considering what this woman had, would be an end-all for
him. Despite feeling bad for this guy’s wife, Romero couldn’t imagine forgiving
Izzy. But he hoped this guy’s marriage was still salvageable for their twins’sake
and because he’d heard it in the guy’s wife’s voice. She wasn’t the cheating
type. She was just enjoying the whole excitement of it, and she’d let it go too
far. So for the first time in Romero’s career, he withheld information from the
client. While he did tell him all the other stuff that would be just as heart-spearing—that
she’d been flirting and enjoyed it and even admitted to her sister that she was
tempted to cheat and cried about it—he kept the part about the kiss to himself.
For some reason, all these guys he once considered saps thought
that just because Romero dealt with this so often he’d have advice for them. In
most cases, their spouses were blatantly cheating and doing so over and over,
so Romero’s advice was always “Dump the bitch.”
In this guy’s case, he’d advised him to talk to his wife and try
to work it out. She’d only considered cheating, and he did make sure to
mention how fucking pushy the doctor was. Though Romero hadn’t told him about
them being in the car together. He said he knew because she’d told her sister about
the doc being so damn pushy. Hopefully, he’d insist she quit the job.
It was something that had stayed with him for weeks afterward and,
since he was now still thinking about it, obviously years . A couple of
weeks after he’d been done with that particular case, while playing pool in
Angel’s garage, he posed the question to them.
Angel had mentioned his neighbor’s house was up for sale because
they were getting divorced. He said he was pretty sure there’d been some
infidelity though he didn’t know the specifics. Once again, the case of the
almost-cheating wife had come to mind.
“Let me ask you guys something,” Romero said as Alex bent over to
take a shot. “If any of you found out your wife had a flirtation going on with
a co-worker or whatever but didn’t actually cheat and she promised it’d never
happen again, would you still dump her?”
They’d all stopped and stared at him, speechless for a moment. “Did
Izzy—?”
“Shut your mouth!” Romero said before Angel could even finish. “This
has nothing to do with Izzy. This is about a client I had a few weeks ago. I
tailed his wife and found out she was thinking about it.”
He explained the details, leaving out the part about them
kissing. That would make it too easy. It was what had him asking them in the
first place and what had brought the memory back now. Even now, he refused to
believe that his Izzy would ever even consider doing anything remotely inappropriate.
She already knew how he felt about Elliot. But was it possible she would enjoy
the attention of another man? A man whose scholarly conversation she might find
invigorating—refreshing? If so, could Romero deal with that? Deal with her
spending four hours a day with this man every day?
The very thought already had him fisting his hands. He was glad
that he’d put his hypothetical question to the guys even harder because he
needed to remember what they’d said now, specifically what Sal had said.
“Say she wasn’t talking on the phone with him or anything.”
Romero had made the question more specific. “Just a few texts here and there
and he complimented her often, maybe even told her she was sexy—more than once.
But not in an innocent playful way he could say in front of you. They were
being sneaky about it.” Immediately, Alex’s and Angel’s faces had gone hard. “She
knew thanking him and by not calling him on his shit—telling him that
his compliments and flirtatious behavior were inappropriate—she was encouraging
it to continue, and yet she did anyway. But it didn’t go any further than that.
Would you be cool with that?”
“Hell no.” Alex was the first to
him. Despite feeling bad for this guy’s wife, Romero couldn’t imagine forgiving
Izzy. But he hoped this guy’s marriage was still salvageable for their twins’sake
and because he’d heard it in the guy’s wife’s voice. She wasn’t the cheating
type. She was just enjoying the whole excitement of it, and she’d let it go too
far. So for the first time in Romero’s career, he withheld information from the
client. While he did tell him all the other stuff that would be just as heart-spearing—that
she’d been flirting and enjoyed it and even admitted to her sister that she was
tempted to cheat and cried about it—he kept the part about the kiss to himself.
For some reason, all these guys he once considered saps thought
that just because Romero dealt with this so often he’d have advice for them. In
most cases, their spouses were blatantly cheating and doing so over and over,
so Romero’s advice was always “Dump the bitch.”
In this guy’s case, he’d advised him to talk to his wife and try
to work it out. She’d only considered cheating, and he did make sure to
mention how fucking pushy the doctor was. Though Romero hadn’t told him about
them being in the car together. He said he knew because she’d told her sister about
the doc being so damn pushy. Hopefully, he’d insist she quit the job.
It was something that had stayed with him for weeks afterward and,
since he was now still thinking about it, obviously years . A couple of
weeks after he’d been done with that particular case, while playing pool in
Angel’s garage, he posed the question to them.
Angel had mentioned his neighbor’s house was up for sale because
they were getting divorced. He said he was pretty sure there’d been some
infidelity though he didn’t know the specifics. Once again, the case of the
almost-cheating wife had come to mind.
“Let me ask you guys something,” Romero said as Alex bent over to
take a shot. “If any of you found out your wife had a flirtation going on with
a co-worker or whatever but didn’t actually cheat and she promised it’d never
happen again, would you still dump her?”
They’d all stopped and stared at him, speechless for a moment. “Did
Izzy—?”
“Shut your mouth!” Romero said before Angel could even finish. “This
has nothing to do with Izzy. This is about a client I had a few weeks ago. I
tailed his wife and found out she was thinking about it.”
He explained the details, leaving out the part about them
kissing. That would make it too easy. It was what had him asking them in the
first place and what had brought the memory back now. Even now, he refused to
believe that his Izzy would ever even consider doing anything remotely inappropriate.
She already knew how he felt about Elliot. But was it possible she would enjoy
the attention of another man? A man whose scholarly conversation she might find
invigorating—refreshing? If so, could Romero deal with that? Deal with her
spending four hours a day with this man every day?
The very thought already had him fisting his hands. He was glad
that he’d put his hypothetical question to the guys even harder because he
needed to remember what they’d said now, specifically what Sal had said.
“Say she wasn’t talking on the phone with him or anything.”
Romero had made the question more specific. “Just a few texts here and there
and he complimented her often, maybe even told her she was sexy—more than once.
But not in an innocent playful way he could say in front of you. They were
being sneaky about it.” Immediately, Alex’s and Angel’s faces had gone hard. “She
knew thanking him and by not calling him on his shit—telling him that
his compliments and flirtatious behavior were inappropriate—she was encouraging
it to continue, and yet she did anyway. But it didn’t go any further than that.
Would you be cool with that?”
“Hell no.” Alex was the first to
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