want to control her. Or own her. And just because they were now lovers didn’t mean she owed him any explanations as to her whereabouts.
She told herself all of that, and still her dread would not dissipate. And every hesitant step farther into the quiet house, deepened her anxiety.
“Miles?” No response.
Well, no human response…she heard the scrabble of claws on the wooden floors as Stormy dashed from the direction of the living room into the kitchen. The dog danced and twirled happily, huffing and whining in excitement as she greeted Charity.
“Hey girl, did you miss me?” she asked, bending at the waist to pat the pup’s head.
“She did.” Miles’s voice startled her, and she looked up to find him standing in the kitchen doorway. “We both did.”
“Uh…I’m sorry I’m late.” Charity could have kicked herself. It hadn’t been her intention to apologize. It was an unfortunate instinctive response she had to work on getting rid of.
His eyes reflected confusion.
“I wasn’t aware that there was a time limit on your afternoon out,” he said, and then smiled. His eyes took on an appreciative glint as he assessed her appearance. “But it’s evident you’ve been quite busy.”
One of her hands self-consciously went up to her newly shorn hair, and she straightened slowly. Lia had offered to accompany her to a salon after Charity had tentatively mentioned wanting a haircut. The drastic new style had been an impulse. She had stared blankly at herself in the mirror, while the stylist had enthused about the length and texture of her hair. Barely recognizing the woman hidden beneath all of that hair and the words had been out before she could stop them.
Cut it all off.
She had just about broken the stylist’s heart. But once she had spoken the words, Charity had been determined to follow through. She had happily donated her two-foot-long fall of hair to CANSA.
Her hair hadn’t seen a pair of scissors in three years, and before that, it had been kept in a strictly jaw-length bob…as per Blaine’s preference. The change now was drastic. And defiant. Her nearly waist-length hair had been shorn into a soft, pixie cut. Charity had never had her hair this short before but she liked how light and airy it felt.
But despite all that earlier certainty and determination, she now anxiously watched Miles for his reaction. Not because she needed his validation, but because of the other thing. The irrational fear that he would lash out because of a very personal decision she had made about her image. She knew that he loved her long hair, he had told her often enough. And her entire body was stiff with tension as she watched his every move, ready to bolt if he so much as…
“God, you look gorgeous.” His words brought her panicked thoughts to a grinding halt. He didn’t seem to notice her tension, instead his gaze was still focused on her hair. “It’s a big change, but it does fantastic things for your bone structure and eyes. Then again, you could shave your head and still look lovely.”
Charity swallowed thickly. Berating herself for being surprised by his words. He wasn’t anything like Blaine. She wasn’t making the same mistakes with the same awful kinds of men.
“Shaving my head would be drastic,” she forced herself to say, struggling to insert some levity into her strained voice. “Although, going from nearly two feet of hair to barely two inches is pretty extreme in itself, I suppose.”
He laughed and she relaxed even more.
“What did you two get up to while I was gone?” she asked. She bent at the waist to rub Stormy’s head again, grateful to have the dog there to offer some distraction.
“We went for a short run on the shore—” He held up a palm when she opened her mouth to chastise him for that. “I paced myself and didn’t overdo it. But I’ve got to say…I’ve pretty much recovered most of my stamina…thanks to you.”
He chuckled when she blushed and continued. “I also texted my sister and mother. I then called Bryan, as well as Hugh, and convinced them to give me a proper business update. Without tennis or golf anecdotes to bore me into hanging up. It seems that everything is going swimmingly without me. And, finally, I caught up on my audiobook.”
“Oh? Did Willow and Delonix finish the second trials?”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll expect an update later.”
“Of course.”
“Have you eaten? You must be starving.”
“I ate. A cheese sandwich. I’m not completely helpless you know,”