Imperfect Saint

by Jess Bryant

  “Mine.” He nipped at her bottom lip, tugging it between his teeth and felt Millie’s answering smile.

  “Mine.” She whispered right back as she pulled away enough to tug at her tank top.

  He helped her push it up over her head and together they threw it across the room. Hunter groaned as he lowered his mouth to her neck and pressed kisses over her pulse point, down to her heart and then to her breasts.

  “So beautiful.” He whispered as he licked a taut pink nipple and Millie arched into him.

  He sucked her nipple into his mouth and she let out a keening cry. Outside the bedroom door something thumped hard against the wall and he pulled back to chuckle. Millie closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sound before breaking into a fit of giggles.

  “When you make those sounds, Fitz wants to break the door down and come rescue you from me.” Hunter used his teeth on the sensitive flesh of her other breast and Millie’s fingers tightened in his hair.

  “He’s a good dog. Protective.” Millie moaned again and then raised her voice to a shout, “Go lay down, Fitz! Go! Lay down! Mommy’s fine.”

  “Mmm, I think we can do better than fine.” Hunter chuckled as he took her down to the bed, and worked on ridding her of her pajama shorts and panties.

  “You think so?” Millie teased and he marveled at the woman laying beneath him in their bed.

  She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Dark hair a tumultuous mess of curls and her dark eyes shining with need. Her slim body completely bare and open to him. She didn’t try to hide herself. She knew how much he wanted her and she let him look. She let him have her. She’d given herself to him over and over and over again and now, this…

  His ring sparkled on her finger.

  She was going to marry him. They were going to be husband and wife. He knew she’d been engaged once before but they both understood this was nothing like that. They loved each other and respected each other. They wanted the same things. They took care of one another through good times and bad, sickness and in health, and he’d couldn’t wait to see her in a white dress, standing beside him, holding his hand and giving him the vows that would unite them forever.

  His own parents hadn’t lived up to theirs. He wasn’t sure his father knew what it meant to keep a promise. But he did, and he would. He was going to promise to love, honor and cherish Millie Turner until he took his last breath on this earth and he would do exactly that.

  “Hunter?” Millie reached up and traced his cheek. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” He turned and pressed his lips to her palm, “Nothing at all. Everything is perfect. This is so right. I’ve just… I’ve never been so happy, Millie. Every day with you, I only love you more.”

  “Me too, baby.” She smiled softly. “Which is good, since I’m planning to spend the next eighty years or so with you.”

  “God, I want that.” He lowered his head and kissed her again.

  This time it was slower, sweeter, and less rushed. Now he knew that she was his and it was really sinking in. Forever. He would get to do this with her forever. He could wake up beside her in bed for the rest of his life and every single one of those days he would know that he was the luckiest man alive because she was his and because she loved him.

  Hunter smiled at the ring on her finger, “I think I like the look of you in nothing but my ring.”

  “Good. Because it’s the only thing I plan on wearing the rest of the day.” Millie teased as she opened her legs and pulled him down to her.

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.” She whispered on a kiss that seemed to last an eternity.

  Hunter smiled. A promise was a promise. And they didn’t break their promises, not to each other. Not for the rest of their lives.

  Epilogue

  The Bachelor Party

  Hunter was seriously regretting that he’d let his younger brother plan his bachelor party. He hadn’t even wanted a bachelor party. He’d told everyone that he didn’t want one but if he had wanted one, he’d have wanted Vaughn to plan it. Only as per usual, Vaughn was too busy babysitting his company to enjoy a night out on the town which meant Tyler had taken it upon himself to organize the thing, and now Hunter was stuck at some dance club in the city with strobing lights that made him dizzy, music that he had to yell to be heard over, and drinks that were so watered down he couldn’t even get a good buzz going.

  God, maybe he was old but all he wanted was to go home, curl up in bed with his fiancée and go to sleep.

  They were getting married next weekend and they had a ton of last-minute arrangements to make. Millie had been busy training her staff to cover for her while they were away on their honeymoon. He’d been busy at the agency doing the same and trying to make sure Vaughn wasn’t completely overloaded by the extra work they were pulling in.

  Since the arrest of Joshua Bell had become breaking news, All Saints Security had been inundated with new client requests. Hunter had never understood the concept that any publicity was good publicity. He knew Millie certainly agreed with him that wasn’t the case. Yet, as soon as word had spread that he was in a relationship with Millie Turner and that he and then Vaughn and Tyler had been on site the night Joshua Bell attempted to murder his ex, at least half of Nashville had decided that the only way they’d be safe was if they had All Saints protection as well.

  It hadn’t mattered to anyone he’d told that he wasn’t there on duty. Nobody cared that he didn’t work for Millie, or that he hadn’t been the one to stop Joshua Bell’s murder spree which started with him shooting his own father during a confrontation and only ended after Millie stabbed him in self-defense. Millie had recovered from the ordeal, but unfortunately Joshua’s other victims hadn’t. Millie’s survival was the only reason Joshua Bell was sitting in prison on two counts of murder instead of three.

  Hunter, like Millie, wanted to forget the ordeal. They were working to put it behind them. They were engaged. They were getting married. They were moving on with their lives, together, and they were happy.

  At least Hunter would have been happy if Vaughn hadn’t been buried in work and refused to come out with them, and if Tyler hadn’t thought the hot new techno club in town would be a cool place to hang for the night. He checked his watch for the thousandth time and wondered just how long he had to stay before Tyler would let him sneak out without causing a scene. It was barely ten o’clock so he knew it wasn’t going to be anytime soon.

  “It’ll get better.”

  Hunter squinted and leaned forward when he saw his old Army buddy and new co-worker, William Blake, moving his lips. He couldn’t hear a damn thing in here. Blake was barely three feet away.

  “What?” He shouted, cupping a hand to his ear.

  “I said,” Blake shouted back, “Chill out. It’ll get better. Trust me.”

  “Better?” Hunter laughed, still yelling over the music, “Sure. Soon as I go deaf.”

  Blake chuckled and raised a beer in salute. Hunter toasted back towards him and then finished his whiskey and looked around. He’d lost track of Tyler in the crowd and he wanted to leave, but he knew better than to skip out while his brother was in the bathroom so he raised his hand to signal the waitress for another round instead. Maybe more liquor would drown out this godawful noise that the kids were calling music these days.

  Good god, he really had gotten old.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  Hunter turned to the man sitting at his side and glared, “What?”

  “You heard me. No cutting out. You didn’t let me bail on my bachelor party and I’m not letting you bail on yours.” Thad grinned at him and Hunter rolled his eyes.

  “We were a hell of a lot younger and the music was better back then.”

  “Bullshit.” Thad laughed, “It’s just that back then you didn’t have a hot little number you wanted to get home to, and now you do.”

  “You’re right. I do. And I’m going home to her just as soon as Tyler
shows his ass back up so I can think him for this eardrum bursting bachelor party.”

  The fourth man at their table leaned forward to hand Hunter a new glass of whiskey as the waitress returned and spread out drinks, “Ah come on, man. Don’t leave. Ty’s already in a shit mood and you bailing is only gonna make it worse.”

  Hunter scowled at Isaac Chinn. Isaac was Vaughn’s best friend. He’d been the first one on board the day Vaughn decided to make his dreams of starting his own business a reality. He was Vaughn’s number two, his right-hand man, and sometimes, when Vaughn couldn’t be present, Isaac even stepped into the role of surrogate big brother. Hunter liked the guy, and he looked up to him. But he didn’t want a voice of reason right now.

  He wanted to go home.

  “What are you talking about?” He shouted back, frowning because this wasn’t a conversation he wanted to shout about.

  He’d noticed Tyler had been in a shitty mood all night. His younger brother had tried hard not to show it, but considering he was usually the good time guy it had been hard to miss. His smiles had been forced and Hunter had simply chalked it up to Tyler getting turned down by one of the pretty girls on the dance floor. It didn’t happen to his brother often so the experience was always sobering to the St. James brother that considered himself a ladies man.

  Isaac shook his head, “He’s pissed at Vaughn.”

  “What for now?” Hunter picked up his whiskey because of course he needed another drink if his brothers were fighting, again.

  Hunter was the middle brother. Even with the big age difference between them all, they still had their roles to play. Vaughn was serious and overprotective. Tyler was rebellious and took nothing seriously. Hunter played middle man to their big personalities and smoothed over all their arguments but he’d been so busy with Millie lately he hadn’t even realized they were fighting.

  “Vaughn made him cancel his trip to do that base-jumping thing he’d been planning to do.” Isaac leaned closer so he didn’t have to yell so loudly when Hunter mouthed the word, why, “It’s the week after next, when you’re on vacation. We’re short-handed at the agency and we have the Echols-Standridge wedding.”

  “Who?” Hunter shrugged.

  “Jesus.” Thad shook his head, “You’ve really been living with your head in the sand huh?”

  “More like his head between his girl’s legs.” Blake snorted and Hunter shot them both a warning look to give it a rest.

  “Echols?” He asked as the name finally registered, “The Senator’s daughter? The one that graduated college a while back? Ashley? Autumn?”

  “Ashtyn.” Blake corrected, his eyebrows wagging, “Pretty little blonde with perky tits and legs made to wrap around a man’s waist.”

  “Fuckin’ hell, Blake. That’s the Senator’s daughter you’re talking about.” Hunter shot the other man a perturbed look but his friend only shrugged.

  “Just sayin.”

  “And what I was saying…” Isaac spoke over them, “Is that it’s the biggest wedding of the year and we got tasked to cover it. Vaughn told Tyler to cancel his plans, and of course Tyler got pissed. They fought. This all happened about…” Isaac looked at his watch and shrugged, “Seven hours ago.”

  “Damn.” Hunter slid a hand through his hair, “I didn’t know.”

  “How could you? I told you. It just happened.”

  “If I’d known we were going to be short-handed I would have…”

  “What? Moved the wedding? Put off your honeymoon?” Thad laughed, “No. You wouldn’t have. I think Mills might’ve had something to say about that too.”

  “You couldn’t have known we’d be short handed. Two of the new hires quit last week, another failed his firearm safety class. With Kellen out on leave for his knee surgery and you on honeymoon, we need Ty. If we didn’t, Vaughn wouldn’t have asked him to change his plans.”

  “Yeah, but he didn’t ask, did he?” Hunter groaned.

  “Does he ever?” Isaac shrugged.

  Hunter rubbed his face as another level of exhaustion hit him. No, Vaughn never asked. He told, he ordered, he directed. He didn’t know how to ask for help. It might have killed him if he’d tried. Instead he’d demanded Tyler cancel his plans, fought with him about it, and then probably told him that if he didn’t show to work the wedding that he’d fire him. That was standard Vaughn protocol when dealing with Tyler.

  He had wedding stress, he had plans to make, he had work to sort out. And now he’d have to make time to smooth everything between his brothers over before he said I do and cut out of town, otherwise one of them might not be breathing when he got back.

  He blew out a rough breath, “I’ll talk to them.”

  “They’ll work it out. They always do.” Isaac shook his head, “Just don’t bail on Ty tonight. Not yet. I know this isn’t your scene, but he did put some thought into it to make it nice for you.”

  “Yeah, okay.” He nodded his agreement and took another swig of his whiskey. “But where the hell did he disappear to?”

  “I think I see him headed this way.” Isaac grinned.

  Thad turned around and laughed, “Damn. That was a good job keeping him in his chair, Sac. Guilt trip him about his brothers. Good call.”

  Hunter looked between them, “What?”

  “Nothing.” Isaac smirked.

  “You only said all that to make me stay?” Hunter gaped. “It’s not true?”

  “Oh it’s true, but the only reason I told you about it now was to keep you from leaving.” Isaac gave a grin that was only half apologetic. “I promised your brother I wouldn’t let you run out while he was busy getting you your present.”

  “Present?” Hunter raised his eyebrows at the same time Blake let out a wolf whistle.

  “Told you it was going to get better.” Blake winked and lifted one finger from his beer bottle to point over Hunter’s shoulder. “Take a look, bud. A pretty present just waiting to be unwrapped just walked through the door.”

  Hunter turned and lost the ability to breathe. His friends were a bunch of assholes. His brother was a lying little shit. But his fiancée, who was walking through the club with Tyler at her side and her friends trailing behind her, was an absolute fucking knockout.

  How had he gotten so damn lucky?

  Millie was wearing a short white dress that was the complete opposite of sweet. It was short and sexy and showed off way too much of her pretty pale skin. Plus, the color all but glowed under the neon lights of the nightclub, making her look like a beacon that no doubt every man in the place had noticed and was drooling over. Her dark hair was pinned up again, showing off her slim neck and angular features, and he wanted nothing more than to drag her out of this dark bar instantly so that he was the only man that got to see her looking like the sexiest smart girl in the world.

  “Stop staring.” He barked at Blake when he turned back and when his friend didn’t immediately look away, he kicked him in the shin.

  “Ow!” Blake cursed.

  “I said, stop staring at my fiancée.”

  “Who says I was staring at your fiancée?” Blake raised a daring eyebrow, “Maybe I was checking out the hot redhead trailing along behind her.”

  Hunter growled, “That’s worse, Blake.”

  “How is that worse?” Blake threw his hands up.

  “Because that’s my little sister.”

  “Oh shit.” Blake’s eyes went wide even as they winged back over Hunter’s shoulder and he blinked several times before shaking his head. “No. No way. Your little sister is like ten dude, and last I checked she was a blonde.”

  “Yeah and last I checked you haven’t seen her in about ten years so stop staring before I pluck your eyes out and use them as olives for my fiancée’s drink.”

  Blake’s Adam’s apple bobbed, “That’s Tatum?”

  “Jesus man. Did you suffer a brain injury I don’t know about? Yes. That’s Tatum. And unless you want…”

  “Fine.” Blake held his hands
up, “No more threats necessary. Message received. I’m going to the john.”

  Blake crawled over the back of their booth and strolled away in the other direction. Hunter glared at his friend’s back until he caught the flash of moonbeam white out of the corner of his eye. He turned as Millie rushed toward him and he opened his arms, letting her throw herself into his lap.

  “Surprise!” She giggled as she planted kisses across his cheek.

  He laughed as he caught her, “Is the surprise that you’re here or that you’re drunk?”

  “I’m not drunk.” She squinted, making her nose scrunch up in that adorable way he loved and her glasses wiggled lopsidedly. “But the girls did take me to get some drinks for my bachelorette party before we came here to meet you.”

  “Mmm, you went drinking with my sister. That explains it.” He shot Tatum a look but she only slid into the seat that Blake had vacated and picked up Hunter’s glass of whiskey, downing it before putting it back on the table.

  “What?” She blinked, looking around the table to see everyone staring. “I didn’t get her drunk on purpose.”

  “Do you ever do anything on purpose?” Tyler taunted as he pushed Tatum aside and slid into the booth next to her, trapping her between him and Isaac.

  “Sometimes.” Her lips curled mischievously, “And then sometimes it’s more fun just to throw a Hail Mary and see where it lands.”

  “With you, darling, I think the better analogy is a grenade.” Isaac wrapped a protective arm around the back of the seat and they all laughed as Tatum punched him in the ribs.

  Hunter turned his attention back to Millie, “I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “Well I’m not. Yet.” She giggled again and leaned her forehead against his, “But a girl can always hope.”

  He chuckled, “Such a naughty girl you turned out to be.”

  “And you love me for it.”

  “I do.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and smiled, “I love you, Mills.”

  “I love you too.” She nuzzled his neck, nibbling on his ear. “What do you say we get out of here? Go home? Play naked twister?”