“GOOD AFTERNOON, MY LOVELY GIRL.” Jackie Miracle entered Curious Things with a flourish that left no doubt as to where Milo inherited his flair for the dramatic. She walked to me briskly, yet graciously, and kissed the air near my cheeks.Somebody’s been watching her favorite black-and-white films again.“You look beautiful, Maegan.”
I looked down at my tan tweed jacket, high-necked ivory blouse complete with a frilly bow in the front, navy-blue pencil skirt, and brown, knee-high boots that had a respectable size heel to them. I’d worn the same outfit plenty of times before and never received such high praise.
“It’s not the outfit; it’s the woman beneath it,” my mom declared, clearly seeing the confusion I felt over her remark. “There’s something different about you. Same beautiful clothes, same beautiful face with intelligent, green eyes, and adorable freckles, yet something is different.”
Growing up, I hated my freckles. When I was little, my mother had told me that my freckles were left behind after angels kissed my nose and cheeks. I had looked at Milo and demanded to know why the angels didn’t kiss him. Milo had started crying and wanted to know why the angels were mad at him. I said it was because he had boy cooties, of course. Mom just told him that the angels had blessed him with a different kind of sparkle. Milo demanded to know what kind, and she said he’d figure it out someday.
I spent my teen years and early twenties trying to cover my freckles with foundation. Yet, Elijah found them cute and gave me an endearing nickname, and suddenly I was smiling when I looked at them in the mirror.Angel kisses, indeed.Ugh! I didn’t want to become one of those women who allowed a man to determine their worth, not even one as sexy as my new neighbor. Not that I wanted to go back to hating my freckles, I just wished that I could’ve concluded that they were cute on my own.
The twinkle in my mother’s eyes told me that Milo had been blabbing about my visitor yesterday. She was probably already working on the seating chart for the wedding rehearsal dinner before Elijah crept back across his yard in the pre-dawn light after an amazing round of oral sex. I loved the consideration Elijah showed to my tender pussy, who saw more action since I first met Elijah than probably the entire previous year. His “kiss and make it feel better” motto was one that could easily become an addiction. Of course, I wouldn’t be telling my mother any of that.
“Don’t pry, Mother. It’s unbecoming of a lady.”
How many times had I heard that phrase growing up? “Walk, don’t run, Maegan.” “Speak in softer tones, Maegan.” “Stop beating the boys at all the games, Maegan. They don’t like that.”It went on and on until I was afraid to be myself. I crafted and molded myself into the image my mother wanted for me, but I was fucking miserable. I wanted to laugh heartily, run wild with the boys, and throw my game for no one. We butted heads, my mother and I, fighting fiercely during the first two years of high school, but that all changed my junior year when reality dealt me a hateful blow. Then she was everything I needed and more—my mom, my best friend, my advocate, and my hero. I pushed those thoughts aside because they often led me back to a dark place I hoped to never revisit.
“But ‘being a lady is boring,’” she repeated back to me before pulling me into a hug. “It’s not nice to remind your mother of her past foolishness.” There wasn’t an ounce of scorn in her voice. She dropped her Jackie O pretense and kissed my cheeks for real. “I love you so much, Maegan. I only want you to be happy.”
“I am happy.” I pulled out of her embrace and looked into green eyes that were identical to mine. “Look at me and really see me, Mom. I am very happy. I have an amazing family, the best friends a girl could ask for, and a career that I love.” It was more than most people had, and I’d humbly accepted it as my fate years ago.
An image of a dark-haired Adonis with sexy, brown eyes sprawled in my bed while I worked his cock with my mouth or fist sprung to mind, reminding me of how right he felt in my bed and body.Don’t get your hopes up, Maegan. It was just one night. Don’t forget how tense he was after that first mind-blowing orgasm subsided. He was ready to bolt. Keep your guard up!
“So, what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Can’t a mother just want to have lunch with her daughter?”
“Yes, I suppose she could.” I knew better though. “Bonnie, I’m going to head out to lunch with my mom. I won’t be long. Would you like for me to bring you something back?”
“Don’t you worry about me, Maegan. I brought my lunch, but thank you for asking me. Take as long as you’d like since you’ll be rooting around in some dank cellar or musty attic tonight,” Bonnie replied.
“Cellar? Attic?” My mom sounded pretty damn disappointed that my life didn’t drastically change the second that tall, dark, and sexy entered my world. “That’s how you plan to spend your Friday night?”
“Part of it,” I answered. I had no idea if, or when, I would see Elijah again. I was no longer the kind of girl who sat around their house waiting for Prince Charming to ride up on his white steed and save the day. I had a business to run, memories to make, and amazing treasures to sort through with my trusty sidekick, Memphis.
“I can’t wait to hear what you find. It always amazes me how some things never go out of style and everything else seems to come back in to style eventually.” My mom waved her hand in the air to encompass my shop. “You really have a beautiful, unique store, Maegan. Your father and I are so very proud of you and Milo.”
“Thanks, Mom. That means the world to us.”
“It’s obvious that you’re not going to reveal any secrets to me about your new neighbor, so how about you tell me the latest between Andy and Milo. Are those two still circling each other?”
I think Milo and I were doomed to be miserable the minute we both fell for our best friend’s older brother. It works great in books and movies, but not so much in real life. I limped away from the experience a little tattered and bruised but with my dignity intact. Milo was an entirely different story. He and Andy had dated during high school and seemed so in love. Milo was crushed when Andy broke things off when he went to college. I thought he moved on with his life until Andy moved back to Blissville two years ago bringing an air of mystery with him. He was also less cocky and proud, which made him even more attractive to Milo. But like my mom said, they circled each other as they both waited for the other man to make the first move.
“Oh yeah, and it’s hilarious.” I was so grateful to have her focus off me that I happily threw Milo under the bus and ran over his ass. “They think they’re being discreet, but they’re anything but.”
“It’s too bad they can’t work past their differences.” She sighed dreamily as we stepped out into the cold, winter day. “They make such a beautiful couple.” She wasn’t wrong. “Hmmm,” my mother said as she looked up toward the second story of our buildings.
“What?”
“It’s tragic that you have all that wasted space on the second story. I understand you need storage space, but you have a basement beneath the buildings you could use for that. The second-story spaces have separate rear entrances because they used to be apartments years ago. Have you and Milo given thought to remodeling the space to make them into apartments again? There’s significant income earning potential there.”
“And we just happen to know a single, hunky carpenter.”
“I never even thought about that,” she said with wide-eyed innocence.
“We have talked about it, but we thought it would be best to try and recoup some of the money we spent remodeling the first-floor window fronts.” I tipped my head to the side. “But there’s not a lot of work that needs completed and we would start recouping money right away.”
My mom looped her arm in mine as we started walking toward the diner. “I agree. Let me know what Milo says about the idea.”
I knew exactly how he was going to respond, so I needed to wait for the right moment.
