Chapter 19
WILL
I spent the better part of the next few days buried in paperwork for the string of car robberies case we’d been tracking for almost a year, building a case against the top dog of the group.
We’d finally managed to make some arrests, getting closer to dismantling the operation.
There was nothing like the satisfaction of knowing you’d stopped a criminal from committing any more wrongdoings.
Sure the world wasn’t a safe place, but at least it was safer than yesterday.
On Monday I picked up Milo from school. Lori and Graham had left for their honeymoon that morning, and Milo was staying with me for a week.
It was why I hadn’t made any plans with Paige.
I didn’t know how she felt about hanging around with me and an eight-year-old, but now I was wondering if she’d mind.
Man, I was whipped. There was no other word for it.
This woman was constantly on my mind. It was a foreign feeling for me, despite having dated for more than fifteen years.
Usually I was good at separating my dating life from everything else.
It wasn’t something I’d done consciously; it had just felt natural.
Since I’d met Paige, those lines were blurring.
I’d been texting her several times a day, wanting her to know that I was thinking about her, that I couldn’t wait to see her again.
“Uncle Will, can we eat fried chicken tonight?” Milo asked after I picked him up. I fought to hide a smile.
“On one condition: you don’t tell your mom.”
Milo grinned from ear to ear. “I won’t.”
“I need you to promise.”
“I promise.”
“Don’t forget. A man never breaks his word.”
Milo stood straighter, suddenly serious. “I am a man of my word.”
“That you are.”
For a kid, Milo was remarkably great at keeping secrets, which was perfect, because Lori would probably have a heart attack if she knew the stunts Milo and I had pulled together. But what Lori didn’t know didn’t hurt her.
We ate at one of the best fried chicken joints in town, then headed to my apartment. On the way, I thought about Paige again. Screw this. I was going to text her and invite her over. Chances were high that she already had plans.
Will: What are you doing tonight? Any chance you’d like to hang out with me and Milo?
She answered a few seconds later.
Paige: I’m on my way home from an out-of-town conference. It’s a two-hour drive so I won’t be in until later. But I could drop by with dessert.
I lowered myself on my haunches until I was level with Milo.
“Do you remember Paige? My friend from the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Would you be cool with her stopping by later with dessert?”
“Sure. Can she bring nachos? I can eat them for dessert.”
I ruffled Milo’s hair, texting back Paige.
Energy filled me at the thought of seeing her tonight.
I knew why Milo liked spending time at my apartment.
It was in a complex with seven buildings, each no higher than three stories.
There were also two pools and a playground for kids, though he hadn’t wanted to use the latter in years.
When Milo and I entered my apartment, it immediately hit me that this place looked like a damn tornado had blown through it. I was usually messy, and the messiness increased by a factor of ten whenever Milo slept over.
“Buddy, we need to clean this place up a bit before Paige arrives.”
“Clean?” Milo looked crestfallen. I couldn’t blame him. I’d never asked this of him, much to the chagrin of my sister. This was karma biting me back. I mentally went through the arsenal of methods I usually employed to convince Milo. They might include bribing. I decided to go with honesty.
“Ladies don’t like messes,” I explained.
“Ooooh… you want to impress her?”
“Yes. Yes. That’s it.”
“You could try jumping from the top of a tree. Marshall and Xander from my school tried to impress Anna, so Marshall jumped from a low branch, then Xander climbed to an even higher branch.”
I stared at him. Were boys really that ridiculous? If my young years were any indication, the answer was a resounding yes. “Buddy, that’s a very, very bad idea.”
“Anna was impressed, though. She even went to the school doctor with Xander when he broke his wrist.”
“Yeah, but breaking your wrist to get a girl’s attention is stupid. Don’t do it.”
“And you think that cleaning up will work?” Milo asked skeptically.
“Well, let me put it this way: not cleaning up will definitely not help.”
Grudgingly, Milo agreed to help. We spent the next fifteen minutes picking up stuff from the floor, only to place it on the couch or the table, where it also didn’t belong.
This wasn’t productive at all. Finally, we fashioned out a plan.
We’d stack the stuff lying around in the empty dresser in the guest room, where Milo was sleeping.
We’d almost managed to make the space look presentable when the doorbell rang.
I swept my gaze across the room once. Much better than before.
Milo jetted to the door before me, opening up. The corners of Paige’s mouth lifted in a smile when she saw Milo.
“Hello, Ms. Paige.” He stepped to the side, letting her in. “I’m Milo.”
“I know. I remember you from the wedding. You were the most handsome young man there, in your tuxedo.”
Milo’s smile took up his entire face. He loved being called a young man. Paige stepped inside. I’d been on edge the entire day, but just being in the same space with her made that tension go away.
She came up to me, sashaying her hips, and I was filled with a different type of tension that radiated from below my belt.
“Hello to you too, handsome.” She was close enough to kiss, and those lips were calling out to me, but I couldn’t kiss her in front of Milo—not the way I wanted, anyway, which included pinning her against the wall.
I relieved her of the two enormous bags she was carrying.
“What’s this?”
“Dessert.”
“Two bags of it?”
“I might have brought some other goodies too.”
I carried the bags to the low coffee table in the living room. Paige and Milo followed. “This looks cozy,” Paige commented, glancing around.
“We cleaned up because Uncle Will wanted to impress you,” Milo piped up. I groaned. Milo wasn’t done. Raising a skeptical eyebrow, he asked, “Are you impressed?”
Paige cleared her throat and did a full turn, moving slowly, making a big show of looking around. I suspected she was fighting laughter. When she faced us again, she looked on the verge of tears. But she did not laugh.
“Yes. I’m very impressed.”
“Milo,” I grumbled in a low voice.
“What?” The little rug rat correctly interpreted my expression. “I wasn’t supposed to say? But you didn’t tell me.”
Right. I stood corrected. Milo was good at keeping secrets… as long as he knew it was a secret.
“You wanted to keep it a secret that you wanted to impress me? Why is that, Will?” Paige asked, parking her hands on her hips.
That sassy mouth!
“Uncle Will doesn’t know how to impress ladies. I’ve never met a lady before.”
I was stunned into silence. Paige didn’t manage to hold back laughter anymore, but her eyes were full of warmth, and I thought that maybe it wasn’t so bad that Milo had let the cat out of the bag. No, I’d never introduced Milo to anyone I was dating.
“Well, I’m very, very impressed,” Paige said.
“Milo, you forgot to bring your backpack to your room. Do it now, before we eat.”
He nodded, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and dashing to his bedroom, which was at the other end of the apartment. Pocket doors separated the living room and kitchen area from the rest of the apartment.
The second Milo was out of the room, I made my move and kissed her. She parted her lips as my mouth touched hers, welcoming me as if she needed this as much as I did. Had she missed me just as much?
Somehow, kissing felt more intimate tonight.
Maybe because the only other time she’d opened up like this for me was when I’d been deep inside her.
She pressed her hot, curvy body against me, lacing her arms around my neck.
I’d meant to just get a taste, but as usual with Paige, my control was nixed.
When had I backed her against the wall? I’d bunched her dress in my hands too.
Jesus. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to hit pause, stepping back.
“That was quite a kiss,” she muttered, looking absolutely beautiful, all hot and bothered for me.
“I needed a taste of you.” My voice was hoarse.
“Mmm… well, if you keep impressing me, I might let you have another taste later on.”
“Let me?”
“Oh, yeah. If I’m feeling generous, I might even let you have two.”
I stepped back closer, caging her in against the wall, and spread her legs with my knee, pressing my thigh between hers.
“I’ll have my fill of you, Paige. Taste your mouth, all of you.” I pressed my thumb straight over her clit. Even through all the layers of clothes, I knew it affected her, because she rolled her hips forward. “I’ll lick right there until you’re trembling and aching for me.”
Paige’s breath came out in a rush. I stepped back with a satisfied smile just as I heard Milo skitter back. The boy headed straight to the table. Paige and I followed suit.
“What did you bring, Paige?” Milo asked.
“Well, I brought a little bit of everything,” she said eventually and started unloading the bags on the coffee table, averting her gaze. She was so damn cute that I could eat her up. I planned to do just that, later on.
“Wow,” Milo exclaimed, taking in the opened food containers incredulously. I was fairly sure Paige was Milo’s favorite person in the world right now. “You brought popcorn and nachos and M&Ms. And chocolate chips.”
“When I spend time with my nieces, I buy even more.”
“You have nieces?” Milo asked excitedly.
“Yeah. Three of them. So I know all the tricks.”
Milo drummed his fingers on the table, as if deciding how to test her.
“Can you throw an M&M up in the air and catch it in your mouth?” Milo asked, as we sat on the couch right in front of the glass wall that opened up onto the balcony.
“Absolutely.”
To my complete astonishment, Paige popped open the bag and proceeded to perform a perfect throw and catch. Milo clapped his hands. Of course, Milo being Milo, he went on to throw another challenge at Paige, which she took.
I just sat back and watched them. This side of Paige was utterly charming. I didn’t remember ever feeling so peaceful and whole in my life.
“Hey, so I think Uncle Will isn’t paying any attention to us,” Paige whispered loud enough for me to hear. Paige motioned with her head to the takeout boxes, winked, and Milo winked back at her, and I knew I had zero chance of stopping the upcoming food fight.
Three hours later, the living room looked far worse than before Milo and I had cleaned up.
Milo had fallen asleep on the couch, and I carried him to the spare bedroom.
We’d laughed so much that my abdominal muscles were hurting.
When I returned to the living room, I found Paige picking up some wrappers.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Cleaning up.”
“No, you’re not. Come on, let’s sit out on the balcony. I want to enjoy you now that you’re all mine.”
I walked over to her and pulled her to me.
“Watch where you put your hands, hot stuff.”
“Why is that?”
“Umm… Milo?”
“The guestroom is on the other side of the apartment, and he never wakes up during the night.”
“So sexy activities are on the table?”
He cocked a brow. “Was I not clear about that earlier?”
“Oh, I thought you were just talking big. You know… trying to impress me.”