Page 93 of Set Me On Fire

Hunter went quiet as Hayden stared at me.

“You too.” He shook his head slightly as he spoke. “The others, they’re seeing Millie and the baby, and it's all shiny and new for them, but not you.”

“Not me,” I confirmed. “I would never have hurt your sister, not then and not now. She’s…” My voice cracked but I forged on. “She’s all I’ve ever wanted. If you’d gotten out of our way at high school, things would’ve flamed out, we would’ve moved on, putting it down to a school yard crush.” I thrust out my hand. “So thanks.” The two of them stared at it like my fingers were made of spider’s legs or something. “By getting in the way, you helped us to get here. I’m an adult and so’s Millie, old enough to know what we really want. Loving your sister, your niece or nephew, I couldn’t think of what I could want more.”

“Right…”

Hunter darted in, shaking my hand quickly before pulling back, but Hayden moved in more slowly.

“So do it right.” Hayden stared into my eyes, his grip growing punishingly tight. “Look after her, because she won’t let us do the job. Wake up every morning and make that your priority and any time you knock at the front door, we’ll let you in.”

“You’ve got a deal.”

I walked back insideand saw everyone was making their goodbyes. I don’t know what made me do it. Perhaps it was because I felt free of the past, of all my bullshit, for the first time in forever. My finger slid up Millie’s spine and I loved the way she stopped speaking mid-sentence and turned my way.

“You look like you could do with some rest,” I told her. “Let me drive you home.”

Her keys were in her hand in seconds, then pressed into mine.

“Lovely to meet you all,” I said, nodding to her family. “And dinner was amazing, Heather.”

“I’ve got plenty of leftovers if you want to take some home?” she asked hopefully, but I shook my head.

“I’ve got everything I need right here,” I told her, putting my arm around Millie’s shoulders and then steering her towards the door.

Chapter 44

Millie

“Everything you need, huh?”

Jamie had thrown me a frantic thumbs up as I was escorted outside, but I couldn’t say a damn thing until we reached the passenger side door of my car. I turned around, ready to have a conversation, so many conversations with Noah, but he had to stare down at me like that.

I don’t know if any man had ever looked at me so intently. Actually, Noah had, back at school. I wanted to talk about that, to confess what my brothers had done, to try to lay those ghosts to rest, but he silenced me with a hand to my cheek. Just a featherlight caress, his eyes followed his fingers’ trail until they came to settle on my lips.

“If you don’t want me to kiss you, I need you to say something now.”

But I didn’t. All thoughts of sensible communication went out the window as he darted closer.

I was going to kick the twins’ arses so damn hard the next time I saw them, I thought dimly, right before his lips landed on mine. We both sucked in breaths, like we were about to dropdeep underwater, but instead, we drowned in each other. He smelled smoky and musky, like some kind of feral man, but Noah tasted like himself.

I hadn’t registered that when I kissed him drunk, but I seemed pretty intent on capturing every nuance now. My hands slid up and around his chest, and he let out a low grunt of approval. This felt right in the way anything you’ve waited half your life to experience did, right up until I felt a weight settle against my car beside me.

“You look like you’re having fun.”

Charlie’s eyes glittered as he took the two of us in, but I felt a pang. How the hell did Jamie make this work? Did she discuss everything before she made a move on one of my brothers? Charlie grinned in response.

“Don’t look so stressed.” He pressed a thumb to the line forming between my brows and smoothed it away. “You want to kiss Noah, you keep going. I just wanted to say goodbye and thanks for inviting me.”

Before I could reply he moved in, pressing a gentle kiss to my lips, then turned to Noah.

“No kisses for you.” Noah spluttered in response. “But get our girl home safe, OK?” Charlie winked at me. “And don’t keep her up too late tonight. She needs her sleep.”

And with that he was sauntering off, whistling a jaunty tune as he went.

“Thanks for having us.” Knox didn’t seem to know where to look, his brows drawing down as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “Sorry we were late.” Each word was dragged from him, but not by me. By him, I quickly realised. If I was uncomfortable, he was more so, though he was trying to hide it. “So I’m gonna?—”

I cut him off by grabbing his shirt and hauling him closer, then pressing a kiss to lips that felt hard and tense, right beforethey melted. Knox didn’t let me take control for long. His hand slid around my waist and he kissed me slowly, thoroughly, before pulling away with a small smile.

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