Page 17 of After You Returned

“I’m sorry, Miles.”

“Not your fault.” He squeezes my hip quickly. The second he releases me, I miss his heat. I want his hands on me. I want his heat enveloping me. This is why I didn’t want to be his therapist.

Miles is catnip to me and I’m the horny cat who keeps coming back for more, no matter how much she gets hurt after every encounter.

I lather my hands with lotion before beginning the soft tissue massage. “How are your brothers doing? Is it true they all found love?”

I know it’s true. You can’t keep anything a secret on Smuggler’s Hideaway. But I need to keep my mind on anything elsebut how I’m touching Miles’s skin. How his abs are contracting with every move I make.

“I blame Eli. He started everything.”

Relief fills me as Miles regales me with the stories of how his brothers fell in love. He isn’t pushing me the way he usually does. He’s letting me retreat.

Maybe I can be his therapist after all.

I glance down his body and notice the hard bulge tenting his pants.

Or maybe not.

Chapter 7

I really should have read that email.

Miles

Igroan as I sit in my chair in my office at the distillery. My shoulder is fucking killing me. As much as I loved feeling Hazel’s hands on me yesterday – my cock was especially appreciative – her massage didn’t relieve the pain.

I hate this. Even after surgery and extensive therapy, my shoulder remains weak.

I glance around my office. If it weren’t weak, I wouldn’t be here.

I force those depressing thoughts away and switch on my computer. I type in my password but it’s incorrect. This time, I slow down and make sure I don’t make a mistake as I type in the password. Still incorrect.

What in the name of smuggling Prohibitionists is going on?

I’ve had the same password since I was a teenager. I know I typed it correctly.

“Zane!” I shout my brother’s name.

“You rang.” He grins as he saunters into my office, confirming he’s the one who messed with my computer. He never would have rushed over here otherwise.

“What did you do?”

He bats his eyelashes. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Are we having a meeting?” Kai asks as he joins us.

I guess it’s ‘prank Miles time’ since Kai shouldn’t be anywhere near our offices. His office is on the other side of the building, where the distilling happens since he’s the operations manager forBuccaneer’s Whiskey & Distillery.

I rub a hand over my forehead where I can feel a headache forming. “No, we’re not having a meeting. What did you do to my computer?”

Kai grasps his chest. “Your computer? Why would I mess with your computer?”

“Because you think you can win the prank war despite neglecting pranks for months while you were wooing Harper.”

The Raider Brothers hold a prank war every year. Except last year, when my brothers were too busy falling in love to pull any pranks. I should have been a shoo-in to win, but Eli declared the prank war would last two years instead of one. Fine by me. I’ll win this prank war either way.

Kai gasps. “I have never neglected pranks. How dare you!”