Page 19 of Love, Lies, and Celtic Knots

He grins, his eyes still gleaming with a post-sex glow. “Pizza works for me. I’m really liking this whole domestic side of you, Emma. It’s dangerous.”

I raise an eyebrow as I throw a frozen pizza in the air fryer and then sit across from him at the small table. “Dangerous? I think that’s your department, Navy SEAL.” I tap the familiar trident tattoo showing on his forearm. My brother has one on his bicep.

Once the pizza is ready, we eat in companionable silence, the soft clinking of silverware against the plates filling the air. It feels... normal, like this is something we’ve done a hundred times before, even though we’ve only just started whatever this is between us. But the weight of unspoken words starts to settle in the space between us, the casual atmosphere shifting slightly.

“So,” I say after a while, wiping my mouth with a napkin and setting it down. “Tell me more about your time as a SEAL.”

He pauses, his fork hovering over his plate, and for a moment, I wonder if I’ve asked too much. But then he smiles, though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Being a SEAL was everything to me. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it shaped me in ways I can’t even explain.”

I nod, sipping my wine and waiting for him to continue.

“I did a lot of deployments, saw a lot of things that most people can’t even imagine.” His voice drops a little, his eyes flicking to the side, as if he’s trying to push away memoriesthat are too heavy to bring into the conversation. “But it was more than just the action. It was the brotherhood, the sense of purpose. We relied on each other to stay alive. There’s nothing else like it.”

I can see the emotion in his eyes, the weight he’s carried from those experiences, and it makes my heart ache for him. “Do you miss it?”

He hesitates, then nods slowly. “Sometimes. I miss the simplicity of it, if that makes sense. Everything was clear in the teams. You knew who you were, what you were supposed to do. Out here, in the real world, things get…messy, confusing.”

I reach across the table, my hand finding his. “You’re still figuring it out, though. You’re doing great.”

His fingers tighten around mine briefly, gratitude in his eyes. “Thanks. But enough about me. What about you? I know you went to law school, but I want to hear the full story.”

I laugh, pulling my hand back and leaning into my chair. “Where do I even start?”

“Start with why you decided to become a lawyer,” he says, his gaze steady, genuinely interested. “What made you want to leave Pelican Point and go to Princeton?”

My eyes widen. “How do you know I went to Princeton?”

He looks sheepishly, “I looked you up today, as I’m sure you looked me up, too.”

Caught.

I take a deep breath, memories flooding back. “I think a lot of it was wanting to prove I could do it. My dad—he wasn’t exactly supportive of me leaving. He thought my place was here, helping out with the winery. But I had bigger dreams. I wanted to make a difference; you know? Fight for people who couldn’t fight for themselves. Princeton was my way out, my way of saying, ‘I’m more than just the winery.’”

Miles nods, his eyes thoughtful. “That takes guts, going against your family like that.”

“It wasn’t easy,” I admit. “Especially because my dad didn’t take it well. Brennen… well, he’s a whole other story. He’s always been the good son, the one who stuck around, helped out with the business. He’s been trying to prove himself ever since our dad… messed things up.”

He leans back, his expression more serious now. “I heard a little about that. What happened with your dad?”

I hesitate, my chest tightening at the memories. “It’s complicated. My dad made some bad decisions—financial ones, personal ones—and the winery almost went under because of it. Brennen’s been working non-stop to rebuild it, to fix what our dad broke.”

“And your other brother, Ryan? He didn’t stay to help?”

I shake my head. “You did your homework. Ryan’s in the oil business, doing his own thing. He’s always been more of a free spirit, more like me, I guess. But he and Brennen haven’t really seen eye to eye since… well, since Dad’s downfall. There’s a lot of tension there.”

Miles frowns, absorbing all of this. “Ryan and I served together in the SEALs, you know.”

I freeze, my wine glass halfway to my lips. “Wait… what?”

He gives me a sheepish smile. “I didn’t want to drop that bomb too early, but yeah. I know Ryan. We were on the same team.”

I set my glass down, my mind reeling. “So you’re here because of Ryan?”

“Sort of,” Miles admits, his voice careful. “Ryan asked me to check in on things. He was worried about Brennen and the winery.”

I feel a wave of emotions crash over me—confusion, surprise, maybe even a hint of betrayal. “So you’re here to spy on us?”

“No, it’s not like that,” Miles says quickly, leaning forward, his eyes sincere. “Ryan just wanted an honest take on how things were going. He didn’t ask me to interfere or cause any problems.”

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