Page 24 of Oz (Finding Home #1)

Chapter

Ten

Did he just ruffle my hair like I’m seven?

Oz

I come into the breakfast room the next morning and stop dead.

Silas looks up from his breakfast and I see a flush dapple the high planes of his cheekbones that’s mirrored on mine.

The last time I saw him he’d had me against the front door, kissing and grinding together.

I’d thought his next move would be a bedroom somewhere, but no.

Instead, he’d given me one last kiss and promised to see me the next morning in a hoarse, gravelly voice that hit my balls dead on.

I don’t mind admitting that I’m confused. I’ve never got a bloke that hard and then had him wish me a good night’s sleep. Never. Ever . It’s like meeting a fucking dodo or Britney Spears’ dress sense. Both incomprehensible.

I’m also a little hurt. It brings back too many memories of other men who, if they could have got away with it, would have walked twenty paces away from me because they were so embarrassed to be seen with me.

Is Silas the same? I know he’d protested it, but he’d still hidden us away yesterday before anyone could spot us.

I shake my head and walk towards the side table, an act that no longer fills anyone with dread because you can actually eat the stuff on it without a packet of Rennies and a glass of Milk of Magnesia nearby. I freeze when Silas jumps up, the scraping of his chair sounding loud in the room.

“Let me get you a cup of tea,” he says, the words coming out so fast that they’re almost jumbled.

I stare at him open-mouthed. “Sorry?”

“A cup of tea. Erm, I mean you need tea. I’ll get you a cup.”

Milo looks up from his toast, his eyes practically crossing, and Niall laughs and doesn’t even try to cover it up. Silas directs a killing glare at him and moves over to stand next to me.

“Did you …?” He stops and clears his throat. “Did you sleep well?”

“What is happening right now?” I ask faintly, and Niall laughs loudly.

“This is Silas going a courting. It’s like watching a Jane Austen film. So slow.” He pretends to mop his eyes. “My boy’s all growed up.”

Silas sighs and closes his eyes. “Niall, I could do without your help, thank you very much.”

He laughs, and throwing his napkin down on the table, he stands up. “You could actually do with my help but it’s far more entertaining to watch you flounder.” He shrugs. “ Love Island just finished on TV. I’m bored.”

“Wait a minute,” Silas says firmly as Niall goes to leave the room.

Maggie comes into the room and hovers, obviously realising that she’s interrupting something. I smile at her and wave her in. She moves past Silas and Niall quickly and puts a fresh pot of coffee down.

“Something you need to tell me, Silas?” Niall purrs.

Silas shakes his head and I suddenly realise that all my muscles are tense. I breathe in quietly and take a sip of my tea and relax. I don’t know why I’m so tense. It’s not like anyone ever laid claim to me and …

“Oz and I are dating now,” Silas blurts out and I choke and spit my tea straight out onto his shirt. I can’t believe he just admitted that in front of Niall and Milo, not to mention Maggie.

“Sorry, sorry,” I say and try to brush the liquid off the fabric. My cheeks are burning, and I can feel Milo and Maggie’s gazes hot on my face. Niall just looks at Silas and smiles.

“Okay. Thanks for telling me.”

“That’s it?” I blurt. “You do remember my interview, don’t you?”

“Oz, it’s ingrained on my brain, dearest. I try to forget. I try to drink the memory away. But every night when I close my eyes it still comes back to me.”

Milo snorts. “Me too.”

I glare at him and he just smirks. Cocky little shit, I think admiringly. I turn back to Niall. “Surely as his best friend you should be advising against it. It’s not exactly conventional behaviour and it hasn’t worked out well before.”

He shrugs. “I’m his friend, not his lawyer.” He sighs long-sufferingly. “Oz, when I’m breeding the pigs–”

“What you get up to in your private life is your own business, sweetie,” I say faintly, and Silas laughs loudly.

Niall carries on as if I’d never spoken. “When I’m breeding the pigs, if it doesn’t take the first time, I just make them try again and again. If I gave up at the first hurdle, the world would have no baby pigs.”

“You’re like a pig pimp,” I say admiringly.

Silas flings his arm around me and kisses the side of my face affectionately while he laughs, and I look at him out of the corner of my eye.

What is happening here ? His arm is round me as if it means nothing to stand there boldly and declare that he’s with me.

Isn’t he worried about things going badly?

He turns his head slightly and smiles at me. His eyes are warm and clear and untroubled. Obviously not.

“I’m taking Oz out this afternoon,” he says to Maggie. “So please don’t cook for the two of us.” He shoots a look at Niall and Milo. “In fact, don’t cook for them either. Take the night off.”

Maggie smiles and exits the room quickly before he can take it back.

“Lovely,” Niall snorts. “Fish and chips again.” He looks at Silas. “Where are you going?”

“Mind your own business,” he says serenely and Niall laughs.

“I just want to know so I don’t make the mistake of doing the same thing. I do want to get laid in the next millennium.”

“Surely your personality would interfere with that,” I say smoothly, and he laughs.

“I’m off. See you later.”

He moves through the door and Silas jerks. “Oh, wait a minute. I need a word with you about the top field.” He grabs me closer into his side. “Be ready at four,” he whispers. “Dress casually.”

“Why? Are we raiding another stately home?”

He laughs and kisses me lightly. Or at least I think he means to do it lightly, but as soon as our lips touch he groans under his breath and licks into my mouth.

I raise my hands automatically and thread them through his silky hair, but Milo coughs and Niall shouts through the door, “Not at the breakfast table.”

Silas pulls back. His lips look full and slick. “Sorry,” he says breathlessly. Then he ruffles my hair and darts out of the room after Niall. Their voices echo down the corridor and then silence falls.

I turn to Milo. “Did that just happen?” I ask faintly.

He nods, looking slightly astonished. “It did. I’m quite surprised because he isn’t a terribly demonstrative person. I never saw him kissing David.”

“Not that ,” I interrupt. “Did he just ruffle my hair like I’m seven?” I raise my fingers to my head. “It took me ages to get this quiff straight.” I pause. “Although okay, let’s go back to what you just said. That was much more interesting.”

He grins. “Nope. You had your chance and it’s long gone now. The pair of you will just have to muddle along and I’ll watch.”

I shake my head and butter my toast. “You’re an enigma, Milo, I don’t mind telling you.”

“Why?”

“Because you seem so shy, but you’re actually not.”

He shrugs. “I was very shy as a child and had a really bad stutter. I’m better now. But if I’m nervous then it all comes back and I tend to get self-conscious and stuttery.”

“But why would you be …?” I stop. “Niall?”

He flushes. “No, of course not.”

“Don’t take that hearty tone of voice with me, Milo,” I say sharply. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“I always imagined that would be said in a much softer tone of voice than that of a wing commander,” he muses, and I throw my napkin at him. He dodges it laughingly and smiles. “We are friends, Oz. I’m so glad you came here.”

“I’m glad I’m here too,” I say, but my mind is on him.

I hesitate. “Niall’s a hard one to summarise.

” He smiles, and I stare at him. At first glance they don’t go together.

Milo is slim and dark while Niall is big and bold and blond.

However, I’ve noticed a few intense glances that Niall’s thrown at him since he’s become a bit more confident.

He’s also extremely protective of Milo and watches over him like a mother hen.

Milo shakes his head and throws his napkin down on the table. “Niall is very confident,” he says quietly. “And I’m not. He goes for men like him who are confident and mature. Not the younger brother of one of his close friends.”

“Niall is in no way mature,” I say. “But I think you’re wrong. I’ve noticed–”

“Can we not talk about it,” he says quickly. I open my mouth, words tumbling on my tongue, but I still at the look of panic in his eyes.

“Okay,” I say quietly. “Let’s just eat breakfast and then we’ve got to unpack the book order for the shop.” I pause. “And while we’re doing that, I’d like to schedule a time for me to freak the fuck out about Silas.”

He takes a sip of his tea. “Why?”

I stare at him and when Chewwy puts his head on my thigh, I scratch behind his velvety ear.

“This has got disaster written all over it. I’m actually living with Silas.

The last time I fucked my boss, he moved me in and threw me out within three weeks.

I haven’t exactly got longevity written over me. ”

“Silas has,” he says quietly, watching me with those wise eyes of his. So clear and all-seeing, the product of a quiet man who sits back and watches before he engages.

“I’m not used to this,” I mutter, rubbing Chewwy’s head and feeling the hot moisture on my jeans from his sigh. “It always starts fast and furious and ends even faster and angrier. I don’t really do relationships now. I just fuck and leave. It’s way easier to do that than–”

“Than what?”

“Than watching them go,” I say and smile. “Shit, this got serious quickly. Let’s go and mock Barry.” I push Chewwy gently until he moves and scrape my chair back, but Milo reaches over and grabs my hand to stay me.

“Why not give it a chance?” he says softly. “I think Silas might be very different from the men you’ve met before.”

“Well, the same goes for me. I bet he’s never met anyone like me before.”