Page 26 of Savage Blooms (Unearthly Delights #1)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Adam

Life at Craigmar was idyllic, a watercolor blur like something out of one of Nicola’s paintings.

Adam and Nicola took their breakfast with Eileen and Finley every morning, and one breakfast turned to two turned to four, until Adam realized that he had been at Craigmar nearly a week without even noticing.

They all chatted in a friendly manner as they buttered their toast and sweetened their porridge with a drizzle of honey (Nicola) or a tot of whisky (Eileen), going over findings from the night before.

Adam spent his days exploring the grounds, answering emails from one of the window nooks in the house, or, most often, poring over records with Eileen in the library.

They had gone through all the letters and photographs and had moved on to legal documents, just in case there was a clue.

Nicola often sat in the library as they worked, wetting her paintbrush thoughtfully before dabbing watercolors into her sketchbook.

Finley, in a display of chivalry that Adam wished he had thought of first, had picked up Nicola a simple but serviceable set of paints and three brushes from town.

Nicola had beamed at him, kissing him on the cheek very close to his mouth, and Adam had seethed from his seat on the couch.

But then Eileen had leaned over his shoulder from behind the couch, her cheek very close to his as she asked if he would like to take a closer look at some land grants with her, and Adam had taken petty comfort in that.

Finley was spending more of his time in the house these days, often dropping in once his chores were done to provide aid in sorting papers in the library, or to fix a quick meal in the kitchen to keep them going long into the night.

Adam was pleased to see that, when they weren’t playacting master and servant, Finley and Eileen split household tasks more or less equally.

He might not be entirely sold on Finley, and he might not be a fan of how close Finley seemed to be getting to Nicola, but that didn’t mean he wanted to see Eileen mistreat him.

On the sixth night at Craigmar, they were all together in the library at nearly midnight, conversation having long since lulled into a comfortable quiet broken only by the crackle and pop of the fire.

Adam was color-grading a website header for a client on his laptop as Nicola dozed next to him on the couch, curled up with her stockinged feet in his lap, a book of pastoral poems forgotten on her knee.

Finley busied himself at the bar cart, fixing them all a nightcap before they went their separate ways, while Eileen sat at the desk, chin balanced on her latticed fingers as she squinted down at some of her grandmother’s old letters.

It felt normal. Comfortable even.

Adam caught himself in the moment of hopeful longing, smothering it back down under a landslide of rationality.

This might feel comfortable, but in a month, it would be nothing more than a story to tell at the bar to get free drinks.

Eileen would forget about him, and Finley would forget about him (and Nicola, Adam hoped).

Nicola and he would go back to the way things were, back to group hangs over horror movies and pickup volleyball and an ironclad, unspoken agreement to never pursue anything more.

Still, a treacherous part of him wanted to luxuriate in this moment, Nicola half asleep beside him, her cheeks pink and perfect in the warmth of the fire.

He considered reaching out to sweep a stray curl out of her face, but just as he was building up the courage, Finley said, “Take a break, Eileen. We’ll all have a drink, and then you need to go to bed. ”

“I’m fine,” Eileen said, stifling a yawn. Her eyes were rimmed with red.

“I said, take a break,” Finley repeated. His warning tone left no room for argument.

Adam glanced up surreptitiously from his laptop and found that Nicola was sneaking a glance at him too, the same look they had shared countless times that said they would be gossiping later.

Eileen and Finley didn’t exactly hide their dynamic from Adam and Nicola, and Adam had seen it in action at least once before, but Finley usually resisted the urge to boss his employer around when Adam and Nicola were present.

“Come off it, Finney,” Eileen said with a scoff, accepting her drink from his hand and taking a bracing swallow.

“Up,” Finley said. “You’re hunched over that desk like a prawn. At least sit on the couch while you have your drink.”

“I’m fine—”

“Now, Eileen. Make me tell you twice and I’ll have you on your knees for an hour.”

Eileen scowled at him for a long, agonizingly tense moment.

Adam was sure she was going to dress him down, maybe even make him leave the house and go back to the cottage.

But then she snatched up her Scotch and soda and seated herself in the armchair across from Adam.

She didn’t look pleased about it, but she had obeyed.

It was as though Finley had tugged on a single thread and shifted the balance of power in the room, without so much as raising his voice.

Finley finished fixing Nicola a brandy neat and Adam a gin and tonic, then nodded at Eileen.

“Will you let me take down your hair?”

It didn’t sound quite like a command. It sounded more like an invitation, but to what, Adam wasn’t sure. Still, it was a little harder to breathe while Eileen deliberated, and when Adam stole another glance at Nicola, her cheeks were even pinker.

Was she turned on by whatever was going on between Eileen and Finley? Hell, was Adam? It seemed impossible – there was nothing sexual going on – but his body told a different story.

Eileen nodded, then slipped down from the couch and settled onto the ground, tucking her legs beneath her to maintain ramrod posture.

Finley sat on the couch and began to unfasten the gold pins from her hair, taking his time, as though they were the only two people in the world.

With more gentleness than his calloused hands would suggest, Finley began to finger-comb out her dark waves and plait them into a sleeping braid, and Eileen, glory of glories, let him.

Adam couldn’t stop staring at Eileen, sitting perfectly still with her swan-like neck bowed. There was something painfully beautiful about seeing her so… pliant. Eileen was a wildfire of a woman, but it appeared Finley’s touch could tame her into a docile hearth.

Adam wasn’t exactly hurting for sexual experience.

He liked getting to know people through sex, and he would try pretty much anything at least once.

But nothing had ever made him feel as alive as he felt right now, watching Finley braid Eileen’s hair, not even his first time with a girl, or with a boy.

Nothing had made him wonder if perhaps he would like to be the one in the chair, giving out commands, or if he would enjoy being the one sitting on the floor, waiting with bated breath to be led.

“I have a question,” he blurted.

“Of course you do,” Eileen replied, rolling her eyes without slouching so much as an inch. “You’re practically made of questions.”

“Be nice,” Finley ordered, giving one of her tresses a tug.

Nicola closed her book on the couch next to Adam, a little thud that signaled Finley had her total attention.

“How long has this…” Adam said, gesturing broadly at whatever was happening between Eileen and Finley. He wished he had better words for it, or at least words that didn’t make him feel stupid. “…dynamic been going on? If it’s not rude to ask.”

“From the start in some ways, I suppose,” Finley said, hands deftly wrapping strand over strand. “Only for the last couple of years, in others. The structure of it, the rules and boundaries, we talk and agree on together. But the nature of the thing… that has a life of its own. That’s older.”

Eileen closed her eyes, letting the conversation wash over her as Finley expertly braided her hair. Adam had never seen her so soft. It was like she was one of Nicola’s brightly colored paints, diffused by Finley’s touch as though it was water.

“How did you learn?” Adam went on. He was nothing if not a student of life, after all. This was just a bit of harmless sociological curiosity.

“To take care of her like this? Some of it’s through instinct,” Finley said, holding out a hand for the hair tie around Eileen’s wrist. “Some of it’s research. I’ll remind you I do have access to the internet, Adam. I might be a hick, but I can read.”

Heat coursed through Adam, and not just from arousal this time. Why did the embarrassment just excite him more? If he wasn’t careful, he would get hard, which would only embarrass him more, which would only make everything worse.

“I didn’t mean—”

“I’m kidding,” Finley said with a smile. “Lighten up.”

“Okay then, answer my question.”

“Pushy,” Finley said, like he didn’t approve of Adam’s behavior, like he might have an idea or two about how to correct it, and now Adam was hard, so hard that he shifted the laptop on his thighs to cover the evidence.

“Ideally, in situations like this, you’d want to find a mentor to teach you.

But Eileen and I didn’t have that luxury. ”

“Could you teach someone else?” Nicola asked.

Every eye in the room fell on Nicola, Finley and Adam staring at her like she was on fire, Eileen acknowledging her with impressed raised eyebrows. Nicola just shrugged, refusing to feel awkward. You couldn’t make Nicola feel a damn thing she didn’t want to.

“I’ve never tried,” Finley managed eventually. “Are you… asking me to show you?”

“Or you could show Adam and I could watch?” Nicola suggested, with that pixie smile that was sweet and sharp at once. “I learn best by watching.”

Adam wanted, perhaps more than ever in his life, to play it cool. Instead, he spluttered, “What? Obviously, like— No way! I wouldn’t, like, unless—”