CHAPTER TWENTY
Later that week, Sebastian finished the last of the arrangements for the following day, feeling pleased.
Rosaleen had worked alongside him, watching what he did, and listening intently when he offered her feedback on her work. She was doing well. Her previous experience in customer service meant that she’d picked up the front of the shop duties easily and she and Morgan were getting along great.
As Sebastian tossed discarded leaves and creased outer petals in the bin as he tidied the workroom, he could hear the two of them laughing up front.
Sebastian smiled and Raul—who was nearby prepping the delivery list for tomorrow morning—smiled back. He was a fiftyish Latino man with sparkling brown eyes and a great sense of humor.
“Girl, those two are getting along like a house on fire, aren’t they?” he asked.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Sebastian said with a laugh.
“It’s good to see. And maybe you won’t have to overwork yourself as much now, hmm?”
Sebastian chuckled. “That’ll be the day.”
“Well, we can dream.” Raul let out a dramatic sigh. “You know, far be it from me to tell my boss what to do but today would be a good opportunity for you to take a break actually.”
“You think so?” Sebastian considered the idea.
“Well, orders for tomorrow are just about ready to go. We have enough pre-made bouquets for tomorrow, you already placed the orders for Monday’s flower delivery …
I think you’re actually caught up.” Raul gestured, the sleeves of his colorful silk shirt billowing dramatically.
“Go live your life! Enjoy your youth while you have it!”
“I’m not that much younger than you!”
“Honey, in gay years I am ancient. If I hadn’t met George when I did …” He arched an eyebrow significantly.
“I hear you, I hear you. I’ll go to talk to Morgan and Rosaleen and see what they think.”
When he brought up the idea, both young women nodded.
“Go, go!” Morgan told him, flapping her hands. “We’ve got this, boss.”
Sebastian turned to Rosaleen. “You just started. I don’t want to leave you here to fend for yourself if you’re not comfortable.”
Rosaleen shrugged. “I mean, Morgan and Raul are here if I have any questions.”
“True,” Sebastian said. “I just don’t want you to feel like I’m bailing on you …”
“We can also text if anything comes up that we can’t handle,” Morgan said with a laugh. “Or call.”
“You know, if you were any less trustworthy, I’d be a little concerned that you’re trying to get rid of me for some nefarious reason,” he said with a laugh as he looked between Morgan and Raul.
“You caught us,” Morgan said with a giggle. “We’re planning to throw a party.”
“Dance party!” Raul said, doing a move that Sebastian was pretty sure hadn’t been popular at any point in Raul’s lifetime.
Rosaleen grinned. “I knew I was going to like working here!”
Sebastian shook his head. They were all a little nuts, but he felt lucky to have them. And Joe. His delivery driver had really stepped up lately and done a lot better job communicating.
Despite Sebastian’s protestations and joking, he did trust his staff. Any time he’d had to leave to go take care of Harper, they’d done a fantastic job of running the shop and it really wouldn’t kill him to take the rest of the afternoon off today …
“Okay, okay,” he conceded. “I’ll go. But if you need anything, you know where to find me.”
After grabbing his laptop from his office, he turned to go upstairs but Raul was standing there, hands on his ample hips.
He was about half Sebastian’s height, but he peered up at Sebastian with a scowl. “Leave the laptop. You won’t really be taking a day off if you’re just upstairs doing admin shit.”
Sebastian scowled. Damn it. He’d only been planning to post a few things on social media and send his web manager an email about some tweaks he wanted to make to his website and maybe review his financial statements … but Raul had a point.
“Yeah, okay,” he agreed, turning back to set his laptop on his desk. “I’ll … go relax.”
“Or go be social. Go make friends. Find a handsome man to smooch.”
Sebastian grimaced because even though he gave his sister shit for not making friends, he hadn’t either. It wasn’t that he didn’t want more local friends.
He stayed in contact with his friends in New York, but he hadn’t really gone out much since he’d been living in Boston. Hadn’t really met anyone new, except maybe the people who worked for the Harriers but although the organization and the team had been great, they weren’t potential new friends.
Sebastian’s life had pretty much been work, hockey games, and Harper and Brie. Rinse and repeat. Which wasn’t all bad—and was, in fact, totally understandable.
But still, he could do better.
With a sigh, Sebastian looked at Raul. “I’ll do my best,” he promised.
“That’s the spirit!” Raul said. “Go make out with some handsome men for me! Love George but let me tell you, sometimes I miss kissing strangers. Not enough to do anything about it, mind you, but at least one of us should be enjoying ourselves.”
Sebastian chuckled and headed for the stairs. “Message received.”
In his apartment, he glanced around, somewhat at a loss for what to do. He had the afternoon ahead of him and … no plans. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.
He pulled out his phone in search of ideas, opening up the hookup app out of habit.
He was tempted to message Crawford, but he hadn’t heard from him since the craft event at the children’s hospital a few days ago.
Sebastian wasn’t overly surprised.
Crawford had been surprisingly tolerable that day, but he was still a prickly bastard, and Sebastian had no expectations that that was going to change. Sebastian had already put it out there that if Crawford wanted him to come over and hook up, it was an option.
Now, the puck was in his zone, so to speak.
Sebastian sighed, closed the app, then tucked his phone in his pocket. Fuck it, he’d listen to music for a while until he figured out what he wanted to do.
A corner of his apartment held a turntable and a shit ton of vintage records.
One of his favorite things to do after work was to stretch out on the vintage Eames chair and ottoman he’d snagged from an estate sale a few years back, put on some music, close his eyes, and just let the sound wash over him.
He did that now, picking out something mellow and putting it on the turntable.
His phone buzzed in his pocket as he got comfortable on the chair and he ignored it for a moment as he lay back, closing his eyes and sinking into the sound.
Sometimes he smoked a little weed or ate an edible while he listened, and he was just contemplating if it was worth getting up and pulling out the locked box where he kept it on the shelf—safe from Harper’s curious fingers, of course—when his phone buzzed again.
He groaned and opened his eyes, checking to be sure it wasn’t anything urgent, like an emergency message from Brie about Harper. He was less worried about his employees. He knew they could handle themselves and if they really needed him, they’d come upstairs and pound on his door.
Thankfully, it was none of those things. Merely the hookup app, notifying him he had two new messages.
He half-considered not answering but a part of him was curious to see if they were from Crawford. Sebastian doubted they were but maybe his cock stirred a little at the thought anyway.
To his surprise, the messages were indeed from Crawford.
The first one said, Fuck I’m bored today. And then the second. You wanna give me your phone number? Sick of messaging on this stupid app.
Sebastian raised an eyebrow, then typed out his number.
A moment later, his phone buzzed with a text message. It’s Crawford.
No shit? Sebastian fired back. He added the number as a contact, but labeled it Asshole. He wondered how Crawford had labeled his number.
Fuck off. You want to come over? Crawford sent.
I don’t wonder you’re single. You really don’t know how to charm a guy.
Hey, we both know what this is, right?
Yeah, we do, Sebastian agreed. Fine. When?
Now? Whenever, really. Not doing anything today. I was thinking about watching the Nordic vs. USA game later. I dunno if you can leave work but I thought you might want to check it out too.
Oh, the North Atlantic Tournament? Sebastian asked, surprised by the invite.
Hadn’t Crawford just said that they knew what this was?
To Sebastian’s mind, that meant sex and nothing more.
He and Crawford didn’t usually hang out and watch hockey.
Then again, there were Crawford’s regular trips to the penalty box during games …
Where was the harm in a bit of hockey on TV before or maybe after a blowjob?
Sebastian’s phone buzzed with an answer from Crawford. Yeah. Tanner’s playing for Team USA. I wanna make fun of him when he gets back for all the shit he fucks up.
Sebastian laughed. Hmm, yeah, that could be entertaining. I know Leif Rasmussen’s playing for the Nordic team. Should be a good matchup. Those two are always going at it on the ice.
Fuck. Rasmussen’s such a prick out there.
Takes one to know one, Sebastian shot back.
You coming over or not?
Yeah. When’s puck drop? he asked, getting up and lifting the needle from the record.
Just get your ass over here.
With a huff, Sebastian stood and tucked his phone in his pocket. Why was he sleeping with such an asshole again? Oh right, he had a nice dick.
And, sometimes, he made Sebastian laugh.
Sebastian hadn’t gotten around to having lunch today, so he heated up a container of lentil stew and tossed in some wilting spinach that he’d optimistically—or maybe foolishly—planned to make into salads to eat.
He wolfed down the halfway-decent concoction, eating out of the pan as he stood in in his kitchen, wincing as he imagined the look Brie would give him if she saw …