Page 86 of Resisting the Running Back

Sort of like our table. Grayson is leading the conversation, and everyone is laughing. This is a much more relaxed atmosphere than last night when I had to sit at the table and listen to my parents talk about their divorce after Cassie blew my little secret on night one.

These were not things I was expecting to deal with on this cruise, but I guess if you get enough family members together in the same room, secrets are bound to come out.

I’m next to Cassie again. “I’m so, so sorry about last night,” she says to me once Grayson finishes his story. Miller turns to Asher on his other side, and Cassie and I talk while he chats with his half-brother. “I had no idea your parents didn’t know.”

“It’s fine. It’s better that it’s out in the open. Really.” I reach for my water since tonight’s dark and stormy isn’t here yet.

“I’m usually really good at keeping secrets. In fact, I cantotallykeep a secret, so please don’t hold it against me.”

“Promise,” I say, holding up a pinky. She links hers through mine, and I love that we’ve become real friends over the last couple of months. If Miller and I are truly going to get marriedas we said we were last night, then Cassie is going to be like a sister to me.

And that’s something I’m really, really excited about.

Our drinks arrive, and I glance around the table. The men all ordered different beers, and the women are all drinking daiquiris—except me with my rum and ginger beer concoction and Cassie with her margarita.

We’re through the first round before our food arrives.

“I’m starving,” Cassie says to me. “Tanner made me go snorkeling today when I just wanted a day at the beach, and we didn’t eat lunch. Now I’m half-drunk since that was the strongest margarita I’ve had in a while.”

I giggle. “We just hung around the port…and then our stateroom.” I wiggle my eyebrows, and Cassie laughs.

“I’m so happy for you two. Tanner told me how Miller’s been in love with you forever, so to see you two finally together is just so amazing.”

Wait…what?

What the hell did she just say?

“What?” I ask.

“How Miller’s always been in love with you,” she repeats.

Miller’s head swings over in Cassie’s direction, and I catch the look of horror he gives Cassie, who’s totally oblivious to it.

“Always?” I repeat.

“Yeah, since, like high school or whatever.”

I clear my throat as this feeling of being totally blindsided overwhelms me. I’m looking at Miller when I say, “He’s been in love with me sincehigh school?”

Is Cassie drunk?

Well, yes. A little. She just admitted to that.

Have I really been that blind?

If he’s really been in love with me that long, why did he wait until last night after I said it first to tell me he loves me?

Did we just waste half our lives searching for thewrongthing when therightthing was within reach the entire time?

“Yes,” she says, and her eyes finally move over to Miller. She slaps a hand over her mouth. Her eyes are wide as her hand slides down. “Wait. You didn’t know that.”

“Does this look like the face of someone who knew?” I ask.

She shakes her head as she looks up at the ceiling. “Dear Lord, this is really making me look like a terrible secret-keeper.”

I turn toward Miller. “Is this true?”

I watch as he thinks quickly. He swallows, his throat bobbing up and down for a second, and he presses his lips together. And then he turns toward me, and he nods. “Yes. It’s true. I think I fell in love with you the second I met you.”

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