Page 33 of Limits
‘Er …’ Millie trailed off. She didn’t want to insult Kira, but she didn’t know her. Not really. It took a long time for Millie to trust anybody. If she could have lied she would have, but she’d never been very good at that either.
Kira just smiled. ‘I don’t blame you, Professor X.’ This nickname had been a new development over the last week; something to do with x-rays and Millie’s ‘super-powered brain’. Millie was not about to object; she vastly preferred it to Nuclear Winter. ‘I wouldn’t trust me either, but I’m not a bitch. You only ever incurred the stick-up-her-arse Kira ’cause I thought youwerea bitch.’
‘I’m sorry about that,’ Millie whispered, heat flooding her cheeks. ‘Sometimes I just don’t know how to –’
‘Hey,’ Kira said in a soft voice, one that Millie hadn’t ever heard her use before, ‘I understand now, okay? You just be you, X. The rest of us need to get over ourselves. We find that mega-brain of yours intimidating sometimes, is all.’
‘Kira, stop embarrassing her. God, it’s like a disease with you,’ a deep voice sounded from down the hallway.
Millie peeked around Kira’s body and froze. She was kind of getting used to Pav now. In the two weeks since he’d first come to Gammy’s home he had made lots of trips down to the department to hang out in her office with her and Don, bringing her coffees, asking unnecessary questions about that week’s MDT, shooting weirdly hostile glances at the head of her department. He’d even come back to the residential home for bingo night again where they managed to convince him to give a talk on urology. The fact that most of the residents were women and didn’t have the necessary equipment to make the in and outs of prostate disease relevant to them did not seem to put them off: it was a record turn-out for an outside speaker; Millie doubted that even Mary Berry would draw that much of a crowd.
Well, she may have been getting used to him, but that didn’t mean his sheer physical beauty and charisma wasn’t a shock for a few moments every time she saw him again. Tonight he had on a fitted shirt, which showed off his broad shoulders and well-defined chest. His jaw was covered in dark stubble, and his thick dark hair looked a good couple of weeks past needing a cut; the hint of a curl at the ends where it met his shirt collar gave Millie the inexplicable urge to throw herself into his arms and run her fingers through it. She was losing her mind.
Pav saw her as Kira moved to the side and, just like he had for the last two weeks whenever their eyes met, he smiled his wide, glamorous smile and she felt her stomach drop and heat hit her cheeks.
‘Woah!’ he said through his smile, covering the distance between them in just four long strides, then placing his hands on her hips and looking her up and down for a long moment, before his eyes came back to hers. His smile had dimmed and his expression was almost fierce; then he blinked and shook his head as if to clear it. ‘You look amazing,’ he whispered in her ear after he’d kissed her cheek. She felt him inhale at her neck for a long moment before he pulled back and took her hand in his. Once her dazed expression cleared and her mind started to function again, she regained the power of speech.
‘Uh … hi,’ she breathed. His smile widened even more and he tugged her forward.
‘Right, where’s your coat?’ he asked, glancing down at her legs and frowning. ‘You got any floor-length ones?’
‘She has two floor-length coats,’ El chimed in. She was standing next to Kira in the hallway and for some reason they were both grinning at Millie like crazy people. ‘One black cashmere, one camel wool. I recommend the black cashmere.’ El slipped past them and rooted through the coats on the stand until she found what she was looking for.
‘Wow, you guys sure know each other’s wardrobes well.’
‘El is the best personal shopper in Selfridges,’ Millie explained. ‘She’s picked out everything I own.’
‘Okay,’ Pav said with a little frown of confusion. ‘Er …’ He trailed off: maybe it was better not to get into this zone. What did he know about women and fashion? Maybe theyallhad personal shoppers. He thought about Kira’s general attire and then Libby’s ratty trainers and jeans and rapidly dismissed that idea.
‘I can’t choose clothes for myself,’ Millie explained in a small voice. ‘I … I haven’t got any taste and it’s really important to me that everything is … I mean, that I look …’ She looked down at her feet and pulled her hand out of Pav’s to take the coat El was extending to her.
‘You just want to look right,’ El said softly. ‘There’s nothing wrong with that. And youdohave taste.’
Millie rolled her eyes. ‘El, I never make any comments on what you pick for me.’
‘I can tell when you don’t like something,’ El told her as Pav took the coat from Millie’s hands and held it out for her. It took a moment for Millie to actually put her arms through the relevant sleeves, she was so shocked by a gesture she’d only ever encountered with Don before. ‘You wrinkle your nose.’
‘I … what?’ Millie had lost the thread of the conversation. She now had the coat on and Pav’s hands were resting on her shoulders.
‘When you don’t like something. You wrinkle your nose. I always pick out the stuff that is nose-wrinkle free.’
‘I … really?’
‘Millie. I’ve been working with you for the last five years. You know … I got promoted two years ago – I’m in management now. But I like working with you so much that I come down from the offices to the shop floor for your appointments. You have taste. What you’re short on is confidence.’
‘Um … thanks,’ Millie said, giving El a weak smile, choosing to keep the fact she didn’t agree with El to herself. Millie was a pragmatist: she knew what she was good at and what she wasn’t. She was not good with people, and she did not have any taste. These were facts. They were not the product of low self-confidence.
‘Okay, X and co.,’ Kira cut it, pulling her own lime-green fake fur coat on and ushering them all out of the door. ‘Time to roll out. I guess you can come with for the ride, Pretty Boy.’
‘I’m staying with Millie for more than just the ride, Kira.’
Kira scanned his outfit and then smiled in a distinctly evil way.
‘This’ll be fun,’ she told them all as they left the house.
*****
‘There is a man, with just a … a scrap of leather covering his genitalia, dancing in that cage,’ Millie said, her wide eyes fixed to the site above her and her mouth hanging open. ‘He’s all shiny. Why is he so shiny?’ She tilted her head to the side and squinted in order to get a better look, much to Pav’s annoyance.
