I’m not feeling so good about it right now.
I sit on the bed and wait for Etna once I’m finished in the bathroom. He’s gone three more minutes and looks aggravated when he steps into the bedroom. He meets my eyes, gives me a tight smile, and disappears into the bathroom.
He’s gone again for what feels like ages. I’m ready to shatter when he finally returns. “You want to rethink this?” I ask.
Etna stops and looks at me. His shoulders sag. I’m surprised when he crawls on the bed and brings his mouth to mine. It’s a longer kiss than we’ve shared yet, though still just a lips-to-lips kiss. “No,” he says, bringing his hand to the back of my neck to kiss me again. “I’mneverchanging my mind about you, Keno.”
“But… I don’t want to come between you and your twin. I know how close you are.”
He shakes his head and pulls me down on the bed so we’re lying face to face. “Edna is the exact opposite of me. I’m rational and think about shit before I speak about it. Especially if it’s something big and important.”
“Which is evident since you let a week go by before you brought up my joke,” I answer.
His hand is still at the back of my neck, his fingers playing in the hair at the base of my head. His smile makes my stomach flutter. Or that might still be nerves. “Yes. Exactly. I want to know how I feel about something before making myself look like an ass.”
“That’s good of you.”
“Eddy is the opposite. She reacts, even when she doesn’t understand why she feels the way she does. Which is the case right now. She can’t give me a reason for why she’s objecting because she doesn’t have one. She doesn’t know why she feels the way she does. She’ll come around.”
“What if she doesn’t?” I whisper.
He pulls me to him and wraps me in his arms. I’m not a small man by any means. If anything, I think me and Etna are about equal in size, weight, and build. My body structure might be a little leaner, but not by much.
Somehow, he manages to envelop me. Not just in his arms, but his leg hooks over my hip, making sure I’m as close as I can be. That’s his dick against my thigh. Not mine. My heart stutters as my body waffles on how to feel about it right now. Definitely going to take some time to get used to.
“She will,” Etna promises. “I’m really sorry she acted that way. I hate that you saw that first from her.”
I’m not sure how to answer so I don’t. We lie in bed for a while. The house is silent. Everything is peaceful.
“We’re nailing cuddling,” I murmur.
Etna laughs. “Definitely. Best cuddling ever. Right here. First try, knocked it out of the park.”
I grin and pull back to look at him. “I wish we could have had a better reception. I imagined excitement and whatever. But I’m not sorry we did it this way.”
He kisses my nose. “I’m not either. I’m glad our first Christmas together will be with our families. Maybe it’s something we can pull off every year.”
“I don’t see why not. We can always make it happen in a hotel room if necessary.”
“Last resort, but yes.”
“Let’s stuff the stockings. Then I have a couple presents for you I didn’t think were appropriate for the whole family.”
Etna grins. “Same. Wonder if we duplicated.”
The next morning is quiet.No one brings up our engagement. Edna is still sour. She continues to glare at me and refuses to look at her brother at all. Her attitude is getting on their mother’s nerves.
We eat breakfast then settle around the living room. I think our intent was to begin with presents and stuff, but Etna decides we need to talk before.
“I don’t know that we’re going to be able to enjoy gifts and stuff without talking, so… what questions do you have for us?” Etna asks.
No one answers for a minute. Eventually, his mother says, “I’ve never gotten the impression that you two were more than friends. Despite the popularbromancestatus I see all over the internet.”
I laugh.
Etna grins. “We weren’t.” He looks at me and I nod. I think we’re going with the truth. Maybe an abridged version.
“Okay. This is unconventional, but this is what we decided, and we’re not changing our minds. I need you to keep in mindthat wedidtalk about this thoroughly and we’re very happy and excited about our future together.”
