Page 140 of Cheap Shot

“Okay.”

“Justokay? You don’t have any fuckin’ thoughts on that?”

“Well, I don’t know. Are we talking about this hypothetically with you and someone else in some vague future?” Sebastian sounded annoyed. “Or are we talking about what it would look like for you and me if we were together now? I need to know what you’re asking me here. I just woke up.”

Luke cleared his throat. “You and me.”

“You want to know if I’d ever be able to be in a relationship with you even if we never lived together?”

Luke rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. I guess. Don’t want to start something if it’s doomed to fail because we want totally different things, you know?”

Sebastian was silent and Luke paced, trying to be patient and give him the space to think. He’d probably done this all wrong. Should have waited until he was back home in Boston and talking face-to-face.

“Do you think you could do part-time?”

“Part-time what?” Luke asked.

“Part-time living together. Like … what if in this hypothetical future we could have, I kept my apartment over the shop and sometimes I stayed there but sometimes I stayed at your place. Our place. However we handled that part.”

Luke blinked, surprised by the response and the relief that flooded through him at the idea, easing the tight constriction around his throat. “You’dwantto do that?”

“When I’ve been up all night doing florals for a wedding, the thought of walking upstairs to sleep instead of driving all the way across Boston sounds fucking amazing,” Sebastian said with a soft laugh. “Especially when I’ve got to get up in the morning to get those flowers to the wedding.”

“Sure,” Luke said doubtfully. “But how often does that happen?”

“More than you’d think.” Sebastian’s tone was dry. “Especially as we get into wedding season. Look, I get why you’re probably skeptical. A lot of people have an idea of what a relationship should look like. But so what if ours doesn’t look that way?”

“You wouldn’t feel like you’re missing out?”

The soft huff of Sebastian’s laugh was all he got for a moment.

“No,” he finally said. “No, I wouldn’t. Dude, I don’t want to live in anyone’s pocket either. Are you okay with me not being atyourbeck and call?”

“Absolutely,” Luke said.

“The thing is, I’ve gotten a lot of shit from people I’ve dated about not being ‘all there’ in the relationship myself. Theywanted more time, more …energythan I have to give. My career is a big part of my life. So are Harper and Brie. I don’t—I can’t be the guy who’s there all the fucking time anyway.”

Luke sat with that for a moment. “Really?”

“Really. I have two shops in New York in addition to the one in Boston, Luke. The New York ones are running fine without me having too much hands-on input these days, but I do want to spend more time there. I want to be able to head to New York for a few weeks and not worry that the person I’m with is going to feel abandoned or neglected. I want to fucking … grow my business, which is going to mean more travel. Areyouup for being with a guy who’s gone a lot?”

“Of course,” Luke said because, honestly? That sounded kinda perfect.

He’d never been with anyone who was gone more than him. Who had their own life that they were busy with. Who didn’t demand more from him than he was able to give.

They were both silent for a moment before Luke quietly asked, “You really think we could do this?”

“I think we can do anything we want. I think our relationship could look any way we want it to as well. I think the only limitations are how creative we can be about it.”

“I’d—I’d introduce you to my family,” Luke offered. “The team too, if you wanted. I wouldn’t ask you to be asecretbut I don’t want—I don’t want to make a bigannouncementabout it.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Sebastian said with a laugh. “Look, just because Icareabout you doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep showing up to your games and chirping you. So get that right outof your head. I’m not gonna become a Harriers fan for you or anything crazy.”

Luke chuckled, the reminder that Sebastian was his own person, that he would push back when he needed to, easing the last of his worries. “You’re not gonna write me love poems?”

“Fuck no,” Sebastian said. “I might give you flowers though, whether you like it or not. They’re kinda my thing.”

“I like cactus,” Luke offered, taking a seat on the bed.