One Week Three Hearts:
the pool's edge. He bent Malani over and rammed his cock into her on the rocks. Even the lounge chair Rose occupied wasn't sacred: Malani's small breasts bobbed up and down as she rode him, squealing in ecstasy.
    Rose shook her head.
    Matt's sigh signaled he saw right through the lie. "Tell the truth."
    Another failed test.
    "Fine," Rose said. "Yes, I'm jealous."
    "Now it's my turn: why did it take you two weeks to sign the known donor contract?" Matt asked. The pointed question demanded a strong answer. Rose admitted the paternity clause in the contract confused her.
    "It took you two weeks to figure out if you wanted to stay married to Jason," Matt said. "Really, Rose? Two weeks?"
    His eyebrows appeared above the top edge of his sunglasses. "Two weeks to sign a piece of paper that stated that," Matt continued, shaking his head. "I'm sure that clause terrified you more than admitting you were contemplating leaving him and running off with me after that night. Or admitting that you broke the norm by wanting two men. One of those thoughts surely ran through your head. Or both. Whatever, it took two weeks."
    Matt raised his arms straight up, and tilted his head back to look at the sky. "Why?" he demanded of the sparse clouds reflected in his aviators.
    How dare he judge her marriage! Matt didn't know anything about commitment or endurance. Rose faced him head on.
    "You're so fucking cruel," Rose said. "I love Jason. I never stopped loving Jason. You'll never understand what we have." Her voice broke on the last few syllables as her shaking hand placed the empty glass on an end table.
    Who am I trying to convince? Matt? Or myself?
    The setting sun melted into the water. The effect created a dizzying brightness that penetrated her sunglasses. Maybe Matt's urgings to call for a cab were a subtle hint Rose should take. She could leave both of them, the past, her failures, and these new revelations about her husband behind.
    The troubling thought line vanished as quickly as it formed.
    Accustomed to grief dominating all other emotions, her mind played self-preservation tricks. Rose couldn't stop the flood of contradictory feelings, nor could she discern which ones were genuine. Cracks appeared in the numbing isolation fence she built around herself.  
    The accusations breached the hidden truth buried beneath all the layers, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Tears welled up in her red-rimmed eyes as the bonds deep within her heart shoved those dark thoughts out of her head.
    Matt dramatically swung his legs over the lounge chair's edge. His sandals made a loud clap sound when they hit the patio pavers. "You're going to have to choose me to be in your life, and stop using our relationship as an excuse for whatever goes wrong."
    A light wind kicked up from the ocean to rustle the low palm leaves. The knot in her stomach loosened as Rose's thumb moved her wedding ring from the base of its finger to the knuckle.
    For better or worse.  
    "But before that, you need to embrace Jason's needs," Matt continued. "I'll give you a taste of the pain and humiliation you seek, but no more than that until you figure out what you want. Consider it a conscience cleansing purge or whatever you want, but you absolutely need to do it."
    Rose mulled over his earlier statement about each of them using him as a channel. Matt essentially asked to transfer her infidelity burden to him using sexual methods. It sounded outlandish that something illicit would accomplish that. On the surface, what Matt alluded to made too much sense. The act would condone Jason's untraditional desires at the same time as her own.
    "Are you ready?" Matt asked. "Fucking you isn't going to resolve your issues. Keep in mind that it will have to be a little different this time."
    Embarrassment flushed Rose's cheeks, while imagining Matt stripping off the white linen shirt and pressing his naked chest against hers caused a tempting heat to simmer between her thighs. The

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