Page 97 of The Marriage Narrative
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Just…how?
And then Jordan had thenerveto dote on her all day.
THAT MAN bribed hisentirebuilding to let him reserve the pool to give her private swimming lessons for an hourtwicea week. HER HUSBAND surprised her with an afternoon special event at a vineyard for a nonalcoholic wine tasting. And now THAT DEMON was making her dinner—some fancy pasta dish she’d never heard of before. She had to leave the kitchen when he began making the dough from scratch.
How was she supposed toliveunder these ungodly conditions for the rest of her life?
Alone in the shower, Zinnia turned the water up as hot as she could stand it to try to calm down.
“Jordan, we need to talk.” She yanked her body wash off thetray and lathered up. In the Open Door clause, she hadn’t saidneverto sex. She’d saidelsewhere.
Neverandelsewherewere not synonymous. The expectation for their door was not set; therefore, she was within her right to inquire. At worst, he’d say no. She’d have her answer and move on. Simple as that.
“Jordan, you know what’s great? Planning. You know what else is great? Renegotiations.Ugh, that’s so unsexy.” What did she know about being sexy anyway? HerZaffre Hoursperformances had been so bad at first, he’d needed to coach her through it.
Sexy was the wrong approach.
“So, sex? Let’s discuss.No.” She whined while vigorously scrubbing her legs. “I’m so horny right now. Ha ha, just kidding…unless? You are too?That’s even worse.”
Jokingly coy was also bad.
“What if we? We could. I would like to.Oh Jesus.” She rinsed her back. “Speaking of Jesus, are you familiar with the concept of wanting someone biblically?”
That one made her laugh.
They decided tohave dinner on his balcony. It was a moonless night with a bustling city that didn’t sleep until two a.m. below. The evening weather was just right. She didn’t need a jacket or robe to cover her shorter-than-normal gray nightgown. Even Beta Carotene enjoyed the view. He was looking down through the railing, tail enthusiastically swishing at all the cars.
Jordan kept staring at her instead of eating his dinner.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” She began wiping it with a napkin.
He shook his head and smiled.
“Then why are you doing that?”
“No reason.” His smile grew and her heart seized with panic.
Did he know? He couldn’t. There was no way. But the smug look on his face raised a lot of mortifying doubts.
“Stop it.” She turned his head away, covering his eyes for good measure while whispering, “You’re making me nervous.”
He laughed, as expected, capturing her hands and kissing each of her palms. “Why? Is there something we need to talk about?”
Jordan was not alistening to her in the showerkind of creep. But he was areplacing her towels with ones he warmed in the dryer so she wouldn’t get coldkind of creep—as in he might have been lovingly creeping around.
“Were you spying on me in the shower?” she asked carefully.
“No.” He chuckled, still grinning. “I happened to be walking by on my way to the kitchen, clearly heard my name, and the words ‘we need to talk.’ I did also hear some frustrated yelling and laughing, but no other actual words.”
Sheknewsharing a bathroom would be her downfall!
“Talk to me.” He pressed her hands to his chest.
Zinnia had never experienced a crisis like this before. Her core values were built around honesty, but sometimes when she looked at him, she couldn’t do it. The words got stuck inside her and refused to come out. What could possibly be making her hesitate like this with him?
“I can feel your heart beating,” she murmured, eyes downcast. It was racing and thunderous under her fingertips. “Can we sleep together tonight?”
“My door is always open.”
