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going.”
    “If he sees me singing karaoke, he really will be
off,” I laughed.
    Ryan smiled. “You have a point. Save that for when
it’s too late for him to get away.”
    “Is that the advice Owen gave you?” Sameer called
from the kitchen.
    I grinned at Ryan and raised my voice to answer.
“Yes!”
    An exaggerated sigh met my admission. “As I
suspected.”
    “You’re welcome!”
    ҉҉҉
    Dinner was delicious. Sameer’s cooking was excellent
and, despite my ribbing, I knew he’d worked hard on the dish especially for me,
and I made my gratitude plain. God knew he had enough to do on a workday night
without feeding his husband’s best friend after an hour-long commute on the
cramped and crowded tube. But that was Sameer all over; he was a good man, kind
and generous, and he was as in love with Ryan as Ryan was with him. I wasn’t so
insecure I couldn’t admit to shedding a tear or two at their wedding. Now
they’d been together five years, married for three, and their relationship only
seemed to get stronger as time passed. I’d never been jealous of them, but I
definitely wanted a piece of what they had for myself.
    “So where are you thinking of taking Mr. Wonderful
on Friday?” Ryan asked when we were done eating.
    “Oh god, I don’t know.” I groaned. “Where do the
cool kids go these days?”
    “What about The George?” Sameer suggested.
    “Isn’t that a bit tame?” Ryan asked, pulling a
face.
    “Do you want to scare him off?” Sameer gave me a
long look.
    “No, but I promised him a good night.”
    Ryan considered the dilemma. “What about G-A-Y?”
    “I’m not some twinky club kid!”
    “Anymore,” Sameer said with a grin.
    “The George could be any other pub,” Ryan pointed
out.
    I laughed. “Yeah, with Kylie on the jukebox and men
in chaps at the bar.”
    “When have you ever seen chaps in The George?” he
demanded.
    “I’m a writer. I’m allowed to exaggerate. It’s
called artistic license.”
    “I don’t remember there being any leather queens in
your last book.”
    I grinned. “I’m not sure my publisher would have liked
that.”
    Ryan returned my smile. “All the more reason.”
    Sameer shook his head. “The George is nice,” he
insisted. “Go early and it won’t be stupid busy, have a couple of margaritas, then
it’s only a five-minute walk to your flat.”
    I pressed my hand to my chest and faked shock.
“Whatever are you implying?”
    Ryan’s jaw dropped. “Wait, you mean… you haven’t?”
    “He’s a gentleman,” I said primly.
    “You mean he took you out for dinner and then,
what, took you home and dropped you off ?”
    I wasn’t sure I appreciated his surprise. “I don’t
sleep with every man I meet on the first date.”
    Ryan levelled me with a look. “Owen, you don’t date. That’s the point.”
    “Maybe this one is different,” Sameer said mildly.
    I shot him a grateful smile. “Yeah, I think he is.”
    “Really?” Ryan rested his chin on his hand and
stared avidly. “You think he might be The One?”
    “Don’t jinx it!” I cried. “Jesus, we’ve only had
one date. Two, if you count coffee. We barely know each other yet. Besides, I
think he just broke up with someone.”
    “Oh.” Ryan and Sameer exchanged uneasy glances.
    “Yeah.” I slumped miserably. I hadn’t asked Magnus
about Robbie, the man Abigail had mentioned, but if the kid hadn’t realised he
was gone for good, then he couldn’t have been out of Magnus’s life for very
long. “For all I know, I’m a rebound fling.”
    “What do you mean, you think he broke up
with someone?” Ryan asked. “Has he said so?”
    I explained briefly the little I knew.
    “That doesn’t mean anything,” Ryan said with a
dismissive wave of his hand. “They could have been flatmates or anything.”
    “If he’d only been a flatmate, don’t you think
Magnus would have mentioned it?”
    “You’re not going to ask him?”
    “Eventually, I suppose. I didn’t really want