Page 48 of It's Not All Fake

“How about you?” I ask, throwing the question back at him.

“Yes, I’m healthy too,” Liam assures me. “Do you take birth control?” His tone is casual, almost a transactional tone.

A nervous chuckle escapes me. “Is some Fifty Shades arrangement about to happen here?” I take another sip of my wine.

He gives me a confused look. “No, I don’t want to pull out the whips or anything.”

I can’t help but giggle. “Okay, I don’t think I’d like that.” I smirk. “But I meant that the guy arranged for her to go on birth control.”

“Oh, I never saw or read it,” he explains, and I suppose that makes sense. He’s not the reading a book on a Saturday morning type of guy. His voice seems to grow quieter. “I’m not going to arrange for you to go on birth control. I’m just wondering if you’re taking it.”

Why is he asking? We used a condom. Did he notice it ripped but didn’t tell me?

“Um, yeah, I have an IUD,” I tell him.

Just then, the waiter returns to clear our appetizer plates, the oysters now finished. I can't help but wonder if he overheard us—it's an awkward moment for him to arrive.

Liam thanks the waiter, yet his eyes remain fixed on me. He’s waiting to say something, and the pause is palpable as we listen to the waiter’s footsteps recede.

Liam leans in, looking at me intensely. “Chloe, I don’t want to pressure you into anything. But I want you.”

The way he’s looking at me has my insides doing somersaults. His gaze is unwavering.

He wants me.

Liam’s voice is low. “And I don’t want a barrier between us,” he explains.

Oh fuck. I feel arousal building in my body.

“What?” I ask, my voice suddenly soft. I get his meaning, but I want him to say it.

“I want to feel you,” he says huskily. Excitement rushes through my whole body at his words.

The thought of our sex being just us, no condom, skin-to-skin, is really fucking hot.

“If you are comfortable with that, of course,” he adds, always giving me an out.

I’ve never been with a man without a condom. I’ve also never told another man that I have an IUD—no man has ever asked. In the back of my mind, I never fully trusted that Lucas wasn’t sleeping around and collecting a petri dish of diseases. I always made him wear a condom.

“Um…” I hesitate. It’s such a weird dinner conversation, but it’s got my heart racing.

Suddenly, Liam is sliding an envelope across the table to me.

What the hell?

I have no idea where the envelope even came from.

“What is this?” I eye Liam suspiciously. Is it a contract? More money? Is he trying to pay me extra for condomless sex? I try to reel my mind in from jumping to conclusions.

“For you to review,” Liam nods to the envelope, signaling me to open it. This feels like a business transaction.

Oh, shit. It’s some kind of contract.

I frown and tear open the envelope, extracting the paperwork inside. I unfold the thick document and try to figure out what I’m looking at.

It’s a medical document—lab results.

All sorts of diseases are listed in one column with results in the neighboring column. All the results are negative.

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