Page 9 of Virgin Skin

My lips tingle at the memory of Milo’s soft mouth against mine. I squeeze my eyes closed and huff through my nose. I need to get myself under control right fucking now. There’s too much at stake for me to follow my dick on this one.

His lanky form and shaggy hair suddenly come into view as he makes his way around the corner towards the parking lot. He’s changed his clothes since I saw him earlier and, like last night, he’s not wearing a jacket. Milo picks up his pace when he sees me, a lopsided smile forming on his lips as he gets closer. That dimple on his cheek that I noticed last night draws my eye for just a second. He slows to a stop in front of me, hunching his shoulders and crossing his arms against the chill in the air that’s only gotten worse now the sun is sinking out of sight.

I make a noise in the back of my throat and pull my jacket off without thinking. I drape it over his shoulders, and he doesn’t hide his widening smile or the way he pulls it up close to his nose to sniff it.

“It probably smells like leather, sweat, and exhaust.” I rumble a laugh.

“Mm.” He nods. “Plus a little bit of lavender and something that kind of smells like a campfire.” He lets it drop away from his face again. “It smells like you.”

The words are a purr that ignite heat in my gut. I shake my head and clear my throat. I was hoping he’d make this easy, but I guess I’m going to have to break his heart a little if I’m going to get the message across that this can’t happen.

“Why don’t we go inside,” I say. At least I can get some food into him and ask how he’s feeling before we get into the messy shit.

The smell of beef and onions makes my mouth water as I hold the door open and wave Milo through. This place isn’tmuch to look at, just a greasy, hole in the wall kind of diner, but the burgers are next level. We get a table, and the waitress leaves us with a couple of menus.

He slips my jacket off as soon as he sits down, setting it next to him on his side of the booth. For some reason it annoys me, like I want to insist that he leave the jacket on even though it’s not cold inside. I pinch the bridge of my nose. I’m clearly fucking losing it. I just wish I knew why.

“I have some very good arguments to convince you that there’s nothing wrong with us seeing each other, if you’re interested in hearing them,” Milo says casually as he flips through the sticky menu.

I chuckle. Why doesn’t that surprise me? I don’t know much about him, but I can already tell he’s not easily deterred from going after the things he wants. The fact that I’m a thing he wants stokes the heat in my gut again and tempts me to flip this table out of our way so I can put my hands all over him again. I grip the edge of the table until it bites into my palm hard enough to bring my rational thoughts back to the surface.

“How are you doing after meeting him today?” I ask to change the subject.

He glances up from the menu to look at me. Conflicted emotions dance through his eyes, and he drums his fingers on the table while he puts his thoughts together.

“I don’t know. Have you ever built something up so much in your head that when it finally happens you just feel kind of numb? Like it’s too much to process or something?” His foot nudges mine under the table and his eyebrows pull together.

I press my foot back against his, giving him the little bit of comfort I can offer without crossing any lines.

“I’ve felt numb when shit was just too much to process, yeah,” I say, ignoring the way my throat tightens at the reminderof my past. “Hero’s a good guy. He’s going to come around, he just needs to wrap his head around everything.”

“I know.” Milo absently twirls his finger through one of the longer strands of his hair and lets his eyes wander over the vintage decor covering the walls around us. “He came by the motel when I was on my way out to talk. He wants me to come to the shop again tomorrow so we can go for lunch.”

Relief floods me. I let out a breath that ends with a small laugh. I knew he would do the right thing, but I’m glad he got around to it so quickly.

“Good,” I say firmly.

“Yeah,” he agrees, and for a second, we both trail off, awkwardly avoiding the huge-ass elephant in the room. I am, anyway. Milo already called the elephant out by name and is now just waiting for me to grow the fuck up and do the same. Ironic that the kid is the one willing to dive right into the hard part while I pussyfoot around it.

The waitress comes to take our order, giving me the perfect excuse to avoid the conversation for another couple of minutes. But when she leaves, all that’s left is Milo staring at me across the table, waiting for me to say something.

“He’s not only one of my closest friends, he’s also one of my business partners. Everything is so entwined that if I cross the line with you now that I know who you are, it could cost me everything. The rest of the guys would side with him, and they should. There are some people you can’t fuck, no matter how much you might want to, and your buddy’s son has to be number one on the list.”

He bristles and his expression morphs into a defiant scowl that’s a hell of a lot cuter than it has any right to be.

“I’m not a little kid, Piston.”

I rake my eyes over the parts of him I can see, from the dusting of dark stubble on his chin to the chest hair peeking outover the vee of his t-shirt, just like it was last night. The memory of his tongue snaking around mine and the hot, heavy press of his hard cock against my thigh flood my mind, making my cock swell.

“I know that,” I say, my voice dipping low and husky. My gaze lingers on the patch of exposed skin on his collarbone for another second before I force my gaze away. “But you’rehiskid, and that’s all that matters. You came all the way here to get to know him. I don’t want to fuck that up for you.”

“Answer one question for me?”

I hesitate, trying to imagine what he might want to ask, but eventually I nod. “Sure. Shoot.”

“If Hero wasn’t my dad, were you going to call me? Did you want to see what would happen between us?”

Laying it out so bluntly, the weight of the disappointment I’ve been trying not to feel all day crashes down on me. I let my shoulders sag, and I lean forward to rest my elbows on the table, hanging my head.

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