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He could feel Syrus’s grin against his hair. “Would you like that, Luke? For me to—what’s the expression—tuck you in?”

It was too easy to envision, especially since Luke had already seen every inch of Syrus’s naked body. It was only a step away to imagine that same body wrapped up in Luke’s sheets with him, pressing him into the mattress. Luke already knew how passionate Syrus’s kisses could be. Surely his touch would be the same.

Luke’s face went hot, and his cock twitched with interest. He rubbed his heated cheeks with his hands, wishing he could rub some sense into his brain instead. He’d never been so susceptible to his own desires before. Not like this. He could usually separate want from need easily enough. He wasn’t sure why that was becoming so difficult here.

Syrus hummed thoughtfully at Luke’s hesitation. “Perhaps not.”

Luke’s tense muscles loosened at the reprieve. Thank fuck one of them could be reasonable, even if he hadn’t expected that person to be Syrus. “Sleep is a better idea,” Luke conceded, proud that his voice didn’t shake. “I do need it.”

It was a better idea too. But that didn’t stop Luke from sitting on the kitchen floor with Syrus for a long while after, silent and sleepy, soaking up the pleasure of being pressed against his side.

Maybe want and need weren’t so easy to separate after all.

10

LUKE

Luke came downstairs with Colby in the morning to find Syrus already waiting for them on the couch, his long legs sprawled dangerously wide considering the short length of his robe.

Luke tried not to notice, tried not to let his gaze wander to the spread of muscular thigh on display. It was harder than it should have been to resist, especially with the memory of Syrus’s naked body pressed against him so fresh in his brain.

Luke was already more out of sorts than he should have been. He’d dreamed of the ocean again. He’d been standing at the shore this time, his feet barely in the water. Still, he’d been able to feel the current pulling at him, beckoning him in. And there had been that…presence again. Somewhere out in the water, out of sight. Waiting for Luke to give in.

Syrus stood as they appeared, and Luke didn’t miss the tightening of his jaw when he did. He might have been moving around on his own now, but it still wasn’t comfortable for him. And no wonder, with the damage they’d done to him.

“You should rest,” Luke told him as he set Colby down on the floor, where his son promptly toddled over to the basket of toy race cars and started dumping out his favorites.

Syrus shook his head at Luke, a slight quirk to his lips. There was something particularly warm about his gaze this morning. Luke tried not to be affected, and was about as successful as he’d been in not noticing Syrus’s thighs. “I’ve had enough resting. I’ll come out with you today.”

“Um.” Luke blinked at him. “Is that really a good idea?”

“I tire of your box, charming as it is.”

Luke’s mind went to a variety of strange places before he realized Syrus was talking about his house. “You’d need clothes,” he argued.

Syrus looked pointedly down at his robe.

“The robe doesn’t count.”

Syrus huffed, and Luke pressed his advantage.

“You’d need shoes too, and those might hurt your feet. You should be resting them, letting them heal.”

Syrus raised one of the feet in question and wiggled his toes at Luke in a surprising show of dexterity. “There are no broken bones. It’s only torn skin and pain. I can manage pain.”

Jesus. What was Luke supposed to say to that? He rubbed a hand over his face. Colby had woken up early again, and Luke had planned to take him to Coastal Crumbs before day care. He supposed he still could. If Syrus was…staying awhile, he’d need to meet people eventually, right?

Luke eyed Syrus’s legs dubiously. “You won’t, um, change while we’re out?”

“We have time,” Syrus assured him. He even had the gall to smirk as he did so, like he knew he’d already won.

Well, then. Luke supposed he was taking his resident merman on an outing. He could have maybe argued more, but he had a feeling Syrus would have no issue with walking out of the house himself, barefoot and clad only in short silk. It would be better to keep an eye on him than leave him to his own devices.

With that in mind, Luke hustled to the kitchen and grabbed a yogurt pouch for Colby before disappearing back upstairs to find more clothes of his that might fit Syrus’s broad frame.

Luke ended up with an oversize sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants that would no doubt be too short. After digging in the back of his closet, he also found a pair of boots his sister had accidentally bought him two sizes too big that he’d never gotten around to returning.

He returned downstairs to find Colby trying to give his yogurt pouch to Syrus, while Syrus gently pushed it back his way. “You need your sustenance, little Colby,” he insisted. “Your father’s counting on you to grow big and strong.”