Page 53 of Catching Feelings

“It’s okay.”

“Okay?” He drops the fries he was about to cover in ketchup and pushes them to the side. “Prove me wrong then, Doc. I’ll pick you up from work tomorrow and you can try to do better.”

“Challenge accepted.”

“Good.” He gives me a curt nod, then reaches for the fries with a devilish grin on his face. “See what I did there?”

I narrow my eyes on him. “What did you do?”

“I got you to agree to a second date with me.”

I shake my head and laugh. “This isn’t adateand neither will tomorrow be.”

It can’t be. It will be too easy to fall for Miles, and too easy for him to break my heart.

I’m the one everyone likes to be friends with because they don’t feel threatened. The one the guys on the team can flirt with and know nothing will come of it because they don’t see methat way.I’m the sister they want to protect, and I see that in Miles as well.

He’s always been protective of me and has never flirted with me the same way he does with others. He doesn’t talk dirty to me. Unfortunately.

Even now, teasing about our dinner being a date, I know he doesn’t really mean it. If he did, he would have changed into something more...date worthy. He would have asked me out, given me a chance to wear normal clothes.

“Regardless of what you want to call it, you scored yourself dinner two nights in a row with one of Boston’s most sought after bachelors. You can call yourself one lucky lady.” Miles picks up our trash and loads it on the tray before carrying it to the counter.

I drop our bottles in the recycle bin and wait for him by the door. He keeps his hand on my lower back as we walk back to my car. Once again, he takes charge, opening the passenger door for me. When he heads north instead of south toward the parking garage where he left his car, I turn down the music.

“You missed the turn.”

“Sorry about that. What’s the best route to your place?”

“My place?” Warmth fills my chest and that odd sensation between my legs comes back again. He couldn’t possibly want to go back to my place and... “I thought we were going back to your car.”

“They don’t call me a lady’s man because I’m a rude scoundrel, Doc. Proper etiquette requires me to deliver my lady friend back to her castle at the end of ourdate.”

“Miles. Don’t be silly. I live twenty minutes away, and it will take even longer than that for you to take the train back to the garage.”

“Good thing I don’t have anywhere else to be.”

It’s strange how we can ride in comfortable silence and at the same time, how easy conversation flows between us. When we reach my apartment complex and he parks in my designated spot, he follows me to the front door of the building.

“Thank you for dinner and the ride.”

Miles smiles. “Usually when my date saysthe ride,she’s talking about something else.”

I shake my head and chuckle. “Well, good thing this wasn’t a date then.”

He takes the keys from my hand and unlocks the door, holding it open for me. “I’m walking you to your door, Rowan.”

The atmosphere grows thick with...something as we walk down the dingy hallway and take the concrete stairs to the third floor. When we’re standing outside my apartment, Miles braces his hand on the wall behind me, trapping me between his giant, hot body and the wall.

I tip my head and my heart skips a beat from the way he stares at me.

“I like spending time with you, Rowan.” He strokes the side of my jaw with the back of his fingers. “Thank you for having dinner with me tonight.”

As his head slowly lowers to mine, my breath catches in my throat. The drumming from my heart fills my ears and my panties are...soaked. All this and he hasn’t even kissed—

He touches his lips to mine in the softest, gentlest, feather-light kiss. His hands cup either side of my face, and as our lips meet for the first time, a soft warmth envelopes me in a delicate blend of anticipation and sweetness that seems to suspend in time. The sounds of my apartment building and the traffic outside fade away, leaving only the gentle brush of skin against skin, igniting a fluttering rush in my chest. My heart pulses with an electric thrill. The moment is filled with innocence and is over before I’m ready.

“Good night, Rowan.” Miles turns, and I stand in complete shock as I watch him disappear down the stairwell.

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