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"What about it?" he asked in a neutral tone that didn’tshy, I looked down and fiddled with the pen "Uirlfriend? Hoe--"

"I won’t"

Startled by the finality of that pronouncelanced up "You can’t know that You could et married and fall madly in love with her We should talk about ill happen in that scenario Would she conize as his tell for whenever he was really agitated, he raked a hand through his hair He sat forward, propped his elbows on his knees, and pinned irlfriends," he said "There won’t be anyone else while I’ain I really needed to take a look at the ventilation "So the ‘no sex’ clause is actually like a ‘celibacy’ clause?"

He leaned back in his chair, none of the high-tension electricity leaving hio over it with you"

One of his fingers started a restless staccato beat against his thigh "It clarifies that there’s no expectation of sex between us It’s not a requirement to fulfill the contract"

I mulled that over for a while "So, then, it’s voluntary"

He’d been looking at a print on the wall of a kitten hanging from the branch of a tree by one paw that read, HANG IN THERE! but his head snapped front and center, and he stared at ry

I said, "I ainst the rules"

I can’t describe his expression It hovered so animal

He said softly, "Why, Future Mrs Boudreaux, are you propositioning ht up to my hairline like my head was dipped in a bucket of red paint I looked down at the contract, hiding

"Sorry," I said "This is just all very strange I suppose I’ off that easily Look at me"

I peeked up at him from under my lashes

He asked, "When was the last time you had sex?" and I swear I almost fainted

"That’s none of your business," I said prihter in my chair

He said, "The last tio" His chuckle ry "I ht my dry spell was bad "No! Really?"

"Really"

"Are you a ain, the one I expected would igniteunhealthy was happening toa terrible arrhythnore his question and hazarded a tentative, "Did yougo throughuravation at the ceiling "I already told you I’ay, Bianca"

I said, "So"

He snapped, "I’! I’m not confused about which sex I prefer, and I don’t have a disease I’irlfriend for a while, for Christ’s sake!"

I had to backtrack before he exploded into full Hulk mode and his clothes were ripped to shreds "Okay, I hear you, you’re not confused, you’re not diseased, you’re just unusuallynonsexual"

That was the wrong thing to say I sensed the change in hie in the weather The electricity that crackles dangerously in the air before a thunderstorm, the spike of pressure in the barometer If his eyes had been black before, now they were the pitch of the deepest pit of hell