Page 47 of Finlay

“They are very chatty flowers.” I winked. “Asking lots of questions. Well, just one, I suppose. So, do you have an answer for them?”

He bit his lip and turned to the flowers. His trembling hands began to fuss with the display. I didn’t speak, didn’t move, just let Chester work through whatever thought process he was considering.

“Just one night? No strings?” He didn’t look at me as he spoke.

“If that’s what ye want,” I said gently. I didn’t want to scare him off, but I also didn’t want to lie to him. “I’ll admit, I want more from you. But if one night is all yer prepared to give me, I’ll take it and be damned grateful.”

“You won’t push me if I say I can’t give you any more?”

“No.” I reached out to lightly touch his arm. I needed him to look at me, to know how seriously I was taking this. “You might not trust me yet, Chester, but you will. I’m a man of my word.”

Chester chewed on his lip a bit more. “So you’re saying that if I say that’s it, please never contact me again, you’ll do that?”

“Yes.” It’d kill me, but I’d do it. I’d probably still watch over Chester from afar, just to keep him safe, but I wouldn’t ignore his boundaries. I’d survived unrequited love once before; I could do it again. Right?

From how my wolf howled at the thought, I wasn’t so certain. But the one thing my wolf and I agreed on was Chester’s happiness.

If that meant loving him from a distance, we could do it. We would do it.

“Just to be clear,” I said slowly. “If youdon’ttell me to stay away, does that mean you’re comfortable with me pursuing you?” He froze, and I hurried to continue. “At your pace, obviously, Chester. I’d nevereverrush or push you into anything. I just want to know where the boundaries are to make sure I don’t step over them.”

He cleared his throat and ducked his head lower and I could’ve sworn I saw a glimmer of silver lining his eyes. “You’re a thoughtful man, Finn.”

I didn’t speak, waiting for him to say more. Silently demonstrating with my actions that I meant what I’d said.

“I…I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Chester admitted eventually. “I’m sorry, Finn. You probably think I’m messing you around.”

“I don’t,” I said fiercely. “I think you’re scared, Chester. I think you might have been hurt in the past?”

He sucked in a quick breath and I immediately panicked. Was that the wrong thing to say?

But then he nodded. Just once.

Relief flooded me. “I’m sorry that happened, Chester. More than you can ever know.” He didn’t speak, but that was okay. I thought he needed to hear from me more than I needed to hear from him. “I need ye to know that I’d never hurt you in any way. I don’t want anything from you except your happiness.”

A tear tracked down Chester’s cheek, but he didn’t wipe it away. It was almost as though he didn’t even realise. He was staring at the bouquet, but I knew he was listening.

“I don’t expect you to trust me or even believe what I’m telling you. I’m not asking anything from you, Chester, except a chance.”

“You barely know me,” he whispered. “Why do you want this so badly?”

In that moment, I fucking hated that he didn’t know that I was Buddy. That we’d spent countless hours together. That I knew more about him than he’d ever intended to let on.

“I might not know much,” I said finally, “but what I do know, I like. A lot. I won’t lie to you, Chester, you’re the first person in a very long time to make me look twice. To make mewantto pursue something. That’s not something I can ignore. I don’t want to.”

Chester was silent for a long time, his hands trembling at his sides. I didn’t rush him. I waited him out. Waiting until he was ready.

“I’ll give you tonight.” His voice was hoarse. He finally looked at me, a mixture of trepidation and excitement in his eyes. “Tonight, Finn. I can’t promise anything more.”

I bowed my head. “Then I’ll be grateful for that.”

He touched my chin and I lifted my gaze to see something new on his face.Determination.“I can’t promise more after tonight, but I’m not promisingjusttonight. Does that make sense?”

I turned my head to press a kiss to his palm. “Yes. One step at a time, Chester. That’s enough for me.”

When Chester gave me his address, I didn’t think he considered my morning swims in the loch. The swims he believed I didn’t know about.

From how he was pacing up and down in his house, he’d since remembered. He was wringing his hands and muttering under his breath. Either he was freaking out about how I’d react, or his anxiety about tonight was getting the best of him.

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