Page 129 of A Cold Hard Truth

“I don’t know about that,” Remington said. He scanned the crowd, finding Jace and Callahan across the room. He raised his free hand and offered them a quick greeting before turning back to Sebastian. “But I look forward to spending the rest of our lives proving you wrong.”

Sebastian tipped his head to the side, giving Remington a look that flashed with seriousness before lapsing into what Remington had leaned was Sebastian’s usual and playful arrogance.

“Be careful, Rem,” Sebastian warned. “That sounds like a veiled proposal.”

Remington’s heart skipped a beat and he pulled Sebastian to a stop. Sebastian turned on his heels and gave him a smug look, calling Remington’s bluff.

In addition to spending a lot of time thinking about the way his entire life had been one big experiment in chance, hehadbeen wondering about what a future with Sebastian St. George would look like, but he’d known it was something that he couldn’t leave to fate. A future with Sebastian would have to be taken and made. And while Remington wanted that more than his next breath, he wanted to live in the moment. He didn’t want to miss the present by focusing on the past.

“It’s not, is it?” Sebastian asked, his voice nervous and his bravado faltering.

“Not yet,” Remington answered, his tone turning serious. “But I promise you, Sebastian. If and when you get a proposal from me, you’ll know about it.”

“Rem,” Sebastian exhaled. “You can’t use that voice with me when we’re in public.”

“I can.”

Remington tipped Sebastian’s chin up and kissed the corner of his mouth.

“Too caught up to come say hello to your old and forgotten best friend?” Jace’s voice beside him wasn’t enough to stop him from licking the taste of Sebastian’s desperation from his mouth. He finished kissing his boyfriend, then turned to his friend.

“We were having a discussion,” Remington said. “But we’re on the same page, I think. Aren’t we?”

Sebastian’s cheeks flushed and he nodded. “Yes.”

“Where’s your brother, Sebastian?” Callahan asked, his arm looped around Jace’s waist.

“Not here.”

“I’m surprised he’s missing out on the opportunity to flaunt his wealth around,” Callahan said.

“He didn’t want things to be weird.”

“He’s not a monster,” Remington interrupted, hearing the edge in Callahan’s and Sebastian’s words. “He’s not like us, but he’s…he’s just himself.”

“Isn’t that the truth,” Jace muttered.

“We’re not here to talk about him,” Sebastian said, straightening up and rubbing his hand fondly over Remington’s arm. “We’re here to celebrate this guy, and all the work he’s doing for the restoration and preservation of early American literature.”

Remington rolled his eyes and laughed, taking Sebastian’s hand in his and finding strength in the man who had already given him so much. That had to have been his own doing. He couldn’t have stumbled on a man like Sebastian for nothing. This relationship was important. It meant something. It would mean more. He didn’t know how to explain it, but he felt it in his bones.

“Do you want me to go get you a drink, Rem?” Sebastian asked, the soft question pulling him back into the noise of the room.

“I’ll go with you,” he said. “I like when you’re around.”

“Well, that’s good,” Sebastian laughed. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”

Sebastian turned after that and said something to Callahan, who laughed and said something to Jace. Remington didn’t hear any of it, though, but he let Sebastian lead him toward the bar and order him a drink. In that moment, Remington made a promise to himself that wherever he went, whatever he did, Sebastian would be before him, beside him, beneath him. And much like he’d already promised, he would spend his life becoming the kind of man Sebastian deserved.

And that was that.