LWLU – Another Fire

Something was wrong. She could sense it the moment she opened the bedroom door. There were no sounds of running water. Sara had spent long enough talking to Nika that Paul should already be in the shower by now. What the hell was he doing?

Jane’s warning echoed through her brain. Against her will, she closed the door behind her with only the faintest of clicks. Everyone in the house was accounted for, so that could only mean he was on the phone with another woman.

Assuming he was actually hiding something, that is.

Sara entered the dressing room as Paul stepped out of the bathroom, wrapping a towel around his waist while water clung to his dark hair.

“You’re already out of the shower?” Stupid question.

“Yeah. I’m a guy.” He grinned at her. “Besides, it’s not like I was expecting a beautiful woman to hop in there with me.” Her expression must have changed because his grin died. “Fuck. That’s why you’re in here, isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “Sort of.”

He pointed over his shoulder. “I can get back in and pretend to be surprised.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind.” Something primal entered his eyes. “Trust me.”

A chill swept up her spine when he looked at her. “Sort of spoils it when you know. Takes away the spontaneity.” How did he do that? Just by looking at her, he was able to turn her on. With a single look?

And with that single look, he also made her nervous. Even though it had been a long time since Sara had been with anyone, she shouldn’t be as nervous as she was at the idea of sex with Paul. He was her fiancé…sort of.

“Oh, I can show you spontaneity, if that’s what you want, Tancredi.”

Before Paul could make the move he was obviously about to make, Sara asked, “What do you know about Jane?”

“Jane?” Confusion registered on his face. “What does she have to do with anything?”

Sara weighed the options of how much to tell him, deciding against mentioning the blonde’s warning. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to Paul to know so much as it was she didn’t want him to think she was suspicious of him. Because she wasn’t.

Mostly.

“She’s been trying to cause trouble most of the morning so I wanted to know how much you know about her.”

Leaning a hip against the counter, Paul folded his arms over his chest. “Not a whole helluva lot. Lincoln hasn’t said much about her and I’ve had too much going on to ask.” He cocked his head to the side. “What’s going on?”

“I really don’t even know.” Sara crossed to the room to Paul and hopped up onto the counter near him, sliding back until the inside of her knees hit the edge. “Nika tried to ask Lincoln about something Jane said when he came back inside, but he got, I don’t know…panicky. Before Nika could even get a question out, he was denying sleeping with Jane and saying she was a liar if she said different.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Veronica was in the room, right?”

She nodded, then realized Paul couldn’t see her with his eyes closed. “Yeah. She flipped out about him lying to her and then followed him out back to fight with him. Nika’s going to try to smooth things over with them, but…”

When her words trailed off, Paul opened his eyes. “But what?”

There wasn’t much she could say to finish the sentence without betraying Veronica’s confidence. It was silly to mention the pregnancy to Paul anyway. In all likelihood, her friend was just paranoid. “Let’s just say Veronica’s a little emotional right now. Nika’s going to have her work cut out for her with this one.”

Another sigh. “I knew this was going to come back to bite him in the ass. I knew I shouldn’t have left that party when I did.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you remember that frat party Linc wanted us to go to last month? The one you couldn’t make because you needed to study?”

“Yeah. I told you to go without me.”

“I did, but even for a frat party, it was lame. I left early so I could come over to study with you. You never answered your phone, so I went home and went to bed.”

“It was boring. I fell asleep.” She frowned. “What does that have to do with Linc?”

“At some point in the middle of the night, Linc is banging on my door, half-dressed and groggy as shit. When I asked him what happened, he said he didn’t know and crashed on my couch.”

That wasn’t like Lincoln Burrows. If anyone could hold their alcohol, it was him. “How much did he have to drink?”

“That’s the thing, Sara. I’ve seen Lincoln drunk. That wasn’t it.”

“Drugs?”

“No way. I’d know.” He shook his head, eyes serious. “Anyway. Apparently, Jane brought over the rest of his clothes the next day and told him he owed her a proper date after last night. So, you know Linc…He stared at her for a minute and asked if they’d slept together.”

Sara groaned. “I can’t imagine that went over well.”

“It didn’t, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. He said she wouldn’t answer him. Just said something about how that was the kind of thing he should remember. They’ve been dating since then.”

“So, he lied to Veronica about not sleeping with Jane then?”

“No.” He considered that for a moment. “If they had sex that night, he still can’t remember, but they haven’t done anything since. I know that for sure.”

“Are you sure you’d know?”

“Yeah. I always know. You’d think I was writing the sexual memoirs of Lincoln Burrows with as much as he tells me.”

A drop of water fell from his hair, capturing Sara’s attention. She watched it land on his shoulder, then trickle down his muscled chest. Why were they talking about Lincoln? Without thinking, she reached out to wipe the droplet away, letting her fingers linger against the warmth of his skin. Absently, she said, “And you don’t want to hear the details of his sex life?”

“Not especially.” He caught her hand with his before she could pull it away and brought her fingers to his lips, softly kissing her knuckles. “The only sex life I give a shit about is ours.” His eyes locked with hers. “Lacking as it seems to be.”

“Yeah…I guess there hasn’t been much to talk about in that department with the six month thing.”

He dropped her hand. “I wasn’t complaining.”

“I know. You’ve been really great about that.” She reached for him and smoothed her hands over his bare chest. “It’s just…”

For no reason in the world, the words died on her lips. Inwardly, she wondered what was wrong with her. She could plan to hop in the shower with him, she could hypothetically agree to marry him, yet she couldn’t tell him this one tiny truth? It made no sense.

Then again, it was the one truth she hadn’t said aloud to anyone. It was the one truth she held back as her own for all these years; for five years, to be exact. This one admission to Paul could’ve changed things dramatically.

Even though it still could, it was time to finally tell him the one truth he really needed to hear.

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