Page 41 of Hogging the Hunk
The ringing in my ears made it difficult to hear. I hadn’t passed out, though I suspected my brain had temporarily gone offline. My circuits had been fried because never in a million years would I have suspected that was what Milo wanted to know.
“Excuse me?” Speaking was difficult. The connection between my mouth and my brain hadn’t been rebooted yet. “I think I might have hallucinated.”
Exasperation spurred Milo into renewed pacing, now with increased vigor. His question had trapped me and my lack of answer had agitated him. “I asked if you find me attractive. Obviously, it’s an unconventional, forward inquiry, but I need to know.”
Why he needed to know was as important as if I was attracted to him or not.
Obviously, a huge yes, if I was being honest. In my head, there were no restraints. No repercussions. Milo was one of those men that ticked all the boxes, and then some that I hadn’t even considered. Should I confirm my attraction to him, it would put it all out in the open. However, factoring in other important details and my answer became a minefield of potential disasters. My complicated past with Greg, the small town gossip chain, the backlash from other women who also found Milo delicious and wanted him for their own… they all would haunt me worse than a seriously perturbed poltergeist.
That wasn’t even including the mega issue of Ellie. I wasn’t afraid of her—I’d been a preteen girl once and knew how limited my power had been, especially with strangers. That didn’t mean I wanted to risk enraging Milo’s daughter. Ellie’s insistence that I would forever incur her wrath if I so much as thought about injuring her father gave me pause. I wanted her to trust me, even if Milo and I never blossomed into a serious relationship.
And if we did, in a theoretical, far distant, very unlikely future? It was a million times more imperative that Ellie give us her seal of approval.
“Beckett?”
Milo’s smoldering stare snapped me out of my worried internal debate. “Sorry. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this hairpin turn in the conversation. One minute we’re talking about infant porcine, the next, you’re polling me about whether you’re hot.”
“It’s important.”
The left corner of Milo’s mouth lifted and there was something deep within me that was bound to the rise of those facial muscles. His lips elevated, and it released a bubbly excitement that rose into my diaphragm. Forget butterflies. Frantic, full-sized eagles made my stomach swoop.
“I, um…yeah?” Where had all my confidence gone? Oh, right. Somewhere near my toes, where my spine was currently crumpled.
Pushing up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows, Milo turned to face the front door. If I kept torturing him like this, he might bolt. Fine by me. He was the one with the gumption to put something so delicate on the table. He needed to live with the consequences of springing that on a woman.
While he thought, my eyes traced the veins in his forearms. There were so many of them.
“I don’t mean to put you in an awkward spot,” Milo said, turning to me. His features had softened as he let down the curtain he’d been hiding behind. “It wasn’t for my own ego that I needed to know.”
“That’s good. It’s important to be confident regardless of how other people view you. Besides, you have to know how gorgeous every hot-blooded woman who’s laid eyes on you finds your particular…” I danced my hand around, trying to decide on the right word. “Physique.”
There went his smile again, hitching up his lips, crinkling the corners of his eyes, and making my insides swell until they threatened to split me down the middle.
Yes. Yes I did find Milo attractive. Was that a crime?
“Thank you for that.”
“If you weren’t needing an ego boost, then why’d you ask? You don’t see me going around asking guys what they think of me when I’m not feeling it.”
Milo halted his striding abruptly. “You know as well as I do that the answer would always be the same. Besides, that would minimize you into someone who was purely corporeal. Then, any man who was foolish enough to only see you for your body would miss all the other layers that make you so utterly captivating.”
My cheeks ripened like tomatoes on the vine, and the tip of my nose turned cherry red. If I wasn’t mistaken, Milo was paying me a compliment. Not just any kind words, either. He’d given some serious thought to what he’d said.
“I’m only asking,” Milo moved on, unaware I was still processing what he’d said, “because there have been whispers going around.”
“Whispers?” The eagles living in my body cavity died and flopped hard, piling where my vital organs should have been. This was bad. “As in, people have been gossiping?”
I wondered if Ellie hadn’t been satisfied with trying to warn me off and had used a different tactic—spreading hearsay about me that had gotten back to Milo. How mortifying. Ellie might have been smearing my name in a public campaign to get him to avoid me. Why? Because she didn’t trust me to control myself? The thought hurt. Sure, I wasn’t looking for a relationship. Didn’t mean I wanted to be shoved under the bus just to be sure I didn’t do any meddling. A cold sweat beaded on my forehead. I have never had any reputation except that as an exemplary and upstanding person. I liked that status.
Forget not having power. With social media and dexterous thumbs, Ellie could do a lot of damage.
“You know my receptionist? Bonita?”
I nodded. “Yeah. She and Granny have started running in several circles together.”
Trying to swallow the phantom cotton in my mouth, I wondered if they were together at book club tonight, causing trouble for Milo and me.
“Well, she’s been trying to put into my head that we’d make a good couple.”