His Horizon - Con Riley Page 0,71

unlikely.

“Hey.” Rob backtracked, standing so close that Jude could see fine laugh lines that age would surely deepen. “What do you want, Jude?”

He wanted to see that happen, Jude knew. Wanted to watch those laugh lines deepen, to be around to have Rob annoy and embarrass him where everyone could see it. Wanted to take him back to that hotel suite and hold him, just hold him, for as long as Rob would let him. He opened his mouth to say so, but a gruff, “You know that I’ll still have to leave at the end of the summer, don’t you?” came out instead.

“I meant what did you want to eat,” Rob said quietly as tourists streamed around them. “But yes, I do know.” He nodded, those fine lines not deepening any further. “Of course, I do.” It shouldn’t be possible for eyes to soften, but Jude watched it happen, Rob’s gaze turning limpid—liquid in a way even a strong swimmer like him could drown in. “I’ve always known that about you.”

“I-I don’t know how long I’ll be gone for, next time.”

“For as long as it takes you to get an answer you can live with.” Rob’s nod was slow, his smile barely there, but gentle.

“But if the season goes to plan… If the Anchor gets a good review and does well, you’ll get back your investment and then—” Jude’s you’ll be the one to go was silent.

Perhaps Rob heard it, regardless. He looked somewhere over Jude’s shoulder, for once saying nothing.

Jude pushed even though he didn’t truly want an answer. “Your dad isn’t going to let up about you taking over from him.”

“How about we just think about being here, right now, with each other?”

It was easier to nod than to debate what-ifs, pointless when the summer would end regardless of what each of them wanted. They walked, Rob’s fingers tight around his, his chatter about nothing important a raft that carried them away from troubled waters. “Sit yourself down right here,” Rob ordered once they got close to the beach. He left Jude on a bench facing the sea until he returned with fish and chips wrapped in paper, the scent of vinegar strong and malty. He passed Jude a chip fork and a can of cola. “What?” he asked when Jude was silent.

“When you said you were taking me out for dinner, this isn’t exactly what I expected.” Jude unwrapped his greasy parcel, wry. “You’re spoiling me.”

“I might have an ulterior motive.” Rob sat so close their elbows jostled. “We’re eating somewhere romantic.” He gestured at the sea view, which was stunning. “Pretty sure that makes this our third date.” Rob took a swig of his drink before adding. “I think you know what that means we’ll be doing later.”

“The lube was a clue.”

Rob chuckled, breaking off a piece of battered haddock, crisp and golden. He blew on the steaming fragment, cooling it before changing the subject. Something in his tone switching from glib to serious caught Jude’s full attention. “Talking of clues….” Rob looked his way briefly, the set of his shoulders stiffening as if braced for impact. “Why do you think I kept nipping into the office to look at maps of this place?”

“Of St Ives?” Jude hadn’t thought too hard about it. The last week had been a whirlwind of preparation. All of them had been so busy that Rob spending time alone in the office had hardly registered. Jude was just as inattentive now as he scanned where the sky met the far edge of the sea until Rob said, “Hey. You’re doing that staring thing again. Don’t you remember what I said about you zoning out like that?”

Jude blinked. They’d only had this conversation an hour or so earlier. “Of course I remember.”

“Tell me what I said then.”

“You told me to quit it.”

Rob relaxed, pleased. He next spoke around a huge mouthful, his cheeks bulging in a way that shouldn’t ever be attractive. “And…?”

“And you said that I should look at you instead.”

“Because I’m…?” Good grief; now Rob’s eyes actually twinkled.

“Because you’re my horizon, these days,” Jude said, food forgotten at Rob’s reaction. Surprised into stopping mid-chew, Rob’s eventual swallow came with the slightest shifts in his expression—sweet, and so delighted. Jude would have missed each flicker if he’d still searched the horizon for sails, as had become habitual.

“I didn’t think you were listening.”

“I always listen to you.” Fuck it, Jude thought as he lifted his arm to wrap it around Rob’s