Chapter 46

Millie

The alarm was too loud, too insistent. The bed felt too soft, and I was perfectly warm.

Perfectly satisfied.

The stupid sound was an insistent presence, forcing my eyelids to flutter then open, and then I remembered why I was feeling so damn good. I looked around me, wondering if Noah and I could squeeze a quickie in before work. That’d have me dealing with a growing pile of paperwork with a smile on my face. Instead, I found I was lying in bed on my own. The haze threatened to burn away the minute my head popped up off the pillow, when I heard a sound from my kitchen. A t-shirt was grabbed off the floor, and I walked out to discover the most perfect sight.

Half-naked man clad only in a towel while cooking breakfast? Yeah, I could get used to this. The savoury scent of bacon had me moving closer, not recoiling in disgust. The baby had decided that bacon was right what we needed today, unlike the other day at Maccas. For a moment, I just stood there, staring. Noah’s broad shoulders, the muscles flexing as he worked, the ruffled mess of his hair, my eyes slid all the way down to that tight arse, my towel never looking so good. My second alarm gave me away, though, forcing him to turn around.

“Hey…” He set the spatula down and ambled over. “How are you this morning? I wasn’t sure if you’d want breakfast or not.”

“Oh no, I want breakfast,” I said.

He grinned down at me.

“Well, take a seat. I’ve just gotta put some eggs on.” I didn’t even know I had the makings of eggs and bacon in the fridge, and right now I didn’t care, following him back over to the cooker. “Did you want…?” His voice trailed away as I undid the knot of his towel. I watched it fall to the floor, then used my foot to move it where I needed it. “Millie…”

He had more to say, probably about fire safety or something, but I silenced him as I sank to my knees. I pressed a kiss to his hip bone, then to his thigh, before I was licking a stripe along his cock. I looked up to see him staring, completely transfixed until he was forced to switch the elements off lest he burn the bacon.

“Millie, I…” If this didn’t work out between us, I decided the only guys I’d blow were the ones who were silenced by my technique. He sucked in a breath, letting out a tiny little moan as I opened my mouth and swallowed as much of him as I could. “Oh fuck, babe, you don’t…”

But I did.

Blame it on hormones or the need to try and erase every moment we’d spent apart, but I did need to. My tongue lashed the length of his cock, his hands slapping down on my skull as I pressed my tongue hard into the spot just under the head and sucked.

“Fuck, yes you do.” His voice became a low growl as his hips began to work. I took his rhythm and made it my own, pulling back further and then bobbing faster. “That’s it. Take my fucking cock.”

I never expected him to snarl that out, to grip me tightly, testing my gag reflex, but at the first splutter, he pulled free.

“Shit. Shit! You must be feeling nauseous and I’m…” He didn’t get it. I loved that he was concerned for me, but he didn’t understand. I knew my limits and how to test them. His cock had softened slightly, but I had it back to diamond hard in a few strokes. “I’m fucking loving every minute of this. Yes, babe, just like that. Fuck, you’re making me feel so good. You want my cum?”

I hummed my response, sure he felt every second of that.

“Well, this is the only way you’re getting it.” I was plucked from my knees and set on my dining room table, the contents shoved to the floor. My shirt was shoved up as he stared down at me, then rubbed his thumb over my clit. “Too sensitive?”

“No-o?”

I wasn’t entirely sure. I was feeling well used, a little raw, but I didn’t pull away as he moved closer. Those hazel eyes stared into mine as he notched his cock against my cunt, watching my every response. No one had ever been more present during sex.

“Be sure, because I’m not scheduled on at work today, and you walking around the office with my cum leaking out of you?” He grinned. “Yeah, I like that idea a whole lot. You up for that, Millie?”

The reality was kinda uncomfortable normally, but right now, I wasn’t thinking straight. Instead, I nodded, gasping as I felt him stab into me. My hand reached for him, pulling him down as we rutted against the dining room table, with the white light of morning pouring in through the floor to ceiling windows. I felt like I was filled with it, lighting me up until I was forced to burst all around him. He gave me his cum just like he promised, sobbing out his breaths against my lips before finally pulling free. He didn’t leave me a total mess, mopping up the worst of it with a clean tea towel.

“You should call in sick,” he said as he fought to catch his breath, pulling me from the table as he sank into one of my chairs. I was left to straddle his lap, my fingers tracing the braille-like pattern of his stubble. “We could stay here today. I’d order in some food, hand feed you, massage your feet as we watch some bullshit on the TV.”

“And flake out on my new job in the first week?” I shook my head. “I can’t. I need that job.”

“We’ll support you.” Sexy Noah was gone, and a responsible one replaced him. “You don’t have to worry about money. Knox is already talking about setting up a separate account for you that we all put money into.”

I felt my cheeks get hot as I blinked, then pulled away.

“Thanks.” I got to my feet and retrieved my t-shirt, belatedly aware my neighbours might not want to see my tits at this hour of the day. “I mean I appreciate the gesture, but?—”

“You want to make sure you can look after yourself,” he said with a sigh.

“Seems to me the only smart thing to do.” I went over to the pan and started to grab a piece of bacon from it, but he was there, plating the contents and adding some toast before handing me mine.

“What we’ve got here?” I waved my hand vaguely at the two of us. “If you haven’t been with a girl before, then you don’t know that this is the honeymoon phase. You can’t keep your hands off each other.” He seemed inordinately pleased with that idea. “But that fades.” His smile did too, but not the look of determination. “Sometimes there’s something real left behind and sometimes there isn’t.” I shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out which.”

“None of that has any bearing on our financial responsibilities,” he insisted, sitting down to cut into his food. “If you don’t trust us to step up, the government will make sure we do.”

The government would make one of them step up, that’s what was being ignored, what I was trying to communicate. Noah had no experience to pull from, that even the hardest fuck boy would struggle with this situation. Being a step-dad rather than a bio dad? I didn’t know why it made a difference, but with men it seemed to.

“Let's just get the paternity test done,” I said, having found out it could be done in a few weeks. “Then we’ll talk.”

“No.” I frowned and stared at him, but he was completely unrepentant. “No, that’s not how this is going to work. You want to keep that job? You know I’ll support you, but you’ll have this too. I’m all in, Millie. There’s nothing you can throw at me that will chase me off, but I get that you still need to be convinced. Eat up.” He nodded to my plate, removing his own before scraping it clean and rinsing it, slotting it into the dishwasher. “I’ll drive you to work.”

“You don’t need to.”

“Kinda do.” He shot me a crooked smile. “My bike’s still at work, so get a wriggle on. Don’t want to be late.”

We cut it pretty fine, arriving in the car park with a minute to spare, which proved to be an issue. There were plenty of other people who’d done the same. I stayed in my car, staring out the windshield as firefighters and ancillary staff all walked towards the station. I was up and out of my car in seconds, hustling towards the building and hoping no one noticed my passenger.

“What’re you doing here?” I spun around, frantically thinking of a reply when I saw that Rhett was talking to Noah. “Your team’s not rostered on today.”

“Had to come and pick up my bike,” Noah answered coolly.

“Your bike…?” Rhett looked at Noah, then me, his smile forcing me to turn around. I started moving faster, needing to get to my desk pronto.

“Morning!” Judy said, looking up from the computer with a smile. “How’s things?”

“Not as good as you by the look of it.” I thought I was on safer ground, walking over to inspect the massive bouquet of flowers sitting on the desk. A high-end box of chocolates was sitting beneath it. “Blue send you a little something while he’s on the road?”

“No, someone sent this to you.” I froze, eyeing the flowers like they were a feral animal, not a bunch of pretty gerberas. She noted my look with a smile. “What did he do? Get pissed and sleep it off at a friend’s place? Or worse, come home and spew everywhere, leaving you to clean it up.”

“Um… no. I’m not seeing anyone at the moment.”

I touched the paper wrapping cautiously, then extracted a card. Just wanted to see that pretty little mouth smile, the card read, but I skimmed over that, getting to the bottom. Instead of a name, there was just a couple of crosses, and I let out a sigh of relief. Not for long, as irritation replaced fear. Did one of the guys send this? What the hell were they thinking? It was a lovely gesture–though, ew, dark chocolate was not my favourite–but also a stupid one. Judy’s eyes held a familiar gleam. The kind of vicarious pleasure coupled up people seemed to experience as they watched single people find their way towards each other.

“Ooh, a secret admirer,” Judy said, rubbing her hands.

“Who’s got a secret admirer?” Bloody hell, Brent walked in at just that moment, squinting at the flowers before clapping a hand over his nose. “Flowers? I’m gonna need you to move them out of here, love. My allergies go into overdrive when exposed to pollen.”

“Not a problem.”

I scooped up the bouquet and chocolates, grabbing my phone out as I went. The chocolates got dumped on one of the tables in the break room, the flowers tossed in the back of my car before I tapped out a message.

Flowers, really?

I sounded like an ungrateful bitch, but shit, we’d just talked about this. If they were going to make any sort of lovely gesture like this, it needed to be outside of work.

What flowers?

That was Knox, straight to the point, the tension obvious in his text.

Someone sending you flowers? Charlie was considerably more chill. That you, Arky?

I assumed that was Noah. Noah = Ark = Arky.

Didn’t have time this morning, but I can come by with some tonight if you like? he replied.

Smooth , Charlie replied. Babe, I’ll have a whole rose bush for you on your doorstep if I can take you out tonight.

I blinked, watching the banter unfold, but they were missing the point.

If you didn’t send the flowers, who did?

The little dots stopped forming as everyone considered that. Turns out I was asking the wrong person.

“That’s a nice bunch of flowers, Dazza.” I’d almost forgotten the nickname I’d earned the night of the party, but Dave hadn’t. He grinned as he walked past. “Who bought you those? Guess it’d be hard to know, with all the guys on your roster.”

“If you’re pissed you’re not on it, just say so.”

I shouldn’t have snapped that out but watching the grin get wiped from his face was too good to miss.

“Like I’d want to fuck a slut like you.”

He snarled that at me, his face a mask of rage, because there was no one to step in to stop him. At least, that’s what he thought.

“Except you wanted just that only days ago.” I shook my head, playing it cool, even as my heart beat hard in my chest. “So much so, you were willing to risk a sexual assault charge, but what ended up happening?” I made a show of inspecting his face. “Nasty bruise you got there.”

“You talk big for someone who’s simps are lolling around at home, waiting for another opportunity to sit in a cuck chair,” he shot back.

“And you talk big for someone who could lose their entire career if he doesn’t shut his fucking mouth.” I was slow to anger, but when it hit, it burned everything in its path. “I can walk into almost any pub in the entire city and have a job before the day ends. Can you say the same if I report you to HR?”

I watched with a growing sense of hysteria as his hands formed fists. Danger, my heart beat, I was in danger, but I couldn’t seem to shut up.

“I don’t know what game you think you’re playing, but it's not one you can win. Back off.” Jesus, I shoved a finger into his chest and he moved back. “Leave me the fuck alone and look into a transfer. You know you’ve burned almost all your bridges here. Start somewhere new where they don’t know what a dirtbag you are.”

Half the time I dealt with unruly guys at the pub by treating them like little boys, not even showing them the courtesy of being scared of them. Doesn’t mean that’s not how I felt. I turned on my heel, giving him my back with my shoulder blades itching, anticipating a blow that never came, before marching back into the station. I didn’t take a full breath until I was inside the building. By that time, my phone notifications were in overdrive.

I’m coming in , Knox announced. You’re not safe.

Millie? Millie, are you OK? Noah wrote.

Calm your tits , Charlie added. I’ve seen our girl in action. Someone taught her to handle herself.

And I did , I replied finally. Pretty sure it was Dave trying to put a scare into me.

That fucker.

Yeah, on that Knox and I agreed.

Just saw him in the carpark.

And did he try anything? Everyone wrote some variation of that.

He had a whole lot to say, but I had the final word. I’m heading back to my office.

Stay there , Knox insisted, then make an appointment to see Brent. He needs to know what’s going on.

No, he didn’t. I loved the protective energy there, but Knox didn’t know. I’d brought up problems with creepy patrons or colleagues plenty of times with my bosses, including Jim, and most of the time, it just ended up creating more hassle for the victim. I wasn’t going to let anyone make me feel helpless.

I’ve got this , I replied. Another notification came through, reminding me of my doctor’s appointment. And I’m going to need to take a raincheck, Charlie. I’m due at the doctor’s after work today.

We’ll come.

I shook my head, wondering how the hell I’d thought they wouldn’t want to be involved. Instead, I had to wonder how I’d explain three guys accompanying me to my appointment.

Can’t fit you all into the doctor’s consulting room, I replied. But if you want to hang out in the waiting room?

We’ll be there.

Noah was a strange contradiction, a mixture of uncertainty and confidence, but I was only getting the latter right now.

It’s late night shopping tonight, Knox added. Charlie can take Millie out tomorrow night. I need her today.

Was that the way it was going to be? They’d negotiate like adults for my time. I admit it had me smiling, right up until Dave brushed past me in the hall. He mumbled some shit under his breath, but I didn’t care.

You wanna take me shopping? I said. You’re speaking my love language.

I gave them the address of the doctor’s surgery and the time and then walked back towards my office.

“Chocolate, yum!” A masculine voice came from within the break room.

I stuck my head in, catching sight of Dave hulking over the coffee machine.

“Help yourself,” I told the guy who’d grabbed the box. “Someone dropped them off for me, but I can’t stand dark chocolate. Too bitter for me.”

And with that I waltzed back to my office, ready to start the day.