Page 65 of Imperfect Saint
“Mmm.” Millie hid a smile by leaning back into his chest, “I think, if that’s the kind of welcome home we’re going to have whenever you go on a job for a few days, I’ll be okay with you taking a few more on occasion.”
Hunter barked out a laugh, “Is that so?”
“Welcome home, baby.” Millie leaned up enough to kiss his jaw.
Hunter held onto her as they both recovered from their intense orgasms and her words had an idea forming in his head. Welcome home, she’d said. But this wasn’t his home. He had his own place, which he’d completely ignored in favor of swinging by the office and then coming straight here. Because wherever Millie was at, that was home to him, which meant that there was only one solution.
They needed to move in together. Then, whenever he went home at the end of a long day, he’d get to go home to her. He’d get to have dinner with her and sleep beside her every night. Being home with Millie sounded like the best idea he’d ever had.
Now he just had to convince her of it.
19
Millie stirred the pot of spaghetti sauce on the stove and sang along to the Kesha song blasting from the speaker across the kitchen. She wiggled and squirmed; doing a little dance as she pretended her wooden spoon was a microphone. She laughed out loud as the song finished and she pushed her hair back over her shoulders, leaning down to check the roll of French bread in the oven and then shooing Simmons out of the kitchen before she added cat hair as the special ingredient to this little meal.
She was happy, really and truly happy. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this way. She was brimming with hope and dreams of the future. She wasn’t just getting by anymore. She was happy and she couldn’t seem to keep the bubbling pleasure inside of her, not even if she’d wanted to.
Maybe Lemon and her other friends enjoyed teasing her about it but the truth was, Millie didn’t mind because it only confirmed what she already knew. Life was good. Her life was great even. And it only got better every day.
Six weeks ago, she never would have believed she could be this happy. Six weeks ago she’d looked at her life and seen only the broken pieces that still needed mending. Then, six weeks ago, Lemon had sent Hunter to play Millie’s fake date for Colin’s wedding and everything had changed.
There wasn’t anything fake about the way Hunter felt about her. He’d told her that the first day they’d spent together and it had scared her. He’d scared her because all she’d known up until that moment was that love was volatile, dangerous and ultimately, it hurt. But Hunter didn’t scare her anymore. The way he made her feel didn’t scare her. Because there wasn’t anything ugly or dangerous about the emotions she felt for Hunter.
He made her happier than she’d ever known she could be and when she thought about the future, the only thing that could scare her now was the idea of not having him by her side for it.
They’d spent the past six weeks doing all of the things couples were supposed to do. They’d gone to dinner, they’d watched movies, they’d even tried to Netflix and chill but were still attempting to get through the first season of Stranger Things even all these weeks later because they kept getting distracted and ripping each other’s clothes off mid-episode. They’d gotten to know one another better. They’d learned each other’s quirks, like how Millie loved to cook but couldn’t follow a recipe to save her life and how Hunter had to sleep closest to the door so that he knew he was between her and any intruder. They’d formed their own habits, splitting shower times and setting the coffee maker to automatic so they could stay in bed for ten extra minutes. And they’d talked, endlessly, about their pasts, about their plans for the future, and about the present.
Hunter wanted them to move in together. He’d pointed out that they spent most nights together anyway and it was true. The only nights Millie spent alone were the ones when Hunter had a job with the agency and was out of town or going to be out late. She’d balked when he first brought up the topic of them living together though and she knew she owed him an apology for that, which was why she was cooking him his favorite meal tonight.
She planned to wine and dine him and then she would explain her less than enthusiastic reaction to his proposition. She hated talking about her past but she’d been going to therapy and working through her issues. Hunter had been there for her every step of the way and he deserved to know that her reaction didn’t have anything to do with him.
He’d asked if they should move in together and her brain had instantly gone back to the time when she’d lived with Joshua and all of the hurt, anger, pain, and betrayal had come back in the blink of an eye.
But Hunter wasn’t Joshua. Their relationship was nothing like hers had been with Joshua. And she knew, in her heart, that asking Hunter to move in with her, officially, was the next step in their relationship. The right step. The step that would lead to the future they talked about having together.
It wasn’t just her relationship with Hunter that was moving forward though, it was her relationship with her family too.
She’d known that after leaving Joshua she’d pushed her father and brother away. Even before she left Joshua, she’d been very careful to keep them in her life on the strict terms that meant they never saw the bruises or the bad days. Now, having the truth out there, knowing that they were on her side, she’d started the process to mend those relationships too.
She and Colin had gone to lunch together after he and Reed returned from their honeymoon. She’d known that Reed wanted to go. Hunter had wanted to go too. But she’d insisted on going alone and talking to her brother one on one, and afterwards she knew that she’d done the right thing. There had been moments they both got defensive and having Reed and Hunter there would have only made the tension worse. Instead she and Colin talked for a long time, about all the things they’d never said to each other, and they’d promised that they would try to get back to the kids they’d been who had stuck together through thick and thin.
Her father wasn’t going to be so easy to forgive and move forward. He’d made mistakes but she had too, she knew that. So they’d talked on the phone a few times but they hadn’t quite made it to shared meals yet. They would. It was only a matter of time. Besides, her dad had Hunter in his corner, though she was still in the dark on exactly how that had happened. Her boyfriend swore her father only wanted the best for her and that she should give him another chance, so she would.
Hunter was a good judge of character. Better than her, that was for sure. And he was helping her put her life back together, piece by piece, he was the glue that was helping to fix her broken heart, make her whole, and give the family she thought she’d lost back to her, right along with her strength and confidence too.
Over the sound of the thrumming music and the hum of the vent fan above the stove, Millie’s ears caught the sound of the front door opening. She smiled to herself. Hunter had managed to get off work earlier than he’d thought. She’d been hoping to surprise him by having dinner ready but even still, she was far too happy to see him to complain about him showing up early.
“Hey, I thought you were working late?” She called out as she flipped the heat on the stove down, “I was hoping to surprise you with dinner but it’s not quite…”
Millie turned to face the doorway that led from the front hall and stopped short. Her words caught in her throat and her entire body turned to ice. A shiver of fear raced down her spine and dread pooled in her belly as her brain caught up with what her body instinctively knew.
It wasn’t Hunter standing in the doorway. It was Joshua. It was Joshua and he was holding a gun in his right hand.
She blinked and her entire life, all of the years and her history with this man flashed before her eyes. All the bad, all the pain, and anger and anguish, but also all of the good times, the smiles and laughter and stolen kisses that had been her first taste of sweetness. When she looked at him again, she knew that he hadn’t just come to threaten her this time. He hadn’t come to berate her or hit her. He’d come to kill her because, just as she’d blamed him for all the bad in her life, he blamed her too.
Millie swallowed hard, the lump in her throat growing by the second, “Joshua, you don’t have to do this. Whatever you’re thinking, whatever made you come here, you don’t have to do this.”
“Shut. Up.” He growled through clenched teeth, eyes flashing with a hatred she knew all too well despite the fact he looked nothing like the man she’d known all her life.
