thanks for last night. going to take me awhile to sleep and scrub all that off, but would you come by later?
Sure. Katie and I are heading in to the practice courts, but we’ll be back mid-afternoon
perfect, see you then
WHEN I MADE my nervous way to his door that afternoon, I found it already sitting open. Not for me, but because a guy with square glasses and an undercut was backing out clutching a large plastic bag to his chest.
“Yeah, anytime,” he said. “Just tell us what you need and we’ll be here.”
“Oh, wait,” came Miles’s voice from inside. “Another hat. Sorry.”
The man laughed and paused his retreat. “Just put it on top.”
I reached the door as Miles set a fedora rakishly atop the bag. “Oh hey,” he said, his smile broadening in a way that couldn’t but make me smile back. “Good timing. How was practice?”
“Pretty good,” I said as Undercut Guy readjusted his grip on the bag and headed off along the narrow corridor. “I’m feeling the court. Hitting well. Bicchieri is a whole other problem, but—”
“Nah, you’ve got him.”
His easy confidence in my skill was always a little baffling, but he hadn’t been wrong yet – a fact I decided to cling to rather than argue. I nodded toward the stairwell as the fedora-topped bag wobbled out of sight. “What was that?”
“Those clothes,” Miles said, gesturing for me to come in. “Tina had them sent over because I got pissy and refused to go to her stylist. They came to pick them up.”
I stepped into his once more fastidious apartment, no sign left of the bombsite from the night before. There were even fresh flowers. “Oh, so you don’t just travel everywhere with a whole wardrobe of slutty eveningwear ready to go?” I said. “Disappointing.”
So easy to slide back into our former banter, to pretend like nothing had changed.
He was in the complete opposite of slutty eveningwear this afternoon, wearing a torn and faded pair of jeans and an overlarge long-sleeved shirt. It was an afternoon on the couch outfit, yet he made it look hot because he was Miles Callahan and, whatever else I might be desperately ignoring, I had an endless boner for Miles Callahan.
“I can probably pull off slutty without that much help,” he said, coming to stand before me, hesitant like he wasn’t sure what was allowed anymore. “Thanks for last night. I know I already said that, but I think it bears repeating.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, unable to meet his gaze. “It was fine, really.”
“And, uh, thanks for not taking advantage of my . . . drunken enthusiasm. It was good of you. First time that’s ever happened.”
“Really? That’s depressing.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
Desperate to lighten the mood before the sincerity crushed me, I said, “I would have been very well served if I had, since you would inevitably have puked all over me.”
Miles winced. “Which, as we all know, is desperately hot. Might have ruined all chance of ever getting back in your pants.” He drew a step closer, and gently ran his hands down my back, stopping as he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of my shorts.
“Is that what you’re trying to do?” I asked.
“I don’t know what I’m trying to do,” he admitted, voice husky. “But I want to know if we’re okay. Did I ruin this?”
For a moment, I could only shake my head and catch my breath. Then, “No, you didn’t ruin it. I thought I did. You just wanted a convenient fuck buddy and I went and forced my trauma on—”
“No.” He gave a vehement little shake of his head. “Don’t make excuses for me. You were right. I fucked up and you deserve better. I shouldn’t have made my choices your problem, especially when I’m the one who . . .” The words hung, and he ran his tongue along his lower lip as though in memory of that kiss, his eyes dark and heavy-lidded. “It won’t happen again. I promise. I’ll take better care of you from now on.”
Care of me.I swallowed hard. “We can just not hang out in public, right? That’s fine.”
He breathed out a humourless laugh. “No, Mat, it’s not, but let’s call it a work-in-progress for now. And I’m sorry Tina called you.”
“She was fine,” I said. “I can’t blame her for caring about you.”
“Yeah.” His lips twitched into a rueful smile. “Doing her damage control.”
