Page 14 of Imperfect Saint
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Millie paced back and forth around the bedroom so many times she started to worry about the structural integrity of the old boards under her feet. She threw herself onto the edge of the bed, her legs dangling and buried her face in her hands. She couldn’t believe that Hunter had called himself her boyfriend. He was only supposed to be a date. That’s what she’d told her brother in the last-minute text message. But then Hunter had wrapped his arm around her, said he was her boyfriend and now everyone would be watching them this weekend trying to figure out just what she was up to.
If she had a boyfriend, she wouldn’t have kept Colin and Reed in the dark about him. They knew that. With as often as her brother had tried to set her up to have a double date, dragging her along to meet Joshua in attempts to get them back together, the news of a boyfriend would have been high on her list of things to tell him to make him stop.
He had to know it was a farce and if he knew then Reed knew.
She hadn’t expected her father to be pleased with her when she turned up with a last-minute date but after Hunter’s announcement, he’d seemed only vaguely amused. She’d known he intended for her to reconnect with Joshua during this weekend but she’d underestimated just how much he wanted them back together. The information he’d given her out by the car when it was just the two of them had explained his good humor and more than confirmed this was all a game to him.
He’d told her he was proud of her. It was a rare occasion that he uttered those words to either of his children and when she’d looked up at him, dumbfounded as to what she’d done to earn the praise, he’d given her that smarmy grin of his. He’d told her it was nice to see she’d come with a weapon of her own considering Joshua had brought a date too, no doubt to make her jealous. He hadn’t believed her in the slightest when she told him she had no desire to make Joshua jealous though, and when he’d ambled back up the stairs she’d tried not to notice the blonde girl that her ex all but jerked back inside as he made his own departure.
Joshua had brought a date. She hadn’t been expecting that. Maybe it meant he’d moved on, or maybe, like her father seemed to think, her ex had some notion that seeing him with another woman would make her yearn to be back in his arms.
It didn’t. If anything, it had done the opposite. It had confirmed for her that Joshua was the kind of man that only wanted a woman by his side for show.
And it had worried her because she knew what Joshua was capable of when he was in a foul mood. Millie showing up with Hunter had certainly angered him. That much he hadn’t tried to hide at all. The way he’d grabbed the girl who must have been his date by the arm had sent memories of the pain his fingers had caused clutching her skin coursing back through her head and now she couldn’t help but worry that her selfish action of bringing Hunter to be her buffer, her date, and at least in his estimation her boyfriend, would lead to the other woman suffering the repercussions of Millie’s actions.
She was worried. She felt bad. And yet, when she let herself think about the look on Joshua’s face when Hunter had pulled her close and called her his, she could barely keep her smile at bay.
Hunter was right. It had been priceless seeing Joshua so utterly flabbergasted. His mouth had fallen open momentarily before he regained control and even when he’d pulled it shut his jaw had jumped as he clenched his teeth. He’d gone from shocked to angry in three seconds flat and she knew that shouldn’t make her happy, but it did.
That look, that reaction, was exactly why Hunter was here.
Millie might not like that he’d given himself the label of boyfriend so quickly and easily but she couldn’t deny that the single word had done more for her cause of proving she’d moved on than anything else could have. After all, Hunter might not be aware of it but every other man that had been standing at the bottom of those stairs knew that the only person she’d ever called boyfriend was Joshua… until now.
It cemented Hunter as a part of her life in a way simply saying he was a date never could have done. It made him far more important to the men that were her family. Plus it made him an even bigger obstacle to her ex if Joshua thought to try and get past him.
It also made their fake relationship a liability. They worked together, sure. They knew each other. But they didn’t know each other in the ways that two people involved in an intimate relationship should. All it would take was one probing question from someone unconvinced by Hunter’s touchy-feely act and their lie would crumble. They’d be outed as liars and she’d end up looking even more pathetic than she would have if she’d come alone to this wedding.
She’d been lost in thought for so long that she hadn’t noticed the water turning off in the next room but she heard the distinct sound of the bathroom door opening and looked up to see a cloud of steam emerge. She had just opened her mouth to tell Hunter they would need to run through some basics about one another before going down to dinner, when he stepped through the fog and her breath caught. For the second time in as many hours, one look at him knocked her completely speechless.
His hair was still damp and he was running a towel over it haphazardly. His jaw was clean-shaven like she hadn’t seen it in months and for some strange reason she noted the loss of his scruffy beard with a level of disappointment that made no sense to her. Without it, his sharp jawline was on full display and, when he caught her looking at him, those damn dimples flickered back into existence, causing her to drop her gaze quickly.
It didn’t help though because the man was built better than any she’d ever had the pleasure of seeing up close. He’d dragged a new Oxford on over his shoulders but he hadn’t bothered buttoning it up and it draped open to reveal a defined chest, a smattering of dark hair and the kind of abs male models sported. That same dark hair formed a thin strip that began beneath his navel and disappeared into the slacks he’d changed into while he was in the bathroom.
A rivulet of water he’d missed snaked down the ripples of his abdomen and she found herself licking her lips, wondering what it would be like to drop to her knees in front of him and lick the water from his skin. Would it be as warm as it looked? Would he suck in a gasp and whisper her name? Would he tangle his hands in her hair? She bit the inside of her cheek to contain a small sound of desire but knew it was too late to hide her reaction to him when he chuckled.
“I’m up here, sugar.”
She jerked her gaze away and narrowed her eyes on his handsome, laughing face, “I know that.”
“Yeah?” He raised a dark eyebrow as he tossed aside the towel he’d been using to dry his hair.
“Yes.” She snapped, more annoyed with herself for getting lost in silly daydreams than with him but she refused to let him know that, “I was just wondering why you’re not dressed yet.”
“Mhmm.” He made a humming noise that in no way sounded like he believed her, “I’m working on it.”
“Work faster.”
His lips tipped into a smirk, “Maybe it would go faster if you stopped undressing me with your eyes, Princess.”
“I am not…” She felt her mouth fall open when he called her out on exactly what she’d been doing but she pulled it shut quickly, “Princess is definitelynotwhat you’re going to call me unless you enjoy being kicked in the balls.”
He chuckled and continued buttoning his shirt, “That one’s off limits too, huh?”
“My dad used to call me that when I was little. I was his little princess.”
“And you didn’t want to be a princess?”
