Page 55 of Brought By the Storm

I laughed louder. “Okay. Well, be safe then.”

Mateo gave me a sarcastic, knowing look. “I will. Tonight, you should be…safe…too.”

* * * *

Carrington and I spent the entirety of dinner speculating about Mateo and Stefan, as well as talking politics. I shared what I knew about current legislative proposals in the United States and at various local levels, and he filled me in on the political and cultural climate of Yastarus. While I knew a little bit about his country, I didn’t have any sense of the governmental or judicial structures. He went into significant detail about the history, the country’s adversarial relationship with Russia and the culture wars. It became clear that Carrington was viewed as a progressive in his country, though his positions were more aligned with moderates In the United States. He shared a little about how they had learned of the plot against his life, but in so doing, tried to assure me that his country’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies had everything under control.

Once we had cleaned and put away the dishes from our meal, he gave me one of his smoldering gazes. He put his hands on my hips and pulled me toward him. “You’re very smart,” he complimented me.

“I don’t know. I worked hard in school, and I watch a lot of news. Maybe more hard-working and educated than smart.”

He pulled me a bit closer. “I disagree. I’m sure you do work hard, and you are educated and informed, but you’re very intelligent. I’ll bet if you had an IQ test done, you’d score quite high.”

I shrugged. “Um, they have tested me.”

His eyebrows rose. “And?”

I pulled away and started hanging dish towels back on their hooks. “I scored one hundred and forty-five. I guess they consider that…”

“Genius,” Carrington finished. He walked over to me and pulled my chin toward him so our eyes could meet. “I knew it. Why are you so humble?”

“It’s just a test,” I mumbled. “My parents told me that I shouldn’t buy into those kinds of things, and that it is important that I keep working hard because that’s the real key to success.”

Carrington paused, started to open his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. Instead, he brushed my lips with his fingers. “You promised me a movie.”

I smiled. “I did. What do you want to watch?”

He shrugged. “Whatever you want. I’m guessing I’ll be watching you more than the film anyway.”

I gulped, feeling myself starting to harden. Even I was beginning to be amazed by my raging testosterone. I had never had the inspiration to test it like I had these last few days. “Um, I like superhero movies. Do you like those?”

He grinned. “Why am I not surprised? Eric Turner likes watching cute men in tight outfits hunt the bad guys and make the world a better place? I would never have guessed!”

I flushed. “Well, we could watch something else. Do you want to watch a drama?”

He shook his head no. “I’m not in the mood for anything heavy, are you? I was thinking something that might be a nice prelude to our time together later.” His gaze intensified.

“Oh.” I swallowed. “Um, maybe a romantic movie?”

“Hmm,” he whispered, pulling me back into his arms. Carrington kissed me a couple of times, then took my hand and led me to the family room. “Can you dim the lights?”

“Uh, sure.” Once I had, I turned on the television and started skimming through the streaming service movie offerings. “Oh, how about Moonstruck?”

He smiled. “Were you even born when that was made?”

I shrugged. “No. But it’s a classic. And it stars Cher. She’s the one gay icon I like, so watching or listening to her allows me to keep my gay membership card.”

Carrington looked confused. “There are gay membership cards in your country?”

I laughed. “No. It’s an expression. We can watch something else if you want.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s fine. I’ve seen it before, but it’s been a long time. I enjoyed it. Besides, I wouldn’t want them to revoke your membership.”

We both sat on the couch and I started the film. “Um, do you want popcorn?”

He quirked up an eyebrow. “Didn’t we just eat?”

I nodded. “Yeah, of course.”