Chapter Twelve
Eliza – Thursday night
I stood in the doorway in shock, just staring at Milo, wondering who the hell this version of him was. I’d seen the quiet and mild-mannered version of him, I’d gotten to know the friendlier version of him, but I’d never seen this ruthless, business side of him before.
I kind of liked it!
It helped me to see him as the high-powered, in-control businessman that he had to be to have made all the money that he had. It allowed me to picture him putting people in line, and weirdly, that image turned me on. He was just so unlike weedy Josh and any other guys that I’d dated, and it made me want to know more.
I couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel to have him controlling me in the bedroom. If he dominated me and took total control of my body, how much would I like that? It didn’t help that all day long Laynee had been making snide comments about the pair of us living alone, stirring me up to the point that I could barely think straight anymore.
As he turned to face me, my whole body flip-flopped inside. I did my best to keep my expression stoic, but I wasn’t sure that I totally pulled it off. The air felt thick, the atmosphere teeming with emotion, and for a few moments, neither of us said a word. We simply stared at one another in stunned silence.
“I’m sorry that you had to hear that.” He eventually shrugged, breaking the magic of the moment. “The security company is doing its best to kick my feet out from under me, and I need to keep them in line. Or get another one; we’ll see.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I blustered, my cheeks heating up as I spoke. “I know what it’s like. Business is business.” Luckily, I hadn’t been too screwed over in that respect, but if I thought about my landlord, then I knew how sometimes there was only one way to deal with things. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah. I think so.” He furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke. “It will be anyway. It’s just not always easy to run a company from long distance, you know.” Oh, God... My heart ran cold. Does that mean he is about to leave? “Anyway, it’ll be fine. I have an awesome manager.”
Everything loosened as I realized that I was actually about to have some more time with him. That was good, amazing actually, and it made me grin like crazy. “Well, I’ve brought some stuff home for dinner, and a movie, too. It’s a chick flick, I’m afraid, but a good one. I think you’ll like it.”
“Sure...” he replied cautiously. “Is this going to be a mushy film?”
“You’ll love it, honestly.” I dismissed him with a grin. “It’ll be fine.”
He gave me a look that suggested he was only going to go along with it for my benefit, but that was all right. I was pretty sure that he would enjoy himself no matter what. I certainly would, especially with his company.
“Right, sure; okay, so what’s for dinner?”
As I cooked, I asked him a little bit about his company and his life in Vegas. Now that the subject had been broached by the phone call, I felt like I could dive into it a little bit and learn more about him. He was so closed off, so hard to read, and I wanted to get a better picture of him.
Also, I wanted to know if he had just had his heart broken, but I wasn’t quite sure how to tackle that subject.
“Yeah, so I did love the casinos at first, but now they have become more like hard work.”
“That’s why the teachers at school lie to you; you should never do what you love as a career. It’ll suck the fun right out of it,” I teased, happy to see him smiling at my silly joke.
“So, you don’t love hairdressing anymore?”
“Oh, I do,” I insisted. “But it wasn’t what I wanted to do when I was young. I assumed that I would be a ballet dancer, dancing my way around the world!”
“I could so see that! Why did that dream fall apart?” He was laughing at me, but in a kind way that warmed my heart up. I liked bringing any kind of happiness to him. In a weird way, it had become a sort of mission for me.
“When puberty hit, and I realized that I didn’t quite have the body for it. Or the grace... Or the ability to move right!”
“Oh, well...” That silenced him for a moment. “Yeah, I suppose the ability to dance is one of the things that they look for.”
I placed the plates down on the table, and as we ate, that fun-loving, easy-going aura remained. I never wanted that to go; I didn’t enjoy it when he retreated back into his shell.
“So, where does the investment fit into the casino business?” I asked him curiously, still not getting it. I just had the one company, and that was hard enough to keep on track of. Though, Milo clearly had a lot of other people to do it for him.
“I used to invest a lot. It was how I made a lot of my money, but I fell out of it.” He pursed his lips for a moment, clearly lost in thought. “I got so sucked in by the Vegas lifestyle that everything else just fell away. Then, more recently, things changed, my priorities changed, and now... I guess I want something more.”
I held my breath, waiting for the confession to follow, something heartfelt, something important... But after a second, the moment passed, and his expression returned to stoic.
“Anyway, sorry for blathering on so much about the business. It must make me so boring. I guess I’m just at something of a crossroads and I’m trying to work out which way to turn. Are you ready for the movie?”
I nodded sadly, wishing that we could go back to that moment where he was more able to open up to me, but I had to be glad that he had done a bit. “I like hearing about your life,” I told him, maybe a little too honestly. “But yeah, I’ll pop the DVD in.”
He sat on the couch, and as the credits rolled, I slid in next to him. I felt comfortable, happy to be by his side, but my eyes kept glancing toward Veil sitting meekly on the floor.
“Come on, boy.” I patted the seat next to me, trying to get him to join us. “Come and sit with us.”
“Oh, he won’t.” Milo shook his head seriously. “He knows not to come up on the furniture. And will you stop talking to him? You know he doesn’t understand.”
I smiled secretly to myself, now wanting to wind him up. Now that I knew him better and was aware that he wasn’t the grumpy guy he seemed to be at our initial meeting, I didn’t mind creating that reaction.
“Oh, well, you can at least come and sit at my feet, can’t you?” I lured him over and started to pet him. “And boring old Milo thinks that you don’t understand me; what a fool! We’re besties, aren’t we?”
Milo sighed and shook his head at me, but there was still a happiness there, too. “You are crazy, you know that, right?”
“I have been told,” I shot back nonchalantly. “But then I’ve also been told that I’m awesome, too, so who knows?”
“Oh, you’re that, too!”
As he chuckled at me, those butterflies started flapping all over again. He was still teasing me, that much was clear, but I felt like the compliment was genuine, too. And, I didn’t think he said things that didn’t need to be said, or that he didn’t mean, so how the hell was I supposed to take that?
I wanted to ask him more, to press him to tell me what he thought, but I couldn’t. Not without sounding like a crazy person, so I simply slid back further into the couch instead, ready to watch the movie.
***
This was absolute torture – hell, in fact. Sitting that close to Milo without being able to reach out and touch him damn near killed me. I felt acutely aware of his every single movement, every shift, every time he brushed my arm, even every breath. I was so involved in him, it totally distracted me from the movie, but luckily I’d seen it before. It was a simple enough plot so when he asked me a number of questions about it, I could answer them, making my very clear attraction less obvious to him.
“So, why did her best friend say that thing at the end?”
“Weren’t you listening? Because of the diary she found at the beginning.” My heart was pounding in my chest, my mind whirring, but on the outside, I hoped that I looked normal... or as normal as I could be.
“Oh, right. So, she did want them to end up together? I thought that bit was confusing.” I felt like it said a lot that he was so closely watching, even though it clearly wasn’t his thing. It made me feel... Well, like the mess I’d already become.
“Of course, it’s a happily ever after. Everyone always wants everyone else to be happy in movies. It isn’t like real life at all.”
“And, who was the guy with dark hair? The one who walked her down the aisle?”
“Are you kidding?” I all but screeched. “That was her stepdad, the man who raised her. She asked him to walk her down the aisle because... Oh, you know why. You’re winding me up now.”
“Oh, right... so...” He wouldn’t be derailed by my accusations, which made it very hard for me not to burst into hysterical laughter.
“Will you stop?” I chuckled, pushing him playfully. “The plot was so obvious; don’t be so crazy. Plus, it’s late. My eyes are tired. I need to sleep!”
“Oh, right,” he pouted jokily. “Okay, well, I’ll store up all the questions and ask you them in the morning.”
“Sure, sounds good.”
I had to tear myself away to move toward the bedroom, but I just couldn’t sit there anymore. Everything was so confusing; everything was so hard to resist. I was scared that if I didn’t make my escape soon, I would end up doing something that I regretted. I shot him one last, lingering look as I walked away, desperately wishing that things could be different.
That I could just jump on him and kiss him all over.
I let out a deep sigh and rested my back against the door while everything ebbed away from me. Having Milo open up to me more than he ever had before, even if I didn’t get any of the real in-depth information that I wanted, had made me feel incredibly special. It made me feel like he liked me, possibly in a way that wasn’t just about friendship.
Laynee kept telling me not to be so serious, to actually have a bit of fun with Milo, but I just couldn’t do that. Even if I wanted to. There were too many potential complications...
He would be gone soon enough.