me alone. But I wasn’t ready for this part to be over. I liked being tempted. I liked knowing I might make the wrong decision. And it would absolutely have been the wrong decision. Because as soon as I got out of that bed, Rex would forget how badly he’d worked to get me. He’d remember only that he’d had me. And this wasn’t a typical marriage. There was too much money on the line. I let him flick one side of my slip off. I let him run his hand underneath the neckline of it. “Oh, what it would be to lose myself in you,” he said. “To lie underneath you and watch you writhe on top of me.” I almost did it. I almost ripped my own slip off and threw him onto the bed. But then he said, “C’mon, baby, you know you want to.” And it became perfectly clear just how many times Rex had tried this before with countless other women. Never let anyone make you feel ordinary. “Get out of here,” I said, though not unkindly. “But—” “No buts. Go on to bed.” “Evelyn—” “Rex, you're drunk, and you’re confusing me for one of your many girls, but I’m your wife,” I said, with all obvious irony. “Not even once?” he said. He seemed to sober up quickly, as if his hooded eyes had been part of the act. I was never really sure with him. You never knew exactly where you stood with Rex North. “Don’t try it again, Rex. It’s not going to happen.” He rolled his eyes and then kissed me on the cheek. “G’night, Evelyn,” he said, and then he slipped out my door just as smoothly as he’d come in.