Page 57 of Ethan & Anda
It was a question he’d thought about but hadn’t wanted to ask. “Does that mean having sex with other men?”
“It means faking sex as an actress. And I’m not going to lie, I have had sex with men while working undercover, but it was long before I met you. I don’t regret it, and I do believe that the ends justify the means, but I try to avoid those situations now. It’s not always easy when you’re undercover though. If sleeping with someone means keeping my cover intact—and if my cover being blown means I could end up dead—then that’s what I’ll do. Every time. I had to make a choice and that was the choice I made instead. Are you okay with that?”
It was a lot to take in, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t considered already. He knew she was an actress and knew that she did kissing and love scenes in movies. He knew she was an agent, knew that might have also meant kissing other men, maybe even sleeping with them, though he hadn’t been ready to admit that it was true until she’d said it.
He wasn’t a saint, either, though. He had a past same as her. To judge her for what she’d done in the past would be the same as her judging him for the women he’d slept with or the things he’d done.
He had a choice to make: let this information torture him, possibly ruin what they had together, or let it go. Though the jealousy burned in his blood, he chose to let it go, or at least work on letting it go.
She was right; if it came down to a decision between her life and sleeping with someone, she had made the right one. He wanted nothing more than for her to stay alive. After all, that was one of the reasons he became an agent, to help keep her safe as she went after Envision.
“My Anda, we both have pasts, but as long as our future is together, I’ll find a way to be okay with it. It might take me some time, but I’ll get there. I’m not going to judge you for what you’ve done, and I hope you won’t judge me for anything I’ve done or the women I’ve dated or any of that shit. I want you in my future, whatever that means, and however that comes.”
There were tears in her eyes that weren’t falling. “Are you absolutely, positively—”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard, hoping it would show her that he meant what he said.
She eased into the kiss and gave back just as much as he gave her, and within moments his need for her overwhelmed him.
Christ, would they ever stop wanting each other like this, needing each other like this?
They started turning in the room, ambling and stumbling towards the bed. They’d nearly made it when the door handle jiggled.
“Ethan? Are you in there?”
Shit! “Yeah! Give me a second.”
He whispered as he led her towards the bathroom where she could hide. “It’s Nate. I need to answer it. Let me get rid of him.”
She shook her head. “Go with him. We’ll find each other later.”
He quickly kissed her. “Damn right we will.”
She smiled and slid into the dark bathroom. She left the door cracked, as that should convince anyone that the bathroom was empty—a closed bathroom door was a dead giveaway that someone or something was inside, even if the lights were off.
He let out a breath, ran his fingers through his hair, then went to the door. He pushed the curtain over the door’s window aside—it was only Nate and no one else—then unlocked it.
Nate came in, casually glancing around. “Hiding?”
Ethan closed the door, locking it for good measure and pulling the curtain again. “Resting. I only have a couple days left of leave, remember?”
Nate stopped halfway into the room, then turned to him, his brow furrowed and arms crossed. “Are you alone?”
Shit! Had he sensed someone else here? Or maybe he’d caught Anda’s indescribable and amazing scent?
He was about to automatically say ‘yes’, but thought now might be the best time for the truth. He would soon be going on dangerous missions, where who knew what might happen. Though he wouldn’t tell Nate everything, he could tell him something, including what Anda meant to him.
“No, I’m not alone.”
Nate glanced around, his eyes stopping on the bathroom. “You may as well come out, then.”
“It’s all right. We can tell him.”
Nate raised one brow, then raised the other when he saw Anda. His arms fell to his side.
“Nate, meet my secret girlfriend, Anda Salamanca. Anda, meet my brother, Prince Nathaniel Santoro di Valleria.”
She paused in front of Nate with a smile and curtsied. “Your Highness.”
