He parked the bike and decided to walk to the front to see the garden. The flowers Morgan and the other tenants had planted and tended to were thriving, and he planned on adding more rosebushes, plus azaleas, and other flowers to the grounds. Morgan would definitely be surprised.
Instead, he was the one who got a surprise.
Diego’s long body unfolded from sitting on the top step. The summer sun had darkened his amber skin to a deeper copper, which set off his light gray-blue eyes. He’d changed his hairstyle from the last time Leo had seen him. The twisted braids were gone, and he now wore his hair clipped closely to the scalp, accentuating his sculpted cheekbones and slash of his jaw.
A wary smile tipped up the corners of Diego’s lips. “Hey, Leo. How’re you doing?”
“I’m good. You?” He had no beef with Diego. He knew he could’ve handled their relationship better, but he’d never led him on. He walked up the path to meet him.
“I’m good. Really good. I was passing by and thought I’d take a chance and stop to say hello. You were out, but I figured I’d wait a while.”
He reached Diego then, and they gave each other a hug. He’d forgotten Diego’s smell and how he felt. It was strange to have someone else close to him after being so intimate with Morgan, almost as if his arms weren’t meant to hold anyone else. Diego must’ve sensed his awkwardness, as he pulled away.
“You okay, Leo?”
“Yeah, yeah. You want to come in? Have a drink?”
“Sure.”
Once inside his apartment, Leo tossed his keys onto the counter and took out beers for them both. “Cheers.” He tipped his bottle toward Diego. “So…what’s been going on since we broke up?”
Diego’s white smile flashed. “We were never a couple, to have broken up. Isn’t that what you told me?” When he opened his mouth, Diego put his hand up. “No, it’s fine. You were right. You were never in love with me, and I thought I was with you, but I was wrong. Now I know the difference.”
“You met someone.” Leo didn’t ask. He didn’t need to.
“Yeah. We met on a shoot.”
“A shoot? What’re you talking about?”
“I got a modeling contract. I was hanging out in Union Square Park one Saturday at the Farmer’s Market, and some lady came up to me and asked me if I’d be interested in modeling jeans and gave me her card.” His eyes danced. “She liked my legs.”
“I don’t blame her. They’re very nice.”
“Silly. Anyway, Greg was the production assistant for the campaign, and we hit it off, and it’s been almost six months. We’re going to be moving in together by the end of the year.”
“I’m really glad.” And he meant it. “You deserve a great guy.”
“I always get the great guys. Sometimes they don’t work out, but we learn from it.”
“Yeah, we do,” Leo said, thinking of Morgan. If he hadn’t been with others, he wouldn’t know the difference being with the right person made.
“Which sounds like you might know what I’m talking about.” Always wise to his moods, Diego raised a brow. “Have you met someone?”
“Is it weird to be talking about this with you?” Leo countered Diego’s question, unsure how to respond.
“If it were, I wouldn’t have asked. And that answers it without you needing to say it anyway. Tell me about him.”
“Well…his name is Morgan. We sort of didn’t get along when we first met, but then I couldn’t stop thinking about him. He’s…a really good person.”
As Diego studied him, his lips curved in a smile. “And you really care about him. I can tell.”
Uncomfortable—even with Diego, whom he’d been naked with—Leo drank the rest of his beer down. “Yeah. I do.”
“I’m glad for you, man. Seems like we both got what we wanted.”
“Sometimes we don’t even know what we want until we have it, and then it’s so natural, you wonder how you did without it,” Leo said, surprising himself, but the words were true. He’d had no idea how much he’d needed Morgan until he had him, and now that he did, he wasn’t ever going to let him go.
