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"How will you get to and from the club?"
"Both the house and Nuovi Inizi are within walking distance to a MAX stop." It's one of the reasons I was so happy when my offer on the house got accepted. "Would you like to see it?"
Hearing the words come out of my mouth startles me. I haven't invited anyone to see the house. I'm still trying to decide if I want to have a housewarming and have my employees over after I move in.
He doesn't hesitate. "Yes."
"I'll text the realtor." The house doesn't have anyone living in it, so it should be no problem.
While I'm texting back and forth with my realtor, Atlas drives to a private clinic near Portland's downtown.
Once we get there, he guides me into the discreetly elegant building with a hand against my lower back.
It feels nice. Not like the actions of a one-night-stand. Though can it be called a one-nighter if he stayed for more in the morning and breakfast after?
I have very little experience with this kind of thing, but it feels like the beginning of something and not a casual hookup.
Which scares me a little, but I'm in a better place to start a relationship than I have been since Tino's death.
Atlas and I go separately to get our blood drawn for the tests.
The nurse asks me the usual screening questions.
"Is the day after sex too early to take a pregnancy test?" I ask her when she's done.
"Ten to fourteen days is preferred," she replies without judgment. "Do you need the morning after pill?"
That gives me pause. It should be a no-brainer. Getting pregnant with a man I met so recently would be foolhardy, to say the least.
But the prospect of pregnancy tastes sweet to my soul in a way it hasn't since I lost my baby. Not that there's much chance of it happening. I never went on birth control after my miscarriage. Once Tino and I started having sex again, I never got pregnant.
Still, if there is a chance, I want to take it. Icantake it. A year ago, I wouldn't have been able to, but the club is making enough profit now to cover Lenny's care and my own living expenses. Including paying the mortgage on a house that could easily accommodate another person.
I shake my head. "No, thank you."
"Are you sure?" the nurse asks, this time with a tiny bit of judgment.
Or is that me judging myself and blaming her?
Whichever it is, I say, "Yes, I'm sure."
After I am done giving my urine and blood samples, I find Atlas waiting for me in the reception area.
He looks big and forbidding until he sees me and then he smiles. "Ready?"
I nod.
He guides me out to the car. "Some of the tests will be ready later today, but a couple require time to culture and won't be available for a few days."
"You asked?" I shouldn't be surprised.
Atlas hasn't shown any reticence asking for what he wants so far.
"You didn't?"
I laugh. "I didn't have to. The nurse offered the information."
"My nurse wasn't nearly as helpful." There's something in his voice.
