How little they knew.
Regardless, the news was out with my brothers, and they took it really well. It wouldn’t be so easy with my parents.
“Gross. I do not need to think of my brother as kinky. Anyway, you should invite them over for dinner,” Athan suggested. “Let Mom and Dad get to know them first before breaking the news.”
Andreas nodded in agreement. “Yep, tell them to gush over Mom’s food, and she’ll gush over them.”
I wasn’t sure it’d be that easy, but it was a good idea to have my parents meet Hugh and Linden first, then we could work up to the dating thing.
Chapter 20
Hugh
Istoodinfrontof the full-length mirror and scanned my outfit as Linden draped his body over my bed, watching me and petting Mrs. Peach.
“I don’t know. Do I look like some college professor?”
After buttoning my shirt sleeves, I tucked the shirt into my slacks.
“Professor Cross has a nice ring to it,” Linden teased.
“Ass. You know what I mean.”
“They aren’t going to care what you’re wearing, Hugh.”
“The tie is too much, isn’t it?”
Linden stood from my bed and paced over to me. He reached for my tie and undid it. “Yes. It’s just dinner, not a meeting with our shareholders.”
His pretty eyes were so blue when he looked up at me. He wore a slate-blue button-up, which made his eyes pop even more. His dark blond hair was swept back smoothly from his freshly shaved face.
I quickly looked away because I shouldn’t be looking at my cousin and thinking about how pretty I’d always found his eyes.
“Just dinner? You heard Atlas. Apparently, his mother makes a feast. It’s a big thing when all her kids are there, let alone guests.”
He smiled, exposing his perfectly straight teeth. Linden looked like a put-together surfer turned businessman. Sometimes I wish I’d pushed him harder not to take the job at Cross Corp, but I was selfish and wanted him close to me.
“I’m sorry you’re working at Cross Corp,” I said, speaking my thoughts out loud.
His brow dropped, and he frowned. “Why? I made my choice. What brought that on?”
I shrugged as he unbuttoned a few buttons on my shirt and straightened my collar over my cashmere cardigan. “I don’t know. I’ve been feeling… mortal lately. Does that make any sense?”
“Not really. Care to elaborate?”
“Sometimes I feel on top of the world. We make a lot of money, we own nice homes, and we drive nice cars. There’s a lot of privilege in that. But lately… I keep thinking you’re wasting your creative talent. And that maybe… I’m not so happy. I should be more grateful for what I have, but… I’m also missing something important, but I don’t know what.”
Linden nodded and ran his hands over my shoulders and down my arms before stepping back. “I can see and understand that.”
“Don’t you wish you were doing something else? Or had a different life? I shouldn’t wish that as so many others have less, but still… It’s nagging at me.”
“All the time,” he whispered and turned away from me to sit back on my bed.
All the time?
The guilt gutted me. Yeah, I should’ve pushed him harder to pursue his dreams.
“Look, Hugh. Your parents took me in and have cared for me since I was a teenager. I should give back to them. If Uncle Hanley needs me there, then so be it. But if you need to step away from Cross Corp, you should do it.”
