by Alexa Davis
“So, you didn’t have much fun in school then?” I teased. I could just picture him: the kid in the back of class messing about, that brilliant business mind of his not bothered with academia because he knew he wouldn’t need it.
“Oh, it wasn’t just school. It was my dad, too.” His face fell, and I suddenly felt bad for saying anything. “He never believed in me. He spent my entire youth belittling me. He always told me that I wasn’t worth anything and I wouldn’t go far.”
“Wow, that must have been hard,” I murmured sadly. I wasn’t sure what to say, I didn’t have much life experience to base this on. “I’m sorry to hear it.”
“Oh, it doesn’t bother me anymore.” He shook his head a little too sharply. Clearly, this was something he wanted to squash down. “It used to drive me crazy. I would have done anything to impress him, to make him feel proud of me, but now... Well, now I just do it all for myself.”
“Best way.”
“My mom is great, anyway! I wouldn’t be anywhere without her.” All of a sudden, he seemed to realize where we were and who I was, and he snapped right back into business mode. “Anyway, let’s get you a line, try some fishing.”
“I’ve never done it before,” I felt compelled to admit, however crazy it made me sound to someone who lived in Florence. “I don’t know how good I’ll be.”
“Where do you live?” he exclaimed in mock disbelief. “How can you have gone through life having never fished? Never mind, I’m sure we’ll find a way to make it work. We’re not doing any heavy-duty stuff anyway; I need a crew for that. This is more of a leisurely thing.”
“Okay,” I sighed, relieved. “Let’s do this.”
***
“I still can’t believe I caught something!” I laughed loudly, clapping Landon on the back. He already felt like a friend; we’d grown a bond throughout the day and he was a great guy. “You must be an awesome teacher.”
He’d also shown me throughout the factory and he’d revealed his plans to me. I had to say, I was impressed. He did know what he was doing, and there was money to be made. Maybe not in the millions, but enough for me to feel comfortable.
I wanted to help Landon. I wanted to give him a much-needed business boost. He needed someone to help him out, and I wanted to be that person.
“You know, I might as well tell you the truth,” I admitted, handing over the wad of cash for the day. “I know Justin Gains. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of him, but he recommended you to me as a business opportunity. I want to invest in you.”
“Wh... What?” Landon stammered, blown away. It was the first time I’d seen the cool veneer cracked. “What do you mean? Are you serious?”
“I am. I mean, I’ll have to get some advice from Justin, I’ve been out of the investing game for a while, but I know now that I want to do it.”
His face turned pale, and he instantly handed me the cash back. “I can’t take this money from you if that’s the case. I didn’t realize this was a business trip. Oh, God, and I told you all about my past...”
“Man, don’t worry, it’s all good,” I chuckled. “I had a good time. I learned a lot from you. I’m sorry for being sneaky with you and not telling you who I was in the first place. I probably should have, but I wanted to get to know how you did business without a veneer over it, you know?”
“Oh, I agree, and I’m grateful.” He shook my hand a little too hard. “Thank you so much.”
“I’ll be in touch soon, all right?”
As I hopped back into the car and drove back to the cabin, I felt a warm glow of positivity. I’d done a good thing today, and I felt amazing because of it.
If the whole health scare thing had taught me one thing, it was that life was far too short to worry about the details. This felt good, my gut instinct told me that it was right, and that was enough for me. Landon was a great guy, and he deserved a chance. I could be the one who helped his dreams come true.
Now all I wanted to do was share the good news with Eliza. I wouldn’t tell her in a way that suggested I’d be back a lot or anything. I just wanted her to know. Maybe I’d be able to gauge her feelings by her reaction. She was a rollercoaster at the moment, and I couldn’t wait to learn more.
But as I crept through the front door, I could already tell from the hush that had fallen over the place that I was too late and Eliza was asleep. Time had raced away from me today, I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten, and I was disappointed. I’d wanted to talk to her about things. I didn’t think that I’d been out there that long, but time had obviously passed me quicker than I realized.
In fact, she was the one I wanted to share everything with; we’d become that close. It was crazy to think that I’d actually let her in more than most of the people I’d known for years.
I peeked into her room, just wanting to see her, and I instantly spotted Veil on the floor next to her, with her hand resting on his head. He never came into the bedroom at home – all my training was flying out of the window, but I honestly didn’t mind. Eliza made all that seem pointless. She’d changed my opinion about everything. He’d been sleeping in my room since I was here anyway, so there was no way I could be mad regardless.
I rested against the doorway, smiling to myself while I admired her beauty as she slept. She was so sweet, so perfect. All I wanted to do was climb in bed next to her and wrap her up in my arms, but I couldn’t. We weren’t in that place; we were still “friends.”
It might have been very up and down in my mind, but the last sober conversation we’d had on the topic was that we were going to remain purely platonic. I needed to respect that, however much I didn’t like it.
No, instead I’d have to sleep frustrated and alone in my room, knowing that she was only a few feet away. And I wouldn’t even have my own pet for company. What the hell had happened to me?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Eliza – Tuesday
I still felt like shit when I woke up the next morning. I’d waited around all last night to speak to Milo, to tell him that I’d be going back to my house soon, but he never arrived. He must have been enjoying his fishing trip, which was good, but bad for me...
As I staggered out of bed, rubbing my bleary eyes, I wondered if he’d be around today to talk to. I wasn’t sure if I was up to the conversation, but it needed to be had. I wanted to know how he was going to feel about it all. I wanted to know if he was as disappointed as me.
“Come on, Veil,” I murmured quietly, actually feeling a little bad about stealing him all night long. “Let’s get you something to eat.”
My heart thundered as I tiptoed into the front room, but fortunately – or unfortunately, I wasn’t totally sure – Milo wasn’t there. His bedroom door was shut, which meant he’d come home last night, but he was still asleep. I sighed deeply, nodding to myself with determination before heading into the kitchen.
“Okay.” I pulled some stuff out of the cupboard and set about cooking, wondering if the smell of bacon might wake Milo up... but no such luck. He must have been exhausted and out of it. This clash in our schedules sucked, especially if I would be leaving soon.
Still, there wasn’t anything I could do – I had to work. Even without all the bills piling up on my shoulders like lead weights, I needed to work. I had to make the business succeed. I still wanted to make things better. I desperately needed to expand, and that wasn’t going to work if I kept taking time off.
After eating about as slowly as I could, I dove into the shower. With the hot water running all over my body, loosening my muscles and my inhibitions, my mind wandered without me having any control over it.
I thought about Milo in the way I was doing my best not to, especially around him so my face didn’t flush red, totally giving me away. I thought about his hands all over my body, my lips brushing my neck, his tongue flickering over my breasts, and it wasn’t long before my eyes had slid shut and I was in a full-blown fantasy, imagining him in the shower with me.
It was killer, knowing that he was just out there, that he wanted me, too, and that I could grab him at any given moment. It was getting harder and harder to continue doing the right thing, to keep being smart.
Maybe it didn’t matter that I’d end up with a broken heart. Maybe I needed to enjoy him while he was here. I realized that I’d been short-sighted. What I’d actually regret was not having an incredible time while he was here. He was the absolute best I’d ever had, and it seemed a shame to push that aside.
Okay, so seeing him with Phoebe the other night had made me fiercely jealous and that sensation would likely continue when he went home, but maybe it wouldn’t be so hard when I didn’t have to see it, when it wasn’t thrust in front of my face. Now that there was a time limit on us, I felt like I needed to take drastic action. I just wasn’t sure what.
As I jumped out of the shower, I pulled my clothing on quickly, now needing to get out of this cabin before bumping into Milo. I wasn’t sure that I could handle seeing him with everything running through my mind. I needed to talk to Laynee, even if I knew what her advice would be. I hoped she’d take my feelings into consideration and give me some smart advice, but I never could be sure.
“Shhh.” I patted Veil quietly, trying to keep him quiet. “I’ll see you later, okay? I won’t be long, just... Be good.” But he wasn’t listening to me; he was howling away to himself.
I clicked the door behind me and let out a deep sigh of relief. I’d gone from being desperate to see Milo to needing to get away quickly, and that didn’t stop here. I rushed to my car.
God, this is insane. I knew I was acting like a crazy person, but it was beyond that now.
By the time I pulled up outside the salon, I felt a sense of hysteria overcoming me. I needed to talk. I felt like I was bursting with the information building up inside of me, but it didn’t take me long to realize that Laynee wasn’t here yet.
To distract myself, I grabbed the cleaning equipment and furiously started to scrub the place, taking out my sexual frustration on the floors and mirrors. Everything was already clean, just as it always was, but I needed to do something, and unfortunately for me, the book of appointments was pretty empty again.
Shit, how the hell am I going to change that? Sure, renting out the cabin was working well so far, but I had no idea if I’d be able to do it again. I wasn’t sure if I could strip the memory of me and Miles off the walls. It would be far too weird...
And I certainly didn’t have any intention of getting myself in the same confusing mess again! I wanted this business to work. I was so desperate for it to pick up, why wasn’t that enough? Why couldn’t I just magically make that happen? Couldn’t the universe sense my desperation?
“Hi!” Laynee sang as she finally joined me. “Oh, God.” Her face fell the moment she saw me. “You’re cleaning like a maniac; what’s going on? Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”
She slumped into one of the chairs and leaned forward to examine me closely. “Is it Milo? Has something happened? Did he react badly to the news you’re moving back home?”
“No, he doesn’t know yet,” I admitted with a pout, putting some elbow grease into one of the walls, despite the fact that there weren’t any stains there. “He wasn’t home until late last night. I think he went fishing with Landon or something.”
“Landon? Really?” She raised her eyebrows in shock. “That seems random.”
“Well, I don’t know.” I flustered a little bit. “I think he came down here for some sort of investment thing, and I guess Landon must be it...”
“So, maybe he isn’t leaving for good.” She grew excited by that news, her eyes lighting up and her hands gripping onto the chair. “Maybe he’ll be back here a lot, dealing with his company, or whatever.”
“Does it work like that? I don’t think it does.” I didn’t want to be a downer, but there wasn’t any point in getting happy about something that would never happen. “I think investors just hand over the money and wait for their return. I doubt he’ll be back here again.”
“Oh,” she said, looking as defeated as I felt. “Oh, okay, that sucks.”
“Yeah, so I didn’t see him last night or this morning, so I haven’t had the chance to tell him anything yet. And now my apartment will be ready tomorrow, and I won’t get a chance to... to...” To be honest, I wasn’t totally sure how I wanted to finish that sentence.
Luckily, at that moment, our first and only customer for the day strolled through the doors, taking the heat off me. It was Miss Ramsey, an older lady who actually didn’t live too far away from my apartment.
“I’ll do this,” Laynee murmured. “You take a moment to work out what you want to do.”
That was all well and good, but I knew what I wanted to do – I just wasn’t totally convinced that it was the right thing. I sat down, my brain flickering from decision to decision, tuning everything else out, until Laynee raised her voice loud enough to drag me back into the room.
“So, Miss Ramsey, I have a hypothetical question for you.” She shot me a look, and I gave her a blank, confused expression back. “What would you do if you had a totally hot guy living under your roof, one that you wanted bad, and he wanted you bad, too...”
I gasped loudly, unable to believe that she was being so brazen. And using my life, too... although I had to admit that I was intrigued to see where this conversation would lead. If there was one thing I desperately needed, it was advice.
“But you had to leave for whatever reason, and you were afraid of getting your heart broken?”
“That isn’t a problem,” Miss Ramsey scoffed. “That’s got an easy answer.” I leaned forward, forgetting trying to be cool. I needed to know what this obvious answer was and why I couldn’t see it. “I’d bang his brains out; life is too short to be worrying about feelings. You want to regret what you have done, not what you haven’t.”
“I totally agree.” Laynee gave me a knowing look, and I couldn’t help smiling back, my face heating up. That was what I wanted to do – badly – and when she put it like that, it was more and more difficult to see why I wasn’t doing it.
Ugh, this is crazy. Why aren’t I just hopping into bed with this gorgeous man? Why am I so concerned about what might or might not happen in the future? I already got the sense that he wanted me – he’d certainly been more than up for it the last time – but then we went and had that stupid conversation, deciding to just be friends. Can I be that inconsistent? Will he think I am crazy if I totally change my mind?
Okay, so I needed a plan for this; I needed to decide what I was going to do. I was thinking about this now, considering it, and I had to go in there with a game plan. I needed to cook dinner, set the scene, and then maybe something could happen. Maybe once we spent a nice evening together and I dropped the bombshell on him, he wouldn’t be able to resist and he’d make the first move.
I could just picture the scene now. He’d stand up, shocked, and beg me not to leave. Then he’d wrap his arms around me and pull me in for a loving embrace, kissing me hard and passionately. Then he’d carry me and take me to the bedroom, where he’d ravish my body...
“Eliza,” Laynee suddenly snapped, dragging me from my thoughts. “Are you okay? We lost you there?”
“Oh, God, sorry.” I leaped up, knocking a whole bunch of papers to the ground as I did. I was so embarrassed to have been caught thinking such naughty thoughts, as if they could read my mind. “Ugh, I’m an idiot today, sorry.”
“Yeah,” Miss Ramsey stage whispered to Laynee. “I think my advice was right. She does need to jump this man’s bones. It might sort her out.”
I rolled my eyes, hating the fact that discretion wasn’t an option here, but there was nothing I could do now. I just had to hope that Milo didn’t communicate with many people while he was here, that he continued to pretty much keep to himself, so I could keep my dignity intact. At least, a little bit.
Well, I’d likely be safe until tomorrow anyway, and that was when
everything had to come to an end. After that? Well, it probably wouldn’t matter anymore – a thought that damn near killed me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Milo – Tuesday
I tried to spend the day productively. I tried to get my plans for Landon in order, making note of everything he wanted to do so that when I went to Justin for advice, I had everything in my mind. I was excited about this opportunity, happy to move forward with it, but I wanted to get everything nailed.
But I wasn’t getting as far along with it as I would have liked, since my mind kept wandering in a different direction. I kept thinking about Eliza, driving myself crazy. And the fact that I hadn’t heard anything from her didn’t help things. I just wanted to see her, speak to her, and know where her head was at.
Is that her?
Veil jumped up excitedly, racing to the window, which meant her car was pulling up in the driveway. I quickly raced to the mirror, checking out my slightly disheveled appearance. I screwed up my nose at my expression, unhappy with what I saw, but it was far too late to change. In fact, I was pretty sure that I could hear her steps outside the door.
My heart pounded in my throat, emotions dancing in my chest. I smiled brighter than I ever had before. It was official. I’d become a sad little schoolboy with a crush. I didn’t think this was desirable to women – if anything I felt like it might put Eliza off – but I just couldn’t stop it. I had absolutely no control over myself anymore.
“Hey.” I slid into the front room. “How’s it going? Oh, oops, let me help you with that.”
She was struggling in with more grocery bags, which made me feel bad. Sure, I’d more than paid for my time here, but it didn’t feel right for her to be spending so much money on me. She was having money and business troubles, yet she kept buying me food when she didn’t have to.
“I would have made dinner,” I told her as I took the bags from her hands. “Sorry, I didn’t even think about it.”