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A text message from Milo. Immediately, butterflies flutter around inside my belly, and curiosity has me unlocking my screen and reading it.
Milo: Do you have time to stop by my office today? I have some publishing contacts to give you.
When I read the second half of his message, all my little winged friends fly away.
What did you expect, crazy? For him to ask you if you wanted to fuck on his desk?
I sigh, but before I can type out a response, Lena’s voice grabs my attention.
“Who is that text from?”
I shrug. “No one important.”
“You’re such a liar.” She narrows her eyes. “Seriously. Who is it?”
“Just a guy I know.”
“What’s his name?”
“Milo.”
She stares at me long enough that I start to get self-conscious. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because there is so obviously a story with this Milo. It’s written all over your face.”
“No, it’s not.”
She nods enthusiastically. “Uh-huh. I could tell the instant you read his text. I swear to God, your eyes flashed with a thousand different emotions in a matter of seconds.”
“They did not.”
She looks at me pointedly, and I find myself caving to her demands.
“Fine.” I sigh. For some strange reason, Lena’s confidence and open-mindedness hold the key to unlocking all of my secrets. It’s like I have to trust her. It’s disconcerting but unavoidable. She’s obviously cast some sort of spell on me. “Milo is…my brother’s best friend.”
Her entire face lights up. “And why exactly is he texting you now?”
I sigh again. “Do you really want to know all the gory details?’
“Are you kidding me?” she damn near shouts. “Tell me everything.”
So, I do. I lay it all out.
The age difference, the pining, the text messages, the encounters we’ve had since I’ve been back—everything.
She is smiling and laughing and one-hundred-percent riveted through the whole tale.
But when I tell her about our lunch a few days ago and how he’s supposed to be helping me get a job with a New York publishing house, she stops me.
“Wait a minute,” she says with one hand raised in the air. “So, he asked you to come to his office this afternoon?”
I nod.
“That sounds a little overboard, doesn’t it?” she questions and waggles her brows.
I roll my eyes. “Trust me, he’s not into me.”
“Girl, he’s asking you to come to his office to give you information he could have just fucking texted to you. He’s into you, whether he wants to admit it or not.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Let me ask you a question,” she continues. “When you asked him about helping you out with the dating scene at lunch the other day, why did you do it?”
I shrug. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.” Lena searches my eyes. “Was it because you wanted to date men in New York or because you want to date him?”
I don’t respond. I don’t know how to respond.
But the truth is most definitely evident to both of us in my silence.
“It doesn’t matter why I did it,” I eventually respond. “Even if I wanted to date him, I wouldn’t know the first place to start, nor am I stupid enough to think he’d actually go for it. He still sees me as his best friend’s little sister.”
“Pssh,” she says with a wave of her hand. “You’re friends with me now. And I do know dating. I know it like the back of my fucking hand.” She looks at the time on her phone. “Okay, text him back and tell him you’ll be at his office around four.”
“Okay…” I pause. “Why four?”
“Because we’re going shopping first.”
I raise a brow.
“Consider this day one of Maybe’s seduction of Milo.” She winks.
A shocked laugh spills from my throat. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am,” she singsongs. “And we’re going to make damn sure that you’re showing off those killer curves of yours when you step into his office this afternoon.”
Seducing Milo Ives? This is crazy. I mean, it would never work…right?
But what if it could work…?
“Don’t overthink this.” Lena’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Just text him back and prepare yourself for magic to happen.”
So, I do the only thing I can do. I text him back.
Me: I’m currently at lunch with a friend, and we’re going to go shopping for a bit afterward. Mind if I stop by around four?
Milo: That works. See you then.
He follows that text up with another one that includes nothing but the address of his office, and at the sight of it, my hands get clammy with the sweat of reality.
See you then, he said.
Holy hell.
What was it that Lena said the day we met? There’s no time to change like the present?
I guess she’s right. If I don’t go after what I want now, I never will.
Ready or not, here the new Maybe comes.
Milo
Like normal, it’s been a day full of meetings and phone calls, one after another, but at some point later in the day, Clara grabs my attention from the glass door at the front of my office with a wave and a whistle.
