Page 43 of Sinful Urges

"He got…where first?"

He meets my gaze, breathing out through his mouth. "You know where," he says. "You’re a beautiful woman."

I can feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.

"Wait, you were jealous?"

"It’s not my favorite part of my personality," he says. "I can let it cloud my judgment."

"I needed to be told," I reply softly.

"I know. Not like that."

I sigh, shaking my head. "He’s really good in bed. It was a shame to hear about this."

He laughs. "I didn’t need to know that," he says.

I look him up and down for a few seconds, trying to take in the weight of what he’s said. It’s surprisingly difficult to wrap my head around it, but I make several decisions in quick succession.

First, Rei Woods and I slept together once. We are not exclusive. We never have been. And he was never forthcoming with me, not really. I don’t know how forgivable that is.

"You’re not too late," I say. "You’re…"

"What?" he asks.

"It’s not like he’s my boyfriend," I reply.

"He really likes you."

"He lost his shot by not being upfront," I say. "You haven’t yet."

He inches closer to me, his thumb under my chin, his skin so warm it almost burns. "I really want to take you out somewhere nice," he says. "But I think you need to talk to him first. I can’t do that to him."

"Are you sure he wouldn’t do that to you?" I ask him, my gaze flitting between his eyes and his lips, and holy shit, his mouth is beautiful and I wonder what it feels like if he just closes the space between us and—

"Yes," he says. "I’m absolutely positive he wouldn’t do that to me."

Maybe I’m wrong, but it looks like he’s telling the truth.

---