A smile tugged at Win’s lips. “Would you believe it was on a call? Kevin’s office was broken into—they stole all the computers and office equipment. He was usually the first one in and discovered the burglary, so he called it in. He was working in the city then, and we got the call.” Win chuckled briefly. “And before you start thinking, no, I don’t make it a habit of getting dates that way.”
A smile he couldn’t contain broke free. “I wouldn’t think that.”
Win gazed steadily at him. “You remind me of him.”
His heart pounded. Was he merely a substitute for Win’s husband? “Oh? In what way?” Nervous, he waited for an explanation. Much as he cared for Win, he refused to be a stand-in for a dead man.
“Your sweetness. It’s what I first noticed. You’re a good person.”
“God, just for once I’d like to be a bastard. I’m so sick and tired of hearing how nice I am.”
“Don’t be.” Win grasped him, deadly serious. “You gave me something I’d lost and thought gone forever. Something I wasn’t able to find with anyone else.”
An ache opened up in Elliot’s heart. “I did?” He licked his lips. “What? I didn’t do anything.”
Win cupped his face, eyes soft and warm with golden lights. “You were Elliot. Always Elliot. Just Elliot. The man who gave me a reason to want to wake up in the morning. A place to find peace.”
“I did that?” Joy burst through him, knowing he’d given something to a man who’d lost so much. “Me?”
“You do. And I hope you never know the pain of losing someone you loved so much, you wished you could’ve died along with them.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Elliot whispered. In his heart, he finished the sentence.I love you.
“I am too. Now.” Win hugged him tight. “Do you want to know why I left this morning?”
“Only if you want to tell me.” Of course he did. Win exposing his broken heart proved that he cared.
“Today was Kevin’s birthday.”
Shock hit him like a douse of ice water. “Oh. I’m sorry. That must’ve been rough for you. And here I was, babbling nonsense.”
“No. Your feelings aren’t nonsense. They’re valid. I didn’t tell you about Kevin deliberately at first.”
“Why?”
Win withdrew and stared at his feet, directing his answer to the floor. “I’ll be honest. It was because initially, I didn’t plan on anything more between us than sex, so I didn’t want to expose myself like that. Why involve you in my life if I didn’t see you in it?”
A lump formed in Elliot’s throat as Win spoke, every word hitting him like a nail hammered into his skin. “You didn’t lie to me. It was like you said from the start. Friends with benefits. I was the one to force you into something more than you were capable of giving, and now I know why.”
How could he compete with a dead husband? It was like his parents all over again, but worse, since they’d never given him half the affection Win had. But he’d learned to live with love now and didn’t want to give it up.
“No, that’s not it,” Win said. “Not anymore.” His hands balled into fists. “Dammit, I’msonot good at this. I said I didn’t plan for anything real to happen between us, but life doesn’t give a shit what we plan for. It has its own path we know nothing about. I said forever, and yet I’m sitting alone…”
Ignoring everything his friends had been screaming at him for months—years, actually—Elliot placed his hands over Win’s. “No. You’re not alone. Not if you don’t want to be.”
Win tensed under his hands.
