Page 36 of In Too Deep

Harrison’s heart gave one hard thump.

“Stay,” Jake said again, and there was no humour in it now. No easy grin to turn it into something less than it was. “I’ll hold you. You can hold me. Whatever works.” His gaze moved over Harrison’s face. “You look like you need to switch that bloody head off for a few hours. So stay. Sleep.”

Harrison looked at him for a long moment.

Then he eased himself free, sat up and stood from the bed. Jake fell back against the pillows, watching him. Uncertainty flickered behind his eyes, but he didn’t ask. Didn’t reach for him. He waited.

Harrison looked down at him.

At the unfairness of him, really. The solid lines of a body built from years of graft and balance on pitched roofs. Dark curls fanned across the pillow. Blue eyes fixed steadily on Harrison as though he trusted him not to walk away. So Harrison reached for the first button of his shirt. Then the next. And Jake watched every inch of skin that appeared.

Harrison had been naked in front of Chris thousands of times. Had stopped thinking about it years before they’d even married. But this was different.

These were new eyes.

And Harrison was choosing to let them look.

Eventually, he shrugged the shirt from his shoulders and dropped it aside, then undid his trousers and stepped out of them to stand there in his boxers.

Jake slid an arm behind his head and looked him over slowly, a small, appreciative smile tugging at his mouth. “God, you’re a sexy fuck, Detective Black.”

Harrison breathed out a laugh.

And somehow, that helped.

He then climbed into bed and Jake came to him immediately, closing the space Harrison had just crossed and pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder.

“Sleep.” Jake nuzzled into his neck. “That’s what you need.”

Harrison drew him closer. “Another thing we agree on.”

Jake snorted. “You keep that to yourself, though, aye. Don’t want people thinking I side with police now.”

A quiet laugh escaped Harrison and Jake relaxed against him, head on his chest, arms around him, legs tangling beneath the sheets as though it were the easiest thing in the world. As though morning wasn’t waiting.

Harrison closed his eyes.

Tomorrow, he’d be the DI again. Tomorrow, there would be facts and evidence and questions that needed answers.

But tonight, Jake was warm.

Alive.

Here.

So Harrison wrapped his arms around him.

And stayed.

Chapter five

Through the Cracks

Jake woke to buzzing.

Sharp. Relentless. And not his usual alarm.

He buried his face deeper into the pillow, not ready to surface. His body still screamed for sleep. To curl into the warmth beside him.