Three Dirty Secrets (Blindfold Club 4)

“What’s the other question?” he asked.

“I want to know what’s wrong with you.”

It was as if I’d verbally slapped him. “Excuse me?”

I crossed my arms and leaned on the table as well, bringing our faces only inches from each other. “You’re a great looking guy. Talented. Successful. And single. What’s wrong with you?”

He looked pleased at the compliments. “Maybe there’s nothing wrong with me. Maybe it’s them.”

Interesting. “Meaning?”

His gaze drifted from mine and he seemed lost in thought as he assembled the words. “The last girl I was with, she wasn’t honest.” His tone was resigned. “She didn’t tell me how much she was drinking, or how bad her money problems were. I didn’t find out until she’d cleaned out my gallery’s expense account and got arrested for a DUI.”

Silas scrubbed a hand over his face.

“I don’t want you thinking I walked on her when the going got tough. I tried, but she couldn’t even be honest with herself about her problems, and, yeah. I was pissed she stole from me. If I hadn’t recovered most of the money, I don’t know what would have happened to my gallery.”

In my mind, he had every right to leave her. She’d put his dream in jeopardy. Silas’s hand came down and he settled it on my forearm. The touch of his palm warmed into my skin, flooding every inch of my body.

“That’s what I like about you,” he continued. “You say exactly what you mean. You’re direct. You’re honest.”

My heart lurched to a stop. His statement sliced into me, and the word liar blared in my head, loud and on repeat. I winched and drew my arm away from his warm hand.

He watched my reaction with measured interest. “You all right?”

I pressed my lips together and nodded slowly. “I’m fine, it’s nothing. I’ve been battling a headache

all day.” The concerned look continued on his face, so I smiled as brightly as I could muster, and it appeared to satisfy him.

“What about you?” His hand went back to tracing on his glass. “I know we’re not supposed to talk about exes but I already broke the rule. You said you just got out of something serious?”

I took a breath to get my head on straight. “We were together for two years, and he moved in back in February.” It was obvious Silas wanted more details. “Last month I caught him fucking another woman on our couch. Or girl, I guess. She looked like she was still in med school.”

Tension corded in Silas’s neck and displeasure smeared on his face. “Seriously?”

“Yup.”

“No offense, but he sounds like a fucking idiot.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, they should have gone back to her place.”

“I meant the cheating. If you don’t want to be with someone, it’s easy. Just don’t be with them.”

I held the same belief, so I gave a polite but strained look. “Preaching to the choir. Anyway, to answer your question, I guess that’s what’s wrong with me. Matt would tell you I’m emotionally unavailable. No, wait. Detached. That’s the exact word he used.”

Silas shifted in his seat, and practically snarled it under his breath. “He sounds awesome.”

I cringed inside when the conversation lapsed. I shouldn’t have brought it up.

“He’s not wrong,” I said, surprising myself. “I don’t talk about what happened with this.” I set my fingers on the spot where Silas’s ink was layered in my skin. I needed to stop talking, but the words tumbled from my lips. “It takes a lot of energy to block it out, and sometimes it’s easier to just . . . not deal.”

The noise of the dining room dwindled until it seemed to be only us. Just me and the beautiful artist with gray eyes who stared back at me. There was recognition there, free of judgment.

“I’m sure.” His voice was soft, yet deep. “But you talked about it with me.”

My breathing picked up. “I was worried you’d stop if I didn’t. Plus, there was the needle and that whole experience was . . .” I failed to come up with a word that could do it justice.

“Intimate.”