There it was. The storm under Nicky's calm. Anyone who thought he felt less than his romantic husband was an idiot. Booker knew it and for the first time in a long time he felt his own fire rise up to meet it.

"You should join me. The water's real nice." Booker's smile was a little more flirtatious, a little more warm than his usual one. "I'm nicer, though."

The way he saw it if Nicky wanted to read he would've stayed inside to do it or gone to his garden roof if he really wanted the sun while he read. He thought, maybe, that Nicky had come out here to tease him but meant to join him all along.