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“Maybe just explain afterward?” Milo was doing his best to look calm and speak quietly, and doing an amazing job of it, actually. “I don’t think you need to be sorry for other people’s bad behavior. But, on the other hand, I do a lot of apologizing for Dally, so there’s that…”
“Yes—” Before I could finish agreeing that I’d explain whatever chaos hit us, the chaos hit us.
For fuck’s sake.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” My sigh only made my cousin’s anger worse and he looked like an angry stick that was goingto explode. “You brought a whore here? He’s probably young enough to be your kid. I don’t care how expensive he is. This is for thefamily. We bring our wives and kids here.”
Yes, I’d picked the restaurant very deliberately because I’d wanted to send a message. I just hadn’t expected Milo to understand it yet. I was supposed to be the only one who knew the significance of bringing him to this particular restaurant for our first official date.
“He thinks I’m cute enough to…todate professionally?” Milo’s eyes widened again and he couldn’t hold back a smile. “That’s so sweet. But I don’t speak crazy. How do I tell him thank you in his language?”
Oh, he was good.
“We’re still working on teaching him to communicate as a human, but I’ll do my best to pass along your message.” Keeping a firm, neutral look in place, I reached over and patted Milo’s hand. “You’re very understanding.”
“Some families just have special burdens to bear. It’s not your fault he doesn’t have his helpers with him.” After very politely making it clear he thought my cousin had escaped his handlers, Milo smiled sweetly again. “I think it’s wonderful that you have so much patience with him.”
Me too.
“Amadeus can’t help himself. His side of the family is…unique.” And pretentious as fuck. “I’m sure someone will come and get him in a moment. But try not to make eye contact. It makes him nervous.”
At least it had when we were kids.
Hmm.
Aiming dead eyes at the prick, I raised one eyebrow and waited.
Yep, still made him squirm.
“Psychotic dickhead.” Swirling around like he thought he had a cape on, my idiot cousin rushed away and I was curious enough to actually turn around that time.
Yep, there was his wife.
She always looked tortured into serenity but there was nothing I could do about it. I’d offered to pay for her divorce lawyer several times but she’d politely turned me down. Somehow, the rest of the family thought I’d been rude since I’d done it in front of the prick. No one appreciated my generosity, though.
Good divorce lawyers weren’t cheap.
“Well, that was fun.” Subtly inching back in his chair so he could relax, Milo let out a slow, deep breath. “Every time I think I want a family, someone reminds me why I really don’t.”
Huh?
“I think you’re owed an apology for this one.” Family meant apology even if random assholes didn’t. That seemed to be a reasonable rule to have going forward.
“Oh, and I want an explanation so that I can give Dally a full accounting of the evening. Right now, there’s a big hole in my story and no one will be happy with that.” Milo made that sound just reasonable enough that I almost missed the subtleties.
“How about we promise to trade stories?” My question, and maybe the way I was watching him more intently, had himblushing. “I’ll fill in the details so you can have a clear story to tell, and you have to tell me why you need a full story.”
Sighing, Milo slouched and pouted. “Deal.”
Shaking my head, because I knew somehow it was going to involve Dally, I started first since it was my drama to begin with. “Well, his side of the family are assholes. Period. He’s my cousin but that whole branch is very into appearances.”
“That was obvious.” Milo was trying to look like a grown-up but he giggled. “He thought you’d bought a professional for dinner. That’d be a terrible waste of money.”
He was adorably insane.
“Yes, he thought you were sexy enough to be very expensive.” Milo seemed to like that part, so I thought reiterating it would be a good idea. “You would be worth dinner at any price, though.”
Yep, big smile and another giggle.
