Page 391 of The Sinner: James

“Do you trust me, Thea?”

Ed’s eyes stay locked with mine.

“Yes.”

“Do you trust Ed?”

Her response comes instantaneously.

“Yes, I do.”

“Then stop giving him a hard time,” I say, grinning. “He just told us the big news, and we’re all out, celebrating. My wife’s friend is on vacation with us. I invited her here. We didn’t know what this meeting was all about since Ed had kept it a secret until the last moment,” I say, winking at Preston.

“No, he didn’t.”

“Yes. He did.”

Ed breathes a chuckle.

“You’re getting me into real trouble with her now,” he says.

“He hadn’t said a thing?” she asks.

“Uh-huh. He wanted to talk to me about you and him coming home. I couldn’t make it here until today, and here we are, drinking and talking about you. Congratulations, baby. You’ve done a great job snatching up this bad boy.”

Her crystalline laugh echoes in my ear.

“That’s my girl... Now say hi to Eve. But before I let you go, I want you to know we’d love to have you here with us. Once you come back home, we’ll meet up. Take good care of yourself and your baby. All right?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

I hand Ed’s phone to Eve, who turns even more crimson once she starts talking to Thea.

Rain studies me.

“That’s how you manage a woman’s concerns, Preston,” I say, my eyes meeting his.

He slowly shakes his head, grinning.

I shift my gaze to Rain.

She gives me one of her stares, heavy with unspoken words.

I can never tell whether she wants to kiss me or kill me, but I always go for the first option.

Moments later, we finish eating and drinking and leave the restaurant.

We spend the rest of the evening in the Casino before heading back to the hotel. Eve goes to her room, and Ed walks to his suite while Rain, and I head to our place.

She walks ahead of me, rushing to our suite.

My eyes stay on her backside as she makes a beeline for the door.

She’s fuming, and I can’t help but smile.

It’s not that I like her angry with me, but sex is so damn good when she’s mad.

Surprisingly, she leaves the door open for me. I sure expected her to slam it in my face.

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