Page 42 of Hogging the Hunk
What could I say to that? Spewing all the reasons it could never happen fell neatly into two categories—crush Milo with my unkindness, or offer proof that I, too, had been giving the idea of us as a couple more thought than was appropriate.
Batting my hand and laughing, I tried to keep my tone light and airy. I sounded more maniacal than carefree. If Bonita was the loose-lipped culprit, I had zero issue putting the rumor to rest. “You know those old ladies. Always trying to meddle. I suspect they do it so they can one-up each other when they get together to gossip. Honestly, they’re probably trying to incite another wedding. They live for parties, and don’t care how they can get them.”
“You think that’s what’s happening?”
“Most likely. Unless Ellie’s been talking to them.”
The mention of Ellie’s name brought Milo’s eyes back to mine. Buttoning my lips too late, I cursed myself for bringing her up. “Why do you think Ellie would be behind this?”
“I… um… well…” Abort! Abort! The life of a dust bunny regained its appeal. “When she cut her hand… you remember that?”
Milo nodded, keeping anything he might be thinking to himself, thus forcing me to continue blathering.
“She… suggested when I finished cleaning her up that there might be something going on between us.”
Half groaning, half laughing, Milo covered his face with his hands. “I can’t believe she said that to you.”
“I know.” A loose strand of hair tickled my cheek, and I forced it back as an inappropriate giggle sputtered out of me. “Completely ridiculous idea, isn’t it? Don’t worry. I will shoot down any of her concerns about us being interested in each other the next time I see her.”
“Why?”
With a single syllable, Milo tipped the entire axis of the universe. There I was, counting all the reasons we couldn’t happen. Why a single date might destroy said universe. And Milo? He was challenging my core belief. I asserted we couldn’t happen, and he asked why?.
“Why what?” I asked. “Why we’re not a thing?”
“Yeah.” Milo slipped his hands into his pocket, jiggling his keys as he patiently waited for an answer. “Don’t you think we’d be viable?”
“For one, I’m, what… eight years younger than you?”
Milo lifted a shoulder with a nonchalant shrug. “You think that’s the biggest age gap that’s ever existed? There was a fifteen year difference between my grandparents.”
“Things weren’t the same back then. People didn’t live as long, and men preferred women who were—”
“My grandma was the older one.”
My argument took a nosedive. I regained control and course corrected. “Eight years can be a lifetime.”
“Maybe if it’s between a two- and ten-year-old. The older a person gets, the more irrelevant age becomes.”
He wouldn’t let me win the argument. Maybe I misjudged him, and he didn’t back down and let his opponents win for the sake of their happiness.
“Look, we’re both mature, educated, attractive,” he purposefully hung an emphasis on the word to make his point, “single people who happen to be in the same place at the same time. I daresay we get along well, too.”
He had a point. Even the silver hairs he was accumulating at his temples weren’t a turnoff. They distinguished him and only enhanced his good looks.
Not one to concede anything based on one failed argument, I continued listing the perils of a relationship on my fingers. “We would be the center of Button Blossom gossip until something new came along. That could be months. Years, even.”
“Or it could blow over in a couple days. You know how fickle gossip is around here. One minute, you’re the star, the next, they’ve kicked you to the curb in favor of someone’s inebriated cousin who rode through town on his lawn mower in nothing more than his birthday suit.”
“No.” I cupped a hand over my mouth. “Who?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Winking at me, Milo’s tease resurrected the winged creatures trapped in my stomach. “The point is, I’m not afraid of rumors. It happens to every couple. Maren and Parker. Clint and Hudson. Trixie and Preacher. Wil and Remi. They’ve all been the topic of some racy rumors in town. Didn’t hurt their relationships one bit.”
The couples he referenced were some of the elite power couples in Button Blossom. They would have survived an emotional typhoon if it came their way. Me? I was standing on wobbly legs without the threat of something big crashing down on me. Even if I could find the courage to dip my toe into an alternative reality with Milo, one where we didn’t hold back, and I was strong enough to confront the feelings incubating within me, I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to withstand a storm with Milo.
I knew well enough that storms always came, no matter how prepared a couple might be.
I yanked my ponytail holder out, shaking my head to both disagree and release my bound hair. “We’re only at the tip of the iceberg, Milo. What about Greg?”