His husband just smiled innocently.
Logan suppressed a laugh. The couple was rather unconventional, but they seemed to suit each other. The affection, the warmth between them was real.
Watching them made him feel a little wistful.
He glanced at Andrew and quickly looked away, irritated with himself. Sometimes he hated his own brain.
“I’d actually like to be present at the meeting if it’s about the company,” Andrew said.
His tone sounded confident—sounded being the key word. Logan wasn’t sure what it said about him that he could pick up the smallest shift in Andrew’s voice, and could tell without even looking that Andrew wasn’t actually as confident as he was trying to sound.
Derek gave a clipped nod just as the doorbell rang.
The lawyer was a handsome, well-dressed man with sharp gray eyes. He exchanged polite greetings with the Rutledges before turning to Andrew. “Andrew!” he said, his familiar tone making it obvious that he and Andrew were already well acquainted. “It’s so good to see you—good to know that all those rumors were wrong.”
“What rumors, Colt?” Andrew said, smiling neutrally. He had his arms crossed over his chest.
The lawyer made a face and clapped him on the shoulder, completely failing to notice Andrew’s clear discomfort—or choosing to ignore it. “You’ve barely been seen since your return, practically turned into a hermit, and the usual people are talking. You know how it is.”
Andrew’s lips curled. “I know.”
Colt’s eyes shifted to Logan and lit up. He smiled and shook Logan’s hand. “Oh, there’s no need to introduce yourself—of course I recognize you, Mr. McCall.”
“Logan is fine,” he said curtly.
The guy’s smile widened. “Then you should call me Colin,” he said, his voice dropping slightly. “Colt is the nickname Vivian gave me.”
Logan eyed him impassively. Colin was clearly interested in men, if the subtle once-over he gave Logan was any indication. The guy wasn’t unattractive. He was possibly even more handsome than Andrew was. And yet, Logan didn’t feel even a flicker of interest. Nothing. Not lust, not desire, not even mild appreciation. It was… concerning.
“You were friends with Andrew’s wife?” he said politely.
“I was,” Colin said, sighing. His gaze remained on Logan, however. “Such a tragedy. She was so young.”
Andrew cleared his throat, touching Logan’s arm. “Colin is—was Vivian’s childhood friend,” he said, gripping Logan’s bicep a little too hard.
“Indeed,” Colin said, his gaze flicking to Andrew’s hand on Logan’s arm. “I see you two became friends on that dreadful island… I have to say I’m surprised.”
“Why?” Andrew said tersely.
Colin shrugged. “I thought you would be sick of each other by now.” He smiled amicably at Andrew. “No offense, buddy, but we all know you can be a little… exhausting.”
Andrew’s face went utterly blank.
Logan had to suppress the ridiculous urge to pull Andrew close. Friends. They were here as friends, nothing more. Because they weren’t more, dammit. Andrew didn’t need him to act like a protective boyfriend.
“He’s no more exhausting than you and me,” Logan still found himself saying, though he kept his voice neutral.
Frowning, Colin looked sharply at Logan, then at Andrew, whose face no longer looked like a wooden mask. Andrew glanced at Logan and then quickly averted his gaze.
The tips of his ears were red.
Shawn coughed slightly. “The food is ready. Shall we?”
***
Logan had thought he would be bored. He had thought he would be forced to make some small talk with Shawn while Derek, Colin, and Andrew talked business. And in some way, he really was bored: most of the stuff they were discussing flew right over his head, because they were referencing people he didn’t know and legal terms that barely made sense out of context. But neither Andrew nor Colin seemed willing to leave him out of the strange pissing contest they had going, their biting remarks becoming progressively less subtle and progressively unprofessional the longer the meal lasted.
Even Derek was frowning now, his dark eyes flicking from Andrew to Colin in a sharp, assessing manner.
Logan was sipping his coffee and trying to pretend Andrew wasn’t half in his lap. The more heated the discussion became, the closer to him Andrew seemed to gravitate. Their chairs had been a good few inches apart at the beginning of the meal, but now they were so close their thighs were pressed together. When Andrew got particularly nervous or angry, he hooked their ankles together, almost painfully so—all the while not looking at Logan at all.
Talk about mixed messages.
“…No, going public with this would be a bad move,” Andrew was saying, glaring at Colin. “Are you an idiot? Caldwell did nothing wrong, technically, and even if we argue that Derek signed the contract under false pretenses, Derek did publicly dump Caldwell’s sister, causing her to attempt suicide, so reminding of it will be bad publicity for us. Not to mention that Caldwell is a man who just woke up from a coma. You don’t start a media war with a sick man! That’s a bad look.”