Page 5 of Nothing Left to Lose

He made a face as he stopped for air. “So tell me, what’s the felony charge, exactly, for the crime we’re committing? Just trying to do the math on that. Like, will I be out of prisonfor my thirtieth? Because Mom was already talking about my grandparents visiting from Florida.”

“There won’t be any felony charges,” I said.

I think . . .

“And anyway, your thirtieth is like five years away. She’s planning it already?”

“You know what she’s like.” He chugged more Moët while we both seemed stuck staring at the bed.

“And I still can’t believe your grandparents moved to Florida. I loved their house in the hills.”

Miller nodded and handed me the bottle of champagne. “Same.”

I took a decent mouthful, and then another.

Miller let his head fall back with a groan. “We arenotgonna be able to pull this off.”

I gulped the Moët and swallowed down the belch that threatened to escape. “Sure we will. There’s nothing we don’t know about each other. What can they ask us that we don’t know?”

“It’s not the trivia I’m concerned about.”

No. He meant the physical stuff.

“We’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll be fine with it.”

Miller replied with one raised eyebrow.

“What?” I countered. “I can pretend to be your husband, no problem.” I put the bottle in the ice bucket and threw my arms around him to prove my point. I rested my chin on his shoulder. “You know I’ll be fine with it.”

He... didn’t react. Didn’t lean into me like he typically did, didn’t turn around and hug me back. Didn’t laugh or joke about it. He didn’t say a word.

He did nothing.

It was almost as ifhehad a problem with it.

But he was gay. He never had a problem with a guy hanging off him. Lord knew I’d seen guys fawn all over him before and that was fine... kind of. I mean,hewas fine with it.

It was almost like the problem he had here was me.

Wait.

I froze as realization dawned. “Miller,” I said, turning him around so I could see his face. “Do you not want to do this?”

“It’d be too late now if I did, wouldn’t it?”

“Mills,” I tried. That nickname normally softened him like butter, but not today. He tried to look away, so I put my hands on his face to make him look at me. Something really wasn’t right with him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

He wasn’t, clearly.

He pulled his face from my hands but he didn’t move away, so I pulled him in for a fierce hug. I don’t know why hugging him always made me feel better, but it did. It gave me peace, and I hoped it did the same for him. “We’ll be okay,” I murmured. “It’s just one weekend. We’ll be fine. We’ll have a few drinks, relax, and have a great time.”

There.

That was good. Reassure him that it was just me and him, like the old days, and that I wanted to make this about him. For him to have a great weekend, relaxing and maybe feeling like his old self.

He sighed and pulled away from me. He threw his bag on the bed. “You’re on the left side.”

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