His Secret

21. Matías

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

MATíAS

As I’m waiting for my luggage at the airport in Las Vegas, Adrian struts toward me, already pulling his suitcase behind him.

“Morning,” he says with a grin, bringing a cup of coffee to his lips. “My flight got in a couple hours ago.” His brows knit. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I need coffee.”

He looks at the cup in his hand and smirks, handing it over. “Here. I’ve already had one. I guess I don’t need another.”

“It’s fine,” I say.

“Just take it.”

My fingers brush his when I grab the cup. “Thanks.” I take a sip and then another. “Ah.”

Adrian laughs. “Feeling a little more human?”

“Almost.” I watch as the luggage starts coming around on the conveyor belt. “You’ve just been wandering around the airport?”

“Waiting for you.”

“Is that right? ”

“We’re roommates.”

I snort before it turns into a full belly laugh.

“What?” he says, laughing along with me. “I can’t get into the room without you.”

“So, we’re roommates,” I state, looking him up and down.

“With our own rooms.”

“Mmhmm,” I murmur.

When I spot my luggage, I hand him the coffee and grab it before it passes me. I take back the drink when I’m next to him, and we start heading toward the exit.

“It’s just for convenience,” he says. “Being close to the conferences and other events.”

“Right.”

“I don’t want to have to walk back and forth every day, or struggle to get a cab just to drive for a few minutes.”

“Yeah. That makes sense.”

“Plus, what if I need to change for an event? Then I’d have to go all the way to my hotel and rush back.”

“Are you trying to convince me of something?” I ask as we come to a line waiting for cabs. “Or yourself?”

He exhales. “I’m just saying.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t have ulterior motives.”

I face him. “That’s a shame.”

He swallows, and then it’s our turn to get into a cab.

After we check in, we go straight to the room to get unpacked. We’ll be here for four nights. Four long, excruciatingly tortuous nights, because how am I supposed to stay away from him when I invited him to stay in my suite?

I believe it’s called thinking with your dick, which is ridiculous, because my dick has no right to be near him. Even if he were single, I should make him beg me to even get close to it again.

The thought of him on his knees, begging me to give it to him…

No.

“The room’s nice,” he says, taking me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, the view is too.”

He walks over to the floor-to-ceiling window, his hands pressed against the glass like a child. I imagine having him pressed against the same window, naked, taking my cock in his ass while he stares down at the people walking the streets.

“Jesus Christ,” I mutter to myself.

“You okay?” he asks, turning around.

“Yep. Gonna check out the rooms.”

In the first room I go to, I put my luggage on the bed and start unzipping it.

“You don’t wanna check out the other one? What if it’s better?” Adrian asks, walking around my room.

“It doesn't matter. As long as there’s a bed, I’m good. And they both have their own bathrooms.”

“Okay. Well, I guess I’m gonna go unpack.”

“Wanna get something to eat after? I’m starving.”

“Sure.”

Thirty minutes later, we’re downstairs eating at a buffet restaurant.

“I’ve never been to Vegas before, have you?” Adrian asks between bites of his food.

“A couple times.”

“Think we’ll have time to sightsee?” he asks with a boyish grin .

“Starting tomorrow, the itinerary is full of conferences, workshops, and keynote speakers.”

“Fun.”

I smirk. “We have today, and we can extend an extra day. It’ll be a Saturday anyway, so it’s not like we have to go back to work right away.”

His smile is wide and beaming. “I think that’s a great idea.”

After we’re done eating, we go back to the room to change into clothes better suited for the scorching heat, and then make our way down into the lobby.

“Where to?” I ask him.

“Let’s just wander around here first. I heard they have a huge aquarium.”

I pay for us to go into the shark reef aquarium, where we walk through the tunnel and watch as the sharks, fish, and turtles swim above and around us.

After that, we hotel hop, making our way down the strip, and doing everything from riding gondolas, walking through a shopping area built to look like a street in ancient Rome, and riding the big apple coaster, which admittedly took some convincing from Adrian.

We stop inside The Excalibur to cool down and find something to drink and snack on. At a sports bar, we see signage for the Thunder from Down Under show that takes place in this resort.

“Interested?” I ask Adrian with a lifted brow when I notice him reading the information on the sign.

His cheeks redden slightly and he gives me a sheepish smile. “No.” When I just grin, he says, “Unless you want to.”

I laugh, taking a sip of my water. “I wasn’t thinking about it. ”

He looks at the photo again—a shot of six shirtless men, all of them chiseled beyond belief.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” I ask, wiping my mouth after taking a bite of salad.

Adrian meets my gaze before picking up one of his buffalo wings. “I’m kind of nervous, but okay.”

“Why are you married?” I pause. “To a woman.”

He tenses up, pausing mid-way to taking a bite. He puts the wing down on his plate and licks his fingers.

“Well, okay. I suppose I expected this question.”

“I’m just confused. You said you were gay.”

His shifty eyes let me know he’s still very nervous about anyone finding out.

“It’s a complicated story and one you probably wouldn’t understand.”

“I can understand quite a lot.”

“I’ve gone over it a hundred times, especially recently. I knew there would be a time where we’d have to have this talk, and I’ve practiced my speech, and even to me it sounds ridiculous.”

A group of four are seated next to us, and I know this isn’t the place to have this sort of conversation.

“Are you?” I ask him. “Just tell me that.”

He stares at me for several seconds before nodding his head. “What I told you in college is true. Everything I ever said to you is true, Matías.”

My shoulders sag. It’s weird to feel a sense of relief over the fact that he’s gay, but that means he can’t possibly be a hundred percent in love with his wife. He’s pretending. His life is a lie, and my heart breaks for him.

I sit up straight and reach for my water. “You said a lot back then.”

Memories of his whispered I love yous come back to me. I remember him telling me he’d never been that happy before. He told me I was the best thing to happen to him. He told me he’d never want anyone the way he wanted me.

He watches me like he knows what I’m thinking. Like he’s remembering the same words.

“I’ve missed you,” I tell him, the words coming out of my mouth before I can think better of it.

Adrian’s face lights up and I’m suddenly back in my dorm room, seeing his face light up the same way when I told him I loved him for the first time.

He was kneeling on the floor after we had sex, telling me he loved me. That he had thought to say it before but was afraid. I was grateful to have already been laying down, because I might’ve gone weak-kneed at his confession.

After I told him I loved him, his face lit up just like it is now. His smile stretches across his face, his eyes twinkling.

“I’ve missed you, too.”