Page 97 of Finley

Brantley looked to Daniel, knowing that, if he seemed uncomfortable in the least, he would leave in a second. But instead, Daniel gave Logan a smug smirk and then nodded.

“Sounds interesting,” Brantley said. “I’ll have a Chardonnay”

“Got it. And you?” Tate asked, turning to Daniel. “What do you want? And let’s keep it drink related, huh?”

His tone was less hostile than it had been, but it still intrigued Brantley. Whatever these three had shared, ornotshared, it hadn’t ended well.

“I’ll take a Crown and Coke,” Daniel said, and then leaned across the bar, and Brantley saw the devilish gleam in his eye he always adopted before he said something particularly antagonistic. “Don’t worry, Tate. I promise to behave while you work.”

Tate’s eyebrow rose as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You know. I’m not particularly worried. In fact,” he said, looking between Brantley and Logan, then back to Daniel, “everything is starting to make a little more sense to me.”

Brantley had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but the pearly grin that crossed Tate’s lips was so blinding that it was hard to look away. It transformed him from hard-ass to gorgeous in a second—and it was all aimed at Logan.

“Take them back to the booth, and try to behaveyourself, would you? I’ll be over as soon as I give Amelia the orders.”

Logan ran a hand down the front of Tate’s vest to his waist and then tugged him forward by the belt. “Don’t be long.”

Tate pressed his lips to Logan’s and bit his bottom lip, and Brantley had a hard time tearing his eyes away from them. Then Tate turned toward him.

“Try not to let these two kill one another until I get there, would you? They have a nasty habit of butting heads.”

Brantley gave a slow nod and got to his feet. As Daniel did the same, Brantley reached for his hand, and then Logan walked toward the end of the bar and raised the counter to step through.

“Are you sure you want to do this? We can leave.”

Daniel kissed his temple and whispered, “I’m not afraid of Logan Mitchell. This is all rather…ironic, really. When I first met him, he actually reminded me of someone I’m rather fond of.”

Brantley turned to look up at Daniel.

But he shrugged. “What can I say? Look at his perfect pants and sweaters. The dark hair? He drew my attention for a very specific reason, professor.”

“Ahh, so his boyfriend—Tate, was it? He was right,” Brantley said as they started walking toward the man waiting for them.

“Yes, but now that I see the two of you side by side…”

God,Brantley wasn’t sure he wanted the comparison. He wasn’t blind. This Logan guy was extremely handsome, and he was?—

“You’re it for me. You’re sexy, sophisticated, and so fucking it for me. I only looked at him because you weren’t in the room and he was a close second to what I really wanted.”

Brantley leaned into Daniel’s side and kissed his jaw. “Did you sleep with them?”

Daniel grimaced and shook his head. “No.”

“Did you try?”

The look that crossed Daniel’s face didn’t refute the claim.

“I would’ve.”

Daniel laughed at that. “Okay,notwhat I was expecting.”

Brantley wound an arm around Daniel’s waist and said in his ear, “What? I’m not blind. Or stupid. They’re sexy.”

Daniel looked down at him.

“Very sexy,” Brantley added. “I can see the appeal.”

Still chuckling, Daniel grinned. “Yeah, well, that was a long time ago. But then I ran into them again when I helped Tate on a personal injury case. That was all it was, though.”