Page 25 of Unexpectedly Wanted
“I’ll be right behind you,” I said as I sighed internally. “I need to finish getting ready. Lunch today?”
“Might be too busy,” he clipped out.
“Okay. We’ll play it by ear,” I pushed.
I looked at Lorna, pinning her with what I’d hoped was a threatening look wrapped in sugar.
Then I made my way back upstairs to brush my teeth and make sure my hair wasn’t completely crazy. Once all of that was taken care of, I headed back down with the intention of slipping out the front door, but was surprised when I heard Milo’s voice coming from the kitchen. I figured he would have run the moment I’d left him alone.
I was too far away to hear what he was saying, but he sounded aggravated.
“Dinner tonight, Milo. You will not ignore us this whole time. There are things that need to be talked about,” Lorna said, voice hushed as if she hadn’t wanted anyone else to hear.
“Dinner?” I said as I stepped up behind Milo. “Sounds wonderful. Should we take them to that new steakhouse downtown? We can all sit down and have a nice meal and get to know one another.”
Milo didn’t answer, but I smiled anyway.
If she wanted to go to dinner, we’d go. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to let him do it alone.
“That will do,” Lorna said, razor edge to her smile as she looked at me. It was clear she wasn’t happy about not getting her way, but she’d never cause a scene. She’d probably find some other way to cut me down or get a jab at me later. That was fine, as long as it was at me and she didn’t take it out on Milo. “No later than six, please. Your father can’t eat too late, or he’ll get heartburn and be up all night.”
“Lorna, whatever time they get done with work is fine,” Harold called out from the breakfast table. “I got pills I can take for that, and I’ll just sit up in bed a little longer. It’ll be fine.”
“How about we pick you up around five? I’m sure getting off a little early today won’t be a problem. We both put in extra hours all the time, anyway.”
“I suppose that will be fine,” Lorna told me.
“Have a great day,” I said. My hand moved until I felt the softness of Milo’s skin. Then, without giving it too much thought, I threaded my fingers through his. “We’ll see you at five.”
I headed out, taking him with me.
“I’m driving. No arguing,” I told him, hitting the unlock button for my car. “You can drive yourself tomorrow. Save the planet and all, since we are literally heading out at the same time and will be back here at the same time.”
“You had to play the ‘save the planet’ card, didn’t you?” he grumbled as he pulled open the passenger side door and flopped down into the seat. I laughed as I slid in behind the wheel. “It’s going to be a disaster,” he said once we were well on our way.
“Nah, I’ve got this,” I told him, turning my head and shooting him a wink. Which did not feel natural. I wasn’t even sure why I did it. The look on his face said he wasn’t sure why I had also. He was right, though. Dinner was going to be bad. It was going to expose us for the frauds that we were. Then his mother would surely move in for the kill.
“I’ll cancel,” he said as I pulled over to drop him off at the front of the building.
“She hasn’t called us out yet,” I said. He pushed open the door, but didn’t get out. “Don’t cancel. We got this. I won’t let her hurt you.”
His gaze went soft— well, soft for him.
And that was the moment I saw that he trusted me. It was the look in his eyes. The hint of vulnerability there. The fact that he was handing it over to me, giving me this part of him that he didn’t give many people. Then came the nod of his head. One simple move said so much. Not only did he trust me, but he was going to stand with me in this.
“Okay,” I said with a nod of my own. That one word telling him so many things in return. I smiled. He didn’t smile back, but that was fine. “Have a good day at work, my pookie mookie.”
“No,” he said, this time shaking his head. He rushed to get out of the car. “The names are so bad.”
“I’ll come get you when it’s almost time to leave,” I called out as he slammed the door. Then, because I couldn’t help it, I added, “I’ll miss you, babe!”
More shakes of his head, and I found myself laughing.
I parked the car and got onto the elevator, feeling a little alone in the empty box as I rode it up. Was it just a feeling I had right now? Or was it more about my life?
I put everything out of my head as I shut myself up in my office. There were a bunch of DMV files for me to sift through today for one of the newer cases Reed had brought me. Sometimes things were simple like this, just required a lot of time and patience. And some were more complicated, requiring more of my skills. Which I usually let Milo handle, if he didn’t seem like he had too much on his plate already.
I’d been at it an hour and had some potential suspects. We weren’t working with much. We were looking for a late nineteen-nineties four-door sedan. Dark gray or faded black in color. We had a partial plate and knew it was registered in Florida. The witness described an older man with thinning hair that was behind the wheel. Didn’t help me much, but I was going to try my damnedest.
