Heated Beat 02 - Lucky Man (18 page)

About bloody time.

Finn padded back to bed. The sky had darkened while they’d been distracted, and though buzzed from an awesome gig, Finn welcomed the night and rest it would bring for both of them. It had been a long year so far. The murder case had weighed heavily on Danny. For weeks… no, months, he’d hardly eaten or slept, consumed with honing a watertight prosecution, only for the bastard to plead guilty anyway. And then, even as Danny was still caught up in evidence and hearings, the stress of the past few months had inevitably unraveled Finn’s tenuous grip on his mental health.

But it wasn’t all bad news. Finn’s relapse had been brief and intense, but despite Finn’s fear it would drive Danny away, if anything it’d brought them closer. Danny had taken a week off work, never left Finn’s side, never wavered, never flinched, and Finn had emerged from a dark cloud of uncertainty feeling stronger than ever.

“What are you thinking about?”

Finn rolled onto his side to find Danny mirroring his position, watching him, like he often did, with a gentle gaze that made Finn feel safe. “I was thinking you should sublet your flat.”

It was a half-truth. He’d been trying to persuade Danny to give his flat up for a while—he spent most nights a Finn’s anyway, even when Finn was away—but so far Danny had resisted.
I don’t want you to be stuck with me.
What the fuck did that even mean? Danny was warm and caring and kind, but he was pretty crap at telling Finn how he felt—verbally at least. Finn couldn’t deny Danny’s every touch and smoldering look told him exactly how Danny felt.

“Who would I rent it out to?”

Finn raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t the usual vague deflection. “Um, Ben? Maybe?”

“Ben? I thought he was moving to Leeds.”

“Changed his mind. More birds in Nottingham, apparently.”

“Oh.”

“Oh? Is that your answer?”

Danny shrugged. “Ask him. If he wants it, it’s fine by me.”

Finn sat up and jolted Danny off his pillow. “Do you mean it?”

“Mean it?”

“Don’t wind me up.”

“I’m not.” Danny sensed the tone and sat up too. “Listen, I know I’m an unsociable bastard sometimes, but I love being at your place, and it feels all wrong when I’m not there, so—”

“You’re gonna live with me?”

“If you’ll have me.”

Finn pounced on Danny, and despite the barely cooled sweat of their recent encounter, he felt like he could climb inside Danny and never come out. “I’ll have you,” he said when he finally pulled away. “And I hope you bloody like it, ’cause I reckon I’m never going to let you go.”

Danny hummed with his eyes closed, then shook his head and laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Finn asked.

Danny opened his liquid eyes and fixed Finn with that stare that made Finn’s world stop turning. “Nothing’s funny, mate. I just feel like the luckiest bloke in the world.”

About the Author

G
ARRETT
L
EIGH
lives in a small commuter town just north of London with her husband, two kids, a dog with half a brain, and a cat with a chip on her shoulder. She’s twenty-nine, and now that she’s reached that milestone, she intends to stay there for the foreseeable future. Garrett has been writing just about her whole life, but it’s been about three years since she decided to take it seriously. According to Mr. Garrett, it was either give the men in her head a voice or have herself committed.

Angst. She can’t write a word without it. She’s tried, she really has, but her protagonists will always *always* be tortured, crippled, broken, and deeply flawed. Throw in a tale of enduring true love, some stubbly facial hair, and a bunch of tattoos, and you’ve got yourself a Garrett special.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible. That, and dreaming up new ways to torture her characters. Garrett believes in happy endings; she just likes to make her boys work for it.

Garrett also works as a freelance cover artist for various publishing houses and independent authors under the pseudonym G.D. Leigh.

Social media:

Website: http://garrettleigh.com/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighbooks

Cover art enquiries: [email protected]