Page 28 of Drilled

His quiet strength was never as obvious to me as right now. I was hyper aware of every single breath both of us were taking, and mine hitched with every flex of his palm and fingers. I didn’t think Silas knew just what he was doing to me. He couldn’t.

He was the type of guy to help me cook and massage my aching feet just because he felt like it, and who fed stray, one-eared cats and tried to apply for board on their behalf. He wasn’t the type to let his breath linger on the back of my neck, or create a cage with his body that trapped me in a wall of muscle. I was melting into a puddle right in front of everyone and it was embarrassing. But the lilt in his next words told me something different.

“There we go,” he crooned, voice barely above a whisper in my ear. He’d have had to lean down to reach it. I exhaled sharply, trying to ignore the sparks that scattered across my skin at his sheer proximity. “We need to make sure you have a flawless, tight fit or the whole wall comes down later.”

The words swam around in my ear, suddenly filthy and loaded with meaning that I now genuinely believed Sy was trying to hint at. His fingers slipped between mine and I turned my head to try, my brain devoid of any rebuttals. His deep blue eyes were alight, the pupils blown wide.

As my mouth opened and closed soundlessly, my skin prickled with more than just the awareness of being this close to Silas. It was the uncomfortable sensation of being watched. Dax, still on his knees near the door, was glaring up at us, or rather, at me.

But instead of feeling shame at that instant, the combination of being basically held by Sy while Dax had his eyes locked on mine amplified the arousal that had started to slowly build since I stepped down into the bathroom. I was very aware of every point of contact between Sy and me, and the fact that Dax and I weren’t touching at all. I remembered Dax’s hands on me on the porch and an intrusive thought barged straight to the forefront of my already buzzing mind—what it would feel like to have both pairs of hands on my body.

I stumbled out of Silas’s personal space bubble, ducking under his arms.

“I, uh, I think I’ve had my fair share of labor today,” I said awkwardly, stammering through the excuse like a certified idiot. Sy frowned in confusion.

“Is everything okay? Are you okay?” he asked, blonde brows knitted in confusion. He took a step towards me and I held my palm out as though trying to stave off the effects his sexiness had on my mental health.

“All good. I have something to show you later in the kitchen. I’ll leave you guys to it, then. See ya,” I said, waving just to really add to my ‘Fool of the Year’ entry submission.

I didn’t bother to wait to see how any of the men would respond before I practically ran back upstairs and into the kitchen again. As I refrigerated the meat pack, I couldn’t get the feeling of Silas’s strong, broad chest and huge arms out of my head. His body wrapped around mine in a way that felt so natural. It felt perfect.

So why did knowing Dax was watching us make it feel even better?

That wasn’t normal to think about. Maybe it’d just been so long since I’d gotten laid that I forgot all about what constituted normal, healthy sexual morals. I was just a little rusty, was all.

I grabbed my bag off the counter and fished my phone out, the contact I was looking for easy to find in my grand total list of four personal numbers.

“Lane? What on God’s green earth is going on?” Nance’s voice sounded genuinely perplexed and more than a little concerned. “First, you clock out early and now you call me less than half an hour after you get home. Is there an emergency?”

“No, no emergency, I promise,” I said, taking my hair out of its severe ponytail and massaging the tension from my scalp. “I just needed to run an errand.”

Nancy paused. “An errand?”

“Yes,” I said defensively.

“Lane, when do you ever give up the chance to work down to the last minute just for an errand?” She said the word like it was an expletive.

“Does it really surprise you that I have a life outside of the office, Nance?” I asked.

“Well, yes, considering the fact that you’ve made the office your life for the past, what, five years? Have you even dated at all in that time?” she pressed.

“What does dating have to do with anything?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that I’m willing to bet your little errand had something to do with the three new house pets you’re keeping around your home,” she said glibly. “Did you have to run home to feed them?”

I chortled at that, amused despite the sheer panic that had been chasing my thoughts earlier. I leaned one hand against the counter. “Nance, how the hell do you even know these things?”

“Intuition. Also, you left a tab for The Blocks Meat Market open on the work computer. Just thought I’d let you know,” she replied.

I groaned, slapping my palm across my forehead.

“No, it’s okay, don’t worry. I made sure the evidence was thoroughly disposed of. But I’d keep an eye on the domestic bliss meter, Laney. It might start edging out that whip-sharp mind I love so much.”

“No chance in hell,” I shot back, even though it was silly of me to have been in such a rush I forgot to turn off the computer. I was grateful for the shift that Nance always brought, and the way everything felt lighter when I spoke to her. “I’m enjoying their company. I…I don’t think I ever realized just how lonely it could be sometimes. It’s nice to live around people again.”

As I made the confession, I could feel my heart scraped raw with the brutal honesty of it. Truth was, I’d been so alone for such a long time that I’d forgotten what it felt like to be part of a unit. Living with my mother hadn’t felt like a real home. My only feeling of home came from Uncle Ricky, and after he moved to Switzerland around the time I started college, I’d truly been on my own.

With the exception of Nance, I literally had no one. And maybe, even just temporarily, she was no longer the exception.