Chapter 16 #2
When Daniel’s eyes cut to his, Brantley told himself not to back down. He was curious what Daniel thought about the city.
“Really?”
“Yes, really. I know you think we should just forget the rest of the world and our lives for two weeks, but I can’t do that. And I don’t think you can, either.”
“I can try.”
“Really?” Brantley repeated.
When Daniel rolled his eyes, he raised his eyebrows. Ahh, yes. There’s my Finn.
“I like it. It’s totally different than here.
It’s busy and demanding, and it never gives you a chance to stop and think.
But at the same time, when the winter comes around and the snow hits the ground, there are moments when it’s totally quiet and still…
peaceful, almost. And you forget that the craziness of the city is just an elevator ride down to ground floor. ”
Brantley smiled and nodded. “Yeah. It was like that where I grew up too. I used to love watching the first snow fall.”
“Yeah.” Daniel chuckled. “It’s the shit-ton that follows and the ice you have to scrape off your car windshield that I could do without. But the holidays are nice. The lights and decorations in all of that snow. There’s something magical about it. You should see it.”
Brantley didn’t dare answer the way he wanted to, because though it was issued like an invite, he hardly thought that Daniel had meant it that way.
“And work? What about your job?”
Daniel lifted his glass to his lips and took a sip before lowering it back to the table. “Wait. You mean you don’t ask my mother for weekly updates? I’m crushed.”
“No you’re not. You’re arrogant, is what you are. I asked your mother once, and after that, each time she saw me, she updated me.”
Daniel nodded and took another sip of his wine. “Yeah. That’s because she knows we used to sleep together.”
The sip of wine Brantley had just taken got caught in his throat and he coughed. “What do you mean she knows? How long has she known?”
“Apparently since the first student and faculty conference, when I couldn’t keep my eyes off you.”
“Oh, fuck.”
Daniel tsked, and Brantley narrowed his eyes.
“Language, professor.”
“Language?” Brantley said, shaking his head, horrified over the fact that Daniel couldn’t seem to stop laughing. “That’s the least of my worries. What must she think of me? Oh my God. I was sitting in her kitchen the other day and you…you practically seduced me there.”
“Wow, you’re taking this much worse than I did.”
“Why? What did you do?”
“I told her I was going to pack my bag and go and stay at your house for two weeks.”
“Finn!”
“What? We’re both adults. And we were both adults back then too. She knows that.”
Brantley covered his face with his hands, and when he felt the heat that had risen to his cheeks, he shut his eyes. Damn wine.
“Brantley.”
Refusing to open his eyes, he tried to think of something he could say the next time he saw Camille Finley, because I’m so sorry I had sex with your son didn’t seem to be cutting it in his head.
“Brantley.”
Daniel’s tone had his eyes opening and focusing on him, and the desire swirling in his eyes made all the panic in Brantley’s mind evaporate.
“Whatever you’re thinking right now, stop.”
Those words sounded so familiar—they were his words. And how ironic was it that Daniel was using them now—with him.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Actually, you didn’t do anything at all. I hunted you down.”
“I let you catch me.”
“Hmm. Yes, you did. And you’re going to later tonight, aren’t you?”
When their eyes connected, Brantley felt hunted all over again. Then Daniel’s lips curled into a slow, sensual smile, and everything he might have done wrong seemed to vanish.
And he whispered, “Yes.”
DANIEL WAS SURE his seared salmon was delicious, but if anyone had asked him what else was with his meal, he wouldn’t have been able to tell them. He was too consumed by the man sitting across from him to do anything other than cut, lift, and chew the food on his plate.
People came and went as they ate their way through their appetizers and entrees, and when the waiter reappeared and asked about dessert, Brantley held his hand up as if he were going to refuse.
“Are you serious?” Daniel asked. “You’re not going to order dessert? Did you see the cart when we walked in?”
Brantley nodded but then patted his stomach. “I think I’ve had more than enough. Otherwise, our morning run will turn into twenty miles.”
Trailing his eyes down Brantley’s chest to where his hand was resting, Daniel shook his head. Then he looked to the waiter. “We’d love to see the dessert menu.”
The waiter grinned and walked off to get said menus.
Daniel leaned across the table and said, “I promise to work you out real good when we get home. So pick something off the menu that you want in your mouth. Or, better yet, pick something you think I’d like. Because when we get home, my tongue is going to be taking a nice, long taste.”
Brantley’s eyelids lowered to half-mast, and the flush that swept up his neck was so fucking arousing that Daniel was close to taking his mouth before the dessert menus had even arrived.
“Where is that damn waiter?” he said as he looked around. Then he saw him hurrying back toward the table.
“Sorry about that.”
Once the young man handed them the menus, Daniel scanned the choices, just as Brantley was, and zeroed in on one of his favorites. Then he found Brantley’s eyes and raised an eyebrow.
Brantley’s lips quirked in a knowing grin, and then he turned his attention to the waiter. “I think I’d like the key lime pie.”
Oh, Jesus, yeah. Great plan, Daniel told himself as he remembered the first time he’d had key lime pie with Brantley. As the waiter wrote it down and took their menus, Daniel saw the self-satisfied look on Brantley’s face and knew he’d done that on purpose.
Fuck, that was the problem with memories so hot that they singed a permanent mark on the inside of your brain. You could never escape them.
“And for you, sir?”
Daniel shifted in his seat and replied, “I’m going to share his.”
Brantley scoffed at that. “If you’re lucky.”
The waiter smiled at the two of them and then excused himself.
Daniel placed his hand over Brantley’s, and when he turned it over so their fingers lined up, he said, “I plan to get very lucky—and so will you.”
As Brantley entwined their fingers, Daniel gently squeezed them, and his chest tightened as if those same fingers had just wrapped around his heart.
This man was making it more difficult with every gesture, every word, and every damn memory that came flooding back to remain detached, because when it came to Brantley, Daniel knew there was no one he needed to be more careful around.
Not only did he have the power to bring Daniel to his knees with a mere look, but he also had the power to break him once he was there.
When his eyes collided with the man watching him with silent intensity, Daniel pushed that thought aside. He knew what he’d signed up for, and so did Brantley.
“Okay, guys,” the waiter said as he arrived with one plate and two forks. “Here you go. Enjoy.”
As he placed the dessert between them, Brantley released his hand and Daniel picked his fork up.
Yeah, I can do this, he thought. All he had to do was keep his heart out of the equation.