Secret Admirer (Love Notes, #1)

by D.J. Jamison

But whoever it is, if they see something so special in me, I guess I’d just like a chance to see something special in them too.”

can’t be both?” “Jeremy wouldn’t even share his Transformers with me. You really think he’s going to share his best friend?”

at all. It felt like … coming home. The expression on Benji’s face? That did freak me. Stupid, Ace. Assuming he’d be into you without even asking… My butterflies died of shame.

There was no saving this friendship. Because it had never been one. Just a lonely gay boy crushing on his brother’s best friend. I was officially pathetic.

I wanted Benji. I wanted to hold him, kiss him. More than that, though, I wanted his heart. Because he already had mine. Consequences be damned.

It was a friendship bracelet. Just like the one I’d made him as a kid.

“He looked at you like you were a slice of chocolate cake and he was on a diet.”

“Wasn’t hard to figure out. Dude’s always hanging around, looking at you with heart eyes.”

But he was mine. Against all odds, Ace Collins had admired me. Had conquered my insecurity, vanquished my doubts. He was, without a doubt, a brave man.

I looked down at my hands, my precious, artist’s hands that drew beautiful things — and sometimes naughty things — and sighed mournfully. With a mental apology to them, I stepped up to the counter and prepared to molest a turkey.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured between kisses. “Inside and out, you’re so beautiful. The best guy I know. The only guy I ever want to be with. You’re everything good in this world, Ace Collins.”