by Jess Bryant
“Where do I live?”
“Really, Mills? I picked you up there today.”
“Fine. Who’s my favorite artist?”
“Are we talking music or paining?”
“Either. Both?” She shot back when he smirked.
“You tell people Dolly when they ask because it’s Nashville, but in reality you listen to Beyonce more than anyone except maybe Lemon when it comes to music. And as far as paintings go, I’m a dumb ex-military grunt that wouldn’t know one name from another and nobody is going to ask me that question anyway.”
She smiled a little at that, “I like Pollock.”
“Pollock? Really?” Hunter scratched his head, “The guy that threw paint on a canvas on the floor and called it art?”
That made her giggle, “Yes. Exactly. It’s absolutely insane and perfect and when I was about seven or eight I used to put my sheets on the ground and throw paint everywhere and say I was going to be famous just like him.”
Hunter laughed, the sound throaty and loud, “In this house?”
“Yep. It’s one of the reasons they moved me up here to the attic, where I couldn’t do as much damage.” She grinned back at him. “If you look at the baseboards really closely you can still see some of the speckles of paint they couldn’t get out of the indentations in the wood.”
“You little troublemaker.” Hunter joked, leaning over to examine the floorboards.
“Nah, not really.” She shook off the laughter of a moment ago and returned herself to the seriousness of their situation, “Look, this might seem silly to you but I’m really close to my brother. He’s going to ask questions. He’ll want to know why I didn’t tell him about you. I need him to think this is real. I don’t want to ruin his big day by causing a scene just because you don’t know something as simple as my birthday.”
Hunter rose back up to his full height and looked at her. He looked serious again and she hoped that she was getting through to him, past all of the jokes and the laid-back attitude of his exterior. She knew he was a good man. He was smart and kind and funny. He’d agreed to come along this weekend and be her date and help her keep her ex at bay and her family off her back and yet, she needed him to understand that if they failed to convince them this relationship was real that it would only make things a thousand times worse for her.
“Millie…” Hunter sighed.
“Hunter.” She shot back but he held up a finger and began to speak over her.
“Millie, I know when your birthday is. It’s December 12th. I also know that you don’t mind that it’s so close to Christmas because you don’t like being the center of attention and Christmas distracts people from celebrating you instead. I know that you love classic movies but you think Casablanca is overrated. I know you have a teensy, tiny little bird tattooed on the back of your shoulder because your favorite book is Jane Eyre and it has that quote about not being caged. You got it a few months ago, with Lemon, and I didn’t understand why at the time but I think I do now.”
“Hunter…” She gaped at him but he stepped closer to her and kept talking.
“I’m not done.” He raised his voice, “You hate pineapple on your pizza, and you think people that enjoy it are monsters without taste-buds. You listen to audiobooks while you work, mostly psychological thrillers, but sometimes you listen to those sexy bodice ripper romances when you’re alone and working late. You have a cat named Simmons after a character on that Marvel TV show you and Lemon both DVR and then watch together. The cat is spending the weekend with your neighbor who keeps her for you when you’re out of town. You want a dog too, but you think they require more time and attention than a cat and you work too much right now. You’d also like to have a place with a yard before you adopt a dog, and you will adopt, because the number of unwanted pets in the shelters makes you wish you could save them all. Do you want me to keep going or do you think that maybe, just maybe, I know you better than you think I do?”
Millie stared at him, mouth gaping and eyes wide. He’d just listed off things he knew about her like he’d been slowly gathering information and storing it in a file all this time. These weren’t the kind of things that he could have found in her paperwork at the office or even online if he’d done his research. These things were personal and strangely intimate and important to her but should have seemed completely unimportant to someone else.
Only Hunter knew them, which meant that all these months they’d been working together, he’d been paying attention. Not just to Lemon, but to her, specifically. He didn’t just know big things like her birthday either. He knew little things that came up during a random luncheon, like the time she’d called pineapple pizza lovers monsters and the shows she liked to watch, and even the kind of books she listened to, even though she couldn’t ever remember talking about those books while he was in the vicinity.
He knew her. Knew things that she hadn’t realized he could possibly know. And in that moment, she felt overwhelmed but also so, so guilty for not knowing all of those same things about him.
“Hunter…” She said his name again, barely managing a whisper but he only smiled softly.
“I’ve been paying attention, Mills.”
“I… but… you…” She couldn’t quite get a handle on the English language but he chuckled and pulled on her wrist, tugging her close again so that she had to tilt her head up to meet his gaze.
“I might be your fake boyfriend to them.” He nudged his head towards the door, “But you and me, that’s not fake. You know that. You’ve known it since the day we met even if you try to ignore it, and me. You know I like you. You know I want you. Lemon asked me to come here as your date but I didn’t say yes for her. I’m here for you and there’s nothing fake about this to me.”
Her heart thumped hard in her chest and she could practically feel the heat between them begin to sizzle. He was still half dressed. Their bodies were brushing against one another. If she leaned up a bit, his mouth would be right there and in that moment; she wanted to kiss him. Not just because he was sexy or funny but because he’d been paying attention to her, all this time, because he said he liked her, he wanted her and he didn’t want her to think he was faking it.
The way her own body responded to him wasn’t fake either but she couldn’t admit that, not right now, not when they’d just arrived and she’d already seen Joshua storm off angry. Not when she had no idea how she was going to make it through the weekend. Instead of facing any of that, she tackled the only thing she could at the moment.
“I…” She forced an unsteady breath and dropped her gaze away guiltily, “I don’t know that much about you. Hunter… I… I’m so sorry.”
“Shh.” He tiled her chin back up and stroked a finger over her lips, “We have all the time in the world to fix that, beautiful. Anything you want to know, I’m an open book for you. All you have to do is ask. Just not right here and not right now. You’d better go get changed or else your family is going to think I’m up here doing highly inappropriate things to you in your childhood bedroom.”
She managed a smile, glancing up at him from beneath her lashes, “I think you’re actually the first boy that’s ever been allowed in my room with the door shut.”
His grin was big, wide, and sparkling, “I’m first huh?”
She nodded and he winked.
“Plan to be the last too.” He kissed the top of her head and then all but pushed her towards the bathroom so that she was forced to go and get ready for dinner.
She stumbled a little but accepted the retreat he’d given her. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it. She closed her eyes and breathed. She could still smell hints of him, feel the soft touch of his hands on her. A shiver worked down her spine and she forced her eyes back open.
She hadn’t expected this Hunter. The one she dealt with at work was loud and funny and over the top flirtatious. She knew how to deal with that Hunter. This one, the one that touched her so gently and shielded her from intruders, that knew all her
likes and dislikes and swore this wasn’t as fake as she knew it was meant to be, completely unnerved her.
Millie had a sudden, dawning realization that Joshua wasn’t half as sexy as Hunter and if her panties were going to get charmed this weekend, it wouldn’t be by her ex.
6
Hunter had been making progress upstairs. He knew he had. He’d seen it on Millie’s face. He’d felt it when he touched her. He’d shown his hand earlier than he’d intended but it had seemed like the right moment. It had been a lot for her to take in though. She’d been overwhelmed that he knew so much about her so he’d given her a reprieve and some time to think it over, to adjust to knowing he wasn’t here just because Lemon had asked him to come. But he could see now that letting her go had been a mistake.
She hadn’t just retreated to the bathroom to get ready for dinner. She’d retreated from him. When she’d come back into the room after her shower, she’d looked more beautiful than he’d ever seen her… and completely untouchable.
Her dark hair long and curling over her shoulders. Shoulders that were bare save for the tiniest scrap of fabric that held the long sheath dress up over her thin, petite body. The wedge sandals she’d put on added to her small stature but more than that they added a sway to her hips that accentuated her pert little breasts in a way that made his mouth water for a taste of her.
She’d looked perfectly polished, completely put together, and he’d wanted nothing more than to muss her up, but he’d known better than to reach for her. The sharp upward tilt of her chin and the stiff way she held her shoulders back and her spine ramrod straight told him more than her words ever could. Millie had this way of holding herself apart from people, even when they were right next to her, and she truly excelled at it when it came to him.
Even now, hours later as they sat together under the giant old oak trees behind the Turner home, his arm was around the back of her chair but whenever his fingers brushed her shoulder she visibly tensed. He hated that she all but recoiled from him now when earlier he’d felt like he was finally breaking through but it was more than just frustrating and damaging to his ego. It was also highly detrimental to their cover story as an intimate couple when she all but jerked away every time he touched her.
The others at their table had noticed. He was sure of it. Or maybe all the looks they kept shooting his way were because he looked as out of place as he felt.
Hunter had been in the security business long enough that he’d protected some truly wealthy clients. He’d been in mansions and limousines. He’d attended black tie functions and rubbed shoulders with celebrities. He had always worn his suit, done his job, and gone home to watch a baseball game in his sweats and have a beer or two without worrying what anyone thought of him. But being here, in the Turner family compound, with Millie, made him feel like the fraud he truly was.
The Turner family had the kind of money that could fund a small nation. The kind of money that built and destroyed empires. They sat at the top of the heap in a city with more celebrities and entrepreneurs than normal everyday workingmen and women. The Turners were more than just movers and shakers. They were world builders and destroyers.
He was nothing like them. He was decidedly middle-class. He’d been an Army grunt and when he’d come home from war his only useful skills had been put to use in his older brother’s company. He was the muscle. Not the brain. Not the idea guy. He was the one that stood in the back, blending in, becoming a shadow, but being here as Millie’s date, as her boyfriend, had put him center stage and he hated being in the spotlight.
There were more people here for dinner than he’d expected. Two full tables, long and lined with chairs on each side. The grooms sat together at the head of the family table. Their parents, siblings, and friends filling the seats beside them. With so many people, Hunter had assumed he would be able to slip in beside Millie and eat in relative peace but of course her ex refused to let that happen.
He and his date had taken seats just across the table from them and Joshua Bell had spent the entire night interrogating Hunter and Millie with questions. Chuck Turner had joined in occasionally but for the most part, he’d sat back, drinking his whiskey and smirking as the man he wanted his daughter to marry whipped questions and snide remarks at her date. Colin and Reed had tried to intervene numerous times but it didn’t matter because despite it being their wedding it was clear that everyone’s attention was on Millie and the new boyfriend she’d brought home with her.
Hunter smiled to himself at that thought. Boyfriend. He could hardly believe it earlier when Millie had told him that Joshua was the only boyfriend she’d ever had. She was beautiful and wealthy, smart and talented. She must have been on the radar of every available suitor in Nashville. But then Hunter remembered that the Turner and Bell families had been side by side for generations, that Millie had grown up with Joshua, and then he’d known that the bastard had gotten his hooks in her early and refused to let her go, even when he had no problem playing the field himself.
“So, you told us how you met. Tell us about your first date.” The blonde sitting next to Millie’s ex was leaning her elbows on the table, smiling and looking to all the world as if she was truly curious.
Maybe she was.
Her name was Jill. Millie and Hunter had been introduced when they came downstairs for dinner. Joshua had puffed his chest out like a proud peacock, parading around the model pretty blonde as if she was a show horse. Hunter supposed for some men she would be considered the most beautiful woman they’d ever seen, but not him. She wasn’t his type. He preferred his women tiny in stature and large in spirit, and the only woman he’d met with those qualities was the one that clearly didn’t like pretending to be his girlfriend.
Jill was tall, blonde, rail thin, and graceful. She was pretty, there was no denying that. She even seemed like a nice enough girl, which was why Hunter didn’t understand what she was doing here with Joshua Bell. It was obvious what the bastard was doing with her though. He was trying to make Millie jealous and Hunter had been immensely relieved when he’d noticed that the other man’s plan seemed to be failing miserably.
Millie had ignored her ex-fiancé all night.
At this question though, she shifted in her chair, clearly hearing what the blonde had asked Hunter despite her conversation with Colin and Reed. She shot him a glance from under her lashes and he let a slow smile slide up his face, as if he were sharing an inside joke with the woman he adored and not the worrisome look of a woman unsure of how he would answer that question. Hunter slid his hand from the back of her chair to her shoulder and pulled her closer to him, taking the opportunity to touch her, finally, and planting a sweet kiss atop her head.
“Don’t look at me like that, babe. I’m not going to embarrass you.” He mock whispered and the blonde perked up even further, just as he’d known she would.
Joshua Bell on the other hand looked as if a storm cloud had just settled on his shoulders. Perfect. This was the moment Hunter had been waiting for all night. This was his chance to show Millie he wasn’t going to let her down. Answering this one, seemingly simple question, was his way past the walls she’d put back up between them after his confession earlier and if it pissed off her ex, so much the better.
Millie licked her lips, “I know that. I just…”
“Don’t want me telling them about how you fell for my tricks?” He winked, cutting her off with a gentle squeeze of her shoulder. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Mills. I can be damn charming when I want to be. It’s not your fault that Lemon decided to help me out by playing matchmaker.”
Millie’s eyes widened at the words that were dangerously close to the truth but it was Jill that gasped.
“Oh my God. Lemon Kelly? I forgot that I heard you work for her, Millie. Oh, and that means you do too, right Hunter? You said you met through work. It must be so cool getting to work with an artist like Lemon Kelly on a daily basis.”
“Lemon is a sweetheart
.” Hunter nodded in agreement, “And she knew I had a thing for our Millie so, she helped me out by setting us up.”
“How?” Joshua growled, causing Millie to flinch but Hunter only narrowed his eyes on the other man and pulled her in against his side until he could share his warmth, offer her whatever strength or protection she needed in that moment. He didn’t speak again until Millie relaxed into his touch, tucking herself against him as if it was the most natural thing in the world and not something she had to consciously decide to do.
“There was an event we were supposed to go to.” He relaxed into the story, “Some fancy-schmancy black tie affair, right Mills?”
Her smile spread easily, mischief twinkling in her eyes as she looked up at him, catching his meaning and nodding, “Yeah. Something like that.”
“As it turned out, Lemon couldn’t make it to the event after all but instead of giving us the night off she sent both of us instead. She had me pick Millie up and then once we were in the car, she called me and bailed. She told us to have fun without her, leaving us alone for the night for this totally romantic evening.”
“Oh wow. That’s sneaky.” Jill grinned.
“Right? So Millie, being Millie, is all, take me home and I’m like, nah, this is my shot. We’re all dressed up and I’m ready to charm the hell out of her.”
Millie bit her lip, her voice barely a whisper as she repeated his words back to him, “He can be damn charming when he wants to be.”
He rubbed his chin against her hair, loving the way she fit him, the way she fell seamlessly into the story he was weaving.
“I convinced her it was just a night out on the town, two friends having dinner and drinks, but of course I wanted more. I wanted more with this girl from the first moment I saw her. Who wouldn’t right?” He smirked when Joshua glared at him. “So we spent the drinking and laughing with the Nashville elite. When I asked her to dance, she shocked the hell out of me by saying yes. It was the chance I’d been waiting for what felt like my whole life and while I had her there in my arms, I kissed her for the first time. We were under the stars with a band playing softly in the background and it was the most perfect moment of my life. The rest, as they say, is history.”
