Page 51 of George’s Big Day

“What you’re doing—that’s not helping anything.”

“Well, I should hope not,” he said, chuckling. “Promise me it will always be like this, that we’ll never take ourselves too seriously and that we’ll want to constantly tear each other’s clothes off.”

“I promise,” I said, turning on the warm water.

“I’ll come over there.”

“No, stay where you are. I want to kiss you a little in the bed.”

“Oh.” He sighed. “Yes. Please. Come kiss me.”

So I did.

“You know,” Ian said thirty minutes later as I paced at the end of the bed he was reclining on. “I have something to say.”

I turned to look at him as I walked back and forth, and it struck me, as it did whenever I saw him, that for an average-looking guy, he had somehow landed a really handsome husband.

“You’re doing that thing again where you try to figure out why Miro married me, aren’t you?”

I nodded.

“You’re a dick, you know that?”

All I could do was shrug. “Say what you wanna say.”

“Fine. You never come to play poker at my house or eat or anything, and I’m sick of it.”

Not at all what I was expecting.

“I invite you, and you never show up.”

“But you always said you liked keeping your military life separate from your marshal life, and what was the rest of it?” I goaded him.

“Yeah, fine, okay. Normally, I am not a fan of mixing friends, because inevitably, something goes wrong, and then it’s awkward and you’ve got people in your life who hate each other.”

“There you go.”

“I’m making an exception with you.”

“Why?”

“Because you know my boss. You protect his daughter and also know his son. I am also acquainted with them. You know Harris, I know Harris. I know Colonel Colter, and so do you... I mean, in the Venn diagram of life, we’re fuckin’ connected more than others, and fuck all, George, I’m standing up at your goddamn wedding.”

“All valid points.”

“Plus, you know Miro.”

“Not well.”

“Yeah, and we should fix that.”

I stopped pacing. “You’re being serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious,” he snapped at me. “Come to fuckin’ poker night.”

“You’re sure?”

The bored look I got made me smile.