Page 86 of Always Knew It Was You

I already know it’s Micah, even before he spins me around to pin me with a look.

His eyes scan my face and he frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say. “I guess... I don’t know. I got tired. I have a headache and I want to go home.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” He tucks my hair behind my ear.

“I didn’t want to interrupt y’all’s conversation. But you can stay, I don’t mind.”

His eyes continue to search for a clue in my features that would hint at the cause of my mood switch.

“You’re really not going to tell me?” He let his hand rest on my waist and the orange glow of the sun gives his emerald eyes a fiery glint. His scent is strong, gaze, soft, beseeching, lingering on my lips as my breath catches.

I can’t do this with him right now. Not here. I’m not confident I won’t cry.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Are you sure?”

I nod. I can’t talk about my feelings to Micah when they’re still fresh. But maybe later I can turn it into a joke. Tell him I was just PMS-ing and we’ll laugh at how ridiculous my hormonal brain is.

Or maybe, hopefully, later will never come, because Micah would have forgotten all about the questions he has and we’ll move on from it without incident.

Micah places a soft kiss on my forehead and the move is so tender I blink back tears.

Shit, I really need to get out of here.

Luckily, he doesn’t stop me from leaving. Instead, he takes my hand and walks out with me, letting me have my silence while still being a steady rock at my side.

I can’t help myself. I hold his hand tight.

As much as I hate to admit it, I’m glad he followed me out. His presence is comforting and it helps soothe my emotionality.

We continue strolling down the pavement, smelling the grass, listening to the birds chirping, and watching the shimmering lake in the distance.

“This is nice,” Micah says. “You know you could build a great country club with a view like that. Buy a few yachts and rent them out. That would be a fantastic experience to offer tourists.”

“Yeah, but build it with what money? That would require investment and no one here has it. I bet most of the people in Laketown don’t know what a country club is.”

“Hmm. You’re right. I’ll talk to Declan, and see if he wants to do a joint venture with me.”

I send him an amused look. “You realize doing something like that will make you have to stay in Laketown longer than you intend to right?”

He sighs. “Neither my grandfather nor dad are budging, so it looks like I’m already going to be staying a while. Like I said, I might as well do something with that time.”

“So you’ve given up on leaving? You’ll stay in Laketown?” I don’t want to evaluate the quick flutter of my heart at the thought.

“No,” he says, facing me. “Just putting a pause on my dreams until I figure out what my next steps are with my firm.”

I swallow the sinking feeling and nod. “Do you have the architecture firm already set up or is that what you need the money from your grandpa for?”

“Yup, more or less. I technically started the firm back in college, but we disbanded after my father’s sabotage. But there was always an unspoken agreement that we could come back together eventually. We just need an initial investment and a few big projects to solidify our name. And we’re working on both those things. We’re courting a huge real estate mogul who wants to build a string of shopping malls. He’s impressed by my ideas but he’s not going to give me the contract unless we look like we have our shit together. And that’s where the money comes in.”

“Wow,” I say. I can see the clear passion on his face whenever he talks about his architectural dream.

It’s so interesting to see because as a rich kid from a wealthy family, he technically doesn’tneedto do anything else for the rest of his life. He can just rely on his family’s money. And for a while there, I thought that was all he was doing.

Despite everything he told me, I never really noticed this driven side of him before. And it’s admirable, especially given his circumstances.

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