The goal of this paper is to propose a novel compositional analysis of literal and metaphoric readings in spatial prepositions and prepositional phrases. It is shown that these types of readings emerge as the result of prepositions interacting with other parts of speech, such as verbs, DPs and temporal adverbs (e.g., in one hour). Two types of understudied data are discussed. The first set of data involves the interaction of literal and metaphoric readings with lexical aspect, including their distribution with temporal adverbs (e.g., in one hour/for one hour). The second set of data involves the co-existence of literal and metaphoric readings for prepositions in coordinated structures (e.g., under the table and through the briefing). The account suggests that both readings emerge as types of possible relations that spatial prepositions can denote, as part of a complex semantic domain that includes distinct semantic dimensions.