Page 111 of Tempting Miles
Even I can hear how full of shit I sound.
Gio studies me for a bit, then pushes away from the table.
“I told myself I wasn’t going to get involved,” he says as he walks over to stand beside me, “but you don’t look like a man who’s okay with keeping things casual with that woman.”
I let out a dry laugh.
“I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.”
I clap him on the back and make my escape before either of my brothers-in-law convinces me to chase Penny and beg her to stay.
It’s been three weeks since Penny left Azalea Creek.
Three weeks since I’ve been trying to get back to normal.
You know… BP. Before Penny.
Before her, I used to think people were stupid as hell when they talked about not knowing how to move on after abreakup. I figured you just went back to the way things were before that person showed up.
Now?
I get it.
Once someone changes your life for the better, there’s no going back to who you used to be.
No more having someone who makes you want to cook real meals instead of surviving on frozen crap. Someone who makes every room feel warmer just by walking into it. Someone who makes you laugh, pushes you to try new things, and makes you fall so hard you’re too scared to admit it while they're still standing in front of you.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter as I stand under the spray of the shower. “This is exactly why I avoided relationships.”
I close my eyes and let the hot water run down my back.
Hell, this might be the first shower I’ve taken all week.
At this point, the days all blur together. Wake up. Make coffee I never actually drink because I don’t even like the stuff. Eat whatever in the fridge hasn’t gone bad. Go to bed. Do it all again the next day.
“Miles.”
My eyes snap open.
Someone’s yelling my name downstairs.
My heart kicks hard against my ribs.
“Could it be her?”
I jump out of the shower and wrap a towel around my waist before taking the stairs two at a time.
Then I stop dead on the last step.
“Whoa.”
Two pregnant redheads stare back at me in horror.
“Miles, go put some damn clothes on. For fuck’s sake,” Rain snaps, stomping her foot on the floor.
“I’m sorry to break it to you, but you’re the ones who came into my house unannounced.”
“Don’t be a smartass,” Ruin says in her terrifying therapist-mom voice. “Go put some clothes on.”
