“I’m sorry. Things not going well?”

“It was boring and Jordan was annoying and—” I cut myself off, took a deep breath and then, without looking at her, finished my original thought, though it wasn’t easy. “You weren’t there.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment, but I felt her hand slip into mine. I tightened my hold around it. “I missed you, too.” She stopped and I turned to face her in the dim light. “This is hard. I don’t want to fight anymore,” she said.

I clenched my teeth and prevented myself from releasing the heated words at the tip of my tongue. Then why did you leave me?

“Me neither.”

She fixed her gaze on mine, her mouth turned up in a small smile, her eyes questioning. I kept my face as blank as I could, refusing to give away any of the inner turmoil. I was thrilled to see her, but I also ached inside, too.

And I’d determined that since I’d ignored the strategy of Sun Tzu by offering her no way out and cornering her, I was going to stick exclusively to the strategy guide now. Retreat, thus enticing the enemy at his turn. I’d stand back. I’d let her come to me. Hold out baits to entice the enemy.

She sighed and moved toward me so quickly I didn’t realize what she was doing until she pulled me into a hug. Slowly, stiffly, my arms went around her. I caught a whiff of that vanilla scent of her hair and it hurt—it physically hurt. I backed off before she was finished.

A brief frown crossed her face and then vanished.

“You’re pissed off that I moved out.”

Well, that was leading. How to answer that without getting my head bitten off? “Does that surprise you?”

She shook her head. “It’s just that this is so hard for both of us. Things were moving quickly and—I thought this would be a good chance for us to take the pressure off a little.”

“So I take it you aren’t planning to come back soon.”

Now she gave me a look indicating that she, too, was afraid to say the wrong thing. “Not for now. The whole living together thing, and then…” She let her voice die out before mentioning the doomed marriage proposal.

That fear was back again, gripping me at the base of my throat.

“So where are we?”

She reached out for my hands and took them in hers, looking down. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You haven’t lost me.” Yet.

And I guessed we were going to let this whole medical school question hang in the air between us like an executioner’s axe because I sure as hell wasn’t going to bring it up now. I wasn’t that stupid.

I cleared my throat. “I’m going to be honest with you. I want you at the house. I want you to come back. I won’t tolerate this separation over an extended period of time.”

She squeezed my hands. “It’s not a separation. Adam, let’s take it slow. Please. I’m not expert at this relationship thing, but you aren’t either. We both get to steer.”

“Okay,” I said in a flat voice.

She raised her brows at me. “Okay?”

“I’ll let you handle this. You can steer for now. But I’m not going to hold back on what I want. And what I want is you.” My hands tightened around hers and I pulled her toward me until her body was flush against mine. My arms wrapped around her, tight.

I turned my head and laid my mouth on hers, coaxed her to open to me. My tongue slid into her mouth, declaring my wishes with my body to echo my words. I could feel the thready beat of her heart on her lips as they moved against mine, fluttering like a butterfly wings. My breath caught.

Her sweet, soft lips. Her unique taste. I wanted what was best for me. What was best for me was her. And this was a setback, but I wasn’t going to give this up. Not for anything. Emilia was strong-willed and stubborn, but she’d met her match in me. And deep down she knew that damn well.

I finally let her pull back, relaxing my hold on her and we stared at each other for a long, tense moment. She seemed to be holding her breath.

“I—um—I still need to wipe the floor with you on Dark Escape.”

I relaxed, stepped back, shrugged. “Not gonna happen.”

She raised her brow. “It’s on like Donkey Kong. Come on.” She grabbed my elbow and led me back toward the restaurant entrance. On the way through the arcade toward the machine, she handed me a game card, mentioning that she had recharged with money herself.

I gave her a sharp look and she shrugged. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any excuses, like you had forgotten your Dale and Boomer’s uber express triple platinum card.”