Page 29 of Finley
“If I stay, I want both of us in your bed. No fucking couch, no goddamn spare room, no blowup mattress on the floor. We’re both adults, and we’ve shared that bed many times before. Plus, I’m quite capable of saying no, as you found out last night. As are you, I assume.”
He wasn’t going to say no to that, so he inclined his head and accepted. “Okay. Deal.”
Brantley held his hand out to shake on it, but true to the man Daniel had become, he was going to do things his way. He came around the kitchen counter until Brantley had to swivel on the stool to keep an eye on him. When they were facing one another, Daniel stepped between Brantley’s legs and placed a hand on either side of him like the night before,and yeah…that action alone had his pulse racing and his dick hardening.
“I don’t want to shake on it. But this afternoon, I will have the kiss I left without last night.”
Brantley couldn’t tear his eyes away from Daniel’s, and before he could stop himself, he asked, “What time will you be there?”
“Five,” Daniel said as he placed his lips against Brantley’s jaw and then kissed his way along it.
Fuck.He needed this man’s mouth on his, and he wasn’t sure he could wait until five.
“Why five?”
When Daniel raised his head and narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t understand why he was asking, Brantley quickly backtracked.
“Right. Not my business.” Then he put a hand to Daniel’s chest and gave him a slight shove.
When Daniel relented, Brantley stood and walked over to the back door. As he slid it open, he heard his name and turned back to see Daniel’s eyes trailing down over him.
“I’ll be there at five. And Brantley?”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t know when Katrina will be back this morning, which is the only reason you’re walking out the door right now. But this afternoon, I’m taking that kiss.”
He took a step back, out onto the balcony, but kept his eyes firmly locked on the man watching him. Then Daniel smiled, and Brantley’s heart thumped.
“See you then, professor,” he said before he left to go down the hall to his bedroom, leaving Brantley counting the minutes until five o’clock and the kiss he’d been promised.
THAT AFTERNOON,DANIEL pulled his sister’s car into Pearson’s Total Fitness and made his way toward the front doors. The parking lot was jam-packed, but that didn’t surprise him, considering all the weekend warriors who hit his own gym back in Chicago. He, however, wasn’t there for a workout. No, he was looking for?—
“Danny boy!”
Derek.
Barely two steps through the door, Daniel spotted him standing behind the front desk next to a young brunette woman who smiled politely. He walked over to them, and Derek came around the corner to shake his hand.
“What brings you by? You wanting to work out while on vacation? That’s some dedication right there. It used to take some heavy bribery to have you doing anything close to exercise back in the day.”
“Do I look like I’m here to work out?”
A frown marred Derek’s expression and he drummed his fingers on the counter. “Nope. You look like a rich city lawyer on vacation to pick up some hot beach-boy ass.”
“Jesus, Derek,” Daniel said as he cut his eyes to the brunette, who was standing a little too close to the two of them. “Can I talk to you in your office for a minute?”
“Sure,” Derek said. Then he weaved his way through the aisles of weight equipment with both men and women sweating and working their muscles to their maximum potential.
When they came to a door at the back of the gym, Derek pushed it open and stepped “inside” to the sandy shore of the beach.
“Thisis your office?” Daniel said as he scanned the miles of golden sand that stretched down to the white wash of the crashing waves.
“No,” Derek said as he unlocked the door of an enclosed patio attached to the back of the gym. “This is.”
Daniel took the two steps up onto the wooden deck and then crossed over to a couch that faced several windows displaying the perfect view of Derek’s corner of the world, and damn if he wasn’t a little envious.
Palm trees lined a walking track where people on rollerblades passed by, shirtless and perfectly tanned. Surfers jogged toward the ocean, and tourists snapped photos of the part of the beach Derek had claimed as his own.