Clumsily, he grabbed a pair of jeans and slid them on as he made his way to the door, yanking it open to find Axel’s hand up, ready to knock again. “What?” he snapped.
“A tree fell on Evie’s cabin,” his friend said breathlessly. “Please tell me she’s here with you.”
“Holy shit!” Raking a hand through his hair, he nodded. “Yeah. She’s here. We came down here after the movie last night and…”
“I don’t give a damn, Slater! We’ve got a shit ton of damage around the property and it would have been nice if you could have pulled yourself away from having sex with Evie to chime in and maybe help out!”
It was pointless to argue because Axel was right. “Um…yeah. I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have responded to the texts.”
“Damn straight. You could have at least…”
“Where is he? Where the hell is Slater?”
He turned his head and saw Milo jogging toward them, looking as furious as Milo could, and Nora hot on his heels.
Here we go…
There was mud and water and downed tree limbs littering the path, but it didn’t slow either of them down. So Slater stood in the doorway—blocking it, actually—and mentally braced himself for whatever was about to happen. With any luck, Evie had fallen back to sleep and wouldn’t have to hear this.
“What the hell, Slater?” Milo demanded as he stomped up onto the porch. He was a little breathless but got right in his face. “I trusted you! I trusted you, and you had to go and sleep with my assistant! What is wrong with you? Aren’t there enough women out there for you? Did you have to go after a friend?”
Okay, that one hurt because it was true. But before he could say anything, Milo did.
“Evie’s not like the women you screw around with and walk away from. She’s good. Decent. And just like you were protective of Nora, I’m protective of Evie. She’s not only my assistant, but she’s also my friend. Hell, she’s practically family. And if you ruin this, I swear…”
One minute Slater was standing in the doorway, the next he was shoved aside, stumbling back toward his couch.
What the hell…?
“Milo Keene! Don’t you dare say another word, or I will personally kick your ass!” Evie snapped.
And for a moment Slater was too stunned to react, and by the look on Milo’s face, so was he.
Maybe it was sleep deprivation muddying her thinking, or maybe it was making her think clearer than she ever had, but either way, Evie was bristling with indignation.
“Evie, I…” Milo stammered, but she shushed him immediately with her hand in his face.
“What I do in my personal time is none of your business,” she said firmly. “I appreciate you being concerned, but you don’t get to come here and start making a fuss when you know nothing about the situation.”
“But I do know something,” he quickly countered. “I know that you’ve never been the type of person to have a casual…um…affair, and that’s all that’s going to happen with Slater!”
“I already know that! I’m not an idiot, Milo. I’ve known that about Slater pretty much since we met two years ago!”
“Then why…?”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Because I wanted to. There. Are you happy now? I had a crappy blow to my ego back in Seattle before we came here, and it made me realize that sometimes you don’t get to have everything the way you want it. You can’t force people to love you or even want to date you.” She huffed. “I am so tired of being the girl who’s just good enough until the right girl comes along. And really, what am I waiting for? No one else seems to want me! So what am I supposed to do, huh? Am I supposed to just sit at home and be lonely for the rest of my life?”
“Um…”
“Or maybe since I am a grown-ass adult, I’m allowed to have a purely sexual relationship with a man who has made me feel more beautiful and alive than I ever have!”
The tips of Milo’s ears turned pink, and she kind of liked that she embarrassed him a little.
Until Nora stepped forward, resting her hands on Milo’s shoulders. “Evie, you have to know his concern came from a good place. He’s really just looking out for you.”
“And I appreciate that; I really do. But he should have come and had a conversation with me instead of storming down here because he was going to kick someone’s butt.”
“I could have kicked his butt,” Milo grumbled.
