Page 104 of The Duke's Virgin

I took her hand and rubbed my thumb over the ring before nodding. “Stacia and I are going to be married.”

Emmett looked at me and slung an arm around my neck as his parents broke into laughter. “I knew that idiot pride of yours couldn’t be that massive.” Then he smacked a loud kiss on my cheek before looking at his parents. “It’s not too early in the day to crack open a bottle of wine since there’s an engagement to celebrate, right?”

* * *

Two hours later,Emmett walked with me to my rental. He had his hands in his pockets, his vivid red hair still mussed and tangled from his dash through the rain earlier. His face was relaxed and happy, which made me feel better.

The one thing I had worried about over all of this was that however things ended or settled with Stacia, I hadn’t wanted to ruin my friendship with Emmett. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

Stacia still stood on the porch, talking with Ellen, and I leaned against the rental car to look at her.

“You know you’ll have to bring her back here on a fairly regular basis. I think my mom is about ready to adopt her.” Emmett’s mouth twisted in a sneer. “It’s not like she doesn’t need it. That mother of hers is a piece of work. Her dad isn’t much better. Have you met them?”

“No.” Troubled, I glanced back at Stacia before meeting his eyes. “We’re going to New York before flying back to Luxemburg.”

“You wouldn’t be missing much if you just skipped that stop altogether, but I imagine Stacia has things she wants to take back with her if she’s ready to move over there entirely.” He grimaced and added, “Besides, as much as I’ve told her to settle things with them, I don’t see her disappearing from the country without at least letting them know where she’s going. They’ll try to work their way back inside her shield and hurt her again, especially that mom of hers. She’s a leech if ever there was one.”

“She won’t deal with them alone. And if she doesn’t want to deal with them at all?” I shrugged. “I can have Stuart tend to the matter. She does want to take care of things there, though. She’s going to try and convince her driver to come with her. And she wants to see about getting her home packed up, plus there’s paperwork since she’ll be emigrating to Luxembourg. I’ll have the embassy handle most of it, but there are matters to be dealt with aside from her parents.”

I scratched my chin and decided I should get the subject out in the open so it didn’t fester. “You know, I worried I would show up here and have to win her back from you.”

Emmett looked at me with a blank expression. After several long moments, he started to laugh. Finally, hand pressed to his side, he muttered, “It’s not good for me to laugh like that. My missing spleen hurts.”

“It’smissing,” I pointed out, irritated. “What’s so funny?”

“Shit, man.” He grinned at me and punched me in the shoulder. “I know I’m good at keeping secrets, but I would have thoughtyouwould have figured it out by now.”

“What?” Confused, I just stared at him. “What secrets?”

Emmett, still grinning, just shook his head. “Stacia figured it out pretty fast. I mean, you’ve known me how many years now?”

Staring at him blankly, I said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Clearly not.” He punched me again. “Luka, I’m gay.”

I gaped at him.

He almost bent over laughing. “That expression on your face. Man, I’m gonna remember that for a long time.”

“You…you’reserious?”

“Serious as I know how to be.” The amusement on his face faded, although a faint smile remained. He shrugged and glanced toward the porch where his mother and Stacia still talked. “I never set out to keep it a secret like this. My parents know, and they’re good with it, but this area? Hell, it’s touch and go, and that’s putting it mildly. There’s some shit I’d put up with in the circuit, yeah, but I’m more worried about the crap my parents might have to put up with.”

“They wouldn’t care, Emmett.”

“Icare,” he said in a flat voice. “A few other friends have figured it out. I’m not kidding. I’m surprised you haven’t. But there are people here who’d give my parents grief over it. Between that and the headache I’d get from the circuit…?”

“You shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”

“I’m not hiding. I’m just not putting myself out there for the world to judge me. I’ll tell people whenIdecide to.” He glanced back at the porch, then at me. “And I don’t want my parents knowing how much they factor into the equation.”

“Fuck.” I blew out a breath. “It’s not like I’m going to tell them.”

A heavy silence fell, and I tried to wrap my head around what he’d just confided.

After a few seconds, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Did I break your brain, Duke?”

I scowled. “No.” Mentally, I was more honest with myself.Yes, but not for the reasons he might think. I didn’t give a damn who he was attracted to—although I was glad it wasn’t Stacia. I just didn’t like how he felt he had to hide it. Yet a part of me understood his reasoning, at least as best I could with the life experience I had. Emmett loved his parents more than anything, and I knew he would do anything to protect them.

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