Page 75 of After You Returned

I clear my throat. “Try again.”

“I shouldn’t have spoken to Hudson about a job for you, full stop?”

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Correct answer.”

“Can we sit down and discuss this?”

“I don’t know what there is to discuss. You tried controlling me. I didn’t enjoy it.”

He grasps my hand and leads me to the living room, where we settle on the couch next to each other. Despite the inches between us, I can feel the heat radiating off him. Miles always did run hotter than normal. Probably a good thing considering his love for surfing in the ocean all year round.

Miles squeezes my hand. “I truly am sorry. I panicked.”

“You panicked?”

He blows out a breath. “The thought of you not living on this island…Of not being near me. Of not bumping into you at the restaurant or bar. It unravels me.”

How long have I waited for Miles to talk this way? To admit the effect I have on him? To not run away from me and his feelings for me?

No matter how long I’ve waited, I can’t let him control my life and my career.

“Causing you to lose control of your actions?”

“Causing me to become a first-class idiot who should have told you how worried he was instead of getting all sneaky.”

I sigh. “I used to enjoy it when you were sneaky.”

He smirks. “When we were in high school and we’d sneak into the biology lab after school to spend time together where the librarian couldn’t find us?”

I slap his stomach. “You were always mean to the librarian.”

“She told me I’d never amount to much!”

“Because you never finished your homework.”

“I did, too! Just not at the library.”

“You were too busy distracting me.”

He waggles his eyebrows. “I never heard you complaining.”

Of course not! I’m not an idiot. The times I fooled around with Miles in the library stacks are some of my best memories from high school.

His blue eyes heat and he leans toward me. I hold up a hand. “Slow your mermaid loving mind. We’re not done discussing how you tried to control my life.”

“I promise not to try and control you again.”

“What happens the next time you panic?”

He shrugs. “I can’t predict the future. I can promise I won’t go running off and try to control your life without involving you.”

“Let’s test this theory.” I stand.

“Where are you going?”

“Hold on a sec.” I retrieve the envelope with the offer from the VA before returning and throwing it on Miles’s lap.

“What’s this?”