Page 66 of Finley

“Braggart,” Jordan said as he brought the straw in his mimosa back to his lips.

“You asked,” Brantley pointed out as Elizabeth arrived with their orders.

When she put it down in front of them, his eyes almost fell out of his head at the mounds of food on his plate. Then she invited them to enjoy and left.

“This is enough to feed an army.”

Jordan sat up and unwrapped his napkin from around the utensils. “I’m sure you could use the strength,” he said. Then he let his eyes drop to the black Angus steak with bacon-cheddar scrambled eggs, home fries, and two strips of bacon. “Though I’m sure you’re not lacking in protein.”

Brantley shook his head as he spread his own napkin across his lap. “Are you done?”

Jordan pursed his lips as he thought about it, and then nodded. “Yep. I think so.”

“Good to know.”

Jordan cut into his spinach-and-bacon frittata, and after he took several bites he sat back and asked seriously, “Okay… So, how are you? Really?”

Brantley raised an eyebrow and then rested his arm on the table. “I’m good.”

Jordan tilted his head to the side.

“I’m great. Really. Happier than I can remember being in…in a long time.”

Jordan’s eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward to point a fork at Brantley. “Don’t you dare fall in love with this kid again.”

Brantley opened his mouth to deny it but caught himself tripping over what would’ve been a lie. “He’s hardly a kid. You’re only a few years older than him.”

“No,” Jordan said, shaking his head adamantly. “No, Brantley.” He huffed and sat back in his chair, his fork clanging on his plate. “We had this discussion, remember? The first night he came to your house then left? You told me he was very clear about his intentions. Two weeks. Two weeks then he’s gone. And you told me?—”

“I know what I told you, Jordan. But?—”

“But what?” he demanded. “Does this guy have some magical cock I don’t know about? Because that’s the only reason I can even begin to accept that you would do this to yourself again.”

Brantley sighed as he cut a piece of steak and shoveled it and some eggs into his mouth. When he was finished, he shut his eyes and thought about the tender way Daniel had kissed him that morning, but also the fact that Daniel was keeping something from him. Maybe hewasbeing an idiot.

“Look,” Jordan said. “I know you love him. You’ve loved him for almost as long as I’ve known you. But this…this won’t end the way you want it to.”

“How do you know that?” Brantley asked, not wanting to believe or hear what Jordan was saying—even if the thought had been in the back of his own mind.

“Guys likehimdon’t want to settle down. Not with guys like us.”

The venom behind the words had Brantley pausing. For as long as he’d known Jordan, he’d only ever seen him serious about one man, and that had lasted around a year and then ended in a very dramatic, and public, display. But that wasn’t what they were discussing right now, and Brantley couldn’t help but think there was more to that last statement than what was on the surface.

“Guys like who?”

“Young, gorgeous, driven. They don’t want to settle down with…stable and stuffy.”

“Ahh, okay. Well, I’m not thinking of proposing.”

“No, I know,” Jordan said. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be a downer. I just want you to look after yourself and have some fun. You deserve to have some fun, Brantley.”

“Even though I’m, what’d you say? Stuffy?” Brantley reached for his drink and then smiled. “I agree with you. I want to have some fun.Geez. That’s why I called you to meet me this morning.”

“Oh? I thought you called me to brag.”

Choosing to shove the serious aside for the moment, Brantley shrugged. “That too.”

Jordan rolled his eyes. “Okay…spill. What’s up?”