Hunter then offered Millie his hand.
She disguised a quick swallow and slipped her hand
into his. The gentle but firm pressure of his long, strong, tanned fingers closing around hers
sent a shock wave throughout her entire body. Flickers, darts and tingles passed from his hand
to hers in a current of electricity that made the fine hairs at the back of her neck stand up. His
fingers were warm and dry, and she couldn’t stop thinking of how they would feel gliding over
other parts of her body...her breasts, her thighs... His eyes meshed with hers and her heart did
a somersault in her chest, the sensual heat of his palm and fingers travelling through her body
to stir warm liquid longing in the secret heart of her female flesh.
‘I hope our eight a.m. meeting wasn’t too early for you to get out of bed?’
His deep voice and the smouldering glint in his whisky-brown eyes sent another wave of
heat through her. She was aware of her body’s quiet but chaotic response to him. The fluttering
of her pulse, the molten heat of arousal between her legs, the near-desperate urge of her body
to get closer to him. It was like the powerful pull of a magnetic force drawing her to him, one
she had to do something—anything—to counteract.
Millie slipped her hand out of his, but it continued to tingle, as if his touch had permanently
disrupted the network of her nerves, like a powerful lightning strike on a computer. ‘No, not at
all. I’m an early riser.’
The glint in his gaze brightened. ‘So am I.’
Millie could only imagine what part of himself to which he was referring as an early riser.
Her mind was suddenly filled with images of him in a tangle of sheets, his gloriously naked
body in full arousal. She could feel her cheeks glowing and her mouth went completely dry.
She took a step backward to put more distance between them, and somehow almost lost her
footing, but his hand shot out just in time and steadied her.
‘Careful.’ His fingers were a steel bracelet on her wrist and a shiver travelled the length of
her spine as she thought about where else those fingers could touch her. Where else
she wanted them to touch her. She was shocked at her body’s betrayal. It had been years since
she had even thought of her sexual needs and urges. Her sensuality had been put in a coma by
her experience of taking care of Julian’s needs. But now, with just a touch of Hunter Addison’s
hand, a wave of sexual awareness swept through her body, awakening her sleeping senses,
stirring them into a feeding frenzy.
The hunger in her body was out of control. Could he sense it? Could he see the impact his
touch had on her? She prided herself on being good at hiding what she was really feeling but
she wondered if Hunter would all too easily see through her mask of indifference to the burning,
yearning hunger buried deep inside her.
‘Thank you.’ Millie gave him what she hoped was an impersonal smile and his hand fell
away from her wrist.
‘Take a seat and let’s get started,’ Hunter said.
‘Here’s the paperwork you asked for,’ Eleanora said, pushing a folder of documents across his
desk. Millie could see her mother’s nervousness but hoped Hunter would assume it was only
because of the stress of going through yet another divorce. Millie had attended many
meetings with her mother in the past—lawyers, accountants, doctors and even her own
parent-teacher interviews as a child and teenager—all in an attempt to protect her mother
from the shame of exposure of her severe learning disability.