He loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was the mutual feeling between Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney — the dynamic duo in the Fab Four — that is explored in the new book “John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs” by Ian Leslie.

“My feeling about their relationship has always been that it was remarkably intense and close and complex,” Leslie told The Post. “What it seems to be most like is a romance … in the sense that it was, you know, tempestuous and jealousy-ridden and loving and tender as well. It’s a love story.”

Indeed, the special bond that began when a 15-year-old McCartney met a 16-year-old Lennon on July 6, 1957 — when the latter was playing with the Quarrymen at St. Peter’s Church in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton — is a magical mystery that “lies at the heart of the Beatles story,” said Leslie.

In “John & Paul,” Leslie likens their complicated connection to “a relationship that isn’t sexual but is romantic,” “a friendship that may have an erotic or physical component to it, but doesn’t involve sex.”

The Post reached out to McCartney’s rep, who had no comment on the book.

“They’re turned on by each other,” said Leslie. “Creatively and personally, they found each other to be the most fascinating and exciting person to be around in their lives.”

“And others around them remarked on the connection that they had,” he continued. “They would say they seem to have a kind of telepathic connection where they were just sort of in tune with each other. And so, really, I think so much of the music came out of that connection.”

While Leslie believes that there was “an erotic component” to Lennon and McCartney’s relationship, he stressed, “I don’t think they were sleeping together.”

“I don’t think they had any sexual contact,” he said, “but I think John sometimes worried that maybe he might be gay or have gay feelings towards Paul … The first time they meet, John talks about how struck he was by how good-looking Paul was.”

“So in a way, John kind of, like, questioned himself and worried about that a little bit,” Leslie claimed. “I don’t think Paul ever did.”

Leslie alleged that Lennon “felt kind of insecure about his sexuality generally.” He noted the rumor that the late Beatle once had a fling with the group’s gay manager, Brian Epstein, in 1963.

“There may have been some sort of sexual contact between them when they went on holiday in Spain,” said Leslie.

As a result of that rumor, there was a 1963 incident where Lennon assaulted Bob Wooler, DJ at the Cavern Club in Liverpool where The Beatles were discovered.

“[Wooler] made a joke about his possible sexual experience with Brian Epstein, and he literally beat the guy up,” Leslie claimed. “So you could see there’s some sort of deep, like, insecurity or anxiety there.”

Eventually, the intense bond between the two Beatles took its toll on their relationship.

“I think they both realized around 1968 that they were kind of so entangled in each other that they needed to kind of move on,” said Leslie. “It was too intense, really, to sustain the personal relationship.”

And they both found women who took on that role in their lives: Yoko Ono and Linda McCartney (nee Eastman).

“I think once John gets together with Yoko, Paul says, ‘OK, well, John’s with Yoko. Now I’m gonna go for Linda,’ ” said Leslie. “And then they get married within two weeks of each other [in March 1969].”

“They both marry women that they collaborate with, musically and artistically. The creative and the personal, they had to be entwined. That’s the relationship they had with each other, minus the sex.”

Leslie believes that 1968’s “Hey Jude” captures the shift in Lennon and McCartney’s relationship with their new partners.

“ ‘Hey Jude’ is a kind of amicable, loving breakup song between two friends: ‘You found her, now go and get her.’ Paul’s talking to John, and he’s also talking to himself.”