Page 21 of Crazy In Love (Secrets of Suburbi 3)

His eyebrows lowered slightly. "It's true, I don't remember. But I don’t have to remember to know that I'd never have a side piece. Ever."

I swallowed hard. He didn't actually remember. My husband and I had been through so much together. I thought about the forgotten box in the corner of the basement filled with broken promises and dreams. My husband loved me once. I was his whole world and he was mine. But people changed. We'd changed. He'd gotten new dreams and made promises to women that weren't me.

"You really don't remember?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"You don't remember me at all? Not even a little bit?"

"I’m sorry. You know...you could remind me." His tongue darted out again, licking his upper lip.

I stared for a beat too long.

"Just one kiss," he said.

Was he crazy? Why was he trying to kiss me? He was my hostage, not my house guest. Not that I kissed all my house guests. "That's not a good idea."

"I think it's a great idea. A kiss can be pretty powerful."

I laughed. "Maybe in fairytales."

"Just one kiss. To see if it jogs my memory."

It wouldn't jog anything. I knew that. And yet...I found myself staring at his lips again. What if he was right? What if one kiss could bring it all back? Like Sleeping Beauty? I shook the thought away. My husband and my story was a lot more like Beauty and the Beast. But it was questionable who was the beast after the last two days. I'd wanted to cut off his balls earlier today. I'd waved around pliers and everything. My eyes darted toward his jeans where I'd tried to unzip him.

Snuggle Muffins sighed. I shook my head, trying to dismiss my wandering thoughts. He was right. I needed to focus.

"There's another woman," I said. "It's not just Sophia. Do you remember someone else?"

"No." He lowered his eyebrows. "I can't remember. But if I did something with someone else...I'm here right now asking for your forgiveness. I'm sorry. There's no way it meant anything. It was just an awful mistake. You have to believe me."

Once was a mistake. Twice...twice was no mistake. It had taken me a while to learn the truth about him. And the truth was that it was his job to lie. I couldn't believe anything he said. So I shoved the rest of the Pop-Tart in his mouth so I could have a moment of silence to think. He didn't remember Sophia. Or the local woman. So that left...what? "My bank accounts are all empty. Do you want to tell me about that?" My husband was planning on leaving me. There was no other excuse. I was just lucky I found out soon enough to stop him.

He swallowed down the Pop-Tart and coughed. "Can I have something to drink? That was really dry."

"Answer the question."

"I'm telling you...I don't remember anything. You need to jog my memory somehow."

"Focus."

"I am focused." His gaze drifted to my lips again.

All I could think about was his lips on another woman. I didn't want to play all my cards at once. The Canadian woman was a surprise. I knew more about the other one. I'd even followed her a few times. Don't do it. Don't tell him everything you know and lose the upper hand. I squinted at him. "Do you remember Dr. Collins?" I asked. Fuck, why couldn't I keep my mouth shut?

He shook his head. "How about that drink?"

I was almost relieved that he changed the subject. Hopefully he'd forget the name and I could restart my questioning when my old man dog wasn't distracting me by eating too much sugar. And when he wasn't distracting me by staring at me like that. "You know what...I think I will get you a drink." I walked back over to the stairs, Snuggle Muffins on my heels. "Give me a few minutes."

"I'm not going anywhere."

I laughed, even though I wasn't sure if it was a joke.

He smiled his perfect smile. "You can change back into that other outfit if you want. If it makes you more comfortable."

Was he talking about my comfy pajamas? Did he...like them? I looked down at my skintight jeans and sweater. There's no way he liked them more than what I was wearing.

"You just seem tense when you're not in comfortable clothing. Speaking of which...my jacket is getting a little warm."

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