Page 78 of The Finding Series: Vol. 2

But it wasn’t something I could control anymore…well, that wasn’t quite true. I had ways of controlling it, but that wouldn’t help me here in this moment.

My eyes shifted to Quinn again and saw him studying me intently.

Jesus, I needed to get a grip.

“Hey,” Finn murmured softly. “The boys wanted to come down to visit their Papa.”

As soon as Finn said the word, one of the twins began babbling “Papa” over and over again and then the second boy chimed in.

“Rhys is going to be so pissed,” Callan said with a chuckle.

Finn laughed and said to me, “They’ve managed to figure out ‘Dada’ for me and just recently ‘Papa’ for Cal, but they can’t manage to say just ‘Da’ for Rhys.”

“He’s feeling a little left out,” Callan added. “You must be Beck.”

I swallowed hard and nodded.

He’s not a threat to you, you idiot.

“I am.”

“Callan Bale.” The man looked like he was going to try to shake my hand, but then abandoned the thought since he didn’t seem willing to relinquish either of his sons. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too,” I murmured.

“Is Aunt Dolly here yet?” Callan asked as one of the boys began playing with the man’s dark brown cowboy hat.

“She’s on her way.” Finn turned his attention to me and said, “Aunt Dolly is Cal’s aunt. She moved to Boca years ago, but she came back last year after…” – Finn’s eyes shifted to his husband briefly – “After Cal’s dad passed.”

I nodded in understanding and watched as Finn stroked his husband’s back as if to comfort him. They shared a silent look between them, but I didn’t need to hear the words to know what these two men meant to one another.

Callan seemed to remember himself because he tore his eyes from Finn and said, “How are you feeling?”

“Good,” I said. “Ready to get to work,” I added because I figured it would sound good.

“Great,” he responded. “Quinn will get you started, but make sure to take breaks if you need to and if you need to end things early today, that’s absolutely fine.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that.”

Callan nodded and then he glanced at his husband. “I’ll walk up to the house with you before I head over to the Halsteads’ farm to take a look at their new mare.”

Finn nodded and then put his arm around his husband’s waist. “See you later, Beck.”

“Bye,” I murmured as I watched them walk out of the barn, their voices low as they spoke.

I forced my attention to Quinn and saw that he was no longer looking at me. Instead, he was stroking his big hand over the white horse’s neck, murmuring softly to the animal. The horse’s ears flicked back as if he were actually listening to the man. I made myself walk towards the pair and ignored the tingling in my body as I got closer.

Once I reached them, Quinn quit talking and shifted his eyes to me, but he didn’t speak. Instead, he handed me the reins and as soon as I took them, he began working on loosening the animal’s saddle.

The silence had me on edge. I’d expected an interrogation after the events of last time, but he remained quiet as he worked. The fact that he didn’t seem interested in interacting with me hurt, though I didn’t know why since men like him nearly always only wanted one thing from me.

Except that wasn’t quite true. I’d honed in on Quinn that night in the club because I’d known he would be like all the others…until he hadn’t been.

Until he’d kissed me…until he’d made me feel something I’d spent a lifetime not feeling.

Alive.

I forced back the uncertainty that came with being around this man and turned my attention to the horse. The animal was beautiful despite numerous spots all over his body where the hair didn’t seem to lay right. I ran my fingers over one such mark on his neck and stilled at the raised flesh.

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