“Hey! No throwing food!” Ian shouted.
“What the hell were you thinking, asking him?” Lucas demanded, trying not to laugh. Rowe flipped him off, but he didn’t get the chance to reply because Mel had stopped coughing and was looking at Rowe in horror.
“Pregnant?” Her voice was rough and low from her choking. “Where the hell did you get that?”
Rowe had the good sense to at least look a little embarrassed, his cheeks flushing bright red. “You said you had a surprise for me.”
“And you got pregnant from that?” she demanded, her voice growing more high pitched.
“Well, you’ve been to the doctor twice in the past week.”
“One was my annual check-up and the other was to the freaking optometrist to get my prescription checked.”
“Oh,” he murmured. “But you’re not drinking.”
“Because one of us has to be the designated driver. I’m letting you have Thanksgiving because I’m so getting loaded at Christmas. You know my family is insane.” Mel sat back, frowning at Rowe. The shock seemed to have worn off. When she spoke again, her words were softer and hesitant. “Do…do you want kids?”
“Fuck…” he groaned, shoving both hands through his hair to leave it standing on end. “I don’t know. Maybe. Not right now. Maybe later.”
Melissa slumped in her chair, breathing a huge sigh of relief. “Damn it, Rowe. You really know how to scare a girl.”
“Only you, cuz you’re my girl,” Rowe murmured before leaning over to kiss her.
Andrei snickered next to Lucas and shook his head. “Wow. I would have thought you’d have better intel than that.”
Rowe’s head snapped up and Lucas flinched. Fuck. This wasn’t going to be good.
“Really?” Rowe said, his smile matching Snow’s too closely. “Lucas thinks that you’re going to leave him if he asks you to go away with him for a weekend.”
“Bastard,” Lucas grumbled, but he doubted anyone heard him over Snow’s deep belly laugh filling the house. He could hear others laughing, but he didn’t want to look up. It was easier to keep his eyes locked on his half-eaten plate of food rather than risking a glance up at Andrei.
A hand landed on his arm and squeezed, heat burning through his shirt. His every instinct demanded that he look up at Andrei. Concern dug deep lines across his forehead and around Andrei’s soft mouth.
“Do you really think that?” There was no missing the pain lacing that simple question, making Lucas feel like an even bigger ass. It had all seemed so logical just an hour ago.
“I wanted us to be able to spend some time together…just us…before the holidays. But I thought you might think it was too much. You were worried earlier that we were moving too fast. Didn’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
Andrei slid his hand behind Lucas’s neck and leaned forward so that their foreheads bumped. “You have got to learn that I say stupid things when I’m nervous.”
Lucas licked his lips, the sounds of Andrei’s rough voice sending chills through him while at the same time causing a tightness in his chest around his heart. Fuck, this man…everything about him just reached straight down to his soul. “Stupid, huh?”
“Idiotic. I’m not going anywhere, babe. You’re stuck with me. And I would love to get out of town with you, away from all these lunatics.”
“Hey!” Ian piped up, but his complaints were drowned out by the hot press of Andrei’s lips against his. Lucas pressed in, swiping his tongue through Andrei’s mouth just once before breaking it off. He was ready to throw Andrei onto the table and just have him right there as dessert.
There was a ripple of, “Aww” throughout the room, and Lucas could feel the blush heating his cheeks.
Rowe snorted. “See if your boss lets you off work.” His words were followed by a loud smack and Rowe’s yelp of pain. Lucas looked over to find Rowe rubbing his chest and giving a wounded look to both Mel and Sonja, who were glaring at the man. “It was a joke. Just a freaking joke.”
“Is your Thanksgiving always like this?” Milos asked with a chuckle.
“Nah.” Ian shook his head as he reached for his glass. “There’s usually more shouting and broken furniture, but I guess every year can’t be exciting.”Night had long fallen and after they’d poured Andrei’s parents into a taxi instead of letting them drive to the hotel, the rest of them had settled in various slouches around Ian’s comfortable living room. Melissa, after deciding she and Rowe would just take a cab, too, hit the palinca, betting that she could handle it better than the guys. She was now passed out on the couch, her blond hair tangled over her face, one leg up on the back of the couch. Snow and Rowe sat on the floor with their backs against the cushions, caught in one of those intense arguments with neither making a lick of sense. Ian and Andrei had settled at the dining table and Andrei suddenly threw his head back, laughing. His hair had come loose again, his face was flushed—he looked just as he did after Lucas finished fucking him.