“Even better!” Aileen told him, taking Nate’s arm as the trio entered the kitchen.
Alone in the living room, Joshua drew Colin back into his arms and held him close, smiling in happiness when he felt Colin’s warm breath against his skin. “You smell like sugar cookies,” Colin murmured, nuzzling Joshua’s neck.
“Still?I thought that only happened after I showered.”
“You telling me you didn’t shower today?”
Joshua’s soft laughter was a caress, and Colin felt their closeness at that moment as a soul-deep ache grew and swelled until it filled every atom in his body. “I love you,” he whispered, then kissed Joshua’s cheek, thinking that these words, loving though they might be, didn’t convey even a fraction of what he felt for the gentle, Jewish man in his arms.
“Love you too, my Yedid,” Joshua murmured in return.
“Not enough.”
“I don’t love youenough?”
“No. I meant those words, ‘I love you’. They don’t say enough. They don’t say enough of how I feel about you.”
“You say it in other ways, my beloved. You say it every day. You say it even when you don’t realize you’re saying it. Hearing the words is just icing on the cake.”
Colin leaned back, one hand resting on Joshua’s shoulder. “How so?”
“Well,” Joshua began, then pressed his lips together as if thinking. “If you call me and find out I’ve had a bad day,” he said, “the veryfirstwords out of your mouth are:Don’t cook!And you arrive at home with our favorite takeout or plans to eat at a restaurant we love.”
Colin smirked. “And that’s me saying, ‘I love you’?”
“It is! So is coming home with flowers. So is showing up, unannounced, at my office to take me to lunch. So is you coming home, giving me a hug, and then crooning into my ear in a funny singsong voice: ‘There’s something in my poooooc-ket.’And when I search your pockets, I find a Kit Kat bar! Or a ticket to a play we talked about seeing. Or the keys to David’s cabin! Or a Hershey’s Kiss!”
Colin’s grin widened. “So, youlikemy silly pocket game!”
“I love it!” Joshua told him, capturing Colin’s face between his palms. “And it’s not silly! It’s sweet and loving!”
Colin’s turned his head, and his chuckle tickled the palm of Joshua’s hand. “My dad used to play it with me,” he murmured. “That’s where it came from.”
“The game washisway of saying ‘I love you’.”
Colin arched his brows. “Wow. I—I never thought of it that way.”
“Makes me feel like a kid when we play the pocket game,” Joshua confessed. “Like ahappykid. A new feeling for me.”
Nate wandered back into the living room and lowered himself to the floor at their feet. “There is somefantastic-smellingcorned beef and cabbage cooking in there.”
“Well, there’s good news!” Colin said. “Ahn-tee makes a mean corned beef and cabbage.”
“It sure smells like it.” He reached to touch Colin’s arm. “You OK?”
“I’m fine. What’s Davy up to?”
“He’s making salad and is happy as a pig in poo.”
Colin snorted out a laugh. “Jeez!David! In the same sentence aspigandpoo. Hard to conjugate.”
“I swear to you, Colin, the man could have been a professional chef! He would haveexcelledat it! He freakinglovesbeing in the kitchen and is an excellent cook. So, yeah. At this particular moment, heisas happy as a pig in poo.”
“It’s how he relaxes,” Joshua added, smiling as Colin stretched out on the couch and pillowed his head on Joshua’s thigh.
“Thisis how I relax,” Colin muttered. He wrapped both arms around Joshua’s leg and nestled against him while Joshua drew a nearby afghan over his shoulders. “Take a nap if you feel like it.”
“Nope. I don’t want to sleep. Just want to snuggle.”
