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2024-02-19 19:16:04LUMEN
LEAVING ALEC AND GOING BACK HOME FOR THE NIGHT HAD BEENharder than I’d expected. It was well past midnight, and we’d pretty thoroughly exhausted ourselves physically, but we’d both still had a decent amount on our minds.Going home had seemed like the best way for us to be able to attempt at least some rest. Especially when I knew he didn’t entirely agree with the plan we had in place. The fact that he hadn’t tried to talk me out of it or take control of the situation was proof to me of how seriously he was taking our second chance.Hob and Mai had already been in bed by the time I got home, so I didn’t see them until I joined them in the kitchen. The scene looked like any other Saturday morning where Hob was making breakfast for all three of us, but the atmosphere was far from normal.I had to say something.“You guys can still bow out. I have Alec and two of his brothers.
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The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 103
ALECCOMPLETE AND UTTER CHAOS.Squared.There was no other description that could come closer to accurately portraying a birthday party for an eight-year-old girl who had a massive extended family and an entire third- grade class full of friends. It was halfway through November, which meant we were all inside. My house was big enough to handle it, but it was a close thing.Still, as I turned quickly to avoid yet another collision with a small child, I wondered if it had been a good idea to have both family and friends over all at once. I wouldn’t say a word about it, though. Not when Lumen had suggested two separate parties, and I’d said I could handle it.I’d managed multi-billion dollar deals with people whose language I didn’t know. How hard could it be to plan a birthday party?The answer to that was a resounding I had no idea. I’d actually made a point to reach out to Keli two days ago to ask her for advic
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 104
LUMENCHRISTMAS EVE - ONE YEAR LATERSIXTEEN MONTHS AND TWO WEEKS. THAT WAS HOW LONG I’D KNOWNAlec. Not quite a year and a half, and I still could barely believe that this was my life.Growing up, I’d been by myself, and even when I’d gone to live with Brie, I’d always been painfully aware that what I’d had hadn’t been a family. At least, not the way I’d always pictured a family to be.Then I’d met Mai, and the Jins had welcomed me into their lives. I hadn’t been alone, but I’d still felt like an intruder. Now, after more than a year with Alec, my outlook had changed.It was one thing to understand the blended family dynamic from a factual standpoint, but it was something else entirely to go to Thanksgiving in San Ramon and see it personally. To them, it didn’t matter how any of them were connected by blood or whether or not they referred to Patrick and Theresa by their first names or as Mom and Da. Hal
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 105
BOOK DESCRIPTIONEoin: I’m watching her on video. She’s a complete stranger, yet something in her eyes hits me like no other woman. But to meet her, I’ll have to rescue her from a foreign country.When Aline Mercier, a young American teacher, is taken hostage in Iran, Eoin McCrae, is tasked with getting her out at all cost. Watching her ransom video shook him to his core. Teaming up with his buddy Cain, they initiate a daring rescue mission.Aline: Everyone thinks I’m this delicate flower who needs protecting, but I’m stronger than that. I’m making a diflerence in the world. Helping people. But I never imagined, it’d lead me to being kidnapped, held for ransom.Don’t miss, Strangers in Love, by M. S. Parker. The story of Eoin McCrae, a fine Scottish billionaire and Aline Mercier, an untouched flower.EOIN“Baby Shark” blared from my phone, and half a dozen menturned to look at me, all of them laughing. The rest didn’t even react. They’d heard that ringtone at least two or thre
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 106
ALINEBeing twenty-one and on spring break meant making all sortsof bad decisions. Getting drunk and flashing people. One- night stands with hot strangers. Dancing until three o’clock in the morning. Pub crawls that ended in morning hangovers that made you swear off drinking ever again.Well, it meant all those things if you were anyone but Freedom Mercier and her little sister. Guess which one I was? Here’s a hint: my name wasn’t Freedom.Not that I really wanted to make bad decisions. I didn’t really have the desire to drink myself into oblivion and suffer through a hangover or lose my virginity to some random frat boy and not even be able to remember it. I hadn’t come to Stanford University to party. I’d enrolled to earn my bachelor’s and then master’s degree in childhood education, which I’d managed to achieve in less than five years. I’d have my diploma in hand in only a couple months.Freedom was also graduating
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 107
EOINI needed to get the hell out of here.If I didn’t think it’d be an insult to everyone who’d died and been injured worse than me, I would’ve walked out as soon as I could manage it on my own and damn the consequences. Being here just reminded me of everything that’d happened. Of everything I’d lost.If I’d been in a civilian hospital, maybe it would’ve been better, but I was still army, and when we got hurt as bad as I had, this was where they sent us. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. Military run, so I saw men and women in uniform every day, and each time I saw one, it was like a fresh punch to the gut.I closed my eyes and tried to push everything out of my head, tried not to think at all, but I’d never been able to manage that, no matter what most of my teachers had claimed when I was growing up. When I hadn’t been paying attention in school, it’d been because I’d been thinking of somethin
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 108
EOINThree months and three days.It’d been three months and three days since I lost my best friend, my second family, and the future I’d planned for myself.Technically, I hadn’t lost the last two. I’d given them up. But I’d given them up because of what’d happened to Leo. A part of me wondered if I would’ve felt the same way if it’d been a firefight rather than an ambush, or if it’d been anyone but me who’d dragged Leo over to the place where he’d been killed. If it hadn’t been my fault. It still would’ve been awful, but I didn’t know if I still would’ve decided not to re-enlist.When I’d gotten here, I’d been put in temporary housing since the army really hadn’t known what to do with me. Da’s string-pulling hadn’t covered anything permanent, but I’d been okay with that since I hadn’t planned on staying. Even if I had re-enlisted, I wouldn’t have been staying here. I would’ve gone back to my squad.What was left of t
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 109
EOINI’d been home for ten days, and I’d finally gotten up thecourage to do the thing I’d been dreading from the moment I was told that Leo was dead. Even though I’d been less than twenty minutes away since I’d come back to the States, I hadn’t left the base, hadn’t gone back to my parents’ house, to the neighborhood. I’d known that, as soon as I was back here, I’d have to face all the memories of Leo and me growing up.And I’d have to face his family.I ran my fingers through my hair and wished I’d thought to get it cut so it was neater. I’d shaved for the first time in almost two weeks, but that’d been due to the realization that my facial hair drew more attention to the scar because hair wouldn’t grow there. I hadn’t really thought about looking presentable until I’d already made the decision to go today. I didn’t want to put it off any longer, though, not even for a haircut. I wasn’t sure how long it would take m
The Billionaire Impotent son-in-law 110
ALINEI’d heard the term ‘butterflies in the stomach’ before, but I’dnever experienced it until now. This was really happening. October twelfth had been marked on my calendar for months, and we were finally here.Freedom and I were going to Iran to work on teaching underprivileged kids English. Well, technically, I was doing the teaching because that was my field, but Freedom would be in the classroom with me to act as translator.Over the summer, she’d taught me some basics of Persian and Arabic. I might’ve been able to muddle through on my own, but she was fluent, and translating had always been what she’d wanted to do with her International Relations degree. It’d just made sense to say we were a matched set.Plus, our parents would’ve had a fit if I’d wanted to go on my own. They’d freaked out enough when Freedom had told them what we were going to do. It wasn’t because they didn’t think it was a good cause, just th
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EOINI’D JUST BEEN READY TO CALL ALINE WHEN A TEXT CAME THROUGHthat she was coming back and we needed to talk. I went back and forth between anxiety and relief while I waited for her. We couldn’t keep doing this.Our lives were linked, and we didn’t have the luxury of waiting until we had our shit figured out before deciding to start a family. The baby was on the way, and no matter what she and I disagreed about, I had no doubt that we were on the same page when it came to being the best parents we could be. To do that, we needed to work this out sooner rather than later.Since I didn’t know if Aline had her key, I unlocked the door and then spent the next fifteen minutes or so pacing from one end of the living room to the other and back again.When she came in, I wanted to just blurt out an apology and explanation, but I also didn’t want to come on too strong. How the fuck did people do this? How did they know what to say or how to say it? I didn’t know the ans
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EOINTHE MOMENT THE WORDS CAME OUT OF ALINE’S MOUTH, I COULD SEEthat she wanted to take them back. Not because she regretted accepting my proposal or didn’t want to live with me, but because blurting it out like that had been like dropping a bomb.Now, we were just waiting for it to explode. I could read it on their faces. I read it on her face too. She realized the impact of what she’d done.And then Freedom turned on me, her expression furious.“What the hell did you do?!” She pointed at me, her clear blue eyes flashing. “How dare you take advantage of her when she was upset! Out on her own for the first time and vulner–”“We’re engaged,” Aline cut her off, clearly deciding to get it all out now that things were in motion for a confrontation. “And I’m pregnant.”Freedom’s jaw dropped, and her face went white. Aline’s jaw tightened. “So, back off.”“What?”The word came out as a whisper, confirming for me that Aline had never spoken to Freedom that way before.“Eoin is m
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EOINIF I DIDN’T QUIT SNEAKING LOOKS AT ALINE, SHE WAS GOING TO CATCHme and want to know what the hell I was doing. Then I’d be put in the very awkward position of either lying to her and her figuring it out or telling the truth and pissing her off. Neither scenario ended well for me.She’d agreed to tell my parents about our engagement and the baby, and I was going with her tomorrow to spend Christmas Day with her family. Both of those were things that I wanted, but I kept feeling like some other shoe was going to drop and ruin it. That she’d suddenly recognize the fact that she could do so much better than me and decide that, while she might want the baby, she didn’t want me along with it. Or she’d think about how pissed Freedom was going to be when she saw me and realize I wasn’t worth the headache.Death wasn’t the only thing that could take someone away.So, I kept watching her, paying close attention to every expression, to every shift in body language.I’d been worried at Marti
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EOINTHE SCENT OF PEACHES WOKE ME UP, AND IT TOOK A MOMENT FOR MEto remember why my bed smelled like fruit. Aline. My eyes opened, my need to reassure myself that she really was here greater than me wanting to sleep a little longer. Once I saw her, I couldn’t look away.We were both on our sides, her back to my front. Her body was curled up, making her look even smaller than she was, and a surge of protectiveness went through me. I slid my hand from her hip to her stomach, wondering when I’d be able to feel the changes to her body, when the baby would start to move, how big it was right now.Was it a boy or girl? Would Aline want to know before or have it be a surprise? When would we be able to tell?I had a lot of research to do, I realized. I wanted to do this right, and that meant not leaving everything up to Aline. Some of the questions colliding together in my brain were the kind that she and I could talk about. I could find the answers for all the others myself. S
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EOINI PUT MY PHONE DOWN ON THE COUNTER AND GOT A BEER FROM THEfridge. If I wasn’t driving anywhere tonight, I didn’t need to worry about how much I drank. If I couldn’t be with Aline, taking care of her, getting a little drunk sounded like a good idea. Not so much that I’d be hung over tomorrow, but enough to take the edge off.It was a hell of an edge. Pregnant.I was going to be a father.Maybe. Aline could decide to terminate the pregnancy, but after how her parents had struggled to have kids, I didn’t think that was going to be the route she took. If she did, I’d be there with her, but even as shell-shocked as I was right now, I was hoping she’d have the baby.My baby. Fuck.I needed to sit down, but the few chairs I had were covered with shit from my storage unit. The floor would have to do. I leaned back against my refrigerator and took a long drink.I’d never really thought about being a father. My parents never pressured any of us kids about giving them
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EOINI DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHY ALINE WOULD – AGAIN – THINK I DIDN’Twant her. I knew her family was really overprotective of her, but I couldn’t imagine that translating into any type of emotional abuse. She was a certified genius and one of the most selfless people I’d ever met. And she was gorgeous. The fact that she’d been a virgin – barely even kissed if Freedom had been right about that too – confused the shit out of me because she had to have had guys all over her.Just the thought of any other man near her made my arms tighten around her. I still had my hand in her pants, could hear her ragged breathing slow and even out…and I was jealous of men I didn’t even know, men who might not even exist.Men I didn’t want to exist.I wanted to be it for her. The only man who’d ever know what she looked like when she came.Shit.The thought should have terrified me, but it didn’t. Even though I was painfully hard, I was content to stand here, holding her, rubbing her back with my free hand.
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ALINEEOIN’S PLACE WAS GORGEOUS. AND HUGE. NOT AT ALL WHAT I’D BEENexpecting, even after he’d told me that he’d leased a condo rather than an apartment. I’d already known that he’d come from a wealthy family, so it wasn’t the cost of a place like this that surprised me. It was more that this didn’t seem like the sort of place that a single, not-quite-thirty, former military man would live. This was more of a…family home.A beautiful one, but I was starting to feel like seeing all of it, being here with him while such a large question was looming over us, was untethering me from reality. I had experienced this strange disconnect only a few times in my life, most of them recently.“Hey.” His hands were on either side of my face, his skin hot against my cheeks. “It’s okay.”I looked up at him, and then his mouth was on mine, firm pressure without being aggressive, and the contact sent a wave of warmth washing over me, pushing away thoughts of anything else.This man could distract
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EOINMY BROTHER, ROME, HAD OUTDONE HIMSELF WITH THIS CONDO, ANDI’d made a point of telling him that when he’d met me there before I’d gone to pick up Aline this morning. I hadn’t, however, told him about what was going on.I wanted her to meet my family. I knew that by now, but I didn’t want it to happen with a question mark over our heads. So, until we got those test results, only Alec knew that this was a possibility. No matter what happened, though, I wanted her to see my new place because, at some point, I planned for it to be our place.Some of my tension had left when Aline had told me that she was okay and that the IUD debacle hadn’t been my fault, but it’d been such a small bit that as we moved into Playa Vista, my stomach was one giant knot of nerves. Most of it was because we still didn’t know for certain whether or not she was pregnant, but there was still a part of it that had to do with how she felt about my new home. I wanted her to love it.I took her hand as we w
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ALINEI DIDN’T KNOW IF I’D THROWN UP FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO BECAUSE Ihad morning sickness or if it’d been nerves, but either way, it hadn’t been pleasant. I’d been able to force down some crackers, and they’d helped with my upset stomach, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to completely quell my anxiety until I had the results of the blood test. Even if I was pregnant, the waiting was far worse than either answer would be.Eoin seemed to share my sentiments as he arrived nearly twenty minutes early, and apart from the drive, hadn’t been able to sit still. Even in the car, he’d been moving, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel or on his leg, flipping through radio stations, that sort of thing.The latter would have annoyed me normally, but nothing about this situation was normal. And if I were to be entirely honest, I didn’t mind the radio being on because neither of us had said more than a few words, and I preferred the background noise that prevented a total awkward silence betw
