by Ella Frank
“I said it before, and I’ll say it again,” Robbie said into the shadows. “Best. Birthday. Ever.”
Priest turned his head on the pillow to look at Robbie, who was stretched out on his side with a leg slung over one of Priest’s thighs, and curled around behind him was Julien.
“So that means you’ll want to do this again next year?” Julien said.
Robbie glanced back and nodded. “And the year after that, and the year after that. How about we just say this is what we’ll do every year for my birthday until I’m no longer able to?”
“I think that sounds like a fantastic idea,” Priest said, as Robbie snuggled closer to his side and Julien wound an arm around Robbie’s waist. “But there’s something else we think you need to do for your birthday. This year, and every year after.”
Robbie grinned. “Really, Priest, let me recover first. I’m not a twenty-something-year-old anymore.”
Priest arched an eyebrow. “I’m being serious.”
“I can tell. My favorite scowl is back.”
“I don’t scowl at you.”
“Anymore,” Robbie said, and ran his finger across Priest’s lips. “But you frown, and your lips get really tight. Kind of like they are now.”
Priest nipped at Robbie’s finger, making the other two laugh.
“Lucky for us,” Robbie said to Julien, “he seems to have decided to bite more than he barks these days.”
“Can I please talk?” Priest said, and when Robbie looked back at him, he pretended to zip his lips shut, but Priest knew better. He had about five seconds to get out what he wanted to say or their mouthy little spitfire would be back at it. “Julien and I would like to speak to you about going home to visit your family.”
Robbie said nothing.
“We know it’s a big step,” Julien started.
Priest continued, “But if you’re ready to take it, we think seeing them for your birthday would be the perfect opportunity to—”
“I agree,” Robbie said, surprising them both.
As their eyes met over Robbie’s shoulder, Priest saw Julien’s lips curve in a knowing smile. Always so perceptive, aren’t you, Mr. Thornton?
“You do?” Priest said, just to make sure he’d heard Robbie correctly.
“Yes. Shocking as it is, I agree.”
Priest rolled to his side, and Robbie pursed his lips.
“I know I’ve kind of been avoiding the whole meet my parents thing.”
Julien tightened his hold around Robbie’s waist and asked, “Why is that?”
“I don’t know. I guess I was…scared, maybe?”
Priest cradled Robbie’s face and brushed his thumb across his lips. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You can talk to us. Nothing you say is going to offend us.”
Robbie took in a deep breath and shut his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, Priest could see the worry there, and it tore at his heart.
“My parents have always been really great about, well, everything. They’re supportive, proud, and love all of us more than anything in the world.” Robbie smiled. “I’ve always been super close with them. I could tell them anything and they never batted an eyelash, especially my ma…”
“But?” Julien asked, clearly sensing the same but that Priest did.
“But…” Robbie said. “I’ve never brought anyone home with me before.”
“And that’s what you’re scared about?” Priest said. “Bringing us home with you?”
“It’s one of the things. That’s a huge step. What if…what if you guys don’t get along with my big, crazy family? What if they don’t get along with you?”
Priest leaned in and brushed a kiss across Robbie’s lips. “We’ve already met Felicity and your mother.”
“I know. But that was before I knew she knew that we were all together.”
As Priest tried to decipher that little word maze, Julien said, “But now she knows for sure?”
Robbie shifted until he was sitting up between them, his back against the headboard. “Yes. At first I wasn’t. Sure, I mean. I know I joked about her figuring it out right away, but when she didn’t say anything, I thought that maybe she didn’t.”
“She did,” Priest said, and when Robbie looked at him, Priest chuckled. “At the opening of the restaurant, she saw us talking at the bar after your little run-in with Henri.”
Robbie’s eyes widened. “She did?”
Priest nodded. “She did. And if you recall, you were flirting outrageously with me.”
“Oh God. What must she be thinking? She probably thinks I’m some kind of home wrecker coming between you two.”
“If that’s the case,” Priest said, smiling at Robbie’s mortification, “she would be half right. You most certainly came between us that night. But not until after we got you home.”
ROBBIE’S MOUTH FELL open, and he shoved at Priest’s shoulder. “You did not just say that. I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you. About my mother.”
“I apologize,” Priest deadpanned.
“Okay, focus, you two. You said she knows,” Julien said, and Robbie bit at his thumbnail. “Did she tell you that, or—"
“Not exactly. I told her I was bringing my ‘boyfriends’ home, and after that she said…”
“What?” Julien asked. “What did she say?”
Robbie rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “That she looked forward to getting to know Mr. Priestley and Mr. Thornton much better.” Priest let out a laugh, and Robbie pinned him with a serious look. “You are awfully jovial about all of this.”
“Ignore him, princesse,” Julien said. “He’s been impatiently waiting for this moment, and now that it’s happening, I think he’s slightly delirious.”
“This moment?” Robbie said.
“Oui. When you tell your family. When we finally get to meet them as your partners.”
“Really?” Robbie said, and looked at Priest, who was smiling. “You want to meet my family?”
“We do. It’s the final step,” Priest said. “The final elephant in the room.”
Julien put a hand on Robbie’s thigh. “But there’s something else worrying you. What is it?”
“I…” Robbie paused, and then twisted his hands in his lap. God, since when am I nervous about talking to them? “What if you don’t like them? There are a lot of them. And you are both so…private.”
Julien sat up beside Robbie and took one of his hands. “I find it impossible to believe that we wouldn’t love the family you came from,” Julien said. “You’re bright, happy, beautiful inside and out, and if for some unimaginable reason we don’t get along, Priest and I are adults. We know how to behave and play well with others.”
Robbie sighed. “It’s not like it really matters now anyway. I already told her we were coming to visit.”
“You did?” Julien said, and Robbie grimaced. Maybe he should’ve checked with them first?
“I did. But if you can’t get free, then we can just—”
“We can,” Priest said.
“You don’t even know when it is. What if you have to work?”
Priest sat up until he could kiss Robbie’s lips. “Too bad. This is more important.”
“More important than your job?” Robbie said, but a grin was tugging at his mouth. “Your clients might disagree. So might your partners.”
“Ask me if I care.”
Robbie didn’t bother. He stood no chance when Priest got like this. What did Julien call him? A charming salopard? He was so right.
“Okay, so we’re going to visit,” Julien said. “When did you tell her we could come?”
“Um, in, uh, two weeks?”
“Très bien. Then we have two weeks to practice being on our best behavior.”
“Oh please,” Robbie said. “You two are always on your best behavior. You’re all French and gorgeous, and Priest is all smart and charming. My mother is already halfway in love, and my pa— Oh God. Who am I kidding? I have no idea how
they’re going to react to this.” Robbie dropped his face into his hands. “What if the two groups of people I love the most can’t stand each other?”
“I don’t believe that will happen,” Julien said, and pulled Robbie’s hands away from his face. “But we aren’t going to find out by avoiding them, are we?”
“I guess not.” Robbie blew out a breath. “Then there’s my sisters and the party…”
“The party?” Priest said, and Robbie groaned.
“You sound more worried about that than meeting my parents.”
“I am. I didn’t know there was going to be a party,” Priest said, and Robbie glared at him.
“Well, now you know. Ma wants to have the family over. That includes aunts, uncles, cousins… Basically every Italian in Oshkosh.” Julien laughed, and Robbie shook his head. “This has disaster written all over it. I can already see it, and it’s not pretty. There’ll be drinking, dancing, karaoke—”
“God help us,” Priest said, and slid down into the bed.
“I know. Trust me.” Robbie shook his head. “I’m already trying to think of an out for you.” Priest aimed his eyes at Robbie, and he looked so appalled that Robbie finally lost it and laughed. “Seriously, though. Maybe we should just call and cancel?”
“Non,” Julien said. “We are not cancelling on your mother now that she’s specifically invited us. Let’s sleep on it. Maybe we can come up with a way to make this easier somehow. Less stressful.”
Robbie scoffed. “Good luck with that.”
As Julien moved down under the covers, Priest tugged Robbie down between them. Once he was fully beneath the sheets, Priest rolled the two of them over to face Julien and said in Robbie’s ear, “Want me to sing you a lullaby? It might help you fall asleep.”
“Or induce nightmares,” Robbie said.
“Brat,” Priest growled. “Remind me again why we put up with your sassy mouth?”
Robbie let out a dreamy sigh as Julien moved in so the three of them were entwined with one another. “Because you love me?”
“Mmm. That might be it,” Priest said, and ran his hand down to rest it over Julien’s where it lay on Robbie’s hip. “What do you think, mon cœur?”
Julien kissed Robbie’s lips and whispered, “I think that’s definitely it.”
“You know,” Robbie said into the shadow-filled room, “sometimes I wish we had gone with a queen-sized bed.”
“We wouldn’t all fit in a queen-sized bed,” Priest said.
“We would too. With some careful leg placement,” Robbie said. “But if we had a queen-sized bed, then we could sleep this close, always.”
“I don’t know much about sleeping, princesse. The problem with being this close to you is I never want to leave, and I always want to touch.”
“That’s a problem?” Robbie asked.
“No,” Priest said, and kissed the back of Robbie’s neck. “But being half-asleep during the day because we spent all night inside you each night might be.”
“Hmm, maybe.” Robbie squirmed between them, making sure to rub himself up against all the warm, naked skin touching him. “I still think I’d like it.”
Priest groaned, and then said to Julien, “Yet he tells us he needs rest now that he’s a thirty-year-old—”
“Ugh,” Robbie said. “That just sounds wrong.”
“Joyeux anniversaire,” Julien said. “Now sleep. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.”
Chapter Seven
Most people don’t understand us.
But they don’t need to. We understand.
We have from the moment we met ~ Julien
Two weeks later…
I CAN’T BELIEVE I agreed to this, Robbie thought for the millionth time. What was I thinking saying yes to this?
But as he rolled his suitcase down their driveway, he spotted Priest at the back of the Range Rover packing the trunk, and knew exactly what he’d been thinking—I want to show these men off.
Robbie wanted to finally introduce them to his parents and be able to say, They are with me. I am with them. We are happy and in love. More than happy. We are crazy, stupid, deliriously in love. And that was all well and good, when he wasn’t actually about to go and do it.
As Robbie came around the end of the SUV, Priest flashed a crooked smile as he looked at the bag Robbie was wheeling, and the one slung over his shoulder.
“Traveling light, I see.”
“This is light,” Robbie said, as Priest reached for the overnight bag. “I spent a long time narrowing down my wardrobe, I’ll have you know.”
Priest slid the bag in beside the black one he’d just packed, and then turned back for the suitcase. Robbie wheeled it around and collapsed the handle, and when Priest hefted it up into the back of the car, he looked over at Robbie and said, “We are only staying until Monday, right?”
Robbie arched an eyebrow. “Yes. But this isn’t like a normal visit home.”
“No?” Priest said as he shut the trunk.
“No. There’s the meet-and-greet with my family. The serious talk with my parents. A party and, of course, the trip back here.”
Priest crossed his arms and peered at Robbie over the top of his sunglasses. “All of which means you need one hundred outfits to choose from?”
“Oh, whatever,” Robbie said, swiping a hand through the air. “You should know by now that I don’t wake up looking this fabulous.”
Priest wrapped his arms around Robbie’s waist, and then connected their lips in a kiss that Robbie felt through his entire body. Robbie clutched at Priest’s shirt and moaned, pushing up on to his toes to get even closer until Priest finally let him go and raised his head.
His lips curved into a full-on smile then, and as always, Robbie felt a sense of accomplishment at pulling that expression from Priest.
“On the contrary,” Priest said. “You wake up looking even better.”
“Mmm, you’re right. I do,” Robbie said. “But only because I usually wake up with one of you on me.”
Priest let him go and fished his keys out of his pocket, and as he did, the morning sunlight caught in his hair, making Robbie want to run his fingers through it. The light and dark strands of copper, and the short scruff on Priest’s cheeks was just…wow. You couldn’t pay to get such gorgeous colors. It was striking, and coupled with those grey eyes and that serious set of his mouth, it always made Robbie think of the sun trying to brighten up a storm cloud—his and Julien’s little storm cloud.
As the thought entered his mind, Robbie giggled, and Priest gave him a quizzical look.
“Care to share?”
“Nope,” Robbie said, and sealed his lips. Before Priest could say anything else, Robbie heard the front door open and shut, and spun on his toes to see Julien walking down the driveway.
He was in a casual white and navy checkered shirt, and navy pants that fit him like a second skin, and had on a pair of brown loafers and sunglasses perched on his head. He looked casual, European, and drop-dead gorgeous, and with the tan he’d spent hours perfecting this summer, Robbie thought Julien looked more fit for a trip to the French Riviera than Oshkosh.
“Do you two have everything?” Julien asked, and before Robbie could reply, Priest did for him.
“If I don’t, Robert has packed enough for all of us.”
Robbie rolled his eyes. “And what did you pack? A toothbrush and a fresh pair of boxer briefs?”
Priest stopped by the driver’s-side door and said, “There’s that smart mouth I love. Keep it up, sweetheart. I’d love to teach it a lesson.”
Oh yes. Please teach me a lesson, Mr. Priestley. “That’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” Robbie called out, as Priest opened the door and climbed in. “But I’m sure a firm hand would be a good incentive for me to—”
“Misbehave some more?” Julien said, as he pulled open the passenger door.
“Maybe.”
As Robbie flashed a grin, Julien said, “How about you give me a ki
ss good morning, and then get in the car.”
Robbie kissed Julien, and as he pulled away, he said, “Sure you don’t want to sit back here with me? Priest will be okay up there by himself.”
Julien pointed to the back seat. “In, troublemaker. Or we’ll never get on the road.”
“Fine, fine. I’m just saying, Simon Says is so much more fun when you’re within touching distance of someone.”
As they shut their doors and buckled up, Priest found Robbie’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “I’m within touching distance of Julien.”
“Yeah,” Robbie said. “But I’m not within touching distance of anyone. So that road game is definitely out.”
Julien programmed the phone and then looked at Robbie to verify his parents’ address. “Is that right?”
“Yes, ugh. Don’t remind me.” As Julien put the phone in the mount, Robbie settled back in his seat. “Now, the way I see it, there’s three of us and about three hours to get there. So that means we each get an hour with the music selection.”
“Fantastic,” Priest said drolly. But when he looked at Julien and they smiled at one another, Robbie realized there was nowhere else he’d rather be than in that SUV, with these two men, heading to Oshkosh.
JULIEN LOOKED OUT the window as Priest wove them out of the city and onto the interstate. Sinatra was serenading them as they merged with traffic and headed off for the weekend, and surprisingly, Julien felt a sense of peace sweep around him at the idea of being surrounded by people who loved and adored the wonderful young man sitting behind them.
Julien looked at Priest concentrating on the road, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel, and thought, not for the first time, how lucky he was to have both of these men in his life.
It was an interesting dynamic, Julien thought as he then glanced over his shoulder at Robbie, who was happily crooning along with Priest’s idol. Most wouldn’t understand the three of them at all. But from the second they’d all met—Julien with Priest, and now here, years later, with Robbie—there’d been an immediate sense of acknowledgment and understanding, an instant recognition of someone you knew was meant to be in your life, and never had Julien been more grateful that they were all alive to enjoy this moment and one another.