Play It Safe by Avery Cockburn Page A

up.” He shook his head. “Och, that came out pure gibberish. But aye, let’s do it. Let’s marry.”
    “Yes!” Fergus shouted. He turned to the lads at the other end of the pool, whose configuration had grown even more pretzel-like. “We’re getting married!”
    The guys looked confused. The Asian one asked, “Is this still part of the game?”
    John laughed, remembering how he’d told the trio about the hide-and-seek as he’d dashed through earlier, searching for a hiding place. “It’s for real,” he said. “We just got engaged. Right here. Right now.”
    The men erupted into high-pitched cheers, splashing the water around them.
    “My sister’s a wedding planner,” the blond lad said. “I can leave her card for you at the front desk. Unless you’re away now to celebrate?”
    “Slip it into my locker.” John read the number off his tag. “I think we might be here a wee while.” Then he lowered his voice to speak to Fergus alone. “Shall we go downstairs now and commemorate the occasion?”
    “We could— or we could pop by the clinic and do that testing thing first.” Fergus laced his fingers with John’s. “So we can have a more thorough celebration.”
    John’s mind, body, and soul lit up at the thought. “Yes,” he said, then kissed Fergus to let that light flare between them again. Yes. Yes. Yes.

C HAPTER F OUR

    “W E DON ’ T GET many couples in here,” said Bruce the nurse as he sat behind the desk with a pair of sheets Fergus hoped were their test results.
    “I can imagine,” Fergus said, trying to ease his death grip on John’s hand. They’d slid their chairs close together—and not just for emotional comfort. This office was rather chilly to be wearing nothing but towels. Fortunately, he and John were the clinic’s only patrons this afternoon, so it had taken a mere half hour total for the blood draws, then individual exams and interviews with the nurse.
    While John was in the exam room, Fergus had had time to consider what he’d done. He was now having second thoughts about the proposal—not out of fear, but out of guilt.
    “We’re not boyfriends,” John told Bruce. “We’re fiancés.” He beamed at Fergus. “Just got engaged in the Jacuzzi.”
    The nurse gaped at them. “Well. That’s a first for us.”
    Fergus tapped his heel on the floor, aware there was a faint chance this man could ruin their day. “So, our results?”
    “All negative,” Bruce said. “You’re cleared for takeoff, so to speak.”
    “Oh thank God.” Fergus looked at John. “Not that I was worried.”
    “Of course you were worried. It’s what you do.” John leaned over and gave Fergus a kiss. “Oops.” He sat back in his chair, closing his towel again. “Sorry,” he said to Bruce.
    “No bother, I’ve seen—well, I’ve already seen that , for one.” Bruce handed them each an envelope. “So enjoy your day. And the rest of your lives, apparently.” He stood briskly, then showed them out of the clinic. Once in the hallway, he pointed to their left. “The changing room’s through there if you’re ready to leave. Or you’re welcome to enjoy the facilities a wee bit more if you like.”
    “Thanks.” Fergus waited for the nurse to return to his office, then turned to John. “Listen, about before. It wasn’t fair of me, proposing after I’d made you come. In that state of mind you might’ve agreed to anything.”
    “Not anything ,” John said with a grin and a shrug.
    “Still, it wasn’t right to ask for a lifetime commitment ten seconds after an orgasm.” He took John’s shoulders. “I don’t want you to regret this later, to look back and think, ‘My God, I must’ve been off my head.’”
    “I won’t think that.” John pulled him close. “I know because I’ve been wanting to ask you to marry me for weeks.”
    Fergus felt his face flush with happiness. “Why didn’t you?”
    “I knew it’d freak you out. You always look long and hard before you leap.