Page 46 of Siren in Love
“Huh?”
“I forgot.”Mike extricated himself from under Corvin.
“Forgot what?Something back at the cotton mill?”
Mike shook his head as he walked over to the dresser, pulling open the drawer he kept his ties in.The case was tucked away in the very back, under a sunflower yellow tie Mike had no memory of purchasing or ever wearing.He walked back to the bed, slid back in next to Corvin, and held the case out to him.
“I know I’m still not on one knee, but—”
Corvin bounced upright.“You got me a ring?”
“I got us both rings.Stackable ones.Have a look.”
Corvin stared at the case for a moment, then snatched it out of Mike’s outstretched hand as if it were a rare book and flipped it open.
Mike had agonized over the engagement rings.He knew Corvin’s quirky taste all right, but jewelry was different.Corvin didn’t wear a ton.After much back and forth and secret image searches, Mike had settled on bands in polished silver, with bronze on the inside against the skin.A thin line of darker tungsten ran around the rings, slightly off center.For the wedding bands, they could either add another silver ring or a tungsten one with a line of silver, but those ones Corvin would have to choose, even if he didn’t know it yet.
Mike watched Corvin’s face carefully, and he knew he had chosen well when his fiancé’s eyes glazed over with the sheen of happy tears.
“Fuck,” he said.“Those are perfect.”
“Fuck?You mean thank you.”Mike had trouble keeping a straight face.
“You’re making me cry.And if a couple of rings make me cry, I’ll straight-up dissolve on the day of.”Corvin sniffled and wiped his eyes.“That’s going to look so bad in the photos.”
Mike laughed.There was simply nothing else to do other than pull Corvin close and kiss him.
“I’ll take you even if you turn into a puddle, honey.”
Corvin, shoved the case back at Mike.“Don’t say that.It’s probably bad luck to say it, like a self-fulfilling prophecy.Put it on me.You have to do it.”
Mike pulled the ring out, sized by guesswork and instinct, and slid it onto Corvin’s finger.It fit perfectly.It looked like it belonged there.
Corvin slid Mike’s ring on in turn, and they clasped hands, kissing deeply.I guess that morning nap will have to wait,Mike thought when their kisses turned heated again.Nothing wrong with spending Sunday in bed.
20
Mike
Two months later.
Mikewas,toputit mildly, freaking the fuck out.Even in his office, behind his desk in a nest of paperwork, the terror would find him.
“I am so fucked,” Mike told his paperwork.“I need to figure out how to tell him,” he added to his set of fountain pens.
“That is what I told you months ago, Michael.”
Mike jumped in his chair.He was normally better at spotting Peter, even when the vampire was in the mood to sneak around the office, but for the past few weeks, Mike’s mind had been otherwise occupied.
“I know that, but the time was never right, and everything was perfect.I didn’t want to risk messing anything up, not without being sure, and then I was sure, and I just asked him to marry me before I could tell him, and then he said yes and—”
“In a warehouse, with bodies hidden away behind some old crates.”
“—in an abandoned cotton mill, and he said yes, and…” Mike sighed.He was fucked.He needed to get unfucked, and fast.“What do I do now?”He looked at his boss.If he’d been of a clearer mind, he might have questioned the wisdom of asking Peter the Terrible for relationship advice.
Peter sat down across from Mike.“Obviously, you need to tell him, because obviously, the man loves you, and he deserves the truth.Take him on a weekend getaway.No, a whole week.Yes, I’ll just give you the week off.It’s the spring festival slash Easter anyway, and I need to get out of the city as well to avoid running into any skyclad Wiccans.They’re more than my sensibilities can handle, those Wiccans.Let’s write it off as a business expense.”The vampire smiled his icicle-sharp smile.
Mike blinked.“Wait, what?You’re coming along?”
