AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Turns out she didn’t know what she really wanted any more than I did.
I forgive her for it. I really do, even if it hurts.
“Why can’t you ever wear a shirt while you’re doing this?”
My stomach falls a hundred stories at the sound of the familiar voice. Looking up, I see Milly standing by the doorway to the stairwell. How did I not hear her?
How did she know where I’d be?
And what the hell is she doing here with her swollen eyes and her fucking adorable bright pink puffer coat?
I don’t realize I’ve dropped my shovel until it lands with a clatter on the floor. Milly and I jump at the sound, my skin suddenly feeling two sizes too tight at her nearness. She’s ten or twenty feet away, but I can still smell her perfume above the earthy, rich scent of the malt.
She is staring at my naked chest. Specifically the tattoos there. The corn, the Capricorn symbol. My nipples harden to tight points, a sensation that echoes through my skin and lands with a hot jolt in my balls.
“I’ll go grab one,” I manage.
“Don’t.” Her eyes flick to mine. “I’m not staying.”
I swallow, the sound enormous in the charged silence between us. “Milly—”
“Why did you and Reese break up?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest. Her hair is tucked into the collar of her coat, making her look cozily, gorgeously disheveled.
Milly never was one to beat around the bush. Her no-bullshit attitude was such a turn-on.
Still is, if my pounding heart and throbbing dick are any indications.
“She started the conversation,” I say, “but ultimately, it was mutual. We realized we were more like friends or roommates than a couple. The spark wasn’t there anymore.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I am too.” Is Milly feeling it? The tension that’s suddenly thickening the air in here?
This, I want to say. This is what was missing with Reese.
“Did your breakup have anything to do with me?” Milly asks with a sniffle. “The timing seems a little suspect.”
She doesn’t have to tell me to be honest. She knows me better than that.
She also doesn’t have to apologize for coming here and asking these questions because she knows I’ll answer them.
I’ve missed this silent communication of ours. How well we knew each other. How we always seemed to be on the same wavelength, no words needed to communicate a need or a thought.
Being known this way—trusted—is hot as hell. Maybe because I’ve struggled to trust myself after what I did to this woman.
I shake my head, suddenly aware of how empty my hands feel hanging by my sides. “No. The timing was just a coincidence. It was going to happen whether or not you were involved in the wedding. Reese and I—” I run a hand across the back of my neck. “We got too caught up in how perfect it all was. Becoming partners in business and in life, uniting our families into this dynasty that—yeah, my dad was just obsessed with.”
“I could tell,” Milly says wryly. “He wouldn’t shut up about wanting to tell the world about y’all getting married.”
I roll my eyes, even as I feel a flutter of panic. “He genuinely believed that if our families were joined, people would lend him more money because the Nobles would step up to pay his debts.” I shake my head. “He’s an idiot. He’s not going to be happy when he hears about the breakup, that’s for damn sure. But I’ll worry about him later. Right now, I want to make sure you know you had absolutely nothing to do with any of this.”
“Really?” Milly’s brows curve upward like she’s so relieved she’s about to cry. “I was so taken aback when Reese called that I started to panic. I loved the two of y’all together. I really did. And I hated the idea that I had a hand in splitting you up.”
I curl my hands into fists. “Why would you think that?”
She shakes her head as she looks away, a few loose pieces of hair falling into her face. “I shouldn’t have confronted you today. I don’t know where it came from. I guess I was feeling overwhelmed.”
“Overwhelmed by planning the wedding?”
She looks back up, her blue eyes so full it makes my chest ache. “By you.”
Aw, fuck.
The silence between us—the tension, the electricity, the searing, sudden need—
Now I’m the one who’s overwhelmed.
“I know the feeling,” I say quietly.
Something in her eyes changes. They sharpen and soften all at once. Before I know what’s happening, she’s charging toward me and I’m charging toward her, my blood pounding through my veins as my body recognizes what’s about to go down before my brain does.
It’s stupid and reckless and selfish, but I couldn’t hold back if I tried. We collide, a breathless tangle of breath and mouths and bodies. Milly fists my nonexistent shirt, her fingers curling into the skin on my chest with painful urgency as I capture her lips in a desperate, open-mouthed kiss.
