“And speaking of folly.” He flagged down the waiter. “I need another drink.”
Only Rick could quoteAs You Like Itwith adoring eyes at his husband and then turn to demand another whiskey.
Shakespeare would have approved.
“Sounds like you guys were pretty wild back then,” Finn said.
“Back then, he says,” Rick huffed. “Don’t think us old guys can’t keep up with the younger crowd. You obviously don’t mind a challenge if you went after Teddy.”
“He was a challenge,” Finn said, eyes dark and enticing in the dim light of the bar, “but I’m patient when something’s worthwhile. Plus, I was a challenge, too, though I can’t seem to scare him off.”
“Your dancing might do it,” Teddy joked.
“I told you I have two left feet!”
Teddy chuckled. “You have potential. You just need direction.” The warmth of the whiskey coursing through him made it easy to add, “Which you take very well.”
Finn flushed, and from across the table, Rick gave a gruff laugh.
“You are something else, kid. Not too many people can pull out such easy smiles from this old grump. And I get why. Maybe he’ll let us borrow you sometime.”
“Rick!” Dan shouted again, smacking Rick’s chest with a scandalized expression.
“You know I don’t mean it,” Rick said after another deep chortle. “I only have eyes for you, babe.”
They kissed, practiced and heated in a breath, and Teddy saw Finn gaze at them in wonder.
“Stranger things have happened at my beach house,” he muttered, which took Teddy a moment to register.
“Excuse me?”
“Not like that!” Finn said quickly, now that Teddy’s head was filled with illicit threesomes. “And you have nothing to worry about, it’s just… Carlos and I made out once after too much tequila.”
Teddy laughed.
“Carlos? That the guy Erina’s after?” Rick asked with a sly grin. “Oh, we’re gonna have fun with him next weekend.”
“Don’t torture him too badly,” Teddy said. “I think Erina actually likes this one.”
“And Carlos adores her,” Finn chimed in. “They’ve talked on the phone almost every night since they met.”
The buzz of the whiskey and other good feelings in Teddy’s belly made it impossible for him to care if his hip was sore from sitting on a plane, then in a theater, and now. He snuggled closer to Finn, all his walls dropped, and loved how Finn’s were nowhere in sight either.
“Like I keep saying,” Teddy purred, “you are a terrible influence.”
The way Finn ran his tongue over his lips drew Teddy’s eyes right to them—and reminded him of where they’d been earlier. “Does that mean I’d be totally lame if I said I’m ready to call it a night?”
“Only if you go straight to sleep,” Rick said with another laugh, “and we all know that’s not happening. Go on, we can make our own way home and catch up with you kids tomorrow.”
“We’ll cover the tab.” Dan smiled, having drunk significantly more of his beer in a short period after reliving his meet-cute with his husband. “You two have a good time. A goodnight,” he corrected the obvious innuendo.
“And a goodtime,” Rick affirmed.
“I’ll call you in the morning,” Teddy said, dragging Finn out of the booth, but as they headed off, Rick was already too distracted to answer, crowding Dan into the corner of their nook, the twoof them ever in love and an inspiration Teddy used to resent, if only a little.
Now he didn’t feel quite so hopeless in the wake of their romance when he had a warm hand in his.
They were only a few blocks from the hotel, perfect to walk on a cool spring night. Finn had already been to the room to drop off his things and change, so his bags were upstairs. Erina had planned her surprise so that he arrived just as Teddy and the others were out at dinner.
