“From away?”

  “Not a Maine native.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “You ever think about doing something other than fishing?”

  “Not really. I think I told you I was in construction for a while. I liked it, but there weren’t enough jobs to support that many full-time employees. I was one of the new hires, so they would call me for a job every once in a while. It wasn’t enough. Fishing pays a ton, and it’s only a few months’ work at a time. When the boat docks, you have the choice of taking time off, or hopping another boat.”

  “And you liked boat hopping?”

  “Most of the time. I would go out with whoever would hire me for a while, and then I met Pete.” Lucas’s voice got quiet. “He was out most of the time, so I spent most of my time working for him. He treated me pretty well, and we got on all right….”

  “Until you didn’t,” Declan finished for him.

  “Yeah. Didn’t really see that one coming, but I guess you can never really know everything about someone else, especially someone you work with.”

  “I don’t know if that is really true. Maybe in business relationships, but in personal ones? I think it’s plausible for you to know someone inside and out.”

  “I don’t think so. Maybe bits and pieces, but not the whole person. There are always secrets, always things hidden away that they don’t want you to know.”

  “You don’t think that given enough time, you’d be able to know everything about someone?”

  “I think it’s a nice thought, but no. I don’t think it’s possible.”

  Declan frowned. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He wanted to know every part of Lucas, and for Lucas to know every part of him. He had gotten snippets of the person he thought Lucas had been before the attack, but he wanted to know it all, every detail. He wanted to crawl inside Lucas’s mind and spend an eternity exploring. He was hungry for it. He couldn’t tell Lucas that. The idea of it freaked him out, so who knows what it would do to the younger man.

  “We’re almost at Sylvia’s.”

  “Good. I’m starving. What kind of muffin are you getting?”

  “Blueberry?”

  “Boring!” Lucas teased. “I’m getting chocolate chip.”

  “What if they don’t have that kind?”

  “Then I’ll get blueberry.”

  Declan laughed. “You’re a nut job.”

  “No, but if you’re lucky, when we get home I’ll give you a nut job.”

  Declan’s head whipped to the side. “What the fuck is a nut job?”

  “I have no idea, but I know you’d want one. If it’s me giving it to you, trust me, you want one.”

  “All right then. I’ll be real good.”

  Chapter 20

  BREAKFAST WAS delicious. They did in fact have chocolate chip muffins, and Lucas was overjoyed.

  Declan loved seeing Lucas happy. It made him happy too, happier than almost anything else.

  They arrived at the orthopedic surgeon’s office fifteen minutes before the appointment. They sat in the waiting room together, Declan watching Lucas fidget with the corner of a magazine. “You okay?” Declan asked.

  “Yup,” Lucas said, and tried to look brave.

  “Lucas Hale?” the receptionist called.

  Lucas stood and walked toward the desk. “Is it okay if my… if my friend comes in with me?”

  The receptionist shot Lucas a warm smile as she rose from behind the desk. “Of course. Right this way.”

  She led them into an examination room and let them know that Dr. Frias would be along shortly. They hadn’t been in the room for two full minutes when a young woman in a lab coat entered carrying a clipboard.

  “Lucas Hale?” she asked, looking between them.

  “Me,” Lucas said, raising the broken arm so she could see the cast.

  “Oh, right.”

  Lucas shot Declan a look like, “Shouldn’t she figure the patient is the one with the arm in the cast?” Declan just gave a little shrug he hoped the doctor hadn’t picked up on, but given her demonstrated powers of perception, it was likely she hadn’t noticed.

  “I’m Dr. Frias,” she said, before she had a seat on the rolling stool next to the bed and opened a door, taking out a small rotating saw. She plugged it in and turned it on.

  “We’re going to cut off the cast, have a look at how the hand is healing. We’ll do a couple of X-rays and then decide whether or not you’ll need surgery,” she yelled over the loud whine of the saw. Lucas nodded his understanding, and she lowered the saw to his arm, skillfully cutting through the layers of tape and plaster.

  The doctor carefully removed the cast and turned his arm over in her hands. The skin was pale. Declan was anxious watching her handle it. Shouldn’t she be more careful? She could reinjure him if she wasn’t gentle. She seemed to know what she was doing, though, and gave him a sling to support the arm until he could get the X-rays done.

  She ushered them out of the room and into a long corridor, where she instructed them to take a seat in the chairs lined up against the wall.

  “Chad will be with you shortly. He’s our X-ray tech.”

  “Thanks,” Declan said and sat patiently next to his guy.

  “Thank you for bringing me,” Lucas said, his eyes trained on the ground.

  “You’re welcome. I wanted to be here.”

  Nothing more was said. They just sat next to each other, offering each other silent reassurance that everything was going to be okay.

  A few minutes later, Chad, who turned out to be a large man with a handlebar mustache, showed them into the X-ray room. He had Lucas place his arm on a pedestal of sorts while he took the picture. When they had finished, Chad showed them back to the same examination room they had been in before.

  This time, the doctor took a lot longer to return. Declan looked over at Lucas who was fidgeting with the edge of the sling.

  Declan felt it too, the closer they were to hearing how well Lucas was healing, the more nervous he became at the prospect of bad news. He felt sorry for people who had to wait weeks for a diagnosis. They were lucky that they were going to get results the same day.

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Dr. Frias returned. She flipped a switch on the wall that illuminated the white light screens, shoved the X-ray images into the clips at the top and took a step back, looking them up and down with careful consideration.

  “Well, so far everything looks good to me.”

  Lucas let out an audible sigh of relief. Declan suppressed a giggle. He was so happy. Lucas was going to be fine. He had overcome so many obstacles after his attack. Declan shone with pride at Lucas’s resilience.

  “I’m not saying you don’t still need to take it easy. We’re going to re-cast the arm and then in two more weeks you can come back here, or go to your family doctor to have it removed. The bone looks like it’s fusing nicely. You should regain full mobility of your hand and joints. You’re a lucky man. The arm was broken in multiple places, and most people would have needed surgery. You will need to keep in mind, though, that now that the bone has been broken, it will never be as strong as it once was. You won’t need to baby it, but you’ll need to keep in mind the possibility of a refracture if you push it too hard.”

  “Got it,” Lucas said. “Anything I should know to do or not to do?”

  “No, just take it easy for two more weeks.”

  The doctor pulled out a kit from the cupboard and set about re-casting Lucas’s arm. He winced a little when she lifted it up to wrap around the underside, and Declan felt Lucas’s hand slide along his as he grasped at his fingers. Declan gave him a reassuring squeeze of support.

  They thanked the doctor once she finished and left the clinic feeling much happier and much lighter than they had an hour before.

  “Wanna get ice cream to celebrate?” Declan asked.

  “Fuck yes, I do,” Lucas said adamantly.

  “Okay. Keep your eyes peeled for a Dairy Joy.”

  “I don’t know what that is.”

  “Ice cream.”

  They drove around Ellsworth looking for the ice cream stand, and happy to just be spending worry-free time together.

  Declan was feeling so carefree that he thought about telling Lucas how he felt. He was in so deep at this point, he knew if he waited any longer, the heartbreak of rejection would kill him. If he was going to say something, it was going to have to be soon. He resolved to tell him the next day.

  He knew he was being a coward, but if Lucas didn’t want him back, he didn’t want the memory of this day tarnished. It had been practically perfect, and it wasn’t over yet.

  Tomorrow, he decided. He would tell him tomorrow, as soon as he got home from work. He would pick up dinner from Maggie’s and take it home for Lucas. They could eat supper and watch Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was getting closer to Halloween, and Lucas had been trying to get Declan to watch it with him. After dinner, they could have a bath together and Declan would tell him. He felt like telling him in the bath was significant. The bath they had shared the day after Lucas came to stay with him was symbolic for Declan, like they had washed away all the animosity and the anger and started fresh together. He wanted their next bath to mean the same, a new start together.

  Of course, he had no idea what Lucas’s thoughts on the subject would be, but he just couldn’t put it off any longer.

  THEY FINALLY arrived home after a long day, and they were both exhausted. They had found the Dairy Joy. Declan had never been, but he’d heard Scott talking about taking his wife there on their second date. Janet had loved it. What was there not to love, though? An adorable little stand on the side of the road that sells ice cream. Lucas ordered triple chocolate, and Declan ordered rocky road. Declan watched Lucas eating his ice cream, his pink tongue slipping out to lick at the drips along the side of the cone. It was borderline pornographic, and so distracting that Declan didn’t notice his own ice cream melting, until he was wearing half of it.

  He’d cursed and dabbed helplessly at it with the half-ply napkins supplied by the scooper. Lucas just laughed at him, the sound deep and easy. It was the laugh of someone who was finally feeling good. Declan loved the sound of it.

  After their dessert for an appetizer, they had stopped at a little restaurant on the outskirts of Ellsworth and had supper together on the patio. It had been just a little too cold, but likely the last chance to eat outdoors until after winter. They snuggled close and ordered hot soup and were happy for the privacy when Lucas slipped his freezing-cold fingers under Declan’s shirt to stroke at the spot where his pants dipped down just enough at the back to provide a little presupper entertainment.

  The touches had made Declan crazy, and he couldn’t wait until they got home. He promptly asked for the check before deciding he didn’t want to wait that long, threw money down on the table, and steered Lucas out of the restaurant.

  Now that they were home, they stumbled through the door, kissing, and slammed it behind them. There was no time to get to the bedroom. Declan tore at Lucas’s clothing and had Lucas stripped down and bared for him in seconds flat. He was still fully clothed when he dropped to his knees to give Lucas his second blowjob of the day.

  Lucas was in the middle of making some smartass remark when Declan’s mouth descended on him, cutting the sentence short as Lucas’s head fell back, and his words became a long groan.

  Declan licked up and down the length, paying close attention to the vein that ran along the underside. He cupped Lucas’s balls in the palm of his hand, loving the weight of them as he rolled them gently against each other. Sucking up and down, hollowing his cheeks and burying his nose into Lucas’s abdomen. Declan loved the taste of this man, the feeling of him against his tongue, and more than anything, the way he smelled. He could live off that scent forever and be happy. No one smelled as good as Lucas.

  Declan took a deep breath in, memorizing it before sliding Lucas’s cock all the way to the back of his throat and swallowing around it. Lucas cried out and bucked forward, but there was nowhere for him to go as he spilled down Declan’s throat.

  He was panting and shaking as Declan stood, pulling Lucas into his arms and lifting him so he could wrap his legs around Declan’s waist. Lucas’s mouth came down on his, kissing him frantically, licking into his mouth, thrusting their tongues together.

  It seemed as though the orgasm had ignited something inside Lucas rather than quelling it. He was ravenous and taking Declan to places he didn’t know he could get to.

  Declan kissed him back, aggressively and with fervor, wanting to show Lucas with his actions how badly he was wanted. Needed. He kept at it, humping up against him as he laid him on the bed, pinned against the soft mattress.

  “Love this,” he whispered against Lucas’s mouth.

  Lucas’s reply was simple.

  “Love you.”

  Declan pulled back to look at Lucas, wanting to be sure. He couldn’t let himself hope until he saw that it wasn’t just the passion talking. Was it real? What he saw in Lucas’s eyes told him everything. He looked scared. His eyes were glassy, his pupils wide from the dim light, but behind that, Declan saw the love. It wasn’t a heat-of-the-moment confession. Lucas meant it.

  His heart pounded against his sternum. He felt like it might thump right from his chest. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t let Lucas look at him with that hurt look in his eyes any longer.

  Declan crashed his mouth down on Lucas’s, taking him and possessing him with everything he had. He wanted to say the words, wanted to repeat those little words that could change his life forever, but first he wanted to show Lucas. Declan wanted Lucas to feel how much he cared about him, how afraid he had been on that dock, and how upside-down his life had become in the days since. He wanted Lucas to know that although their meeting had begun with pain, he was glad that he had been there to pick up the pieces and then fall apart, right into Lucas’s arms.

  Breaking the kiss, he panted for breath, holding Lucas so tight he knew there would be new bruises that covered the old ones, but he was glad. He wanted his mark on the man. Wanted everyone to know Lucas was his.

  “I love you too,” he said at last. “So fucking much, I ache with it.”

  Lucas buried his face in the crook of Declan’s neck, inhaling deep and breathing out, the hot air tickling the little hairs.

  “Stay with me?” Declan asked. Despite their declarations, he was afraid of the answer. So much rested on what came next, and he almost couldn’t bear to hear it.

  “You want me to move in with you?” Lucas asked, incredulously.

  “Yes. I want you to stay with me. Forever.”

  “Forever?” Lucas squeaked.

  “Yeah….” Declan let his voice fade out. It wasn’t exactly the excited outburst of “yes!” that he had been hoping for.

  Lucas pulled back, holding Declan’s face awkwardly in his hands, the new cast rough against his cheek.

  “Do you know what you’re asking me?”

  “I’m asking you to be mine. Forever. I love you. I don’t want you to go. I know it’s a lot, and I know it’s quick, but there have been a handful of things in my life I have known with absolute certainty. I knew I wanted to be a cop, to protect people and uphold the law. I knew the instant I drove into town that this would be my forever place, and I knew as soon as I saw you lying helpless on that dock, that you were my forever person.”

  Lucas didn’t say anything, but he didn’t break eye contact.

  “Please say something,” Declan whispered. He felt like time had slowed down and his life depended on the next words that left Lucas’s mouth.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes?” he repeated, unable to believe that what he had heard wasn’t wishful hallucinations.

  “Yes. I love you too. This could be my forever place.”

  “It is. You’re never leaving. I won’t let you,” he said as he tackled Lucas to the bed. He was careful, but so overcome by the emotion and excitement of what had just happened that he couldn’t help but wrap himself around the other man. He was bursting with warmth and he needed an outlet for it. He wanted to scream and cry and jump on the mattress. Instead, he pressed Lucas into the bed with his hips, pinning him still beneath him.

  “I am so happy,” Declan said, completely needlessly. His cheeks hurt.

  “There are still some things to figure out,” Lucas reminded him.

  “None of that shit matters. Everything else is just small stuff. We’ll worry about it in the morning. Right now, I have plans for you,” he said, winking.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yup. I told you you’re mine, now I’m going to show you.”

  “Bring it on, old man.”

  “I’m like, four fucking years older than you.”

  “Exactly. Older,” Lucas said, and angled himself up, biting a mark into Declan’s collarbone.

  “Ouch! That fucking hurt,” Declan whined.

  Chapter 21

  “YOU KNOW shift started seventeen minutes ago, deputy,” called Scott.

  “What the fuck ever, Lerner,” he retorted, unable to wipe the smile from his face. He’d been smiling like that all morning.

  “Whoa, what’s with you?” Scott asked. “You look like you won the fucking lottery.”

  “Had a good day off, is all.”

  “Oh yeah? What happened?”

  “Lucas is moving in with me.”

  Scott clapped him on the back. “Congratulations, man. I haven’t met him yet, but if he makes you as happy as you look right now, I hope things work out for you guys.”

  “I think they will. I’ve never felt like this about someone before. You know how you get that warm feeling when you use the seat warmers in the car?”

  Scott laughed. “Yeah.”

  “It’s like that, but everywhere. I just can’t turn it off. I know I look like a jackass, but I can’t help it. I’m so fucking happy.”

  “I’m happy for you, man. I remember when I met Janet. Besides being a walking hard-on, I wanted to write sonnets and make fucking daisy chains.”