“Okay.”
He leans back, tilting his head. “Okay?”
“Yeah.” If this is what he wants, what he needs to feel better? He can have it. I’ll do anything that reassures him that I’m in this one hundred percent. “I’ve even got the ring right here.” Shifting Grady in my arms is awkward, and we stumble a little, but I manage to get my hand into my pocket and pull out the small square box. I’ve been keeping it on me for weeks. “See?”
He stares at it for a long time. Not blinking. As if he’s scared it’s not real, and everything around him will fade. He wraps his hand around it and my hand and then kisses me hard. Whatever he’s been drinking tastes like sweet bourbon with hints of orange. It’s really nice, and I lick his tongue and the roof of his mouth to get more of it. Can I get drunk this way? Would I fail a breathalyser?
“No, seriously,” Sebastian says, raising his voice a little to be heard over the crowd around us and the rushing of pleasure in my ears. Can he hear that too? “I can’t make this legally binding.”
Grady nips my bottom lip and kisses the corner. “Sure you can.”
With a light chuckle, I say, “It doesn’t matter. I don’t think he cares.” And neither do I.
Sebastian shrugs. He goes to have another drink and frowns when he sees that the glass is empty. Probably for the best. We can’t have our celebrant falling on his face during the ceremony. “Alright. Where do you want to do this? It’s hard to think in here.”
I’m not sure he’d be able to think anywhere, but I guess that’s not really the point. Getting the two of them anywhere else sounds like a lot of work. Sebastian isn’t Grady-big, but he’s not exactly small. What if one wanders off in the opposite direction? No, thanks. I’ll wait for the cavalry before I let either of them leave the building.
“What about the bathroom hallway?”
It’s the only place I can think of that will be semi-quiet. Anyone walking past can mind their business.
Sebastian snorts. “And to think if Quinn hadn’t gotten sick, I’d have missed all this.”
Grady is unsteady as we make our way across the bar to the swinging door that leads to the dark hallway. Two recessed lights guide us, revealing nice, dark-red carpet and walls with tasteful paintings. From what I know of the owner, Aubrey—who happens to be Sebastian’s boyfriend’s brother—he’s really into art, so I bet this stuff is genuine and expensive.
Sebastian follows us, surprisingly steady. I bet he’d pass the weird sobriety tests that they do in America despite being three sheets to the wind. Not that I’d let him drive right now. Neither would any of the bartenders, who’ll have his keys behind the bar too.
I choose the far wall since it has a modern-style, rectangular mirror in the centre. Grady blinks at it, then grins and turns me around so that we’re both facing it, my back to his chest.
“What are you doing?”
“We look good together,” he says, burying his nose in my hair, still staring at me through the mirror.
He’s not wrong. I love how big he is and just what he can do to me with that strength. Not just sexually. He makes me feel safe. He’s my happy place.
He presses his cheek against mine, the beard scratching pleasantly. “If I stripped you right here and fucked you in front of this mirror, you’d see everything.”
Christ.That imagery has my knees weak, almost buckling under the wave of lust rushing over me. We’re definitely getting a big mirror for the bedroom.
“Are you getting married or giving the bar a show?” Sebastian asks dryly. “Didn’t know you had an exhibition kink, Grady.”
“Look away,” is all Grady says, kissing my throat before biting down gently. Oh, that’s nice.
“Would you have to arrest yourself for drunk and disorderly?” Sebastian wonders aloud. “Or public indecency?”
Grady groans and lifts his head. “Why won’t you go away?”
Sebastian grins. “I’m your celebrant.”
“Oh.” Grady frowns, like he forgot. “Right. Okay, well, get on with it.”
“I was trying.”
“Try harder.”
“I think this friendship is going well,” Sebastian says, his smile widening. “We’re really bonding.”
Ducking out from Grady’s hold, I position him beside me, arm around my shoulder in a way that’s both intimate and also helping him to stay standing. I prefer my groom to be conscious.
