Page 31 of Here With You

“Fine, but I need to get back soon because I have a lot of planning to do.” She took his hand, and he tugged her into the boat. “Wait.” She pointed to the dock. “I need my shoes.”

“To row?” He shook his head and nodded toward the front bench. “Take a seat, Emmaline.” His voice dropped an octave to that low and rough tone that vibrated straight to her core.

Left tingling and speechless, she did what he said, and he maneuvered the boat into open water. The funny thing about the boathouse was that anyone could sneak in from the water and take a boat, but no one did. That was the beauty of living in a small town. And she didn’t need to leave to get a taste of the bustle of a big city, because Willow Bay felt like a metropolis during the tourist season. In all her years, she’d never tired of her little corner of the world. She was grateful she hadn’t taken Miles’s hand that day and went with him, or she wouldn’t have what she did now.

Miles stopped rowing as soon as they were a hundred feet from shore. “Do you remember when we used to come out here to watch the stars?” He shifted his body to lay on the bottom of the boat, looking up. He patted the space beside him. “Come down here.”

That was a terrible idea. The absolute worst idea she could think of. He was looking at her with those caramel brown eyes with specks of gold that only a setting sun could do justice with. “No. It’s uncomfortable and dirty.”

“All these years later, you still have the same argument.” He lifted and took off his shirt and placed it beside him. “Now come join me. Let’s watch the stars come out.”

The sun settled like a fireball being eaten by the ocean, and the night would be upon them within minutes. Heart and head battled, but her heart won. She shimmed down to the bottom of the boat and tried to get comfortable. After fidgeting for a few minutes, he pulled her on top of his body, just like he used to do, with her back side nestled against his front side. Miles would suffer through the discomfort of the wood planking poking his back, and she would enjoy his soft and hard parts under her. When she thought about the hard parts, all kinds of feelings emerged as she wormed and wiggled on top of him.

“Would you stay still?”

“I can’t. There’s something hard poking me in my thigh.” She shifted again, but it was still there.

Miles chuckled. “He’s just happy to see you.”

She gasped. “Miles McClintock, are you for real?”

He reached between them. “Nope.” A few seconds later, he yanked out his keyring. “Just my keys.”

The teenage girl who lived inside her heart wanted him to respond the way he used to, the way he did earlier when he let his pants drop and she stared at him for an embarrassingly long time. She acted like she hadn’t seen one of those in a lifetime. She hadn’t, but she wasn’t about to confess that.

“Tell me about the last thirty years,” she said.

He shifted again, so her head was on his shoulder, and she was cradled half on and off him with one hand cupping her hip and one of her legs flung over both of his. She didn’t have much view of the stars, but what she saw was far better. Staring at his profile, she couldn’t understand how he’d aged and become better while she’d just gotten old. Life was unfair.

“Here’s the short version. Work. Work. More work. There was some schooling in there too. I moved around, and each time I went to another state, I had to retest to get my license for that state.”

“But you covered as an EMT here. Did you do that legally?”

His hand moved lower when she started to slide off him until he gripped her bottom.

“Emmaline, I’m surprised you feel compelled to ask me that. You know me. I’m a rule follower. By the way, I’m not an EMT. I’m a paramedic, and I am licensed in this state. When I left Willow Bay, I did my training in Dallas and worked there for some time.”

“What’s the difference?”

“I can do more as a paramedic.”

“Oh.” That made sense because Miles was always an overachiever. Miles finished it in a day if his father wanted something done in a week. He could brand an entire herd in half the time Darryl could. She knew because she’d watched him. “What made you leave Dallas?”

“What I was looking for wasn’t there.”

The wind shifted, and a cool breeze danced across her skin. Or that’s what she blamed for the sensitive gooseflesh prickling against her clothes. Did she dare ask what he was looking for, or did she let it go? She’d punch him in his other side of his jaw if he said something stupid like clarity. Common sense wasn’t her friend today, and she couldn’t help herself from asking. “What were you looking for?” No matter what answer he offered, she’d have to keep her fists to herself since she’d asked.

When he scooted sideways, she slid down to the boat’s hull, and Miles turned to face her. “I’ve been looking for something to fill the emptiness you left behind when you didn’t want me anymore.”

Her heart twisted, and a sharp, piercing pain in her chest convinced her he’d ripped it apart with his words. Her instinct was to lash out and blame him, but she couldn’t because he was right, she’d turned her back on him.

“I’m so sorry, Miles. I was young and stupid and under the influence.”

He lifted on an elbow. “You were drunk?”

“I wish. It would have numbed the pain of losing you. No, I was still under the impression that I could win my parents over. For whatever reason, their approval was so important to me.” They were dead, and she was still trying to make them proud. Charlotte told her she needed therapy, but hers came in a whole pie, a tub of ice cream, and a talk with Cricket, the wisest woman she knew.

“I understand. Imagine that day for a second. I’m trying to do right by everyone. I don’t want you to marry into a family that will ruin your reputation for life. I don’t want your father investing in cattle that aren’t what they seem. It was like paying for Wagyu and getting top sirloin. Then there was us, and I didn’t want you marrying a man who knew something was wrong and did nothing about it. That day, I did what was right and lost everything.”

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