Burn For Him (9 page)

Chapter Six

I woke up a couple of hours later, just before my alarm was due to go off. I knew that I probably could have done with a few more hours rest, but at least I had had enough to feel somewhat refreshed. It would have to do, anyway.

The first thing I did when I woke up was roll over and check on my phone. There were no missed called, but there was a text from Harper telling me that there had been no change in Destiny’s condition. My stomach did a worried flip. What was wrong with her? Why didn’t they know yet? The sooner they knew, the sooner they’d be able to treat her and get her well again.

There were also a couple of texts from Milligan, reminding me to call or text him when I was ready to go back and sit with Dee at the hospital. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Where had this man come from? Where had he been hiding all my life?

I couldn’t believe that I had met someone quite as amazing as him at such a crappy time. It was ridiculously bad timing. There was no way that I would be able to concentrate on building a possible relationship with him when one of my best friends was banged up in hospital. It wasn’t right. I couldn’t think of myself right now. Destiny needed me.

But, he had been so supportive and attentive last night, and just waking up to the texts from him made me feel impossibly good. Maybe there could be a way to work something out through this. It would have been a lot more fun to meet him under other circumstances, but I was willing to take what I could. Evidently, Milligan was willing to try so who was I to say no?

I sent him a quick text telling him to come over whenever he was ready. He replied straight away saying that he had a small bit of business to do at the club and then he would be straight round. I smiled at the thought of seeing him again so soon. And seeing him away from the hospital. At least I would have the chance to clean myself up a bit before he came. It would make a pleasant change from the state he saw me in last night.

It was a good thing. It gave me something else to focus on. Something to keep my mind from worrying about Destiny.

I decided to take a quick shower while I was waiting for him. It was just what I needed to wake up my body and mind. Plus, I hadn’t even bothered taking off my make-up last night and I knew that I probably looked about as good as the cannibalistic hillbillies off of ‘Wrong Turn’. Not an attractive look when the (hopefully!) new man in my life was dropping by to pick me up in a bit. Plus, I didn’t want to walk into that hospital looking like trash again. The woman they saw last night wasn’t me. The woman Milligan met last night wasn’t me. I just hoped that he’d like the real me.

I tried to clear my mind of everything that was happening. I had a monster of a headache from all the stress and the lack of sleep. I needed to get myself together or I wasn’t going to be any good to anyone. Dee needed me to be on top form to look out for her.

Closing my eyes and let the water rush down over me in a soothing torrent. The water scalded my skin, but I felt awake. I felt alive. I knew that I had to relish this brief moment of peace while it lasted and that I had to gather up my strength to face whatever was going to happen next.

Hearing a noise I squinted to look out, but I couldn’t see anything through the plumes of steam that were filling the bathroom due to the intense heat of the water. I thought it was possibly my phone receiving an incoming message, but it would have to wait until I was out and dry.

I heard it again. I didn’t sound like my phone.

“Hello?” I called out and then mentally kicked myself. Hard. I was the first person to shout at the dumb bimbo in the horror movies who called out like that, and there I was, doing it myself.

“Carrie?”

The voice made me jump and my hands flew up to stifle a startled yelp. I didn’t recognise the voice through the noise of the shower and I hadn’t really anticipated anyone actually answering me. I was alone in the apartment and I knew that Harper would still be at the hospital.

I wasn’t as alone as I thought.

“Carrie?”

The voice called out again and I held my breath. I had never felt so much fear running through me, and I had never felt quite so vulnerable. I was naked in the shower. Alone in the apartment. Naked. What the hell was I supposed to do? I couldn’t hear any more noises or footsteps over the sound of the running water. I couldn’t hear them, but I knew they’d be able to hear me.

I crouched back beneath the shower head and hoped. I wasn’t sure what I was hoping for exactly. Maybe I hoped I was going crazy and was hearing things, letting my imagination get the best of me. Maybe I was hoping that whoever it was would ransack the rest of the place and leave before discovering me in the shower.

Fear. Stone cold fear. That was all I could feel.

“Carrie?”

The voice was getting closer to me now and I definitely wasn’t imagining it. A little bit of recognition began to dawn on me. A split second later and the bathroom door opened up. I froze where I was. I could just about see through the crack in the old flowery shower curtain that Harper hated and I irrationally loved. I breathed a sigh of relief.

It was Milligan.

The immense relief I felt at seeing him and not some unknown masked intruder almost had my knees buckling from under me. But it still didn’t totally eradicate the fear that was flowing inside me.

“Carrie! You left the door unlocked. When you didn’t answer me, I was worried that something had happened to you.”

He didn’t seem to find it at all strange that he was talking to me like this, while I was naked and shivering from fear in the shower. Naked. Shit. The relief at seeing a friendly face had passed and now I was sure that it was more than just my face that was flushed with embarrassment. I made a quick grab for the towel that was hanging on the wall and made poor work of wrapping it around myself with shaky hands.

“Don’t.”

Milligan stepped forward. The concern that was in his eyes only a moment ago slowly melted away and was replaced with raw, hot lust. I don’t think I had ever seen that in a man’s eyes before, not quite in the way he held it. It was pure. It was raw. It was powerful.

“Milligan… I…” I started to say, but my mind went completely blank. I wanted him. I wanted him so badly that my mind was a blur.

But I couldn’t do this. No matter how much I wanted to. Destiny was still lying in that hospital room. I couldn’t do this right now.

With much regret, I shook my head at him, unable to say the words.

“Carrie. You are so beautiful.” He stepped closer to the shower curtain. I was standing at the far end of the bath so that the water didn’t wet the towel through. He moved closer, edging me back towards the water, mindless of the droplets that were landing on his immaculate black shirt. He reached forward without taking his eyes off of my face to unwrap the towel from my trembling body.

“I can’t.” I said, my voice sounding weak.

“Yes. You can.” His voice was husky, full of sexual intent. He stepped back a pace to kick off his shoes and then stepped into the still pounding shower with me, fully clothed. His carefully measured steps forced me backwards until the water rained down on both of us, drenching his expensive shirt and trousers within seconds, plastering them to his sculptured body.

He didn’t say another word. He didn’t have to. His eyes told me everything that I needed to know. He wanted this. I wanted this. He wanted me and he wanted me right now. I didn’t want to stop him.

He was perfect. He was just perfect for me. He was tall, tanned and tattooed. I hadn’t had a glimpse of them the night before, but his arms were covered in ink sleeves and his back and chest had intricate designs racing over them. I trailed over them lightly with my fingertips, marvelling at the taut tension of his body.

His hand ran through the length of my wet hair, caressing my back gently as he leaned in to kiss me. Milligan’s touch seemed to brush away the guilt I was feeling, taking me over until I was filled only with lust for him. How could I be there, enjoying Milligan’s wildly sexy body, when Dee was still lying in the hospital? I didn’t give a damn. I couldn’t give it a moments more thought as the rest of his clothes seemed to melt away from him and we were pressed skin to skin, exploring one another’s bodies with wanton abandon.

My skin tingled at his touch, my stomach clenching deliciously. Milligan knew what he was doing. Every touch measured to extract the extreme amount of pleasure.

Running my fingers across his slick skin as the water pounded our bodies, I marvelled at the perfection. His muscles contracted at my touch, making the ink designs on his body move as if with a mind of their own. It was mesmerising.

Throwing my head back as Milligan’s lips ran down my body, between my breasts, down to circle my navel, I tried to claw at the tiled wall, knowing that my legs were going to buckle beneath me. Grabbing my leg, he hitched one knee up over his shoulder as he knelt before me and I had to grab hold of his hair to keep from toppling over. As soon as his tongue touched my core, I convulsed around him.

Never before had that happened to me so quickly. Being with Milligan made me lose my mind, my sense of being. It was a scary thought, but one that had no place in the here and now. All I could think of was about the pleasure.

Milligan kissed my cheek tenderly as he wrapped a huge fluffy towel around me, much in contrast to how he had been throwing me around like a rag doll only moments before. I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was everything I could ever want in a man, everything I had ever needed. Tall, dark and dangerous.

He wasn’t Hollywood handsome. There was something about him that was much darker and rougher than that. The ink designs that adorned his skin helped to give him that edge. Plus, it was only a little thing, but I had never been with a man who had his nipple pierced before. After several tentative minutes of exploring it, I was amused and intrigued by the effect it had on him.

I had never felt anything like this before. Sure, I’d had plenty of good sex before, but it was nothing compared to what Milligan could do to me. He had now ruined me for all other men. I’d never known that it could be like that. Sex with him was along the lines of the stuff you only ever read about. Mind blowing.

It wasn’t like we had actually done anything out of the ordinary, but it was the way he did it. The way he touched me. The way he set my flesh on fire. It was Milligan. I burned for him.

I had always told Destiny in the past that she shouldn’t mix up sex with real emotions. She went out looking to hook up with a guy so that she could feel like she was worth something. But, if she had ever had an experience like the one I had just had with Milligan, then I could totally understand her confusion. It had only been sex, but on so many levels, it had been so much more. He had managed to confuse me mind, body and soul.

I looked up at him and watched as he stared down at me with his wet hair dripping a tattoo on my chest. I glanced over at the puddle of wet clothes that lay on the floor. After a moment, his gaze followed mine.

“Well, I don’t think I thought that one through properly, did I?”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. It felt good. I finally felt relaxed. I no longer had a headache and I genuinely felt good. “I’m sure that Harper will have something that will fit you.”

“You sure he won’t mind me borrowing his clothes?”

“I can text him and ask him if you like, but I’m sure that he’d be happier seeing you in some of his clothes as opposed to walking around the city naked, or in one of my dresses.”

“You have a good point there. It wouldn’t do to be distracting the nursing staff while they’re tending to your friend.” He rose one eyebrow at me and smirked.

That was when it hit me like a physical blow. Destiny. How the hell could I be standing there naked in my bathroom, having mind blowing frantic sex with a virtual stranger when we didn’t even know what was wrong with her? What the hell was I thinking? What kind of friend was I? It was wrong. It was sick. What had I been thinking?

“Carrie?”

I looked up at him. Sex really suited him, there was no denying that. If he had been a flower, he would have been in full bloom right now. That was totally the wrong kind of analogy, seeing as Milligan would never have been likened to anything quite as dainty and feminine as a flower. He was pure man, through and through. I’d never really met anyone quite as masculine as him. He really did make me feel like the ‘little lady’ he was looking for. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it was just that he was a very dominant and powerful presence in my life already.

“Carrie? What’s wrong?”

I smiled up at him sadly. I didn’t want anything to ruin what was starting between us, but reality always seemed to find a way to mess up all the good things in my life, tainting them. “I was just thinking about Destiny.”

He grabbed one of the smaller towels off the pile on the vanity unit and knelt down naked in front of me. It was then, all of a sudden, that I realised I was naked and a chill of embarrassment ran through me. He didn’t seem to notice as he reverently started to pat down my skin, drying it inch by inch. The embarrassment faded quickly as the gentle sensation gave way to the sensual feeling that he brought out in me.

“There’s no point in worrying about that now. We’ll find out more when we get back there and find out from Harper what’s been happening.”