Page 75 of Imperfect Saint
Not just to avoid the media but because simply thinking about setting foot back in that apartment had been impossible for her.
They’d agreed not long after that they would find somewhere new together.
This, having their own place because they wanted to live together, because they loved each other and were planning to spend their lives together, was so much better than the forced cohabitation and stress of those first few weeks.
Buying the townhouse had been part of their recovery process, part of their mission to move on from the past. They were recovering. They were together. They were happy. And that was all he wanted for Millie, well, happiness and whatever else she asked him for.
Something warm and heavy landed on the bed, shifting the mattress and Hunter groaned a second before he felt a rough, wet tongue slide up his arm. He cursed and rolled away but the dog followed him, panting and eager for morning cuddles. Hunter sat upright finally, freeing himself from the sheet wrapped around his torso and caught the dog by the collar, giving him a quick head rub even as he tried not to grin at the furry beast.
Millie had wanted a dog. Of course, in her dreams, she’d wanted a perfectly trained and genetically engineered purebred golden retriever like the one she’d grown up with. But Millie was a tender-heart and when they’d seen a special on the news about all the unwanted animals overflowing the shelter they’d gone down there and they’d come home with the biggest mutt of them all.
Supposedly he was some sort of shepherd, terrier mix, but to Hunter he was just a big ball of fur and energy and love.
He scratched the big mutt behind the ear, “You’re not supposed to be on the bed.”
There was a familiar meow a second before the cat followed suit and Hunter snorted with laughter.
It was a lost cause. Always. The animals did whatever they wanted no matter what he said. The only one in the house with any sort of authority when it came to the animals was Millie, which reminded him…
“Where’s your mama?”
“She’s right here.” Millie came through the doorway back into the bedroom and stopped, hands on her hips, looking delicious and disheveled. “Fitz. Simmons. Off the bed.”
Both of the animals instantly leaped back to the floor and when she shooed them, they trotted out of the bedroom. Millie shut the door and Hunter ate her up with his eyes. She was still dressed in her pajamas, or more accurately, she was redressed in her pajamas from the night before because he had very vivid memories of taking them off of her and was already contemplating doing it again when she threw her hands up in the air and huffed.
“I give up.”
Hunter scratched his bare chest, “What are you giving up?”
“Looking for the ring.” She made the most adorable pouty face as she hopped back on the bed and crawled towards him. “I know you hid it here somewhere. Stop being so sneaky and tell me where it is.”
Hunter laughed as she crawled onto his lap. Ah, that explained why she looked so disheveled. She’d been digging through drawers and looking in cabinets again. It had become a weekend ritual and he had to admit he’d kept up the game just because he loved seeing her like this, all curious and sweet, trying to seduce him into telling her where her engagement ring was hidden
“You’re searching for your engagement ring and I’m the sneaky one?” He wrapped his arms around her waist and slid his hands to her ass, pulling her closer so that she straddled him.
Millie pushed out her bottom lip, “You promised to make an honest woman out of me, remember?”
“Indeed I did.” He smiled as he leaned forward to nuzzle her neck.
There had been serious discussions over the past six months. Millie was a planner, and she liked schedules. She operated off organization and efficiency. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to know that he was serious about spending their lives together before she’d agreed to move in with him. And of course he was serious. Completely serious. He’d told her they could get married immediately but his little planner had balked at that too and so, this game had been created.
She knew he intended to propose. His little sister had popped off about the velvet box she’d helped him pick out, and that had been enough. Millie had been not so secretly searching for it for the past four weeks and he let her because it was fun and because the spontaneity of getting to propose on the spot when she did find it would be something his perfectly organized future wife couldn’t plan for.
He liked surprising her because it was so rare that he got the chance.
“Do you think you’ll get around to it sometime soon?” Millie leaned forward, all but pressing her breasts into his face and shifting just enough that her bottom rubbed along the thick length of him.
He groaned. Little minx. He hadn’t expected her to be like this but he loved that she’d begun opening up and embracing her sexuality. It had started small, with her being the one to initiate kisses, to slide her hands down his body while he was cooking, and then to peel his clothes from him while she murmured in his ear about how much she wanted him. He fucking loved it when she went full on seductress.
Someday he’d convince her to play sexy librarian for him, glasses and all, but today wasn’t that day.
He squeezed her ass and shifted his hips, “Maybe.”
“Maybe I could… convince you?” Her lips tilted playfully.
“Maybe.” He slid his hands up, getting a good hold on her and then flipping them.
“Hunter!” Millie squealed with laughter as he pushed her back onto the bed and loomed over her.
