Page 65 of Necessary Space

That was fine.

There wasn’t much else for me to say anyway.

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

Hendrix

Miles’s reactionto Wesley’s arrival at my house was the exact reason I had told him I didn’t want to date younger men anymore. The crisis of confidence, the jumping to conclusions, the lack of mature communication…all of it was more than I was interested in.

He was lucky I’d had time to fall in love with him before he unleashed his childish and presumptive insecurities on me, because walking away was no longer an option in my arsenal.

Unfortunately.

It was impossible to not shuffle back to the house, the absolutely gutted expression I’d left on Miles’s face emblazoned on the backs of my eyelids. Wesley paced the front wall of the house, and I almost smacked his face with the door when I stepped inside.

“You were frantic, Henny.” He stepped back to let me in. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine. I…” I cleared my throat and finished loosening the constricting knot on my tie. “I just made a mistake.”

Whether the mistake was jumping to the worst case scenario about Miles’s silence or dating him in the first place was yet to be seen.

“Let me get changed and we can figure something out for dinner. Did you find the guest room okay?”

Wesley followed me down the hallway, chewing on the corner of his thumbnail. I stopped in the doorway to my bedroom, tie in hand.

“The whole house smells like musty air,” he said.

“It’s old.”

“So are you. You don’t smell like musty air.” Wesley smirked.

“Just give me ten minutes to get changed.”

I closed the bedroom door on him, turning and pressing my back against it. My knees gave out and I slid down until my ass hit the carpet. The wince that followed was inevitable, bruises the shape of Miles’s fingers peppered the backs of my thighs and my ass. The hard landing nothing more than a solid reminder of him and the rest of it. In my pocket, my phone vibrated, battering my leg.

I knew it was Miles.

I knew it was an apology.

I knew it could wait.

Ithadto wait.

I tossed the tie onto my bed and stripped out of my work clothes, discarding them into the hamper and opting for a pair of jeans and a black henley.

“Don’t do it,” I warned myself when my attention lingered a little too long on the cracked and black screen of my phone. I still needed to get that replaced.

“Hey!” I hollered out to Wesley. “I need to get my phone fixed when we’re out, don’t let me forget.”

He rapped his knuckles against my door in confirmation.

My phone vibrated again and I tapped the screen to read the messages.

Miles: I know I acted immaturely.

Miles: I know it’s not the first time.

Miles: I’m not sure it’ll be the last. But I’ll try to be better. You deserve more from me.