AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Okay, if you really want to know.’ She sighed. ‘Basically, when my mum died, I was only fifteen and Lacey was just eighteen, and our father—who had a new family by then—wasn’t interested in being a dad to us, too. Luckily, social services gave Lacey custody of me, but it was really important to me not to be too much of a burden, which meant I didn’t have time to party and do all those normal teenage things. Then Lacey got pregnant the year after and we had Ruby to look after.’
Anger twisted in Roman’s gut. That would be Brandon Cade’s daughter—who the bastard hadn’t acknowledged for four years.
‘I did the bulk of the childcare, after school, because Lacey had to work.’ She glanced at him and her expression brightened. ‘Don’t get me wrong, we both adored Ruby from the moment she was born. She was never a burden or anything.’
Like hell she wasn’t, Roman thought resentfully. The child had been Cade’s responsibility, but he’d shirked it. It just made him despise the man more.
‘But Lacey was the one with the career as a journalist, so it made sense for me to look after Rubes...pick her up from the childminder and then the nursery after I finished school, stuff like that.’ Milly was still talking, but Cade’s failure to live up to his responsibilities only annoyed Roman more. Why had Lacey and Milly accepted the man’s behaviour so easily? And how could Milly like the man now, when he had effectively stolen so much of her adolescence?
‘I loved watching Ruby grow and...’
‘Okay, hold up,’ he said, raising his palm to stop Milly from waxing lyrical about being made responsible for the care of a child that wasn’t even hers.
He also didn’t want to hear another word about how that bastard had robbed Milly of her teenage years. Because it would just make him more involved, and he was already involved enough.
But her forthright explanation also made it even more obvious he’d overreacted about her virginity. And turned a hook-up that should have been fun and exhilarating into something awkward and emotional.
The window she had given him into her past—and the news she had also been abandoned by her father—bothered him, too. Because it seemed they shared more than he had realised. After all, he knew what it felt like to have your father not give adamn about you. But he didn’t like how much he was starting to admire and sympathise with Milly.
Because these feelings were way too intense for a casual hook-up.
‘You don’t owe me an apology, or an explanation,’ he managed, round the thickness in his throat. ‘In fact, I probably owe you one. I overreacted about the virginity thing. And you were right, it was none of my business.’
She nodded, then sighed, her face softening with relief. ‘Okay. Thank you. Apology accepted. Does that mean we don’t have to talk about it anymore?’ she asked, her hopeful expression nothing short of adorable.
‘Absolutely,’ he said, as relieved as she was to end the conversation.
‘Oh, thank goodness,’ she said with such enthusiasm, he laughed. ‘Because that was excruciating.’
Adrenaline shot into his bloodstream. And then straight beneath his belt.
‘Agreed,’ he said as the last of the shame finally took a hike.
Milly Devlin was captivating and fascinating. And he’d always found her transparency extremely hot. He was glad that hadn’t changed.
Now they’d got the awkward out of the way, and he’d got being her first lover into perspective, he couldn’t help thinking her lack of experience, while problematic, was also a turn-on.
She’d never made love to another man. Which meant no other man had experienced her exquisite responsiveness, or her forthright pursuit of pleasure. While he was not a possessive guy, why shouldn’t he make the most of the chance to explore that more?
Milly Devlin was a woman who enjoyed sex, and she wasn’t afraid to show it. She didn’t seem to have a cautious or coy bone in her body. She was reckless and impulsive and held nothingback—even though she had no clue what she was doing—and there was something unbearably erotic about that.
Not to mention the fact she had given him one of the best orgasms of his life already. So why not press for more while she was here? After all, he had nothing else to do.
He’d never seen himself in the role of a sexual Svengali before, had always preferred when women told him exactly what they wanted. But the thought of giving Milly the benefit of his expertise and watching her indulge a part of herself she’d been forced to deny was something he could get behind one hundred per cent.
He was more than ready to devote himself to the cause.
‘How about we eat...?’ he offered, by way of changing the subject completely.
But as he placed his hand on her lower back, and felt her tremble, the need and longing shot through him. As she let him seat her at the terrace table, he couldn’t help thinking that one night would not be enough to enjoy all this intoxicating woman had to offer... And he had to offer her in return, sexual Svengali-wise.
And having her here had the potential to make the next two weeks—which, when the doctor had recommended this break, had stretched before him like a smorgasbord of boredom—a whole lot more exciting.
Milly sipped the delicate wine from a local vineyard that Roman apparently owned—if the Azienda Agricola Blackbeard mentioned on the label was anything to go by—and watched Roman finish off another helping of Giuliana’s delicious antipasti.
She was stuffed, having dug into the food with more enthusiasm than necessary, probably because she was starving after all the physical activity of earlier, and beyond grateful the ‘virginity’ conversation had been blessedly short and hadn’t had any of the consequences she’d been expecting.
Most important of which was, he hadn’t asked her to leave.
