Page 5 of Imperfect Saint
Millie. Sweet, stubborn, perfect Millie. She’d been Lemon’s assistant long before he came into the picture. The two were good friends and he was still trying to figure out where he fit in their dynamic as Lemon’s new bodyguard. But Millie, God, he’d been infatuated with the no-nonsense girl from his first interview when she’d shaken his hand with a nice, tight grip, given him a serious once-over and then turned on her heel with a brisk order to follow her.
Hell, he’d have followed her anywhere.
She was cute as a goddamn button and either didn’t seem to know it or didn’t seem to care. Her long brown hair was usually pulled up into a bun or one of those fancy curl things women liked but that day it had been down around her shoulders and his fingers had itched to see if it was as smooth and soft as it looked. Her glasses did nothing to hide her beautiful brown eyes and he’d felt her gaze like it was a caress when she’d looked at him that first time. She was a dainty little thing, and in her glasses, bun and pencil skirts she looked like a girl playing dress up, which should not have instantly done it for him but it had. She had. And he’d only become more intrigued the longer they worked together.
He’d asked her out after that first interview and she’d pursed her lips and given him the most disapproving stare he’d ever had shot at him. She’d told him that he was being quite unprofessional and when he’d made a joke, she’d shut him down immediately. She’d turned him down flat with no excuses or reasons. All she’d said was no and then she’d dismissed him from the room, and from her presence.
He was fairly certain if it was up to Millie he wouldn’t have gotten the job but lucky for him, the interview had been a mere formality. Lemon had already signed with All Saints Security and he’d come highly recommended. Lemon had hired him despite his lack of professionalism, or he sometimes liked to think, because of it.
He’d only found out weeks later Millie had been coming off a bad breakup at the time and that was because Lemon had told him to go easy on her friend. She’d never given him any details neither of them had, and he’d assumed whatever connection they shared that they didn’t want him to be privy to the inner workings of their personal lives.
But Lemon had just changed all that. She’d called him up, out of the blue, to ask him to go to a wedding. She wanted him to be Millie’s date for the event so that she wouldn’t have to face her ex-fiancé alone and when he’d asked what the problem was with the ex, Lemon had informed him that the bastard had cheated on Millie.
What a fucking idiot.
Millie was not the kind of woman a man cheated on. She was the kind of woman a man married. But Hunter couldn’t focus on why it was his mind went straight to marriage when it came to the girl that all but ignored him most days because he had a niggling suspicion there was more to the story.
Lemon had asked him to protect Millie this weekend at the wedding, but why did she think Millie needed a bodyguard just to deal with a cheating ex?
Hunter had only been working for the queen of country music for the past six months. He was still learning all of Lemon’s quirks and neurosis. She had plenty to be sure. Thad had warned him of as much when Hunter had taken over the position as Lemon Kelly’s bodyguard. Thad had worked for Lemon for years and he hadn’t been shy about warning Hunter that his new client could be impulsive, reckless, and hard to handle. He’d also told Hunter that she had a big heart and that she considered the people who worked with her more than just employees.
They were her friends. Her family. She looked after them just as much as they looked after her.
Case in point, she hadn’t called to ask a favor for herself. If there was anything the gigantic superstar would ever need from him other than the job she paid him to do, he couldn’t think of what it might be. Yet she’d called him to help a friend, to help her assistant, to help Millie and even if he could have told Lemon no, he would never turn down a chance to spend time with her perfectionist assistant outside of work.
He wasn’t an idiot. He knew Lemon had figured it out. Hell, she’d probably known before he did. He liked Millie. More than liked her really. She absolutely fascinated him. He wanted to know more about her. He wanted to know everything about her.
Millie was a consummate professional though. She kept their conversations and interactions strictly business, despite his efforts to get closer to her. He had a feeling she knew nothing about Lemon’s intentions to drag him into Millie’s personal life.
A personal life he was only just learning was far messier than he’d expected from the quiet, practical, organized girl he worked with.
He frowned again as his mind went back to what Lemon had just told him, “Why the hell would her brother make this asshole his Best Man? Doesn’t he know-”
“Yes.” Lemon cut him off. “Well, kind of. He knows that this Joshua guy cheated but he’s convinced they can get past it. As far as he’s concerned Millie and his friend are soulmates. He thinks they should get back together and I’m sure he has plans to try and make that happen this weekend.”
“Over my dead body.” Hunter tensed his jaw so hard his teeth ached.
“I think your live body will work much better at keeping him the hell away from our girl, don’t you?” Lemon’s voice had gone light and he knew she was smiling even though he couldn’t see her.
He rubbed a hand over his forehead, “Why do I get the feeling there’s more to this story than what you’re telling me?”
“Because there probably is but if that’s the case, I don’t know it. Millie keeps a tight lid on her personal life. She doesn’t even like that I know about her jaded history with Joshua. She hasn’t told me anything except that he was very controlling and he cheated on her constantly, but like you, I suspect there’s more to that story. Much more.”
Controlling? All of Hunter’s senses went on alert. He didn’t think Lemon realized she’d let that one word slip, or if she did maybe she didn’t realize where his thoughts would immediately jump. Then again, maybe she knew exactly what she was doing and the questions that one word would raise for him.
Hunter scowled, “And not even her brother seems to know about this… more?”
“From what I’ve gleaned, no. She doesn’t want her family to know anything about her relationship with Joshua and honestly, I guess that’s her decision.” Lemon gave a sad sigh, “It’s her life and its her story to tell, or not tell as the case may be.”
“She’d rather take a fake date to her brother’s wedding than admit the best man is a douchebag?”
“No. She’d rather skip her brother’s wedding completely. I convinced her to take a date to act as a buffer instead.”
Hunter snorted as he pressed at the spot between his eyebrows where that headache now throbbed, “You didn’t tell her you intended to ask me to be her date though, did you?”
Lemon was oddly silent. Any sort of silence was odd when it came to Lemon, which made him shake his head. He should have known.
“She won’t be on board when she figures out its me.” He frowned, remembering the speech he’d gotten about boundaries the last time he’d worked up the nerve to ask her to go out with him.
