Finn's Fantasy (Maine Men #1) - K.C. Wells Page 0,73
want the kids to think I’m interfering.” He sighed. “Maybe this is one we play by ear.”
Joel was no clearer in his mind. On the coffee table his phone buzzed, and Finn lurched off the couch and grabbed it, passing it to him. “I’ll go get us some juice.” Then he headed into the kitchen, affording Joel the perfect view of that gorgeous butt in tight jeans.
His phone vibrated in his hand, and he clicked Accept when he saw it was Carrie. “Hey.”
“I know it’s late, but can we talk?”
Something in her voice had the hairs standing up on his arms. “What’s wrong?”
“The last time Nate visited… how was he?”
Oh God. “He was okay,” Joel said slowly. “They both were. Nate didn’t say much, but then he hasn’t said an awful lot lately.”
Carrie sighed. “As I thought. Well, it’s a different story now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I guess he’s been bottling everything up inside, because he just pulled the cork and I’m dealing with the aftermath.”
Joel’s chest tightened. “What happened?”
“He exploded, would be a fair description. He went on about how he didn’t understand why we divorced. He talked about there being no fights, no real conflict between us. He can’t understand why we act like we’re friends. What it all boiled down to was, ‘There’s something you’re not telling me. There’s more to this than the two of you just growing apart.’”
“What did you say to him?”
“The only thing I could say—I told him the four of us needed to talk about this, face to face, as a family.” She paused. “I told him it was time he knew the truth.”
Joel expelled a long breath. “Your timing is uncanny. I just said the same thing to Finn.”
There was a pause. “Finn’s there?”
He let out a wry chuckle. “Correction—I’m at Finn’s place.”
“A little late for discussing deck-building, don’t you think?” There was a note of interest in her voice.
Here we go. “Well… to be honest, we weren’t doing a lot of talking.” Hell, she had a right to know. He knew about Eric.
“I see. Things have progressed, haven’t they?” Another pause. “You happy?”
“I was—until you called. So did he agree to us getting together?”
“He wanted to know why I couldn’t tell him right that second. I explained again that we needed to do this as a family, and said I’d ask you if Sunday was okay. Turns out Nate is meeting up with a college friend Saturday, so that works out for us. How about you?”
“Sunday’s fine. Just let me know when you’re on your way.”
“Sure. And Joel?” Carrie’s voice was warm. “I am happy about you and Finn.”
“Hey, don’t start picking out china or anything like that. We’re just dating, all right? And it hasn’t been that long.” Okay, so he wanted more than Finn warming his bed, but he wasn’t about to jeopardize the situation by moving too fast.
“In that case, I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I like him.”
At that moment, Finn walked into the living room carrying two glasses of juice, and Joel smiled. “I’m pretty fond of him too. I’ll see you Sunday.” He disconnected.
Finn sat on the couch. “Sunday?” Joel repeated the conversation, and Finn gaped. “Well shit. Talk about a coincidence.” He squared his shoulders. “That clinches it. I won’t be there.”
Joel stilled. “Really?”
He nodded. “This moment belongs to you and Carrie, and I shouldn’t intrude.” Finn gave a half smile. “No matter how much I wanna be there. Just promise you’ll call the minute they leave.”
“The second,” Joel assured him. Then he smiled. “Come here. I need to hold you close.”
Finn straddled Joel’s hips. He bent down and kissed Joel on the lips. “This close enough?”
Joel’s hands were on his waist. “Oh, I think we can get closer than this.”
Right then he wanted to be so close that he couldn’t tell where Finn ended and he began.
Where do you want this to go, Finn?
Not that Joel was about to ask him. He’d said as much to Carrie. This was a recent development, and much as Joel wanted it to continue, he wasn’t going to make a move so soon.
No matter how much he yearned to do just that.
Chapter Twenty
Finn let out a sigh of sheer contentment. “I like it when Friday night spills over into Saturday morning.” Especially when that meant snuggling in Joel’s bed. There was even a foot warmer, in the shape of Bramble who had ventured upstairs. He’d gazed at them from the top step with those liquid brown eyes, and