Page 126 of The Sinner's Sanctuary

“It’s a yes or no question.”

“No. Where—why would you ask that? And when would I have time?”

I feel a piece of my soul chipping away when I respond, “If you asked for time, you’d have it.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to feel trapped,” I admit.

“Youwantme to see other people?”

An involuntary grunt escapes me at the thought of someoneelse touching him. Man or woman. Someone else kissing him or hearing his sighs. “No,” I say quickly. “I don’t.”

“I’m not, and I don’t want to either, so I don’t get why you would ask that.”

“Because it keeps me up at night, Christian,” I more or less snap. “When I wake up with you not where you’re supposed to be, I wish I’d taken the time to put a fucking tracker on your phone.”

His eyes widen.

“Does that answer your question?”

“It answers a lot of my questions.”

“I pay you, I house you, I do my best to satisfy you—you’remine. At least…now. This weekend.Today.”

“No argument here,” he says.

His compliance is suspect. “No?”

“You wanna keep me in a cage, too?”

“It’s occurred to me,” I admit.

A small smile brightens his features, and I relax a fraction. “I feel like I’m more useful to you without bars between us,” he says.

“I don’t disagree.”

“I think about us a lot. When we’re together and when we’re not,” he tells me.

“And?”

“I like what’s happening here. I get what you mean, in terms of feelings. Ireallylike you, and for what it’s worth, I’m not worried aboutmorefeelings. Like I’m not tryingnotto have any—they’re here, and like you said, it feels good and different, and fun, honestly. I look forward to you.”

His words get me in the chest. It’s the nicest thing I’ve heard in years, and from someone I’m as intimate with as I have been with him, it meanseverything.

“But I worry about you, too,” he adds.

That pulls me up short. “Why? About what?”

“Like when we’re not together, are you okay? Because if you hadn’t come with me, I’d be a mess.”

I try to dismiss that with a shake of my head. “You’re never a mess.”

“I beg to differ. I know I drool.”

“That’s fucking gorgeous, though.”

“Jesus. Look, it might not seem like it, because I do better writing my thoughts than speaking them, but I’m not looking to worm my way out of this if that’s what you’re worried about. Fuck what Drew says, or even what I told you before—I’m into you, and I’m not going anywhere.”

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