Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 102834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
To add to my stress, the school holidays had started, and Deirdre had flown to London to spend the summer with her dad. Gigi was missing her already, and though she had other friends to spend time with, I knew she’d prefer to be with Deirdre.
I was in my office dealing with endless requests and meetings, the ones that couldn’t be delegated out to Tristan or my assistant, Whitney. A knock sounded on the door before Whitney dipped her head in. “Sorry to disturb you, Mr Balfe, but there’s a Milly here to see you.”
I blinked in surprise. Milly was still staying at the hotel, but she hadn’t come to my office until now. “Of course. Send her in.”
When she appeared, my breath caught. She was so fucking beautiful, and I’d missed seeing her these past days. Milly wore her hair down, her body wrapped in a pale green summer dress that hugged her figure in ways that had me wanting to pull her onto my lap and do sinful things to her while my assistant sat outside, none the wiser.
“Hi, sorry for bothering you while you’re working, but I just wanted to come let you know that I’ll be checking out today. The work has been completed on my house, which I have you to thank for because your guys did an amazing job.”
“You’re leaving?” I asked, disappointed. I guess I’d subconsciously enjoyed having her close, though I refused to delve too deeply into what that said about my feelings for her. I was still all twisted up over the discovery about her aunt and my dad. One question persisted in my mind, refusing to let up. If she said no to marrying me when we were younger because she didn’t want to upset her aunt, then did that mean she’d been just as in love with me as I’d been with her? I needed to know the answer more than I needed my next breath, but there was no easy way to ask, and besides, Milly wasn’t even aware yet that I knew about her aunt. I remembered how much she’d looked up to her, how she’d respected and admired her. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that she’d deny herself out of a sense of loyalty to the woman.
“Yes, and thank you for arranging for me to stay here,” Milly replied, then cleared her throat. “Can I ask how your father’s doing? Nuala told me about the tumour and the scheduled removal. It must be a lot of worry for you all.”
She’d been talking to Nuala? My sister promised she wouldn’t say anything to Milly about the proposal, nor about Dad and her aunt. Then again, neither of my siblings were particular skilled at keeping secrets.
“He’s doing well. I never got a chance to thank you for how you took charge that day. Dad was lucky to have a doctor close by.”
“I’m glad I could help. I hope he’s decided to start taking things a little easier. Your mother’s been wanting him to retire for a while, right?”
I felt my blood pressure spike at her mention of Dad’s retirement, especially since I was presently in the thick of the transition, though it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared it would be. I was handling everything surprisingly well even if I was now the person who had to make all the important decisions for the business. “Yes, he’s not happy about being forced to retire early. My mother, on the other hand, is delighted even though she’s worried about the surgery.”
“Does that mean you’re in charge now?” She glanced around. “Of all this?”
My lips twitched at her wording. “Yes, I’m in charge now.” The statement came out low and husky and perhaps with a hint of double meaning. Maybe I wasn’t entirely in charge of what was between us, but I certainly felt like I understood her better, her reasons for always keeping me at a distance. If my theory about her aunt was correct, that was. The very notion that she’d been in love with me but denied herself out of a sense of familial duty made me want to pick her up and crash my mouth to hers. If only she’d told me back then, everything could’ve been so different … and yet, I wouldn’t have Pablo and Gigi, and there was no world in which I’d give them up. Maybe this was how it was meant to be. Maybe we were supposed to spend those years apart before finally coming back to one another.
A light flush stained her cheeks before she went on, “About what happened at the party, before …” she trailed off, but I knew what she was referring to. Not like I hadn’t been replaying it in my head all week. It was the one thing getting me through all the stress, that little bubble of happiness we’d shared, even if it had only lasted for less than a minute. I obsessed over her hitched breaths and that tiny sigh of pleasure she’d made. It was the reason I’d been spending an extra ten minutes in the shower every morning.