Page 59 of Until It Was Real

A muscle twitches in his jaw. “She was the guidance counselor and told me I’d never be a professional surfer.”

Damn. Miles’s past as a surfer is a sore subject. He tore his rotator cuff at a competition in Hawaii and hasn’t been the same since. All the physical therapy in the world wasn’t enough to give him the range of motion he needs to surf professionally.

Zane throws an arm over Miles’s shoulders. “She definitely didn’t know what she was talking about.”

Miles shrugs Zane off. He doesn’t want pity. Too bad he doesn’t understand there’s a difference between pity and compassion.

“I’ve never surfed before,” Dakota says, and I could kiss her for cutting the tension in the room.

Miles gasps. “You’ve never surfed before?”

She shrugs. “I’ve never even swam in the ocean.”

Miles leans against her desk in front of her. “You’ve never swam in the ocean?” She shakes her head. “But you can swim, can’t you?”

Her nose wrinkles. “I know how to doggy paddle.”

He grasps her hand. “I’ll teach you how to swim.”

I wrench him away from Dakota. “Don’t touch her.”

“Uh oh. Mr. Overprotector has arrived at the party.” Miles barks out a laugh at his own joke. He’s not funny.

I glare at him. “She didn’t give you permission to touch her. You don’t touch a woman without her permission. I know I taught you this.”

“Dakota doesn’t mind,” Miles claims. “We’re buds. Aren’t we?”

I stand in front of Dakota and block her from his view. “Being work colleagues doesn’t mean you’re buds, and it doesn’t give you permission to touch someone.”

He waggles his eyebrows. “She can touch me if she wants. We’ll call it even.”

“You’re not listening to me.”

“Because you’re being boring,” Zane says.

I cross my arms over my chest and stare my two brothers down. “It’s boring to discuss how to treat a lady? Should I tell Mom this is how you feel?”

Zane groans. “You’re such a tattletale.”

“Here are words I never thought I’d say. Let’s go back to work.” Miles starts toward his office.

“But we never did figure out why Rhett calls Dakota Havoc,” Zane says as he follows him down the hallway.

I wait a few seconds after they disappear. It wouldn’t be the first time they faked leaving to eavesdrop on a conversation. But they don’t make a reappearance.

“I apologize for their behavior. I’ll speak to them again about touching you without your permission.”

“Thank you.” Dakota’s face goes all soft, and my hackles rise.

“Did…” I swallow the lump in my throat and force the question out of my mouth. “Was your husband ever physically violent with you?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “I thought we were in love until the day he died.”

I scowl. I don’t want her thinking about being in love with her dead husband. I want her fixated on me the way I am on her.

She scoffs. “I didn’t realize I’d fallen out of love with him long before his death.”

I frown. How do you not realize you’ve fallen out of love with someone? I nearly open my mouth to ask, when I remember we’re in the office, where my brothers could still be eavesdropping. This isn’t a conversation for now. This is a conversation for a date. Speaking of which.

---