Nolan’s eyes widened, and Finn realized how that sounded in context with Gavin’s earlier remarks.
“The uh. Theactualpython. Her name’s Buttercup. We have a tiger, too. It’s… I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s a weird place, but it’s kinda magical.”
“Sounds like it.” Nolan wet his lips. “I always wanted to meet a python.”
“Awesome.” Finn beamed, pleased that he’d found something to offer Nolan. “I promise it’ll be no-pressure. Come in jeans and a t-shirt and sneakers, we’ll eat something terrible for us and I’ll tell you everything I know about animals.”
“Aren’t you a vet?” Nolan asked.
“Yeah. I guess telling youeverythingI know might be overkill, huh?” Finn rubbed the back of his neck, offering Nolan a sheepish smile.
He was shy, too.
Especially when the person he was talking to had big, sad eyes and was built like someone he could pin against the wall with their legs wrapped around his waist.
Not that he wasthinkingthat.
But it’d been a long time since he’d talked to someone who might have been remotely interested in him. He missed being close to people.
He missed sex. Almost enough to let Oscar make him a hookup app profile, but not quite enough to get past the discomfort of having sex with a total stranger.
It’d been a very long two years.
Nolan shrugged. “I’d listen,” he said. “You have a nice voice.”
That was the first time Finn had been complimented on hisvoice, but he was willing to take it. The ice between them was starting to crack, and he wanted to keep that going.
Partly because it’d make the wholedatething less awkward, partly because the impulse to rescue Nolan still hadn’t faded.
He was cute, in an adorable nerd kind of way.
“So… days, times? What works for you?”
“Would a weekend be okay?” Nolan asked sheepishly. “It’s just… I work a lot during the week and I don’t have a ton of spare time.”
“I can totally do a weekend,” Finn said. He’d been expecting to be asked that, anyway. “Or an evening, if that’s better for you?”
Nolan glanced in the direction Gavin had disappeared in, obviously considering something.
“Maybe… maybe Friday afternoon?” he asked. “I think if Gavin got me into this he has to give me the afternoon off todoit.”
Finn beamed at him. “Now you’re thinking,” he said. “So you work for him?”
“I’m his CTO. That’s, uh…”
“Chief technology officer, I know,” Finn nodded. “Big job. And you’re only twenty-seven?”
Nolan shrugged. “Nepotism,” he said. “Gavin also believes people over thirty are stupid. I’m not… sure what he’s gonna do in two years when heturnsthirty.”
Laughter escaped Finn before he could stop himself, but Nolan didn’t look all that offended on Gavin’s behalf. Obviously, their relationship was a little on the complicated side.
“Update it to thirty-five,” Finn said.
“Probably,” Nolan agreed. “So this Friday? I could get away around three, I’m not sure how far the sanctuary is from town…”
“A solid forty-five minutes if you don’t get lost. So allow like an hour and a half.”
Nolan chuckled, and Finn was quickly getting to the point where he wanted to figure out how to make him keep doing that, whatever it took. His eyes lit up when he laughed, and the worry was starting to melt away from his features.
