Kris got an Uber back to Remi’s. He couldn’t afford it, really, but he wasn’t trudging all the way over town in this heat while he was doing his best not to cry. He sniffed enough times that the Uber driver looked in his rearview mirror and asked if he was okay. When Kris struggled to reply, the driver pointed to the box of tissues in the back pouch of the driver’s seat. After blowing his nose a couple of times, Kris at least felt less of a mess.

Who had he been kidding? He didn’t know anything about business. PJ was right. He was just some silly twink who had big dreams and nothing to back it up. What kind of Disney nonsense did he have in his head if he thought he could waltz in there and tell his boss how to run his bar? He was an idiot.

He rubbed his nose and sighed heavily. PJ was right. The new community center could take care of all the classes and groups. It didn’t need Bottom’s Up to help it. But Kris couldn’t shake the idea that there were certain things a bar could offer that nowhere else could.

It didn’t matter now, anyway. PJ had made his position abundantly clear by firing Kris. Fucking hell, he was screwed. He needed to find another job, fast. One he didn’t need a car to get to. He scoffed. Yeah, right. Like those kinds of positions just grew on trees.

“Thanks,” he said as the driver dropped him off outside Remi’s. How long would Remi be willing to put up with him when he couldn’t even pay for the few things he had been? He would go broke so quickly now.

He hugged the stupid proposals to his chest as he trudged up the front path and fumbled to get the key out of his pocket. Despite the A/C in the car, the bar had been stifling and he felt gross in his formal pants and button-down shirt. It was a completely unnatural look for him. That alone should have convinced him he couldn’t pull this off. He couldn’t play pretend that he could hold his own with people who actually worked in business.

As he pushed the door inward, his heart managed to somehow leap and sink at the same time. Leap because Remi’s cheerful voice called out to him from the kitchen, and hearing that never failed to warm Kris’s heart. But it sank because of what Remi asked.

“Hey! How did it go?”

Kris shook his head, even though Remi couldn’t see as he shut the door a little more forcefully than he meant to. “I have to get changed,” Kris called back. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

There was a pause for a second or two. “Sure!” Remi called back. His happy tone sounded forced.

Shit. How did he know Kris well enough already to work out when he was bullshitting? Kris didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he jogged upstairs, throwing the proposals so they skimmed off the bed and scattered on the floor on the other side. He grabbed his towel and decided a quick shower would be a good idea.

It might wash away some of his sense of failure.

As much as he wanted to dawdle and put off the inevitable, he also didn’t want to be a dick and keep Remi waiting. So he turned off the water quicker than he would have liked and walked back to his room wrapped in the towel.

After the suffocating feeling of the pants and shirt, Kris deliberately picked out a provocative pair of booty shorts and a low-cut muscle shirt. God bless his friends for giving him some clothes he actually felt like himself in. He moisturized, swiped a candy-flavored lip gloss over his mouth and rubbed a bit of oil through his hair. That would have to do.

He felt a wild urge to throw himself under the comforter and stay there until he forgot how miserable he was. The only thing that stopped him was how rude that would be to Remi. Kris at least owed him an explanation. So he forced himself out the door and down the stairs, his heart in his throat.

He hated the idea that Remi was going to be disappointed in him. That Kris had let him down. Shame washed over him like waves on a beach.

He paused at the threshold of the archway into the kitchen. Remi looked up from where he was preparing some kind of chicken dish at the stove. Over the past week, he had gone mad with grocery shopping. Before the cupboards and freezer had been filled with instant meals and easy snacks. Now there was an abundance of fresh produce and Remi seemed determined to cook every meal himself. Kris wasn’t sure what had come over him.

Remi looked up at Kris with a grin. But as soon as he saw his face, Remi’s expression dropped. He flicked off the stove, wiped his hands on a dish rag, then stepped toward Kris. “What happened?”

Kris gritted his teeth. “I – it wasn’t good,” he admitted. Remi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Kris swallowed and exhaled loudly. It would be better to say it quickly, like ripping off a Band Aid. “I got fired,” he said in one rushed breath.

“What!” Remi exploded, flinging his arms out. “What the fuck? No, no. You can’t have been fired.”

Kris shrugged, turning and dropping into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. “Basically,” he said, scratching at the grain in the wood, “PJ hated all my ideas and said I should get another job until he reopens the bar. If he reopens it.”

Remi shook his head as he sat down. “I don’t understand,” he said. “Did you explain how much extra revenue such an expansive events program would bring in?”

Kris nodded miserably. “I tried to, at least,” he said. “I told you, PJ didn’t want to hear. He’s so…narrow.” Kris held his hands a few inches apart and sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do for money. I – I understand if you want me to move out.”

Remi was frowning over toward the stove, although Kris suspected he might have just been staring into space. Then he blinked and jerked his head back toward Kris. “What? No, what the hell would you suggest that for?” he admonished firmly. “You’re welcome here as long as you like. What kind of guy do you think I am? I’m not going to throw you on your ass when you’re in trouble. Fuck that.”

A small sliver of warm happiness fluttered in Kris’s chest. “Thank you,” he whispered. He continued to scratch at the table, the unpleasant vibrations jolting through his nail and up his fingers.

All of a sudden, Remi’s large hand clasped over Kris’s. Kris assumed it was to stop him from scratching, but Remi held it gently and rubbed the back with his thumb. Kris frowned and looked up at Remi in confusion.

“Don’t give up,” Remi urged, squeezing Kris’s hand. “Don’t let them win.”

That was all a bit too much for Kris. What was Remi doing? Kris slipped his hand free, although he left it resting on the table. “Thanks,” he said, shaking his head and biting his lip. “But, really – what was I thinking? I’m just a silly bartender.” He gave Remi a rueful smile and mimed flicking back his hair. “I’m just here to look pretty. No one wants to hear what I think.”

Kris looked into Remi’s eyes as he frowned. Then Remi reached determinedly forward and took hold of Kris’s hand again, this time cradling it tenderly between both of his big, slightly calloused hands. “I want to hear what you think,” he said firmly. “You’re so much more than just a pretty face.”

The air whooshed from Kris’s lungs. That was the second time Remi had called him pretty. Did he know what he was doing?

Did he know that he held Kris’s heart in his hands as well?

Blinking, Kris looked between their connected hands and Remi’s face. “You think I’m pretty?” he asked in a small voice.

Remi looked utterly panicked. Kris almost took the words back. But slowly, Remi nodded. “Uh, yeah,” he uttered. His light brown skin had lost some of its color, but he still clung onto Kris’s hand. “I do, actually.”

Kris’s heart was so loud he thought maybe it was going to explode. “I think you’re pretty, too,” he rasped, his words barely audible.

Fuck. A guy like Remi didn’t want to hear he was pretty! What the hell was Kris thinking? He should have said handsome or gorgeous or-

“Yeah?” Remi replied. He sounded hopeful. His eyes lit up.

No. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way on this earth that Kris was that lucky. Remi was not saying what he thought he was saying.

But he liked that Kris thought he was pretty. Where their skin was touching, palm to palm, felt like it had volts of electricity running between them.

“Remi, I…” Kris said. But he was lost for words. He was too afraid of saying anything that might burst this bubble.

“I’m an idiot,” said Remi with a nervous laugh. The sudden break in tension shocked Kris. But before he could panic, Remi lifted up his hand between his own and held it to his chest. “Oh my god. You’ve been here the whole time. Like, literally forever.” He laughed louder. It sounded like relief. “Kris. You’re not stupid or silly or any of that crap you were saying. You’re amazing. You’re one in a million and…I, uh, fuck.”

He bit his lip and cast his eyes around as if he was searching for the right words to say. He closed his eyes and took a breath.

“I like you, I think.”

A wave of dizziness washed over Kris. “You like me?” he asked. He had to be sure about this.

Remi peeked between one cracked eyelid and grimaced. “Like…like you, like you. Yeah, I think so. But if that’s not cool, just forget I said anything. You’re a guest here and I would never want to make you feel, uh-”

“I like you, too,” Kris confessed before he could chicken out. His mouth was dry and his pulse was hammering in his ears. Again, he had to be crystal clear on this. “It doesn’t bother you that I’m a man?” he asked. Because under all the makeup and sparkles, he was still very much a man. Was Remi fully aware of what he was saying?

Remi took a deep, steadying breath. When he released it, he gave Kris a semi-confident smile. “No,” he said clearly. “It doesn’t bother me. I’m…I’m fully aware of that fact.”

Kris rubbed his fingers against Remi’s hand. On a sudden impulse, he stood, walking around the corner of the table and clasping his other hand over Remi’s, holding them in front of his belly. “Have you done this before?” Kris asked.

Remi looked up at him, clearly unsure. He seemed to know that Kris meant with a guy, though. “No,” he said softly. “I wanted to, someday. But there wasn’t anyone…there wasn’t anyone before you.”

Kris’s breathing hitched. “Me?”

“Yeah,” said Remi. He looked up at Kris, those big brown eyes full of hope and sincerity. “You’re pretty awesome, Kris. Like, seriously. I just didn’t really see what that meant.”

“Oh, uh,” said Kris breathlessly. Despite the ceiling fan moving the cool air over their heads, he was just as hot and bothered as he had been out in the Texas summer sunshine. “So, what does it mean?”

Remi grinned, then gulped as worry clouded his features again. “That I’d like to kiss you. A lot. It’s pretty all-consuming right now, actually. So, um, if that’s something you’d like-”

Kris threw caution entirely to the wind and flung his leg over Remi’s lap, straddling him as he let go of his hands and grabbed the back of his neck instead.

Remi squeaked.

Kris raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so terrified to make a move on anyone. But this was Remi. Kris remembered the first time he saw him topless at the local pool. Remembered him and Leon taking their dates to senior prom. Remembered him over at his family home a thousand different times, playing video games or chucking a football around the garden.

All those times, Kris had felt entirely invisible.

Now, there was no way Remi was going to miss him. Slowly, Remi slipped his hands over Kris’s hips, holding him gingerly. Like he was worried Kris might break. Fuck, Kris was desperate to show him how unbreakable he was. His hands felt incredible holding him like that. The denim of Remi’s jeans rubbed deliciously against Kris’s bare legs. The growing bulge in Kris’s shorts bumped up against the matching firmness between Remi’s legs.

He was turned on. There was no denying that.

He wanted Kris.

What if it was awful? What if it was amazing, but Remi got freaked out? Was he bi? Gay but closeted? Some other spectrum of queer?

Enough. Remi had asked Kris if he could kiss him. There was no outcome from this where Kris said no. He took a slow breath in. “Will you kiss me?” he whispered.

In a flash, Remi’s hands flew up to splay over Kris’s lower back and the back of his head. He pulled Kris to him, their mouths crashing together in a collision of lips, teeth and tongues.

If Remi was unsure about making out with a guy for the first time, he wasn’t showing it. Passion simmered through him, his skin hot to the touch. Fuck, Kris wanted to touch it all.

After all these years, he couldn’t really believe he was kissing Remi Washington. It was even better than he had ever imagined. Remi was warm and spicy and he moaned into Kris’s mouth as his fingers dug into his skin. He wasn’t sloppy or overly aggressive like so many bigger guys Kris had kissed. He was fiery and confident and knew just how to nibble on Kris’s lip while his tongue lapped into Kris’s mouth, making him wild.

How could Kris have been feeling so blue only a few minutes ago? Right now, it was as if he had tripped and found himself on cloud nine.

“Oh my god,” Kris gasped as Remi’s mouth attacked his neck, sucking and kissing and biting. “Holy fuck, yes.”

Remi stopped and looked up at him, his brown eyes blown wide with lust. His hands rubbed Kris’s back and hair with tenderness. “Can I take you to bed?” he asked, like he couldn’t quite believe his own nerve.

Joyous delight and relief rushed through Kris. He still wasn’t entirely sure what this was between them. But it was more than he’d ever hoped he would get in his wildest dreams. He bit his lip and grinned, resting his forehead against Remi’s. Feeling devilish, he rolled his hips over Remi’s lap, grinding their erections together. When Remi gasped in shock, Kris couldn’t help but giggle.

“Yes,” he hissed. “God, yes.”

Remi stood, wrapping his arms around Kris, keeping him safe. Kris crossed his ankles around Remi’s bulky waist and held onto the back of Remi’s neck. Kris looked down at him, Remi’s chest visibly rising and falling as he panted.

“Are you sure?” Kris asked. This would be the last time he pumped the brakes, he swore. But he didn’t want there to be a single ounce of regret between them.

In response, Remi leaned up and kissed him softly. It set fireworks off in Kris’s belly. This wasn’t like the frantic kisses before. This was sweet and simmering with desire. “You might have to teach me a couple of things,” Remi mumbled into Kris’s mouth.

Kris grinned, their lips still touching. “Oh,” he said as Remi began to walk them out of the kitchen. “I’d be happy to.”