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“Friends?” He says the words like he’s confused, and maybe he is. Hell, I’m confused. We’re in uncharted territory, but friends seem like the first logical step forward.

“Yeah, friends.”

“And what if I want to do…unfriendly things to you, Sonnet?” His voice, his question, has shivers running down my spine. I stop my pacing and look up to Marie, eyes wide as I struggle to come up with an answer.

Miles lets out a rough laugh, and I hear tools banging around in the background. “Friends first, Sonnet.”

“And then what?” My voice is a whisper as I ask, but he hears it all the same.

Tools clatter against concrete as his voice comes through the line, darker and full of the rough edges I learned to love all those years ago. “Then I plan on making up for lost time.”

He ends the call without another word, leaving my mouth wide and my body shaking in the middle of the bar.

“Well?” Jonas is practically thrumming with excitement when I turn towards him, his body halfway over the bar.

I make my way over to the counter and pick up my drink, swallowing the rest of it down in one gulp. “I think…I think I just landed in a load of trouble.”

Marie laughs and raises her eyebrows. “Good trouble?”

“The best.”

CHAPTER 7

Being friends with Sonnet is amazing, but not at all what I had in mind. Like I told her, though, friends first.

I’ll be her friend.

I’ll go on coffee dates and rummage through thrift stores with a smile on my face because, despite any reservations I had about the idea, it is enjoyable. What my smile doesn’t show, though, is the more obsessive thoughts I have about her. The unfriendly things.

We’ve left school this last week a little lighter than before. There was no unbridled tension suffocating my truck and no lingering looks filled with words neither of us wanted to speak. Now the tension is sexual, and she knows the looks I give her have a more…passionate reason.

She put her cards on the table, but so did I. I just have to keep reminding myself why I agreed to her terms when all I want to do is throw her against the wall of this changing room and have my way with her. Vernice, the store owner, wouldn’t mind. She would plug her ears and congratulate me on a job well done on the way out.

Instead, I’m sitting in this plastic chair with a cock hard enough to rip through the zipper of my jeans as Sonnet tries on more clothes. The changing rooms are barely the size of a closet, and instead of a door, all they have is a curtain covering the opening. Every once in a while, a flash of skin will show between the fabric and the wall.

I know I shouldn’t look. A gentleman sure as hell wouldn’t.

But I’m no gentleman.

Sonnet grunts beyond the curtain right before a long sigh meets my ears. “Damn it. I really liked this skirt.”

There’s movement beyond the curtain, and Sonnet bends, inadvertently showing me the lace of her underwear as she bends over. Fuck. I want to suffocate between those thighs.

“Miles, could you hand me that next stack?” Her bare arm comes through the curtain with a large stack of folded clothes. “These are the ones that can go back.” I take them from her just for another stack to appear. “These are the ones I’m keeping.”

I take both stacks from her and set them to the side before reaching over and grabbing the last bit of clothes she has pulled from the shelves. “This is it.”

Her hand reaches out for them and accidentally bumps into the curtain. Dark blue eyes flick up to mine, flashing with amusement when she sees me drop my gaze. Her hair, black with a few purple strips, covers most of her chest, but I can see the slivers of skin beneath, the roundness of her breasts trying their hardest to stay contained in the black lace bra she’s wearing. My cock strains against my jeans, hard to the point of pain, and I hear her laugh.

“You could at least be conspicuous about it, Miles.”

I look back up to her as she takes the clothes out of my hand. “Now, why would I do that when I’ve already told you I have plans for you, Sonnet?”

She hums out a noncommittal response as she steps back into the changing room and closes the curtain so I can no longer see her. I stay outside the sitting room as more and more clothes drop to the floor. After a while, she opens the curtain to reveal the black sundress she wore in here.

“Nothing good in that stack. Let’s give the others back to Vernice and get out of here. I’m starving and need to find out what I’m doing about dinner.”

I follow behind her to the checkout and slide my card over to Vernice before Sonnet has the chance to open her wallet. The shop owner raises her eyebrow but takes it, smiling at the look Sonnet shoots my way.