Page 153 of Knockin' Boats
“Lube?” Ash asked.
I fumbled to get us slicked up, and then we kissed and rocked, chasing a high that came so easily together. In seconds, I was cresting with a muffled groan into his neck.
Ash shuddered through his own release, then pulled back. “Damn, we got messy again.”
As he rolled away, I checked the time on my phone. “We don’t really have time for two showers. Wanna just jump in the lake before we head out?”
Ash grinned as he grabbed some napkins to wipe off and did the same for me. “Skinny dipping, huh?”
“Well, maybe wait to take off your shorts until you’re in the water. We don’t want to scar my neighbors.”
He chuckled. “Okay, sounds like a plan.”
We threw on some clothes, rinsed the breakfast dishes, and raced out to the boat. Instead of hopping in right by the shore, I took us toward the resort, stopping in an open area where there weren’t many people.
Ash stripped off his shirt with a grin, and I followed suit. Then we jumped into the lake.
We hadn’t done this together since I’d stopped working on the food boat. A wave of sweet nostalgia hit me. For once, it wasn’t for our childhood antics, but the early days where I didn’t know whether I wanted to hit him or kiss him.
In retrospect, I should have known which would win out. Ash had my heart, and he always had. Maybe it was once platonic, but somewhere along the way, mixed in with the anger and the hate and the confusion, attraction and admiration had coalesced into so much more than friendship.
“I love you,” I murmured.
Right before I shoved his head under the water.
He came up sputtering. “Asshole!”
“You love me.”
“I do,” he said.
Right before retaliating by leaping on my shoulders, using all his weight to submerge me.
When I surfaced, water still steaming over face and blurring my eyes, his arms snaked around my neck.
I tensed, but he didn’t pull me under. He kissed me softly.
“I’d love to start every morning this way,” he admitted. “You and me. Breakfast in bed. Sex. The lake. It’s all the things I want out of life.”
“Even if have to live in a tiny camper?” I joked. “Because all your money’s in the food boat, and all of mine…”
He blinked eyelashes beaded with water. “All of yours?”
“Well, there’s not much, but if I were to actually buy into Hudson’s business or launch my own…”
He shrugged. “We’re young. There’s lots of time to get a bigger place to live. Maybe we don’t have a shower big enough for two, but we’ve got the whole damn lake. That’s plenty of space for me.”
I smiled. “Yeah.”
“So you’re thinking about it, huh?”
“Just thinking,” I warned. “I still don’t know. I’d love to do it, but to put all my eggs in that basket?”
“They won’t be. Half your eggs will be in my basket.” He winked. “Quite literally tonight.”
I snorted a laugh. “Please don’t equate my cock with eggs. That analogy is all kinds of wrong.”
He chuckled. “Fair. You know what I mean. We can share everything, Sawyer. Our successes. Our failures. Whatever happens, we’ll be there for each other.”
