This Time Around (Road to Blissville, #4)

by Aimee Nicole Walker

  “I don’t want to know.”

  “Andy,” I said patiently. “Let me finish. There is nothing going on between Tucker and me. He wants there to be, but he knows it won’t happen.”

  Andy snorted. “You sure looked chummy this morning, or do all your early-morning clients kiss you?”

  “He kissed me on the forehead and cheek,” I explained. “It was a gesture to show he accepted that friendship was all I could offer him.”

  “Forehead kisses are your favorite, or has that changed?”

  I was still a sucker for them. If I thought about it hard enough, I could recall how right Andy’s lips felt pressed to my forehead. Of course, his kisses lingered and led to more kisses. That’s probably what he thought happened between Tucker and me that morning. Later, I could speak my mind about him jumping to conclusions, but right then I only wanted to assure him of one thing.

  I closed the distance between us until I was close enough to smell his intoxicating, masculine scent. “Ask me why Tucker has accepted that he has no future with me, Andy.”

  “Why? So you can toy with me some more.”

  “Take a chance. Say the words, Andy.”

  I could take the bait and see what happened or play it safe. Trying to figure things out with Milo wasn’t unlike managing a damn baseball game. Did I go for a base hit that could tie the game or swing for the fence and win it all? I’d mostly played it safe since my return, and it hadn’t gotten me very far. Maybe I did need to take a chance and swing for the fence.

  “Why did Tucker accept that he doesn’t stand a chance with you?”

  “Because I—”

  “Hey, Andy, where you at?” a jovial voice asked from the hallway. Paul walked into the apartment and jerked to a stop when he saw me standing so close to Milo. Of course, I wasn’t wearing a shirt which gave the impression that he had disrupted something private. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

  I was so close to having Milo admit that his feelings for me were so much more than annoyance and anger. Fuck, I could smell his need rolling off him. Paul’s interruption had the same effect as throwing a bucket of ice-cold water on top of him.

  “I was just leaving, Paul,” Milo said, turning to face him. “Unless you need me to stick around and approve repairs or anything.”

  “Don’t let me hold you up,” Paul replied good-naturedly. “I’ll have Andy call you if it’s something major.”

  “Fair enough,” Milo agreed. “I’ll talk to you later, Andy.”

  I was going to let him leave without saying anything else, but I felt like something had shifted between us, like maybe I’d gained a little bit of ground with him. Not wanting to second-guess my actions all night long, I pulled my shirt on and told Paul that I’d be right back. I caught up to Milo just as he reached his car. I wrapped my fingers around his biceps to stop him from opening his door. Milo spun around, clutching his chest like the time I had startled him in the dark. He apparently hadn’t expected me to follow him.

  “Because you…” I prompted him to finish what he was going to say before Paul showed up.

  “Um, I don’t remember.”

  I blew out a deep breath while I searched for my patience. It was tattered and torn but relatively intact. I backed Milo up against his car until there was no space between us. I saw the way his eyes widened in arousal, and his luscious lips parted just begging for a kiss. Milo placed his hands on my pecs but didn’t push me away. I felt like I was in the bottom of the ninth inning in a tied ball game, bases were loaded, I had two outs, and a full count against me. I just needed that perfect pitch to cross the plate so I could knock it out of the park. I considered Milo moistening his lips with the tip of his tongue the pitch I was looking for and swooped in, claiming his mouth with mine.

  I captured his little whimper of pleasure in my mouth before I teased his lips further apart, exploring him with my tongue. God, his kisses gave me life. They always had, and I feared they always would. I said fear because there was a good chance that I’d spend the rest of my life alone if we couldn’t bridge the gap. I’d never found anyone who made me feel a fraction of what Milo did, and I started to think I never would.

  It seemed like Milo was on the same page when he dug his fingers into my pectoral muscles and sucked my tongue into his mouth. I was quickly forgetting what I’d followed him down to his car for beyond kissing him until we both stopped acting stupid. I slid my hands beneath the hem of his light sweater and touched the soft skin covering his tight abs. It must’ve stunned us both into remembering where we were. I certainly recalled my purpose when I looked into his dazed, blue eyes after breaking our kiss.

  “I didn’t follow you down here to kiss you,” I told him. “I wanted you to finish telling me why Tucker finally accepted that he doesn’t have a chance with you?” Milo opened his mouth to answer me, but I covered it with my finger. “No more games, Milo.” I removed my finger and held my breath.

  “Because I don’t return his feelings,” Milo told me. “I didn’t in high school, and I don’t now. I tried then, and my life would be so much easier if I could love him now, but you can’t force something that isn’t there. Tuck acknowledged that and said he wanted me to be happy, even if it wasn’t with him.”

  Okay, Tucker Garrison was a bigger man than me. I would’ve engaged the beg, borrow, and steal philosophy to make Milo mine again. “That’s mighty big of Tucker.”

  “Well, he has a big—” My growl cut Milo off, and he slapped my shoulder playfully. “Heart!”

  “I bet that’s what you were going to say.” I ran my thumb over his bottom lip a few times. It was still wet from my kisses, and I wanted to make it even wetter. “Have dinner with me. We can order pizza and um…talk.”

  Milo snorted. “Talk.” He wanted to say yes, I saw it in his eyes. “Are you ready to answer my question from the other night, Slugger?”

  My heart raced from hearing the familiar nickname rolling off his tongue, but fear prevented me from meeting his demand. “You’re not just willing to get to know the person I am now?” I tried for a teasing tone of voice but failed. I knew that I’d have to tell him someday, but I was hoping to entrench myself deep in his heart so he couldn’t easily reject me once I told him about those twelve years.

  “The decision you made to basically abandon your family and the community that loved you is part of the man you are now. You’re not two different people, and even if you were, I’d need to understand one before I could trust the other.”

  “What scabs do you plan to scrape off so that you can bleed for me too, Milo? Or am I the only one who has to purge their soul?” I growled in frustration. “Forget I asked. Have a nice night.” Our stalemate was still in force, and it didn’t look like it would change anytime soon.

  I turned back around and focused on putting one foot in front of the other since I could feel Milo’s eyes on me. Tripping and falling on my face wouldn’t be cool when I was trying to make a dramatic exit. I’d learned a thing or two from him over the years. When I got back upstairs, Paul was packing up his tools.

  “The thermostat just needed new batteries,” he said.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, digital thermostats have some cool features, but they have some drawbacks too. A rule of thumb is to change the batteries every sixty days. You want to pass that along to Milo, or do you want me to?”

  “I’ll tell him. How much do I owe you for a service call?”

  “Don’t worry about it, kid. I’ve known you since you were in diapers.” Paul and my father had been best friends since elementary school. In fact, for most of my life I had called him Uncle Paul. “So, you think things will finally work out between you and Milo?”

  “Why do you ask?” I questioned, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. Was he trying to get details to take back to my folks?

  Paul shrugged and said, “I know a guy.” He used his best Tony Soprano voice, which sent mixed signals.

  “I do
n’t want to take a hit out on Milo,” I replied dryly. My frustration had soared to heights I never knew existed, but I hadn’t lost my fucking mind…yet.

  Paul threw his head back and laughed. “My Tony impression doesn’t really fit this situation. I meant that I know a guy you might like.”

  “To date?”

  “Yes, date.” Paul rolled his deep-brown eyes and shook his head. “My nephew came out a while back. Good kid, hard worker, and handsome if I do say so myself. He works for me, so you’ll probably meet him eventually anyway. I can make that happen sooner, if you like.”

  “I appreciate it, but—”

  “I know, buddy. It’s plain to see on your face when you look at him. I hope you guys can work out your differences.”

  “Thanks, Paul.”

  I stuck around after Paul left because I had nowhere else I needed to be and no one to spend my evening with. As was my habit, I buried my misery in my work. At least with construction projects, I could see the results of my efforts. Not saying I wouldn’t have similar results if I’d chosen to come clean to Milo, but I wasn’t willing to risk putting myself out there only to have him reject me. Or worse, pity me. I’d rather him hate me for the rest of his life. I had fucked up in some major ways, but I came out stronger for it.

  Work was my therapy, and I fully embraced the physical labor and sweat equity that went into my job. I lost track of how long I hung drywall in the fourth apartment, but my growling stomach told me it was much later than it liked. I was too frustrated to eat at lunch and chose to work through, so I could finish earlier and find some peace away from Milo. What happened? I ended up staying later and was still no closer to getting away from Milo, emotionally or physically.

  I thought we were getting somewhere when I walked him to his car and he confessed why Tucker accepted he had no future with Milo. Now, it might’ve been arrogant on my part to assume that I was the reason why Tuck kept striking out, but I wasn’t afraid to make an ass out of myself. I was immensely pleased to hear Milo say the words when pushed, but it really didn’t change anything.

  He still wanted to know why I’d been away so long; I wasn’t ready to talk about it. Fresh start meant a fresh start. Maybe I was naïve to think I could reinvent myself in my hometown, but that didn’t change my desire to be here. I’d faced down my demons and was ready to move forward. I hoped my future included Milo in it, but maybe I was asking for too much. I could understand where Milo’s frustration was coming from.

  My phone rang, interrupting my latest internal debate. I saw it was the other Miracle twin calling me. “Hey, Maegan.”

  “Go home, Andy.”

  “I thought you’d appreciate a contractor that works day and night to get the job done,” I replied.

  “I do appreciate how hard you work, but I’m more concerned that you’re pushing yourself too hard. Did Milo bitch about the project taking too long or something?”

  “No,” I replied. “Does he think I’m taking too long?”

  “Absolutely not, but I know how he likes to push your buttons. Seems you pushed a few of his today too.”

  “Maybe,” I admitted grudgingly.

  “Look, I’m not judging you, and Milo probably had it coming. That doesn’t mean you work yourself to death. Okay?”

  “I appreciate the concern.”

  “Have you eaten dinner?”

  “Um, no. I was getting ready to wrap things up,” I lied.

  “Uh huh,” Maegan said, sounding unconvinced. “Elijah and I worked late too, so why don’t you join us for dinner? I have a wild idea, and I probably need you to talk me out of it.”

  “Umm.”

  Maegan laughed heartily at my discomfort. “For fuck’s sake, Andy. I wasn’t proposing a damn threesome or anything.”

  “Good to know,” I replied. If Maegan had an idea she wanted to pitch to me, did that mean Milo would be there too?

  “It’s just going to be the three of us,” Maegan said, answering my unspoken question. “Twenty minutes?”

  “I don’t know, Maegan, I probably should go home and shower first. I worked up a sweat and probably stink.”

  “Twenty minutes, Andy.” Maegan disconnected the call before I could say anything else.

  I packed up my tools, turned off the lights, locked the apartments, and headed to Maegan’s house. She and Elijah lived next to one another, but I figured it was only a matter of time before Elijah gave up the pretense of wanting to spend his nights anywhere besides her house.

  “Hey there, handsome,” Maegan said, when I jogged up the porch. “You’re just in time. Elijah brought home some greasy pizza that will cure all that ails us.”

  “What do you want to drink, Andy?” Elijah asked as he bent over to look inside the refrigerator. “Or should I call you handsome too?”

  “I answer to pretty much anything these days,” I replied drily. “I’ll just have a soda or water.”

  “We have beer,” Maegan offered.

  “Nah, I’ll pass. Thanks though.”

  Elijah handed me a Coke and opened a beer for him and Maegan. “I guess you want to know why we invited you over.”

  “Maegan assured me it wasn’t for sex,” I teased.

  “Freckles, you need to work on your invitation skills if people think that a dinner invite equates a threesome,” Elijah said affectionately. “Go ahead and tell the man your idea.”

  Maegan took a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly. Hell, she was making me a nervous wreck. “You’re going to think I’m crazy. He does.” She pointed to Elijah.

  “Not crazy, just um…” Elijah’s voice trailed off as he searched for an adjective that wouldn’t send him straight to the dog house. Speaking of dogs, Maegan’s Frenchie, Lulu, plopped herself beneath my chair, hoping I would drop a pepperoni.

  “Crazy,” Maegan whispered. “I want to buy the Bliss House.”

  I felt my eyebrows rise toward my hairline. “The one the town founder went missing from in 1851? The same house that is reported to be haunted?”

  “The same one where Nancy Drew here and The Hardy Boys tripped over a dead body in the cellar,” Elijah said wryly.

  “We didn’t trip over him,” Maegan countered, rolling her eyes. “We saw the blood and ran upstairs to call the cops. You solved the homicide, and now the house is up for sale.”

  Earlier in the year, Maegan, Milo, and Memphis were granted permission by Thom Renzo to look around his deceased parents’ home to see if they wanted to buy anything before the house and contents were put in an auction. Maegan always joked that the best stuff was hidden in the dirtiest places—attics, basements, and cellars. I don’t think Thom Renzo’s dead body was on her list of “best stuff,” but that’s exactly what was down there waiting for them to find. That night led to a series of events that made it seem like Maegan was in the killers’ crosshairs, but no one was prepared for the truth Elijah uncovered when he solved the case.

  “You’re serious about buying the home?” I asked her.

  “I am. I’ve always loved that house even though everyone else thought it looked like a haunted house from Scooby Doo. Something just felt right when I walked through the front door.”

  “And you want me to inspect it for potential problems?”

  “Would you?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “While you’re there,” Maegan said, causing both Elijah and me to groan. “Can you give me an estimate on how much it would cost to modernize the big systems and renovate the home to its former glory?”

  “I absolutely can do that. I’ll need to get an HVAC guy, electrician, and plumber lined up too. I know the basics of those skills, but you want someone more knowledgeable than me looking at the mechanicals. I can make some calls. What kind of timeframe are we looking at here?”

  “For an inspection and estimate?” Maegan clarified.

  “Yeah. You couldn’t start repairs until you owned the home anyway. What do I tell the guys?”

  Ma
egan grimaced. “The lawyer for the estate is giving me ten days to get a conditional approval for the loan, which I can’t do until the house is inspected.”

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and started to dial.

  “Wait!” Maegan’s outburst startled me.

  “What?”

  “Eat your damn pizza first.”

  I ate two greasy, delicious slices then made some phone calls. Paul thought I was calling for his nephew’s number but seemed okay that it was for business. Mike and Chris, electrician and plumber, were a little sketchy about going inside the Bliss House, but they agreed to meet me also. I promised to call them back with a firm date and time once Maegan got us access to the house.

  When I left Maegan’s house after a third and fourth slice of pizza, I was relieved that I at least made one Miracle twin happy that night. What the hell was I going to do about the other one?

  “I never thought I would return to this house after the way our last visit turned out,” I said, looking through the windshield at the large, run-down Tudor home that Maegan wanted to buy. The same sister who conveniently couldn’t meet the guys inspecting the house because she had an urgent meeting with an appraiser about a brooch she found the previous week while crawling through cobwebs and dust. This wasn’t just some musty, dusty abode either; it was the house where we discovered the dead body of the guy who lured Maegan there with the intent to do ungodly things to her. I couldn’t repress the shiver that worked its way through my body. What the hell was she thinking?

  “The things we do for your sister,” Memphis said.

  “You love the thrill of the hunt just as much as she does, Memphis.” I pinned my friend with a look that dared him to disagree. Memphis moved to Blissville to help take care of his cousin, Emory, after he had brain surgery to remove a tumor. Memphis fell in love with our small town and ended up staying. Blissville gained a beautiful citizen, and Maegan and I found an amazing friend. “I find it odd that she’s not here tonight since this is her dream house and all.”