Free New Point by Olivia Luck Page A

leggings later, I found myself sprawled out on a deck chair reading Gone with the Wind. Nothing like Scarlett O’Hara to remind you to get up after you’ve stumbled.
    “Finally, she wakes.”
    The voice comes from behind me, and I jerk around to find Miles in the process of closing the lid on the smoking grill.
    “You’re a day late,” I tell him without preamble.
    My curtness doesn’t faze him as he watches me calmly. “Yes, it seems I am. May I?”
    “Fine,” I mutter as he sits down on the bed of the lounge chair. He reaches down, plucking my feet into his lap. Try as I might, I’m unable to subdue my quivering insides at his touch.
    “Have you ever heard the expression, so angry you see red?” he asks softly.
    “Of course.” My eyes flicker to his face. He looks repentant enough.
    “I must have heard it dozens of times in my life; TV, the movies, books, all over the place. Never thought too much of it until I saw you with your brother at my bar. Jake told me you were there, and I couldn’t come out right away to greet you. But when I did, I found you smiling –Jesus, have I told you that your smile lights up a room?– with another guy. Not just another guy, the president of the team I’ve been a fan of my entire life. He doesn’t look like your brother, and I know Stewart Campbell only has one son, no daughters.” Miles shakes his head ruefully, a self-deprecating smile spread across his face. “I saw red. In the blink of an eye, everything in the bar I built with my own hands was awash in crimson.”
    His hands gently cup my upper arms now. I hardly realized while he spoke that he was gently pulling me closer. I’m practically sitting in his lap, and he’s breathing heavier than usual.
    “The next morning I saw him buying groceries, presumably to make you breakfast. I bumped into him at the store like some territorial animal. Zoe, I’ve never done anything like that. Ever. What are you doing to me?”
    I feel my eyes growing wider and wider. My heart rate has picked up with his speech. “I don’t know, but I’m not sure I want to find out,” I answer honestly. “You thought I was the type of girl to cheat on her serious boyfriend. If that’s what you think of me, why would you want to be around me, and why would I want to be around you?”
    He winces, shaking his head. “Clearly I wasn’t thinking anything at all. Etta told me to talk to you, but I was too caught up in the red. Look, you did nothing wrong, I was the jackass here. I wanted, no want, a chance to get to know you better and thought it was gone.”
    “Miles.” I wiggle a little and his hands fall away. The moment he releases me, the current buzzing between us diminishes. I drop my feet to the ground and grip the edge of the chaise. “I don’t want to play games. You stood me up and then I find you partying on the beach when I thought we’d be spending time together. It stung. Where do we go from here?”
    He brushes his fingertips where mine curl tightly around the wood. “What’s that, jackass move number three? There are too many to count it seems. I’m sorry, Zoe. I was trying without success to forget how you make me feel when I’m around you.” My heart catches, but I keep silent, telling myself to breathe. “I’d like a second chance,” he murmurs against my ear.
    I can almost feel the weight of his sincerity. I know in my heart of hearts he regrets the way he acted. We all make mistakes, I remind myself. He had the courage to admit his. This time the shivers that roll through my body are visible to him. Out of the corner of my eye I see his smile.
    “Please.”
    “One more,” escapes my lips.
    Way to stand your ground, Zoe. With those chocolate eyes boring into me, how could I resist him? Impossible.
    “I was really hoping you’d say that. Let me have a go at the dinner we missed yesterday?” He cocks his head toward the grill.
    I try to fight off a smile, but I can’t hold it back. “What are you