Page 56 of Milo
I look at him. “I think I’m falling for him,” I say steadily. “I know that might worry you, but I can’t help it.” I pause. “You don’t look surprised.”
He looks thoughtful. “Some part of me isn’t. Maybe I’ve always known that the wind would blow this way.”
“Are you worried?”
He shakes his head slowly. “No. I think you’ve kept him safe all these years. That’s why I sent you to him when the Thomas situation got out of control. I knew you’d protect him and watch over him. I just didn’t know it would be until he was ready for you.” He shakes his head and raises his hand to cup my cheek. “I knew someone would take you away from me because you wouldn’t be happy with what I offered for forever.”
I jerk my head back. It feels wrong for him to touch me.
An almost cruel look crosses his face. “Yes, it’s awkward to know how each brother fucks, isn’t it? It’s some men’s dream, but it won’t be Milo’s.”
“I’m sorry,” I say slowly. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
He draws back. “You haven’t hurt me. You’ve just finally seen that all those times you looked at me you should have been looking beyond me at who was waiting for you to notice him.”
“Is this going to cause a problem between you and Milo?”
He shakes his head thoughtfully. “No.” He shoots me a suddenly spiteful glance. “It’s got to last a while for it to maybe become a problem. You’ll grow bored in the end of pedestrian sex with the same person and when you’re finished with it, come and look for me. I’ll be waiting.”
“You and Jacinta?”
He shrugs. “Who cares. It will always be me, anyway. That’s the way it’s always been with us.”
I catch an edge of desperation in his voice and it stops the angry words from flowing out about how the sex with Milo is beyond anything I’ve ever done. Transcending the tawdry with shine and soft beauty and feelings that run through to the depths of me like I’ve tapped a previously unknown lake. I can’t say that to him, no matter how he behaves, because a part of me will always care for him. It’s just not the rest of me, which yearns for Milo.
“I have to go,” I say abruptly. “Don’t play games, Gideon. It doesn’t become you and if you hurt him, you’ll have to come through me first.”
“Threats before breakfast,” he muses casually. “How veryDynasty.”
I break away, desperate to get to Milo and explain, shoving Gideon’s last expression away to examine later. The banked anger in his face which had glowed clearly for a second.
Milo
I hear him before I see him. Pounding footsteps echoing along the path.
Molly looks up. “Ooh, is it a monster?” She seems more happy than bothered.
I shake my head. “Not recognisably.”
She opens her mouth with a question on her lips but at that point, a now fully dressed Niall crashes through a bush and lands in front of us.
“Niall!” Molly squeals with delight, displaying no consternation that he’s just barged through some shrubbery.
“Molly.” He smiles at her but it dies as he looks between the two of us.
“I’m watching her for an hour for Mrs. Granger,” I say curtly. “I thought I’d work on the pictures until I realised thatthe revolving door on your bedroom might make that slightly awkward.”
“Does your door turn around?” Molly asks, immediately interested. “I wish mine did that, Niall.”
“No, I erm,” Niall falters and Molly loses interest, preferring to stride over to grab a loose branch so she can knock seven barrels out of a pile of leaves. I watch her while trying not to look at Niall. I know it’s childish, but I can’t escape the thought of him and Gideon standing so close together and laughing when he’d left my bed to go to him.
“Milo,” Niall says in a low voice. “Nothing happened.”
I force myself to look at him. “Well, you w-would say that, w-wouldn’t you.”
I close my eyes at the stammer and the stricken look on his face when he hears it as if I’ve punched him.
“Sweetheart, look at me.” His voice is firm, and my eyes fly open and I take an automatic step back when I find him directly in front of me. It’s nothing but an instinctive gesture born of my time with Thomas, but he flinches as if I’ve hit him. “Milo,” he says beseechingly.
