Page 21 of Prudence
She grinned sheepishly. “A little.”
I slid my arm around her middle. “Come on. You can lie down in my room.”
“You’re the best, Derek,” she said, still grinning up at me as I led her upstairs. She was drunk, and so was I, which meant I had absolutely no intention of making a move. Although I would admit that the idea of Milly sleeping in my bed—even without me in it—was satisfying in a way I hadn’t felt before. I wanted her scent on my pillow, her skin warming my sheets.
She’d been in my room a bunch of times, mostly just to hang out. Sometimes we’d sit together, and Milly would study while I did my college coursework. I was studying for a degree in business. The plan was always for my brother and me to take over running the hotels for Dad when he retired, and I was fully on board with that. I knew some people resented having to take up the family business, but I wasn’t one of them. In fact, I’d inherited my dad’s passion and hoped to one day open even more Balfe Hotels across the country.
Perhaps it was because I looked up to my dad so much. He was the sort of man I wanted to emulate when I got older.
For a moment, I imagined the future, but there wasn’t some faceless woman at my side who I hadn’t met yet. No, the only person I imagined sharing that future with was Milly.
The realisation wasn’t entirely shocking, not when I’d spent the last year living like the monk Aidan often liked to refer to me as, which was troubling. This could simply be young love,something I would be able to move on from with time. But what if it wasn’t? What if Milly was the only woman I ever felt this way for? The only one who made me feel lit up from the inside out, whose energy seemed to complement mine so perfectly? She’d captured a part of my soul that day on the playground when she’d confidently tended to my brother. Maybe she’d stolen my heart that very same day and had been in possession of it ever since.
“Wait a second,” I said when Milly pulled back the covers to climb into my bed. She paused as I went and opened a drawer, pulling out one of my old T-shirts that would probably work as a nightie for her. “Wear this.” A pause as I soaked her in. “You’ll be more comfortable.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, colour high in her cheeks as she took the T-shirt then disappeared into the bathroom to change. I sat down at my study desk and scrolled through my phone for a minute, calling out, “There’s some spare toothbrushes under the sink.”
“Found them, thank you!” Milly called back.
I heard running water, and then a few minutes later, she emerged, my T-shirt hitting her mid-thigh. Fuck, she was beautiful. She cast me a questioning glance as she approached the bed, and I knew what her look was asking.
Where willyousleep?
Swallowing down the lump of pure need lodged in my throat, I said, “Tristan’s away. I’ll sleep in his room.”
Milly nodded. “Okay.” A long pause followed, and I didn’t move from where I sat. She was under the covers, stretched out on my side of the bed, and all I wanted to do was climb in next to her. It took an iron will to finally rise and walk to the door.
“Goodnight,” I whispered.
“Derek,” she said, a nervous tremble in her voice.
“What is it, beautiful?” I asked and heard her sharp intake of breath. I was too tired, too drunk and too heartbroken at the idea of her leaving to censor myself right then. Besides, shewasbeautiful, and she deserved to know it.
“You can sleep here if … if you like.”
I just about managed to hold in a groan, then quietly responded, “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
My voice fell a few octaves lower. “You know why.”
“I just …” she trailed off, sighing.
I clenched both fists to keep from losing control. “You just what?”
Her eyes, so pretty and blue in the lamplight, fixed on mine. “I want to be close to you.”
Just like that, the tight leash on my willpower snapped. In a matter of seconds, I slipped off my shoes before pulling off my shirt and jeans. I was across the room, lowering onto the bed and crawling in behind her before she had a chance to change her mind. I wrapped my arms around her middle, and it felt so right, so natural, to just hold her.
“Hmm, this is nice,” she murmured, sinking back into my embrace, her round backside cushioning against my crotch.
Yep, real fucking nice. A million X-rated images flashed behind my eyes, endless desires I’d been suppressing pushing to be unleashed. But I resisted.
A moment of silence passed before she said, “Derek?”
“Yeah?”
“What did Aidan mean when he said you’d turned into a monk?”
