Page 133 of A Taste Of Darkness

“You know what, I think we should stop by Tartarus first,” I said as I walked back over to the car. Suddenly, Michael stopped smiling, which frankly, worried me even more.

“I can’t let you do that, Miss Adams.”

My arms crossed over my chest, alarm bells ringing. “And why not?”

“Because you need to open your boutique, Ma’am.”

“That can wait another hour.”

“It can’t.” Michael led me back to the building, taking the keys from me to unlock the door, and opening it like he was supposed to. “You’re going to lose a lot of money if you don’t open on time.”

“That’s not true.” And even if it was, I didn’t care. Milo wouldn’t let me use any of my money anyway, so it didn’t matter.

The money I made, I put right back into my job or distributed it through five different savings accounts. Milo suggested it. I told him one would be enough, but he insisted on five since he still believed we’d have five kids.

Five. As if that was the most normal number of kids ever.

I went inside the building, giving in since Michael wasn’t budging.

I was going to turn on the lights in just a second, but before that, I wanted to call Milo because this was starting to worry me more than I cared to admit.

As I rounded the counter to the register, setting down my purse, I noticed a pink Post-it attached to the computer screen that I knew wasn’t there before. I never left sticky notes on screens.

I pulled the note off, sighing in both relief and annoyance when I found Milo’s handwriting.

Good morning. I love you. See you in a bit, it read. It was what he said every morning after waking up before I took a shower and he prepared breakfast. I missed it this morning.

The soft smile that pulled on my lips only widened when the door to my shop opened and Milo came walking inside with a huge bouquet of pink roses in his hands.

I would’ve rushed over to him and jumped into his arms, but I chose to pretend to be mad because this man was obviously playing with my feelings today.

When he stood in front of me, Milo leaned down to kiss me, but I turned my face away, only for him to chuckle. “Someone’s mad this morning.”

“Mh-hmm. And apology flowers won’t get you anywhere either.” I crossed my arms over my chest, watching as Milo walked over to the round table in the middle of the room, exchanging the old flowers with the new ones.

“These aren’t apology flowers,” he said. “I had to leave early because I was making sure the restaurant was ready, and then I had to pick up the flowers.”

“What restaurant?” I logged into the computer and checked the calendar. There were no dinner plans for either of us on the calendar. “Do you have plans you didn’t tell me about?”

He always told me about his plans, even the smallest little things that I didn’t need to know.

“We do.” Milo smiled at me as he made his way back toward me. He threw the old flowers into the trash underneath the counter, then put his full attention back on me. “Michael’s going to pick you up after work.”

“Is he not staying?” My eyebrows drew together, confusion building up inside of me.

“No, he has to run some errands with me.”

Now that was new. I haven’t stayed here alone in over a year… it was kind of scary.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I asked.

“I’m telling you now.” He wrapped his arms around my neck from behind, placing a kiss on the top of my head.

“What if I had other plans?”

“Then you’d cancel them.”

“Why is Michael picking me up?” I turned around in his arms, looking up at him. “Why aren’t you?”

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