Page 91 of Strangers in Love

“Come for me.” Eoin’s voice was strained. “Come for me.”

“Yes.” I could feel myself hovering on the edge, not quite where I needed to be. “Yes, yes. Please.”

“Touch yourself.” His rhythm faltered. “Make yourself come. I’m too close. You feel too good.”

It didn’t take much, just a few quick passes over my clit, and I climaxed. I choked on his name, muscles tightening. Two more rough thrusts, and he followed, slumping over my back as our bodies rode the high together.

“Round two will be slower,” Eoin promised. “Just give me a couple minutes.”

Our night, it seemed, wasn’t over yet.

Sixty

Eoin

Great sex waslike a really good workout. You slept well and woke up sore. It didn’t matter how good of shape I was in or how small she was, holding her up against the door used my thigh muscles enough for me to feel it as I climbed out of bed as carefully as I could, not wanting to wake the sleeping woman next to me. I’d had a little practice with that even though I’d always tried not to fall asleep after sex, but for the first time, it was only out of concern for her.

The room was dark enough that I couldn’t see much beyond a crack of light under a door. I put my hand on the side of the bed and tried to remember what was between me and the door. Somewhere in the room was a lamp, but I hadn’t paid enough attention to know I could turn it on without breaking something in the process. Plus, I didn’t want the light to wake Aline. I wanted to be able to slide back under the covers and go back to sleep with her in my arms.

It was a strange and new feeling, this connection.

I shuffled across the carpet toward the bathroom, already thinking about how I’d wake her up later this morning. The light was bright enough that I’d closed the door behind me before realizing that I hadn’t gone into her bathroom. No, I was standing in the hallway, buck naked, which would have been bad enough, but then I saw something that made it worse.

Not something. Someone.

Freedom.

The shock I expected to see on the face of someone who’d just caught a naked man in the hallway was there, but it was gone almost immediately and replaced by anger.

“What thefuckare you doing?” she hissed.

If she’d been surprised and embarrassed, I would’ve tried to cover myself, apologized, and gone back into Aline’s bedroom, but Freedom’s anger had me on the defensive, so I crossed my arms before I answered.

“Wrong door. I was looking for the bathroom.”

She put down her bag and stalked toward me. There wasn’t a more appropriate word for it either.

“I don’t mean in the hall.” She glared up at me. “I mean, what are you doing in my house?”

“Your sister invited me in.” I wasn’t about to give her any more than that, especially since it was pretty obvious what Aline and I had been doing.

“My parents called me because Aline said she had a date and they were nervous about it. They wanted to know if I knew who this mystery guy was and if it was safe for her to go out with him.”

She was in my personal space now, almost touching me, but I didn’t step back. I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“I couldn’t tell them everything I knew about you, though, so I said it was just a date. Then I got in my car and drove back to make sure she was okay.”

“I wouldn’t hurt your sister,” I said finally. “I saved her. Remember?”

“What Irememberis my baby sister telling me that the man I’dhiredto rescue her,fuckedher.” Freedom pointed her finger at me like she was going to poke me in the chest.

“Aline is an adult.” I kept my voice low. The last thing Aline needed to see was me arguing with her sister. Naked. “She can make up her own mind.”

“Aline needs someone to protect her from making bad decisions,” Freedom countered. “And it seems like her worst ones have to do with you.”

I almost came back with how I’d actually kept Aline from making some pretty shitty decisions while we were in Iran – like wanting to gotowardgunfire on the chance we could rescue her friends – but I didn’t.

Instead, I said, “Unless she asked for your opinion, who she goes to bed with is her business, not yours.”

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