Page 91 of Beautifully Complicated

“Texting right under my nose,” Daniel mutters.

“Sorry, Professor.” Aiden blushes adorably, though he doesn’t look away, and I have to bite back a chuckle at his subtly possessive display. But given that Daniel doesn’t respond, I have to conclude my boyfriend was right all along, and that text saved me from a much more awkward conversation.

“Well, this might not be against any rules—" Grace draws a line between me and Aiden “—but I’d advise you to keep your hands off each other on school grounds. At least for the rest of the day.”

“Noted.” I give her a polite nod before turning to Aiden, whose hand I have no intention of letting go. “Should I hand your friends a beer pong loss before they head off to New York?”

“I’d like that, Maoin.”

“What’s that Irish for?” Daniel asks.

Aiden stares into my eyes as he gives my fingers a squeeze. “Mine.”

Epilogue - Aiden

FIVE YEARS LATER

“I can’t watch.” I hold my hands over my eyes to block the screen, realizing only then it doesn’t block the sound.

“Hiding your eyes won’t change the outcome.” Kier chuckles beside me.

“Yes, but if I can’t see then I can’t cheer one way or the other.”

Damien and Jagger are competing against each other in the Superbowl, and it’s giving me heart palpitations. No matter what happens one of them will be devastated, and I can’t bear to see that, especially since I’ll be ecstatic for the other. So I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, still in my tux, facing the TV with my hands plastered over my face.

“At least we aren’t there in person. Think of poor Cruz and Liam.”

“I don’t envy them that.” I shudder.

Due to an unfortunate coincidence, the Edison Awards were scheduled at the same time as the Superbowl, and since Kier and I received the award for innovation in medical technology for our AI-powered prosthetics, we couldn’t accept the invitation to attend the game. Initially I was bummed to miss out on the reunion of friends, but now I’m grateful for the excuse not to be there.

And as far as excuses go, there’s no better reason to miss the Super Bowl than winning an award for our work.

That’s obviously not the main goal, but after everything we’ve done to get here, it feels good.

Having my name on the article about the research we did for his dad’s prosthetic did help speed my acceptance in the field, but it didn’t negate the speculation entirely. My age, coupled with the fact that we were personal as well as professional partners, did give some people pause.

For the first two years our only client was the Boston firm Kier worked at prior to coming to Front Range University, and while that was a good arrangement, it wasn’t what we envisioned when we formed the company. Sure, we had the resources to continue our work, and we made advancements over and above what we were able to do for Kier’s dad. But only that firm took me seriously.

It wasn’t until that investor Kier had been talking to pulled together the resources to start his own company that things finally took off. Though we declined the offer to work for him exclusively, we consulted on several projects, and when he raved about us—both of us—more people started to take me seriously.

I’m still one of the youngest experts in the field, but I’ve earned the respect of my peers, which this award shows.

“Ooh, so close.” Kier whistles as the announcer says Jagger made the catch, which I assume means Damien nearly disrupted the play.

I think he’s secretly rooting for Damien. Living in Boston means we see them more frequently than Cam and Jagger, who live on the west coast. That, and the fact Damien’s married to my best friend, translates into us being closer to our New York neighbors. Not just physically either, we try to get together at least once a month, so we’re just closer to them overall.

But it’s not like we don’t see everyone else. Once a year we all vacation together to catch up, and since most of us have careers that involve some sort of travel it’s not uncommon to find yourself in the same city as someone else. We’ve all stayed remarkably close over the years, so while we’re closest to Damien and Bennet, it’s not like we’re distant from the rest of the group.

And as far as choosing sides goes, years ago, right before we became roommates, Cam toured the lab I worked at in school, and really made an attempt to learn what it is I do. To this day he makes the best effort of all our friends to understand my work, and because of that I have a soft spot for him. Given that he’s Jagger’s husband…

I don’t want to root for one friend over the other.

“Maybe we should just turn it off,” I say. “They won’t know if the ceremony ran late and we missed the whole damn thing.”

The words are barely out of my mouth when the room suddenly goes silent. “Whatever you want, Leanbh.”

“Thank you.” I take my hand off my eyes only to have to blink them furiously to bring my boyfriend into focus. “What are you doing?”

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