Page 130 of The Sinner's Sanctuary

“Maybe.”

“You’re a lot, but I can handle it.”

“The idea of hurting you?—”

“Other than when you’re flogging the skin off my ass?”

“Other than that—I know you can handle that.”

“What are you afraid of?” I ask.

He grimaces and moves to lie beside me. I turn to face him, running my fingertips along his cheekbone.

“Do I have to answer that?” he asks.

“No,” I tell him. “And you shouldn’t, really. It’ll probably only make me like you more, and that’s the last thing you need.”

He smiles. “No, you’re right. I can’t have that.”

I let him off the hook. “We should go back down. Surely we can get in the pool now, right?”

“If they’re still playing, we can sabotage.”

“Sounds good,” I tell him. “How are you at trivia, anyway? I need to be smart about picking my team.”

“You little shit. If we’re on separate teams, prepare to be humiliated.”

“Mm…I love it when you talk dirty.”

“Are you sure you wanna get out of this bed?” he asks.

I laugh, and his answering smile is wide enough to reach his eyes.

If I’m not careful, I could fall in love with him.

Everyone’s hungover from trivia night. The girls, along with Jeremy and Larry, went up against the rest of us, and it’d been close, all coming down to a 90s pop culture question that Gibson answered as easy as breathing. Personal pizzas were a big hit, too, everyone creating their own, but putting them all up for grabs. None of us are exactly beasts in the kitchen, but Olivier’s was the best with figs, arugula, goat cheese, and a honey drizzle.

All the sangria and several bottles of wine were consumed while we lounged in one of the larger sitting rooms and talked about everything. I know I have a great group of friends. Welcoming, intelligent, and witty. I’ve never felt a hundred percent like I fit in, but that’s more a me thing than a them thing. Their entire backstory is built around Drew and Olivier falling in love—which was a relationship I wasn’t particularly supportive of when it was developing.

I’m all for it now, though. In the entire time I’ve known him,Drew has never been happier, and although he totally screwed Jericho over in the process, she found the right person for her, too.

We’re going sailing today because that’s something Larry does. Gibson’s excited because apparently it’s something he does, too. I’m afraid of getting seasick because that’s somethingIdo. And yet, here I am, helping Drew and Jericho put together sandwiches and snacks for the excursion, which I’ll likely never get a chance to eat.

I’m working my way up to bowing out of the boat trip, but Drew has a lot to say this morning while he spreads peanut butter and jelly on bread. “So, talk to me about whatunconventional marriagemeans.”

“It’s not really my place to talk about other people’s personal lives.”

“It’s my job to ask, though, so you might as well give me the gist.”

I catch the look he and Jericho exchange. It makes me wonder if they planned this as an ambush.

“It’s an open marriage,” I say.

“Like…how open?” Jericho asks while she pulls grapes off the stems and puts them in a reusable Ziplock bag.

“They sleep with other people.”

“Both of them?” Drew asks, incredulous.

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