CHAPTER 17
Maddox knew that interruption was for the best. He knew it but was still mad about it hours later. Mila left and by the time he showered and returned to his office, she was gone.
He went home and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. Voices competed for attention in his mind. His father told him that relationships were just a distraction. The other voice was Mila saying she didn’t know she could hit that hard.
Maddox pressed a finger to his damaged lip and smiled to himself. She could hit that hard and it was no less than he expected.
Or deserved.
Had he only wanted to get back at her all this time? Or use her for his own ends?
For the first time in a while, he was unsure about his motivations.
Still, it made more sense to keep Mila at a distance. And he had a business trip coming up, so it would give him a chance to get his head straight.
He had an appointment to have lunch with Jalen and Juliet for lunch at their vineyard the following afternoon. He was about to call Mila and tell her she was going with him, but he stopped himself.
For one thing, he hadn’t told either of them about his agreement with Mila and that was for the best. Not that Jalen and Juliet would squawk but he knew Mila wouldn’t want it.
For another thing, it was best if he kept Mila at arm’s length even in small ways.
The vineyard was closed to guests at the moment, and they sat outside under a new pergola that was still unfinished.
“You’ve made a lot of changes,” Maddox told them. “It looks good.”
“I’ve had a lot of loud opinions about the visitor experience.” Jalen glanced at his wife. “But Juliet was right. It’s going to be a much better guest magnet than before.”
Maddox nodded as he gazed around. The two of them seemed to make a good team. Even in business.
“You should ask Mila to come with you for a tour,” Jalen added. “We can set up something nice and private.”
Juliet smacked his arm playfully, but she fought back a smile. “It is romantic.”
“Did Jalen bring you here before you got married?” Maddox asked.
“He did.” Juliet leaned on the table. “But I was his assistant at the time, so it wasn’t quite the romantic experience it could have been.” She side-eyed Jalen.
At the word assistant, Maddox wanted to squirm, and he cleared his throat. “Well, I don’t know if I want to do that. Or if she would want to.”
“Oh, you want to,” Jalen said without hesitating. “Her opinion could be the opposite but it’s too late for you.”
Maddox stared across at his brother, who was some sort of self-appointed love expert now. “How do you know that?”
Jalen jabbed a thumb toward Juliet. “I was in the same situation, remember? You like her but she’s not biting. It’s all over your face.”
Juliet scoffed. “He thinks he’s a love expert now.”
Maddox suppressed a smile.
Jalen pointed at his brother. “Look at him. You can see it in his eyes. He wants to bring her here, but he doesn’t think she’ll agree to it.”
“It took me a while to warm up to Jalen,” Juliet admitted with a shrug.
“Really?” Maddox arched his eyebrows. “He didn’t immediately win you over with his charming and easygoing nature?”
Juliet’s eyes twinkled. “Surprisingly, not. But I will tell you that I liked him before he realized it. In fact, he was going to cut his losses entirely when he finally started to see that I did like him.”
“Huh.” Maddox shifted his gaze to Jalen. “That was when you went to New York, wasn’t it? I knew there had to be a reason you agreed to it.”
Juliet nodded. “Yep. But then we talked, and I went to New York and that’s when our relationship started to change.”
Jalen scratched his cheek. “And things went great for a while but then you and Noemie got in the way, and then it went to pot for a long time.”
Juliet looped her arm through Jalen’s. “Which is all water under the bridge now. At least with you, Maddox.” She made a face. “Noemi can rot under her lawsuits and legal investigations for all I care.”
“She very well might.” Maddox relaxed back into the fold-up chair. Maybe he should invite Mila to come. Maybe if he took the initiative, things would change…
Maddox snapped back to the present as someone set out their lunch prepared by the award-winning chef they’d hired. He shook off that daydream because that’s what it was. He wasn’t Jalen and he couldn’t expect the same outcome.
Mila was his assistant and that’s as far as their relationship would ever go.