My eyes pull back to Juliette when I feel her take my hand. Then she lifts it and presses her pretty lips to my knuckles. “You’re a big softy, Reno.”
The corners of my lips pull up. “Don’ttell anyone.”
She entwines her fingers with mine. “Your secret is safe with me,” she says, and the tension in my shoulders dissolves like sugar in water. Juliette McNamara is by far the easiest woman I’ve ever been with. I feel like I could talk to her about anything.
“Anyway, the discussion with Ma calmed me, and when I got home, I sat Leia down and had a heart-to-heart. I asked her how she would feel if I asked her to have a threesome with her female best friend, and she got pissed at me.”
“What a hypocrite,” Juliette mutters. “I don’t think I like this Leia character.” Her eyes brighten. “Ooh, would you mind if I named the villain in my next book Leia?”
I let out a laugh from the bottom of my gut. “I wouldn’t mind a bit. Go for it.”
“Done,” she affirms. “What happened next?”
“I told Leia to put herself in my shoes, to think about how it makes me feel like I’m not enough.” I nibble the corner of my bottom lip. “I let her know I wanted a monogamous marriage and that I wasn’t going to discuss bringing someone else into our relationship again. Full stop. Then I asked her if she was in or out.”
“What were you hoping the answer would be?”
I close my eyes for a long moment. “To be honest, I was torn. Half of me wanted the validation that my fiancée was choosing me, but I think part of me would have been relieved if it had gone the other way.”
I refill our wine glasses with my free hand and take a long glug. “She finally apologized and told me she was in. She cried and we hugged, and then I suggested we go to bed and make up.” My jaw clenches. “Leia said since the wedding was just a few weeks away, she wanted to wait until our honeymoon. It had been months since we’d been together, and yet I went to bed alone. Again.”
“Can I ask you a personal question?” Juli asks.
“Well, since I’ve just told you about one of the shittiest times in my life, I’d say yes,” I say with a chagrined smile.
She leans forward and whispers, “Is Leia blind?”
“Um, no,” I reply in confusion. “She has good eyesight.”
My date’s lips purse. “Then how the hell did she go so long without climbing you like a tree? Because damn. You’re not exactly hard to look at, Reno.”
My pants suddenly feel too tight at the thought of Juliette climbing me. Riding me. Scraping my back with those pastel pink nails while I take one of her pretty nipples between my teeth and…
Fuck.
“I guess she has good willpower,” I reply gruffly, shifting in my seat to get my growing dick into a more comfortable position.
“Hmmph. Or she’s stupid.” Juliette cocks her head. “So wait. How did you end up here? At a swingers’ resort?”
“Leia booked the honeymoon,” I say flatly, and Juliette’s eyes widen again.
“You went through with the wedding? Oh my god, are you married now?” She tries to pull her hand away, but I hold onto it.
“We never got married,” I assure her, and she visibly relaxes. “It was close though. We made it all the way to the day of the wedding. I was at the altar.”
“Oh no,” Juliette whispers, tears beginning to rim her eyelids.
“I was standing there with my groomsmen and the preacher. All the bridesmaids came down first and then the six flower girls, sprinkling autumn leaves along the aisle. The music changed and everyone turned and waited for the bride. And waited. And waited. Finally the wedding planner fast-walked up the aisle and whispered to me that Leia needed to talk to me.” I shrug. “And that’s when I knew.”
“Shit, Reno. I’m so sorry.”
“The thing is, I felt more annoyed than hurt. Well, I guess I was embarrassed too. I’d specifically asked her if she was ready to marry me during our heart-to-heart talk, and she said yes.” I shake my head and swipe away the tear that had broken free down Juliette’s soft cheek.
“And she still strung you along and waited until there was a room full of people,” she says, her anger not concealed by the tears. “Classic narcissistic move.”
“You nailed Leia with that,” I say before wryly adding, “Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only time she’d been nailed.”
Juliette gasps. “Nooooo!”
