Page 83 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

Leo sat down beside me, staring across the street into an empty storefront, scraping a rock against the asphalt. “What if I told you that those pictures weren’t a surprise?”

“What do you mean?”

“The way I feel about you didn’t just happen with our fake relationship.” I could feel him muster up strength, the muscles in his back tightening. “Dust, I had a crush on you in college. A major fucking crush. I wanted to be with you, but…I was so confused. I was in the closet. I didn’t understand what I was feeling. And you were straight, not interested.”

I hissed out a breath, cursing my former douche-headed self.

“And so I tucked those feelings away. I put them in this box inside me and shoved it deep in storage. I wasn’t going to let whatever these feelings were ruin our friendship and ruin my future.” Leo heaved in a deep breath. I rubbed small circles on his back, kissing his head, letting him know I was here and I wasn’t going anywhere. We could talk until the sun went down. I wasn’t going anywhere. “I did a pretty good job of it. I married a nice girl, had two wonderful kids, a career. My feelings for you melded into this incredible friendship. But having you here with me…” He did some version of a cough and laugh and cry. The feelings refused to be boxed any longer. “I love you, Dusty. I’ve always loved you. I am in love with you.”

I leaned my forehead against his and peered into his soulful eyes one more time before kissing him, our bodies connected on a different plane. No more lies between us. I pulled him into a hug.

“I thought you weren’t into me like that, that you saw this as just a fake relationship,” he said. “So I decided I could do that, too.”

“Jesus, you really do make everything a competition.” I held his hand. I would always hold his hand. “Well, I’ve been in love with my best friend for twenty fucking years, and I’m only realizing it now.”

His gorgeous brown eyes watered up, making them damn near translucent.

“Timing was never my thing. I got frosted tips like two years too late.” I wiped away a tear just as it was about to fall.

“You’re in love with me?”

I nodded. It was so stupidly obvious in those pictures.

“Ridiculously in love with you. Somewhere along the way, this fake relationship got real for me.” I cradled his glorious head in my hands and plucked a sweet kiss on his lips. “I realized that I wasn’t kissing you just for show, and I wasn’t having sex with you because of a chemical combustion, and I wasn’t thinking about you all the time because I was wrapped up in the election.” My mind flooded with memories of a friendship that spanned half my lifetime. “Shit. Talking to you at two in the morning was the only reason I stayed awake, and I couldn’t wait until we talked the next day.”

“But you didn’t realize it?”

“Nope.” I sat on the curb, arms hanging over my knees. “I did like women, but nothing compared to how I feel about you. Maybe that’s why I could never make it work with my long list of exes.” With each sentence, more clarity entered my head. The perfect guy had been in front of me this whole time, and I was too stupid and scared not to see it.

I planted soft kisses on his lips and along his cheek.

“Dusty, I love you.”

“I know. We’ve established that.”

“I know, but I’ve waited twenty years to say that. I like the way it sounds.”

We cuddled on the curb in the cold wind, surrounded by each other’s warmth. Footsteps crunched on the sidewalk. Maria stood above us with a very cringe expression.

“Mr. Mayor, I want to apologize if those pictures brought up bad memories. We don’t have to run the story.” She chewed at her fingernail.

“Maria, it’s all right. Those pictures resurfaced a lot of wonderful memories. Like when I could rock out without throwing my back out.” Leo was so damn slick, bringing a smile to her face. He knew how to communicate, how to connect with others. Whoever said he wasn’t likable didn’t know what they were talking about. (Unless it was Vernita. I’ll never second-guess her.)

“Why don’t you add one more picture to the collection?” Leo threw his arm around me and pulled me close, letting my head rest in the nook of his neck.

Maria snapped a picture on her phone, and without looking at it, I knew that Leo was gazing down at me, and I was looking up, giving him the googliest of googly eyes.

23

LEO

Iknocked at the door. “Dust, are you ready to run?”

Pre-dawn midnight blue coated the sky outside. I bounced in my running shoes, getting my legs limber while I waited.

I knocked again. “Dust, are you asleep?”

He yanked open the door to the en suite bathroom, naked save for pajama bottoms. His chest and faint six-pack were hot enough to lick. His bedhead crashed like waves across his forehead. A foamed-up toothbrush hung out of his mouth.

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