Chapter 1

Pinned beneath Carter Fox again, my body went rigid, my mind blank.

Then his phone, right there on the pillow, let out a snort of laughter.

"Mila Swanson really is two different people, isn't she? Sweet outside, dead stiff in bed. How can anyone be that lifeless?"

"Mila, this isn't going to work. No man wants a dead fish."

"Carter, open the door! I'm already outside. Let me give Mila a proper demonstration today."

Savannah Harding's voice dropped me straight into ice.

I dodged his arm and snatched the phone out of his hand.

Unlocked, it showed the buddy group in a live video call.

The chat window was flooded with lines of them pitying Carter.

A click.

Savannah couldn't wait. She punched in the code herself and walked right into the bedroom.

One hook of her finger and the trench coat slid off her shoulders to the floor, leaving her in nothing but a slip dress.

1

Their eyes met across the room.

Savannah rose up on her toes and pressed her red lips straight onto his.

Carter turned his head, threw me one cold look, and said in a low voice,

"Watch and learn. If you still can't figure it out after this, there's really nothing I can do with you."

I froze on the bed, my mind wiped clean.

The next second, the two of them kissed right in front of me.

Her nails left a spread of scratches down his back.

When it ended, Savannah turned her head and shot me a coy glance.

"Sweetie, did you get a good look? That's the reaction a man actually wants."

Then she pushed the man in front of her away with a pout.

"I told you already. You're Mila's first man, so cut her some slack. You've barely been together any time at all and you're already complaining our Mila has no sex appeal."

"Let me tell you, Mila's innocent, but I'm not the type you can walk over. One more time and watch me break your legs."

She lowered her eyes, her gaze sliding suggestively down over him.

"I don't need to tell you which leg, do I?"

"Today's lesson is on the house. Just buy me a big seafood dinner. Same place as last time."

"Fine, fine, fine. If Miss Harding wants to shake me down, just say so. I can spare one meal."

Every drop of blood in me went cold.

I scrambled up off the bed, shaking with rage.

"What are the two of you doing? I'm not dead yet!"

The tenderness that had been in Carter's face a moment ago iced over.

"This was all for you. I'm a man. I don't understand woman things. You'd never agree to me finding someone out there to teach you, would you? I thought it over, and Savannah was the only one who could help."

My eyes went red, and I laughed.

"So you cheat on me with my best friend, right in front of my face, out in the open?"

"And that video call on your phone. Don't you owe me an explanation for that?"

"I'm a person, not an animal. Why should something this private be live-streamed? What do you take me for?"

Savannah wasn't fazed. She came right up to me and reached to link her arm through mine.

I twisted away. She didn't get angry, just kept smiling.

"Come on, Mila, don't be so petty. I've got so many boyfriends, how could I ever go for someone like Carter? I wouldn't pick him with my eyes closed. You're overthinking it."

"Besides, I'm your best friend. He's been trashing you in the group every single day for not knowing how to have fun. Was I supposed to just swallow that?"