Page 80 of Hurricane Love

So pretty,Wylie thought absently.

“About us,” Diego said.

Wylie shook himself to attention. “Us?” he asked, shocked that Diego was the one to bring it up.

“You seem surprised,” Diego said, still eyeing him from where he lay.

“I am surprised,” Wylie said honestly. “I was just thinking about how Iwasn’tgoing to bring it up.”

Diego sat up on the couch so that they were facing each other and searched his face. “Why’s that? Has something changed?”

“No,” Wylie said to reassure him. “I mean, my feelings for you haven’t changed. If anything, being away from you has only reinforced what a good thing we had.”

“I thought…” Diego began and then stalled. Wylie resisted the urge to prompt him. He wanted to give him the opportunity to share his feelings without Wylie filling in the blanks. “I thought this thing between us was one-sided,” Diego said at last.

Wylie studied him. In what universe could this relationship ever be considered one-sided? They’d been shoulder-to-shoulder, fighting each other’s battles together this whole time. “What do you mean?”

“I thought it was just me, needing you,” Diego said.

That was clearly a product of Diego’s past trauma because Wylie was pretty sure he’d been expressive to the point of cringe-worthy about his feelings for Diego.

“I knew you liked me–” Diego began again, haltingly.

“Loved you,” Wylie interrupted, needing to clarify that point.

“Lovedme,” Diego corrected. “But I didn’t think youneededme.”

Wylie was beginning to understand. Somewhere along the way, Diego must have mistaken his confidence for some kind of extreme self-reliance. Because Wylie seemed to have it all figured out, he didn’t need Diego or anyone else for that matter. His little breakdown must have revealed the truth. Instead of trying to argue that he’d needed him all along, Wylie simply said, “I do need you.”

“And I want to take care of you,” Diego said.

Wylie turned over Diego’s words, afraid to hope, wanting theman to define exactly what he’d meant by it, write that shit down in a memo with annotations and sign on the dotted line.

“I love you,” Wylie said, grabbing his hand, “and as evidenced by what you’ve said and the fact that you came all the way up here to drag me out of my depression spiral and give me a reason to fight again, it seems you have some pretty strong feelings for me too.” Wylie paused there.

“I do,” Diego said with a soft smile.

“And I know you’ve got some work to do and some things to figure out. I don’t want to pressure you into being in a relationship with me, especially if it’s because you’re worried I might fall apart if you don’t.” Wylie didn’t want Diego to think his mental health depended on them being together.

Diego shook his head slowly. “It’s not that.”

“Has something changed?” Wylie asked.

“I’ve had some time to think about things. I think…” He stopped again and seemed to gather himself up as if prepared to make some great declaration. “I think we could be good together.”

Wylie smiled because to him, it was so obvious. It was what he’d been saying all along. Banging the drums and blasting the horns. But Wylie operated on instinct and intuition while Diego needed time to process and analyze things from all angles. It seemed Diego had finally caught up to him. Still, Wylie was afraid to believe it because what if Diego got home and changed his mind? What if he decided he wasn’t worth the effort after all?

“I think we could begreattogether,” Wylie said.

“I don’t know what it looks like or how we’re going to make it happen, but I want to try,” Diego said with earnestness shining in his eyes.

Wylie could cry, or kiss him, or both. This was all that he’d wanted to hear for so long. It was such a reversal in his position that he couldn’t help but question it. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry that it took me so long.”

Wylie didn’t want Diego to beat himself up about it, especiallybecause the man already had a tendency to blame himself for too much. “Do you trust me?” Wylie asked.

“Yes,” Diego said. “More than anyone.”