Page 58 of The All-Inclusive

She nibbles her lip and looks out the window again. “So when he married me, he’d know for sure I’m who he wanted to be with. We wouldn’t get ten years down the road with a toddler and ababy on the way and he’d suddenly start looking at other women and wonderingwhat if?”

“That makes sense.” I’m kinda surprised she’s not taking this harder. That she’s focused on this and not the kiss she just witnessed. Maybe it’s shock? “It still must’ve felt like a betrayal, not finding out until you came here.”

“That’s just it.” She nibbles her lip again. “I told him not to tell me. That if he hooked up with anyone during our breaks, I wanted him to keep that to himself. I practically begged him not to tell me.”

Whoa. Is this part of purity culture? I don’t understand it, but it’s causing her pain, so that’s all that matters right now.

“Why did you ask Trent not to tell you?” Maybe she knew on some level her betrothed wasn’t totally straight. “About hooking up with other people, I mean.”

If she catches my gender-neutral reference, she doesn’t say so. “It’s stupid,” she says. “My mom always talked about how she and Dad met. He had a wild streak in college and didn’t start going to church until after he graduated.”

“Okay.” I’m not sure I follow.

“They were friends before they dated, so she knew about all of his conquests. She used to tell me all the time, ‘If I could un-know the details of your father’s sins, I’d do it in a heartbeat.’” Sara makes a face. “She told me how awful it’s been knowing what Daddy did, who he did it with?—”

“Got it.” And I can’t get distracted by Sara’s sweet voice sayingDaddy. It’s not normally one of my kinks, but almost anything she says gets me hot. “So you asked Trent never to tell you.”

“It’s silly in hindsight.” She’s twisting her hands in the comforter. “Because honestly? It turns me on to think about Trent having sex with all those other women. I know it’s depraved, but I want to know details and—” She shakes her head slowly and lowers her gaze to her lap. “Anyway, here we are. And now he’s just run from the room.”

After kissing a man.

She doesn’t say it and I don’t remind her. How fucked up is that?

But somebody needs to tackle the elephant in the room. How do I do it without spilling Trent’s secrets? It’s not like I’m following some bro code that keeps me from outing her boyfriend. She should hear it from Trent, not from me.

Gently, I stroke some hair off her face. As she tilts up her chin to look in my eyes, I feel my world tilt, too.

“I liked what just happened,” she says softly. “All of it.”

“All of it.”

“Yeah.”

I need to be clear here. “You liked watching Trent kiss me.”

“Yes.” She bites her lip again. “It turned me on.”

And there it is.

Swallowing hard, I feel something release in my chest. “I liked it, too.” My voice sounds gravelly and low. I know what I say next could change everything.

But I still have to say it.

“Something happened just then,” I tell her. “Not just the kiss, but everything leading up to it.”

“What do you mean?”

What I say next could alter my life and career. It’ll change things forever, I know that.

But it needs to be said, so here goes. “You probably think I say this to all the guests, but I swear on my life—I’ve never felt like I do when I’m with you. Not just you, but you and Trent together. It’s like—” God, this sounds cheesy. “Like the three of us fit. Like something’s been missing, then you guys showed up and—fuck, I don’t know.” Dragging a hand through my hair, I wonder what the other consorts would say if they heard me right now. I’m normally so smooth, so quick with words. “When we’re all together, the three of us, it’s more than just sex. It’s like everything clicks into place.”

She studies my eyes, then nods slowly. “I feel it too.” She looks at the door, maybe hoping Trent will come back. “I just love him so much, Logan. I thought it might go away when he left me but having him here just opens this whole new dimension. And then there’s you—I know we’ve only just met, but I feel this connection I can’t explain.”

“I get it. And I’m right there with you.” I think weallfeel it—all three of us. That’s surely why Trent ran. “I should go after him.”

I expect her to argue, to say she should do it herself. “You’re right,” she says softly. “I think he’ll want to talk with you privately first.”

“Were you surprised he took off like that?”

---