Page 60 of Bitter Confessions

“You had other reasons for leaving him besides thinking he was unfaithful?” Sarai asked.

“Yes.”

Sarai nodded and finished her drink without sharing her thoughts.

“How many women have you seen him with?” The question shot out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Mortified, Jasmine dropped her face into one hand and held up the other. “No, don’t tell me. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“I’ve never seen him with anyone.”

Her head shot up. “Never?”

Sarai shook her head.

She eyed Sarai’s innocent face and narrowed her eyes. “Would you lie for him?”

“Yes.”

“Have you lied for him?”

“Yes.”

There was no hesitation in her answers. If anything, Sarai sounded downright cheerful.

“Then why should I believe you?” When Sarai eyed her strangely, she snapped, “What?”

“Roth is...” Sarai pursed her lips. “You know...”

“No, I don’t know,” she said testily.

Sarai searched the ceiling for the right word before settling on, “He’s different.”

“You don’t say,” Jasmine drawled. “I never noticed.”

“Then you should know he doesn’t see women as women.”

She blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s so focused on work I don’t think he registers anyone’s sex. They’re just people to him. Workers, staff, employees, colleagues. I have seen women hitting on him. They think he’s playing hard to get when he ignores them. They refuse to believe he’s not interested, which makes them more aggressive. He rescheduled a meeting once because the men were distracted by a woman who was on the verge of stripping to get a reaction from him. If I didn’t know he’d been married, I would’ve thought he was either in the closet or asexual. Hence my shock when I stumbled across Thalia Crane, recognized your voice and writing style as Minnie Hess, and realized the story was based on your relationship. I knew enough about your background to know who each character represented—your sisters, father, et cetera. But I couldn’t see the man you described in the books in my boss.” Sarai reached across the table and grasped her hand in a strong grip. “Until you reunited in Colorado. He’s come alive. He actually sees you. You register for him. I’ve been with him three years and never saw him show an interest in anyone. Everyone around him sees the difference you’ve made in a few short weeks. We’re ecstatic.”

“We?” she said weakly.

“The office can’t stop talking about his schedule changes. His behavior since you remarried is unprecedented.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Would you lie to keep us together?”

“Yes, but in this case, I don’t have to. He’s always been yours.”

Even as that warmed her from the inside out, she had the dangerous compulsion to confess the terms of their marriage and that her father had blackmailed him. She would love to hear Sarai’s take on it, but his personal assistant already knew too much about the inner workings of their relationship. She wasn’t sure how much of her real life would end up in book five and could always chalk up certain plot points to fiction. Sarai would be none the wiser, if she kept the details of their personal agreement to herself.

Although she was pleased to hear Sarai hadn’t seen Roth with a woman, that didn’t mean he hadn’t been with anyone, just that he hadn’t had any serious relationships. He wouldn’t be able to hide that from his personal assistant who scheduled his packed work schedule. She refused to believe he’d gone five years without sex. He had the strongest sex drive of any man she’d met. He was a borderline addict. He must have gone to great lengths to keep his women a secret to have Sarai speculate that he was asexual or gay. Why had he been so discreet? Because he favored prostitutes or high-end escorts?

As she felt herself beginning to mentally spiral, she distracted herself with, “Do you attend most of his meetings?”

“Not all, but most.”

“Does he do anything illegal?”

Sarai’s open expression didn’t alter as she said, “I think that’s something you should discuss with him.”

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