Page 72 of Finley

Brantley angled his head back so his eyes could find Daniel’s, and he grinned at him.

“In the name of protection, of course.”

“Oh, of course.” Laughing, Brantley stayed where he was as Daniel went about applying the sunscreenallover him.

When he was done and they were both lying out, Brantley was surprised to feel Daniel’s fingers reaching for his. He tried to ignore the way that simple gesture made his heart thud, but when he entwined them, just as he used to, there was no stopping it.

All at once, he felt…optimistic. Hopeful that maybe Daniel was seeing more to this than the two weeks he’d originally come there for. That maybe he was starting to see how right they were for one another.

Maybe.

With each passing day, he could feel himself falling harder, and it was no longer the idea ofwhoDaniel had been—the man he’d grown into was stealing his heart. This sexy, playful, confident man he’d become reacquainted with had his heart in a firm grip, and Brantley wasn’t sure he would survive when he let it go.

“You’re awfully quiet over there. What are you thinking about?”

Turning his head on the towel, he decided to deal with that when the time came. For now, he was going to enjoy Daniel and the days they had ahead of them.

“Nothing. Was just relaxing. What about you? I thought you might be falling asleep.”

“Nope. I was trying to decide how to tell you my mother wants us to come over for dinner.”

Brantley jumped up like a jack-in-the-box at that. “What?”

“My mother asked us to?—”

“No. No way,” he said, adamantly shaking his head. “There’s nowayI’m going to your mother’s house for dinner.”

“Why not?” Daniel said as he sat up. “You’ve been to her house many times before. And it will just be her and us. Katrina has gone away with some friends. Celebrating their finals.”

“The operative word beingbefore. Before I knew that she knew I was?—”

“Sleeping with her son?”

He glared at Daniel, and when he flashed that charming grin of his, Brantley lost his annoyance—but not his point.

“It’s not funny, Finn.”

“No, you’re right. You should avoid her for the rest of your life. It’s not like you live in a small town or anything.”

His lips twitched at the smartass opposite him. “You enjoying this?”

Daniel leaned forward and kissed him. “A little. Come on. She’s not going to lynch you.”

“How do you know? I was seeing her baby throughout college.”

“Nooo… You were having a relationship with her adult son.”

“Who was my student. Jesus, Finn. It doesn’t matter if you were nineteen or twenty?—”

“I was both of those.”

“—you werestillmy student.”

Daniel sat back and shrugged. “Okay. I’ll tell her no.”

Brantley shifted uncomfortably under Daniel’s stare and then frowned. “I think that’s for the best. It’s just so…”

“So what? Do you think what we did back then was wrong?”