Andyet. This place felt like he belonged here.
Hewas starting to think that maybe Marv wasn’t as crazy as he’d first imagined.Maybe he’d had some idea what he was doing, after all.
“Ilove it too, but do you think we could go inside?” Ash asked, heading for thedoor.
Declanfollowed him, reaching for his keys…
Whichwere in his coat pocket. Which Ash was now wearing.
Ofcourse.
Withoutthinking, he reached out and shoved his hand into the pocket from behind,rummaging around until he grabbed hold of the keys.
Ashturned around, raising an eyebrow at him.
Theywere suddenly so much closer than Declan had thought. Maybe three inches betweentheir noses.
Declan’sbreath caught in his throat, surprise at being this close to Ash making hispulse pound in his ears.
Closeenough to kiss him, his brain supplied.
Wherethe hell had that come from? He didn’t want to kiss Ash.
Or…
“Ifyou’re gonna grope me, the least you could do is buy me a drink first,” Ashmurmured, apparently not fazed by their positions.
Declanshook his head, coming back to himself and pushing all thoughts of kissing—orgroping—Ash aside.
Thatwas weird.
Heunlocked the door, holding it open to let Ash through first. It wasn’t quitetoasty warm inside the store, but it was a lot warmer than outside. Once theywere upstairs and they’d had a heater on for a few minutes, it’d be nice andcomfortable.
“Thankyou for lending me your coat,” Ash said as he struggled his way out of it,eventually holding it out for Declan to take. “I promise to get a warmer one.”
“Well,in the meantime, my coat is your coat,” Declan said. He wanted Ash to becomfortable, and he owned other coats. He’d brought three with him, so he couldafford to lose one.
“Ifit was a sweater you’d never see it again,” Ash responded. “I’m a serialsweater thief.”
“I’dbe willing to bet that no one who’s had their sweater stolen by you would haveminded,” Declan said.
“Idon’t really care if they did. If you let me wear it, it’s my sweater. That’show it works.”
Declanchuckled. “Sounds like you. Do you not own any of my sweaters yet?”
“They’dbemysweaters,” Ash said, heading for the stairs.
“Youknow what I mean.” Declan followed him, adjusting the thermostat once he got tothe landing. It was cold even for him in here, but it’d warm up quickly. Thisplace was surprisingly well heated and insulated.
Declanunderstood that Hope Springs was prone to snow, so that explained it. There wasnothing in the forecast that suggested they see any this week, but maybe.
It’dbeen a while since he’d seen really thick, deep snow. He was secretly lookingforward to it, even if it meant having to trudge through it at some point.
“Idon’t own any sweaters that once belonged to you,” Ash said. “But if you’reinclined to donate…”
Declanswallowed. It suddenly seemed like an intimate thing, something Ash only didwith his boyfriends.
Butthen, Ash was his husband now. He’d been reminded of that tonight. They hadn’tjust signed a piece of paper to get past an annoying hurdle. They weremarriednow.
