“Hunter,” I snap, cutting him off.
He swallows, looking more nervous than confident at the moment. I turn to look at him, touching his face. The fear in his eyes guts me to my core. “This doesn’t change anything about who you are. If anything, I think it just makes you moreyou.”
“What about us?” he asks with trepidation in his eyes.
“I think we need to start acknowledging that there’s a newus.”
He takes a deep breath, letting his shoulders slide down away from his ears. “Is that what you want?”
I bite my lip. “Yes.”
Hesitation burrows itself back into his expression as he pulls away. “I don’t know, Red. I just don’t know how long that can last. It’s too complicated.”
“So what…you want to just keep having sex with him and keeping him tethered to our marriage? Is that fair?” I ask. Distantly, I wonder if Drake is still here. Can he hear us from the guest room?
“How do we know he even wants to be in a relationship? He’s literally never been in one before,” he argues, and I feel him putting up a fight before he even bothers to open up to let in the truth.
“Because he’s been in our relationship the entire time,” I say.
“Not like this,” he says, his voice getting a little too loud. “The sex is great, babe, but what if that’s all it is?”
“It’s not and you know it,” I reply in a whisper. Moving away from Hunter, I walk toward the door.
Before I disappear from the room, he adds, “I’ll think about it, okay?”
And for Hunter, that’s enough. For now, at least.
Rule #32: If you don’t even recognize yourself anymore, chances are you’ve got it bad.
Drake
“Hey,I recognize that giant, sexy blond hunk.”
There’s something oddly familiar about the voice behind me as I walk through the lobby of the club. So I pause and spin to see the feisty and adorable, sable hair beauty from New Orleans.
“Silla?” I say with a smile, opening my arms for a hug.
She walks into my embrace and squeezes me tight around the middle. After pulling away, she cocks her head in my direction. “Let me guess—your boyfriend didn’t tell you he invited me.”
I laugh. “Okay, first of all…of course, he did. I just wasn’t expecting you today. And…he’s not my boyfriend.”
She winks. “Sure. The three of you had a good time in that roomIrented.”
“You gave me the key,” I reply enthusiastically.
“I know. I know. I’m a good influence.”
I place an arm behind her back. “Come on. I’ll take you to the workshop space. We finished it this week.” Waving to the hostess, I guide Silla through the curtain into the main room and then off to the right hallway, where the back two rooms have been joined as one large room, something we can flip between rentable rooms and space for classes.
“Oh, very impressive,” Silla says with a smile as I show her the space. We erected a small stage at the front and enough space for tables, which is how it’s set up tonight. She walks up to the low platform to check out the ropes we hung for the demonstration.
“Look at you, Mr. Construction Man. So…have you been practicing Shibari with your boyfriend since our class?”
I blush. “Again, not my boyfriend. And no, we have not.”
“Oh, come on…” she whines, her head hanging back. “You guys were so good!”
With a laugh, I shake my head. “We weren’t that good.”