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Abe tilted his head to the left, shifted his eyes to the right, and pursed his lips in the most exaggerated display of concentration I’d ever seen.Freaking clown.Abe sucked in a breath and shook his head. “You’ll have to jog my memory. What word?”
I slid my hand lower and cupped his crotch. I knew Earl wouldn’t be mad at me for taking the bull by the…balls. He’d been in my corner the entire time Abe and I danced around one another, which I learned during my nightly conversations with Abe after Earl passed. It had warmed my heart and emboldened me. “I’ll say it once we can act on it.”
Abe mashed his lips against mine, forcing his tongue inside my mouth and stroking it over mine. I whimpered pitifully when he pulled back and stared into my eyes. His wet lips curved into a devilish smile. “That sounded like you were on the verge of orgasm.” Need and lust arced through my body, and I didn’t think I was too far from it. Abe touched his forehead to mine. “I want to hear the sound again when we get back, but next time you’ll be naked and under me.” The rich promise in his voice made my knees weak and my pucker clench.
“What about the guys?” I asked.
“They’ve got two options: go home or cover their ears. I’m not going another day without claiming you as mine.”
“Come hell or high water,” I agreed.
I pressed one last kiss to his lips, then screwed the caps and lids on the thermoses. I opened the corner cabinet and pulled out the box of miniature powdered-sugar donuts I’d bought just for Abe.
“You remembered to buy those?” he teased.
I shrugged and added them to my knapsack, along with two bananas, some granola bars, and a packet of hand wipes. Abe chuckled at the last item but didn’t comment further. He grabbed two flashlights from the drawer and ensured the batteries worked. We grabbed our jackets before heading outside to the shed, where a small rowboat leaned against one side. Instead of going straight to the boat, Abe opened the shed door and surveyed the interior.
I gestured to the box of ashes nestled in the crook of his arm. “Letting Earl say goodbye to his beloved shed?” I’d heard stories about how he liked to putter around in there when he needed some alone time.
Abe snickered and met my gaze. “No. My neighbor told me there have been several burglaries in the community and a possible squatter bouncing between the empty cabins and living in the woods.”
“It would be easy to access the properties through the dense woods surrounding them,” I said. Slipping into cop mode came as naturally to me as breathing. “What kind of things were stolen?”
“Just food and staple items. Nothing of value.”
“It sounds like bored teenagers goofing around or someone squatting.”
Abe flashed his light around the shed’s interior. Rows of tools and yard implements lined one wall. A gas can sat neatly next to the emergency generator in the center of the space. An old green Schwinn leaned against the left-hand wall, and a faded red sled hung on the wall above it. Fishing gear and several tackle boxes were stacked neatly just to the right of the open door, and oars for the boat and life jackets were just to the left. Abe grabbed two paddles and a pair of life jackets before stepping back out. “Everything looks fine, but I’m going to make a trip to the hardware store and buy a padlock. I bet this shed hasn’t been locked a single time since Earl built it when I was a kid.”
“Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea,” I said. “Times have changed a lot.”
We backed out of the shed, closed the door, and rounded the corner, where we donned the life jackets. Abe grabbed the front of the boat, I took the back, and we carried it to the small dock. The pale blue strip of approaching dawn had expanded and now included a thin band of peachy orange. The lake looked like a black mirror until the surface rippled when we set the boat into the water. Abe held on to the vessel while I climbed into the bow. Instead of facing forward, I positioned myself to look at Abe, who would row us to Earl’s favorite fishing spot. The boat was ten or twelve feet long, which wasn’t much room for two men who were over six feet. Abe tossed the oars onto the aluminum bottom and gave me the wooden box containing Earl’s ashes, which I set on the seat beside me. I placed the knapsack and thermoses at my feet, then gripped the dock to steady the boat while Abe climbed in. He slid the paddles into the oarlocks, and away we went.
I closed my eyes, tilted my head back, and enjoyed the morning breeze on my face. It was my favorite time of year. The trees would be an explosion of red, orange, and yellow against a cloudless blue sky. When the sun rose high enough, we’d see the fall foliage perfectly reflected on the lake, making it hard to tell where the ground ended and the sky began. The crisp air smelled like damp earth and fallen leaves.
“Stop looking so dreamy, or I’m likely to forget where we are and what we’re supposed to be doing,” Abe said. “I’d hate for us to end up in the lake.”
I snapped my eyes open. “Sorry.”
Abe shook his head. “Don’t apologize. It’s great to see you looking so relaxed. I’m just jealous I’m not the one melting the tension from your body.”
“Reserve your verdict until after you’ve made me come. I know the kind of orgasms you give me when I fantasize about you, so I can only imagine the intensity after you’ve actually fucked me senseless.”
Abe fumbled around and might’ve dropped an oar into the water if they hadn’t been locked in place. “Think of me often?”
“Probably as often as you think of me.”
A wicked smile lit up Abe’s face in the early morning light. “It’s a miracle we ever get anything done.”
“Or have skin left on our dicks.”
“That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble,” Abe warned.
“I look forward to you keeping it busy with other things.”
We continued to stare into each other’s eyes. Abe’s gaze would flicker to my left or right to check his navigation, but he mostly rowed on autopilot. Then again, he and Earl had fished this spot dozens of times. It reminded me to get my brain where it needed to be. There would be time to have my way with my best friend, but saying goodbye to a good man took precedence. I bit back a chuckle as I heard Earl’s voice in my head. “Knock it off. It’s about time you knuckleheads got together.”
“Why the coy smile?” Abe asked.
