They got up to throw their empty cups away. Paul walked with Miguel outside and waited as he brought up the Uber app on his phone.
“You sure you want to wait for an Uber? I can take you back to your place. Maybe we can finish our date there.”
Paul’s lips curved in a playfully sexy smile. Too bad it did nothing for Miguel. “Not a good idea. I’m sleeping on my friend’s couch, and I doubt he’d like it if we did the nasty on it while he was trying to sleep in the next room. He needs his rest because he’s a SWAT sharp shooter, and he spends all day hunting bad guys. He probably shoots one a week. At least.” His ramble finished, Miguel owlishly blinked up at Paul, hoping the man would get the giant hint he was dropping. Thankfully, Paul did get it. He backed off. Like took two steps back backed off.
“I’ve got an early day myself. You have a good night.”
Paul left and Miguel blew out a breath of relief. All he wanted was to go home and talk to Hector.
***
Hector lounged on the couch, watching the news, waiting. The sound of a key turning in the lock came sooner than he’d expected. Hector sat up straight and muted the TV when Miguel came in. “Hey.”
Miguel looked at him warily. “Hey.”
“Did you have a nice date?”
“Not really. He talked about himself the whole time. I was bored.”
Hector snorted a laugh at Miguel’s honesty. “Can you come sit with me, please? I want to talk to you.”
“You’re sitting on my bed, so I guess I don’t have a choice.”
He was teasing, but Hector wanted to make it clear Miguel had no obligation to listen to anything he had to say. “You do have a choice. If I say anything you don’t want to hear, tell me to shut the hell up and I’ll go to bed. Okay?”
“Okay,” Miguel drew the word out. He sat in his usual spot on the center cushion, but his body language was stiff, and he leaned away from Hector. “What’s up?”
“First of all, I owe you an apology. I had no right to talk to you like that.”
“I’ve known you since we both had skinned knees and missing teeth and you’ve never talked to me that way. What was that all about?”
“Would you believe me if I said I was jealous?”
Miguel’s eyebrows shot up. “Jealous of what?”
Hector huffed a soft laugh, scraping a hand through his hair. “Jealous of you going out with someone else.”
Miguel silently stared at Hector for a minute, his brow creased in confusion. Then he glanced around the apartment like he was searching for an answer on the taupe walls. When he looked back at Hector, the confusion was cleared from his face.
“Oh, I get it. You felt weird about someone else getting my attention when we’ve been joined at the hip in this apartment.” He laughed. “Silly Hector. You know you’re still my bestie.” He playfully pushed at Hector’s knee.
Hector grabbed his hand before he could pull away. “No, that’s not what I meant. I was jealous because you were going out with some guy, when I want to be the guy you’re with.”
Miguel slowly shook his head, confusion creasing his brow again. “I don’t get it. My blow job skills aren’t that good.”
Now it was Hector’s turn to laugh. “This has nothing to do with that.” He stopped. “Well, maybe a little. That did feel amazing. But what I’m saying is, I’m attracted to you. I like you. And I want to be with you.”
“You’re not gay.”
“I’m not straight either.”
Miguel blew out a hard breath. “Nope. I’m not going there with you. I’m not down to fool around with some guy looking to get some ass on the DL while he’s in between girlfriends. Not even if that guy is you.”
“It’s not like that. And you know I wouldn’t ever use you that way.” Hector took a deep breath before he spoke the truth he’d kept hidden for so long. “You’re not the only man I’ve ever felt attracted to. But you are the first I’ve ever acted on it with.” He lightly squeezed Miguel’s fingers. “Hell, if my dad hadn’t walked in on us that one time, things might have been a lot different between us when we were teenagers.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you about that later. Right now, I want you to understand that I’m attracted to you, and I don’t want to walk away from it.”