Page 51 of Worth the Shot

“C’mon,” he says, softer now.

I follow him out of the truck, the cool evening air brushing against my skin as the sounds of laughter and music drift from inside Miles’s house. Brennan waits for me to catch up before heading toward the door.

Then, with one hand settling lightly at my lower back, he leans down and presses a kiss to the side of my forehead.

It’s brief. Soft. Barely there. And somehow it lands harder than anything else ever has. My whole body stills for a second, heart stumbling over itself as heat rushes through me. The kind touch I didn’t see coming. The kind that asks for nothing and gives everything. Then he pulls back like it was nothing, guiding me forward with an easy hand.

It is very much not nothing.

But I don’t say that out loud.

As soon as the door opens, noise spills out—laughter, overlapping voices, someone already losing an argument they’re refusing to admit they lost.

Miles is planted at the massive island in the middle of his kitchen while Wes is halfway across it, yelling about a bet he’s convinced he won.

“I already told you—you lost. Pay up.” Miles sticks his hand out.

Wes slaps it away.

Miles laughs. “You’re a child.”

“And you’re a cheater,” Wes says, taking a sip of his beer and pointing it at Miles like it proves his point.

“I won fair and square and you know it.”

“Whatever,” Wes mutters, scooping Luca up. He drops his voice to a conspiratorial whisper that’s loud enough for everyone to hear. “I know you know I’m right, but they don’t believe us. It’s fine, buddy. Me and you against the world.”

Luca’s hand comes up and smacks him clean across the face, immediately followed by a burst of squealing laughter.

Miles snorts so hard he nearly chokes on his NA beer, doubling over the counter.

“That’s what you get,” Shayne says from the couch, not even looking up from where he’s half-watching whatever game is on.

“Traitor,” Wes mutters, rubbing his cheek, but he’s already laughing.

Emma shakes her head from the other side of the kitchen. “Honestly, I’ve been waiting for someone to do that for months now.”

“Good to know I’ve got support in this house,” Wes shoots back.

Jo lets out a laugh as she moves toward the kitchen, then catches sight of us by the door. “Oh, look who finally decided to show up.”

Suddenly, everyone’s attention is locked on us.

Miles straightens, grin spreading instantly. “Well, well.”

Shayne glances over, eyebrows lifting as his eyes land on me, then flick to Brennan. “About time.”

Emma’s gaze softens the second she sees me, but there’s a knowing look there when it shifts between the two of us.

“Can only imagine what held you both up in the driveway for so long,” Miles adds. “Thought maybe you were the FBI for a minute there.”

I roll my eyes, stepping further into the house as I shrug off my jacket. “Glad to see you’re all very invested in my arrival. I feel like a celebrity.”

“Relax,” Wes says, still rubbing his cheek. “You’re like…local news at best.”

“And you’re yesterday’s paper,” I shoot back, moving further into the kitchen.

“People don’t even buy newspapers anymore,” I hear him protest.