Page 31 of And the Best Man Ran Away With the Groom

I pick up the fork from my place setting and reach over to spear a piece of watermelon, bringing it to my mouth with relish. We have pretty awesome fruit in Australia, but it seriously pales in comparison to what they have here.

“It’s a buffet, you know,” Xavier points out irritably. “You can go up and get your own plate.”

I smile at him. “Exactly. It’s a buffet. When we finish off this plate we can go get more.”

He lets out a frustrated sigh but nevertheless pushes the plate toward the middle of the table so we can more easily share the fruit and pastries he’s collected. I leave the sweet rice and spicy eggs to him because they’re not exactly the most sharable foods and I know how much he likes them.

“I got a text from Jack this morning,” I throw out casually.

Xavier’s brows shoot up. “Really? Saying what?”

I shrug. “Just asking how the trip’s going.”

He lets out a wry breath of laughter. “Right. So he doesn’t have some kind of sixth sense telling him you were balls deep in his ex-fiancé last night?”

I almost choke on the piece of mango I’d been eating. I manage to get it down and take a few gulps of my shake to help clear my throat. “Nope. Doesn’t look like it.”

Xav arches a brow at me. “You alright? You’re not regretting it, are you?”

I shake my head adamantly. “No, of course not.”

Under the table, I slip one of my thongs off and brush my bare foot over Xavier’s ankle in a gesture of reassurance. He offers a soft smile and slips his own shoes off, curling his ankles around mine so we’re all tangled up together.

“I did feel a bit guilty when I got the text, though,” I admit.

Xavier’s brows draw together. “Why?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe because you guys only just broke up. Doesn’t that violate some kind of bro code?” Even as I’m saying the words I know they’re not quite right.

“Jack’s the one who dumpedme,” Xav points out. “I doubt he’d care what I do now.”

“Even if it involves doing his best friend?” I ask wryly.

“Put it this way—I wouldn’t care if I found out Jack and Alastor were hooking up,” he says with a shrug.

I quirk an eyebrow at him. “Are you saying that because humans will be colonising Mars before that ever happens?”

He lets out a soft laugh. “Fair. But look, this…whatever it is,” he says with a gesture between us, “it’s just a temporary thing while we’re here, right? When we get home, you can tell Jack what happened if you want, but you don’t have to. He won’t hear about it from me, that’s for sure. And…” he draws in a deep sigh, pinning me with a plaintive look—“if you’re really feeling unsettled about this, we don’t have to do anything else.”

I offer a broad grin. “Don’t worry, I’m notthatcut up.” I don’t like the idea of never telling Jack what’s happened here this week—mainly because he’s my best mate and it’d be weird to hide such a big life development as a sudden attraction to men from him—but I’m not going to carry around guilt for something I know isn’t wrong, and I’m definitely not going to deprive myself of the pleasure of being with Xav. If things blow up later, I’ll just have to deal with it then.

GLOSSARY

Brekky - Breakfast

16

Xavier

It’s only been a couple of days, but I’m already getting kind of addicted to the way it feels to just lie here in bed, curled up with Trent. It’s hardly stopped raining in two days, so with the exception of venturing out to hunt down some food, we’ve barely left my bungalow since the night we first had sex. Although something tells me we’d still be reluctant to leave even if the sun was beating down like it was all last week.

Trent seems to have taken to the whole sex-with-a-guy thing like a duck to water. He even seems to like cuddling. Although maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised by that; he is quite an affectionate and tactile person by nature, so I guess this is a natural step.

“What are you thinking about?” Trent murmurs into my ear while we’re wrapped up in bed together listening to the rain outside.

I smile softly, snuggling in closer against him. “How much of a cuddle bunny you are. I like it.”

He brushes a soft kiss to my neck that sends a shiver through my whole body. “I like it too. I honestly never realised two guys cuddling could feel this nice.”

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