“Please don’t.”
“Since the wedding reception, I’ve thought about little else but you.”
My bones no longer wanted to hold me upright. My limbs turned liquid, my legs to jelly. I wanted Miller to stop talking—and also give me more words like the ones he’d just uttered. “Maybe you’re confused.”
He took the ends of the blanket from my hands and pulled me flush against him. “I wake up to visions of you in my head and go to sleep dreaming of kissing you again. And then…thenyou tell me we should just ignore it all. Well, you know what, Hattie? I don’t want to. I don’t care if your brother is my best friend and I’m your boss or if there’s a tornado headed our way.”
I blinked and cast a quick glance toward the entrance. “There’s not a tornado headed this direction, right?” It was Arkansas, after all.
“I’ll push it away,” Miller said. “Tell it to come back later.”
“If only I had a tenth of your confidence.”
“There’s something here—between us. You know it, and I know it. Why wouldn’t we see where it leads?”
“Because it leads nowhere. U-Turn. Dead end. Road closed. Trust me on this one. Every relationship I’ve had is just same song, different verse.”
“I’m not those guys.”
“The common denominator is me, Miller.Me.”
“I likeyou.” He traced the edge of the blanket that rested along my collarbone. “In fact, I like you a lot.”
“You and I would never work.”
“Because you’re through with relationships.”
“And because you’re Miller James, wealthy entrepreneur, dater of Victoria’s Secret models with giant brains and even bigger start-ups. You like your girlfriends in different time zones and comparable tax brackets.”
His lips twitched. “Your analysis is all too convenient for you, isn’t it?”
“I think the word you’re looking for isaccurate.”
“I came back to Sugar Creek because I wanted a different life.”
“So I check the novelty box for you?”
“That’s a low blow, but you’re probably coming down off that pancake high. I can take it.” Now he was the therapist, talking his client off the ledge. “I’ve got the guts to see if what’s between us is more than a temporary diversion. Do you?”
“I’ve sworn off relationships,” I reminded Miller again as his lips skimmed my cheek.
“Keep swearing,” he said. “I’ll be right here.”
“I mean it.” Now his mouth was taking a slow walk up my neck to the sensitive spot beneath my ear. “I suppose…”
“Yes?” His breath branded a spot on my skin, then his lips went right back over it.
“I suppose…we can give it a shot, but I’m done with long-term commitments.”
“I can change your mind.”
I dropped the soppy blanket and stepped into Miller’s warmth. “Love is stupid.”
“The worst.”
“I won’t ever give my heart away again.”
Miller lifted his head and pressed a tender kiss to my temple as the rain intensified anew. “Keep telling yourself that.”
