Page 36 of Oz
“It’s good to see you too,” he says. For a second time seems to still as we stare at each other. Then Milo shifts awkwardly and I snap back into the moment.
“Afternoon, Lord Ashworth,” he says.
I shake my head. “It’s Silas, Milo.” I smile at them. “Going to find yourself some good suppliers?”
Oz gives his low chuckle that always without fail hits me in my balls and my heart simultaneously. It’s like rough velvet. “That sounds like a line fromSons of Anarchy.”
I grin at him. “Did Charlie Hunnam go shopping for local honey and tea towels too? I must have missed that episode.”
“It was in the deleted scenes in the extras,” he says demurely.
Theo laughs and Oz turns to him and smiles. I feel a flare of something hot in my chest.Does he fancy him?Theo’s attractive and single. He’s also not paying Oz’s wages. I swallow. I want to bewail that fact, and I would if it hadn’t been responsible for bringing Oz into my life in the first place.
I can’t quite believe that I’ve only known him for a couple of months. He fits so easily in my life, like there’s always been a corner carved out for a small fierce man who waits up for me atnight to cook and talk. Who, when he knew the financial mess I was in, has thrown himself into making the house ready, like a knight riding to the rescue. I smile. A small, very feisty knight whose armour wears thin at the oddest times. I try to imagine the house done and him not there anymore, but my mind shies away from that like a tongue from a wobbly tooth.
I become aware of Milo looking at me in a bewildered fashion while Oz and Theo talk. I shake my head. “Sorry,” I murmur. “I’ve got a lot on my plate today.”
He shoots me a sharp quizzical look that’s so like Oz, it’s startling. Even here he’s made his mark. Milo has worked for me for two years and no matter how hard I tried to put him at ease, he remained tongue-tied. I know and understand the reasons for his shyness, but Oz has been here for a few months and Milo’s already showing a sassy side. Only the other day Niall had rather autocratically told him to pass him something and Milo had asked whether he wanted him to tie a broom to his arse and sweep the floor while he did it. It had quite put Niall off his stride and I hadn’t missed the way he’d looked at Milo after that. Curious and wide eyed and almost proud.
Oz stirs at my words. “We ought to get going,” he says, and I hope I’m not imagining that he sounds reluctant. “We’ve got honey to buy and you’re working.”
“Not all day,” I blurt. I can feel Theo’s laughing gaze burning into my head but I ignore him. “I’ve got to take a break. Do you want to meet me at the show ground at four? There’s an exhibition of junior horse jumping.”
I actually want to punch myself in the face at that extremely lame invitation, but to my astonishment his face lights up.
“I’d love that,” he says softly. He gives his wicked grin, the arch of which I want to lick so badly. “Are they providing alcohol?”
“Fucking hope so,” I mutter, giving him a swift grin, and watch as his smile turns wide and warm.
He and Milo exchange goodbyes with Theo and walk away, leaving me with a silence that is pregnant with mirth.
“Well?” he finally says.
“Oh, look,” I say quickly. “Is that family coming over for a balloon? I think they are and it’s your turn.”
He stares at the family who are moving past us and heading towards a giant robot who appears to be spitting water at people. “Nope,” he says happily. “We are quite alone.”
“You sound rather creepy at the moment.”
“I should sound ecstatic and brimming with happiness.”
I turn to him in surprise. “What?”
“Yes, it’s like watching one of my grandma’s afternoon films. Heartwarming and almost tragic.”
“Shut up, you knob.”
He bursts into very loud laughter, looking more like the eighteen-year-old student I met at Edinburgh University than a thirty-seven-year-old partner in a vet practice.
“Oh, shut up,” I say sourly and give him a shove which makes him upset a case of cat collars.
We bend to pick them up and after a few seconds I give in and look up at him. “I looked like a fool,” I mutter.
His face softens and he smiles. “Yes, that’s true.” I grimace and he grabs my arm. “But you weren’t alone in it, if that’s any consolation.”
“What?”
He nods. “He’s as interested in you as you are in him. It’s as obvious as the fact that Chris Hemsworth is attractive.”
