Drew couldn’t sit, though. He could only stand and stare, first at the table, then at Lee. “A grand gesture?”
Lee’s gorgeous face went even pinker. He glanced down modestly, then adjusted his glasses and gazed up at Drew withsuch softness in his eyes that Drew’s throat squeezed before he could say anything.
“It’s what heroes in romance novels do when they’ve messed up and want to make amends, or when they want to win their love interest but don’t know how,” he explained.
“Lee,” Drew said, already melting from the inside out.
“I fired that agent,” he spoke over anything Drew might have said. “Well, I never signed with him in the first place, so it wasn’t exactly firing.”
“You said so in your voicemail.”
“Yes, but I wanted to say it again. To you. In person.” He took a step closer to Drew, his hand twitching like he wanted to grasp Drew’s. “I would never sell you out, Drew.”
“Won’t it hurt your career?” Drew asked, his voice sounding strange to himself.
Lee shook his head. “I would never put anything before you. Not even the chance to be trad published. And honestly, I like what I do the way I do it anyhow. But that’s beside the point.”
He reached for Drew’s hand then, and Drew was happy to give it to him.
“This all makes me miserable,” he said, emotion strong in his voice. “The misunderstanding, I mean,” he clarified. “You make me happy. Being with you makes me happier than I ever thought I could be. You’re so amazing, Drew.” He rested a hand on Drew’s cheek. “You’re talented and funny and so easy to be around. And that’s all I want to do. I just want to be around you, whatever that means and in whatever way we can. I don’t care how many zeroes are on a publishing contract, if it means I can’t?—”
“I love you.” Drew cut him off before he could go any farther. He didn’t know the words were going to burst out of him, but once they were out, he wanted to hear them again and again. “I love you,” he repeated. “Wow. I love you.”
“Did you just—” Lee gaped at him for a second before almost shouting, “I love you, too! Damn. I wanted to be the first one to say it.”
“I love you,” Drew repeated, laughter bubbling up from him. He couldn’t hold back any longer. He threw his arms around Lee and tugged him close. “I can’t believe how much I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Lee repeated, tightening their embrace. “I love you, Drew Oberlin.”
Nothing else mattered. The troubles of the world and the betrayals that went with them melted away. All Drew cared about was the way his heart called to the man in his arms and how he never wanted to let him go.
He kissed Lee before either of them could get bogged down in all the things they needed to say to each other, all the apologies that needed to be made and the plans that needed to be ironed out. He kissed him like his life depended on it, and who said it didn’t?
Lee kissed him back, eager and laughing at first, then with a deeper seriousness and passion. Their tongues explored and their teeth nipped, but through it all, the thing that really mattered for Drew was the overwhelming joy of kissing the man he loved.
“What are we going to do about this?” Lee asked breathlessly, some indeterminate time later, when their kissing finally stopped.
“I…I don’t know,” Drew said, unable to stop himself from smiling or to let go of the man in his arms. A second later, he blinked and loosened his hold on Lee so he could take a step back. “Yes, I do know,” he said, more certain of anything than he’d ever felt in his life.
“Do tell,” Lee said, looking like he couldn’t stop smiling either.
“We record a video,” he said. “We come clean about everything. We talk about how we met, what the original intent was, how, yes, it was just fake at first, but how we fell in love. How we’re together now.”
Lee’s eyes went wide. “You would really go public with all of that?”
“Yes,” Drew answered without hesitation. He lowered his head for a second, then glanced up at Lee. “I think we have to. I think the only way to counter a lie is with the whole and complete truth.”
“But the truth could hurt you,” Lee said, a warming protectiveness in his voice. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Drew shook his head. “It will be worth it if you’re safe, if we can be together.”
He cupped the side of Lee’s face, drinking in the sight of him for a moment, then leaning in to kiss him again.
Lee kissed him back, making a sound of delight and acceptance. It was everything Drew wanted to hear from him and more.
Well, he wouldn’t say no to hearing Lee moaning in pleasure as they tangled up and got sweaty, but that could wait for later.
“So what do you say?” he asked once they came up for air.