Secrets of a Shoe Addict Read Free Page A

was one of relief. The
“Oh, shit”
wasn’tbecause he’d just realized what he’d done, with whom, and regretted it. “The rubber broke?” she echoed, trying to get a grasp on what he was
actually
saying.
    “Yeah.” He threw up his hands. “Fuck.”
    She swallowed the urge to say,
I believe we just did
, and instead asked, “Are you sure?”
    He nodded. “I’ve done this enough to know when there’s a problem, and
this
is a problem.”
    A moment of heavy silence dropped between them.
    “Have you been tested?” Loreen asked, her former relief replaced rapidly by panic as she realized the implications. She’d just had sex with a stranger and the condom had broken, spilling all kinds of potential diseases and bacteria right into her most vulnerable parts. Short of slashing open her wrist and rubbing it on a petri dish, she couldn’t do something more bacterially dangerous.
    “I’m tested every month,” Rod said. “What about you?”
    “I haven’t had sex in about a year.”
    He nodded like that was unsurprising. “Yeah. But have you been tested?”
    That
yeah
was insulting. “My doctor did that test,” she said, “along with every other medical test, last year when I couldn’t shake the flu. It was negative.”
    His shoulders lowered slightly with relief.
    She waited a moment, then, when he didn’t volunteer the information, prompted him with “And
your
tests?”
    He waved the question away like it was silly. “Negative on all counts. We have a really good doctor here who checks us out really thoroughly.”
    “Heck of a medical plan you have.”
    “It’s the law.” He shrugged. “What about pregnancy? Are you on anything?”
    For the past year? On the remote chance that she’d have sex with someone without taking the time to plan? Not likely. Good thing she couldn’t have more kids. “After my son was born, I had my tubes tied,” she lied. It was easier than explaining that she just wasn’t able to get pregnant, that a couple of years of trying with Robert had proved that beyond a doubt, and that it made her hang on to her only son’s childhood like it was a life raft in the ocean.
    “Good thing.” Rod gave a dry laugh. “I’m sure the last thing you need is a pregnancy.”
    “Right,” she agreed, because she was polite. But . . . what did he mean by that? The last thing
she
needed? Even though it was true, what was it about his words that sounded distinctly detached? No, they didn’t know each other, and no, she
definitely
wasn’t going to get pregnant from this, but still. . . . What a dick.
    Nah, she was probably reading way too much into this. She’d had a weird night—a one-night stand! The first time in her life! That was so unlike her. And she was still out even though it was—she looked for the green glow of the digital clock by the bedside—11:36 P.M.
    Good Lord, she had to leave. Everyone was probably wondering where she’d disappeared to.
    “I’ve got to run,” she said, meaning it literally. She threw back the sheets and started running around the darkened room, collecting her clothes.
    “Are you sure? I’m still available for a few hours. And I had a great time with you,” Rod said, and back was the mellow, sexy tone that had drawn her to him in the first place. Then he grabbed her wrist,pulled her to him, and kissed her deeply. If it weren’t for the time, she would have fallen right back into bed with him.
    “I did, too,” she said, wishing she could come up with something more clever—more
memorable
—than mere agreement.
    “Maybe next time, then.” He ran his hands down her back, sending tingles along the trail of his touch.
    “I don’t come here often,” she said to him as she pulled back. She had to get dressed and leave, no matter how great his hands felt on her.
    “Well, if you do,” Rod said, pulling up his jeans and turning to her with the button tantalizingly undone, “you know where you can find me.”
    She nodded and gave a