'Til There Was You - Jerry Cole Page 0,34

take another sip, but then remembered his drink was empty and he was waiting on his next. He’d only meant to have one or two... but that was long since a thing of the past. “Historical-Fantasy revolving more around the kingdom or whatever, than an actual person.”

“You’re starting to get it,” Austin teased. He was grinning profusely now, looking the most confident and comfortable Finn had ever seen him. He finished his drink and waved to the bartender for another also.

“But that is my point!” Finn’s freshly made drink landed in front of him and he eagerly took a long sip. “If there’s no character to follow, and no goal, how does the book end? I don’t get it.”

Austin could not have looked more delighted if he had tried. “You’re just going to have to wait and see.”

“Not too long, I hope,” Finn pumped his eyebrows.

“Isn’t that on you?”

“Ha!” Finn threw back his head and laughed. “I’m seeing you the same time next week – but you keep this up, I’m going to demand you have the book done by then. I’ll force you to bang the whole thing out in a week if I have to. The cheek,” she scoffed to himself.

“Force me?” Austin tilted his head and smiled knowingly. His drink arrived, but he kept his blue eyes trained on Finn as he reached for it and took a sip. “How exactly?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Finn chided before he could stop himself. He’d always been a flirt when he knew that he shouldn’t have been... but this was something else, and Finn wasn’t sure what.

It had started when the two were clothes shopping earlier that day. Finn had known going in that he and Austin were going to get along, but he’d had no idea just how much that would be. One thing that Finn did hate about this job were the times that he was forced to work with clients he disliked. Sometimes they were boring. Other times they had nothing in common. And a few times they were just bad people. Austin was none of these things.

Finn’s first impressions of him had not been positive. Weak, cowardly, completely lacking in self-confidence... to name a few things. Now though, after just one day spent together, he knew that Austin was completely different to what he had expected going in. The guy was a marvel.

Austin was funny. He was interesting. He was kind. He was surprisingly charming. The only thing that he wasn’t, was confident, but that was very quickly changing. Now that he was comfortable around Finn, now that he knew him a little better, now that he had opened all the way up, he was a completely different guy... a guy that Finn was starting to like.

And so, Finn had agreed to grab a drink with him. Not only was it a mini-celebration for a first session gone well, but Finn actually wanted to spend more time with the guy. He loved talking about film and tv and pop-culture, and knew that Austin did too.

The bar they’d chosen was a small hole-in-the-wall type deal that neither had ever been too. The place was empty, seeing as it was a Tuesday afternoon, but that didn’t matter. They sat themselves down in a booth at the very back, ordered some drinks and got to bonding.... and then some more bonding... and then a little bit more. Austin opened up more about his relationship with Freddy, Finn explained to Austin his relationship with his son, and the two spoke about everything in between.

As said, Finn had only meant to have one drink but he was now four deep and didn’t seem himself stopping anytime soon.

The only real question left was, what now? Ordinarily, if Finn got on this well with another gay man, he’d be doing everything in his power to get him into his bed... or living room... or the bathroom at the bar. But did Finn want that for Austin? Honestly, he wasn’t sure. Not only was he a client, but he also wasn’t Finn’s type... at least he hadn’t been. With his new look and newfound self-esteem, he was certainly much more Finn’s speed than he had been.

“What?” Austin asked sheepishly. “What are you looking at?”

Finn hadn’t even realized he was staring. His eyes were working themselves up and down Austin, taking in every inch of him. “Oh... just admiring my handy work,” Finn waved off coolly.

“You’re handy work?” Austin rolled his eyes.