Page 75 of Strangers in Love

I stood up and held out my hand, letting her have the choice to turn me down if she’d been too impulsive. Her palm slid across mine, and that was it. Neither of us looked back as we walked out the door together.

Fifty

Aline

I managedto make it halfway to the hotel before the panic set in. Maybe tomorrow morning, I’d regret sleeping with Eoin again, but Freedom was foremost on my mind at the moment. Kissing Eoin and asking him to take me somewhere had been spontaneous, the culmination of everything that’d been building inside me for longer than I cared to admit, but not from a sexual standpoint.

No, this was all about power. I’d had mine taken from me for nearly a week, and it had made me realize just how much I’d willingly given up to my parents and Freedom simply because it was easier. Yes, it had grated at times, but it’d never been worth the confrontation that would be inevitable if I ever chose to dig in my heels.

The Ritz-Carlton wasn’t the most expensive hotel in L.A., but it was far from cheap or shabby. If I hadn’t seen his family’s private plane, I might’ve been surprised that he could afford to spend so much on a single night, though I did wonder if he’d chosen it to impress me or show off. His rich playboy persona in Iran might not have been as much fiction as I’d originally thought.

It wasn’t until we bypassed the front desk that I realized he hadn’t brought me here intending to rent a room for a single night. That was enough to pull my thoughts away from the insanity of what I’d done and what Freedom must be doing right now.

“You keep a room here?” I hoped the question sounded as casual as I intended it to be. I didn’t want him thinking that I was the sort of woman who would be jealous of a man with whom she wasn’t in a relationship.

He glanced down at me, a strange expression crossing his face. “I forgot that you wouldn’t know. I don’t live in L.A.” He pressed the button for one of the top floors. “Or, at least, I didn’t.” He frowned.

“Clear as mud.” I smiled, hoping he’d accept the lighter mood.

“I’ve been living in San Ramon with my parents since I got out of the Army in June. When Cain called me up to help with your…situation,” he gave her a wry smile, “I thought it’d be a good chance to see if this was something I could do.”

“And?” I followed him off the elevator.

“Cain offered me a job,” Eoin said simply. He pulled a key card from his pocket and then opened the door, all without letting go of my hand.

I wondered if he thought I’d change my mind if he let go.

“Does that mean you’re moving to L.A.?” I didn’t know why my stomach tightened at the thought. So what if L.A. was four hours further away from Stanford than San Ramon was? It wasn’t as if this was going to become a habit. I had plans for my life that didn’t involve romantic entanglements. And that was even assuming he’d want that.

But…I would be in L.A. until after Thanksgiving. Maybe, depending on how things went tonight, we could extend this into a short fling while we were both in the same city.

He closed the door behind us, and I stepped toward him, eager to begin.

He let go of my hand and took a step back. My stomach fell, and I told myself that I’d handle his excuse with mature cool.

“Last night.” He ran his hand through his hair, and I was surprised to see that he looked embarrassed.

If he was going to tell me it was a mistake and he’d simply taken pity on me, I’d be hard pressed to not cry, but I could do it. Iwoulddo it.

“I fucked up.” He sighed. “We didn’t use protection.”

“Oh.” Relief rushed through me. If that was all this was about, I could set his mind at ease. “I have an IUD. It’s easier than trying to remember to take a pill every day.”

And I’d been even more grateful for it when I’d been taken last week. If I had been raped, at least I wouldn’t have had to worry about pregnancy on top of everything else.

“Oh, good. I mean, I’m glad.” He shook his head. “Shit. Sorry. Let me start that again.”

I found this slightly flustered version of Eoin more appealing than I would’ve thought.

“I’m not the sort of asshole who thinks that birth control is all the woman’s responsibility.”

He took his wallet out of his pants pocket, opened it, and pulled out what I assumed was a condom. I was more focused on his face than his hands, fascinated with all the different facets of his personality that played across his face now that he wasn’t in soldier mode.

“No matter how into it I was, I never should’ve let things go that far without protection. I’m sorry.” He reached out his free hand, and I took it. “Besides apologizing, I wanted to reassure you that you don’t have to worry about catching anything from me. I haven’t gone skin to skin with anyone, not even for oral sex, since high school.”

Strange as it may have been, a flush of pride warmed me, knowing that I’d been able to distract him enough that he’d forget something that he’d considered that important for years. I wasn’t about to tell him that. Just like I wasn’t going to tell him that the reason he didn’t have to worry about contracting an STD from me was because I’d been a virgin. He only needed to know part of that information.

“I’m clean.”

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