Free Pushing the Limit by Emmy Curtis Page A

peeled away, leaving them in the massive driveway of the hotel. Sometimes he reminded Harry more of an American than an Iraqi. She waved as he left.
    “I am going to bed. I’ll be down for breakfast at seven as usual,” Harry told them, keen to end the evening and at least try to encourage the others to do the same. She’d been on edge since she found the artifact from the military plane and didn’t want to invite trouble by having Molly or Jason fool around in the bar or the pool at night. They were pretty close to her age, but she still felt responsible for them.
    “Me too,” Molly said firmly. “I’ll walk with you.” She took Harry’s arm and steered her toward the entrance.
    “Good night, guys.” Harry waved over her shoulder, leaving the two moody men behind them.
    “Jason is such a piece of work, right?” Molly said as soon as they were through the doors.
    “What do you mean? The chess thing?” Harry asked.
    “Yes of course the chess thing.” She sounded exasperated. “Why is it that men are such poor losers? How can he get angry because someone beat him at a board game? It’s ridiculous.” Molly was walking faster and faster, clomping up the stairs as she spoke. “It’s so juvenile.”
    Harry thought about Matt’s instinctive reaction to her revelation about Danny. Accusing, blaming her. “Yes, they are. They really are.”
    “I mean, would he do that with his kids?” Molly ploughed along her train of thought, making Harry smile. She had obviously been stewing about it all the way back to the hotel and was just venting. “Would he be angry if his kids beat him at something? Is that, like, abuse or something?”
    They reached Harry’s room, and she took out her key. “Molly. You’re twenty-three and a grad student. So is Jason. You met him three days ago. Please tell me you’re not planning on having kids with him already?” She gave Molly a look. A second passed as she watched emotions pass over Molly’s face.
    “No.
No
. Of course not. But every woman who meets a man wonders what he would be like to marry, to have kids with. Even if it’s only for a second. It’s normal. Any man you’re interested in, that is. It’s just something we keep an eye open for, right? It’s, like, biology or something.” Molly reached in her bag for her keys and made her way to the next room.
    “Right,” Harry said softly, turning and hiding the frown that she knew was on her face as she opened the door. “G’night.”
    “Night, Harry.”
    Did all women think about that? She never had. Never. She sat on the edge of her bed. Seriously? She was supposed to consider every man she liked as a potential parent and husband? And it was biology?
    It made sense. All the studies that had been done about being attracted to men who had a symmetrical face or a strong jaw… her mind skipped ahead to Matt. He had both of those things, but she’d never once imagined being married to him, or having kids with him. Was there something wrong with her? Or was Molly wrong?
    Molly was young, but Harry knew that she had an IQ of 149 and had rarely scored less than perfect on any standardized test she’d ever taken. And the only reason she knew those things was that Molly’d let it slip when they’d been out drinking in Thailand. If memory served, it had been the Mekong. The liquor that thought it was a nail polish remover. Harry stuck out her tongue in disgust at the mere thought of it.
    Urgh, enough of the navel-gazing. She yawned and stretched, got up to lock the bedroom door, and slipped into her sleep shorts and tank again, pausing for a second as she caught a whiff of Matt’s soapy scent as she pulled the tank over her head.
Yum
.
    She slipped between the sheets and paused for a second. Nope. Still not thinking about having kids with him. Other things, yes. Procreating? Definitely not.
    * * *
    Matt knew something was off as soon as he stepped in his room. A scent of tobacco, maybe? He closed the door and