Abe snickered at their old “perfect woman” joke. “She was opinionated; she didn’t care if she pissed people off, including my family and friends. She preferred to do things her way. She complained. A lot.”

“Still not seeing her appeal, Abe.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Indignant, she said, “It’s not because I’m jealous.”

“Of course you’re not,” he said smoothly. “But Nancy’s appeal? She’d do anything in bed. And I mean anything.”

Janie froze.

“Shocked?” he murmured, sending gooseflesh cascading down her spine.

“Doesn’t seem like a trait that would matter to you.”

“But see, cupcake, that’s where you’re wrong. I had the normal marriage where the most exciting place we f**ked was the laundry room. Where the sex between us wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t honest either. It was perfunctory. Occasionally great. But pretty straightforward. When I started racking up bedroom miles, I learned a whole slew of new tricks. And I figured out I like sex. A lot of sex. Add a little kink to it, put me in charge and I was a new man.”

A funny tickle started low in her belly.

“Women who prefer one-night stands are game to try anything. I’d likely never see them again, right? Made it easier to tell them to do things I’d never dream of askin’ my sweet wife to do.”

“I don’t recall you asking me to do much in the bedroom,” she retorted. “So how could I’ve known what you wanted?”

“You couldn’t have. I wasn’t honest with you, Janie, because at the time, I hadn’t accepted that side of myself. My first date with Nancy? Boring. I’d decided no second date, because she had some really f**king annoying qualities. But she showed up at the ranch the next day, in the middle of the afternoon. Freaked me out, especially when she claimed I was the type of man she’d been lookin’ for.”

“What kind of man was that?”

“Uninhibited. Forceful. To prove it she sucked me off in the goddamn barn. She got herself off in front of me with a vibrator she just happened to bring along.” His voice rumbled in her ear. “That’s a serious turn-on for me, watching a woman get herself off. After she finished I bent her over the bench and f**ked her.”

Holy shit. What was she supposed to say?

“I couldn’t tell my friends Nancy was fulfilling my every raunchy fantasy. Except Ike had an idea after he joined us for a few threesomes.”

Janie blurted, “You had more than one?”

“Shocked yet?”

“Uh. Yeah.”

Abe brushed his warm, soft mouth over the same spot behind her ear. The goose bumps would appear, then recede and appear again with every unerring sweep of his lips.

“Ever been in a threesome?”

“No.”

“Oh, sweet Janie. It’s a thing of beauty watching a woman give herself over to the whims of two men. Imagine one man sucking on your ni**les while the other man sucks between your legs? Jacking off two guys and watching their come splat all over your body? Sucking one dick while the other dick is rammed up your pu**y? Blowing one guy while the other guy’s c**k is reaming your ass?” His voice dropped an octave. “Tell me . . . have you ever been to that line between pleasure and pain? Where one little nudge either way... and you explode?”

The way he’d described it? Janie was jealous of Nancy—because she’d elicited such a strong response from Abe. Like most women, Janie had wondered how it’d feel to have two sets of hands touching her skin, two hungry male mouths on her body. But it’d always remained in the realm of fantasy. “Was this a regular thing with you, Nancy and Ike?”

“Happened a couple of times. Nancy was really into it. Ike was into it. About that time, you blew back into town.”

“And threw a wrench into everything. What would’ve happened if I hadn’t taken the temporary job at the Split Rock and disrupted your life? Would you be twirling Nancy on a pleasure swing in here while you flog her ass and confess your love?”

His voice was fierce. “I didn’t love her. I had no intention of loving her. But I’d reached the point in my life where hot sex was enough. It was more important than love.”

He hadn’t denied wanting kinky stuff on a permanent basis, just denied the emotional attachment to it. Had she done this to him when she’d left him? Rendered him incapable of loving?

“Surprised?” he murmured in a silken drawl.

Janie snapped, “No,” a little too quickly.

“Or are you surprised that I admitted it?”

“I’m surprised you’re bragging about it.”

Abe didn’t give her the angry, defensive response she expected. Instead, he laughed. “I ain’t one to brag, but I’ve never had any complaints about my demands or my performance in bed.”

Luckily she didn’t have to look him in the eyes when she asked the next question. “Did you reveal this side of yourself because you think I’m incapable of letting loose? Is this a warning that sex has been boring? I’m somehow holding you back from being Abe, master of kink?”

Abe rolled her over to face him. “No. It’s been great.”

Janie let her fingers trace the shape of his mouth. “Not exactly a ringing endorsement.”

He didn’t deny it.

She knew what she had to do. What she’d wanted to do since the moment he’d taken her on the kitchen counter. “Will you show me what you want me to be in bed?”