God help Elio, but he closed his eyes and pictured Milo, bent over the desk in their office.
Mein Gott, his arse!
It was an incredible arse, so firm and round…
Elio’s mouth had watered as he imagined sliding Milo’s jeans and boxers down and tasting him. He’d startled himself, coming fast and hard at the thought of taking Milo in the office. Sex wasusually the farthest thing from Elio’s mind when he was at work but he had been thinking about it more and more lately.
He spent a lot of time thinking about Milo’s arse and was thinking about it as he ordered an espresso con panna and a croissant. And Elio was still thinking about it when he almost crashed into Milo’s mother, Claire, after thanking the barista and turning to leave.
“Scheiße! Sorry!” Elio said as he shook the coffee off his hand and wiped it on his jeans. “Are you alright?” he asked, giving her a quick once over but she appeared unharmed.
Her brown hair was pulled into a loose bun and she was dressed in an oversized, chunky ivory sweater, black leggings, and combat boots. “Good morning, Elio! Where are you off to?”
“Nowhere. Just getting coffee and thought I’d take a walk.”
“You should come with me, then! Don’t move!” she commanded and flailed excitedly as she quickly placed an order for three hot cocoas and half a dozen assorted pastries. “These are for Riley,” she said as she held up the bag. “I’m parked just around the corner,” she informed Elio before handing him the bag and fishing in her giant purse for her keys.
“Where are we going?” he asked as he followed her out and she gestured at a black Range Rover.
“To pick up my boys. It’s Sunday so they’re rowing and then we’re going to brunch at Briarwood Terrace.”
“Hmm. That sounds…crowded.”
He had quickly learned that most events at Briarwood Terrace were loud and crowded. Gavin Selby owned the charming, converted townhouse and lived on the first floor with his husband, Dash Griffin. Gavin’s best friend and business partner, Reid Marshall, lived upstairs with Elio’s cousin, Maximilian von Hessen. Reid, Gavin, and Dash ran a successful nanny agency out of Briarwood Terrace and it was a popularhangout for their many friends and the large extended family that had grown around Reid and Gavin.
“No worries! The more the merrier!” Claire said as they got in the Range Rover and buckled their seatbelts.
“I’m not sure if I agree with that, but thank you,” Elio murmured, turning and inspecting the cabin around him. He rarely traveled in private vehicles and there appeared to be a lot of “gear” in the back. Duffle bags, sneakers, and sweatshirts of various sizes were scattered on the seat and the floor. “You do this every Sunday?”
“Just about!” She pulled away from the curb and disregarded the irritated honks as she maneuvered into traffic and they waited at the light. “Unless the weather is too gross for them to go out on the water. I have a feeling you’ll appreciate this.”
“Oh?” Elio raised a brow. “Why is that?”
Claire shrugged, smiling at the windshield. “Call it a hunch. Who doesn’t love a biology lesson?”
“Biology?” Elio cringed “It’s my least favorite of the sciences. It’s so variable and dependent upon…life. You can’t control living things like you can control numbers and lab conditions.”
“You sound just like Milo. If he can’t memorize it or predict it with a theorem, it makes him itchy,” she said and Elio nodded.
“All you can do is guess what an organism will do and record it to determine the probability of what itmightdo the next time.”
“Some people like that about nature,” Claire argued and Elio shook his head.
“I don’t.”
She laughed as she wagged a finger. “You’re afraid of a mess but you can’t have any fun if you don’t get your hands dirty now and then.”
Elio snorted at his window as more of the river came into view. “I’m not afraid of making a mess. You should see Muriel’s sitting room.”
“Not like that, silly.Lifeshould be messy.”
“My brothers’ lives are messy enough. All I have to do is drop by Matteo and Truman’s if I’m in the mood for drama.”
Claire made a knowing sound. “I’ll bet the sex isphenomenal.”
“You’ll see plenty of that, too, if you drop by,” Elio grumbled with a petulant scowl. “They can’t even be bothered to put a sock on the door.”
“Good for them?” she attempted, then tipped her chin at the windshield. “We’re here!”
