“Tall, dark, motorcycle?”
“Uh…yeah…?”
“Finn paid your tab. Gotta go.” The line disconnected.
Fucking hell.That was almost worse than having to drive back to the bar. Because I didn’t want to owe Finnegan anything. I’d already snuck out of his bed without a word. I’d already spent several months avoiding him at all costs.Yeah, but you were sort of hoping to run into him tonight. Long shot at best. He could’ve as likely have gone to Davie Street in downtown Vancouver. Just because I happened to know tonight had been his first night off since his last four days of night shifts…
I yanked off my T-shirt. The pure white contrasted with my dark skin, and I wore it a little tight to show off my muscles. Yes, I might be forty—and way too old for the twenty-six-year-old Finn—but I wasn’t going into middle age without a fight. This building had decent gym equipment that I made good use of in the mornings before most of the world was awake. I was of theearly bird gets the wormpersuasion. Tonight, I was out way past my bedtime.
Spring, thank God, was a night owl. Between the two of us, we kept Mission City news covered.
Only as I was removing my jeans did I realize my blinds were still up. Doubtful anyone could see in, but I wasn’t an exhibitionist. During the day, I kept the curtains open to get as much light as possible.
Tonight, I shut the blinds, and the light pollution lessened. I eyed my blackout curtains and decided to leave them open. Bad for sleep hygiene, but I needed a connection to the outside world.
After finishing stripping, I hopped into the shower. I bent my head so the hot water ran down the sides of my face as well as my back.
As if I could wipe tonight from my mind.
I never put out on the first date.
What did that mean? I rubbed my face. He’dput outthe first time after my near miss with a joyriding teenager in his mother’s stolen minivan. Had that been adrenaline or had he not seen it as a date? Which was true—that fuck really hadn’t been a date. One shag didn’t make a relationship. Especially when one party snuck out in the middle of the night without leaving a note.
No putting a rose smell on that shitty act.
I grabbed my vanilla body wash and coated myself. Like I could wipe away Finn’s scent from where it lingered in my mind where he’d pressed up against me. Old Spice? Light, for certain. So, soap? Or just that the scent had mostly worn off after a long day?
My skin tingled at the thought of him touching me—even if it’d been over my henley and jeans.
Fuck, I wanted him.
All of him.
Because the more I got to know him—through other people’s stories, admittedly—the more I liked. Well, as long as he was the goddamn boy scout he appeared to be. Earnest, helpful, generous, kind, and a bunch of other stuff. No one had a negative word about him. He was, according to everyone, just a great guy.
Great guys are often hiding the biggest secrets.
Which was why I’d kept my distance. I just didn’t know. And I couldn’t risk getting involved with him as long as I didn’t have answers.
My cock stirred at the memory of brushing against him, but I ignored it. I needed sleep—not to unsatisfactorily jerk off to the long-distant memory of his beautiful ass.
Long-distant? Like, three months ago.
Or a lifetime—depending on one’s perspective.
After the water sluiced off the last of the body wash, I hopped out of the shower. My centimeter of hair took ten seconds to dry. I kept the buzz cut because otherwise the curls went everywhere. I didn’t mind the natural look for some guys. For me? It just didn’t work.
The mirror didn’t lie about my age, with the first white hairs in my beard. Neatly trimmed to accentuate the shape of my face. Or so my last barber had told me. Also easy to maintain. I was not, however, going to trim now. Right at this moment, I was ready to drop in bed and crash. Then sleep for a month.
Yeah…but what if you’d met someone tonight? What if Finn invited you for a repeat?
Then likely I’d have perked up—both my brain and my cock. Because the idea of doing anything again with Finnegan was worthy of rousing. Cup of black coffee or a cola would’ve helped.
Instead, I crawled into bed naked, shut off the light, and let myself go.
Chapter Four
Finn
