Page 103 of Entangled

I’m not experienced enough for this. One sheltered, lonely marriage and a life devoted to work and study haven’t prepared me to read a room, it seems.

I told Lucky I didn’t know how to play his games.

I press a hand to my chest, sure I might feel my heart rip even between the bone and sinew, and Jasper follows me to my feet.

“Girl, how many of these guys are you juggling?” Heather snorts. “You missed a few things from your run-down.”

“Are there not villagers somewhere for you to feast on?” Jasper bites out, though I feel his eyes hovering over me.

Heather snaps her teeth with a wink as Dom stands, frowning. “You didn’t know about Jasper and Lucky?”

Jasper and Lucky, he says, like they fit together. Like the duo is something discussed often and casually.

Jasper pinches the bridge of his nose. “Up until very recently there was nothing between me and Lucien.”

Heather stretches from her place on the ground. “Except for all those times you dragged him off to your secret room and played out every one of his submissive, masochistic little fantasies.” She tilts her head. “Except for that, right?”

My lips part.

“He’s a sadist, and he occasionally needs to work out his shit on someone who likes to take it. Which I do. So, you know...it makes sense.”

I close my eyes, mortified. Stupid, stupid,stupid.

“Leave usbe, you abhorrent harpy,” Jasper snaps. “Dominic, could you please...?”

“This abhorrent harpy is good on her perch.” I open my eyes to see Heather settling back into a more comfortable position. “But you go ahead.”

Jasper’s shoulders rise sharply, silently, then he says gently, “Eden, I promise you that there is nothing between me and Lucien. There can’t be. I was his psychologist—it would be unethical in the extreme. It is better, far better for everyone, that he be with you. Yes, on a handful of regrettable occasions, I gave in to my shameful impulses and we performed a scene, but he never touched me, we never kissed, we never did anything until just before the attack on Bristlebrook. I... I slipped.”

He cuts off, and he looksagonized.

He looks how I feel.

“He’s in love with you.” The words feel true as soon as I say them. “And you’re in love with him.”

Jasper’s mouth is still open, and his chest falls fast. His dark eyes glitter. “It doesn’t matter.”

Lucky. Sweet, funny, gorgeous Lucky... is in love with someone else. Tears burn the back of my eyes. “Of course it matters.”

Jasper is perfect for Lucky. He needs Lucky’s joy and light, and Lucky craves his darkness.

Jasper’s need to fulfill his sadism with someone who matched him was exactly why things failed with his wife, and here in front of him,always in front of him,is his perfect fit. Sexually, and apparently emotionally too.

He said he slipped, but that’s not right at all.

He already fell.

Jasper shakes his head once, in a sharp, panicked gesture. “No. I can’t.”

“Jasper,” Dom cuts in, his voice heavy with warning, and Jasper stops, swallowing.

Jasper runs a hand over his face, turning away. “A slip. It was?—”

“No.” My lips are numb. “He loves you, Jasper.”

“Hecan’t.”

“He does,” I snap. Everything falls before me in sharp detail—finally, the full, beautifully painful picture. It was all for him. Every touch and kiss, every moment he pulled me away, all of it was for Jasper.

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