“But it is. And for what it’s worth, I’m more than aware of my father’s belief about that. He’s expressed the same sentiment to me.” I pushed a loose lock of hair behind my ear. “But that’s not how it works. My useless brother will inherit everything, and I will have to leave eventually regardless. I don’t want to leave to some huge estate somewhere that isn’t my home. Arrow Woods is my home, and I would rather a shack on the river in a place I love than a manor in a place I don’t care about at all.”

Miles stared at me, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

“Why do you think all my father’s efforts have failed? It’s not like I’m barely twenty-one. I’m almost twenty-eight. He’s been trying for twelve years to set me up with someone, but I’ve never cared about them.” I swallowed. “I’ve never… wanted… to care about anyone the way I do about you.”

He drew in a deep breath.

“And if that doesn’t matter, then fine. But I don’t want to hear another word about any of this from you. Go back to how this was before the storm when you were rude and ignored me and pushed me away.” A lump was forming in my throat. “If not, then stop hiding behind something you know isn’t true and give this a chance.”

Miles rubbed his hand down his face, then held out his arms. “Come here.”

I didn’t move.

“Come here,” he repeated, his gaze fixed on mine.

Slowly, my feet carried me towards him. When I reached him, he pulled me into the largest, warmest embrace I’d ever been in.

And I knew.

This was what it felt like to be home.

“You live in a different world than I do,” Miles whispered to the top of my head.

“I know. And I do know it,” I insisted, wrapping my arms around his waist. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to live in yours.”

He sighed, cupping the back of my head, and turned his face into my hair. His lips pressed against the side of my head, and he whispered, “I just don’t know.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE – MILES

“Move.”

Mars the cat stared at me from her spot in the kitchen doorway.

“Move, cat.”

She raised her left paw and licked it, purring as she cleaned between her claws.

“Mars. Move.”

“She won’t move,” Grandpa called from the living room. “That’s her spot.”

“It’s a stupid spot,” I shouted back, stepping over her.

Which was when she decided to move.

Naturally.

I almost tripped over her as she bolted across the kitchen and into the spare room. “Mars!”

Grandpa chuckled from the living room.

I shook my head and filled the kettle to boil it. That bloody cat was going to be the death of me—her and Gabriella. Between the two of them, there was no way I was going survive the rest of the year.