CIARA'S POV

I didn't mean to ask. I really didn't.

I had been the one to say not now. Not yet. But as we walked back toward where my car was parked, something inside me refused to stay still. The silence between us was thick, like it had its own pulse. I turned to him before I could stop myself.

"When did you come back?" I asked, my voice too soft to sound casual.

He looked up slightly, like the question caught him off guard. The afternoon sunlight caught in his eyes, turning them to amber. "A ...