“You’re not dumb. I will own the nerd term.”
“Dude, you’re so not a nerd. Trust me.” Our eyes met and held for a long moment. I leaned in to peck his soft lips. His worried gaze softened. “Yeah, so here, what the fuck is ephors?”
“They were leaders who were elected annually and served under the Spartan kings to form the executive branch of the state.”
“Okay. You want your bed back?” I shook my head, pulled off my boots, and stretched out beside him, my feet by his head. “Good thing you washed those stinking dogs of yours.” He lay down as well, the single bed barely wide enough for both of us. I pulled out my phone and opened up a book, although retaining anything I read would be hard with Will pressed into my side. All I could focus on was the smell of his soap and the hard lines of him so tight to me. Not that I cared if I recalled what I was reading or not. This moment, the two of us side-by-side, both with our noses in books, was a dream come true. I’d happily stay here all night helping him with words as the river rolled along and the crickets sang their song. Seemed thirty minutes was about all the time Will could devote to a book. He poked me in the shoulder with his toe. I peeked around my phone.
“It’s dark.”
“Yeah, that happens at night.”
He threw me a flat look. “No kidding, asshole. It’s time to sneak across the river to see what we can find.” Fuck. I had really hoped he’d forgotten that stupid idea. “Come on, Yellow Horse. The night is young and so are we!”
He jumped into his boots and out into the dark he went.
Fuuuuuuck.