Shit, had he fucked it up? James hadn't meant to say it, had known it might not be the right thing to say, considering the way they'd both avoided it up to this point. But he hadn't thought he would actually upset Len.

"Sorry," he muttered, and clung to the memory of Len saying it back. If only he could pluck it out of his head and put it straight into his journal, because words weren't even going to come close to the impact the memory would have on him.

He shifted to grind his thigh against Len's groin, hoping to distract his lover from the mistake. Running his hand down the other man's torso, he found the hem of his heavy sweater and started pushing up, wanting to damn well see for himself that his lover was unharmed.