Page 36 of Three Sweet Nothings (The Blindfold Club)

His dark eyes sharpened, and I doubted much got by him. “How was it?”

How was it?Just the best sex of my goddamn life. “It was fine.”

He cut off his laugh. “What a glowing endorsement. Are you going to see Ms. Fine again?”

I’d hoped every day Ruby would reach out, although I knew she wouldn’t. Didn’t stop me from checking my email instantly anytime I got a notification, though. “I’d like to, but that’s going to be a challenge.”

His eyebrow arched upward. “Why?”

“She’s an ex.”

He asked it like he was interviewing me. “And how often do you fuck your exes?”

“I don’t.” My hands were resting on my thighs, and I tensed them into fists. “It’s complicated.”

“It always is.” Joseph withdrew his ringing phone from his pocket, glanced at the screen, and promptly shut it off. Then he set it screen side down on the table with a soft thump, giving me his undivided attention. “Why is she an ex?”

“Do you really want to talk about this?” His calm demeanor was irritating. I’d deflect. “Why are you my sister’s ex?”

He actually grinned. “I’m not. You’d have to date someone for them to become an ex. And me? I didn’t date.” Before I could ask how he became attached to his fiancée, he added, “Noemi came out of fucking nowhere. I didn’t stand a chance.”

His statement was sort of sweet, but I couldn’t focus on that. “Payton said you two—”

“Fucked? Yeah. You may not be aware, but two consenting adults can have sex outside of a relationship.”

“Watch it. One of those consenting adults was my little sister.”

He lifted a hand, signaling surrender. “It was a while ago, and Payton and I are different people now.”

Yeah. People in love, who I had little in common with.

“Your reaction about your ex makes me wonder what happened,” he said. “Humor me, I’m curious.”

I rubbed away the crease in my forehead. Who liked admitting their mistakes? I’d made plenty with Ruby, starting with taking off for New York without saying goodbye. When I’d called her after, had I even told her what had happened? Or had I been too blinded with anger when she’d slurred out the lie she was with another guy?

I tried to sum up my relationship with Ruby as quickly as possible, giving Joseph the highlights and lowlights. He listened patiently, not interrupting or giving me any hint of what his thoughts were. When it was done and I’d told him about my verbal impotence when she left me by the pool, I awaited his feedback and watched him take another sip of the wine he’d deemed too sweet.

He rested his elbows on the table and steepled his fingertips together. “Sounds like the sex was better than fine.”

“That’s your takeaway?”

He ignored my tone. “Was it?”

“Yeah, of course it was!” I had to bring down the pitch of my voice until it was even again. “Jesus, I don’t know which was hotter. Getting to have control, or the way she was into it. But, Joseph, she—”

“You’re wrong.” He leaned forward and his tone dripped confidence. “You do need my help. You want to see this woman again?”

I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Yes. And no.”

“You’re still mad about what she said.”

I frowned. “It’s not the words anymore that are the problem.”

He nodded in understanding. “You don’t know if you can trust her.”

“We both got burned. Wasn’t a whole lot of fun, and I’d like to avoid it happening again.”

Joseph’s gaze went beyond me, as if he was considering, and then his attention snapped back like he’d pulled an idea from the air. “You could arrange a way to build trust.” His expression was cryptic. “It’s unconventional, and she may not go for it, but from what you’ve said, sex doesn’t seem to be an issue.”

Was he serious? “No, it’s not an issue.”

“Good. Then use it. Make it clear you can’t have anything more than a sexual arrangement until you’ve both forgiven each other and the trust is there.”

I stared at him like he was insane, but perhaps I was, since I considered his suggestion. “Okay, how the hell do I work that into conversation?”

“You don’t. Something like that needs to be spelled out with exact language.” Joseph’s mouth lifted into a half-smile. “I think that’d be easy for a man who writes contracts for a living.”

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