Chapter 38
MYA
It’s Brianna’s fourteenth birthday, and Worth’s house is a cacophony of noise.
And every passing minute brings me closer to the moment where my worlds collide.
It’s now been four months since Worth and I got married—four months of settling into this strange, beautiful in-between where nothing feels entirely real and everything feels deeply personal all at once.
My parents, however, have been snow-birding out of the state since before the wedding, and have been spared from the immediate chaos of my very unexpected life choices.
But they’re back and are coming over today. They want to see with their own eyes that I’m okay. That I’m happy, and that marrying my boss wasn’t a spectacular lapse in judgment.
I’ve been pretending I’m calm about it, but my stomach has felt like a shaken soda can all morning.
Tiana’s playlist is blasting from the kitchen speakers, balloons are taped to every available surface, and I’m holding a tray of pastel cupcakes that look like they belong in a bakery window instead of Worth’s kitchen.
“Careful!” Tiana yells from the living room, where she’s helping Brianna test out a foot bath. “Don’t you dare ruin the frosting before the guests arrive!”
“I’m not even touching it!” I retort.
“You’re breathing too close to it.” Tiana turns to Brianna who is messing with the green clay mask covering her face. TJ swats her hand away.
“Beauty requires discipline, young padawan.”
I laugh, setting the cupcakes down beside the mountain of pink towels and nail polish bottles. “Please don’t turn Bri into a skincare Jedi.”
Tiana winks at me. “Hey, she asked for a spa day. I’m just delivering luxury. Do you know how hard it was to get the Glow Haus estheticians here for free?”
When I first told Tiana about Brianna, I should’ve known they’d hit it off instantly. My sister has this uncanny ability to charm kids on sight. Within ten minutes of meeting, she’d made Bri her honorary little sister and had her giggling like they’d known each other for years.
“You didn’t have to do that, TJ. Worth could’ve paid.”
She waves me off like I’ve just insulted her religion. “Please. Exposure is currency. They should be thanking me.”
Brianna bounces in her seat, beaming. “This is the best birthday ever! Thank you, Tiana and Mya!”
My chest warms. Bri looks so happy—and seeing that smile almost makes me forget that this is temporary.
Almost.
Worth’s deep voice cuts through the noise. “You two really outdid yourselves.”
I turn and nearly forget how to breathe.
He’s leaning against the doorway, wearing a navy Henley that clings in all the right places, sleeves pushed up his forearms, and light-wash jeans dusted with a layer of sawdust. He must’ve been in his workshop again, finishing up Brianna’s gift.
I’ll never get used to seeing him like this.
Worth Miller is the picture of perfection in tailored suits, cufflinks, and that CEO polish that makes everyone else shrink a little when he walks into a room. But this version of him? All rugged and effortless and impossibly male is dangerous for my libido.
The first time I found him dressed casually, coffee mug in hand, barefoot, hair still damp from the shower, I nearly choked on my own drink. It’s been months, and the effect hasn’t worn off—if anything, it’s worse now.
He looks relaxed in a way that feels intimate, as if only the people closest to him get to see him like this. And my body has the audacity to respond like it’s never seen a man before.
Worth chuckles faintly, like he can read every thought running through my head.
“Don’t look so surprised,” I say, crossing my arms. “Did you not think we were capable of turning our house into a teenage girl’s dream?”
He steps closer, lowering his voice. “That’s not what surprises me.”
“What, then?”
“The way you’re looking at me, pretty girl.”
Before I can respond, he bends and presses a light kiss to my forehead. The gesture steals the air from my lungs. It’s so gentle, so… married.
For a second, I let myself pretend this is real.
“You’re worried about your parents,” he states, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“Worried is… a word,” I mutter. “They trust me. But they also think you’re either Prince Charming or a walking red flag.”
A hint of amusement warms his eyes. “Let them decide. I’m just going to show up as myself.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I tease weakly, but the truth is: that’s what comforts me most. He won’t perform. He’ll just be Worth.
He reaches over then, brushing his fingers over mine. “We’re okay,” he says simply. And somehow, I believe him.
“Worth,” I whisper in protest when his lips brush the side of my neck, acutely aware of Tiana and Brianna close by.
Worth smirks against my skin. “Also, don’t think I didn’t notice how you said our house.”
Shit. I didn’t even realize it. “I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.” He cuts me off with a nibble to my ear.
“There will be six teenage girls in this house any minute. And my parents. We can’t.”
His grin melts and infuriates me all at once. “Can’t what, exactly?” He takes my hand, his thumb stroking slow circles against my palm, and pulls me gently toward the kitchen. My heart pounds as he opens the pantry door.
We’ve been dancing around the tension like it might bite if we get too close.
It’s almost as if something opened between us, but also built a higher wall neither of us has dared to climb.
Maybe because we’re both afraid of what is waiting on the other side.
Of how far we’d fall if we let ourselves step over it.
At least, that’s why I haven’t.
But to say I don’t crave him would be a lie. Every brush of his hand, every look that lasts a moment too long, chips away at whatever’s left of my restraint. And now, seeing him like this—casual, dusted with sawdust, eyes dark with hunger—I know I’m not going to last much longer.
Worth hushes me with a look, his eyes dark. “Five minutes. Then I’ll let you go play hostess.”
He pulls me into the pantry and shuts the door behind us. The quiet swallows us whole.
Before I can speak, his mouth finds mine, and I press against him instantly. The taste of him, the rough slide of his hands, and the faint scrape of calluses against my skin is too good.
My fingers find the back of his neck, then his hair, tugging him closer until I can feel his pounding heartbeat and the hard ridges of his body against mine. The kiss deepens, turning wild, until I forget where I end and he begins.
Worth’s hand slides to my throat and squeezes lightly, eliciting a moan out of me.
A low growl rumbles from his chest as he lifts me effortlessly, my back meeting the door. Instinct takes over, and I wrap myself around his waist and start grinding on his erection.
“That’s my pretty girl,” he groans against my lips, still squeezing on my neck.
When he breaks the kiss, we’re both breathing hard, foreheads pressed together.
“It’s almost like you knew I’d be fucking you today, wearing a skirt that makes you look just like a slutty wife,” he whispers.
He reaches under and rips my panties off.
I gasp, still trying to catch my breath. “You owe me underwear, panty thief.”
He smiles sinfully. “Fuck your panties, Mya. If it were up to me, you’d never wear them again.”
Then Worth kisses me—harder this time.
He unbuckles his jeans and pulls them down, freeing himself from his briefs. His cock is hard, glistening, ready to take me. And I almost salivate at the sight.
His breath ghosts against my ear. “Like what you see?”
I bite my lip and nod. “Fuck me, please?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” He plunges deep inside me in one rough thrust, placing a palm over my mouth. “Quiet, Kitten. We wouldn’t want anyone hearing how good your husband fucks you.”
Whenever Worth uses the word ‘husband,’ my body answers before my brain can catch up, betraying every line I’ve tried to draw between us.
He continues to fuck me against the pantry door, hard and fast, as I moan under his hand, feeling the fast climb of my orgasm swell inside me.
“Tell me you’re close, baby. I don’t know if I can hold it any longer,” he mumbles, kissing down my neck.
“Yes, I am,” I breathe, throwing my head back.
Worth creates some space between us, and spits down where we are joined, using his thumb to swirl his saliva on my clit.
“Fuck, Mya,” he groans, working me until I can barely make a coherent thought. “You don’t know what you do to me.” Worth picks up the speed, causing an inhale to get stuck in my throat. “This pussy is mine. You’re mine.”
And just like that, my climax erupts, almost blinding me. A scream tears from my throat, but Worth brings his hand back to my mouth, muffling the sound.
Seconds later, I feel his cock swell inside me, his own release filling me up.
I’m still struggling to catch my breath when Worth sets me on my feet.
“Stand still,” he says, right as I’m about to pull my skirt down.
He gently kicks my legs open and gets on his knees in front of me.
“Worth, what are you doing?”
“Making sure you don’t waste a damn drop,” he replies, just as his cum starts trickling down my thigh. He runs his fingers up my leg to scoop up the mess, before shoving them inside me.
“Oh, God.”
Then he lifts himself up. “Open wide, pretty girl.”
I oblige, and he shoves the sticky digits into my mouth.
“Now suck.”
And I do, really well, sucking them dry.
Worth groans. “If you do that a second longer, I'm going to shove my cock back inside, baby.”
“Your five minutes are up,” I say, swatting him away, even though I don’t really want them to be.
He laughs. “Then I guess I’m out of time.” He kisses me once more, quickly, before we slip out of the pantry, and it leaves my knees a little weak. I smooth down my skirt, trying to look composed, but I know my lips are swollen, cheeks flushed, and that I don’t look remotely innocent.
And of course, that’s exactly when Brianna rounds the corner.