6. Milly
He closes the door softly, and I suddenly find myself alone, like really alone, for the first time since coming here. The idiotic part of my brain wants Branch or Archer to come back, but the part with any sense knows I need to stay inconspicuous. Fucking the island”s security guard and my closest neighbor on my first night wouldn”t be considered keeping a low profile.
Also, I need some time to think. If I”m going to masquerade as a shifter, I need to decide on what kind I would be and think of some excuse not to turn into exactly that! But I don”t even know where to start with something as complicated and mysterious as shifting.
Suddenly realizing the shower is still going strong, I hurry inside and peel off my bra and rather moist panties before rushing under the warm water. While debating about different animals, I make sure to scrub every inch of my body before getting out—not like I”m expecting to get laid anytime soon, but I have been traveling all day long.
Once the rather lonely shower is complete, I step outside to dry my hair off and find something to wear. I rummage through trunk after trunk, but Millicent was apparently not a fan of oversized T-shirts or even any kind of night clothes at that.
Letting out a big huff of air, I continue searching the expansive dresser and closet spaces in hopes that I was perhaps supplied a robe or something since this whole place did not come cheap! Luck is on my side, though, and I finally run across a fluffy white bathrobe tucked inside a drawer in the bathroom.
It feels like being wrapped in a toasty cloud, and I snuggle on the simple couch tucked against the wall. Maybe shifter thoughts can wait until the morning; I”d rather relax right now. But I do wish I had something to read since I had finished my latest romance novel on the plane ride here. Hopefully, I”ll be able to order some more soon.
I doze off trying to decide on what kind of romance book I”d like to delve into next (maybe a good role-playing one? I think I heard someone mention something called horseplay once...) when there is a loud crack outside my window, followed by the snapping brightness of lightning that wakes me with a jolt.
My body freezes, and even though my skin has rapidly cooled from my shower, I swear I feel a thin shell of ice coat every pore. It”s not till the second crack and flash that I snap out of the terrified trance and jump from the couch, heading in a run towards the door and down the path now splattering with rain from the incoming storm.
Not now. I can”t deal with this now. Not alone.
There is only one other person I know and even though the common sense in my brain says it”s weird for me to be banging on Branch”s door in the middle of the night, I do it anyway.
”Branch!” I scream during the third lightning strike, and he opens the door to the rumbling sound of thunder that follows. I dive inside, push him out of the way, and close the door. I know I”m panting hard and not in the good after-sex-kind of way, more like a frightened puppy that just heard fireworks for the first time in her life.
”Whoa! Are you okay?” Branch cries out, immediately bringing his hands up and grabbing my shoulders in a firm but gentle way. ”Hey, you”re safe now. You”re safe here.”
I nod but still have trouble catching my breath as he leads me to his couch. He”s still fully dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, and I wonder why he would still be awake as he directs my body to sit beside him. He puts a strong arm around my shoulder and it would be warm and comforting if my mind wasn”t going a mile a minute.
”Th..thanks,” I say through rattling teeth. His fingers trail small circles on my shoulder, and he leans in front of me to look into my eyes.
”Do you want to talk about it?” he asks softly.
”Yes... and no,” I say weakly. His warm body beside me is comforting, and it feels like I have a flame inside my core that grows brighter the closer he gets. I take a deep breath and force myself to relax. A small voice inside me is whispering that it”s okay to tell him some of my secrets now, that he would understand.
”Milly?”
”My parents,” I blurt out. ”They died in a car accident when I was ten years old. I was with them, but I survived.”
”I”m so sorry,” he says, and I shrug.
”I know it sounds so cliché, like the same plot line of every orphan out there who gets sent to live with some cruel relative. That wasn”t the case with me, I was barely in the system before Millicent Taylor took me to her mansion and she wasn”t the motherly type. She never cared to comfort me when the storms came every year, so I guess that sums up that relationship, and I just never got over them.”
Branch nods as if he already knows or at least puts part of my story together, and the small circles on my arm stop as he moves to hold both my hands instead.
”I read in the news you weren”t Millicent”s true daughter, but she left you everything. That”s got to count for something,” Branch says, and every part of me wants to confide in him and tell him that she seemed to hate me with every fiber of her being but, for some reason, would not let me go free. I hold my tongue even as the fire within me wavers, choosing to stay hushed and push aside the pain it brings.
”Yeah, well, she still wasn”t very maternal.” I wipe at my face. I don”t think I was crying, but my vision feels blurry as if I had been; maybe it”s from being this close to Branch, which would be very strange since I”ve only just met him. He can”t affect me that much, can he? He is gorgeous, after all, but I barely know him.
”Not all of them are, but you”re safe here. Why don”t we have our coffee date right now, maybe it will help take your mind off the storm.”
”Coffee sounds heavenly, thank you,” I say, and he gently brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear before getting up and moving to the next room.
”You”re welcome to come join me in the kitchen,” he calls over his shoulder, and I hurry to follow him. I”m not sure if it”s the pouring rain I can hear from the outside or the way my body reacts as he walks away, but I know I have to follow him.
His kitchen is similar to mine, but there is a restaurant-style stove and oven that take up most of one wall. He even has two refrigerators. Two! And when they open, I see they are filled with different kinds of milk and bottles of colored syrups.
Everything in here only leaves enough room for a small kitchen table with only one chair. I stand there in awe, and he must see the look on my face as he expertly spoons out fragrant grounds from one of the three nearby espresso machines.
”I like to experiment with gourmet coffee,” he says. ”A little hobby of mine.”
”I remember seeing all this in the catalog; it must have cost a fortune to have all of it installed,” I breathe, looking at my reflection in the stainless steel countertops.
”A drop in the bucket for people like us,” he says dryly, and I decide to keep my mouth shut because who knows what else I might let on about myself.
”Yeah,” I laugh nervously and continue watching in silence until the coffee is ready, and he suggests we enjoy it in another room, one a lot more comfortable, he tells me. I blush as an answer and follow him out.
Sipping my coffee (which is excellent, by the way), I walk slowly after him. His bungalow is set up in a similar way to mine, but he has an extra set of stairs that I don”t have, nor do I remember having an option in the catalog, which leads us to the next floor.
I gasp when I enter the room and feel his pleasure at my response, even though I”m not looking at him. Because the only thing that I can look at are the floor to ceiling windows, no, screens showing a softly lit beachside community surrounding the entire room. A large and comfortable-looking gray couch lines almost the entire half of one side, and an even more comfortable bed sits on the other.
”This is amazing!” I gasp.
”I thought you might like it here,” he says, picking up a nearby remote. ”You won”t be able to hear the storm outside up here and–” he clicks the remote for the windows, and they turn to a serene and peaceful summer evening complete with distant fireworks ”–I think you”ll like this much better.”
”It”s magical,” I say, unable to keep the wonder in my voice as I sit down on the couch. It”s so plush, I find myself sinking into it. Branch comes over and sits next to me, his face a mask of seriousness.
”There”s something strange about you,” he says. I feel the color drain from my face, but he grabs my hands before I can bolt away from him. ”I”ve met Millicent Taylor and she was well known for her obsession with the shifter world, so there must be something special about you, but you don”t smell like a shifter...”
”I”m sorry, what? What exactly do I smell like?” I feel the color returning to my face; this time, it”s red hot. Either I smell really bad, which I don”t think could be the case since I just took one extensive shower, or he can smell how normal I am, how very non-shifter I really am.
Branch leans in to bury his face in my neck and inhales deeply. His nose tickles, and I squirm in my seat but can”t seem to pull away. I subconsciously tilt my head back and think I pick up on a soft groan coming from him as he moves on the couch, and I feel more of his body weight pressing into me.
”I can”t explain it,” he mumbles into my skin. ”It”s not like anything I smelled on someone before, and there”s something else about you...” He gently nips at my neck, and it”s my turn to let out the smallest moan. ”I can”t put it into words, but it”s like...”
”Like a pull?” I ask, my voice breathy and seemingly detached from my body.
”Fuck, that”s it,” he breathes back, moving again on the couch to swing a leg over my lap, effectively trapping me beneath him on the couch. His face hasn”t left my neck, and he”s gone from tickling to sniffing to biting to sucking.
The pressure and slight pain of his teeth pulling at the thin skin under my jawline make my back arch and push my chest into him. It makes him break contact and pull back, staring down at me with dark eyes.
”Is this... okay?” he asks, and I nod, closing my eyes and leaning back against the softness of the couch. ”Good, then. I hope you”ll indulge me.”
I open my eyes and raise an eyebrow, but he gives me a grin and reaches behind him for the remote to the screens around us. He punches in a quick code, and the screens go from the summer evening to a bustling park.
I pull myself up to get a better look at it and see that each scene blends together and makes it really feel like we”re in the middle of a crowded park in the spring. Trees bloom around us, covered in cherry pink petals, and a crystal blue lake shines off in the distance.
What”s even more interesting is the people surrounding us. All adults and all wearing beautiful lacy dresses, top hats with dapper-looking dark suits, and even some with little white dogs trotting by their feet. It”s like we”re in public, but not.
”I hope that”s not too much,” Branch says slowly, pulling back and watching my reaction. ”They”re not real, they just give the illusion of, well, being watched and having something else here. Is that... okay with you?”
Truth be told, I don”t think anything could change my mind at this point. He”s pressing his leg between mine, and even though part of the robe separates me from him, I can feel the sweet, tightening feeling as my muscles ache to have something, anything, preferably something of his, inside me.
”I don”t mind,” I say softly, and something about my acknowledgment clicks within his expression, and his sweet smile goes feral as he all but collapses on top of me, crashing his lips into mine in a frenzy.
I kiss him back with just as much needy want as I can muster, and he maneuvers me in such a way that I”m now in front of him, and he”s the one sitting on the couch.
”Take off your robe,” he tells me, and I obey, sliding the white robe down over my shoulders and letting it collect at my feet. He”s still fully clothed, but when I reach for his pants, he grabs my hand and gives me a coy smile. ”I want you to grind on me for a little.”
My eyes go wide as he grabs my waist and pulls me down on top of his lap. Each of my legs ends up on either side of him, and cool, sweet air mingles with the wetness between my legs. I catch him inhaling my scent again, his eyes rolling back in his head before he stops himself and refocuses on kissing my mouth.
He pushes his tongue at my lips, and I open them to allow him entry, which he then uses to gently nip, lick, and probe. He swallows my moan when his hands move to the back of my head, and his fingers thread into my hair, putting a small amount of pressure on me to move my body down so that my moist core grinds against the straining bulge in his jeans.
I can feel his hard length pressing against me, and I once again move my hands down to help break him free, but he gives a low growl, and with one hand, he grabs both my wrists and holds them behind my back.
And then, using the fingers of his other hand, he playfully traces small circles on my belly while, at the same time, he leans in and gently bites my nipples.
”Please,” I whimper, his dancing fingers drawing lower and lower until they make contact with the slickness between us. I close my eyes from the want and need flooding my senses, and he chuckles lowly.
”Not until you open your eyes,” he whispers, and just like before, I obey and let out a small gasp when I realize the people on the screens are now in various stages of undressing, some completely nude, and most of them fucking each other senseless.