Page 62 of Imperfect Saint
“Figures.”
Hunter narrowed his eyes at that one seemingly simple word. To anyone else it might not sound like much but he knew his younger brother better than anyone. That one word was layered with so much subtext Hunter didn’t know where to begin digging into it.
He frowned, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.” Hunter stared his brother down, “Say whatever it is you want to say, Ty.”
Tyler gave a heavy sigh and looked away before he spoke again, “It’s just, you’ve been spending a lot of time with her this last month or so.”
“Yeah. She’s my girlfriend. That’s what guys do when they actually date a woman and not just sleep with them and never call again.”
“Ouch.” Tyler put a hand to his heart, as if the comment stung but Hunter only rolled his eyes. “Fine. You’re right. I don’t keep women around. Never found one worth keeping, but it seems like you have.”
Hunter had a feeling he knew where this conversation was going now but still he nodded, “Yeah. I intend to keep Millie around for a long time, forever if she’ll let me.”
Tyler gave a nod of understanding, “So, you plan to keep her. Make her your family. You got any plans to introduce her to the rest of your family anytime soon?”
And there it was, the other shoe dropping.
He’d been enjoying his time with Millie so much that he’d been neglecting his family. He was only surprised that it was Tyler calling him out for it. Not Vaughn or Tatum. Tyler was by far the most easy-going of the bunch so if he’d noticed that Hunter was carefully keeping Millie secluded from the family, the others had too.
He scrubbed a hand through his hair, “You’ve been talking amongst yourselves about this, huh?”
Tyler shrugged, “We just want to meet her, Hunt. Why is that such a bad thing?”
“It’s not.” Hunter blew out a rough breath, “I just like having her to myself and… I don’t want to overwhelm her.”
“We won’t overwhelm her.”
“Of course you will. The first time I bring her to family dinner you know exactly what will happen.” He exchanged a look with Tyler and shook his head, “Vaughn will interrogate her, and Tatum will be a total bitch because she’ll finally have to face the fact she won’t always be the center of our universe.”
“Well, that part is probably true.” Tyler grinned.
“She’s not ready for that. When she is, when we’re both ready, I’ll introduce her to you, okay?”
“Look, Hunt, it’s just that you and this girl…”
“Millie. Her name is Millie.” He cut his brother off with a scowl, “I’ve said her name to you a million times. Can you really not remember it or are you just trying to piss me off?”
“Sorry. Millie.” Tyler held his hands up, “You and Millie are pretty serious huh?”
“Yes.”
“Then she has to meet the family eventually. You might as well get it over with. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Fine. You’ve had your say. Now I’m having mine. Eventually is not today and it’s not going to be Sunday either. Not this week.”
Tyler rolled his eyes, “Fine. Whatever. Go have fun with your girl. Millie.”
When he stood and started to turn and leave Hunter sighed, “What was it you came in here to show me?”
“Nothing, don’t worry about it. It’s stupid.” Tyler shook him off, “I got tickets to that big base-jumping event in South America. It’s not for a while. I’ll show you all the details some other time.”
“Okay. Cool.”
“Yeah. Cool. See you later.” Tyler disappeared around the corner and Hunter let him go.
