Page 120 of Set Me On Fire

Exactly fifteen minuteslater I was downing the last ball, then my beer, readying myself to leave.

“Bring Millie by mine tomorrow evening,” Knox said, getting in my way, right as I was heading towards the door.

“Tomorrow is mine,” I told him through gritted teeth.

“Tomorrow evening we’ll have something that all of us can share.”

He looked then at Noah, making clear the two of them had been talking, but I couldn’t be bothered to find out what. They could chat all they bloody liked while I was with Millie.

“I’ll ask her and let you know.”

I didn’t wait for a reply, hearing some of my workmates call my name, offer me another beer, but none of them had what I needed. It wasn’t that bitter, hoppy taste I wanted, but hers.

Millie wassweet to the tongue, I remembered that much. Had me going back over and over, needing another taste. My cock throbbed like a sore tooth in my pants, but I’d happily ignore it for this. Her looking up from where she was parked, a look of surprise on her face despite the fact I’d told her I was coming, replaced quickly by a flush of pleasure. I treasured that as I swung out of my truck and walked over to her car, poking my head through her open window and claiming her mouth without thought.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, pressing my forehead against hers. “I’ve just been wanting to do that all week.”

“You kissed me before,” she gasped, “when you found out I was pregnant.”

“Wasn’t enough.” I went back for another and another, loving the way her lips felt soft beneath mine. “Not nearly enough.” My hand reached in, stroking her face, her hair. “Now tell me I can take you to my place and do all the things I’ve been dreaming about all week.”

“OK.” I pulled back, staring into her eyes, half expecting her to say no.

“OK?” I grinned down at her.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes to all of that. Now get in your car and show me the way to your place before someone sees us.”

That last bit, it was the sting in the tail of something awesome. Pleasure and pain, that was all I seemed to feel after I met Millie.

“See if you can keep up,” I told her with a wink and then jumped back into my car, staring into the rear vision mirror to make sure she was ready before taking off down the road.

My head wasn’t herein the car. It wasn’t even on the day I’d had, but instead I was mentally in the passenger seat of Millie’s car, watching her every movement, trying my best to distract her, as we drove closer to my place. This meant that when my phone started ringing it was a rude shock. I was forced to wrench my eyes away from the rear vision mirror, where I could see Millie’s car, to my phone. Astrid. My sister’s name flashed up on the screen, forcing a groan out of me.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit.

In my family I was rarely called Charlie. Space Cadet, Forgetful Jones when I was a little kid or just Dory after that bloody fish on Finding Nemo, I got them all and for good reason. I was caught up in Millie, in her news, in the fact she was treating us as more than just colleagues and that had me spacing completely on the plans I’d made with my sister and my nephews.

I liked kids so being the funcle was no great chore. Remembering that I’d said I would take the boys off Astrid’s hands was much harder. She wanted the morning off to get on top of some cleaning and then go to get her hair done and I’d said yes.

To the same morning that I intended to take Millie out.

I’ll just let it go to message bank, I thought, even as my grip on the steering wheel grew tighter.Just let it ring.It did, over and over, the persistent sound like a hard finger poking repetitively into my ribs, reminding me of my fuckup. My teeth grit together because this was not how I did things.

Answer the call, attend to whatever issue the person on the other end wanted fixed as soon as possible, because otherwise it just slipped my mind. I told myself I had no way to answer Astrid’s call safely while driving, so I drove on until it stopped ringing.

Only for it to start up again.

Astrid knew me and had no doubt worked out what had happened, knowing her best bet was to keep ringing until I gave in and picked up. I let out a low growl of frustration, flicking on my indicators to park by the side of the road. My eyes caught the moment that Millie did the same as I grabbed the phone and tapped on the screen.

“Hey Buttface,” I said with false cheer. A shriek in the background made me wince. “What’s up?”

“Have you forgotten about tomorrow?” And hello to you too, I thought. “You did, didn’t you? Bloody hell, Charlie.”

“In my defence, I’ve had a lot on this week. I?—”

“You and me both, Brother. We’ve talked about this. Don’t say yes to things you have no intention of doing.” That wasn’t it, I wanted to tell her, but Astrid charged on. “I can cope with your bullshit, but the boys…”

And that’s when I felt my heart sink.

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