My brother and his husband held hands about as much as my parents did. With my parents it was just kind of the norm because they’d done it for as long as I could remember, but every time I saw Cain and Ethan do it, it lit me up from the inside. Not only did my brother deserve someone who wanted to hold his hand all the time, I knew it was a big deal because Cain wasn’t big on being touched.
That preference didn’t apply to my brother, though.
As far as Cain was concerned, Ethan hung the stars and the moon and everything in between.
That knowledge made me both insanely happy and weirdly envious.
“We’re headed to dinner and thought we’d just double-check that you really didn’t want to come,” Cain said when the pair reached us. His eyes flicked to Sebastian, who shifted uncomfortably under the stern-looking man’s perusal. Ethan was looking at Sebastian with curiosity too.
“I told you, I have plans,” I began but then both men turned their attention on me and gave me pitying looks.
“Just don’t sit between Mom and Dad this time, okay, Devon?” Ethan said. “And if you see anything move under the blanket they’re sharing… run.”
Ethan managed to keep a straight face up until the last part of his sentence, then he burst into laughter. I waited until he was done before I said, “Just for that, little brother, next time you and this one want to sneak out of family dinner early, I’m not covering for you. In fact, I’m going to make sure Mom brings out the family albums to show Cain—”
“No, Devon,” Ethan interjected. “I’m sorry. Okay? No family albums.”
Cain chuckled and kissed Ethan’s temple. “Baby, your mom showed me those albums the first time we had dinner there. In fact, I asked her to give me copies of all your pictures.”
“Jesus, why?” Ethan groaned as he buried his head against Cain’s chest. “I was a short, chubby—”
“You were perfect,” Cain said softly to him. The moment, which had started out as humorous, turned deeply intimate as Cain caressed the back of my brother’s neck. Ethan had been a very insecure child who’d been bullied over and over again as a teen. An abusive relationship with a man who’d used those insecurities against my brother had shredded the last of his self-confidence.
But Cain was slowly giving it back to Ethan.
And I loved the man for that.
Cain murmured something in Ethan’s ear that I couldn’t hear. The heavy moment hung in the air between us for a few beats, then Ethan pulled back and let Cain gently kiss him. My brother was all smiles when he looked at me. “Seriously, Devon, we just wanted to—”
Ethan’s voice dropped off suddenly when his eyes drifted to Sebastian again. He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. Then he was pulling free of Cain and practically walked right into Sebastian’s space.
“Oh my God, are you Sebastian DeVille?”
“Yes, I am,” Sebastian responded with a slight smile.
“Oh wow, my husband and I” – Ethan motioned to Cain – “are huge fans. He took me to see you in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in New York a couple of years ago. I still don’t know how he did it, but he got us front row seats. You were incredible.”
“Thank you so much,” Sebastian said.
“Wait, wasn’t that the night Cain proposed to you?” I asked. While my mother and sister never tired of hearing all about the romantic way Cain had proposed to my brother, I swore Cain become more Godlike with every version of Ethan’s retelling of the story.
“I also proposed to him that night—”
“Cain!” my brother bit out and frantically shook his head at his husband.
“Your brother’s a big boy, sweetheart,” Cain said with a grin. “I’m sure he’s already figured out the truth.”
“What truth? You proposed to him twice?” I asked in confusion.
“Yeah, the first time was after we left your parents’ house one night after Ethan had a headache—”
“Jesus, Cain,” Ethan groaned as he leapt to cover Cain’s mouth with his hands.
But it was far too late. Everyone in my family knew that when Ethan and Cain couldn’t keep their hands off each other, one of them feigned a headache so they could sneak home for some “healing” time. I could only imagine what my brother and his lover had been up to during the first proposal if it had necessitated a fake, family-friendly version.
“Dude, he’s still my baby brother,” I said with a shake of my head.
Cain chuckled, then must have done something to Ethan’s palm because my brother actually let out this weird little whimper that I never, ever needed to hear again. Cain reached up to pull Ethan’s hand away from his mouth. “Feeling a headache coming on, baby?” he asked, his voice deep and thick.