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“I begged my brother not to take the job in Surf City,” Jesse confessed. “He’d been at UNLV and I thought he was happy here. When he told me…I lost it. We’d never been apart before.”

“Oh, Jesse!” Lake peppered kisses across Jesse’s chin. “That sucks.”

“His mind was made up,” Jesse said. “No matter what I said, I could see that Jacob was going to take the position.”

“He’s happy there though?” Lake asked.

“Jacob loves it. He has a cute little house a block from the beach and six blocks from the university.” Jesse shook his head. “He rides a damn bicycle to work every day.”

“Wow,” Lake drew out. “I can’t even imagine.”

“Me either,” Jesse agreed. “It’s like stepping back in time when I go see him. There’s a main street that has all these little shops along the road. It’s a specialty university so very few students and residents. The complete opposite of here.”

“I’d like to visit it,” Lake said.

“I want to take you there,” Jesse replied. “We can hang out on the beach. You’d wear a little tight speedo for me, right?”

“Only if you wear one for me,” Lake quipped.

“I’ll agree to that.” Jesse would after all agree to anything for his boy.

“You better. You already said I could watch you swim in the morning,” Lake reminded him.

“You could swim with me,” Jesse asked.

“I would much rather watch you,” Lake said.

“Okay, baby.”

Lake rubbed his lips over Jesse’s bottom lip. There was a slight tremble.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m great. Still a little shocked that I’m here with you.”

“You were a brave boy,” Jesse said.

Lake’s eyes widened. “I really was.”

“It meant a lot that you came for me tonight. No one has ever done anything like that before.”

“Because you’re the more dominant partner?”

“I think it’s because I never let anyone. I knew that they were using me for my money or clout,” Jesse confessed.

“And you let them?”

“It was better than being alone,” Jesse admitted.

“We have more in common than I thought,” Lake said.

“I knew,” Jesse said. “I knew we belonged together.”

“You say that but how could you know?”

Jesse wanted to laugh and crack a joke. This was embarrassing.

“Are you blushing?” Lake teased. “Oh my God! You are!”