Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“So you’re throwing human rules out the window?” Milo couldn’t help teasing Zeke as they arrived at the mall together the next day.
“Some of them.” Zeke sipped the coffee he’d brought from home with a frown. If you could call it coffee. It was at least forty percent syrup. “What choice do I have? Alice is stubborn. Apparently, it’s too late to find another supervisor.”
“That’s okay.” Milo patted Zeke’s arm. “We’re fated to be together and magically bonded. Worrying about workplace power dynamics feels pretty irrelevant.”
Zeke chuckled, his scowl melting away as feelings of gentle amusement flooded their mate bond.
Milo’s sex-addled thoughts during their mating had been spot on.
He could feel Zeke’s emotions. They were telepathically connected, to an extent.
They couldn’t read each other’s thoughts, but they could feel enough for Milo to know that everything Zeke did came from a place of affection and a desire to do the right thing.
When Milo had woken that morning, he’d expected the other shoe to drop and panic over what he’d done to set in, but it never came. He was comforted by the existence of fate and finding a destined mate and had never been more at ease around another soul.
Who knew exposing his every inner desire would make him feel safe and seen rather than panicky?
“You’re smiling more than usual,” Zeke said in Milo’s ear as they sat at their table.
Milo huffed. “So are you.”
“Of course I am.” Zeke sent a jolt of lust down their bond, and Milo’s cheeks flamed.
“None of that, or I’ll drag you into your office and do something we should both be fired for.”
Zeke flashed a sly grin. “Don’t tempt me.”
Luckily, they were way too busy to sneak away and risk their jobs. Wrapping endless presents was far more fun with a fated mate by his side. Milo even found himself singing along to a carol he’d have sworn he hated yesterday.
“What are you doing for Christmas?” Zeke asked as they wrapped presents for a man busy talking on his phone.
“Sleeping all day. I don’t usually do anything.”
“Do you not celebrate?”
Milo shrugged. “My roommates and I exchange gifts before they leave town to see their families. And then I have the apartment to myself.”
Zeke’s usual hard expression softened. “That makes you feel lonely,” he said, somewhere between a statement and a question.
Milo didn’t deny it. The bond had already given the truth away. “Yeah, but I don’t visit my parents, so it’s not like I have anything else to do.”
He’d gone to friends’ houses before, but it was always awkward hanging around other people’s families.
“We could spend the holiday together.” Zeke fixed a bow on his present and turned to give Milo an earnest look. “I’m not bad at baking if you want to make cookies.”
Milo bit his lip to temper a goofy smile. “That sounds perfect. We can decorate them while we watch movies.” Fuck, he was actually looking forward to it.
As they finished for the day, Alice stopped by their table. “Hey, Milo. Sorry I haven’t caught up with you before now. How have you been settling in?”
Milo shoved his hands in his pockets. “Fine…” He glanced at Zeke, whose cheeks flushed.
“Milo heard us in the locker room the other day,” Zeke said to Alice. “But I’ve explained.”
Alice arched a brow. “Explained all of it?”
Zeke slung an arm around Milo. “We’re bonded and everything.”
Alice’s eyes widened. “That was fast. Welcome to the mate club, Milo.”
“Um. Thanks?” He remembered Alice using the word mate that night in the gift shop. She must be bonded to Maeve.
Oh god. Was Maeve his sister-in-law now? Milo supposed he couldn’t hate her and her misguided spell anymore, given that it had led him to Zeke. He’d have to give her another chance.
Alice beamed at him. “If you ever need to talk to a human who knows what it’s like to be a demon’s mate, let me know.”
That was kind of her. Milo squirmed under Zeke’s arm. “There isn’t actually a club, is there?”
Alice laughed. “No, but there could be. There are a few of us around the city. How’s looking for a new job going?”
Milo snuggled closer to Zeke’s warmth. “I haven’t really started.”
He hadn’t had the energy, and the end of the year wasn’t a great time to be job hunting. Most places wouldn’t post vacancies until the new year.
“There’s a position coming up on my office’s payroll team,” Alice said. “I can send you the details.”
“Thanks.” Milo forced a smile. It was exactly the kind of opportunity he needed, but the thought of another office job sucked the joy from his soul.
“No problem. I’ll see you two around, I’m sure.” With a smile, Alice headed off, leaving Milo and Zeke to finish packing up their table and wander to the locker room.
“You don’t like the idea of working with Alice, do you?” Zeke asked as Milo collected his coat.
Milo slipped the coat on and unearthed a scarf from its pocket. “It’s not Alice. I’m grateful for all the help she’s given me, but I don’t like office work.”
“What do you like to do?”
Milo hesitated. Had anyone ever asked? No, he didn’t think so. A job was never about what he liked doing. That wasn’t how life worked. You had to work to get by, and Milo had never pursued something because he genuinely wanted to. It had never seemed like an option.
“I don’t know what I like,” he admitted.
His dad had certainly never asked what Milo wanted to do with his life.
Dad had all these opinions on what type of work was ‘real’ or ‘respectable’ and plenty of judgments for anything else.
As much as Milo had tried not to let that affect him, those judgments had still pushed him into work he hated, trying to gain his dad’s respect.
Zeke took Milo’s hand, a thoughtful expression settling over him. He led Milo out of the mall, and as they stepped outside, he asked, “What don’t you like about offices? I’ve never been inside one.”
A chuckle burst from Milo. “You’re not missing much. I don’t like sitting at a computer all day or being cooped up inside. And I hate emails.” He could go on, but complaining was bringing him down.
Zeke nodded, trying to understand as he always did. “So you like being outside?”
“I guess. Being in the mall has been okay too. It’s a different kind of setting. Today was actually fun.” With his mood lifted, Milo had enjoyed talking with the shoppers and people passing through.
“Today was fun.” Zeke whipped off his shirt and handed it to Milo, scooping him into his arms as he freed his wings. “I like working with you. I think not dating your employees is a dumb rule.”
Milo laughed. “It’s a boundary for a reason, even if it caused us some confusion.”
Zeke grumbled. “I’m glad I stopped trying to relate to you on human terms. Things have worked out so much better since I decided to do my own thing. I wonder…?” He paused, staring intensely into Milo’s eyes.
“What?”
Tentative excitement wound down the bond. “I want to open a coffee cart once the holiday season is over. I’d rather run my own business than worry about fitting into a human workplace.”
“That’s awesome.” Milo could imagine it. Zeke had been adorably animated that morning as he’d shown Milo how to use the espresso machine. It had been worlds away from his strict instructions on how to wrap a gift and tie a bow.
Milo loved when Zeke wasn’t preoccupied with following rules.
Zeke seemed to feed off Milo’s enthusiasm, a bright smile lighting his whole face. “Would you like to run the cart with me as my business partner?”
Milo’s heart skipped. “I don’t really have the means to invest in a business.”
“I’m not looking for an investor. I’ve got that covered. I need someone to take orders while I make coffee. And someone to drive the truck. I don’t know how, and getting a license seems like a pain. Besides, it would be more fun with you than by myself.”
A grin broke out on Milo’s face. “I can drive and take orders. Do you have a truck and a coffee cart already?”
“No.” Zeke didn’t seem concerned about the details, but then he had magic, so maybe it wasn’t worth fussing over.
“We’ll have to work on getting what we need, but I’ve been playing around with drink flavors, and that’s what the cart is going to be about.
Good coffee. There’s so much you can do with syrup. ”
Milo laughed, fingers tightening on the back of Zeke’s neck. “Fuck it. I’m in. If Maeve can run a dodgy magic gift shop, why can’t we sell mindbogglingly sweet coffee?”
“That’s the spirit.” Zeke kissed Milo and launched into the sky.