Title: Something Borrowed
Author: Yolande Kleinn
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 03/29/2021
Length: 19300
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, contemporary, bi, gay, lawyers, fake boyfriend, friends-to-lovers, age-gap, interracial, garden wedding
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Description
When public defender Trevor Ortega finds himself dateless for his ex’s wedding, faking a relationship seems like the perfect solution. Less perfect is his thoughtless impulse to invite Sebastian Greer—friend, federal judge, and former boss—as his plus one. It would be a solid plan if not for one problem: Trevor’s been in love with Sebastian for years, and each fraudulent touch will remind him of everything he can’t have.
Trevor doesn’t know why Sebastian agreed to his scheme, but there’s no backing out now. It’s only one night after all, and what’s a little heartbreak between friends?
Something Borrowed
Yolande Kleinn © 2021
All Rights Reserved
Trevor woke the next morning with a rotten taste in his mouth and a dull headache. The low throbbing was less a proper hangover than a reminder that he should have chugged an extra glass of water last night. Sitting up eased the worst of the tension at his temples, and swallowing a couple of painkillers helped gradually with the rest.
Distracted as he was by the sullen state of his head, it took the better part of an hour for memory of last night’s conversation to present itself.
Trevor froze when the recollection hit him, immediate and bright. Not just posing the question, but forwarding the invitation, apparently too impatient to wait on a few hours’ sleep and a sober head. He’d been tipsy and warm, riding the adrenaline rush of Sebastian’s yes—and it’d taken only a moment to send his digital RSVP.
It didn’t feel real. He fumbled for his phone, suddenly desperate to figure out if he’d actually forwarded the details to Sebastian.
No need to dig down into the sent-messages folder to find his answer. There, right at the top of a crowded inbox, sat a reply with Sebastian Greer’s name on it. Trevor clicked through and read with mounting disbelief. The message confirmed in the stiffly formal tone of all Sebastian’s emails that he was free the relevant evening. That he would drive over to pick Trevor up, unless some other mode of travel would be better. And that he’d plan on wearing a plain black suit unless Trevor preferred to coordinate.
A dozen straightforward practicalities, yet the email left Trevor breathless. The entire situation felt more like a fever dream than something that was actually happening to him. Half an hour later, as he fried a couple eggs and brewed a pot of coffee, several complications occurred to him simultaneously.
First and most important: Emma never having met Sebastian didn’t guarantee she wouldn’t recognize his name. Sebastian had made himself a prominent figure in the legal community, and Emma knew a whole lot of lawyers. Hell, she was marrying one. Her family compounded the problem: an alarming proportion of them were attorneys practicing right in the metro area.
Second: Emma’s contingent wouldn’t be the only crowd at this wedding. Trevor didn’t know Sloane Smith in any close personal way, but her family might possess inconvenient connections. Not to mention all the mutual acquaintances he would surely run into.
None of those acquaintances had ever met Sebastian—Trevor was reasonably confident on this point—but many would recognize the name. And, of course, there was Trevor’s nosy best friend, who knew all about the battered state of his obstinate heart. If Trevor somehow managed to reach the day of the wedding without fessing up, Cameron Vance would take one look at this debacle and throw his hands up in exasperation.
If Trevor actually went through with this, introductions would earn him plenty of raised eyebrows. Worse, he would have to follow his party trick with a fictitious breakup. The only alternative was to tell the retroactive truth to a handful of people and let the gossip spread. Neither strategy held any particular appeal, and both were rife with inevitable awkwardness.
The only reasonable choice was to tell Sebastian he’d changed his mind and would attend the wedding solo after all.
But reasonable or not, Trevor couldn’t do it. Something had taken root in his chest since last night. Forget Emma’s family and their close-minded snobbery. No threat of awkwardness could overcome the selfish appeal of attending this wedding with Sebastian beside him. Close proximity and dancing, the deliberate illusion that he and Sebastian were more than simple friends and colleagues.
This would be either heaven or torture. Trevor couldn’t decide which, but he was suddenly desperate to find out.
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Yolande Kleinn may be a shameless dreamer and a stubborn optimist, but she is also a proud purveyor of romance and hijinx. Excitable, fastidious, and a little eclectic, she spends every spare moment writing the stories she wants to read. If she can drag other people into the pool along with her, then so much the better.
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