I couldn’t help but laugh a little at the list Miles had given me, though most of it was useful. Like I would ever forget that his favorite desert was coconut cream pie. But his job history, where he’d gone on to graduate school, all that I hadn’t known, though I had wondered in the brief moments I allowed myself to remember him.

I felt petty, realizing that Miles hadn’t told them he was expecting not because he was getting back at me when I wouldn’t introduce him to my parents, but because he was trying to exceed their expectations. And yeah, that had been an actual thing I’d screamed at him that last fight. Not for the first time, I realized what an ass I had been. As if I needed more proof.

“Any other questions?” Miles asked, startling me from my thoughts.

“Um, yeah. What about your friends?”

“Friends?”

“Yeah. If your parents ask, I need to know something about your friends, right? It would be a bit unbelievable if I haven’t met them at all.” I was absolutely fishing for information. I knew I could BS something easily enough, but Miles’s list was only the surface. I wanted to know how he’d really been doing the last few years. I didn’t need to know, I didn’t deserve to know, but I was selfish.

“Well that’s easy, then. I don’t have any. Well, except for Jace, but I’ve only seen him twice. Once when I was buying my suit, and the other time at the gala.”

“No one else? You grew up here. Surely you have people you went to school as a kid who are still around.”

“None that I’ve stayed in contact with,” Miles said shortly. “And I haven’t exactly had time to make new friends since I came back. What about you?”

“Me? Friends?”

He nodded.

“Well. Hmm. I guess all my friends are from business now. Do you remember Ethan and Aiden?”

Miles cocked his head, trying to place the names.

“They were at our table at the gala. In college, they lived down the hall from me, roommates. Well, they run a dietary supplement company now. Some kind of super shake mix. We grab drinks occasionally. I handle their overseas manufacturing.”

“That’s… sad.”

“How so?”

“Don’t you ever… not work?”

“I’m not working right now.” But his words disturbed me. When was the last time I had done anything that wasn’t work, that wasn’t looking for my brother? Even when hanging out with my business friends, it was always with the expectation that at some point in the night, business would be discussed.

Miles shot me a look of annoyance. “Other than this?”

“I guess… not really, no. There’s always something to do.”

I could tell by Miles’s expression that I’d done something wrong.

“Am I keeping you from work?” he asked.

“Oh, fuck, no. Don’t worry about me. I probably do work too much. This is good for me. And besides, I want… to help you.” I’d nearly said, “I want you.” That wouldn’t do. No matter how much I wanted Miles, I was no good for him. I’d help him this once, and then we were done for good.

“Have you dated anyone since college?” Miles asked, completely throwing me off my guard.

“No.” Damnit, I should have lied. How pathetic did I seem to him?

“Why?”

Would he stop it with the questions? This was about helping him, not baring my soul. I lied again. “Just like the friends thing, I’ve been too busy.”

It would do no good to tell him I was determined to never marry or mate. People always thought there was something wrong with you if they found out, like you just hadn’t met “the one.” Well, I had met the one, and I’d fucked it up. If I was given a second chance, I already knew I’d just fuck it up again. And I couldn’t allow myself to do that.

Miles abandoned the dating question, but his new direction wasn’t any better. “What about Marcus?” he asked. “Or Zeke. What happened there?”

I felt my face fall into the familiar, emotionless, stone mask I wore whenever the topic of my brother came up. We were definitely in a better place, but I still felt like I was missing something from his story, there was still a key I needed to understand why he’d thrown his entire family away. “Just family stuff.”

“So is he—”

“Are we good?” I interrupted.

Miles seemed taken aback by my abruptness, but he nodded. “I think so.”

“Great. I’ll be waiting to hear from you about dinner. What kind of wines do your parents like?”

“What?”

“So I can bring them a gift.”

“Oh, red Bordeaux.”

I sent a quick message to Lisa to find me a good red Bordeaux to take to dinner, whenever it was. I needed to be doubly prepared for it since we didn’t have a time and date scheduled yet. It was unlikely that I would land in the US and turn my phone on to get a message from Miles asking if tonight would work, but another thing that had pushed me to the top was my ability to plan ahead. There was no way I would let Miles down this time.