Page 43 of Cross Checking (Off the Bench #2)

LUKE

“Wow, this is really remote.”

We’re driving to the Norberg cottage, and that’s my first thought when Erik turns the car off one dirt road onto another, smaller dirt road.

“Yeah, it’s super secluded. I love it here.”

It’s around noon, so the sun beats down on us as we bump along. The windows are open and a gentle breeze wafts in, filling Erik’s car with a rich, earthy smell.

I make a silent cheer for the fact that neither of us is allergic to pollen.

After another turn and a short trip down a gravel path, we pull up to a red wooden building with white windows and a slanted roof. If I searched “Sweden” on the internet, I’m pretty sure that this would be at the top of the image results.

“We’re here,” Erik says, shutting off the car. “Welcome to paradise.”

Grabbing our bags, we make our way inside, and I immediately recognize the surroundings. Erik gave me a tour over a call a while back, and that simultaneously feels like it was yesterday and years ago.

“Your cottage is so charming and rustic,” I remark.

Erik chuckles, tapping at his phone. “Well, we have utilities and an inside toilet, so that’s considered the peak of luxury.”

“There’s a toilet?” I let out a theatrical gasp. “This is too much, Erik. You’re spoiling me.”

“ And a shower.” He stiffens. “Don’t get any wild ideas. It’s even smaller than the one at my old place.”

“That’s okay,” I say. “Just another tight space to squeeze ourselves into.”

Groaning, Erik smacks my head. “Stop being so horny, you shithead.”

“Then stop being hot,” I fire back. Erik blinks, and then gathers his wits.

“Why don’t we go for a dip in the lake?” he suggests. “That might cool you down.”

I perk up. “That sounds awesome. Let me grab my trunks.”

Erik grabs my shoulder and stops me in my tracks. “Not so fast, Lukey. We’re in Sweden, so you have to stay naked for this.”

“Seriously?”

“Everyone can choose for themselves, but I don’t want you to wear anything.”

Oh, and he told me to stop being horny? Hypocrite.

I shrug. “I don’t mind, but what if your parents show up?”

“They won’t be here until tomorrow. Nudity isn’t sexual here, anyway.”

“Are you sure ?”

Erik grunts and pulls his phone out. “As of five minutes ago, they were still at home in Stockholm. Even if they decided to spontaneously come here a day early, they’d still be three hours away.

” As if to prove a point, he strips naked, and I check him out like it’s the first time I’m seeing him without clothes.

My god, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of running my eyes all over this man. Wide back, tight waist, firm ass, thick thighs, abs?—

Erik is now facing me and grinning. He caught me staring.

As a convenient distraction, I drop my shorts and head for my backpack. “Excuse me while I apply sunscreen to my dick.” That certainly isn’t a sentence I thought I’d ever say, but here we are.

Erik makes a face. “That’s not gonna taste good later on.”

“Didn’t you just say that being naked isn’t sexual here?”

“Well, you’re my boyfriend and we’re alone, so I’m allowed to make it a little sexual. Besides, the water is too cold for us to get hard.”

I scoff. “You’re really selling it now, aren’t you?”

Erik slaps my bare ass before I can dodge him. “I turned on the sauna from my phone, so it’ll be ready in a bit. We can thaw out afterward.”

“That’s an idea I can get behind,” I say, chasing Erik out of the cottage to try for some revenge. He’s too fast and I give up, and we call a sunscreen truce instead.

I peer over the dock to check how deep the water is, and the second Erik is done applying sunscreen, I give him a firm shove into the lake. He yells out an abrupt cuss on the way down, and it’s muffled out by him splashing into the water.

I squat down and give him a sweet smile as he resurfaces. “That’s for slapping my ass.”

Erik glowers at me, but I can see humor behind his glare. “You’re a fucking asshole, Luke.” Before I can react, he grabs my ankle to drag me in with him, and the water is so cold it feels like fire. Icy, frigid fire.

Erik pulls me into a hug. “Now we’re even,” he says before planting a cold, wet kiss on my lips.

“Now we’re both gonna die of hypothermia. Holy shit, this is some cold water.”

Erik climbs out and extends his arm to help me up. He smirks at me, making my core warm up. “Now you know how mean you were.”

I shiver, both from the cold and from the pang of guilt that nudges under my skin. “Shit, sorry,” I say. “That was colder than I thought.”

Laughing, he picks me up and carries me in his arms. “I’m kidding, it gives me all the excuses to give it right back to you.” Erik walks over to the edge of the dock and dangles me above the water.

I flail around, trying to escape Erik’s vice-like grip on me. “Don’t you fucking dare!”

He sets me down on the wood. “Unlike you, I’m nice, so you have nothing to worry about.”

I stare back at Erik, incredulous. “Shut up. I’m nice, too.”

His reply is to kneel next to me, run a damp hand up my inner thigh, and whisper into my ear. “Why don’t you show me just how nice you can be?” Arousal unfurls in my balls the second his husky voice hits my eardrum, frigid temperatures be damned.

I slap his hand away. “Stop trying to make me hard, you dick.”

“I can chuck you in the lake if you get too excited.” He grins as he cups my lower back, ready to hoist me up again, and I roll away to escape.

“Do that and I’ll wake you up with a bucket of ice tomorrow,” I grumble, punching Erik’s shoulder.

He flops down next to me and I sling an arm around him for two reasons: I need to steal some of his warmth, and I can’t get enough of being close to him.

“I love it when you get feisty,” Erik says, and I snort.

“Be careful what you wish for.” I’m quiet and too relaxed to keep going, so I fall back into silence with Erik.

We let the sun dry us off before heading into the sauna, and the heat slams right into me.

If getting sick from temperature changes was a real thing, I’d be in the hospital at this point.

My entire body flushes, but the feeling settles, and I lean back on the bench next to Erik who’s naked and hotter than, well, a sauna.

He fans himself, and it’s clear that between the two of us, Erik has a much lower temperature tolerance. While the heat is starting to get to me, Erik is already sweating like a faucet and panting.

“Why the hell are you still dry?” he asks.

I raise an eyebrow. “Are you annoyed that I’m not sweating?” There’s no response, but Erik avoids my gaze. “Ooh, you are annoyed.”

“You look good when you’re sweaty,” he mumbles, and the two of us laugh.

“Then you’d better make me sweat.” I speak before I can stop myself, and I curse.

With a sly expression, Erik shuffles over and puts his hands on me, which still lights me up all the same.

He traces across my torso before following the trail of hair along my stomach and reaching further down, and I break.

It’s like a dam bursts, and my skin prickles with moisture.

I knock Erik’s hands away and glare at him.

“You happy now?” I ask, blinking to keep drops out of my eyes.

“Uh huh. More than happy.”

“Well, you and your happiness can wait because I’m not having sex in a sauna. My national insurance is still processing, so I want to avoid fainting and racking up a hospital bill.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Erik and I settle next to each other and relax for as long as we can before the dehydration hits, and we emerge sometime later into the cold, dark twilight.

There’s no point in staying outside anymore, so we head back to unwind.

Erik lights a fire while I’m showering, then I cook while he’s cleaning up, and we eat dinner as darkness takes over the sky.

To thank me for cooking, Erik plants a kiss on my lips which is supposed to be quick, but quick isn’t really in our shared vocabulary.

One kiss turns into two, which turns into making out and breaking in his bed.

Once we’re fully sated and partially dressed, we sit down on the couch for some subdued cuddles.

Erik falls asleep with his head in my lap, my hands still drawing slow patterns in his hair.

The fire burns low, leaving the table lamp as the only source of light in the living room.

I can’t bend down enough to kiss Erik anywhere, so I give him a gentle scratch on the head instead, and he lets out a sleepy, satisfied sigh.

Calm washes over me like an extra blanket. The peace I feel when I’m with Erik is almost overwhelming, and being together with him in a place like this makes things ramp up tenfold, consuming every cell in my body.

My head falls back as I fight sleep, and I quickly give up, letting it take me.

Tomorrow will be here before I know it, and it’ll be another day I get to spend with Erik, hanging out with him, enjoying him, and loving him.

The day after? It’ll be more of the exact same thing, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

Love is both a choice and a feeling. With Erik, the feelings are all there—steady, undeniable, and ever-present. Maybe they won’t stay as fiery and intense as they are now, but if the glowing fireplace in front of me is any indication, embers still give off more than enough heat to keep us toasty.

And the choice to love Erik? To be with him, to be there for him, to be his guy the same way he is mine?

It’s hardly a choice. It’s just the way things are, and the way they’ll always be.