Things had changed between us so recently that I couldn’t tell whetherthatwas real or not, but some part of me thought maybe it was.
“Nor should you,” Teddy said. “He is entirely worthy of being spoiled, not least of all because it will never spoil him.”
I didn’t quite understand that, but it sounded like a good thing.
“Tea?” Teddy asked, holding the pot up in offering.
“Oh, umm. Well. I suppose…”
“Good boy,” Teddy said, shuffling over so I could move to make room for Kit. “Andy was just about to read his Penguin wrapper, wouldn’t have wanted you to miss it.”
“I wouldn’t missthatfor the world,” Kit said, sitting down beside me so our thighs were pressed together, giving my knee a squeeze before he accepted his tea as well.
“You’re lucky I know you’re actually funny,” I said, picking up the Penguin. “Oh no,” I said as I read the question, then flipped the flap on the wrapper up to read the answer. “Ohno.”
Teddy laughed. “Go on, then. Can’t be that bad.”
“Can’t it?” I asked. “Who is a penguin’s favorite family member?”
I paused a second for effect, then continued, “Aunt Arctica.”
Teddy and Kit both burst into laughter on either side of me as I unwrapped the cookie.
“That one was almost funny,” Kit said, sipping his tea. “I love the way you deliver them, though. I wish I’d realized earlier how entertaining it’d be.”
“We’ll have to put him in charge of the jokes in the Christmas crackers,” Teddy said. “No one could beat his delivery.”
“You guys are being mean to me because I’m American,” I said, although that didn’t really feel true. I thought Teddy was enjoying it, and Kit had always been cool.
“Not in the least,” Teddy said. “Have you ever though to consider why the foundation is headquartered in New York?”
I blinked at him, unsure how to answer that. I’d never thought about it. I probablywouldhave, if I’d known the Lady Oakesbury it was named for was Kit’s great-grandma, but I didn’t, and I’d never looked into it.
“No, I thought not,” Teddy smiled kindly. “No one’s ever read the foreword to the company handbook, terribly dry, must get around to updating it. But if you had, you’d know that the then-Lady Oakesbury was an American socialite before she was wooed by the then-Lord Oakesbury, my grandfather.”
“With the tea?” I asked.
“The same. She was long gone before I was old enough to know her, but he always spoke of her as though she was an angel. She grew up in Brooklyn too, you know.”
Kit squirmed beside me.Hemust have known that.
“You could’ve told me,” I said.
“Andy, I am the most awkward man on God’s little green Earth. When could I possibly have worked up the nerve to tell you that my great-grandmother grew up just a few blocks away from where you did?”
“Just a few blocks?” I asked.
Maybe Kitwasmeant for me, after all.
“I’ll show you when we get back.” Kit promised.
Teddy chuckled. “There, you see? So you wouldn’t be the first of your kind in the family. If, that is, Kit would do the decent thing and make an honest man out of you.”
Kit snorted between sips of tea. “And what about Andy doing the decent thing and making an honest man out of me, hmm?” he teased.
I laughed, but I didn’t hate the idea at all. Kit was the only person I’d ever known who I actuallylikedliving with.
And the sex had been really,reallygood.
