ALINE
Most people’s favorite holidays were either Christmas orHalloween, but not mine. Mine had always been Thanksgiving. I loved buying people gifts, giving out candy, and even the whole Easter basket thing, but there was something about a time of celebration that was about appreciating what you had rather than thinking about what you were giving or getting.It wasn’t some pious, high-minded thing that I liked to say so that people would think I was a good person. I genuinely enjoyed spending a day with my family, eating and talking and laughing. Appreciating all the things we’d worked for, the blessings we’d been given.Every year, even when Freedom and I had been in college, we’d make a point of coming home Tuesday night so that we could spend Wednesday making all the recipes that could keep overnight or the things we could pre-prepare like the turkey. Unlike a lot of our peers, both Freedom and I not only knew how t
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The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 160
EOINI had no idea how Mom had managed it, but everyone was herefor Thanksgiving. Everyone. And it wasn’t like all of us were close by.Austin was just in San Jose, but as CEO of Carideo Tech – the company Austin’s father, Marcus, had created – he had the sort of obsession with work that made the rest of us look like slackers, which was saying a lot. He’d missed family events almost as often as I had over the years.Alec and Evanne had brought Lumen, which Mom had immediately taken to mean that their relationship was serious. I tended to agree, but I wasn’t going to bug them about it. I left it up to the others to bombard the happy couple with questions. Evanne had already made the rounds to all her aunts and uncles before heading off to the kitchen to ‘help’ with the cooking.The oldest of the cousins/siblings, Blaze, had flown in from Baltimore on Tuesday evening since his being a professor gave him extra
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 161
ALINEOn the surface, everything about today had been perfect. If Iasked my parents, they’d say the same. Freedom, however…I wasn’t entirely sure how she felt. She’d seemed a little off. Like her smiles had been a second too late, or she’d had to pull herself out of her head before she could answer a question.I wanted to ask her if she was okay, but if she took the question badly, it could’ve ruined the whole day. So I didn’t. Tomorrow, we’d have to talk about what we planned to do next, and if it still seemed like something was bothering her, then I’d ask.The fact that my parents and Freedom hadn’t hovered all day made me extremely optimistic about what the future could be. Maybe they’d just needed to work through their own fears and concerns themselves, and now things could go back to normal. Or whatever our new normal would be now that Freedom and I weren’t in school anymore.I had some ideas about how that might
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 162
EOINAline and I had talked for nearly two hours on Thursday,then another hour yesterday, and it’d been surprisingly easy the whole time. Sure, there’d been a couple awkward silences at first, but after that, it’d been good. I honestly hadn’t been able to remember a time I’d talked so much, especially not to the same person. I was positive that I hadn’t talked to a woman I wasn’t related to for that long.I also hadn’t been this nervous in a long time. Not like this. When I’d picked up a woman to fuck for the first time since the ambush, I hadn’t exactly been calm, but those nerves had been about my ability to perform. This was different. In some ways, it was almost like my first date ever.Sure, I’d taken women out to eat, that sort of thing, but it’d always been leading up to getting them in bed. I mean, I’d gone from high school straight into the army. Being with a woman had always just been about sex. Yeah, I want
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 163
ALINEI WAS FAR FROM THE ONLY WOMAN TO MAKE IT THROUGH COLLEGE ANDinto my early twenties before losing my virginity. It was less common that I’d barely been kissed before Eoin. A couple fumbling attempts by college boys the few times Freedom and I had spent time with some of her friends, but never anything more than that. That was also the extent of my dating experience too. Study groups, mostly, but always groups. Never a single date or even a double date.So, now I was on my first date with the man who’d given me my first real kiss…and who had been my first time having sex. It felt a little awkward, going from having had sex twice with him to then going on a date, but nothing else in my life had ever been traditional, which meant I was accustomed to forging my own way.And I was used to doing it without letting anyone else know how much or how little I knew or understood.Fortunately, once I stopped overthinking, th
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 164
EOINGreat sex was like a really good workout. You slept well andwoke 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
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 165
ALINEI’d slept well and woke up slowly, my muscles feeling likethey were made of rubber. I sat up and grimaced at the twinges. Slightly sore rubber, then.I didn’t need to look over to see that I was alone in bed, and while that disappointed me, I couldn’t deny the bit of relief I felt at not having to explain Eoin’s presence to my parents. Things between us were still new enough that I wasn’t sure how I would’ve handled that exactly.Mom, Dad, this Eoin McCrae. He rescued me in Iran and then took my virginity before yelling at me for being stupid. But it’s okay because we had sex again, and then he went to Iraq to save more people. We went on our first date last night, and he slept over. What’s for breakfast?I rubbed my forehead. What had I been thinking? I didn’t regret the date, or really, the sex afterward. What I did have to question, however, was the wisdom of bringing him here for sex rather than asking him to take me back to his hot
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 166
EOINMY FIRST OFFICIAL FULL WEEK ON THE JOB WAS A LOT SLOWER THANthe two weeks before it, but I wasn’t complaining. I didn’t even mind the paperwork we’d spent all day Monday plowing through.The rest of the week had been filled with preparation and organization. Getting up to speed on all the certifications I needed to allow me to use the skills I’d learned in the army legally in civilian life. An o cial background check for Cain’s files. Time on the gun range. Sparring with the guys.The last one might sound odd, but due to the type of work we did, whether it was a simple bodyguard assignment or a ransom drop, the bond between team members was more important than pretty much anything else.They were a good group of guys. I didn’t have the history with them that I’d had with Leo, or even with the other guys I’d served with, but I wouldn’t have that with anyone else. What I could have, though, was somethin
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 167
EOINI’D HONESTLY BEEN PREPARED FOR ALINE TO TELL ME TO FUCK OFF. Ihadn’t handled anything with her well from the moment we’d met. I hadn’t hurt her physically, and I had saved her life, but I’d fucked up the rest of it. Badly. But Israel had been right. Sort of. I didn’t think I loved her, but now I was starting to think that I could. Someday. Maybe even someday soon.All I knew for sure was I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try. Not only because I needed to honor Leo and the other men who died by living life, but because I could see a future now. A real one.A good one. With her.I’d make this work, starting with dinner. Which was harder than it sounded. I couldn’t just pick some random L.A. restaurant since I had no idea if the food would be shit, and the only one I knew of was where we’d had our first date. The place had been great, and we didn’t exactly have bad memories of the place, but I didn’t want to
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