Page 74 of Imperfect Saint
“I was too scared to say it earlier. I’m sorry, I should have told you before all of this… mess. I was just scared. You scared me Hunter.” She shook her head when he frowned, “Not in a bad way. I know you’d never hurt me. Not like that. But loving you, admitting I love you, it meant opening my heart up to a whole new kind of hurt. I was scared, but I’m not scared anymore because when I thought I was going to die, that was the one thing I wished I’d done in my life. To tell you the truth and tell you that I love you. I didn’t want to die and you never know how much I loved you.”
Hunter tightened his hold on her, “I knew, Mills. I’ve known for a while. You didn’t have to say the words for me to know how you felt about me. You show me every day, every time we’re together. I knew you loved me but I didn’t want to push you for the words. I wanted you to know for sure, for yourself, before you told me. Hearing it out loud? It’s a dream come true, baby.”
“You knew?”
“I hoped. I paid attention and I hoped that all the little things you did for me without even thinking about it meant that you were falling in love with me too.”
“Little things?” She raised an eyebrow.
“You order pizza with me in mind now. Half of it is always covered in jalapenos because I like them even though you don’t. You set up the DVR to record The Walking Dead for me because I miss it if I’m working late. And sometimes you text me out of the blue for no reason except to say you’re thinking of me, and you hope I’m having a good day. Millie, God, those messages, those simple little things and a hundred others are what get me through my days until I get to come back home to you.”
Millie chewed on the inside of her cheek as she thought about what he was saying. Shehadstarted doing all of those things for him. She’d also given him space in her closet to hang his suits and a drawer for clean socks and underwear. She cooked him meals even though when she was alone, she didn’t usually bother, instead opting for takeout. She supposed, without even thinking about it, she had been opening herself up to him and inviting him in more and more.
She’d been telling him she loved him without using the words.
She glanced up and met his gaze, “Well?”
“Well?” He raised an eyebrow and she flattened her mouth into a thin line.
“Well, isn’t there something you want to tell me now?”
He looked puzzled, “No. Can’t think of anything.”
“Hunter!” She shoved his chest and a smile cracked through his expression a moment before he chuckled and pulled her back against him.
“I love you, Millie Turner. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t ever want to go another day without hearing you say you love me too.”
Tears glistened in her eyes but she managed to nod, “I think that can be arranged.”
Hunter hugged her and held her close and she burrowed against his chest. His embrace was her safe space. She knew nothing could hurt her here. She should have known if she could trust him with her safety that she could trust him with her heart, and some part of her must have or else she’d never have let him in.
She’d built up her walls after everything Joshua had put her through but Hunter had come along and scaled them. More than that, he was now the guard on duty, full-time, one hundred percent. He would keep her safe and cherished and he would love her with as much passion and loyalty as he put into everything else in his life.
And even though she knew there would be dark days ahead, where they’d have to relive this awful night, face Joshua and all that he had done, she knew that there was a light at the end of the tunnel for her and Hunter.
They would walk out the other side of this hand in hand and then they could start building the rest of their lives together, just the two of them. Somewhere next to her on the floor, Simmons mewled from her carrier, clearly unhappy with her current situation, and Millie smiled against Hunter’s chest. Well, maybe not just the two of them. For now it would be her and Hunter and Simmons and someday soon, maybe that dog she’d always wanted too.
22
Six Months Later
Hunter woke up in bed alone and grumbled as he swiped a hand over his face. It took him a second, as it always did when he first opened his eyes, to place his surroundings. This was home now but he was used to waking up with Millie in his arms and she was already up and out of bed, which he didn’t like. He’d been hoping to wake up with her warm, sleepy body draped over his so that he could make love to her again before they started their day.
Morning sex was definitely the best part of sharing a bed and a home. They’d moved in together a little more than three months ago, after spending nearly that long searching for the perfect place. He’d have moved into the first place they looked at but for Millie, their new place needed to be perfect so that was what he’d tried to give her.
The townhome they’d found was centered exactly so that they could each get to work easily in the mornings and also so they could head to the country for a long weekend if they wanted. Millie liked to head out to the stables and go riding and he had to admit even he had started to get comfortable around the horses and around Millie’s father. They’d been spending more time out at the manor in Brentwood since Millie had begun repairing her relationship with her father and that had all started as soon as Chuck had severed his ties with the Bell family, or what was left of it.
Somewhere, Joshua Bell was sitting in a tiny cell, most likely on a bunkbed half the size and ten times less comfortable than the bed Hunter had woken up in. Joshua would be spending the rest of his life there. Not just for attempting to murder Millie and killing Kendra. They’d found out later, after that awful night from hell, exactly why he’d snapped and the brutal things he’d done before he ever got to Millie’s apartment building.
Joshua’s father had called him to come home to discuss the rumors of what had happened at the Turner wedding. They’d argued and his father had threatened to disown him, cut him out of the will and leave him with nothing. Joshua had lost it and he’d attacked his own father. The details weren’t exact but amid the struggle Joshua had gotten his hands on the gun his father kept in his desk and he’d shot the old man in the chest and then left him to die. With Mrs. Bell out of town visiting her mother, nobody had found the body until the next day when the police tried to contact him with the news of his son’s arrest.
The senior Mr. Bell had been the first victim of Joshua’s murderous night but he hadn’t been the last. Kendra had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Security feeds showed that she’d tried to stop Joshua from entering the elevator since Millie had removed him from her approved guest list and he’d shot her in cold blood at close range. Next, he’d gone upstairs with every intention of killing the woman he blamed for his life falling apart.
It was a miracle that Millie had survived. If Joshua hadn’t been so set on having the last word, he may have managed it. But instead of catching her off guard he’d confronted her, argued with her and Millie had been strong enough and smart enough, to escape his clutches.
It had been a close call, far too close, and Hunter hated even thinking about what he would have done with his life if he’d lost Millie that night.
It had been a long six months since. There had been police interviews and court appearances. The media had jumped on the story and kept it in the headlines daily. They’d staked out Millie’s old place, just like Hunter had known they would, and she’d all but moved in with him.
