Just a Bit Dirty (Straight Guys 10)

Chapter 1

Miles Hardaway wasn’t having a good day.

His flight to Boston had been late, then someone stole his wallet—with Miles’s credit card, his passport, and all his cash—and now the guy who was supposed to pick him up was late too.

Miles glanced at his phone for what felt like the hundredth time and frowned, looking around the crowded Boston Airport. His brother had assured him that his American friend would pick him up, but it had been an hour since his arrival and the bloke was still nowhere to be seen.

Just brilliant.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t as though he needed to be picked up—he was twenty, not a child—but fighting his overbearing eldest brother on this was more trouble than it was worth. As the youngest child in his large family, Miles had long ago learned when to pick his battles and when to save his breath.

Zach had always been overprotective of him. He thought of Miles as more of a son than a brother. It was probably unavoidable, considering their significant age difference and the fact that Zach had practically raised him since Miles was a toddler. Needless to say, Zach didn’t approve of his decision to spend the summer overseas all by himself and insisted on Miles’s staying at his friend’s place. At least he hadn’t outright forbidden him from going. He could have, since Miles was a broke student financially dependent on his eldest brother.

It made Miles a little embarrassed that he was still such a baby, but he’d mostly made peace with it. He’d tried to be independent before—when he had moved out of Zach’s house at seventeen—but he hadn’t expected how difficult being on his own would be. London was expensive, and he’d ended up sharing a tiny room with two other guys from his class. It had certainly been a learning experience: he had learned that sometimes pride was stupid and pointless. He’d been embarrassed but relieved to return to Zach’s house with his tail between his legs. Since then, he hadn’t rebelled again, accepting Zach’s financial support until the time he would be able to be independent without having to skip meals to pay rent.

But still, having to depend on Zach’s financial support for his travels while he tried to figure himself out made Miles more than a little uncomfortable. That was why he had agreed to stay at Zach’s friend’s place: he didn’t want Zach to pay for his hotels too.

His phone went off in his hand.

Alexander Sheldon, the caller ID said.

Relieved, Miles answered. “Hey,” he said, a little awkwardly. He and Alexander didn’t know each other all that well. Alexander had been invited to dinner at their house when he’d been in London last summer, but with how large Miles’s family was, they had barely talked to each other. “Thanks for coming to pick me up. I’m at Terminal—”

“Actually,” Alexander cut him off. “I’m really sorry, but I can’t pick you up. You have no idea how sorry I am, but you won’t be able to stay at our place either.”

Miles blinked, at a loss. “Oh. That’s—” That’s fine, he wanted to say, but it wasn’t really fine. He was in an unfamiliar city, in a different country, with no money, no credit card, and no passport.

“My fiancé’s parents got into a serious accident in Brazil yesterday,” Alexander said, his voice apologetic but distracted. “We’re already in Rio. We should have left you a key, but we left in such a hurry, your arrival slipped my mind.”

“Oh,” Miles said, frowning. “Are they okay?”

“Not really,” Alexander replied, his voice grim and tired. “My fiancé is a mess right now, and it’s been…” He sighed. “Anyway, look, I’m really sorry for this. I already asked our friends to pick you up and host you until our return—”

“You didn’t have to,” Miles said, wincing a little. It was one thing to stay at the place of a relative of a family friend—Alexander’s cousin, Jared, was an old family friend—but it was completely another to have to depend on strangers he didn’t know at all. “I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You won’t be,” Alexander said. “You’ll stay at Rutledge Manor. It has thirty bedrooms. Your presence there won’t make a difference, kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” Miles said without much heat.

“The Rutledges will send someone to pick you up soon. Sit tight.” Alexander sounded distracted again. “Okay, I have to go. Call me if you need anything. And I mean anything, all right? I promised Jared I would keep an eye on you, and he’ll have my balls if anything happens to you.”

Miles shook his head with a crooked smile. He knew Jared was protective of him, too—most of Zach’s old friends were—but he hadn’t expected that Jared would personally ask his cousin to keep an eye on him.