“Who says I want a love interest?” Seb demanded. “I’m happy keeping it casual. No strings. No commitments. I like my life as it is. And so what if I hook up with guys from MaineStreet? There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Nothing at all,” Finn assured him.
Seb flashed him a grateful glance.
“Do you mean you’re not lusting after any of the hunky guys on your work team?” Shaun teased Finn.
“Those assholes? One, they’re all straight. Two, they yank my chain every chance they get. They love to embarrass me—well, they try to, at least. They don’t get very far.” Besides, there wasn’t one of them who piqued Finn’s interest.
The sole guy to do that remained out of reach, and the idea of approaching him was nothing more than a fantasy. It had only been two weeks since he’d first clapped eyes on the man walking his chocolate lab on the beach, and ever since then Finn had kept a surreptitious lookout for him.
“What are you working on right now?” Levi asked.
“We’re building a hotel on Kings Highway. It’s gonna have a great view of the beach.” The kind of view Finn ached to have from a front window of his own, but hey, unless he won the Lottery…
“Goose Rocks Beach?” Noah inquired. When Finn nodded, Noah chuckled. “Wow. You have a long drive to work every day, don’t you? How long does it take you to get there? Two, three minutes?”
“Yeah, funny guy.” Finn sipped his champagne. “And I’ll have you know I live two hundred feet from the beach.”
“Ooh, two hundred feet,” Seb taunted. “Walking to work must be a bitch.”
“Jesus, you must have ice water for blood to live there. It’s gotta be freezing this time of year.” Ben gave an exaggerated shiver. “Hope you wear your long johns on site.”
Finn guffawed. “Says you. Remind me where you live again? Camden ain’t exactly the tropics.”
That got him the finger.
“Aren’t the properties there nothing but rentals? You know, for summer people?” Aaron stretched out his long legs, crossing them at the ankles.
“Mostly.” Finn was renting a two-bed cottage from Jon, the builder in charge of the site. It had seen better days, and had obviously been decked out inside by someone with an overwhelming love of pine cladding, but it was comfortable and it suited Finn. From his front door he could look right along Belvidere Avenue to the beach. The site was to the right along the shore.
Finn loved the bracing ocean air and the smells that came with it. He didn’t mind the cold so much—he was used to it—and going for a walk along the beach was his way to unwind. He’d lost track of the number of times during a workday that someone would yell at him to quit staring out at the ocean.
Not that Finn was gazing at the waves all the time—sometimes he was watching a man and his dog. Or watching out for a man and his dog.
I got it bad, for a guy I haven’t even seen up close. For all I know, he might be the Elephant Man. Am I that desperate? Jesus, how long has it been since I got laid?
Long enough that Finn had stopped counting the days.
“So why do you think it took Teresa and Ry all this time to get hitched?” Dylan asked, pulling Finn back into the moment. “Unless Ben nailed it, and she was waiting till his technique improved.” He gave a little snicker.
Ben snorted. “I can tell you why. Teresa was waiting for Mr. Right, and when she finally figured out he wasn’t gonna make an appearance, she settled for Mr. Right Now. Although her mom might’ve have had a hand in it too. Word is, she’s aching to bounce grandkids on her knee. And Teresa must be almost twenty-six by now.”
“How come you know all this?” Finn didn’t think Ben made it back to Wells all that often. Finn could understand that: out of all of them, Ben had encountered more than his fair share of abusive assholes in high school, and most of them had stuck around. With the exception of Aaron up in the Acadia National park, Ben was the farthest north, in Camden.
Ben gave a sly grin. “I have my sources.” He glanced at Dylan and shook his head. “Dude, take off the tie. You’re not working reception at that hotel. Chill.”
Dylan laughed as he loosened his dark blue tie and then removed it. “So I like neat. Bite me.”
“Whereas Ben wouldn’t know neat if it bit him in the ass,” Noah observed with a twinkle in his eye. Ben merely gave him the finger, amid laughter.
“You gotta learn another response, okay?” Finn told Ben with a cackle.
Ben gave him a sweet smile. “You wanna know what my response is?” He did it again. “Sit on it.”
Finn grinned. “I would, but with the size of those fingers, I wouldn’t get a lot out of it.”
“You met any pretty girls in housekeeping yet?” Shaun asked.
Dylan arched his eyebrows. “With my hours? When would I have time to talk to them?”
“How’s your dad, Shaun?” Levi placed his empty glass on the table.
Shaun’s face tightened. “He’s okay. His in-home nurse is with him this weekend. I almost didn’t come.”
Finn’s heart went out to him. Watching dementia nibble away at the dad Shaun had known all his life must’ve been torture.
“Well, I’m glad you did,” Noah said warmly. He peered at their glasses. “We need to make a toast.” When Levi’s face flushed, Noah chuckled. “Here. Have some of mine.” He tipped half his champagne into Levi’s glass.
“Thanks.” Levi gave him a grateful glance before raising his glass. “So, what’ll we drink to?” He gazed around the table and smiled. “I know what my toast would be. To the best friends a guy could ever wish for.”
Ben bit his lip. “To the friends who saved my ass more times than I can remember.” He lifted his glass into the air, as did the others.
“To the friends who’ve had my back since junior high,” Aaron added.
“To the friends who take me as I am.” Seb’s eyes sparkled.
“To the friends who’ve always been there for me, rain or shine.” Shaun’s usually quiet voice rang out.
“To the best role models a guy could have.” The sincerity in Dylan’s voice tightened Finn’s throat.
“To us,” Noah said at last, gazing at each of them.
“To us,” Finn echoed. They brought their glasses together, and no one spoke as they clinked. Each man took a drink in the comfortable silence. Then Finn grinned. “Okay. Enough chatting. I want to watch Ben dance. In fact, I want to dance my feet off.” Monday already beckoned, not that he dreaded going back to work. He loved his job.
But Monday morning would also bring the guy on the beach, walking his beautiful dog.
Will that be the day I finally get up the nerve to talk to him? Finn doubted it. Why wreck a perfectly fabulous fantasy by discovering the man he found so alluring was as straight as an arrow?
Ben huffed. “Fine. I was gonna dance anyway. But only if you guys keep your phones in your pockets. You got that?”
“We got it.” Seb gave him a reassuring nod. As they got up from the table, he caught Finn’s eye, and waggled his phone. Your turn, he mouthed.