“I—”
“Don’t think twice about it. You just feel better.”
I nodded, not able to tell her that although I physically felt fine, something was clearly the matter—but she understood, enveloping me in a hug before shooing me out the door. I should have ensured Zach was long gone, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything but run away.
The knock startled me as I paced the living room an hour later, tears streaming down my face. I couldn’t understand why I was crying—definitely not for how my date with Zach ended. I’d allow the wet tracks to stay on my face for two more minutes, then I’d take a shower and wash this night away. The knock came again, and I scrubbed my hands over my face, shoving this meltdown deep down before opening the door.
Miller.
His body took up the entirety of the frame, and I wrapped my hands around my stomach, pushing out the breath I’d been holding as he stepped inside. “What are you doing here?” I asked, shaking my head as he crossed his arms, silently taking in my appearance. I knew I looked horrible, but I didn’t have the energy to care.
“You left before I could say goodbye,” he answered, stalking toward me like I was a gazelle, and he was on the prowl for a tasty treat.
“Shouldn’t you be with Celeste?” I whispered, falling backward onto the sofa and drawing my knees to my chest. He sighed, sitting beside me and spreading his legs wide so onerested against my bare foot. I didn’t mean to sound so petty; my concern was coming from a verynot pettyplace. If I had a date with someone and left early to go to another girl’s house, I’d be irritated. Ihada date but couldn’t bring myself to care what had happened to that idiot.
“No. No. That’s not going to work out.” He bumped his knee into my foot like I’d have some big opinion on his date. I did, but now wasn’t the time for me to run my mouth.
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck and picked up my glass of lemonade from the coffee table before taking a sip. “That was a mistake. She had the personality of a water buffalo and the subtlety to match.”
“Ouch.” I chuckled, shaking my head and biting the inside of my cheek to keep from demanding more information.
“Don’t be silly, Em. My mother is a great judge of character, and she couldn’t stand her.”
Sounds about right. Bev isn’t one to mince words.
“You, on the other hand, she’s crazy about and asked me why your supposed date spent the majority of the night hitting on the bartender.”
“Ah, yes. Well, you see. You brought a water buffalo to the party while I chose a horndog. Clearly, we were both impaired.”
“Yeah,” he said, knocking his knee to my foot again. “At least you don’t seem too broken up about it. I’d hate to leave you here to go kick his ass.”
“Shut up. You know exactly where you can shove that macho bullshit.” I swiped my finger underneath my eye, ruining any lingering mascara left over from the party. He grabbed my hand, holding it in his much larger one and squeezing gently. The gesture was soothing, like a balm to cover my ragged emotions. But no matter how I was feeling, it was not his job to pick up the pieces—no matter how right it felt.
Sighing, he combed his other hand through his short hair. “Listen. I know we don’t talk about ourarrangement.” He paused after that word, and he moved his hand to rub the back of his neck. “But you. This.”
I wanted to stop whatever he was going to say, but I was powerless under his gaze. His eyes bored into mine, so wide I could see the flecks of gold lingering among his darker irises.
“This friendship is important to me. How assholes like what’s-his-name treat you is important to me.”
He grasped my hand and tugged, but I resisted, not sure how he expected me to react.Pushing aside ourunfortunatesituation, this felt better than any date I’d been on. This felt like what my evenings should be like—not the party dramas with a side of self-loathing but sharing a glass of lemonade on the couch after an evening out.
If only we wanted the same things in our future. He’d never understand why getting this job was so important, and I’d end up resenting the fact that his hours revolved around how hard he felt like working.
I couldn’t deal with this tonight. My head was spinning, and my exhaustion level was through the roof.
“Miller,” I said, standing and motioning toward the door, “tonight’s been strange.”
He rose from beside me and dragged his hand down his face before grabbing my arm and enveloping me in a hug, and for once, I didn’t think.
Chapter 11
Her body moldedto mine, and I surrounded myself in the scent of peaches—in the scent of her. I didn’t understand what had happened tonight besides both our dates being awful, but something was wrong.
“What is the matter with me?” she asked, pulling away from my embrace and furiously wiping underneath her eyes where a rogue tear threatened to slip down her cheek. “Never mind,Miller, don’t answer that. I’m going to try to sleep. Thanks for coming over to say bye. You can show yourself out, yeah? I’ll see you later.”
She trailed her hands up my chest and pressed a light kiss to the side of my lips as my hands grazed the top of her ass. Lingering a moment more than normal, her lips continued a maddening trek to the other side of my mouth. The kiss wasn’t full-on, but I still felt the searing heat in my bones. The softness of her lips mixed with her small palms on my chest had my heart racing and my head dizzy, desperate for every part of her she’d give me.
