Page 90 of Set Me On Fire

Where was the grumpy Dad of hours before? Not here. He was up and out of his seat, a broad grin on his face as he offered them his hands.

“Not sure you want to shake that, Angus,” Knox said, flexing his dirty fingers. “Heather, if we could borrow your laundry sink or something to clean up?”

“I had this really nice shirt I was gonna wear and everything,” Charlie said. “But Millie said you were eating at seven, so we may or may not have broken some land speed records getting over here.”

“These are for you, Heather.” Noah produced the kind of flower bouquet you picked up at a petrol station, but she looked at them as if the flowers were the rarest of hothouse blooms. “And these are for Millie.”

“Oh shit, we are never going to get away with hassling them about anything,” Hunter mumbled.

OK, the flowers were very pretty. He handed me a massive bunch of orange roses with reddish tips around the edges of each petal. My cheeks burned hotly as I stood there for a second.

“Take the flowers from the man, Amelia!” Mum urged. “Then show them the guest bathroom upstairs, so they can clean up. Boys, you like roast lamb, don’t you?”

“Love it.”

Noah’s lips twitched as he stared at me, barely acknowledging my mother.

“Boys, get these men a beer, because by the looks of it, they earned it,” Dad said.

“You didn’t thinkwe’d come,” Knox said after I ushered them into the big bathroom upstairs.

“I wasn’t sure,” I said, busying myself with pulling out soap and clean hand towels.

“You didn’t think we’d come.”

A finger tilted my face their way, and I was forced to take them in. They didn’t realise that was a painful thing. Not just because the pangs of anticipated rejection were still wracking me, but because their state reminded me of an unfortunate reality.

“OK, no, I figured you’d all come to your senses.”

“Millie…” Knox moved forward, running his hands under the taps and then pumping liquid soap to help scrub them clean. Noah took the other, working with the same efficiency.

“What? If I spent the day fighting bloody fires, I wouldn’t have turned up for Mum’s lamb roast either.”

“We’re not here for roast lamb.” Charlie sidled closer. “Though, damn, it smells good.”

I watched Knox dry his hands and then nod to Charlie to take his place.

“You asked us to come and we said we would,” he told me as Noah dried his face off and then joined us.

“You need us to meet your parents, and so here we are.”

“Right, well, this was all very strategic. Dad was ready to hate all of you on sight, but seeing good, hard-working men in the flesh helped turn the tide.”

“And what about you?”

I’d spent my teenage years wanting to kiss Noah in my upstairs bathroom, but it came as a surprise to want the exact same thing now. Difference was, I wasn’t a kid waiting around to be kissed. I watched his eyes go wide as I reached up and tugged his head down to meet mine.

The last time we kissed, it was through an alcohol and revenge fuelled haze, so in some ways, this felt like the first time. No, better. I knew his mouth somehow. When to close the gap, when to brush his lips with mine and then he was taking over, tugging me against him. The cute dress I wore was getting all sooty, but I didn’t care. More, I wanted more. He pulled back, though, his grin a perfect echo of the one that had me mooning after him as a teenager.

“Like that, huh?”

“Like this.” Charlie stepped in, running his hand up my throat, and out of all the make-out sessions that happenedunder this roof, this was the most illicit. “Been thinking about doing this all day.”

Dirty thoughts, it appeared, as he held me in place and conquered my mouth. I was left panting, my lips feeling swollen as Knox stepped closer.

“I’m trying to make a good impression here,” he rumbled. “And I’m pretty sure this is not something your father would approve of.”

“He’s not having your baby. I am.”

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