Page 72 of The Fire Line

Jay went completely still. “Did you seriously just laugh?”

“Nope.”

“You absolutely did.”

“Shut up.”

“Oh my God.”

“Navarro.”

Jay was grinning now, still flushed and breathless, his bare chest rising and falling between them. “I have been waiting three weeks to find out whether you were physically capable.”

Harris hauled him closer and kissed him, mostly to make him stop talking.

It worked.

For a while.

12

It Will

They cleaned up with a little water from Harris’s canteen, pulled their clothes back into place, and settled against opposite sides of the lookout with the kind of grim practicality that would have been less absurd if they had not both looked thoroughly kissed.

Jay sat against the wall with one knee raised. Harris looked out through the broken window toward the valley, having no idea what the first sentence after something like that was supposed to be.

Eventually Jay rubbed his thumb over one corner of his mouth. “I genuinely had no idea.”

“’Bout what?”

“That you were into men. I’m usually very good at that.”

“Not this time, apparently.”

Jay pointed at him. “Do not get smug. You hid your bisexuality like it was in witness protection.”

Amusement tugged at Harris’s mouth. “What was I supposed to do? There a secret signal?”

“I don’t know. Maybe listen to Orville Peck?”

Harris let the smile happen. “Got two albums.”

Jay stared at him. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Nope.”

“This is devastating.” Jay dragged a hand over his face, then let it fall to his raised knee. “I observe people for a living.”

Harris leaned more comfortably against the wall. “Maybe stick to scenery.”

Jay pressed a hand to his chest. “Ex-wife. Cowboy hat. Two Orville Peck albums. The evidence was fighting itself.”

Harris looked toward the window before the grin could get any worse.

“Don’t laugh. This is the worst day of my gaydar’s life.”

“Thought today went pretty good,” Harris drawled.