Page 7 of The Best Bad Decision

He was odd…but those were much better suggestions than a sit-down formal dinner with people I really didn’t like.

“Please feel free to tell those options to anyone who asks you if we’re serious or not.” His laugh had me finally smiling. “Most of my family gets incredibly seasick so that would make it even better.”

Shaking his head, he sighed as he smiled and sat straighter in the chair. “You’re making it very hard to tell you no. This plan is ridiculous and we both know it.”

It really was.

“Think of all the stories you’ll have.” I might not know Casimir very well, but I was beginning to discover his weaknesses. “We might start with a few dates out in public but eventually one of my relatives is going to track you down.”

He was strange enough that he took it as a game and clapped instead of taking it like the warning it should’ve been. “That’s going to be so much fun.”

He was frightening.

“How nice do I have to be to them and how appropriate do I have to be?” Looking down at himself, he frowned. “Are they going to believe you’re dating someone on the more fabulous side of gay?”

That was what we were calling it now?

“I can tone it down. I do it for work all the time, so it’s not going to send me on an emotional roller coaster to be boring for a few dates.” He glanced back up at me. “How boring are the men you usually date?”

That was an interesting way to frame the question.

“I’ve never brought a man home.” When Casimir immediately opened his mouth, I cut him off with one hand. “Only because I’ve never dated a man that I was serious about. The closest I came was in college, but we broke up right before I was going to ask him to come home with me.”

Looking back, he wouldn’t have been able to handle my family but we didn’t have to live through that train wreck because he’d decided to go explore himself.

Leaning back in his chair, Casimir nodded slowly. “Okay, I can understand that. Your family is the type to see a formal introduction as something significant.”

“Exactly.” Especially when I was younger. “I’m not sure how they’ll behave, so I’m not going to curtail your behavior.”

The way he blinked said Casimir hadn’t been expecting that response. “Really?”

For a single moment I felt bad about letting him loose on my family, then I remembered the email my mother sent me earlier.

An updated list of who to invite to the second wedding…which was somehow longer than the first.

There was no way fifty would cover what she was planning.

“I’m fairly certain being polite and level-headed has been what’s gotten me into this situation.” More drama from me might’ve led to less ridiculousness in the long run. “I’m done with being seen as the calm, rational one who makes the logical choices.”

Instead of being offended, he smiled. “I’m your newest bad decision, huh?”

He was underestimating how well-behaved I’d been when I was younger. It wasn’t something I bragged about at this point in my life, but I wasn’t going to hide it from him. Shrugging, I tried to sound nonchalant. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to be my only bad decision.”

I liked structure and rules and logic, and bad decisions generally didn’t have any of those.

My interesting new friend blinked a few times then sat forward and smiled. “You say the most tempting things.”

He really was odd.

I couldn’t say that, though, so I gave him a curious expression and waited. Silence was definitely safer until I figured out what made him insane and what kind of response would sound like teasing.

“Fine.” Throwing up his arms again, he fell back in his chair. “I’ll do it.”

Relaxed relief should’ve been the emotion I felt at having my plan come together, but for some reason, fear and a sprinkling of what-the-fuck were the strongest feelings running through me.

Casimir smiled like the Cheshire Cat. “This is going to be fun.”

Yes, fear had been the right emotion…clearly I was smarter than I’d thought.