Chapter Ten – Milo
CHAPTER TEN
MILO
A s the fundraiser winds down, I stand back and let Hazel finish up what she needs to do. I like doing this. It’s something I discovered about myself tonight. I like being the one waiting on her. It makes sense since I feel like I’ve been waiting to make my move for years.
“Hey, Milo,” a sultry voice says beside me. I glance over and see Belinda Michaels, a woman I hung around with in my early twenties. Truth of the matter was, I hung around a lot of women in my early twenties. I had a lot of fuck buddies, and a lot of it’s hazy, thanks to my drinking. That’s why I don’t have more than one or two drinks. I wasn’t an alcoholic, but I was on my way to being that way.
“Belinda,” I say giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “How have you been?”
“Okay, if you count my divorce as being okay.”
I shake my head. “Sorry to hear about that.”
“Yeah, well, he just didn’t like to party that much and was talking about kids.”
“Imagine that,” I say, trying to keep sarcasm out of my voice, but knowing that I failed from the expression on her voice.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of getting serious with Hazel Prescott.”
I do not like the way she says Hazel’s name.
“I don’t think you want to go there, Belinda.”
“She’s not your type at all, Milo. You like a party as much as I do.”
It’s been almost three years since I did any partying. “I do not like partying as much as I did back in the day. I have responsibilities.”
“Is that why you’re settling?”
Before I can answer, I feel a presence beside me, and I know that it’s Hazel.
I can tell from her blank expression and pale skin that she heard Belinda.
“Belinda, nice to see you again.”
“Of course,” Belinda says. I notice that she doesn’t reciprocate the greeting. I forgot how much of a cat she was.
“How’s…what was his name? Oh, Dan. That’s right. How is he doing?”
Belinda scowls. “We’re getting a divorce.”
“Oh…that’s right,” Hazel says in a tone that tells me she already knew about the divorce. “Dan told me when I talked to him on the phone a few days ago. He was very generous to give to the charity.”
Belinda blinks and opens her mouth, but I put an end to any sparring that might happen here. I’m not worried about Hazel. I’m more worried about what she would do to Belinda. Hazel is the sweetest woman in the world but come at her in a setting like this and she will destroy you. Then, she would feel bad about it later on.
“Are you ready to go, babe?”
She blinks and looks at me. “Uh, okay. Yes. I’m ready.”
“See ya around, Belinda,” I say, not meaning it at all. From the expression on her face, I can tell she knows it.
I hurry us away and toward the bank of elevators, and before Hazel can figure out what is going on, I get us on the lift, using my card to get to the apartment. She blinks as the elevator starts to rise.
“What are we doing here, Milo?”
“You left your stuff in the apartment, right? There was a bag there.”
“Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about that. I can get it myself. The night is over. You don’t have to do this.”
I’m nervous and, well, so fucking hard at the moment, I don’t know how my legs are functioning with no blood in my brain. So, I can’t control my irritation. “Just shut up.”
She blinks. “Excuse me?”
I can understand her reaction. She wasn’t around in my drinking days. I was a real ass then, kind of pretentious and I always acted like I owned the world.
“I am not doing this for you. I’m doing this for me.”
“Milo, did you have too much to drink?”
I ignore that stupid question. Instead, aggravation and waiting for so long has me blurting out, “I did this for me because I want you more than I want my next breath.”
She blinks up at me and before she can answer, the door opens to the apartment. I grab her hand and tug her off the elevator. She stumbles, and I catch her.
“I should take these things off,” she says, looking down at her shoes. She twists her hand trying to get me to loosen my hold, but I tighten my hand.
She looks up at me, her eyebrows furrowed.
“Leave them on.”
My voice has deepened, causing her gaze to shoot up to mine. I should try and be gentle, but I don’t know if I can be delicate in explaining just how much I want to fuck her. I need to be inside of her.”
“Milo? What is going on with you?”
I back her up against the wall. I press the lock on the elevator - my family is rude and wouldn’t hesitate to interrupt us—and then crowd in closer. I release her hand, then place a hand on either side of her head.
I take a deep breath, and with the air comes the scent of her. She always smells like a field of roses, which I never thought I liked. That’s until the first time I realized how much I loved Hazel.
“Wanna talk about what I just said?”
She blinks up at me and I want to fall into her eyes. She’s a natural beauty and even on a night like tonight, she wore very little makeup. I love that she doesn’t cover up her freckles.
“What part?”
“That I want you more than my next breath.”
She closes her eyes and takes a long, deep breath. Her chest expands so that her nipples press lightly against my chest.
Fuck.
“Please don’t play games with me, Milo. I can’t take it.” Her voice is small and she looks as if I manhandled her, she would break into a thousand pieces.
“Hazel,” I say, my tone allowing for no argument. I can’t help it. My dick is so hard, I’m ready to explode. There is no doubt in my mind that she can feel me. “Look at me.”
When she raises her gaze, her eyes are filled with unshed tears. Seeing them is like a dagger to my heart. I cup her face with both of my hands.
“Why are you crying?”
She closes her eyes causing tears to stream down her face. Did I read her wrong? Did everyone? Georgie was convinced she felt the same way.
“Hazel, baby, please don’t cry.”
“I just…I know it was pretend tonight. You don’t have to keep pretending.”
I dip down and kiss her. “No pretending here, baby.”
To prove my point, I press closer, enjoying the way her eyes snap open.
“Yeah, I’ve been hard since we danced tonight. Actually, since I saw you in that dress.”
She shakes her head. “I get it. And I’m okay with one night. Just don’t lie to me. I can’t take it.”
I frown. “This isn’t about one night.”
“Milo, I’m not the kind of woman a guy like you goes for.”
“What the actual fuck are you talking about? A woman like you? You are exactly the kind of woman I would go for.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ve seen the pictures from when you used to party. I know the kind of women you were seen with then. Women like Belinda.”
I hate that she seems to be shrinking in stature as she keeps speaking.
“Sure, I dated on the party scene, of course, I was drunk most of the time, so my tastes were not as discerning as right now.”
She rolls her eyes. “Please don’t use that kind of line on me. It doesn’t work on me anymore.”
I hear the pain in her voice and once again I feel it cut through me. “Who said that to you?”
I know even before she says his name, but I need to hear it from her.
“It doesn’t matter.” She isn’t even looking at me and it pisses me off. My heart might be bleeding for her, but the fact that she’s allowing that asshole to ruin what we could have irritates me.
“Look at me.”
She hesitates, that lower lip coming out and I want to laugh—but it would hurt too much.
She finally raises her eyes.
“Tell me.”
“Jason. He used it when we were in college. Said I wasn’t like the other girls.”
It’s true. She isn’t like them but from her tone, she thinks that’s a bad thing. It isn’t.
“He’s an asshole.”
She nods. “I know that now, but the fact that I was that stupid all those years ago, it just…”
“You were in your early twenties. Ask me what I was doing at that point in my life.”
She rolls her eyes once again.
“I can’t tell you. I can’t remember a lot of it because I was partying all that time. Until my dad had the heart attack. Then, everything went to shit.”
I hadn’t spent enough time learning the business when I had to take it over. Hazel knows this because without Silas and her by my side helping, I would have floundered and lost our entire business.
“No one else stood by me. All those party people disappeared, and you were there.”
“Silas too.”
“Silas isn’t as good at marketing as you. You’re the one who helped me. And you want to know what I discovered?”
She nods.
“I found a best friend, and also the love of my life.”
Her eyes widen. “What?”
“I’ve been in love with you forever, Hazel Prescott. I might just die if you don’t love me back.”