Page 45 of The Seascape Between Us

I stopped walking and looked up at the high arching ceiling and the timber support beams crisscrossing overhead. Some showed signs of rot, but for the most part, the structural integrity seemed sound. A warehouse downtown was always a good investment, but one with solid bones that wouldn’t need the building to be all but razed first was even better. For most of the last three decades, the building had stood empty, unused. Probably serving as a tax write off for the business that owned it. Before that, it had manufactured work gloves.

Finn had been right about the place. It would need work to convert the space to loft apartments—three, maybe four—but not as much as some others we’d converted in the past. Not that I was surprised. When it came to investment properties, his instincts were always on point.

“We’ll go ahead with the purchase. Can you contact Callie and have her reach out to the listing agent? How long has it been on the market?”

I turned back to Finn, watching me with a faint frown. “Nearly a month.”

Shit, that wasn’t great. It was a good building, a great investment, and with almost thirty days on the market, it would have no doubt gained the attention of other potential buyers. I didn’t want to wind up caught in a bidding war, especially with so much of Kenzie Property Management’s capital being diverted into the hotel. “Do you know if there are any other interested parties?”

“I don’t think so,” Finn said, still watching me with that weird look on his face, as if he was trying to figure me out—which was even weirder. As my closest friend, he knew me better than anyone.

My mind flashed to Daniel, who’d woken me up with his lips around my cock and sucked me off like he’d been trying to extract my soul through my dick. My skin warmed at the memory.

Maybe not better thananyone.

“What?” I asked when Finn continued to stare.

He opened his mouth to answer but hesitated as if choosing his words carefully. I tensed. Was he pissed?

“Seriously, what?” I asked again.

“I’m surprised,” he said. “I told you about this place when it first went on the market, and it’s taken you weeks to check it out so we could move on it. It’s not like you.”

I bristled slightly at the implied criticism, but the feeling quickly faded. He wasn’t wrong, after all. I should have been out here sooner. If I missed out, it would be my own fault, and while I could point out that I was the boss, that it was my company and my opportunity to miss, I’d still fucked up. The fact that I wasthe boss, the company mine, I owed the people who worked for me more.

I sighed. “I know. I’ve been wrapped up in the hotel. We’re working on a pretty tight deadline right now.”

Finn shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and rocked back on the thick soles of his work boots. “The hotel isn’t all you’re wrapped up in just now.”

I cocked my head to one side, taking in the red blooming on Finn’s cheeks and appreciating that he at least had the good grace to look embarrassed about bringing up Daniel.

Neither Daniel nor I had told anyone what was going on between us—and a part of that might have been because we were looking at what we were doing from different angles. Daniel believed we were just messing around, keeping each other entertained while we worked on the hotel. I, on the other hand, had set out to prove how good we were together, that we were meant to be together. That my father interfering was the only reason we hadn’t been together all this time. Just thinking about it again set my teeth on edge.

“Are you about to comment on my personal life?”

Finn shot me a wry look. “If memory serves, you had a lot to say about Alistair and me when we first started dating.”

Yeah, I had, and now I felt like an asshole considering how things worked out between them. “Fair, but I was wrong about everything, and youshouldhave told me to shut up and mind my own business.”

“Is that what you want me to do? Mind my own business?”

Yes. No. I didn’t know. “Probably, but it’s too late to turn back now. How did you even know about me and Daniel?”

“Alistair—”

“Your boyfriend gossips like an old woman.”

“Careful.” Despite the warning in his tone, Finn grinned with bemused affection. He knew I was right, even if the thought ofAlistair gossiping about me amused him. “He’s worried about Daniel, that you might hurt him when you leave.”

“Then maybe I won’t leave.”

His brows lifted. “Really? Do you mean that?”

Did I? I’d spoken before really considering if I meant what I said. I mean, could I really spend the rest of my life in The Square, living in my father’s house while Daniel and I fell into familiar domestic routines?

Since we’d fucked in his office, we’d been all over each other; quick hand jobs in the rooms, blow jobs in the office, and at home, we couldn’t keep stop touching. It wasn’t all just sex, though; it was watching TV with my head on his lap while he toyed with my hair or scraped his fingers over my scalp, or me rubbing the knots out of his neck when he’d overdone it working at the hotel. Then there were the moments where we’d eat dinner and talk about everything and nothing, laugh at stupid shit. I didn’t know if I wanted to stay in The Square or not, but I was sure I wanted to be wherever Daniel was.

“Or I’ll take Daniel with me.” I would love to see him in my loft, fuck him in my bed, take care of him, spoil him, ease that worried pinched expression from his face.

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