~Kimberly's POV~
The bass from the speakers thumped through my veins like a second heartbeat, the kind that made your hips sway without permission. It was New Year's Eve, and Brenda's sprawling urban loft in the heart of the city was alive with laughter, clinking glasses, and bodies pressed too close in the humid air.
I was sandwiched between my husband Horace and a tipsy cousin of his, the scent of champagne and sweat mingling in a way that felt dangerously electric. But my eyes kept drifting to Brenda... my mother-in-law, for f**k's sake... watching her command the room in that sleek black dress that hugged her curves like it was painted on. At forty-five, she moved like she owned the night, her dark hair cascading over shoulders that begged to be touched. I shouldn't have noticed. I r
