Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“I’m sure she does,” I say meaningfully. “But she sent him anyway. He says you haven’t been talking. It might mean she’s ready to.”
“I hope so. I miss her, and so does Mr. Gordon.” Ken waits a beat. “And what about you?”
My grip on the phone tightens. “What about me?”
“Are you ready to talk to your brother instead of using Seamus and young Jake as mediators? And if Win is the one you were telling me about, have you told him about your current predicament? Why you left your family’s company?”
He just can’t help himself. “I thought you were too busy to involve yourself in my ‘needy Demir’ business.”
“Yes, well, I’m here and the man I’m in love with is working himself up to breaking things off with me, so…I have some time.”
I hesitate for a moment longer than I mean to. “Do you want to talk about it?”
His chuckle is mirthless. “Sure. It would be good for you to practice your communication skills. You’ve lived like a monk for years. Honestly, I’m not sure you can handle the bundle of energy that’s under your roof right now. I could tell you some stories.”
I grit my teeth. “We’re talking about why you think your fiancé is leaving you, not my relationship with Win.”
“It’s a relationship already? Does he know?” When I don’t respond, he swears. “Fine. I’m a meddler and I’ve taken him for granted. Discuss.”
“Have you? Taken him for granted?” I don’t deny he’s a meddler. It’s his job to ferret out other people’s secrets and get into their business. Mine was to look into the financial backgrounds of all potential Demir clients and investors. I worked with the accountants and took a deeper dive than they were willing to, searching for blackmailers, gambling addictions and relationship woes that could compromise our business interests. My father called Ken for help when matters were more urgent and the stakes much higher.
“We’ve been together for ten of the happiest years of my life,” Ken says emphatically. “There’s not a day I don’t wake up and give fucking thanks for the miracle that is Brady Finn. I was so happy, I decided I wanted to use my skills to spread that sunshine around. I got involved in his family. I moved a few chess pieces around on the board. Bellamy was one of them. He wouldn’t have been in the same hotel as Seamus if I hadn’t arranged it.”
I heard that story from Seamus. I also heard about Ken’s influence on other Finn matches. And one story about a baseball player and the owner of a manny service, who aren’t even related but happened to stay in a building Ken owns. “He’s right about your meddling.”
“I’ve slowed things down over the last few years. Focusing on work and only stepping in when I’m needed. At least until recently. But none of that matters. Now I’m just the asshole that almost got Bex and Calamity killed because I was so busy playing Cupid again that I didn’t keep my eyes on the ball. He says he's worried I’ll try to mess with Jake’s life now that he’s in his twenties. He says he doesn’t know when it will stop, or when I’ll stop using it as an excuse instead of being honest.”
I know it’s because I’m connected but not a part of the family that he feels comfortable enough to tell me something so personal. I’m not the person people usually talk to about their problems. About anything, really. But we have known each other, if only superficially, for years now, and I feel compelled to help him. “How long have you been engaged?”
A moment of silence on the other end, and then, “Ten years.”
I frown at the phone. “That seems like an abnormally long engagement. You can’t be against marriage as an institution or you wouldn’t have made him your fiancé. I assume you know same-sex marriage is currently in jeopardy again.” In fact, the law making it legal passed right around the time they got engaged, if I’m not mistaken. “What is it you’re waiting for?”
If I loved someone enough to propose, I wouldn’t wait a day to start planning an elopement. Especially in the current political climate.
“He asked me that the other day,” Ken says quietly. “‘What are you waiting for?’”
“Did you give him an answer?”
“I said I wasn’t waiting for anything, because I had everything I wanted. I love him. We live and work and sleep together and it’s perfect. Why would I want to mess with perfection?”
“Then why get engaged in the first place?”
“Because he’s Brady.” I wonder if Ken realizes how much his voice gentles when he says the man’s name. “And Brady goes all in or not at all.”
As I nod in understanding, my gaze connects with the framed picture of the rabbit wedding, and the memory of Win’s reaction to it makes my lips twitch. “And all in for him means a wedding?”