Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
MILLIE
“ G ood morning, beautiful.” I hear just as a pair of lips brush my forehead. “I know we had a long night, but we’ve gotta get moving.”
Groaning, I open my eyes to see Brian fully dressed, waiting for me to drag myself out of bed. When I check my phone, I’m surprised to see that it’s barely after seven. Damn, I’m exhausted.
After the most incredible sex of my life last night, Brian pulled me into the shower and continued his teasing touches while he washed my body. By the time he pushed me against the wall and slid inside me, I was begging him to take me again.
“Umm, do we have something that I’ve forgotten about?” I asked, throwing my arm over my eyes.
“Nope, but come on, I have a surprise for you,” he says, pulling back my arm and giving me an animated smile. While I’m usually not a morning person, the excitement on his face is obvious, so I pull myself out of the bed and hurry to get ready.
“Okay… Where are we going?” I ask, looking through my clothes for something to wear.
“Mills, come on. What part of ‘surprise’ do you not understand?” he teases.
“All right, fine… Gimme ten minutes to get ready,” I respond, grabbing an emerald-green sweater and my favorite pair of jeans.
Throwing on my clothes, I spend a few minutes putting on makeup and running my brush through my knotted hair.
“All right, I’m ready when you are,” I call out so that Brian can hear me in the kitchen before grabbing my cell and heading out of my room.
“Perfect, come on then,” he says as I exit my room and see him sitting at his kitchen island. “I fixed you a cup of coffee. Grab it if you want it on the way out.”
“Bless you,” I tease with a laugh, walking over and taking a large sip out of the blue to-go cup he’s made a habit of fixing for me every morning.
When I first moved in, I worried living with Brian would feel too similar to the penthouse I shared with Allen for the last decade— full of passive aggressive silence and never-ending chores thanks to my ex-husband's unrealistic standards. Instead, living with Brian has been surprisingly fun, and he’s constantly doing little things to show he’s thinking about me, like making my morning coffee and slipping a gallon of chocolate ice cream in the freezer after I mentioned I’d been craving something sweet.
After last night, I’d been briefly concerned that sleeping with him would ruin the easygoing roommate routine we had going, but I should have known better.
“We’ll be outside for a bit this morning, so you'll probably need your jacket,” he says, gesturing to the chair where he threw my jacket last night in his hurry to get me undressed.
“Okay, but can I at least get a hint?” I tease, poking out my lip like I’m pouting.
Immediately, he leans over and sucks my bottom lip into his mouth, kissing me hard enough to leave me breathless. Reaching my arms around his neck, I let out a surprised whimper and melt further into the kiss as one hand pulls me closer and the other wraps around my neck, teasing me slightly and making me moan.
“Damn it, Millie,” he groans, pulling back and pressing his forehead against mine. “I could kiss you all day, but if we don’t get going, I’m gonna end up keeping you hostage in bed. And as good as that sounds, I really want to take you somewhere.”
“I wouldn’t mind that,” I whisper, leaning back in to kiss him again.
He places a light kiss on my mouth before pulling back again, giving me a look of frustration. “Millie, you’re killing me. Please, let me surprise you.”
I can’t help but laugh at the tortured expression on his face. “Fine, fine… I’ll be good. But we better get out of here fast before either of us changes our mind.”
“Yep, you’re right. Let’s go,” he says, gesturing for me to lead the way.
We walk to his truck in silence, and it takes way more willpower than I’d like to admit to resist reaching for him again.
After jumping in the truck, Brian fiddles with the radio for a second before finding the station of Christmas classics and pulling out of the driveway. I have to fight the urge to ask him again where we’re going, but since he seems determined for it to be a surprise, I decide to distract myself by singing loudly to the radio.
I hit a few particularly bad notes, and Brian chuckles, screwing his nose in an overly exaggerated wince at the sound of my singing.
I open my mouth to say something else when the truck slows to a stop. I look out the window to figure out where we are, to see Brian pulling into the parking lot of Coopers’. I shoot him a confused look. “Okayyy, I’m lost. What are we doing here?’
“ Well, I remembered what you said about your ex-husband never wanting any Christmas decorations, and then I thought about how damn hard you’ve been working at the inn, and I just felt like I needed to do something. So, I thought I would surprise you with a Christmas tree, but if you don’t want it…” he starts, but before he can finish, I’m launching myself across the seat and kissing him again.
God, could this man be any more perfect?
I pull away a moment later, squeezing his hand in mine. “Brian, this is perfect. Oh my gosh, I haven’t had a tree in over ten years. Can I decorate it too?”
He shoots me a wide smile before saying, “Of course, Mills. Yesterday when I was in Saddle Ridge, I ran into that store you liked and grabbed all the pink decorations they had. You know the ones you wanted for the inn but wouldn’t get because you thought Deer Valley’s needed to be more traditional?”
I stare at him for a moment, unable to believe he did all this for me. “Brian, I can’t believe you did all this… I just…” I stammer, feeling off kilter by the whole encounter. I truly don’t remember a time that someone did something this nice for me.
After a moment, Brian realizes he’s rendered me speechless, and he leans over and kisses me softly on the lips. “Millie Pouncey, you’d better never forget that you are worthy of someone who treats you like you’re not an inconvenience or an afterthought, because that’s the furthest thing from the truth. Now, let’s go get you that tree.”
I smile at him, feeling myself falling for him a little more with every confession like that he gives me. God, I really think I love this man.
Wait, what? The thought hits me out of nowhere, making my nerves rise for a moment. After everything that happened in D.C., I can’t help but feel anxious at the thought of giving my heart to someone else so soon, especially someone I’ve only known for a month. But at the same time, it only took me days to realize that Brian couldn’t be any more different than my ex-husband if he tried. While Allen looked for ways to control me and make sure I always felt inferior to him, Brian builds me up and makes me feel invincible. As scary as it is to think about how this could end, I refuse to let myself pass up someone who makes me so incredibly happy.
It feels like a weight is lifted as he opens my door, and we walk through the entrance of the tree farm. It’s still before eight on a Saturday morning, so I’m not surprised that the farm is mostly empty other than the cashier working the front register and the attendants cutting down the trees selected for purchase. As we walk, Brian threads his fingers through mine, pulling me closer to him.
“I’m shocked we haven’t seen a soul you know,” I tease him before continuing. “Is it just me waiting for one of the nosey locals to pop out between the trees with a camera? Oh my gosh, imagine what would happen if they saw us like this.”
“Well, I could think of worse things, I reckon,” he says with a wink. “Honestly Millie, I’m not gonna hide how attracted I am to you unless you ask me to. But we’ve got a busy few days getting ready for the gala and I want us to be able to figure out whatever this is between us without all their bullshit. What do you think?”
“Hmm, I think you just don’t want to lose your title of Most Eligible Bachelor, Mr. Mayor,” I taunt playfully, bumping him with my shoulder as we continue walking through the trees.
He rolls his eyes at me before saying sarcastically, “Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.”
“Speaking of which, I know you told me you never brought women home because of Miss Ethel, and you haven’t seriously dated anyone because you were taking care of everyone else, but how in the hell did you keep the women you went out with or hooked up with a secret in this place?” I ask, my tone light, but genuinely curious.
Brian looks down and quirks his brow at my question. “Millie, I think you misunderstood. It’s not that I just didn’t have a girlfriend or bring women home. When I was first elected, Miss Agnes pressured me into going out with her granddaughter. By the time we finished our drinks, there were rumors I was going to propose. On top of everything else, I just didn’t have time to deal with it. So, I haven’t done it in years.”
My jaw drops at his admission. I knew he said his dad getting sick had changed his priorities, but I figured he’d still had flings with women. “Wait, so you mean to tell me that last night…”
“Yeah. I thought you understood. First time in years.”
I open my mouth to reply, but can’t think of an intelligent response before he continues, “Mills, let me be clear. This thing with us isn’t casual for me. Yes, the sex was incredible, but I’m not looking for a casual hookup. I know we haven’t known each other that long, and you’ve got a lot going on. So why don’t we just take this slow and see where it goes. We can talk about it after the holidays.”
“Uhh, oh… okay,” I say, still feeling the shock of his confession and trying to ignore the effect it has on me. I knew last night wasn’t something he regularly did but hearing him share a lot of what I’ve been feeling has me feeling giddy.
“Sooo…back to this Christmas tree. What do you think about that one?” he asks, pointing to a large eight-foot tree to our right.
“It’s perfect,” I say, unable to stop the smile from spreading across my face. “You really didn’t have to do this.”
“I know, Mills, but I wanted to,” he says with a wink.
He motions the attendant over and before I know it, we’re making our way back to the truck with our new tree in tow.
“Before we head home, I’ve gotta grab some paperwork from my office in City Hall. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes,” he tells me as he pulls out of the parking lot.
“Oh, sure. That’s no problem,” I tell him, turning my phone over in the cupholder where I left it earlier. I chuckle to myself when I see some messages from my sister.
Lizzie: Okay, I was trying to be patient, but we both know that’s never been my strong suit.
Lizzie: Please tell me you and that boss of yours are fa la la fucking right now…
Lizzie: COME ON MILLS! I NEED TO KNOW!
Shaking my head at her antics, I debate making her wait before telling her the truth, but gosh I need to talk to someone about all of this.
“I’ll be right back,” Brian says, and I look up to realize we’re already parked in front of City Hall.
He leans over and kisses me before jumping out, and I turn back to my phone, typing.
Me: Ummmmm…
Lizzie: Bitch I swear to God if you don’t spill…
Me: We slept together last night…
Me: Liz, it was fucking incredible.
Me: And then he woke me up this morning and took me to pick out a Christmas tree since I mentioned when I got here that Allen never let me decorate.
Me: And last but not least, he told me that I’m the first woman he’s hooked up with in YEARS…
Lizzie: SIS…
Lizzie: I mean this in the most respectful way possible…
Lizzie: If you don’t fucking marry that man, I will.
Lizzie: Okay, not really, you know I’m more of a city girl. But really, OH MY GOD!!!
Lizzie: There’s a lot here to unpack…
As I read her texts, I finally try to make sense of the events over the last twenty-four hours. Everything has been incredible, but I still don’t really know what we’re doing. I know Brian said he was serious, but what does that look like? And for how long? He said we would talk after the holidays, so he could be planning to try to let me down easy after the gala. Here I am thinking I’m in love with him, but what if he’s just being nice to make sure I don’t leave before the events are finished.
Me: TELL ME ABOUT IT.
Me: I like him so much, but what if he decides it’s not worth the trouble after the holidays. He said we would talk after Christmas, but we haven’t even discussed if Deer Valley Inn wants to keep me on after the gala.
Me: I feel like we’re living in a fantasy right now, and I don’t know what I’ll do if he comes to his senses and ends things. I mean, he’s my boss and we’re living together…
Lizzie: Nope.
Lizzie: I love you sis, but we aren’t doing this.
Lizzie: Do you really think a man is gonna go six years without any on top of doing all this lover boy shit, which you totally deserve by the way, just to send you packing in a week's time. I think the fuck not.
Lizzie: There are times for us to be delusional, but this is not one of them ma’am.
Lizzie: Just try not to think too hard about it and enjoy the time with him. We’ll worry about what comes next when we get there.
I smile at her text, feeling myself start to calm down a bit. The more I think about it, I have to admit she’s probably right. And even if Brian decides he doesn’t want me to stay, it won’t be the first time I have to start over. So really, what’s the harm in enjoying some earth-shattering orgasms in the meantime.
Me: I guess you’re right.
Lizzie: Of course I am *eye roll*
Me: Gah, you’re so humble…
Lizzie: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, back to the important stuff. So… the sex… Tell me everything.
Lizzie: Please tell me Mr. Mayor finally gave you an orgasm… or three…
Me: More like four…
Lizzie: HELL YES!
Lizzie: Christmas miracles really do exist!
Lizzie: Damn it, I’ve gotta get back to this sketch I’m working on. It’s gotta be done before I leave for Christmas and I’m really not sure I can get it done in the next three days. But really sis, don’t forget you deserve to be happy, and fuck anyone or anything that tells you otherwise.
I feel my throat clog at the sincerity of her text. Damn it, I’ve missed her pep talks over the last few years.
Me: Love you big, sis.
Lizzie: Love you bigger Mills, and don’t you forget it.
I throw my phone back in the cupholder just as Brian returns to the truck with a stack of papers folded into a notebook. He jumps in the front seat and leans over, kissing me quickly before he pulls back and throws the truck in reverse.
“Ready to head home and decorate that tree?” he asks, placing his hand over mine, and rubbing my knuckles with his fingertips.
And in that moment, I realize Brian’s house has become more of a home than the cold and uninviting penthouse I shared with Allen ever was. My sister’s right. I’m gonna soak in every moment, every kiss, and every earth-shattering orgasm and worry about the rest later.
I lean over and press a kiss to Brian’s temple, before saying, “Yep, let’s get ready to deck the halls.”