Page 18 of Necessary Space

“Do you steal?”

“Only hearts,” I mumbled weakly.

Hendrix laughed at me, and that had to be a good sign, right?

“What makes you a bad man?” he asked.

“I didn’t say I was bad,” I corrected.

“Just not good.”

“There’s like at least seventy-four shades of gray between black and white, right?” I looked up from the very interesting crack in the wood of his porch that I’d been staring at since the beginning of the questioning.

“Something like that.”

I gave Hendrix a helpless shrug. “I’m not sure I like how I feel around you.”

“I want to say that’s offensive, but I don’t think that’s how you meant it.”

“Right.”

“I get it.” He leaned against his front door, lips pursed. His body said relaxed, but his face was anything but. He was trying to play it cool for me and I appreciated that because it was the same act I was playing.

All I wanted in that moment were all the things I couldn’t have.

I wanted to kiss him again. I wanted to know if his house had carpet because I wanted to kick his door down and fuck him on the floor until he came all over both of our hands and I wanted to know if that would give him rug burn. I would kiss every abrasion up the length of his spine if that happened, though, because I wanted to worship the way he hurt for me.

“I just wanted to apologize for that,” I said, stepping off the porch. I knew my cock was hard, pressing against the front of my sweats, but I made no move to hide it. There were many things I’d apologize for, but wanting Hendrix wasn’t one of them.

“Okay.” He opened his door and stepped into his house.

More space between us.

Necessary space.

“So. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Miles.”

I turned and headed back down his walkway, hoping I’d made the right decision.

“Hey, Miles?” Hendrix called after me.

I stopped and looked back at him over my shoulder to see what he wanted, wondering if he wanted to get in the last word or if he’d changed his mind and by some miracle wanted to invite me in.

“I don’t date men younger than me anymore, so if you decide you want to do something about that…” His stare dropped down and he gestured at my throbbing hard-on. “You know where I live.”

And before I could even process the words, he closed the door and switched off all the lights.

CHAPTERSEVEN

Hendrix

It had beenthree days since Miles had kissed me in his kitchen. Three days since he’d followed me home, and three days since I’d sent him away. The entire night with him had brought up about a thousand different feelings, all of them complicated and messy. I’d spent the week trying to untangle them and failing miserably.

After an uneventful day in the office, I grabbed takeout on my way home from work, content to settle in alone for the night. Life, of course, as always…had other plans. I’d barely gotten changed and on the couch with my Chinese when my phone chirped with an incoming text message. Rome’s name flashed, splintered by the screen that I still hadn’t bothered to get repaired.

Rome: I was just thinking about you.