Chapter 6 He\'s too much

A week later, Zoe was at her wits’ end. 

“I hate him!” she complained to Grace, flopping down into the chair by her desk with a frustrated groan.

She shot her with a sympathetic, if somewhat amused, look. “What did he do now?” she said quietly, shooting a wary look at the closed door into the Monster’s Lair.

Zoe scowled at it. Now she understood why Milano’s PA had suffered a nervous breakdown. At this rate, she would, too. “He drives me crazy, Grace. There’s no pleasing him, I always get something wrong, but he still refuses to fire me and get a real PA! At this point, I’ll be ecstatic to get fired.” She’d never considered herself an easily frustrated person, but Martin Milano was proving her wrong.

“If it’s so unbearable, you can always quit, Zoe,” she said, clicking her tongue.

“I can’t,” Zoe whined.

For one thing, there was her promise to the Montreal's to keep an eye on Milano.

For another, she was pretty sure Milano wouldn’t let her quit.

The thought made her bite the inside of her cheek.

The thing was… Martin Milano might be an enormous prick to her, but she can feel something undeniably weird about him. Zoe wasn’t sure what the guy’s problem was, but Milano couldn't stop staring at her all the fucking time.  

No matter what Zoe did, Milano will looked at her. Zoe ironed Milano’s shirt, and Milano stared at her. Zoe typed up a document for Milano, and Milano stared at her. Zoe served him a lunch, which is delivered by one of the best restaurants in the city, of course, and Milano still stared at her. Fucking hell, by this point, Zoe was used to being stared at all the time.

Since Zoe didn’t have a second head and wasn’t ridiculously beautiful, she could only conclude that Milano’s strange stares had to do with her resemblance to his ex-wife. 

But it still didn’t explain anything.

She’d done her research, but Googling Martin Milano and his ex-wife didn’t give Zoe the answers she was hoping for.

Regina Travers was a C-list actress who’d played a few minor roles in some small movies. She looked a lot like her, Zoe admitted grudgingly, but they didn’t look like twins, no matter what Milano said. They would never be mistaken for one another, unless one was half-blind. She was also pretty tall—around 5’10”—so about Zoe’s height. That was where the similarities ended.

Her every other feature  sort of looked like Zoe’s, but as if it was slightly distorted. Her hair wasn’t quite as richly colored as her was, but it was golden-brown, and the shape of their green eyes wasn’t quite the same, but it was similar enough. Her features were a little softer than hers, but not by much, since Zoe’s face was pretty refined as it was. It made sense why Milano had first thought they must have been related. Regina Travers resembled Zoe more than her own siblings did. 

It was a little weird, but it wasn’t all that weird—there were plenty of celebrities who looked freakishly like each other—so Zoe didn’t think it completely explained Milano’s strange staring.

No, Milano wanted something from her.

But what?

At first, Zoe had thought the man simply wasn’t over his ex-wife. That would explain the staring if Milano was still in love with Zoe’s look-alike. Except apparently Martin Milano was the one who had filed for divorce. So the pining ex-husband theory was out.

But what other theory was there?

“Why didn’t you tell me I kind of look like his ex-wife?” Zoe said sulkily.

Grace frowned. “You do?”

Zoe stared at her, utterly confused, before remembering that while Grace had worked for Montreal Enterprises for decades, Milano had become the CEO—and her boss—just a few weeks ago. Since she didn’t seem to be the type to read gossip blogs, it was unlikely that she’d ever seen Milano’s ex-wife.

Silently, Zoe pulled up Regina’s picture on her phone and showed it to her.

“Huh,” she said, eyeing it. “I do see the resemblance, especially at first glance, but the more I look at her, the less similar to you she looks. It’s all in the details. It’s like she’s a rough draft of you.”

Zoe snorted. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Her face is more delicate and feminine.”

Wrinkling her nose, Grace shook her head. “Yours is more striking.”

Chuckling, Zoe just shrugged even though she disagreed. “Do you think he’s such a prick to me because I sort of look like his ex?” 

Grace raised her eyebrows. “Dear, don’t take it the wrong way, but Mr. Milano isn’t treating you any worse than he treats everyone else. Yes, he’s demanding and his standards can be quite high, but he isn’t an abusive boss. He’s never nasty or rude for the sake of it. Was he nasty to you?”

Zoe went quiet, thinking about it. “Not really. He’s just…” Too much.

It might be a weird way to describe someone, but that was what Milano was: too much. When he was in the room, it was impossible to ignore him. He was like a black hole dragging Zoe’s attention to it.

Coupled with the fact that Milano stared at her all the bloody time, the effect was more than a little disconcerting. Zoe had considered herself a mild-natured, laid-back person but she felt nothing like one in the past week since meeting Martin Milano. She felt so on edge that she was this close to snapping at Milano and asking what the hell his problem was.

Maybe she should just do it.

Zoe sat straighter, considering the idea. Why not? She had nothing to lose. Being fired would be a relief, actually.

“I’ve got an idea,” Zoe said, getting to her feet. She already felt better, her mood vastly improved now that the decision was made. Either Milano would finally fire her, or she would finally get her answers.

“Good luck!” Grace said at her back as she entered Milano’s office.

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