Page 71 of Prudence
At the end of dinner, Gigi and Pablo settled in with my parents to watch a TV show, while I offered to drive Milly home. She stated she was quite happy to walk, but then she saw that it was beginning to drizzle and gladly accepted the lift.
“So, you’re sure you want to come to London?” she asked when I pulled to a stop outside her house. I got out and came around to her side.
“Of course, I’m sure,” I said as I helped her out before walking her to her door. I ran my fingers along her jaw then pressed a chaste kiss to her temple. “Why? Do you want me to come?”
“It’s just that we’ll all be staying in Colin’s house, and I wasn’t sure if you’d want to—"
“I’m comfortable enough in my masculinity not to feel threatened by Deirdre’s father, if that’s what you’re asking,” I said with a hint of teasing.
“No, it’s not that. There’s nothing between me and Colin aside from friendship, and besides, he won’t be there. I was more referring to the fact that we’ll be sleeping under the same roof, and since we’re taking things slow for the sake of the girls, I thought maybe you wouldn’t be comfortable with that.”
Smiling, I leaned down to softly brush my lips over hers as I let out a heavy exhale. “Resisting you will be hard, of course, but I think I’ll be able to struggle through it. Just about.”
Milly giggled when I tickled her hips, and the sound did something strange to my chest. I wanted to hear it again. Every day.
“Well, in that case, I look forward to the trip.” She paused, pulling her lower lip between her teeth as she gazed up at me. “Would you like to come in for some tea? We could finally discuss that … subject you wanted to speak about.”
Despite being the one to bring it up, she seemed apprehensive. I noticed the faint nervous flicker of her throat, the pressing together of her suddenly dry lips. I didn’t want to cause her unease, so I took her hand in mine, interlinking our fingers and brushing my thumb back and forth over her rapidly increasing pulse. “About that, you don’t have to tell me. I mean, if you ever feel comfortable discussing it, fine, I’ll be happy to have the conversation. But right now, it’s clearly still stressing you out, and I never want to be the source of your discomfort, so let’s just put that one on hold for now.”
The relief in her eyes told me it was the right decision. “You’re far too patient,” she said, eyelashes fluttering.
“I care about you a lot; that’s all,” I murmured, lifting her hand and maintaining eye contact as I pressed a hot kiss to her knuckles. “Besides,” I went on. “If I go inside with you right now, there’s no way I’m coming back out any time soon. Neither one of us will get a wink of sleep,” I told her huskily. “And I have to be up at six in the morning for an important meeting, so …”
Milly’s chest rose and fell rapidly, and the idea of her thinking about all the ways I planned to keep her up all night in the not-too-distant future had me seriously considering foregoing sleep. But she lifted our linked hands, returning myknuckle kiss by nuzzling my wrist, and the action made me want to growl.
“I better not keep you any longer, then,” she said. “Goodnight, Derek.”
Stepping back, I reluctantly dipped my head to her. “’Night, Camille. Sleep tight.”
***
I vastly underestimated what it would take to free me up for those two nights in London. I barely had a chance to see my own kids, never mind carve out some time for Milly. I even ended up having to grab a flight early on Saturday morning instead of flying over with Milly and Gigi on Friday afternoon.
When the taxi pulled up outside the three-storey Victorian townhouse that belonged to Deirdre’s father, I was reluctantly impressed. I mean, we Balfes weren’t short of money by any stretch of the imagination, but this Colin Morgan had to be seriously wealthy to own a place like this, especially in such an upscale part of the city.
You will not be intimidated.
I knocked on the door, and when it opened, Milly appeared. She wore a calf-length black dress that hugged her hips and breasts in a way that had my mind wandering. I noticed she wore a light cardigan and had her handbag over her shoulder like she was about to leave to go somewhere.
“Perfect. You’re here just in time,” she breathed, taking me in. “How was your flight?”
I grimaced. “Horrendously early.”
“Poor baby,” she murmured, a smile tugging at her lips as she reached out as though to hug me but then realised the girls were inside. Something deflated inside me because after the last two weeks of barely seeing her, I really needed that hug. The good thing was that the transition for me taking over Dad’s role at the hotels was now complete, so things wouldn’t be quite sohectic going forward. All I wanted to do was push her up against the wall, sink my face into her neck and breathe her in. But no. That was a selfish instinct. I needed to put Gigi first. I wouldn’t upset her during this trip, but I decided that once we got home tomorrow evening, Iwouldtell her. She deserved my honesty. I just hoped the news didn’t upset her too much.
“The girls are in the living room,” Milly said. “I promised my aunt I’d meet her for brunch, but I’ll be back in an hour or two. Deirdre’s taking Gigi to visit her friend, Shelly, this evening. She lives just down the street. They’ll probably be eating dinner there. Is that okay? I can have Shelly’s mother call you for a chat if you’re not comfortable with Gigi going to a stranger’s house, but I promise you, they’re lovely people. I’ve known them for years.”
“That’s okay. I’ll trust your judgement,” I told her, fixated on the mention of her aunt. The woman had always disliked me, and I worried about her badmouthing me to Milly like I suspected she’d done when we were younger. But no, Milly was no longer an impressionable teenage girl, and I had faith that she wouldn’t be so easily influenced.
“All right, well, I’ll be late if I don’t leave now, but Deirdre will show you where you’re sleeping. The room has a connected bathroom if you need to shower or anything.”
“Go,” I told her fondly. “I’ll see you later.”
With a final smile, she went, and I battled down the instinct to beg her not to mention me being back in her life to her aunt for fear the woman might ruin what was building between us before it even got started.
23.
Milly
