Page 25 of George’s Big Day

“Her name’s Helene.”

“What?” she asked, having stopped paying attention to us ages ago but now turning back at the mention of her name.

“Nothing,” Kurt said quickly before looking back at me. “I bet it would stick to her cheek and slowly slide off.”

God, he was cute. “C’mon, tell ’em you gotta go get laid.”

“Oh? Am I getting laid?”

My grin, I knew, was out of control. “Yes, you are.”

He sighed deeply. “You know, I feel so much better than I did a few hours ago.” Taking my hand in his, he stared into my face. “I mean, even if you were on a deployment right now, just thinking about you would make me feel better.”

“Good,” I said, pushing his hair back out of his eyes.

“I don’t ever want you to think I’m weak.”

“Why would I think that?”

“Like how you were going to think up an excuse for me so we could leave.”

“Only to make it easier, as you said.”

“That’s all?”

“I promise. And I will work harder at not thinking for you.”

“It’s okay. I know it’s done out of love, and I also know that with your job, both of them, the bodyguarding and the soldiering, you have to make split-second decisions for lots of people.”

“Yeah, but still, that’s not something you need from me.”

“No, but so you know, everything’s better when you’re with me.”

“Oh yeah? Even looking at wedding venues?”

He whimpered, and I laughed at him at the same time two things happened simultaneously. First, I noted that the entire table went silent, all eyes on us. Second, a hand came down on my shoulder, and when I looked up, there was my boss, Aaron Sutter.

What were the chances?

“Good evening, sir,” I greeted him.

“George,” he responded with that smile of his that graced all those magazine covers that had anything to do with money. Lots and lots of money. He immediately turned to Kurt and gripped his shoulder before patting it. “Nice to see you, Dr. Butler.”

“Kurt, please,” he prodded him, so at ease now, utterly radiating happiness.

“Kurt,” Sutter repeated warmly, still smiling, then turned to me. “What are you two doing here?”

“Oh, well, we were gonna have dinner, but we’re about to skip it,” I said, pushing back my chair, then getting up so I could pull out Kurt’s.

“Do you have a prior engagement?”

“No,” Kurt answered. “We’re just not eating with these people anymore.”

“That’s both excellent and fortuitous because now you can come with me upstairs to the loft, where the rest of us are. We’re celebrating an acquisition down in the loop.”

“The one for the adult education center?” Kurt asked, standing up beside him, knowing what my boss was talking about because Hannah had been filling him in about it for a while and he always listened to her.

“That’s right. It will be a skyscraper of health and human services. Because our job is always to build up our community and…” Quick glance at me.