Page 81 of Stealing Home

His apartment was dark when Gavin let himself in. He stood just inside the door with his keys still in his hand, listening to the air conditioner push cold air through the vent. He used to consider his place only quiet when he got home. After spending the afternoon with Dom and Lucky, it felt empty.

A few hours of coffee, lunch, and kissing shouldn’t be enough to rewire the way he felt about his apartment when he came home. It shouldn’t make the silence feel heavier or leave him wishing he was still in Dom’s kitchen, listening for Lucia to wake up. It shouldn’t make everything feel as real as it did.

Gavin shut the door and dropped his keys in the shallow wooden bowl on the counter. His mouth still tingled from kissing Dom and his shirt carried traces of fresh basil and the scent of the baby detergent Dom used on their clothes. The combination brought the kitchen back in a rush. He flushed at the memory of Dom sitting on the island with his legs around Gavin’s hips, his hands twisted in Gavin’s shirt, and his kiss-swollen mouth insisting Gavin not slow down.

Heat stirred low in Gavin’s stomach, followed by something warmer and far more dangerous. He needed to get a grip. Dom had only just decided he was willing to try this, and Gavin had already seen how conflicted Dom had been when admitting what he wanted. If Gavin started treating one date like it was the start of something permanent, Dom would feel it. Worse than that, he might mistake Gavin’s certainty for pressure and retreat before they had a chance to really figure out what this was.

Gavin pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time, and his stomach clenched at the sight of Ethan’s name at the top of the screen. Any warmth lingering beneath Gavin’s skin disappeared. There were eleven messages, and he stared at the stack of notifications as irritation coiled in his stomach. He was tempted to leave them unread. It had been six months since their divorce was finalized and almost twelve months since they’d spoken directly to each other. Their lawyers had passed documents back and forth until anything left to say had vanished.

He sat at the end of the couch and opened the first message.

Ethan

I need you to call me. It’s about the last insurance claim.

The next had arrived twelve minutes later.

Ethan

They finally came back with a settlement offer on the disputed portion of the claim.

They need both of us to sign.

A photograph followed. Gavin enlarged it and found the first page of an insurance document covered in dense paragraphs and numbers. The sight of his company name in print at the top pulled at a place inside him he thought had finally scarred over.

Ethan

The offer expires Monday.

I’m flying to San Diego tomorrow. I land at eleven-fifteen.

Gavin shook his head. Ethan had always been so sure that everyone would drop everything for him.

Ethan

I know I should have waited to hear from you, but there are deadlines, and I don’t want to do this over email.

Almost an hour later, Ethan sent another text.

Ethan

Please, Gav. We need to settle what’s left.

What’s left.

He knew he needed to sign this paperwork so they could finally settle the rest of the company’s debts. But they had signed everything else a year ago: the divorce petition, the sale of their land after the county cleared it, the dissolution documents their company’s attorney had prepared while Gavin sat at one end of a conference table and Ethan sat at the other. Their divorce attorneys had mediated the division of their things. Ethan had kept the wedding photo albums because Gavin hadn’t wanted to decide which half of the marriage belonged to him. Gavin had taken his grandfather’s clipboard, the tools that had been in his truck, and two coffee mugs Ethan had never liked.

There shouldn’t have been anything left to settle.

Ethan

This isn’t an ambush. I just need you to hear me out.

The final text made Gavin sit up straight. There was no reason to hear anything if Ethan just needed a signature. He pressed the call button before he could change his mind. Ethan answered on the second ring.

“Gav?”

The old nickname grated. “You booked a flight before you knew whether I could or would meet you.”