Page 39 of Jase

He got that look again. Amusement. Heat. It was barely detectable, but it was there.

“Not so much as the participant.”

“You like it though? On other people?”

“I do. I know I won’t hurt them. Not like they did us.”

“I can see that. You’re in control.”

“That’s right.” Jase took another bite, and his shoulders relaxed more as he leaned in my direction. “Has anyone ever done that to you before?”

“Tied me up?” I laughed as I thought back to the handful of lovers I’d had in my twenty-nine years. “No. Not even close.”

“Would you have been open to it had they tried?”

“Well.” I searched for the girl I’d been before David had completely rewired me. That Kody was shy, quiet. “Sex was far from experimental. Two actual relationships, and two one-night stands in college. It wasn’t anything to brag about. John lasted all of four months before we broke it off. But then there was George. We’d dated for over four years. Sex was boring. It wasn’t anything more than the usual positions.”

I blinked through rushing thoughts. Is that why he’d moved on with Katherine? Was she better in bed? Wild? Seducing?

“That’s not good.”

The defensiveness had me letting out a deep breath. “No, I guess not. I never even thought about it, truthfully. Maybe that’s the problem. I guess I’m the boring one.”

“I doubt that. But you were thinking something. What upset you?”

“Exactly what I said: I’m boring.”

“Which is why you think he left you?”

My face grew tight. “Are you a mind reader too, or did you find that information on your screens? I’m boring. I have no doubts that’s why he left.”

Jase waved his hand to dismiss my words, finishing off his plate. “You done?”

“Yeah.”

He took my plate and headed for the sink. “He’s a bastard. You can’t justify cheating. Nothing makes that okay. He’s cheating on her now too, you know. Or was. She left yesterday.”

“Katherine?”

“No, he’s with Liza now. Or was. The newest is Julie.”

“What a mess.”

He laughed. “You are better off, trust me. Drink your tea and smile. I like when you do that.”

My lips pulled back, and I threw him a look, picking up the mug. It was still warm which only made my smile grow.

“There it is.That.That’s what I’m talking about. It’s more than a drink to you. It makes you happy.”

“You see too much.”

Jase chuckled, placing the dishes in the dishwasher. “I see everything.”

“My mother drank tea religiously. She’d sit in her chair by the window and read for hours. Just…sipping her tea. She was a wonderful mother. The best.”

“You have her eyes.”

I swallowed back the tears, nodding.