“Are you looking forward to tonight?” Aiden asked as they made their way out of a cafe. The owner had agreed to display one of their posters in the window. They hadn’t entered with that intention, but the call of refreshing smoothies was too good to pass up.
“Tonight?” Finn took a long sip of a berry blast.
“Your dinner with Marlee.” Holding his hands up in defense, Aiden explained, “I wasn’t eavesdropping. Marlee said it as she left.”
“Would you believe that I completely forgot?” Finn said, scuffing his shoes along the pavement. “Are you?”
“Am I what?” Aiden winced, the onslaught of a brain freeze coming far quicker than he’d anticipated.
“Looking forward to it.” Finn ran his tongue out over his bottom lip in a way that was far too tantalizing for it not to be on purpose. “That invite was for you, too. Marlee’s like that, throws it out to the room and expects everyone to pick up on it.”
“That’s one way of operating things.” Aiden tapped his fingers against the stack of posters, considering. “I could pretend to have stomach cramps. Dodgy smoothies—you know how it is.”
Even if this happened to be the best damn smoothie he’d had in his life, Aiden would lie if the cause called for it.
Finn pulled a face of utter displeasure. “And face Marlee’s wrath for a no-show? Not a chance.”
“Is that the only reason you want me to come?” Bravely, probably too bravely, Aiden’s hand brushed against the back of Finn’s.
And he sure as hell didn’t miss the way that Finn didn’t move his away.
“You’re decent dinner company, I guess,” Finn said, his forefinger linking with Aiden’s. Such a small motion, but it almost made Aiden stumble on the path.
“I suppose you’re not half bad, either.” Now, Aiden gripped Finn’s fingers with his entire hand. It felt ridiculous and childish, but the fact that Finn’s only reaction was a shy duck of his head made Aiden’s heart soar. “It means a lot. Being invited.”
“Marlee’s a people person. I wouldn’t read into it too much.”
“Except with Joe.”
Throwing his head back with a hearty laugh, Finn gave in to Aiden’s hold and held his hand. “Joe and Marlee have been will they, won’t they for years.”
Somehow, that didn’t surprise Aiden in the slightest.
“If they’re both interested, why doesn’t Marlee ask?” he asked, but he would be lying if he said that any more than 60 percent of his brain function was focused on the conversation rather than their linked hands.
“Because she’s having too much fun messing with him.”
“As much as I admire that, I don’t think I could ever do something like it,” said Aiden, giving Finn a hesitant squeeze. “Blunt is more my thing.”
“I tried the flirting thing back in college,” said Finn, lips around his paper straw. “Ended up married. So blunt is new.”
“New?” Aiden said. “So what did you do with people before you rocked up on your motorcycle to murder me?”
“Save you,” Finn corrected, but his tone was filled with mirth. “Didn’t do anything. Was too busy.”
Aiden stopped in his tracks, undoubtedly halting a few others meandering around the busy streets, regarding Finn in disbelief. “You mean to say that I…”
“Told you I didn’t do this a lot.” Finn shrugged, unbothered by the entire exchange.
“You said that about kissing strangers. Not—”
Not what, Aiden? Having a fuck buddy? He was pretty sure that boning-bros didn’t make pancakes with the hookup’s daughter in the morning.
“—this,” he concluded weakly.
“In my defense, I didn’t anticipate any of this.” Finn ran his tongue over his bottom lip, visibly considering his next words. “Didn’t anticipate you.”
No wonder Millie was so concerned about his involvement with Finn. She was protecting him from something neither of them had experienced before, as a family unit.
Aiden swallowed down that realization, cheeks starting to warm from Finn’s comment. “Watch out, or you’re going to start sounding romantic.”
“Don’t get used to it.” Finn chuckled, arms swinging together as they ventured closer to the marina where the Feelin’ Nauti was docked. “I was never romantic.”
“As long as you’re not expecting me to flirt.”
All of this was more like what Aiden expected with Finn. Easy conversation, not pulling any punches, knowing exactly where he stood with Finn—at least for the moment.
“You can tell me to feck off if I’m being invasive,” Aiden said. Finn didn’t miss the mirroring of the phrase from weeks ago, quietly amused. “But what are the chances of seeing the boat again?”
Finn’s eyes narrowed. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“Is it in that bad condition since I last saw it?” Aiden asked, concerned before the true meaning behind Finn’s question dawned. His cheeks became even hotter. “I wasn’t suggesting that! Unless that’s on the table. Which I wouldn’t say no to, if it was. But if it wasn’t, I just meant seeing the boat. Not your deck below.”
“I’m going to let that last part slide,” Finn said, because Aiden could at least admit that as far as innuendos went, your deck below was pretty weak. “But no, putting another hole into the floor is not on my agenda for at least another week.”
“A week?”
Finn gestured to the posters tucked under his arm. “If this works, I wanna celebrate.”
Aiden held on to Finn’s hand that bit tighter. “It is going to work. I’ve talked to so many people that care enough to make it work.”
“You really want that celebratory fuck, huh?”
“It’s a good incentive; I won’t lie.”
Pulling Aiden in closer, Finn leaned down to close the distance between them, lips a mere few inches from his ear. “Then we’ll see about a preview later.”
Aiden swallowed, throat suddenly dry. “Does that mean I’m back in your good books?”
“Maybe,” replied Finn, pulling back to take another sip of his smoothie. “But please keep on my side with Tam and Adie. It felt nice to have someone in my corner.”
“I mean…” Aiden grimaced. “They had a point. It is hard to help you.”
“It’s taking all my power not to steal your smoothie right now.”
It was twenty minutes into dinner with Marlee that Aiden decided that she was the best person he’d ever met and was, quite frankly, over the moon that she was no longer suspicious of his intentions. Aiden had been so incredibly lucky to have such an insight into Finn’s life, to make real friends with the people in his life, to somehow carve out a place of himself in this tiny town that may fade with time here—but Aiden knew he would always feel. And befriending Marlee, someone who was so deeply embedded into the community and to the lives of the Schultzes, felt like an honor in and of itself.
Especially when she dished out one gloriously embarrassing story from Finn’s childhood after another.
“Tell him about the fishing trip!” Millie demanded, waving her knife and fork excitedly.
“Oh god,” Finn groaned for what had to have been the tenth time since arriving.
“Please do,” Aiden said.
“How could I forget the fishing trip?” Marlee sighed in relish at the memory. “So. This was when Finn was sixteen. Old enough to have more sense.”
“You wouldn’t say that if it was Ryan who did this,” Finn said, head hung in his hands over the half-eaten food.
“Yes, dear. But you’re not Ryan. Anyway.” Marlee locked eyes with Aiden. The same playful glint he’d seen in Finn’s gaze was in Marlee’s eyes, too. “I had told Finn that I missed having time to fish. It’s how I relax, clear my head. I went back to college to finish my medical degree, you see.”
“Which one?” Finn asked. “You’ve got like four.”
“My third.” But Marlee wasn’t about to be distracted. “So this sweet, misguided boy took it upon himself to take me fishing on my one day off. Not regarding the fact that I had to study.”
“I meant well.”
“That you did. So we went to this great spot off the coast. It was a cracker of a day. Finn even got his own fishing rod for the occasion. The first and only time he used it. We cast our rods—or at least I think we do. I turn, and Finn is there with the fishhook below his eye.”
“No.”
Millie clapped her hands together, giggling despite the fact that this definitely wasn’t the first time she’d heard this story.
“That’s where Dad got this,” Millie filled in, leaning across the table to poke the scar nestled right beneath Finn’s lower eyelid.
“I always thought it was from a fight,” Aiden said, equal parts shocked and delighted. “It was one of the reasons why I thought you were so intimidating.”
“This soft thing,” said Marlee, patting Finn on the shoulder. “This boy has only been in a fight once in his life, and it was with another parent.”
“He deserved it,” said Millie.
“His kid was a little bastard,” said Finn. “Hasn’t bothered Millie since, so I refuse to apologize for it.”
“And no one would expect you to,” said Marlee with an authoritative nod. “Parents who justify their kids’ bad behavior deserve to have their arses kicked from time to time. But you leave that to the adults, Millie. Right?”
“Right.”
“Good girl.” Marlee smiled. “If you’re finished, you can have a look in the freezer. I might have something in there for you.”
Millie was off like a shot.
“Aiden.” She turned her attention back to him, liquid-gold eyes settling. “The buzz I’m hearing about Friday is sure something.”
“Yeah?” Aiden sat up straighter, invigorated by the knowledge that people were talking about it. He shouldn’t be surprised, not with the warm reception he’d received when this was all in the early planning phase. This wasn’t a university activity, setting up a stall on campus that people would walk past without giving their cause a second thought. This was something that everyone cared about, something they could get excited for.
“Something big in the run-up to Christmas,” said Marlee. Aiden’s brain stumbled over that, opening his mouth to dispute that outlandish claim. That was months away, surely?
But it was December. Official as of yesterday. Mam had mentioned the holiday on the phone the other day, something about ordering the turkey in time, but it hadn’t fully registered with him. There was so much going on. That soon, he’d be back in his mam’s house for the holidays. Trying his best to both not get in the way and also help. Having to sit down and eat dinner with Kat, listening to Mam preen over her eldest. Fuck, what about Dan? He’d joined them for the last two Christmases. Would his sister bring him along?
“That’s…good to hear,” Aiden said a few moments later. “Everyone has been incredible, pulling this together.”
“We just love an excuse to party,” Marlee said, earning a huff of agreement from Finn. “Have you got much left to organize?”
Now this, Aiden could talk about. He’d lived and breathed this event for the best part of two weeks; not a moment went by that something wasn’t on his mind regarding it. Yes, Aiden could get carried away with things. But there were times that it worked in his favor. So he talked about the loose ends he’d yet to tie up—the prizes for the raffle, sign-up for stalls along the beach, narrowing down the performers. The list went on and on.
Finn shot Aiden a questioning look at the mention of performers, plural.
“Most of them are high school bands,” Aiden said with a shrug. “I honestly feel mean picking between them, so I’ll probably say yes to everyone and just reduce the playing time.”
“Isn’t that something,” Marlee said, nudging Finn with her elbow. “Where’d this one crawl out of, huh?”
Dazed, Finn said, “I haven’t a fucking clue.”
With Millie tucked into bed, this time settled down after two stories and a song, Finn joined Aiden in the living room. He hadn’t mentioned Aiden going back to Ryan’s for the night, and Aiden wasn’t about to bring it up.
Even when he knew there wasn’t a chance of that happening, especially when Finn stopped in front of the couch and clambered into his lap. It wasn’t exactly elegant or comfortable, but there was something about a six-foot-plus guy straddling him while kissing Aiden breathless that was incredibly hot.
“What was that for?” Aiden asked once Finn pulled back, breathless.
Finn’s hands cupped his face, calloused and searing hot. “I meant it.”
“Meant—”
“I have no idea where you crawled out of.”
Aiden made a small noise of protest when Finn removed himself from his lap, shutting promptly up when he instead sank to his knees.
“But I’m really glad you did.”
It was difficult to think of anything else with Finn all over him. His mouth, his hands. Fuck, even his smell. Not one part of Aiden escaped Finn’s notice, his care, his attention. Aiden had never felt so—adored. It was tender, raw. Intimate. Which, all right, was going to be the case during sex. But this? This was new. Catching Finn’s eye, grinning to each other as though they were sharing a private joke, being too exhausted to kiss properly and instead just breathing into each other’s mouths while—
Aiden hadn’t felt like this before. And a part of him knew it was all down to Finn.