lot stronger than that when he got home.

She walked to the fridge and retrieved a bottle—his favorite brand, he realized—and she opened it for him before handing it over.

Leah always stocked his favorite brand. She always opened the bottle before handing it to him.

There were a lot of things, crazy puzzle pieces suddenly slipping into place, things he’d never noticed before and now saw in a new light.

When he’d had hernia surgery a few years earlier, between wives two and three, Kaden and Leah had insisted on bringing Seth home from the hospital to their home for a week. He’d spent the night before the surgery with them. Leah took him to the hospital the next morning, waited there for him, met him in recovery, and got all of the doctor’s discharge instructions before bringing him back to their home. Back then they’d lived just south of downtown Sarasota. Seth hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary between his friends in the time he’d stayed with them. They’d been perfectly normal.

Except the way Leah took care of him.

In a way his exes never took care of him.

The way Leah always seemed to focus on Kaden, as if anticipating his every need.

The way she focused on Seth, too, it seemed, when he was a guest in their home.

“Thanks,” he muttered, watching them.

Kaden finished with the vegetables and poured them into a foil pouch, topped it off with some seasonings before he sealed it, and handed it to Leah. “Here you go, love. Stay out there with the steaks, make sure you don’t let Seth’s go too long. You know he likes his very rare.”

“Yes, Master.” She left again. Seth found himself unable to keep his eyes off her.

Kaden leaned against the counter and took a pull from his own beer, a different brand. “You okay?”

Seth nodded, numb.

“I’ve already told her about me, as I’m sure you’ve guessed. I’ve also told her about my plans.”

Seth finally met Kaden’s intense gaze. “You cannot tell me she’s okay with this.”

“Of course she is. Ask her yourself.”

“You are not serious?”

He studied his bottle. “She’s upset, of course. She doesn’t agree with my decision to not get chemo. I’m sure she’s mad about that, but it’s something we’ll work through. She also understands why I want to do this for her.” He looked up. “Seth, she knows you. She likes you. You’re the closest thing she’s got to family besides me and mine. There isn’t anyone else I would trust with her.”

“I can barely keep my own shit together, Kade. How the hell do you expect me to take care of someone else? It’s not like I’ve got a great track record.”

Kaden’s voice lowered, nearly a whisper. “Maybe you never met the right woman before. Did you ever think about that?”

Seth didn’t answer. It was too close to a thought he’d had many nights over the years.

“She needs someone strong, Seth. I’m going to get sick, and I’m going to die.” Kaden took a deep breath. Seth sensed his friend was once again close to tears. “She needs someone to get her through this. She’s going to need someone to take care of her.”

That didn’t make any sense to Seth. “You realize lots of women lose husbands and go on to do just fine, right?”

Kaden shook his head. “Not Leah. You’ll understand when you learn more about her, about us.”

“I think you’re underestimating your wife. She’s a fucking strong woman.”

“She’s brilliant. She can do nearly anything she puts her mind to, and God help the person who gets in her way,” Kaden agreed. “But there are things she needs that keep her…that keep her sane. That keep her grounded. And there are too many assholes out there who only want a willing sub to use. They wouldn’t do for her what she needs done.”

“You’ve lost me.”

“You need to see for yourself.” He took another drink from his beer. “I talked to my friend Tony this morning. He just moved back here from Denver a few months ago. If worst comes to worst he’ll take her on as his slave, but he can’t love her the way I do.” His eyes met Seth’s. “The way you do.”

Seth reddened and dropped his gaze. “Fuck, man. She’s your wife. I don’t love her.” That was a lie, and he knew it.

He just prayed Kaden didn’t know it.

“I’m not a moron. You’re not gay. You’ve got a hard-on right now. Admit it.”

Seth felt his face redden even deeper. They never talked about sex. There was one drunken night after high school graduation, before Kade went to college and he went into basic training. A bottle of tequila and a willing coed later, they’d had an incredible three-way, yet over the years they never talked about their sex lives.

“Fuck, you parade her around here dressed like that, and I’d have to be dead not to notice her.”

“She’s wearing a lot more than she normally wears.”

This couldn’t be real. Seth looked at Kaden, who wore a sly smile.

Kaden continued. “Normally she’s only got her collar on when we’re home alone. The hair and makeup aren’t normal when we’re home. That’s special for you tonight. I wanted her to look her best. Usually she wears a slightly longer skirt and shirt when we go to the club or private dungeon parties.”

“Club?” Dungeon parties?

“Yeah. There’s a private BDSM club we’re members of up in Sarasota. We usually go once a week. You’ll have fun.”

Seth sat back and held up his hands. “Whoa. Dude, I said I’d hear you out. I never promised I’d agree to this. I don’t think I can just…beat a woman.” The thought turned his stomach.

The thought of Kaden beating Leah damn near made him sick. And angry.

Kaden’s face hardened. “I do not beat my wife. I have never hit her.”

Okay, now he was confused. And more than just a little relieved. “Then what the fuck are we talking about? Isn’t that what BDSM is all about?”

“It’s one of those things I have to show you. Trust me, there’s a huge difference between what we do—which is carefully scripted and I’ve spent thousands of hours practicing so I don’t injure her—and some fucking peckerhead who takes a swing at his wife.”

He took another swallow from his beer. “As I was saying, Tony agreed that if worst comes to worst he can take her on as his slave, but there won’t be the emotional connection for her. I’m worried it wouldn’t be enough for her. If you agree to this, you can be there for her. I won’t have to worry about her after I’m gone.”

Kaden drained his beer. “I want you to move in with us. I want you to live with us, and I’ll teach you. We’ll teach you. She’s nearly an expert in shibari, so she can take over teaching my classes. She’s going to need your help taking care of me. After I’m gone, she’ll need you to take care of her.”

“I’ve got to eat, man. How am I supposed to do all this and go to school and work?” He was trying to find an excuse to get him out of this, one that Kaden would agree was valid.

One that wouldn’t make him look like a total chickenshit asshole.

Kaden’s dying.

“Quit your job. You’re only working part-time, for crying out loud. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll even draw up an agreement. You take at least a couple of semesters off. We’ll pay for your school, pay off your outstanding student loans, everything. You live here, help Leah, help me. Once…” His voice choked up. Seth felt something inside him die at the sound.

“Once I’m gone,” Kaden finally continued, “you marry Leah and stay with her for at least a year. I’ll draw up a prenup for you guys. After the year, if the two of you want to get divorced you can, as long as you promise you’ll still be her Master unless she falls in love with someone else who is capable of taking over. You can make sure he’ll take good care of her. If he meets your approval, then you can train him for her.”

As crazy as this situation was, the thought of someone else being with Leah spun a strange, cold thread inside Seth. It knotted around his gut, drawing tight.

“Dude,” he whispered, shocked, “you’re asking me to marry your wife?”

“Well, not until after I’m dead.” Kaden’s practical smile chilled Seth. “It’ll keep the government from taxing the hell out of you. You’ll be able to access the assets, as her husband. Hell of a lot easier than trying to leave it to you.”

Kaden was a control freak, meticulously planned everything, he always had. Probably one of the reasons he was such a damn good attorney.

This, however, stretched beyond the pale.

Apparently Kaden sensed Seth had reached his immediate limit for processing information. He went quiet and let his friend think things through. After a few minutes, Kaden quietly spoke. “She enjoys it. I didn’t force her into this. She craves it. It’s security for her. She knows I will always protect her. I promised.”

“This isn’t a cave where some other guy will drag her away by her hair, dude. Get real.”

Kaden glanced through the sliders to the lanai, where Leah tended the steaks on the grill.

“I’m not going to tell you everything tonight. I will, however, give you a little insight. Leah grew up in foster care, spent most of her childhood there.”

Well that made things clear as mud. “So?”

“Her biological father was sent to jail. Her mom died when she was two.”

If Kade had a point, Seth wished he’d hurry the hell up and make it. “Again, so?”

Kaden took a deep breath. “He went to jail for raping Leah when she was seven.”

Seth felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. “Holy fuck,” he whispered.

Kaden nodded. “Her life went downhill from there, if you can imagine that.” He walked to the fridge and got another beer. He held up one for Seth, who shook his head.

Maybe he shouldn’t have a lot of alcohol tonight.

“That’s why we’ve never had kids,” Kaden explained. “Why she can’t have kids. Between that and…other things that happened to her over the years. She didn’t want to go through the surgeries and IVF and all that crap. I respected her decision.”

Seth reeled. Leah seemed to be the most put-together person, besides Kaden, that he’d ever known. He’d never heard her talk about her past or her family beyond meeting Kaden. He just assumed she was estranged from them. He never would have guessed…

Holy fuck.

Kaden leaned over the counter and dropped his voice. “She needs things. It helps her cope. She doesn’t feel or express emotional pain like you and me. She needs safety and security. She needs someone who will care for and about her and understand why she needs…things. Someone she can put her full trust in. It’s how she’s made it all these years.”

Seth could barely stand the intensity in Kaden’s grey eyes.

“Seth, I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t think you could take good care of her.”

“What ‘things’ are you talking about?”

“I’ll show you after dinner.”

* * *

When Leah returned with the steaks and vegetables—Seth’s steak cooked exactly the way he liked it, as always—he couldn’t help but stare at her.

She managed a wan smile and looked at Kaden.

He nodded. “Tonight, that’s one you don’t have to worry about. Okay, love?”

Seth couldn’t help himself. “One what?”

“Rule,” Kaden replied, as if it was nothing. “Normally when we’re formal she must ask for permission before speaking to someone unless I’ve already said it’s okay.”

Seth didn’t know if it was his friend’s words or the matter-of-fact tone that threw him. “Permission?”

Leah nodded. “Master takes very good care of me. He wants to make sure I don’t talk with someone I shouldn’t. I prefer it that way.”

He’d seen this woman work a room full of hundreds of people at a fundraising banquet, Sarasota’s movers and shakers, greeting guests and organizing the caterer and servers.

And she was asking permission to speak to him?

As if reading his thoughts, she smiled again. “I know it’s sort of a lot to get used to.”

“Get used to?” He stared at them. “I mean, I thought I knew you two! You’re my best friends. How could I not know this was going on?”

“What was I supposed to say?” Kaden asked. “Hey, Seth, guess what? Want to hear what Leah and I do when the door’s locked and the blinds are drawn?”

“You weren’t doing this when I stayed with you after my surgery.”

Leah nodded. “Yes, we were. We just weren’t formal while you were with us, but we were still doing this.”