Page 88 of Silas's Sweetheart

Ziggy waited a beat to see if anyone was going to ask him something else but when nothing came, he answered Lennon. “He got a call from Drinkwater.”

“He did?” Hollis frowned and glanced towards where Taylin was sitting, further down the table.

“Yeah, not sure what it was about, but Silas looked worried.”

He had, but he’d encouraged Ziggy out the door because his belly had let them both know it needed food. They hadn’t finished the food because it got a little awkward. Ethan kept giving them both knowing looks and his nose twitched repeatedly as he asked how Ziggy was doing. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to scent the sex with how many times they’ddone it. To make matters worse, Ziggy was topless and sat in Silas’s lap.

Ziggy had waited for Silas to put him on the couch and come up with an excuse with everything so fresh between them. Ziggy would have understood but instead, Silas had acted like it was a normal thing. Ziggy hoped Silas would act the same way in front of his brothers, because he didn’t want to hide. What happened next wasn’t something they had talked about yet, though.

“What was that?” Booker leaned back, his voice loud enough to carry over the busy bunkhouse. The ranch was a busy place and Ziggy remained surprised by how many folks worked on it. They were supposed to do a trek today so Silas could show the scope and size of his operation. Ziggy’s other half was adamant he wasn’t going anywhere near the big beasts, despite what Ziggy wanted.

“Silas got a call from Drinkwater.” Hollis was the one to answer and got the full attention of the table.

Booker, Taylin and Rue rose with a clatter and hightailed it out of the bunkhouse, with Frey and Hollis giving chase.

Ethan, who stepped inside, tipped back the ball cap he wore, scratching at his forehead. He looked from the men disappearing through the open door to the rest of them. “Where’s the fire?”

“In your jeans. Clearly, anything between your thighs gets treated to a fire of explosive energy,” Jupiter drawled sexily, his smile killer.

Ethan went a shade of pink that could easily be seen under his tanned skin. Kodi laughed whereas Kari rolled his eyes at Jupiter.

“Does everything revolve around sex for you?” Laken questioned, placing his cutlery on his empty plate and pushing it away to reach for his coffee.

“Nope. But you gotta admit, Ethan knows how to ride bareback.”

The laughter coming from the men around the room brought a scowl to Ethan’s handsome features. He sauntered up to the counter, pulling his baseball cap back in place.

Intrigued, Ziggy glanced sideways at Monty. “What did I miss,” he whispered.

“A show that made everyone a little hot under the collar. The bit you saw was only the warmup. I can’t say I’ve ever fancied a cowboy, but by all that is holy, he creamed us all.”

“Eww, gross,” complained Isley.

Monty jabbed a fork at Isley. “I saw how you drooled all over the fence post and were the first to get into the paddock.”

As Monty spoke, Ziggy witnessed Laken’s expression turn grim, and he got up after his coffee cup hit the wooden table with a thump.

What was eating him?

“So? I wasn’t the only one, was I?” Isley glanced at Lennon, who smirked at them.

“When you’ve finished gossipin’, we have the stables to clean out,” Laken muttered crossly, then stomped out.

“What’s got his goat?” Ziggy asked around a forkful of pancake.

“Life,” Isley muttered and got up, his cheeky smile nowhere in sight.

“So much for team building.” Wilder’s comment got nods from Monty and Lennon.

“We need a night out. There must be a bar in town.”

“Ziggy, that’s a great idea! We can ask Cass, he’ll be able to tell us.”

Ziggy hadn’t seen Silas all morning and he worried about why. Booker and Taylin hadn’t shown up until late morning, while Ethan had them working together assisting in the stables.

Jupiter had worn a grim expression when he’d had to go into the stables to muck them out, causing everyone to give him a wide berth. Ziggy much preferred doing that than grooming the horses, which some of the others had been chosen to do before the ride out planned for the afternoon.

He was working through all the options of how to bring up the fact he wasn’t going to be able to get on a horse without making a fuss, when Silas appeared wearing a grim look that twisted Ziggy’s guts painfully. He dropped the shovel and went to Silas, uncaring who was watching when he wanted to comfort him.

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