“Why do you think?!” He throws his hands up. “I want to be yourrealboyfriend.”
My heart jumps. Shit, this whole conversation is getting away from me. “What?”
His slate-blue eyes study me for a moment. “Surely you can tell that I’m in love with you.”
I freeze, uncertain, then a nervous laugh creeps out of me. “Okay, Myles.”
“I’m not kidding.”
Confusion crowds my head as I run my eyes over his earnest face. Surely not. He can’t… “Are you serious?”
He nods.
“How… how long have you been feeling this way?”
He rubs the back of his neck. “I sort of realized after we had sex.”
“Which—”
“The first time.”
“But… I didn’t hear from you for a whole week after that.”
“Yeah, I know.” He glances down at the floor. “When I saw you on a date with someone else I just kind of lost it.”
I stare at him in a daze. I can’t make sense of this, can’t process this revelation. He’s inlovewith me? “Myles, we’ve only known each other for a month.”
“So?”
“So…” I scratch my arm. “That’s… quick.”
He shrugs. “Well, it’s how I feel.” He meets my gaze again, calm and collected, as if he hasn’t just confessed his undying love. “And I think you feel the same way.”
I jolt with shock. “What?”
“I said, I think you feel the same way.” He’s just standing there, telling me what I feel, so damn sure of himself—like that time on the dance floor at Bounce—and irritation rips clean through me.
“How the hell do you know that?”
“Jesus, Cat—”
“Just stop it!” I snap. I’m suddenly feeling all hot and shaky and my pulse is slamming in my ears. I don’t know what’s happening to me.
“Why are you so angry? I’m telling you I love you. How is that such a terrible thing?”
There’s a sharp twist in my heart and I turn away, my throat burning. “Because the last guy that told me he loved me fucking broke me, okay? I just… I don’t trust it.”
“Trust what?”
“Love.”
There’s silence. I’ve never said that out loud before but now that I have, I know it’s true. It’s everything. Hell—there’smy inner compass.
But how could it not be? Dad said he loved us and he left. Mark said he loved me and he cheated. Even Mel, one of my best friends and someone I never expected to betray me, did. It doesn’t matter if someone says they love me. It doesn’t mean anything.
Myles’s eyes soften. “But you trustme. You told me you trust me.”
“I know,” I mutter, digging my nails into my palm. “But—”
