Page 15 of Whiskey Neat

“I talked to Oakley about the house. He’s gonna send his best guys over to take a look at it.”

“Perfect.” He salutes us as Lowen returns his attention to the notebook he has.

He’s obviously not ready to open up yet, and I get it—I’m not the most emotionally expressive guy either, but his divorce was nasty. Like, worthy of media coverage nasty. I guess that’s what happens when two of France’s top interior designers marry, then implode in a very public way.

Everyone’s chatting over their various morning drinks, digging into the box of donuts courtesy of Kit, and that weird, warm feeling of home settles in my chest again. I didn’t realize how much I needed these guys until we came back together.

“Isn’t Salem starting today?” Kit asks.

I nod. “Yeah. Is the payroll stuff ready?”

Jerryn nods. “We’ll still have to do manual checks for a couple of weeks, but we at least have an account and a checkbook.”

“Oh, and I found some new hire paperwork we can use,” Lowen announces, tapping his manicured fingers on a manila folder. “We can have him fill that out today.”

“Cool. I wrote up a quick training plan last night.” I’ll leave out the part where I fantasized about the taste of his mouth and his supple ass rubbing against my cock. Just thinking about my solo sex session yesterday while my thoughts put us in the filthiest situations makes my body heat rise. “Can you guys check it over and see if I missed anything?”

“Of course.” Low takes the paper.

The others gather around to look at it too, but Kit hangs back, leaning against the bar. The old mirrors are cracked and broken, but they’re coming out anyway.

I bump my hip against Kit’s. “You look tired.”

He chuckles. “I am. Left over from Saturday. Picked up this fucking cub of a man at the grocery store.”

“Did you bring him to the house?”

“Nah.” Kit shakes his head. “I didn’t want to parade him in front of you losers.”

“Fair.”

“He was…” He releases a low whistle. “Twenty-two and eager to please. Kept me up well into the early morning hours. We slept for, like, four hours and then he was at it again. My dick hurts.”

I laugh softly even as envy pokes at my chest. It’s been too damn long, but I’ve had more pressing concerns. Maybe that can start to change now that I’m back in Willow Bay.

“College guy?”

Kit nods. “Kept trying to call me Daddy though.” He scrunches his nose. “I had to explain that older doesn’t automatically equal daddy.”

Ridley hears that and cackles, startling Lowen and Jerryn. “Are any of us daddies?”

Lowen scoffs, which is answer enough. Out of all of us, I imagine Kit and I are the closest to the image of a daddy, but it’s not my kink.

“Not even the sugar kind,” Kit says.

“I thought for sure it would be you, Indy,” Bane says. “Back in the day you had serious daddy vibes brewing.”

Chuckling, I fold my arms over my chest. “I think the vibes are probably accurate, but the dynamics don’t do anything for me.”

“Even if pretty twinks are your Achilles heel,” Lowen teases.

“They are. No denial here.”

“And the prettiest one ever is gonna work with us,” Bane says. “You ready for that, Indy?”

“It’ll be fine.”

“Famous last words.” Ridley snorts. “Speaking of, when is he coming in?”

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