Page 386 of His Virgin Romance Series

I said goodbye to Leah and waited for Miles by his collection. He took a few minutes but when he returned he was smiling.

“Is everything all right?” I asked.

“Sure.” He nodded. “Gordon wasn’t thrilled about the fact that I was leaving early, but he didn’t have much say in the matter.”

“Maybe you should stay.”

“I don’t want to stay,” Miles said, taking my hand and pulling me out of the gallery.

Even that simple gesture sent a thrill shooting through my body. It had been so long since I had felt him touch me and it brought back all the memories of those nights we had spent together, tangled up in the sheets, our naked bodies pressed together in comfort and familiarity.

We walked around the city and picked a quiet restaurant and a corner table that gave us a little privacy. As we sat down, I got suddenly nervous.

“So… how have you been?” I asked, somewhat formally because I didn’t know what to say.

“Horrible,” Miles replied.

“Horrible?” I repeated. “Come on… things are looking up for you.”

“How can they be?” Miles asked. “When you’re no longer in my life.”

“Miles…”

“I’m not trying to convince you of anything, Gabby,” he said, and then he smiled and sighed. “Or maybe I am, I don’t know. I promised myself I wouldn’t pursue you again. I promised myself that I would leave you alone and let you live your life. I know you deserve better than me. You deserve so much better and yet here I am… being selfish and trying to explain to you that I’m a changed man.”

“I never wanted you to change, Miles,” I said. “I wanted you to be honest with me. My music is everything to me. It’s the one thing I’m passionate about, and it’s the one thing I’m good at. If I couldn’t make music anymore… I don’t know what I’d do. So I understood why you felt you had no choice but to deal drugs… what I can’t understand is why you chose to concoct this elaborate story to cover it up.”

“I was scared you would leave me.”

“Because you dealt drugs?”

“No, because admitting I dealt drugs would prove once and for all that I was beneath you. Remember how things were at the beginning… you yourself told me that our lifestyles were too different to work together. I was scared that you would go back to that conclusion.”

I did remember that conversation. I remembered all the parties that Miles used to host every week. It had been his way of relaxing and letting go of the stress of his life. But as I recall, I couldn’t remember the last time he had hosted a party.

“You stopped partying,” I said, mostly to myself.

“What?”

“The parties,” I repeated. “You stopped having them.”

“Oh… well, yes.”

“Because of me?”

“Well, yes.” Miles nodded. “But not because you forced me to. It was just that after I met you, I realized I didn’t need the parties anymore. I wasn’t actually enjoying myself as much as I did when I was with you. I had everything I wanted already… that is before I screwed it all up and lost you.”

“You know what,” I said. “I’m not really hungry at all.”

I saw Miles’s expression fall and I knew what he was thinking.

“Let’s go back to my apartment,” I said.

Miles’s eyebrows rose, and he stared at me for a moment. “Are you… sure?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “Come on.”

This time, I took his hand and dragged him out of the restaurant. We didn’t talk much on the ten-minute walk back to the apartment, but I could feel the expectation and the uncertainty build up between us. We got to the door, and I opened it and walked in with Miles following close behind me. This time, he seemed nervous, but I was surprisingly calm.

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