Page 81 of Necessary Space

Rome: I was thinking of you earlier and wanted to know if you sorted out your inconvenient attraction to your hot young neighbor.

I slammed my palm down on the phone, trying to obscure the screen, but it was too late. While I had nothing to hide from Miles, I would have preferred the message from Rome remain something he’d not seen.

“I don’t know which part of that I want to talk about first,” he teased. “The fact that your ex knows about me or that he knows I’m young and hot.”

“Very on brand that you glossed over the fact you’re also inconvenient.”

I slid my phone back into my pocket, and Miles nipped at my earlobe, lowering his voice to whisper, “The only thing inconvenient about me are all the erections I give you.”

“I’d hardly say those are inconvenient,” I murmured.

He set his hand on my thigh and scooted it in, fingertips grazing over the erection in question. I bit back a moan, clearing my throat instead.

“You’re too hard for it not to be,” he said. “You couldn’t hide this thing if your life depended on it.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard you complain about it lately,” I rasped, leaning into him. His breath was hot against my neck and his words were hotter.

“The only complaint I have is that it’s been too long since it’s been inside of me.”

“Hmmn.” I watched Miles with hooded eyes. “If only there was someone here who could remedy that. Someone who called the shots when the opportunity…arose.”

“I can hear you,” Wesley snapped from in front of us without turning around. “I can hear everything you’re saying.”

“It’s traumatic,” Grayson added, back to us.

My face burned with embarrassment, and I jerked upright, tearing out of Miles’s embrace, said erection quickly deflating.

“Just for the record,” Miles stage-whispered, “this isn’t what I meant when I asked you about sex in public.”

A laugh ripped out of me as Wesley slammed his hands over his ears, Grayson and Miles both joining me in laughter. A few minutes later, the bus pulled to a stop and we all exited, gathering on the sidewalk.

“Ready to get some lunch?” Miles asked.

“Not here,” Grayson groaned, and Miles rolled his eyes.

“Of course not here. I thought we could go to Marzena’s.”

“It’s been so long since we went,” Grayson said, flinging an arm around my brother’s shoulders. “You’ll love it.”

He set off toward the car, Wes in tow, leaving Miles and me alone on the curb.

“Marzena’s?” I asked. “Sounds interesting.”

“It is.” Miles threaded our fingers together and gave me a tug toward the car. We headed into the parking lot together, finding Grayson and Wes already buckled in the back seat.

“Grayson has a key to your car?” I asked, climbing into the passenger side.

“Of course he does. He also knows my social security number.”

“I’m an identity thief in training,” Grayson piped up. “That’s why he keeps me around.”

“Otherwise you’ll steal his pension?” I asked.

“His what?” Wes asked, slapping his hand a couple times against the back of my headrest. “Is that another sex thing?”

Behind Miles, Grayson let out a long breath. “How old are you again?”

“Twenty.”