Page 102 of Nothing to Tell

THIRTY-FIVE

“I LOVE BIRTHDAYS,” Roxie said.

Zairn filled his wife’s wineglass.“Everybody’s got one.”

She and Bastian had left their suite to join Roxie and Zairn in theirs.The suite?Yeah, Bastian hadn’t just provided a room for her birthday, they’d been in a Grand suite for three nights.Work, family, it was all still out there, though Roxie and Zairn were the first people they’d seen, or talked to, since before they arrived on Friday.

“Know who sucks at birthdays?”Roxie asked, electing to snag her husband’s brandy.“Zairn sucks at birthdays.”

“Your birthday was a smash hit,” Zairn said.“People are still talking about it.We’ll have to kick it up a gear this year.”He swiped the glass back just as it touched Roxie’s lower lip.“Brandy gets you giggly and we’re in company.”

Angled against her husband, chairs so close they had to be touching, Roxie returned to her wine.“He’s not worried I’ll embarrass him, he’s worried I’ll turn him on.”

“Around you, Lo, I’m always at eleven.”

“What were we talking about?”Roxie asked.“Birthdays, yes.Your birthday was a non-event, Casanova.Bo-ring.”

“I had you, Wife.At my beck and call.What else do I want, Lo?We party every night.We can party any time.”

“We have sex every night too, just the same as we did on your birthday.What made it so special?”

Zairn leaned in, burying his mouth in Roxie’s hair.“Want me to remind you?”

“It wasn’t that kinky,” Roxie said, patting his cheek over her shoulder as he sat back, smirking in his bold arrogance.

“Sex was my birthday request too,” Harper said, drawing some amusement.Bastian raised her hand to his lips.“Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Hey, you get it, girl.”Roxie raised her glass in a silent toast, though then crooked a suspicious brow at Bastian.“Providing he delivered.And I don’t mean just for himself.Showing up gets no reward, it’s all about satisfaction.”

“Lola grades me.”

Bastian’s laugh clashed with her horror.“You grade him?”

“He passes…” Roxie folded an arm under her breasts while swinging the glass to her mouth.“Most of the time.”

“Ha,” Zairn said, his hand dropping beneath the table, most probably onto his wife.“Would anyone believe you’d let me leave the room if you weren’t satisfied?”

“No,” Bastian said.“No one would believe that.”

Almost strutting, Roxie’s shoulders went back.“I’m glad my reputation proceeds me.”

“So other guys hear it?”Zairn slid his arm along the back of Roxie’s chair.“Me too, keeps them far, far away.Talk about taking one for the team.”

“It’s no dent in your reputation that your wife won’t free you from our marital bed.”Roxie’s grin flashed.“Almost two months in and this wedding thing is still going.Still weird though.”

“You mean marriage?”

“Oh, marriage is a way bigger slog,” Roxie said.“After the wedding, it shouldn’t feel different…”

“But it does,” Zairn finished for her and kissed her head.“This gorgeous fucking creature…”

“You’re still attracted to each other…” the whispered words weren’t meant to come out.They had, which she knew because the couple’s focus quickly switched to her.“Sorry, I… I didn’t mean…”

“Harper has a theory that everyone ends up settling,” Bastian said.“That love is an anomaly—”

“That’s not what I—I only said it’s not as common as people think.”

“She said most people settle with respect and cohabitation.”