Page 70 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

“We had all the sex.”

“Us!”

“You had sex with a man.”

“Who I’ve known since the beginning of time.” I smacked my head. “I’m sorry, what?”

The laughter pushed out the uncomfortable feelings. We were still friends, no matter what.

“You were like a sex maniac.” Leo joined me on the couch. Our knees touched, and despite the laughter and the weirdness, it made me pop a semi. “The second we got inside last night, you were on your knees.”

“I was possessed. You weren’t Leo. You were a rock god last night, and I was one of your slutty groupies.”

Leo massaged my shoulder, one of his thick eyebrows raising. “I liked it.”

Those feelings from last night, the ones where I felt us get closer than possible, returned.

Leo wiped tears from his eyes. “I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.” His hand moved to my neck, brushing through my hair in delicate circles. “We’re still friends, right?”

“I built your bookcase, didn’t I?”

Leo gazed at the new addition and nodded approvingly. A new kind of quiet came over us. “I wanted to run by myself this morning to clear my head. Last night was a wild, chemical thing. It was incredible. Unbelievable.”

I sensed a but.

“But you didn’t want it to ruin our friendship,” I filled in.

“Exactly. I guess all the stress of the campaign, the joy I’ve felt having you here all the time, and the nonstop kissing…” He made a turning motion with his hands. We would totally slay charades.

“It all combined to create this perfect storm of sex,” I said.

“A triple crown of sex.”

“A hat trick of sex.”

Going through our old bits brought me much-needed relief.

“Had you ever thought about this before?” I asked. Leo had been gay this whole time. I wondered if there was a sexual attraction I hadn’t noticed before. Because now, I saw it all the time.

“You and me? No. No way.” He shook his head and turned his attention to wiping away a bit of sawdust off the coffee table. It seemed like an odd time to notice that.

“You’re still my best friend. I’m still yours. That’s not changing, even if we happen to repeat last night,” I found myself filling in, telling him what I knew he wanted to hear. I could make a stump speech like the best of them. “We’ve been through epic shit over the past twenty years. Losing jobs, losing businesses, losing parents, breakups, divorce, kids, the worst of times, the best of times. I’m not going to toss that history away just because you saw me naked.”

I was convincing Leo as well as myself. This wasn’t bullshit. I wasn’t going to let us muck up a friendship over sex. Having true friends as you get older was worth more than gold. We were mature men in our forties. I wasn’t going to let sex, or the feelings clogging up my chest, muddy the waters.

“You are so right, Dust.”

“It’s about time I become the one who makes sense for a change.”

His eyes crinkled at the edges with a smile, and damn if it didn’t take my breath away.

“And now we’ve gotten it out of our system, we can charge ahead and focus on cruising to victory,” Leo said.

Victory. The election. I had to remind myself why I was here.

“I’m gonna go pick up the kids. We can all grab dinner together.” Leo kissed me on the lips goodbye. “Really great job with the shelves.”

And then he was gone, and silence returned, a deep silence which couldn’t be erased withDouble Jeopardy.

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