When Laurent went to follow, I refused to let go of his hand and plastered myself to his side, surprised by how reassuringly solid he felt. “Hey! Stop trying to monopolize my boyfriend when he’s only just arrived.”
“Your boyfriend?” Cillian drawled. “Even if we were buying this sudden switch to the opposite team, and it’s a bigifdecorated with flashing red warning lights, it’s been going on for less than five minutes. Don’t you think it’s a little too soon to be putting a label on it?”
“No.” Laurent and I both said in unison, the unexpectedness of it prompting us to turn to the other and exchange a smile.
“I think that’s up to us,” I said.
Laurent nodded. “Our relationship. Our rules. And you’ve both been telling me for ages that I need to find someone, that it’s not good for me to be on my own.”
“Yeah, but…” Cillian trailed off, his brow furrowed.
“Go on,” I said combatively, Cillian’s true feelings written all across his face. “We’re in a place where we can be honest, right?” Which was hypocritical of me given the subterfuge Laurent and I were currently perpetrating, but this had gone beyond sticking it to Cillian, and had become about the bigger picture: a battle against my brother’s low opinion of me. Because that’s what it came down to. That neither he nor Finn felt I was good enough for Laurent. “You already made your feelings on the subject clear.”
“Did they?” Laurent asked, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. “And what would they be?”
“I’m not stable enough for you. Whatever that means.”
Cillian sighed. “It means you’re always chasing the next thing to entertain you, that you get bored easily.”
“That’s your opinion,” I argued. “Not a fact. You hate that I’m so different from you. You look down on me just because I have no interest in working a ridiculous number of hours to start a business from the ground up and would rather have fun experiences. No one lies on their death bed recounting what their annual profits were.” I didn’t realize I still had hold of Laurent’s hand, and that as my ire had grown, I’d gripped it rather too tightly, until he let out a hiss of pain. “Sorry,” I said, immediately letting go.
Laurent cradled the injured hand with the other, massaging it to get the blood flow going again. “I’m quite capable of deciding who or what I want.” He looked between Finn and Cillian. “I’mthirty in a few months’ time, and I don’t need protecting. If Mac and I want to explore this thing between us, then that doesn’t affect anyone but us.”
An awkward stand-off followed, with no one seeming to know what they were supposed to say. It was Finn who eventually broke it, his bright smile looking decidedly forced. “Listen… let’s all chill out a bit and have dinner, shall we?”
I ignored Finn’s proposed seating plan of ‘couples’ sitting opposite each other at the table to take the seat next to Laurent, and I did it with a pointed glare that dared anyone to argue. No one did, Laurent just looking amused by my silent insistence.
Proceedings started amicably enough, with compliments given about the meal that both Finn and Cillian had cooked together. We got halfway through it before Cillian’s body language shifted ever so slightly, his shoulders squaring and a slight twist of his body angling him toward Laurent. The analogy of a missile locking onto its target came to mind. “You’ve had your fun,” he said. “How about you admit now that it’s all bullshit and we can have a laugh about it and move on?”
Laurent slowly and carefully put his knife and fork down, sitting up straight and meeting Cillian’s gaze. Knowing there was a fifty-fifty chance of Laurent admitting it was fake, I held my breath. I wasn’t ready to face a tirade of I-told-you-so’s from my brother. I’d never be ready for that. “It occurs to me,” Laurent said, “that this… reluctance to accept the two of us together is really about not wanting me to be with your baby brother. What do you think I’m going to do to him?”
I relaxed, relieved he wasn’t going to give the game away. There was a glint in Laurent’s eye that challenged Cillian to bring it on, that said he’d give as good as he got.
“Whatareyou going to do to me?” I asked with deliberate provocation. “Whatever it is, don’t feel you have to be gentle.” It should have felt strange to flirt with a man, but it didn’t. And as Laurent turned his gaze my way, it felt anything but. It filled me full of a warmth that said we were in this together, the whole thing becoming fun again.
“When am I ever gentle?” Laurent said, his voice husky.
“Oh, pur-lease,” Cillian said. “Give it up.”
I kept my eyes on Laurent, refusing to look my brother’s way. “It must be a challenge to keep all that French passion under wraps,” I teased.
“Answer me this,” Cillian said, leaning forward over the table. “My brother has a birthmark. Where is it and what does it look like?”
Laurent turned his head to offer Cillian a smirk. “At the base of his spine. And it’s shaped like Australia. It’s very kissable.”
Outwardly, I laughed. Inwardly, I said a thank you to whatever outside forces had engineered our less than orthodox meeting, and to Laurent’s fastidiousness. Either he had an excellent memory for details, or he’d paid a lot more attention to my naked body than he’d let on.
Cillian narrowed his eyes, determined not to be brushed off that easily. “I expect you’ve shared information about each other. Likes. Dislikes. Relationship history. That sort of thing.”
Finn placed his hand on his boyfriend’s forearm. “Why don’t we let the subject drop for now and just eat?”
Cillian covered Finn’s hand with his own in recognition of the gesture, but his attention stayed on us. It was like being subjected to the world’s most intense job interview. Not that I attended many if I could help it.
Ten minutes passed in something of an edgy truce before Cillian struck again, his voice silky-smooth. “When are you going to tell Mum and Dad about your new boyfriend?” He slid aphone across the table toward me. “You can use mine if you’ve left yours in the bedroom.”
I stared at it, my mind working through all the possibilities at a million miles an hour. Did I want to take it that far? Was it fair? Lying to Cillian, my extremely annoying brother, was one thing, but lying to my parents was something else. I should have expected Cillian to call my bluff, though. He didn’t land the big advertising contracts by being backwards in coming forwards.
Not seeing any way out of it, I reached for the phone, the conversation already taking shape in my head as my fingers curled around it. It wasn’t like they’d react negatively to it. They already had one gay son. Naturally, they’d be surprised and have questions. They’d probably assume I’d kept previous flings with men from them. Maybe I’d be lucky and they wouldn’t pick up.
