Page 25 of The Seascape Between Us (The Men of Saltwater Cove #4)
Chapter Eighteen
Grey
“ T he place looks good.”
I stopped walking and looked up at the high arching ceiling and the timber support beams crisscrossing overhead.
Some showed signs of rot, but for the most part, the structural integrity seemed sound.
A warehouse downtown was always a good investment, but one with solid bones that wouldn’t need the building to be all but razed first was even better.
For most of the last three decades, the building had stood empty, unused.
Probably serving as a tax write off for the business that owned it.
Before that, it had manufactured work gloves.
Finn had been right about the place. It would need work to convert the space to loft apartments—three, maybe four—but not as much as some others we’d converted in the past. Not that I was surprised. When it came to investment properties, his instincts were always on point.
“We’ll go ahead with the purchase. Can you contact Callie and have her reach out to the listing agent? How long has it been on the market?”
I turned back to Finn, watching me with a faint frown. “Nearly a month.”
Shit, that wasn’t great. It was a good building, a great investment, and with almost thirty days on the market, it would have no doubt gained the attention of other potential buyers.
I didn’t want to wind up caught in a bidding war, especially with so much of Kenzie Property Management’s capital being diverted into the hotel.
“Do you know if there are any other interested parties?”
“I don’t think so,” Finn said, still watching me with that weird look on his face, as if he was trying to figure me out—which was even weirder. As my closest friend, he knew me better than anyone.
My mind flashed to Daniel, who’d woken me up with his lips around my cock and sucked me off like he’d been trying to extract my soul through my dick. My skin warmed at the memory.
Maybe not better than anyone .
“What?” I asked when Finn continued to stare.
He opened his mouth to answer but hesitated as if choosing his words carefully. I tensed. Was he pissed?
“Seriously, what?” I asked again.
“I’m surprised,” he said. “I told you about this place when it first went on the market, and it’s taken you weeks to check it out so we could move on it. It’s not like you.”
I bristled slightly at the implied criticism, but the feeling quickly faded.
He wasn’t wrong, after all. I should have been out here sooner.
If I missed out, it would be my own fault, and while I could point out that I was the boss, that it was my company and my opportunity to miss, I’d still fucked up.
The fact that I was the boss, the company mine, I owed the people who worked for me more.
I sighed. “I know. I’ve been wrapped up in the hotel. We’re working on a pretty tight deadline right now.”
Finn shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and rocked back on the thick soles of his work boots. “The hotel isn’t all you’re wrapped up in just now.”
I cocked my head to one side, taking in the red blooming on Finn’s cheeks and appreciating that he at least had the good grace to look embarrassed about bringing up Daniel.
Neither Daniel nor I had told anyone what was going on between us—and a part of that might have been because we were looking at what we were doing from different angles.
Daniel believed we were just messing around, keeping each other entertained while we worked on the hotel.
I, on the other hand, had set out to prove how good we were together, that we were meant to be together.
That my father interfering was the only reason we hadn’t been together all this time.
Just thinking about it again set my teeth on edge.
“Are you about to comment on my personal life?”
Finn shot me a wry look. “If memory serves, you had a lot to say about Alistair and me when we first started dating.”
Yeah, I had, and now I felt like an asshole considering how things worked out between them. “Fair, but I was wrong about everything, and you should have told me to shut up and mind my own business.”
“Is that what you want me to do? Mind my own business?”
Yes. No. I didn’t know. “Probably, but it’s too late to turn back now. How did you even know about me and Daniel?”
“Alistair—”
“Your boyfriend gossips like an old woman.”
“Careful.” Despite the warning in his tone, Finn grinned with bemused affection. He knew I was right, even if the thought of Alistair gossiping about me amused him. “He’s worried about Daniel, that you might hurt him when you leave.”
“Then maybe I won’t leave.”
His brows lifted. “Really? Do you mean that?”
Did I? I’d spoken before really considering if I meant what I said. I mean, could I really spend the rest of my life in The Square, living in my father’s house while Daniel and I fell into familiar domestic routines?
Since we’d fucked in his office, we’d been all over each other; quick hand jobs in the rooms, blow jobs in the office, and at home, we couldn’t keep stop touching.
It wasn’t all just sex, though; it was watching TV with my head on his lap while he toyed with my hair or scraped his fingers over my scalp, or me rubbing the knots out of his neck when he’d overdone it working at the hotel.
Then there were the moments where we’d eat dinner and talk about everything and nothing, laugh at stupid shit.
I didn’t know if I wanted to stay in The Square or not, but I was sure I wanted to be wherever Daniel was.
“Or I’ll take Daniel with me.” I would love to see him in my loft, fuck him in my bed, take care of him, spoil him, ease that worried pinched expression from his face.
“What’s the deal with you guys?” Finn asked. “How do you know each other?”
I told him about how I’d met Daniel, how I’d fallen in love with him, and how my father had interfered, so we’d break up.
“Holy shit,” Finn said when I was done. “Everyone talks about Oliver Mackenzie like he’s some kind of saint.”
I shrugged. “He did a lot of good things, especially in The Square. That he was a shit father doesn’t change that.”
“I guess, but that’s messed up. Are you and Daniel together, then?”
“Sort of,” I admitted.
“What does sort of mean?”
“We were kind of messing around even before I found the letter—a business partners-with-benefits situation.”
Finn huffed out a humorless chuckle and rolled his eyes. “Nothing could go wrong with that.”
Irritation fluttered at the base of my skull.
Just because he and Alistair were good now, they hadn’t always been, so Finn could dial back the damn sanctimonious tone.
“Don’t be a dick, or I’ll remind you of all the times you tried to call things off with Alistair before you finally pulled your head out of your ass. ”
His expression turned serious. “First, you were very much on team he’s-too-young-for-you . Second, if you and Daniel want this to work, you need clear boundaries between your work partnership and your relationship. It could get… messy.”
I narrowed my gaze, trying to read between the lines. “If you think Daniel would try to use what’s happening between us for my money, you couldn’t be more wrong and fuck you for thinking that. Daniel is one of the most honest and good men I know.”
“Okay, okay.” Finn held up his hands in surrender.
“That’s not what I meant, but given how you looked like you wanted to kick my ass for even suggesting the possibility, I’m guessing this is more than business partners-with-benefits for you.
Have you thought about what happens next?
What happens after the work is done and the hotel opens again?
What happens when you both go back to your own lives?
Sharing a business could be awkward as fuck if you want more and he doesn’t. ”
On one level, I knew Finn had a point. I really hadn’t considered what a future between Daniel and I would look like once we’d finished with the hotel, but I knew I couldn’t just walk away.
There was no way that I could go back to my old life with just work and random hook-ups, knowing Daniel was out there. It all suddenly felt empty and trivial.
I wanted more. I wanted forever, but Daniel didn’t think he could fit into my life.
When we’d broken up, I said some pretty shitty things to him, and he’d taken them to heart.
I hadn’t meant any of it. I’d been hurt and angry, young and stupid, and none of those things were an excuse for what I’d said and how I’d acted, but they’d definitely been contributing factors.
If he’d let me, I would spend the rest of my life making it up to him.
“I understand what you’re saying, and I’ll take your advice under advisement,” I told Finn.
“I bet.” Finn looked doubtful, guessing that I was only telling him what he wanted to hear.
He meant well, but he didn’t know Daniel like I did.
Once I showed him how easily we could fit into each others’ lives, that we belonged together, I wouldn’t need to worry about a future without him in my life. Never again .