Page 71 of Breathless

Wyatt nodded, glancing up at him as he sat down and started to eat. “I was just thinking about this team of ours…”

Thoreau forced his heartrate to slow.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Wyatt picked up the bottle of Fiona’s Cream Ale and looked at it in the light. “I was wondering what the next phase would be. If we wanted to keep moving forward with the plan.”

Thoreau set down his pizza and stared at Wyatt Finn intently. “Do you want to move forward?”

“Fiona does,” he responded quickly before laughing self-consciously. “Yes. I’d like to move forward, too.”

Thoreau didn’t want to get ahead of himself, but he couldn’t help the smile blooming on his face. “Then the next phase is easy. I own this building, you know. It doesn’t have to be two separate apartments. Walls were meant to be torn down, in my opinion.”

Wyatt’s lips quirked, but Thoreau could see the relief in his eyes. “That might be a good idea. There’s a baby coming, in case you missed it.”

“Trust me, I did not miss that.” He hesitated. “You think you can handle what’s coming next? Other people knowing about this? About us?”

“Someone told me that labels didn’t matter. Not right or wrong. Not gay or straight. Not just one man for just one woman. If anyone would understand that, it would be my family. The guys at the firehouse too. They’ve all met Rory.”

Thoreau watched him, stunned, as he picked up the bottle of Thor’s hammer and popped open the lid. “I haven’t tried this one yet.”

“Are you saying what I think—”

“We’ll go slow,” Wyatt said, a small warning in his tone. “But we’ll do it together.”

Thoreau reminded himself to breathe. He’d planned all of this out but Wyatt kept surprising him. “You know you’ve skipped to phase five in a single conversation.”

Wyatt chuckled, taking a sip of the braggot. “Oh, that’s strong. Is that honey, though? That’s pretty damn good. Fiona’s is still my favorite, but you could definitely bring home more of this.”

Thoreau grabbed the bottle from him and took a drink for himself. “I think I might.”

“What about you?” Wyatt asked. “I mean, Finns roll with shit like this but your family might have a problem. I hope not. I love your mother.”

Fiona appeared in the kitchen doorway in nothing but his sheet and a smile, watching them fondly. “We’ll have to start researching now. Find all the books we can by authors who had multiple partners. They won’t stand a chance.”

Wyatt laughed and pulled her into his lap for a smacking kiss of approval. “I’m surrounded by evil geniuses.”

“But you love it.”

“But I love it.”

So did Thoreau.

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