Page 203 of Dangerous Encore
He still trusts me withhislife.
That meanssomething.
"I saw what it did to my mom." Itdestroyedher.
"You're notKeith."
"Still…"
Joel's expression gets dead serious. "You want to fuck otherwomen?"
"No."
"Then what's theproblem?"
"You think he was already desperate to stray when they gotmarried?"
"This is bullshit, Lockhart. You've been with her three years. If you were gonna get the itch, you would have. And who fucking cares if you do? Put on some porn. Do a little role play. Make a fucking effort to keep thingsinteresting."
"You're the expert onmarriagenow?"
Joel holds up his left ring finger. "Fuck yeah. Ask Bella when she gets home. I acethisshit."
He does. He's a great husband. A greatfather.
"When does she get back?" Joel grabs his cell and taps the screen a few times. His expression gets dreamy. "On her way back." He slides his phone into his jeans and looks to me. "You gonna stay fordinner?"
"I don't want to get inyourway."
Joel raises a brow. "Still withthatshit?"
"Whatshit?"
"You think I'd invite you if I didn't wantyouhere?"
"Maybe. I'm pretty pathetic at themoment."
He laughs. "True. But I don't let shit get in the way of my two favorite girls unless it matterstome."
"Good to know I'm shit that matterstoyou."
He nods. "If it's not bull about you wanting to spreadyourseed—"
I cringe. "Never say thatagain."
He waves me away. "Then whatisit?"
I press my lipstogether.
I fucking know the answertothis.
I just don't want tosayit.
"Well?" Joel taps his coffee cup, impatient. "Some of us are used to the attention spans of twomontholds."
"Is that different than normalforyou?"
"Cute. Like you don't desperately needmyhelp."
