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Continue from Episode 35
She was no virgin. There’d been Steven, of course, as well as a half-dozen other boys throughout Lauren’s college years. She’d gone out with several men since moving back to Lake Tahoe, too. But, Lauren had to admit, the sex with all of them had been pleasant. Perfunctory. It was just what you did when you were dating. And, ultimately, forgettable.
Garrett Ashley was none of those things. Lauren wasn’t sure if he was particularly skilled, she particularly receptive, or whether the added illicit thrill of sneaking around behind their respective families’ backs added a dimension that had previously been lacking in all her other relationships. All she knew was, she couldn’t get enough of it. Or him.
They constantly looked for opportunities to be alone together, booking trips to locations they’d already scouted to death, then ditching their agenda to spend the entire day in bed.
When trips were impossible, they improvised, Lauren surreptitiously disabling the security system so that Garrett might sneak in the back door of Granddaddy’s house and, once, even excusing herself to meet him in the executive washroom just a few doors down from where all four of them were going over a proposed budget, tedious line item after tedious line item.
Afterward, Lauren merely touched up her make-up, re-applying the lipstick he’d smeared – she’d given up eyeliner because it proved too hard to scrub out – and run her fingers through her hair in lieu of a comb. She straightened up her clothes and returned to the conference room. She didn’t need to put on more blush. Her cheeks were scarlet enough. And she could still smell him on her.
Later that afternoon, Lauren had ended up riding the elevator with Ares Harrison, who’d come in for his own appointment. The way he’d slowly looked her up and down, then smirked, suggested that, somehow, he knew exactly what she’d been up to. Lauren hated to admit it, but she found even the possibility of exposure titillating. Being with Garrett had left her in a perpetual state of anticipation, agitation, and arousal.
Not to mention stupidity. Lauren was 24 years old. She knew how birth control worked. And she was diligent about using it. Most of the time. She was on the pill. But Lauren knew that pregnancy wasn’t the only risk of unprotected sex. Not in 1996 and not with a guy like Garrett. Which was why she insisted he use a condom. Most of the time. The geometry got tricky when you were up against a bathroom wall or in the backseat of a limo, folding awkwardly to stay in the driver’s blind-spot (pretty much resigned to the fact that he could still hear everything, and not really caring).
It was also kind of tough to keep the days straight, living as Lauren was in a perpetual, hormone-induced fog. Which was why it took her two missed periods and a drugstore test that she took in the bathroom – the same bathroom where… well, that was poetically appropriate – before she could admit to herself that her last few weeks of suspicions were accurate and that she was undeniably pregnant.
Continued to Episode 37
About the Author
Alina Adams wrote the “As the World Turns” tie-ins, “Oakdale Confidential” and “The Man From Oakdale,” and co-wrote “Guiding Light’s” “Jonathan’s Story.” She was the Creative Content Producer for “Another World Today,” and worked on the 2013 relaunches of “All My Children” and “One Life To Live.” Her books include romance novels, figure skating murder mysteries, and the historical family saga, “The Nesting Dolls,” from HarperCollins. Read more at: AlinaAdams.com
