He was right about that. The shop was busy and my last day off had been a week ago.

I arched my eyebrow. “We’d only sleep?”

“You think I can’t lie beside you without groping you?” he scoffed and I laughed. “You wanker. Come on, I’ll prove it.”

He turned toward me in his warm sheets, kissing me breathless in his bed.

“Good night, Cory,” he whispered. His fingers burrowed in my hair, massaging my scalp, and I struggled to tamp down the desire that was beginning to flare from having his lips on me, his skin next to mine.

I shut my eyes and hummed as he kissed my neck, his lips lingering near my throat, and then settled me across his chest.

“Jude?” I said, my thumb lazily circling his stomach. There was a question I had been gearing up to ask him for days.

“Hmmm?” he said, his fingers still grazing my temples.

“That note you wrote me,” I mumbled. “When you had to leave . . .”

“Meant every single word,” he said without hesitation and then curled his arm over my waist, settling in.

“Thank fuck,” I murmured. “Because I love you, too.”

“Bloody hell, Cory,” he said, rolling me over and pressing me firmly into the sheets. “Say it again.”

I stared into his twinkling eyes, the green darkening to penetrating levels. He looked so earnest right then that my heart practically burst through my chest.

“I don’t know if I should,” I said, a wry smile twisting my lips. “You called me a wanker. I think that’s a pretty serious offense.”

“Depends on the context,” he said, his eyes alight with amusement. “I used it with affection.”

“Affection, huh?” I said and flipped him on his back, pinning him down with my knee. “You sure about that?”

He bit back a grin as he gazed into my eyes. “Pretty certain.”

“Well in that case,” I said, my mouth brushing over his lips. “I love you, Jude York.”

Then I seized his lips in a long and deep and heated kiss, leaving him as breathless as he had just left me.

***

It felt amazing to wake up in Jude’s bed. Warm and soft and protected. Maybe the world outside of us wasn’t safe but inside his arms—his heart, his soul—I was.

Dawn was just breaking so I sank back into his sheets to doze for a couple hours more before I needed to let out my dogs.

“Come fishing with me,” Jude mumbled into the darkness.

“Now?” I asked, thinking of any excuse to get out of the menial chore. But maybe this time it would be different.

“Yeah,” he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “I haven’t been in weeks. It’s so beautiful in the morning.”

“On paddleboards?” I looked at him doubtfully.

“You can sit down on yours if you’d like,” he said, already throwing off the sheets. “We won’t float far from shore.”

Grudgingly I got up, figuring I wasn’t getting out of this one very easily.

“We don’t even have to catch any,” he said, already dressed in shorts and T-shirt. “We’ll throw them back.”

He sent a quick text to Smoke to tell him what he was up to. From what I learned from Jude about the club, the recruits did the majority of the patrols 24-7 on their territory. Smoke was in charge of keeping tabs on Jude and all seemed to run smoothly thus far.

The sun was just rising and it warmed our backs as we walked toward the pier. It was a tranquil morning, sleep still fogged our eyes, and my heart was settled and happy. It felt great to simply do something normal together.

“I’d hold your hand right now if I could,” Jude said, stopping at the crosswalk. “And someday I plan to, Cory Easton.”

“I look forward to that day,” I said, content with simply strolling beside him to the marina.

There were only a couple of other fishermen and kayakers out when we arrived at the dock. The sound of a motorcycle engine cut through the quiet of daybreak. I was so used to listening for it that I no longer searched in the direction of the noise.

Jude grabbed his equipment from the caged locker that he rented near the shore and headed to the water. He stood on his board and used a paddle to help drift himself out into the bay.

I wasn’t as skilled as he was with balance, besides the fact that it was only my second time on any type of board. But after a few minutes, I got the hang of kneeling, using a wide stance as I paddled to catch up.

We talked and laughed and simply enjoyed being together in the open water. It was so relaxing that I wondered why in the hell I’d been so reluctant to begin with.

I even tried standing on the board while Jude held on to the side and after a few tries, I was mostly able to keep myself steady.

“It’ll have to be my goal this year to learn how to stand and fish,” I said, tilting my paddle sideways to regain my equilibrium.

Jude’s eyes lit up. “I like the sound of that.”

We were about thirty minutes out when Jude caught his first perch. He unhooked it and threw it back in.

“So you’re enjoying this?” he asked, wiping his wet hands on his shorts.

My fingers swayed in the cool water as my feet dangled over the side of the board. “I am.”

He smiled that magical smile that always sent my pulse racing.

The waterway was beginning to fill with boaters. We saw them in the distance but still remained virtually alone in the water. We decided to head back at the top of the hour.