Heartsville 05 - Bloom Box (Cate Ashwood) (6 page)

Will reached out and took Milo’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers and giving Milo’s fingers a gentle squeeze. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Just remember you said that the next time I trip over something and end up destroying your stuff.”

“No sharp objects and we should be fine.”

Will squeezed Milo’s hand once more before letting it fall and walking over to unlock the door.

Bloom Box was officially open for business.

Chapter Seven

The day had gotten off to a rocky start. In the beginning, only a few people strolled through, pausing to look at a couple of the nonfloral items Milo had picked out to sell, and a few people stopping in to smell the roses. Quite literally.

The longer the morning went on, the more Will stressed, but before noon hit, an influx of people filtered in, and soon the place was packed. Will ran around shaking hands, getting to know some of the other people in the neighborhood. There were a few people he recognized from around, but most he didn’t know by name. That changed quickly.

Will was having a fantastic time, socializing and chit-chatting with everyone who’d stopped in. He made his way through the shop to talk to the man and his little girl looking at the terrariums they had on display near the back of the store. She seemed to think they were the perfect place for fairies to live.

His heart stilled in his chest when he heard the familiar cadence of Spencer’s voice carrying over the low din of the other customers. He turned slowly to see his ex-boyfriend approaching Milo. Like a loser, Will said good-bye to the little girl and her father and hid in one of the alcoves of shelves to listen.

“Do you work here?” Spencer asked Milo.

For a moment, Will thought Milo would recognize Spencer from the photo on his laptop, but if he did, the recognition never showed in his face.

“Can I help you with something?”

“Oh, uh, no.” He picked one of the cards off the counter and flipped it over, inspecting the front and back. “I was just stopping in to say hello. I’m a friend of Will’s.”

“Oh. He’s around here somewhere. Would you like me to track him down for you?” Milo asked.

“No, that’s all right. I’m sure we’ll catch up another time. He’s doing well, though?”

“He is.”

“The place looks great. I didn’t know he had such an eye for design.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty amazing. He pulled this off almost all on his own. He’s kind of incredible.”

“He really is.”

Will stayed hidden and waited until Spencer left before venturing back out into the crowd. He felt like a coward, hiding from his ex, but he wasn’t ready to face Spencer yet. It had been months, but the humiliation still stung a little. Will was surprised he didn’t feel more of a loss seeing Spencer there. Part of him wondered why he’d bothered to show up. This was supposed to be their grand opening together, and the more Will thought about it, the angrier he became at Spencer’s impudence. He had no right to show up. None. He threw their relationship away, and he should stay gone.

Will took a calming breath and stepped back out into the fray. It would do no good to think about Spencer now. He had more important things to concentrate on. The shop was full of potential customers and there was a lineup at the till. He walked over and offered help to Milo, who looked grateful for the extra set of hands during the sudden rush.

Everyone was incredibly friendly, and they even made a good number of sales, considering most people weren’t there for the floral services. A great number of business cards were exchanged, and there was talk of orders, large and small, shortly down the road.

By the time Will locked the doors—two hours past closing—his exhaustion was eclipsed by elation.

“How do you feel?” Milo asked, his hands on his hips and a smile so wide Will couldn’t help smiling right back.

“Really good. That went better than I thought it would, to be honest. I’ve been having nightmares all week that no one would show up and the business would fail and I’d have to live out back in a cardboard box in the alley.”

“But that didn’t happen, did it? And I think you said something about celebrating with champagne.”

Will nodded. “I did. And if champagne was ever deserved, I think today is the day.”

He walked to one of the refrigerators and reached in behind the last few bouquets they hadn’t sold to pull out the bottle he’d stashed there for after the doors were closed.

“Glasses… glasses….” Will said, searching around for something suitable they could use. In the end, all he found were a couple of paper coffee cups from the coffee station they’d put together for customers.

“Those’ll work,” Milo said.

“And less chance of you dropping and breaking them,” Will teased.

“Smartass,” Milo muttered as he accepted the paper cup of champagne.

“Thank you for all your help today. I’ve been saying that a lot, but I mean it. There’s no way I would have made it through today without you.”

“You need to give yourself a little more credit. You would have been just fine. People love you. A friend of yours even showed up asking about you. Not sure why he didn’t stick around to say hello.”

“That was Spencer.”

Milo’s mouth dropped open. “Spencer? Like, Spencer your ex, Spencer?”

“That’d be him.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him. More than that, I can’t believe he had the balls to show up here today.”

“He did.”

“What a prick,” Milo said.

“I have no idea why. He and I have been done for months.”

“What happened?”

Will sighed. As much as he didn’t want to rehash the events that led up to the dissolution of the most serious relationship he’d ever had, he and Milo were friends, if nothing else, and he deserved to know. Especially since there was a good chance they were becoming more than friends. Having secrets didn’t seem like a great way to start off.

“He cheated on me. I got a text message from a random number telling me they were fucking.”

“That’s a shitty way to find out, not that there’s a good way to find out your boyfriend is screwing around on you. He must be the world’s biggest idiot. Has he met you? I mean, of course he has, but what an idiot. You’re hot and smart and accomplished. You are the nicest guy I’ve ever met. I can’t imagine who he thought would be better than you.”

“Denim.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s his name. The guy Spencer was fucking.”

“Denim? Seriously?”

Will shrugged. “He sent me a video of them together. I never watched it, though. The preview image and accompanying message were enough for me to get the general idea.”

“I want to rip his head from his body and break his skull open with my bare hands. What an asshole. This was supposed to be your business together, wasn’t it?”

Will shook his head and leaned back against the counter. He took a sip of his champagne, the bubbles tickling the back of his throat as he swallowed. “It was supposed to be Spencer’s. I leased the space as a gift, sort of. He never really found his place in the world. He was doing something new every week, flitting from class to class, chasing new ideas that he never really followed through on. I wanted him to be happy, and so when he took a floral design course and seemed to really like it, I found this place and asked him if he wanted to take on running the business.”

“And he cheated on you.”

“Yep. So I was stuck. I know nothing at all about it, which I guess you’ve probably figured out by now.”

“I’ll admit I was curious why you wanted to open a flower shop when you already had a job and don’t know much about flowers, I mean, not that you can’t change paths later in life—not that you’re late in life—you know what I mean. It just seemed odd, that’s all. But if you didn’t want to run the business, why didn’t you just break the lease?”

“Walt and Victor own the building, and sadly, Victor is losing his battle with cancer. They need the income to stay on top of the medical bills. If I pulled out, they’d be left in a bad place, and I couldn’t do that to them. When Spencer and I broke up, I called and they agreed to look for someone to take over the lease, but that I would carry it in the meantime. I couldn’t afford to carry it without it generating some sort of income, so I moved forward with the plans to open it. I’m hoping that someone will see what a great shop it is and take over the whole thing as a turnkey business.”

“I’m sure it won’t take long,” Milo said. There was a hint of sadness in the way he spoke. “It’s a beautiful shop, and if today was any indication, I think business will be good. People seemed responsive and unless they were just here for the free food, which I guess could never be discounted as a reason, it looks like you made a whole whack of customers today.”

“Maybe. Honestly, after today, I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t all that quick.”

When Spencer had walked out, Will had thought owning Bloom Box was the worst bit of luck. He thought everything would remind him of what he’d lost, the hurt he’d suffered, but he found that there were fewer remnants of Spencer in the place than he’d thought. Looking around, all he could see was Milo, and the thought of handing it off to someone else left him feeling strangely empty.

He had no idea what was happening between them, but the more time he spent with Milo, the more attached he became. He didn’t know how he would ever say good-bye. Logically, he knew they were not going to be forever. Milo was too young. Hell, he’d barely experienced life at all. Still in college, and so much left to experiment with before he settled down. Asking him for more than something temporary, something casual, was asking for far too much. For now, Will would be content with whatever Milo was willing to give.

Chapter Eight

Will swallowed hard as Milo took a step forward to set his cup down on the counter and close the space between them. The air thick with expectation. The way Milo was moving reminded him of a predator stalking prey, and Will knew without a doubt he was the one being hunted.

Sliding his hands along Will’s cheeks, Milo stroked Will’s temples with his thumbs before leaning forward to kiss him again. He tasted of sweetness and champagne, and Will closed his eyes and gave himself over completely. He liked when Milo took charge. It was so easy to let himself get caught up. Pulling Milo closer, Will groaned when the hard ridge of Milo’s erection ground against his own.

“Upstairs,” Milo gasped, breaking their kiss just long enough to speak before his mouth covered Will’s once more, and then Will was pulling Milo with him toward the staircase. Will stepped back, tripping as his heel collided with the bottom tread. Milo fell forward with him, Will breaking his fall and cushioning Milo’s body with his own.

“Maybe my clumsiness is contagious,” Milo laughed.

“I love your clumsiness. I’ll catch you anytime you need.”

“I like the sound of that.” Milo braced himself on the stairs and pushed himself up before helping Will back to standing. Blood pulsed through his body and Will felt dizzy as Milo spun him in his arms, facing Will away from him. Will let his head fall to the side to give Milo better access to kiss his neck as they walked forward and up the stairs.

When they reached the apartment, Milo stepped forward and gripped the bottom of Will’s shirt, lifting it. Will lent a hand, tugging it up and over his head. His chest bared, Milo leaned into him, pressing an openmouthed kiss against Will’s sternum.

“Lie back,” Milo commanded with more gravel in his voice than he’d had just minutes before.

Again, Will did as directed, lowering himself onto the bed.

Time stretched out between them, and it felt like an eternity before Milo’s hands were on him again. Will wanted to weep with relief as Milo used his fingertips to trace lines over the ridges and hollows of Will’s chest and stomach.

He didn’t know when he’d become so unwaveringly addicted to Milo, but the simple touch had him slipping into pleasure. Will waited to see what Milo would do next, his muscles jumping when Milo slid his hands lower to unclasp Will’s belt, then button, then zipper. Disbelief that this was actually happening warred with reckless desire. At least for tonight, Milo was his.

His.

And then Milo was sliding his pants down over his hips. Will planted his feet on the bed and lifted his ass, allowing Milo to remove them completely.

“You too,” Will said.

Milo looked at him, his eyes unfocused, his lips parted slightly. He nodded, then with blessed efficiency, pulled his shirt up over his head before tossing it somewhere onto the floor.

Will had already seen Milo without a shirt, but this was different. This was the precipice of something more intimate than anything they’d done. Will blinked twice to ensure his eyes were fully focused, and he watched as Milo slowly slipped the button of his jeans through the hole before lowering his zipper.

Each movement felt seductive, and Will clenched his hands to keep from reaching out as Milo pushed his pants over his hips. They pooled at his feet and Milo stepped forward, kicking them to the side as he approached the bed once more, his cock hanging flushed and heavy between his legs.