Page 11 of Limits
‘I know: you won’t mingle with the commoners.’ Kira turned away after that cutting remark and started pulling Rosie along with her.
Millie huffed out a breath of relief as she watched them disappear in the direction of the bridal car. Then she started to weave her way through the crowd to get out onto the narrow street at the back of the church, where she had parked hers.
She was concentrating on her feet as she wound her way through the gravestones and onto the cobbled path, so she didn’t notice the large obstacle in front of her until she was nearly on top of him.
‘Woah!’ Pav said, his large hands closing over her upper arms to stop her falling backwards. ‘Careful there. These stone buggers would give you one hell of a bruise on the arse.’
Millie couldn’t have spoken if she’d tried, so all she did was pull away and take a few steps back. She moved to the side to pass him, but he stepped in her way, blocking heragain. He was wearing a morning suit, but had already loosened the tie. He looked almost too attractive to be real. A sense of déjà vu swept over her. Why was this man always trying to get in her way?
‘Listen,’ he said into the silence. She moved to the side again, and again he moved with her to block her path. ‘I want to clear the air with you once and for all. Okay?’ Millie blinked and Mr Martakis let out a sigh before continuing. ‘I was out of order that day in your office. I might have been a little …’ he paused and rubbed a hand over the stubble on his jaw in an uncharacteristic gesture of uncertainty, ‘… frustrated with the situation. And I wanted to come clean about something else, too. Imayhave knocked your mouse that day in your office a few weeks ago, and Imayhave seen a document on there mentioning Libby …’
Millie took a deep breath and forced herself to speak. The last thing she wanted was for Mr Martakis to start sniffing aroundthatbit of scheming. He’d ruin everything.
‘The Deanery sent some stuff through to me about her because …’ she crossed her fingers behind her back, ‘because I’m on the committee for grant approval for the trust.’
This was impossible for two reasons: first, there was no such committee, and second, Millie was not a consultant; even if she were, with her lack of basic communication skills she would have had nothing to do with the medical students anyway.
She must have been too flustered that day to close the file and shut down the computer properly, which just went to prove how out of character she behaved around this particular man. What Libby didn’t know was that the university wasn’t upping her grant at all, the money going into Libby’s account every month was from Millie – but that was a fact Millie was intending to take to her grave. She didn’t blame Mr Martakis for the suspicious look on his face. It wasn’t like he could know that Libby’s daughter was the first good thing to happen to Millie in forever. Or that looking after Rosie the few times she was allowed was just about the best thing in Millie’s life, and that the fact Libby would trust Millie with her child meant everything to her.
Millie had money. She hada lotof money. But there was nothing to spend it on other than the charities she supported and the wardrobe Eleanor picked out for her. So if having a grant to complete her training and not have to rely on a man, or to strip for a living, would make Libby happy, then that’s what Millie was going to give her. She couldn’t offer the money directly – for one, Millie would never be that brave, and for another, Libby would never have taken it. But this way everyone was a winner – unless this interfering man standing in front of her blabbed about what he’d seen on her computer.
‘Oh.’ Mr Martakis cocked his head to the side. Her gaze flicked up to his face briefly and she noticed him narrow his eyes. ‘Right. I suppose –’
‘I’ve got to go,’ she blurted out, dodging round him successfully this time. To her annoyance she heard his heavy footfalls follow her to the small gate leading out onto the road. As she pulled back the latch and pushed it open, his hand shot out and held it shut. She could feel his heat at her back as he crowded her, but she was trapped between his body and the gate.
‘You’ve got somewhere better to be?’ he asked, and she could feel his breath on her cheek.
‘Yes,’ she told him, realising too late how rude that would sound. ‘Move away. Now.’
‘Oh … right … sorry,’ he said, taking his hand off the gate and stepping back. She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, and flew out onto the road.
‘Whoa!’ she heard him shout behind her, and then felt herself yanked backwards. A car shot past inches away from her feet and she staggered into the hard wall of his chest. ‘Christ. Are you okay?’
She could smell him: toothpaste, soap, aftershave andman. It made her head spin.
‘I’m fine,’ she told him, and pulled away, this time safely onto the pavement. ‘Uh, thanks,’ she muttered at her feet, wondering what was the minimum required amount of time you had to spend with someone after they had saved your life. But of course she would never have been rushing out onto a road had he not been intimidating her, so it was notentirelyher fault, not that someone as arrogant as Mr Martakis would ever apol –
‘No … don’t thank me. It was my fault,’ he said quickly. She started in surprise but then began to inch away again. ‘Look, Dr Morrison, I really did just want to say sorry for being a pushy arsehole, but I guess I just acted like a pushy arsehole … again. Could you … I mean … I …’
He was following her down the street now as she had started walking away in earnest.
‘It’s fine,’ she muttered, having at last reached her car. ‘You’d better get back.’ She attempted to force a smile, but, going by his frown, realised she likely missed the mark by a long way.
Home, she thought to herself,limits.
‘Okay, well I –’
She slammed the door of her Prius, cutting him off, and then closed her eyes for a moment before she pulled away from the curb. Millie tried to resist the rear-view mirror, she really did. But just before she turned the corner her eyes flicked up. He was still standing there, his arms crossed over his broad chest and his head cocked to the side like she was some sort of complicated puzzle he wanted to solve. A challenge.
Millie didn’t want to be a puzzle or a challenge. She wanted to try and live her life within her limits. Somehow she had a feeling Mr Martakis and his damn curiosity could threaten that.
Then again, she’d had years of experience blending into the background, making herself invisible, or at least unpleasant enough to be avoided. A man like him would forget about her in a heartbeat.
Chapter 6
That chick is weird
Millie looked down at her arms and sighed. Deep grooves where the nails had bitten into the skin marked her palms, and there was the familiar livid bruising on her inner forearm. She closed her eyes slowly, forcing her hands apart and taking a deep breath before she moved to the sink to wash them. The sting of the soap on her exposed knuckles was weirdly comforting as it cut through the fog of her anxiety. She looked up at herself in the mirror; all she could see was the dark circles under her eyes and the tight set of her mouth. It was a long time since she’d been this bad. She knew that she was going to have to do something. There was no way she could go through with the presentation.
