Page 27 of Silver Fox
He’s clearly happy as a bachelor, anyone could see that. The chances of him wantingusto become a long-term thing are low at best.
When we pull into the underground parking lot attached to Silas’s tower block, I find the courage to speak up. “Thank you.”
Leaning over the center console, he pulls me in for a kiss, his hand delving into my hair. “Anything for you, pretty girl,” he whispers in my ear, pressing a kiss on my cheek.
I lean my forehead against his, savoring the feeling of being taken care of.
Even if it’s only for a little while.
8
Skye
Whenthelasthourof available security footage comes to an end, I lay my head back against the sofa, staring aimlessly at the high ceilings in Silas’s apartment. “Fuck.”
The word is barely out of my mouth when a crash sounds from somewhere in the penthouse. I’m instantly on edge; Silas is still at work, and I amnowherenear qualified to take on an intruder. My eyes are wide as I silently get to my feet, abandoning my laptop and creeping towards the noise.
There’s an enormous candle on the shelf next to me—a three-wick monstrosity encased in a heavy glass jar. It’s almost a foot tall, and I hold it aloft, ready to defend myself.
And then hold it slightly less aloft, because I didn’t realize how heavy this damn thing was.
I can still hear movement, and I creep down the corridor. It’s coming from the gym, and my heart is thumping a crescendo when I look around the doorframe…
The room is empty, save for one mischievous little cat.
Bryaxis lurks beneath a wall rack that usually holds up an assortment of cables and straps. His tail whips from side to side—never a good sign—as he stalks the single item remaining on the rack, a cable with some sort of heavy pulley attached.
Just as I conclude that I’ve found the supposed intruder, Axi strikes. He springs upwards, grabbing hold of the cable with his teeth and grappling with it until it falls off the hook. The cable itself lands without much of a commotion, but the heavy pulley clatters against the smooth wooden floor. Axi doesn’t mind, however, his attack continuing even when his opponent is down.
Rolling my eyes, I put my weapon down and cross the room, walking around the mats occupying the gym’s central square. “You,” I tell Axi, hanging everything back up, “are a noodle.”
He makes a chittering noise, pacing beneath the rack and ignoring me in favor of the re-hung items. His little whiskers shake as he does, like the cute idiot he is. It’s the same noise he makes when he sights a bird through a window, chattering away in his own little world.
I bend over to stroke down his spine, and his butt lifts up to receive a good scritch, tail swishing from side to side. “Are you my little weirdo?” I murmur to him, giving him a good two-handed scratch. “Yes, you are. You’re my little weirdo.”
I make apspspspsnoise, tapping my thigh. “Come on. Leave Silas’s exercise stuff alone. I can’t afford for you to be breaking shit.”
“What’s he broken?”
The voice nearly has me jumping out of my skin, and my hand flies up over my chest as I glance at the doorframe.
Silas is leaning against it, dressed in a suit and looking effortlessly dapper. “My apologies,” he smiles. He holds up his large hand in surrender. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You’re home early.”
“The meeting finished earlier than I thought it would. How did things go with you?” As I near him, Silas holds his arms out to embrace me.
I eagerly bury myself in his grip, that knot of worry in my stomach growing by the day. “My day was garbage. I finished going through all the security footage. There’s no record of Kenneth saying anything untoward on Silver Mobility premises.”
Silas does his best to conceal it, but I can see the disappointment beneath. “Regardless, I appreciate everything you’ve done,” he continues.
I shrug—as much as I can whilst being hugged. “I’m usually good at this sort of thing. And I do kind of have the incentive of proving my own innocence spurring me on.”
“True,” he concedes. “But even so, thank you.”
A loudmeowsounds at my feet, and a moment later Bryaxis jumps onto Silas’s broad shoulders. It’s a move that Axi has perfected since he and I have been staying with Silas, and he butts his head up against Silas’s, purring contently.
“Hey Axi,” Silas murmurs, his voice a purr all its own. “What mischief have you got up to today?”
