by Jess Bryant
Millie smiled and pressed her mouth to his again. It was more of a real kiss this time. Her soft, sweet lips pressing against his, teasing, opening, her tongue flicking against his bottom lip. Hunter swallowed a groan, right on the verge of taking control and kissing her so deeply that she forgot she needed air or water or food to survive, or that she’d ever wanted anything but him, when someone close by cleared their throat.
He pulled back and Millie gave a little huff of displeasure as they both turned to see who had entered their space. Colin and Reed were standing just a few steps away. Reed was grinning like the happiest man on the planet and though Colin wasn’t exactly smiling, he also wasn’t scowling at Hunter, which he decided to take as progress.
“I thought we had a deal?” Colin raised an eyebrow at his sister when Hunter set her feet back on the ground.
Millie cuddled into his side and smirked, “That wasn’t making out, Colin. It was a kiss. And I’ll remind you, I had to stand right next to you while you kissed Reed in front of God and everybody just a little while ago.”
“That’s different. That was…” Colin started but Reed’s snicker of laughter had him waving off the comment and shaking his head, “It doesn’t matter. Forget it. That’s not why I came over here.”
“What do you need?” Millie instantly stood more alert, “Did the wedding planner mess something up? Do you need me to help the caterer or is there a…”
“No. Mills. No.” Colin gave his sister a warm smile, “Thank you for offering to jump to the rescue but nothing is wrong. We just wanted to talk to you for a minute, alone, before things get too crazy around here.”
“Oh…” Millie paused and glanced up at Hunter.
He wasn’t sure what the look in her eyes was. Did she expect him to tell her no? Was she asking permission to go off with Colin? No. He knew her better than that. She wasn’t the same girl that had needed Joshua’s approval so bad that she couldn’t make a decision on her own.
That wasn’t it.
She was looking up at him because she didn’t want to leave him alone again, he realized. The last time she’d left his side amid wedding festivities, Joshua had cornered her and hurt her and Hunter hadn’t been there to protect her. She looked wary, almost scared even, and as much as he wanted to keep her by his side at all times so that nobody could ever hurt her again, he knew that they couldn’t live their lives that way.
“It’s okay, Mills. I’ll get us some drinks.” He leaned down and kissed her temple, “And when you’re done, we can dance.”
Her lips twisted slightly upward, “Champagne and dancing under the stars, just like our first date.”
“Exactly.” He kissed her again softly and then unwound his arm from around her waist, “Go on. I’ll be right here waiting for you.”
“Okay.” She finally nodded, turning back to her brother, “But you better make it fast, Colin, because I have a really hot boyfriend waiting to twirl me around the dance floor.”
Hunter grinned at that as Colin gave him a nod of acknowledgement and then turned and walked away. Reed slung his arm around Millie’s shoulders, pulling her along with them. They disappeared around a corner where Hunter couldn’t see them anymore and he ignored the instantaneous urge to follow them.
She wasn’t in any danger. She was with Colin and Reed. The happy grooms were her brothers. They would take care of her. They just wanted to have a conversation between siblings and he couldn’t and shouldn’t take offense that he was left out of the loop when Reed got to be part of the talk. Reed and Colin were married now. They were a set. Hunter hadn’t earned his spot beside Millie yet, not for family discussions, but he would.
He swore to himself that someday he would make Millie his family.
Turning, he wandered over to the closest bar and ordered a glance of champagne for Millie. As he leaned against one of the cocktail tables, he watched the impeccably dressed party guests without really seeing them. His mind was still on Millie and the idea of her being his for real, and just how different it would be when he took her home to meet his family from this grandiose wedding extravaganza that he’d stumbled his way into.
Family dinner at the St. James household was like nothing any outsider could imagine. They weren’t a typical family, not by a long stretch of the word. Over the years, Hunter had learned that family was what you made of it, not necessarily the people that made you.
Their father wasn’t invited to family gatherings per Vaughn’s rules, and as the eldest of them and host of their little dinners, his rules were law. If fact, there weren’t any parents at their gatherings. They were all St. James children, but Vincent St. James had never been much of a father to any of them. And inviting their mothers? Well, that seemed like a really bad idea. It was such a bad idea that nobody had even mentioned inviting their mothers to join them, not once in all the years they’d been having dinners and sharing holidays.
Vaughn’s mother had been Vinny’s first wife. Hunter and Tyler’s mother had been his second and was the reason Vaughn no longer interacted with their father. Alicia St. James was only four years older than Vaughn himself and he’d never forgiven his father for trading his mother in for a younger model, especially one that was young enough to be his own child. Vaughn wasn’t just the oldest, he was old enough to literally be their father, and though they’d never talked about it, Hunter knew Vaughn needed no reminders because he never let himself forget it.
Alicia St. James had lasted longer than Vaughn ever thought she would though. Nearly an entire decade married to the philandering jackass that was Hunter and Tyler’s father had ruined her though. She liked her booze and after Vinny had thrown her over for a younger model as well, she’d also turned to pills. She’d never been a bad mother so far as Hunter could say, but she’d been numb and practically vacant most of their teenage years and only sobered up when she remarried years later.
Luckily, Mrs. St. James numbers three and four hadn’t ended up popping out any babies. They probably would have if they could but Vinny had wisely decided to get a vasectomy after Tyler’s birth. God knew the alimony payments the first two Mrs. St. James had received made pregnancy a lucrative career move. But Barbie and Skipper, as Tyler had affectionately called them had both failed to keep Vinny’s interest for more than a year or two.
Vaughn, Hunter, and Tyler had thought that maybe, just maybe, that meant there would be no more weddings. That they were safe to assume they were the only sons Vinny would ever produce. In a way, they’d been right, but they’d been wrong too and nobody had been more surprised than Vaughn when the news had come that they were expecting another sibling.
A sister. And not just any sister but the daughter of Vinny and Vaughn’s mother, Teresa. The two had rekindled their old romance decades later and though they never remarried they were still going strong to this day, happily back together with the only proof they’d ever been apart the age gap between Vaughn and his little sister Tatum and of course their half-siblings, Hunter and Tyler.
It was a strange family dynamic. He knew that. Two sets of half siblings. One set so far apart in age the eldest could’ve been the youngest’s father. The other set so close in age they may as well have been twins. In most families it would have made for a powder keg, destined to explode, but not with them.
They had Vaughn. Calm, cool, level-headed Vaughn took his duty as the eldest of the siblings seriously. He was the glue that kept them all together. Through all the years and the arguments and the fights and the rivalries, Vaughn had become the head of their own little family unit and he ruled with an iron will and a supportive shoulder when they needed it.
They all had their own personalities and their own flaws and demons to deal with as well. Vaughn was serious and he could hold a grudge for a lifetime. Tyler was adventurous, impulsive, and sometimes downright dangerous, but he usually had good intentions and he’d be the first to step into a fight to defend any of the rest of them. And Tatum? Well, she was the little sister of
three much older, alpha males. She’d never stood a chance, not really. She was a spoiled-rotten, little brat used to getting what she wanted when she wanted it and she hated being told no. Alone, any one of them could have let their demons take control and ruin their lives but together they all managed to hold on, day-by-day and sometimes hour-by-hour, because they all knew they weren’t alone.
Only, his siblings weren’t the only ones that he had now.
He had Millie and he intended to keep her forever if that was what she wanted too. She felt like home and he felt steadier than he had since he’d come back from overseas when he had her in his arms. She felt like safety and comfort and the kind of love that he’d only ever seen people outside his family achieve. She was it for him and he knew that given enough time and nurturing love that she’d see he was it for her too.
But God help him, he could only imagine what was going to happen the first time he introduced her to his siblings.
“Hey.” Hands slid around his waist and he felt warmth spread across his back as he was hugged from behind, “Where’d you go?”
He turned slowly so that she wouldn’t drop her arms, keeping her close as he caught sight of her and smiled, “Nowhere. I’m right here.”
Millie shook her head and then pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose when the spare pair slid down a little, “No. You were a million miles away when I walked up. Where were you?”
Hunter smiled as he reached up and adjusted the glasses that sat crooked on her face, “Dance with me. I want to dance with the most beautiful girl in the world.”
“Mmm, sweet talker.” Millie scrunched her nose up adorably and then took his hand, “Come on. Let’s dance.”
Hunter left their drinks on one of the empty tables and led her to the dance floor and then pulled her close. Millie came into his arms willingly, wrapping her hands around his neck and swaying with him to the beat of the music. Across the floor, the grooms were wrapped in a similar embrace. Other couples moved around them as well, oblivious to everyone but the person in their arms. Hunter tucked Millie under his chin and simply breathed in the sweet scent of her that managed to calm his nerves.
He played with her hair and gave a contented sigh as they swayed, “So, what did your brother and Reed need to talk to you about?”
“Oh no.” Millie pulled back enough to meet his gaze and smirked, “You don’t get to brush off my question and then ask one of your own.”
“What? I didn’t…”
“You did.” She raised an eyebrow at him and when he didn’t immediately respond she sighed, “What were you thinking about when I found you at the bar, Hunter? You looked a million miles away from here… from me.”
“I’m not. Mills, I’m not. I’m right here.” He slid a hand up and cupped her chin, “I’m with you.”
“Then tell me what’s going on in your head.” She raised a hand to cover his and they both stopped swaying.
Hunter knew there was no getting away from this conversation. The truth was he’d known Millie wouldn’t simply drop it because he called her beautiful or asked her to dance. Her tenacity was one of the things he loved about her. They’d have to talk about it sooner or later so he figured he may as well just put his cards on the table and see if it suited her.
“I was thinking just how different we are.”
Her dark brows knit, “What?”
“Come on, Mills. Dance, or at least sway. We look stupid standing in the middle of the dance floor.” He wrapped her back in his arms and though she pursed her lips she let him hold her and swayed back and forth, staring up at him, waiting for him to elaborate.
“We come from very different worlds.” He finally spoke again once it felt like most of the eyes around them weren’t staring in their direction. He looked back down at Millie, “You brought me here to meet your family, as a ruse or not, and everything about this weekend just reminded me how different our lives are.”
Millie tilted her head slightly, “How so? We both work in the entertainment industry. We both live in Nashville. We both…”
“We don’t both work in the entertainment industry.” He cut her off with a snort. “I’m a professional bodyguard. I get paid to put myself between rich people and everyone else, even a bullet if that’s what it takes. You’re an heir to the Turner family fortune. Your family practically built Nashville. You…”
“I work for a living. I work hard. I started at the bottom and every step upwards that I’ve taken I’ve accomplished through sheer will, not because of my last name.” Millie was frowning now and he shook his head.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then tell me what you meant, Hunter. Because from what I heard it sounded an awful lot like you were saying I had the world handed to me on a silver platter.”
“You did.” He muttered and when her eyes narrowed, he cursed, “Dammit, Mills. Just listen to me. You did have the world on a silver platter even if you chose to take your own career path instead of the one set out for you. You grew up in a mansion. You have staff and stables. You own horses and enough land to let them to run for miles. Your family has an honest to god whiskey still in the woods back there and I didn’t grow up with any of that. I’m solidly middle class at best and I can’t give you this shiny life you’re used to.”
Millie gaped, “Oh my God. You know about the still?”
Hunter blinked, confused that of all the things he’d said that was what she’d gotten stuck on, “Uh, yeah?”
“How?” She demanded.
“Chuck, I mean, your dad? He showed it to me earlier, while you were at rehearsal.”
Her eyes went big behind her glasses, “He showed it to you? Just, out of the blue? Like, hey, want to see the hidden family still?”
“Uh… kinda.” He shrugged and Millie tipped her head back and laughed.
People around them turned to look but Hunter kept his eyes on the woman in his arms. She was laughing up at the sky like he’d just told the best joke. Only he didn’t know what the punch line had been. He waited until she finally got hold of herself and calmed to short little giggles before he spoke again.
“Mills? What’s so funny?”
“You.” She finally looked at him again and her cheeks were streaked with tears, from her laughter he realized as he moved to wipe them away. She’d laughed so hard she made herself cry. And because of him?
“I don’t… what do you mean? I don’t understand.” He held her face between his hands and the slow, easy, heat of her smile warmed some part of him that he hadn’t even known needed it.
“You’re worried that you can’t give me the life I’m used to?” She stepped closer to him and lowered her voice, “Hunter, I don’t need you to give me ponies or land or big houses. I have all those things. They’re great but they don’t buy happiness and they sure as hell don’t equal love. I know that better than anyone. Tell me, honestly, are you just worried that my family won’t approve of you because your last name isn’t on a building downtown?”
He shrugged, fidgeted, and then shrugged again, “I mean, it kinda is. All Saints Security is downtown but that’s Vaughn, not me and…”
“Honestly, Hunter. Is that what you’re worried about?” She surprised him when she mirrored his stance, raising her hands and holding his face between her small palms.
He swallowed hard, “Maybe. Yeah. Yes.”
Her smile was instant and beautiful. Millie slid her hands back and into his hair as she moved closer. She pressed her body against his. He stifled a groan at the feel of her breasts against his chest but he couldn’t hold back the shudder that went down his spine when her warm breath tickled his ear.
Millie leaned up and whispered, “The thing is, they already accept you. You protected me and Colin respects you for that. And Dad? Well, the still is a closely-guarded family secret, Hunter.”
“So I hear.” He raised an eyebrow, “Rumor has it even you don’t know where it is.”
Millie grinned,
“That’s what Dad thinks. He doesn’t know that Colin showed me where it was less than a week after Dad let him in on the big family secret.”
Hunter chuckled, “You have a good brother.”
“I do.” Millie agreed, “I have a good father too, even if sometimes I forget it. He showed you where the still is, Hunter. Maybe you don’t understand how huge that is but clearly he expects you to become part of this family someday. If you don’t, he’ll have to kill you.”
Hunter leaned back to meet Millie’s eyes. Her words were so light, funny even, but there was seriousness in her eyes. She meant it. She wasn’t worried about how different their lives had been up until this point. She wasn’t worried about her brother or her father accepting him or thinking he was worthy of her. She’d just all but proposed to him in the weirdest way imaginable and she was grinning at him in that way she had of making him grin right back.
“Well, I don’t want him to kill me so, I guess that could probably be arranged.”
Millie laughed again, long and loud, and then she leaned forward and kissed him right there on the dance floor, under the moon and the stars, in front of her entire family and all the wedding guests. She kissed him and Hunter instantly kissed her back. He kissed her for a long time and he only pulled away when she gasped for breath.
“Hunter?” His voice came out a breathy sigh and he had to keep himself from kissing her again. “You want to know what Colin and Reed were talking to me about?”
He nodded and then grabbed for her hand when she stepped away from him suddenly.
Millie glanced back at him over her shoulder, a wicked grin on her face, “Come on, I’ll show you.”
She laced her fingers through his and led him off the dance floor. They walked past the crowd enjoying the reception and then out of the ring of lights that lit up the yard. When she started down a small pathway into the woods, he thought about asking her where they were going but then he realized it didn’t matter.
He’d follow this girl anywhere.
15
