16. Millie
16
MILLIE
I sprint along the beach, my mind racing as fast as my legs, some base instinct and fear triggered by Finn growling at me and telling me to run.
And the husky promise of what he’ll do if he catches me—when he catches me—surges through my arteries as strongly as the blood and adrenaline.
Why am I running? Do I really just want my parents’ cottage back, and a sane, normality? The lonely life.
My feet slip on the sand. Waves sweep up the shore.
I keep running.
The cottage that is all remaining of parents who never loved Noah and me enough to put us first, and ultimately left us without the care we needed.
I thought I was upset about losing the cottage, but am I? Really? Or was it only the symbol of what I believed could have been, if only everything had been different.
My arms flail as the beach opens up around me, the endless empty space of the calm sea to one side, and the shadows of the forest on the other. I’m so exposed here, but Finn is just behind.
“I’m coming for you, pet,” he calls, his deep voice reverberating eerily through the half-darkness.
Panic grips me, making my legs move quicker. The simple movement allows my mind to clear in a way it hasn’t for months. I’ve been tied up in a mess of knots, not knowing where to turn to since my brother started gambling more seriously.
My feet pound the sand, and my head is gloriously empty of doubt.
Finn would give me the cottage, I’m certain of that, if I can just get inside.
Finn Kilburn calmly allowed me to kidnap him, and rescued Noah. He gave me what I didn’t even know I wanted, ignited desires I’ve never needed until now.
“That’s it, run,” Finn calls, and he’s closer than I expected, sparking me to push more.
My legs are burning, my chest heaving. I can’t get in air quickly enough, dragging it in desperately as I keep moving myself forward, towards the cottage.
“A baby.”
Oh my god. That.
He does want to have sex with me. Was he holding back all this time we’ve spent together? I can’t think why, but there’s no mistaking him now.
“The first of many. We Irish do love to have big families.” Heat thuds between my legs as I run.
My heart is so light I feel like it’s lifting me upwards. Like I might float away from being so happy. It’s Finn. This man is everything I never dared confess to myself or anyone else that I wanted. After a lifetime of taking care of my brother, and making up for our parents being careless, someone wants to look after me.
I don’t even have to make decisions, or be good. He’s happy to take charge, and after caring for Noah my whole life and patients at work, I love that he does.
“I’m going to get you,” he rasps and he’s right behind me. The shock makes me stumble on the sand, but somehow, I catch myself and continue sprinting. How he didn’t snatch hold as I slowed, I don’t know.
But I don’t look back. I train my eyes on the cottage.
The door is there, open for me to enter through, and take my prize.
“Millie.” He’s a breath away.
I’m feet from the cottage door.
I can do it. I can get through.
I could make this place mine again, a solace and a reminder of what I didn’t lose because I never really had it.
Family. Love.
Or I could veer to the side, and run alongside the stone walls of the house and towards the forest, and belong to the man who held me and listened and stroked my hair as I told him every heavy secret in my heart. And who made me sob with pleasure.
It’s no more than a thought, then a pair of strong arms catch me around my waist, snatching me up to a hard chest that’s above my shoulder blades. A big, muscled Irishman.
Finn.
He’s caught me.
I’m his.