here was no possible way I could manage to hide my distaste and I didn’t even want to. This was in response to Chloe’s, “He sounds hot.”
She was referring to Logan MacLeod. I’d just spent the last ten minutes complaining about his antics and what he’d said to me that morning to my friends Chloe, Aidan, and Aidan’s fiancée, Juno. How Chloe managed to pick “hot” out of all I’d just said, I had no clue.
“Oh, please.” Chloe huffed at my expression. “You secretly think he’s hot.”
“I think he’s appalling,” I said, appalled.
“Well, I’m proud of you for sticking up for yourself,” Aidan said, and Juno curled deeper into his side on their sofa.
I’d met Aidan eleven years ago, during our first semester at the University of Edinburgh. He, more than anyone, knew what a big deal it was for me to speak up for myself, and he knew exactly why. Chloe was my roommate in first year, and the three of us had grown close during our four years at Edinburgh. A bit of a chatterbox, flirtatious, and energetic, Chloe was our opposite, but together we worked. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Chloe, Aidan would never have met Juno.
Juno was a postgrad student from Canada. She was here working on some engineering… thing… that I still didn’t understand and had met Chloe on a night out. During one of her moments of utter perceptiveness, Chloe recognized something in Juno that she thought would appeal to Aidan. She introduced the fresh-faced, shy, exceptionally intelligent Canadian to Aidan, and it was pretty much love at first sight. They’d been together for five years and were planning to marry when Juno finished her postgrad. For now they were settled happily into the somewhat swanky Stockbridge flat, courtesy of Aidan’s income as a professional rugby player.
I was the single one among us, as Chloe was also engaged. Her fiancé, Ed, worked in energy efficiency. He’d spent the last six months in Sweden working on developing some brilliant new technology that would help reduce energy costs in everyday housing.
Chloe was lonely without Ed. And when Chloe was lonely she liked to play matchmaker. For me. Not that it was such a hardship to put up with her matchmaking. I was single and “looking.”
Plus… it was Chloe. I’d do anything for Chloe, Aidan, and Juno. As they sat around me in Aidan and Juno’s lovely flat, I looked at them and I saw my family. They knew me better than the one I’d severed all communication with seven years ago.
“Thanks,” I said to Aidan. “It actually felt good to stand my ground.”
“If he gives you any more problems, you just tell Aidan,” Juno said, offering his services up. “He’ll deal with it.”
Aidan didn’t protest, because the truth was, he would deal with it. Despite his reserve, he took shit from no man, and he didn’t allow any of us to either. Plus, he was huge, even bigger than Logan. No one – unless an idiot – would try to mess with him. Excluding one extremely drunken night at uni, I mostly thought of him as an overprotective big brother. He was more family to me than my own brother, Sebastian, who was never protective. In fact, he was the opposite.
I threw thoughts of Sebastian aside and gave my friends a reassuring smile. “It will be fine. I’m just tired and cranky. I have that date tomorrow night, and I really hope I manage to get some sleep so I don’t end up looking like the walking dead.”
“Date?” Aidan said.
“The guy from my gym.”
Chloe snorted. “I still can’t believe you made a date with a guy who pervs on women in a yoga class.”
“He wasn’t perving. He was thinking about joining the class.”
Aidan grinned. “Right.”
I glowered at them. “You all think the worst of everyone.”
“And for someone who was raised by Dracula and one of his brides, you see the best, even when it’s not there,” Chloe said.
“Not always,” I grumbled, thinking about my neighbor.
“So where is the yoga perv taking you?” Juno said.
I ignored her teasing. “His name is Bryan and he’s taking me to dinner.”
Chloe grunted. “You don’t sound that excited about it.”
“Of course I’m looking forward to it. Bryan seems very nice.” And he did. He was also quite good-looking.
“Nice?” Juno gave me a confused smile. “Sweetie, nice? No. Your first thought about this guy should be ‘wow.’” She shrugged. “When I met Aidan, it was very much a ‘wow’ for me.”
Aidan smiled down at her. “Back at you, darlin’.”
“Ugh. Stop.” Chloe waved her hands at them. “No cutesy, lovey-dovey crap right now. I haven’t had sex in five weeks, and Miss Farquhar here hasn’t been laid in three months.”
I colored. “Thank you for sharing that.”
“Just because you haven’t gotten laid in a while doesn’t mean you should settle for this guy,” Juno opined.