Page 34 of M!lking Mina

Behind the counter, the workers were watching them and giggling, whispering back and forth to each other. Patrick ignored them, along with the funny rush that went through his chest. He was pretty sure it was because they thought he and Mina were a cute couple.

But they weren’t really.

“It’s a great cake,” he said, smiling at her, doing his best to hide the ache that wouldn’t go away.

“And a great cookie.” She smiled back at him.

Was he just imagining things or was he seeing his own sadness reflected in her eyes?

Even if he was, was she sad because her fantasy was almost over?

Or because she felt the same connection he did?

“So, what are you going to do when you get back home? About the milk, I mean,” he added hastily. “Now that it’s come in.”

The hand not holding a fork drifted up to her breasts and her gaze averted from his.

“Probably donate it. I did a little bit of research back at the beginning when I was still hopeful it would happen, but it’s been a while since I’ve looked at it since I was starting to think it never would. There’s a lot of mothers who donate excess breast milk. I figure it’s basically the same thing.” She shrugged one shoulder.

“I can’t imagine why it would be different. It’s still breastmilk.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have a kid. People can get weird when someone or something is different.”

“That’s too true,” he acknowledged, giving her a rueful smile. “So, you’re going to keep up… um… production?”

“Yeah, I think so.” She shook her head, finally returning her gaze to meet his. “I hadn’t really expected it to happen at this point but now that it has, I think I’d be afraid to stop. What if it didn’t come back?”

“I would say that you’ve done it once, so you can probably do it again,” he teased gently. He didn’t like the idea of her feeling trapped into something that she’d fantasized about now that it was a reality.

“That’s true too.”

Looking at her like this, both of them smiling, felt almost achingly intimate. Just as intimate as everything else they’d shared over the past few days.

“Do you think it’ll affect your dating life?” He couldn’t help himself. He just had to keep shoving that stake into his chest. Maybe he was more of a masochist than he’d realized.

Mina laughed. “What dating life?” she joked. “Honestly, it’s been so long since I’ve had a boyfriend, I be surprised if your dick didn’t clear cobwebs out of my vagina.”

Now it was Patrick’s turn to laugh, but he’d been taking a bite of cookie while he tried to think of how to respond to Mina’s first question, and he ended up choking on it. It took him a few seconds to get himself under control, shaking his head as he cleared the cookie from his airways.

“Oops.” She smiled impishly at him. “Sorry.”

“Not your fault, I just wasn’t expecting that.” He shook his head.

“Yeah, sorry.” She didn’t look particularly sorry though. More amused than anything else. “There’s just not a lot of options around me.”

“How do you feel about long-distance relationships?”

Stupid, dumbass, don’t be ridiculous.

It was an impulsive question. One that he hadn’t meant to ask. Because he didn’t do long-distance relationships. They never worked out. Not that he’d ever been in one but that’s because he couldn’t even imagine doing the work that would be needed to maintain one.

Until now.

“Well, considering where I live, most of my relationships could count as long-distance, one way or another.” She was still joking, but now she was looking at him with such a hopeful expression that it made his chest squeeze. “Or are you talking long-distance like the distance from the Ranch to Alabama?”

Her bravery, her openness, helped spur him forward.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

---