Page 23 of Necessary Space

“I did.”

“Could you still?”

I huffed out a laugh, turning away from the fence until my shoulder blades dug into the splintered wood.

“I was just on the phone complaining about your arrogance, and now I’m finding I miss it,” I said.

“Complaining?”

“Talking.”

“What did you say about me?” he asked.

“That you’re young and you’re arrogant. That you rejected me—”

He cut me off, hand slapping against the fence and rattling my spine. “I’d never.”

“That you rejected me,” I repeated. “That I offered to fuck you and you ignored me for two days…That I want you anyway.”

“Do you now?” Miles’s voice was loud against my ear, like he’d pressed his lips to the wood to whisper the question so no one else could hear us.

“Yes,” I admitted.

“Unlock your front door,” he said, the statement a clear and sharp demand that sent shivers down the back of my neck and further still, between my legs.

“Why?” I asked, even though I knew.

“I’m coming over.” His voice was far away, like he’d already stepped away from the fence, not willing to waste so much as another second with the privacy fence between us. “And we’re going to have a talk, you and me.”

I wasn’t sure what kind of Pandora’s box I’d just opened up, but by the time I made it back into the house and reached my front door, the porch light was already on, Miles’s body silhouetted against the fading brightness of the day, and I knew I was about to find out.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Miles

Gettingin front of Hendrix again was not an opportunity I was willing to waste. I’d spent the past two days thinking about his offer. Remembering the way his parting words had been a taunt. At first, I’d planned to do exactly what he’d said. I didn’t want to make a husband out of him, but I surely wouldn’t have minded making him into a fleshlight for the weekend. For better or worse, though, my brain took me back to our kiss, to the way he moaned against my lips and how soft he went while we were both so hard, and I knew there was no world where I could ever just fuck him once and be happy with that. Any attempt to convince myself otherwise was foolish.

I’d never been the type to lay my cards out on the table with someone so early, but laying myself bare with him seemed like the most reasonable plan of attack. I still didn’t think I deserved him, and I knew that sooner or later I’d ruin whatever chance he gave me, but I was willing to go down swinging.

Fuck.

That thought introduced a whole other host of problems, leading with the fact there was no easy way to tell a complete stranger that the things you liked to do in the bedroom made Christian Grey look like an amateur comedian at a community center on open mic night. All of that would have to be a problem for future me because Hendrix was at the door as soon as I climbed onto his porch.

“Why do you think you’ll fall in love with me?” he asked as soon as he opened the door.

I wondered if there would ever come a time when his bluntness didn’t catch me off guard.

I bit the tip of my tongue, the shock of pain drawing me back to the present. Back to his porch. Back under his watchful gaze.

“Because I want to.”

“And you always get what you want?”

I let out a choked laugh. “That’s generally the rule.”

“What else do you want?” he asked.

“To come inside.”