13. Chapter 13 #3
I nod my agreement. “I’d finally managed to get past the whole threesome thing. Did my best to make it just a distant memory of a wild night. But about a month before the wedding, she brought up doing it again since she didn’t get the full experience the first time.”
Juliette pauses with her fork halfway to her mouth. “But it was only supposed to be once. That’s what you had discussed beforehand.”
“I’m aware,” I say flatly. “But Leia wouldn’t let it go. She said she was really hoping there would be some sword crossing.” I let out a humorless chuckle. “I’ll be honest, I had to look that term up.”
My date waves her hand beside her shoulder like she’s answering a question in class.
“Oh, I know that one. I may have been blissfully unaware of what upside down pineapples represent, but I know about crossed swords. It’s a thing in the book community.
” Then her smile fades as the realization hits her. “She wanted you and Jeffrey to…”
“Yep,” I confirm .
“But you’re not bisexual. It’s not like you can just change your sexuality on a whim because someone else wants you to.”
“That’s exactly what I told her. The next week, she changed her tune a bit and asked if we could do the threesome thing again, just one more time. No crossing of the swords involved.”
“And you said no?”
I nod. “I said no. Actually, I said fuck no and stormed out of the apartment.”
“I don’t blame you,” Juliette says, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling, the picture of indignation. On my behalf. I find it incredibly endearing. “Is that when you broke up?”
Heaving out a sigh, I shake my head. “It probably should have been, but no. I called my two best friends, Lane and Marcus, and they met me for drinks. They both agreed with me that this was a fucked up situation and said I should call off the wedding.”
“But you didn’t?”
Pushing away my empty plate, I lean back in my leather chair and rub a hand over the top of my head. “I thought about it. But when I was on my way back home, my mom called.”
Juliette’s face is gentle with sympathy. “Let me guess. She was excited about the wedding?”
I blow out a breath through my nose and bob my head up and down a few times.
“Yes, but she also said something else that made me pause.” Glancing out at the sun setting over the water, I focus on the beautiful scene for what I was about to say.
“I didn’t have the best dad growing up. But my mom told me that night that she was proud of me and said she’d always worried that growing up like that had damaged me.
She blamed herself because she thought I’d never get married. ”
My eyes pull back to Juliette when I feel her take my hand. Then she lifts it and presses her pretty lips to my knuckles. “You’re a big softy, Reno.”
The corners of my lips pull up. “Don’t tell anyone.”
She entwines her fingers with mine. “Your secret is safe with me,” she says, and the tension in my shoulders dissolves like sugar in water. Juliette McNamara is by far the easiest woman I’ve ever been with. I feel like I could talk to her about anything.
“Anyway, the discussion with Ma calmed me, and when I got home, I sat Leia down and had a heart-to-heart. I asked her how she would feel if I asked her to have a threesome with her female best friend, and she got pissed at me.”
“What a hypocrite,” Juliette mutters. “I don’t think I like this Leia character.” Her eyes brighten. “Ooh, would you mind if I named the villain in my next book Leia?”
I let out a laugh from the bottom of my gut. “I wouldn’t mind a bit. Go for it.”
“Done,” she affirms. “What happened next?”
“I told Leia to put herself in my shoes, to think about how it makes me feel like I’m not enough.
” I nibble the corner of my bottom lip. “I let her know I wanted a monogamous marriage and that I wasn’t going to discuss bringing someone else into our relationship again.
Full stop. Then I asked her if she was in or out. ”
“What were you hoping the answer would be?”
I close my eyes for a long moment. “To be honest, I was torn. Half of me wanted the validation that my fiancée was choosing me, but I think part of me would have been relieved if it had gone the other way.”
I refill our wine glasses with my free hand and take a long glug.
“She finally apologized and told me she was in. She cried and we hugged, and then I suggested we go to bed and make up.” My jaw clenches.
“Leia said since the wedding was just a few weeks away, she wanted to wait until our honeymoon. It had been months since we’d been together, and yet I went to bed alone. Again.”
“Can I ask you a personal question?” Juli asks.
“Well, since I’ve just told you about one of the shittiest times in my life, I’d say yes,” I say with a chagrined smile.
She leans forward and whispers, “Is Leia blind? ”
“Um, no,” I reply in confusion. “She has good eyesight.”
My date’s lips purse. “Then how the hell did she go so long without climbing you like a tree? Because damn. You’re not exactly hard to look at, Reno.”
My pants suddenly feel too tight at the thought of Juliette climbing me. Riding me. Scraping my back with those pastel pink nails while I take one of her pretty nipples between my teeth and…
Fuck.
“I guess she has good willpower,” I reply gruffly, shifting in my seat to get my growing dick into a more comfortable position.
“Hmmph. Or she’s stupid.” Juliette cocks her head. “So wait. How did you end up here? At a swingers’ resort?”
“Leia booked the honeymoon,” I say flatly, and Juliette’s eyes widen again.
“You went through with the wedding? Oh my god, are you married now?” She tries to pull her hand away, but I hold onto it.
“We never got married,” I assure her, and she visibly relaxes. “It was close though. We made it all the way to the day of the wedding. I was at the altar.”
“Oh no,” Juliette whispers, tears beginning to rim her eyelids.
“I was standing there with my groomsmen and the preacher. All the bridesmaids came down first and then the six flower girls, sprinkling autumn leaves along the aisle. The music changed and everyone turned and waited for the bride. And waited. And waited. Finally the wedding planner fast-walked up the aisle and whispered to me that Leia needed to talk to me.” I shrug. “And that’s when I knew.”
“Shit, Reno. I’m so sorry.”
“The thing is, I felt more annoyed than hurt. Well, I guess I was embarrassed too. I’d specifically asked her if she was ready to marry me during our heart-to-heart talk, and she said yes.” I shake my head and swipe away the tear that had broken free down Juliette’ s soft cheek.
“And she still strung you along and waited until there was a room full of people,” she says, her anger not concealed by the tears. “Classic narcissistic move.”
“You nailed Leia with that,” I say before wryly adding, “Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only time she’d been nailed.”
Juliette gasps. “Nooooo!”
“Yep. I got to the bridal room, and she was taking off her dress. She slung it over a chair and kicked off her shoes and then proceeded to burst into tears.” Juliette rolls her eyes.
“Then she admitted she and Jeffrey had been having an affair for months. It started even before we had the threesome.”
Juliette raps a knuckle on the table. “You know what? I feel like flipping this table over right now. How fucking dare she!”
I can’t help but chuckle at the vision of this woman wreaking havoc in this fancy dining room.
“Trust me, I thought about flipping some shit over too.”
“What did you do instead?”
“I grabbed the dress and the ridiculously priced shoes and told her I was going to burn them. She freaked the fuck out, but I marched from the room, knowing she couldn’t follow because she was in her underwear.
” I massage my jaw with one hand. “Then I went into the main room where everyone was seated, handed the clothes to my buddy Lane, and punched Jeffrey in the face.”
Juliette’s lips pop into an O, but before she can say anything, the waiter comes by with a dessert menu. We order, and then she leans forward. “What happened next? Did you really burn the dress and shoes?”
“After I punched Jeffrey, I turned to the crowd and asked if anyone else there had been fucking my former fiancée. You could have heard a pin drop. Then Lane and Marcus dragged me out the back door and stuffed me into the limo, where we proceeded to get shit-faced drunk while the driver cruised us around town.”
“Please tell me you changed the locks on your apartment. ”
I nod. “Marcus handled that before we got too far into the booze. And no, I didn’t actually burn the wedding clothes. The next day I took them to a women’s shelter and donated them. They put them up for auction and raised a shit-ton of money.”
Juliette’s fingers tighten around mine. “That was a really thoughtful thing for you to do.”
“Yeah, I guess. I also gathered up Leia’s clothes and took them to the shelter. They have a program where they provide work clothing to the women who are trying to start their new lives.”
“I completely approve,” Juli says. “You got some revenge while also doing something really good.”
“I still felt the need to set something on fire, so the next night, Marcus, Lane, and I had a bonfire at Lane’s house and burned all the pictures of Leia and me.”
Juliette giggles. “Have you always had pyromania tendencies?”
“No,” I tell her with a grin, “but it felt damn good.”
The waiter serves the Riesling and our desserts, turtle cheesecake for me and some kind of fruit tart for Juliette.
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Leia,” she says sweetly.
Taking a bite of the delicious cheesecake, I tilt my head to the side and swallow.
“I was miserable and angry for months after we broke up, but…” I twiddle my fork as I think about the right words.
“I have more clarity now, and I realize she wasn’t the right one for me. So I guess it turned out for the best.”
Juliette’s lips turn up at the corners. “Sometimes things work out in unexpected ways.”
I return her smile. “Yeah, I guess they do.”
She finishes almost all her dessert and pushes her dish away before resting her chin in her palm.
“It makes more sense now, the reason you said you couldn’t pursue someone who was into the swinging lifestyle.
” Her head tilts to the side, and her pretty blonde hair falls over one bare shoulder.
“I mean, I know there’s a difference between full-fledged swinging and your situation, but the mechanics are similar.
So it’s completely understandable that you wouldn’t want to be involved in that.
I’m sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion and kicked you out. ”
“It’s okay. Water under the bridge.” I eat one more mouthful of cheesecake and set my fork down. “I’m honestly okay with other people doing whatever they want. I know swinging is very fulfilling for some couples, and I think that’s awesome.”
“From what I’ve read, it’s not something you just jump into on a whim. A couple needs to have complete trust and a whole lot of communication about it.” Juliette takes a sip of her wine and arches one brow. “It’s certainly not something you surprise your new husband with for your honeymoon.”
A half smile slides across my lips. “I still can’t believe she booked this place without talking to me about it.”
Juliette’s aqua eyes laser into mine. “I can’t say I’m sad you’re here though.”
Reaching across the table, I take her hand and kiss the back of it. “I’m not sad I’m here either.”
In fact, I’m really fucking glad.
Maybe I should send Leia a thank you card.