Chapter Two – Milo
CHAPTER TWO
MILO
I stare at the woman I’ve been half in love with for the last few years, and I realize she wants to use me against her college boyfriend. And right at this moment, I don’t know how to feel about it.
“Jason? The guy you dated in college?”
She nods. “He messaged me yesterday on Facebook saying he wanted to catch up with me this weekend.”
Great. This is the guy who broke her heart in college. I’m not sure what happened, but I do know that she doesn’t date these days. She might say she’s too busy with work, but I know better. And I know I have been fucking lucky that she hasn’t been going out without me. I’m not sure I could handle that. Hazel is more than just a pretty face. She has a fascinating mind, and the sweetest freaking heart known to man.
“Listen,” she says, moving her hands around. She loves to talk with her hands. “It’s too much. Ricky has what he calls his heterosexual look clothes. He can pretend to be my boyfriend if I promise him a spa day.”
Ricky is one of her drag queen friends, and he would do it. He’s completely devoted to her like the others from his restaurant. At least I know he wouldn’t pull anything on her because his husband would probably cut his balls off. I still can’t let another man take my place. Not when I can use this situation to my benefit.
“I’ll do it.”
She pauses in her babbling, her dark brown eyes widening. “You will?”
God, she sounds like she expected me to turn her down. The truth is, I would crawl across broken glass for this woman. She has no idea, I’m sure of that, and if I didn’t already think that her reaction would tell me.
“Yeah, I’ll do it. I was already planning on going.”
The sigh of relief that escapes her irritates me. What the fuck did that asshole do to my girl? And yes, I think of her as my girl because she always will be. I just needed the right opportunity to make her mine, and she’s handed it to me on a silver platter.
“Thank you, Milo. I’ll really owe you after this.”
I shake my head. “No. I owe you and Silas. You both kept me sane these last few years.”
It’s the truth. I always expected to take over the family resort business, but the gravity of handling the business that supports so many of my relatives overwhelmed me. Silas and Hazel stepped up and helped me through it all. And yeah, Silas helped, but it was during that time that I realized that Hazel was meant for me.
Unfortunately, she has had me in the friend zone for all that time, but this situation will allow me to change that. I should feel guilty about using this situation to my advantage, but I refuse to let this chance pass me by.
“Thanks, Milo.”
I nod. “Text me all the stuff I need to know. I need to talk to Silas about something, but we can chat Sunday at brunch?”
Gertrude’s is one of the hottest brunch spots in the city but thanks to Hazel’s connections to several of the drag queens who work there—and Ricky who owns it with his husband—Hazel has a standing reservation.
Thankfully, she doesn’t realize I’m lying. I just spent thirty minutes with my best friend. Mostly, he complained that Georgie wasn’t in his office, but if I had wanted to talk to him about something, I could have brought it up then.
No, I need to talk to Georgie because I definitely need some help.
Hazel offers me a blinding smile, one that I feel all the way to the tips of my toes. This woman. She gets my engine revving with just a smile. I can’t even think about what she’ll do to me while she’s beneath me and I’m riding her hard.
Fuck. Now I’m getting hard and there are not a lot of ways to hide it.
“That sounds fabulous,” she says.
“Text me the time and I’ll be there.”
She nods and smiles at me. And before I can embarrass myself, I leave her, my entire body buzzing from the experience of being with Hazel alone.
I make my way across the building to Silas’ office without talking to anyone. A few people wave, but I don’t stop because I have one mission on my mind now.
“Is Georgie still in there with him?” I ask his assistant Brent.
He nods, so I knock, knowing the way those two are, they could be naked in his office.
“What?” Silas yells out.
“Silas,” Georgie says. “Come in, Milo.”
Of course she knew I was coming over here. I turn the knob and find it unlocked. When I step in, Georgie is sitting in his lap behind the desk.
“How did you know it was me?”
“Because Silas is being a real grump today and no one wants to deal with him,” she says with a smile.
Silas tosses his fiancé a look, then zeroes in on me. “What did my sister want?”
“She wants me to go to the fundraiser thing she has next weekend.”
“We are all going to that, right?” Silas asks Georgie. She nods but she doesn’t seem surprised. It was her idea after all.
“And thanks for suggesting it.”
She offers me a huge smile. She’s a cute woman, tiny compared to Silas and always makes people think of fairies. And, while he is still a bit of an asshole to people, she has softened his rough edges.
“I thought it was a perfect opportunity for you to make your move. I mean…how long have you liked her?”
I shake my head as I feel my neck getting hot. There’s no way I am going to admit that. “Has she said anything about me?
“What is this, high school?” Silas grumbles. Probably because there is a good chance that I cock-blocked him.
Georgie tosses her fiancé a look, then stands up to walk over to me. My idiot friend growls, but we both ignore him.
“I can’t betray a confidence.”
I nod, a little sad that she can’t, but I understand.
“I will say that she is going to have a bad weekend if you aren’t there. That Rachel—well, we know how I feel about her.”
I nod. Rachel tried to break up Georgie and Silas when they first got together.
“And Jason…he was the worst. I don’t know why he’s coming, but she’s been kind of a mess since he messaged her.”
“Jason Knowles?”
Georgie looks back at Silas. “Yeah. She dated him in college.”
I know Jason Knowles. Even before I knew he broke her heart, I didn’t like the man. He’s kind of smarmy and tends to make bad business deals. At the end of the day, he walks away richer and everyone else involved is usually bankrupt.
“Why did she date him? He sucks,” Silas says voicing my opinion of him. His family are hedge fund managers, and they are known for being horrible in business. They’ve gotten in trouble with the SEC several times, and they can’t keep employees around either.
“People don’t always make the best choices in college. And you know your sister wasn’t really good with men. Going to an all-girls school didn’t prepare her for college boys.”
True. I drank way too much in college. Hell, there are nights I can’t even remember, but all that changed when my dad had his heart attack and I had to take over the business when he retired.
“So, I said we would have brunch Sunday at Gertrude’s.”
Georgie jumps and claps. “Yay. I love that place.”
“I do not.”
I frown at Silas, then look back at Georgie. She shakes her head. “I told you they flirt with everyone.”
“I have no problem with flirting. I have a problem when they get handsy. I do not appreciate being manhandled.”
I snort.
His gaze zeroes in on me. Most people would freak out because, well, Silas is blunt as fuck. But I know better. And I am totally delighted by the situation.
“Shut up. You have no idea.”
“I do. In fact, Lucy has a crush on me. Of course, I’m comfortable enough in my manliness to appreciate a little flirting.”
“It wasn’t just flirting. I told you. It was a pinch, and she had the nerve to give me her number.”
I laugh knowing that Silas isn’t transphobic or homophobic. He would be appalled if anyone did that to him. Well, anyone but Georgie. He’s got issues, more than I do. But thankfully, Georgie took care of that.
“So, you have a plan for this weekend?” Georgie asks sitting on Silas’ desk.
I shove my hands into my pockets and try my best to hide my true thoughts. If I had my way, it would just be the two of us and a bed. That’s all I need.
Blurting that out would be embarrassing and crass seeing that Silas is Hazel’s brother.
“Not sure. They’re having it at the Premiere Darling.”
Yeah, it’s a bit weird, but our last name is a big seller, and even after all these years, it’s odd to me to say it out loud. Like I’m talking in third person.
“You should get one of the suites and surprise her,” Georgie suggests.
“Yeah?”
She nods.
“Okay, well, I have a few meetings later today, so I’m going to head that way. Gertrude’s on Sunday, right?”
“Yes. Now go.” Silas can be such an ass. And just to screw with him, I lean forward and brush my mouth over her Georgie’s cheek. When I pull back, her eyes are twinkling. She gets what I’m doing.
“Next time you do that, I will punch you in the balls,” Silas says as he rounds the desk.
I just laugh as I head out of his office. I have a plan and that makes everything better. If all goes well, I will finally tell Hazel how I feel.