Alexei picked up his hamburger and took a large bite, making a happy sound as he chewed. “>” he said after he finished chewing.
“>”
Alexei kicked him in the leg. “>”
“>”
“>”
Kyle shrugged. “>”
Alexei paused mid-bite, staring at Kyle. “>”
“>” Kyle assured him. “>”
Alexei didn’t press the issue, knowing that Kyle didn’t like to talk about his engagement outside of the home he shared with Jamie out of fear of somehow being found out. “>”
“>”
“>”
Kyle arched an eyebrow before ordering his tablet to, “>”
“>”
“>”
Maria Dvorkin, Alexei’s mom and Kyle’s adopted mom, was the quintessential meddling Russian mother when it came to her children’s love lives. Alexei groaned and buried his face in one hand at the minutes-long rant his mother had left on Kyle’s account complaining about how Alexei hadn’t yet asked Sean to marry him and could Kylepleasetalk some sense into his brother?
“>” Kyle said.
“>”
“>”
Kyle proceeded to pull up a file that had over two dozen links to various wedding ring designs that weren’t what Alexei would’ve chosen at all for Sean. None of them were gold, or had enough diamonds or colored gemstones. They were all so plain.
“>” he began.
Kyle stabbed a ketchup-covered fry in his direction. “>”
Alexei sighed and took another bite of his hamburger. “>”
“>”
“>”
Kyle shoved a couple more fries into his mouth as he flipped through the holopics projected into the air above his tablet. He finally settled on a plain platinum band, grooved and polished on the edges but smooth up top with a satin finish, and a round diamond set in the center of the ring.
He used his fingers to enlarge the three-dimensional holopic and spin it around so Alexei could see the detail better. “>”
Alexei bit into his hamburger and studied the ring. It was nice, with clean lines and an elegance to the design he thought Sean would appreciate. While it wasn’t a piece of jewelry Alexei would ever wear, he had to admit, Kyle was right. This was more Sean than any of the ones Alexei had previously looked at.
“>” Alexei said. “>”
“>”
“>”
