His eyes scanned my face like the word he was looking for was etched in the creases around my mouth or the fringes of my hairline. I was painfully close to cracking an ill-timed joke because the weight of his stare was the heaviest thing I’d ever felt and I didn’t hate it. I hated that I didn’t hate it. I hated that it made me feel safe and loved, even as a child he’d never known. Back when I’d been the worst and most unrefined version of myself.
He forked a pierogi off the plate and cut it in half. He added some onions and took a careful bite. He was measured and calm, and as he chewed, his eyes fell closed. I felt cold in the absence of his stare, and I settled my hand on his thigh. Possessive and needy all at the same time. This man really brought out the best and the worst parts of me.
Hendrix chewed and swallowed, covered my hand with his, and corrected my best friend and his brother with a single word.
“Endearing.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
Hendrix
Wakingup alone on SundayandMonday was pretty miserable. I’d quickly gotten used to Miles’s company, and his attentive coffee making, but after our day out in the city, he’d kissed me goodbye and promised we’d make plans again soon. I knew he was trying to give me time with my brother, since he was only visiting, but I was resentful at the idea of putting my life on hold because my younger brother had gotten the careless idea to fly across the country unannounced and surprise me at my job.
“You can come get lunch if you want. There’s a deli by the office Colin has taken me to a couple times,” I said, adjusting my tie and making sure I had all of my things for work.
“Who’s Colin?”
Wesley was still in his pajamas—a pair of basketball shorts and one of my old college t-shirts. He sat on the couch with sleep in his eyes and his hair looking like he’d shoved his finger in a light socket.
“A colleague,” I said. “I have to go, but text me if you want to come and I’ll let you know when I can get away.”
Wes gave me a thumbs up and slid down the couch until his head landed on the cushions. He closed his eyes, and I was jealous that he’d be able to go back to sleep while I had to go to work. Checking my pockets for my phone and wallet, I locked the door behind me and stepped off the porch.
“Morning,” Miles’s tired voice behind me was familiar, but unexpected.
I startled, heart skipping as I turned to find him leaning against the passenger side of my car. “What are you doing here?”
He gave me a weary smile and held up a black tumbler, giving it a little shake. “I didn’t want you to think I was slacking on my coffee duties.”
I went to him, pressing our mouths together and backing him against the car. As I kissed him, he scrunched his nose, trying to wiggle away from me.
“I haven’t brushed my teeth,” he muttered.
“I’ve never cared.”
I kissed him again and that time he opened his mouth, letting me slide my tongue against his. Miles snaked one arm around me, dragging his hand down over the mound of my ass to give it a playful swat.
“You didn’t have to get up early and make me coffee,” I said, dropping one last kiss against his lips.
“I work too.” He shrugged, rubbing at the corner of his eye. “And I woke up thinking about you.”
“Oh?”
Miles stepped to the side and made room so I could drop my laptop bag on the passenger seat. He pressed in behind me, his cock warm and half-hard through the material of his sweats and the thin poly blend of my slacks.
“I see,” I murmured, deliberately shaking my ass against him.
Miles reached over and put the tumbler into my cup holder and then grabbed my hips, drawing back and slamming forward so his cock forced its way between my ass cheeks.
“We’re in public,” I reminded him.
“We keep dancing around this whole in public thing, don’t we?” He pulled me upright and spun me so we were face to face.
He took my breath away. The look of him. The feel of him. All of him was just…unmatched. The thought that I’d almost dismissed him out of pocket for something as trivial as his youth? Absolutely unfathomable to me now.
“Let me take you to that club this weekend,” Miles whispered into the crook of my neck. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Just a change of scenery.”
“It’s hard to tell you no.”
