JOSH'S P.O.V.
I may never let him leave this house, I'm serious. These pancakes are my favourite thing on the fucking planet and I cannot go another morning without having them.
Watching Miles stand in the kitchen in nothing but his skin-tight grey boxers as he finally figures out how to load the dishwasher correctly... Well that's just an added fucking bonus.
"You need to talk to them, they're your parents Miles and you need to give them more than a minute to get their head around this." Miles gives me that look again, the one he's already given me three times this morning when I've tried to tell him that he needs to speak to Tara and Cole. I think he's trying to be intimidating but he just looks demented... although also really fucking sexy... What has he done to me?
He might not understand where they're coming from but I do, if I'm perfectly honest then I probably would have thought the exact same things they did if I was in their position. I don't blame them.
I've thought about picking up the phone and just calling them myself a few times already this morning but I don't want to push either of them to confront something they aren't ready for yet.
Although, hearing what he said to them about me... it did something to my heart that I can't explain. He told them that he'd picked me; I never want him to have to pick between me and his family, I won't allow that to happen, but it was still cute as fuck to hear him say it.
"I'll talk to them when they can learn to be fucking supportive. How did Liam take it all?" He asks, slamming the dishwasher closed before beginning to wipe down all the services like a right good little house husband. A guy could get used to this.
Liam, he took it exactly as I thought he would.
"I don't think I've ever seen that kid that happy. He's practically planning to marry us off tomorrow though, kept asking if you're going to be here next weekend when he stays over." Miles smiles, reaching across the counter and grasping my jaw before pushing his lips down onto mine gently, not caring about the blueberry syrup still on them.
"Well then, tomorrow seems like it's going to be a really good day." It takes me a second to understand what he's saying, but when it hits me I feel like a tidal wave of pure joy has smacked its way against my skin. Damn... One day... One fucking day we'll have that too.
He's too fucking cute.
Miles slips around the counter, walking towards me like he's not a very distracting human fucking God, before leaning straight across my body to steal the last of the blueberries off my plate. He really needs to take a step away before we end up right back in bed, it took us three hours to get out of it this morning already.
"So, don't you have work to be at?" He winks, his usual bright white shining teeth now highlighted with a hint of purple before he snatches my empty plate and takes it over to be cleaned.
"Me and Charlie took an extra day off to recover from the lake house, I've got to make a few calls at lunch but otherwise, I'm all yours today." His eyes grow wide like this is unexpected information, I don't know why considering it's already after ten, how late does he think I go to work?
He haphazardly drops the plate into the racks before sprinting around and practically tackling me off the bar stool. His whole body wraps around mine and it's just too fucking sweet how excited he gets about any time we get to be together. I fucking adore this man.
I can't actually remember the last time we had a whole day just the two of us, although I guess it won't be the whole day today since we have to go tell his giant of a fucking brother that we are a couple later. Realllllllly looking forward to that...
"I have the whole day with you and you let us get out of bed? What were you thinking?" His lips coming down to reach the base of my neck before trailing their way back up towards my lobe. He has a point..
Getting out of bed was a stupid idea. We should definitely rectify that right now.
Snatching my arms around his hips, I grab hold of his perfect ass, the thin fabric of his underwear doing nothing to protect the juicy flesh underneath from my wanting grasp. His bare chest caresses against mine as we find ourselves edging further and further back towards the couch.
I guess we'll make it to the bed later.
He lets out a cute little chuckle as his back hits the cushions and I have to grab his ribs just to stop him tumbling off. He's so fucking ticklish, smiling down at him I can't help but wiggle my fingers between his rib cage and watch his perfect body convulse in a fit of giggles.
Cutest fucking man on this planet.
"Josh! Stop!" He literally can't take this for more than a few seconds but every time I do it I just want to do it forever.
"What are you going to do for me if I let you free?" I joke, gently slowing my attack on his body until he's able to breathe again. His mesmerising hazel eyes smouldering up at me and catching the sunlight in such a way that I can see the hints of gold threads spreading out from his deep dark pupils. I'm not sure I could live without looking into these anymore, they are like an illusion, every time you think you have them figured out – you end up finding something new.
His voluptuous bottom lip finds its way between his lilac stained teeth, before he trails his eyes down over my naked chest until they land at the waistband of my loose gym shorts.
"I'll do whatever you want me to do Joshua."
Fuck me...
Oh he is really going to fucking regret saying that.
Letting go of his ribs instantly, I slip my hands behind his waist and pull so his back arches until he's within reach of my lips and I can instantly clamp them around his perky little nipple. His long-lash rimmed eyes fall closed instantly and his lip slides from between his teeth as he sucks in a deep breath. I love how he's never truly out of control, his hand reaching up and weaving its way into the back of my hair the moment my tongue flicks over his pleading bud so he can keep me where he wants me.
The air surrounding the couch grows thick with desire the further I continue to caress the pink bead with the tip of my tongue. A quiet moan of ecstasy leaves his lips as I let go from one side and move over to the other, taking my finger and rubbing it around the abandoned sensitive bud, smothering my saliva further into his skin.
How can you have so much of someone but still crave them the way I do with him?
I swear sometimes I just want to slam him over my desk and –
*Knock Knock Knock*
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
My lips detach from Miles' body and the dissatisfaction on his face is blatantly obvious. Who the fuck would be knocking on my door in the middle of the day? On a fucking weekday at that? If this is someone trying to convert me too a fucking church then I'm about to get seriously fucking blasphemous.
Miles pleads with his eyes for me to keep going and as I lower my lips back down onto his chest I seriously consider agreeing with him, slipping my lips down through his abs and reaching the waistband of his tight boxers just as another pounding on the door hits.
"Tell them to fuck off, we're busy." I try not to laugh at his clear frustration, deciding to edge it further towards that dominating aggression as I plant my lips down in a kiss over his hardening length through the fabric of his underwear and watch his fingers curl into the couch before immediately jumping back up to my feet. "Tease!"
He makes the most beautiful mess, his hair all over the place and his body heaving with need as he stares back up at me from the black leather of the seats behind him. I'm never a tease for long with him, I can't hold back once I have my hands on his body.
The smile on my face is still holding strong as I pull open the door, but it instantly disappears as I see who's standing on the other side.
"Cole."
Shit.
Miles' head shoots up over the back of the couch as he turns to face his father, a man that I've never seen look as uncomfortable as he does now standing in my doorway.
Has he always been this big?
He's big. He's really big. I'm screwed.
Cole scratches at the back of his neck, glancing over my shoulder and trying to see into the house before bringing his attention back to me.
"Um, hello Josh. Is Milo here?" I look past the open door at Miles, only to see him rearranging the cushions on the sofa and trying to make it look like we weren't just about to get it on in the middle of my living room.
I look to him for approval before he stands to his feet and nods, allowing me to open the door more fully and let him come face to face with his father.
"Yeah, do you want to come in?" Cole agrees, stepping past me and into the room where his son is now holding a pillow in front of an area he's seriously trying to hide but only drawing more fucking attention to.
Jesus Christ, stop shuffling Miles, everyone can see what's poking directly into that fucking cushion!
"Umm, just give me a second, I'll be right back." He hurries off up the staircase, not even glancing back as he leaves me alone in the most awkward situation of my fucking life.
Thanks for this Miles. I really appreciate it.
I walk through the house, Cole trailing very slowly behind me as I step into the kitchen, lifting the coffee pot without a word and him nodding his head in exchange before I pour us both a cup.
This is too awkward...
Black coffee is the fucking devil but he looks like that type of guy, and I'm not gonna go fussing around with my vanilla syrup's with the guy already looking at me like he wants to break my fucking neck.
I place his mug down on the counter, making sure to keep myself on the other side as he slips into one of the bar stools. He's a seriously broad guy, I have to be fucking faster than him though. I could definitely make it to Kallie's animal sanctuary on the other side of the world before he caught up with me, I could go play with that baby elephant she has now.
Fuck, I'd rather play touch football with one of her fucking tigers than I would talk with Cole on the other side of my kitchen right now.
"Whatever you had for breakfast smells good." It's a poor attempt at him making conversation but I appreciate him at least taking the first step here.
"Thanks, Miles cooked pancakes." Cole's left eyebrow raises so high that I feel like Dwayne Johnson is going to come crashing through the front door with a cease and desist order for the theft of his intellectual property.
"Milo cooks? Next thing you'll be telling me that you've got him to do the dishes and pick up his fucking shoes too." I smirk, taking a sip of my coffee and glancing over at the dishwasher whilst trying not to chuckle.
"We're still working on the shoes thing." Cole has the slightest upturn in his lips, letting it settle quickly before taking a sip of his own coffee. We wait in silence until we both draw our attention to the staircase in time to see Miles stepping back down, now dressed in shorts and my fucking hoodie. I'm never getting that thing back.
He bypasses his father altogether, walking around the counter and stepping himself in next to me. I'm not sure if it's the right move here but I appreciate the gesture of solidarity.
Cole glances from him to me, not showing a great deal of emotion on his face, but to be fair I think that's just the way that he is. Miles lets his hand fall to his side until his knuckles are gently brushing against mine, a simple but much needed sense of comfort that actually means a lot.
"I came here to talk to you." Cole stares at his son before turning to face me. "To both of you."
"Then talk." Miles tries to sound firm and strong, but there's an underlying aura of hurt in his voice that can't be missed. Him and Cole probably have the best relationship of any he has with the elder generation of his family, and I know what happened yesterday really fucking crushed him. He thought Cole would've been on his side, but I'm not sure he really gave him the opportunity too before walking out of there.
Cole takes down a large gulp of his coffee, setting his mug off to one side and clenching his hands as he leans forward on the counter, making sure to have both of our attention.
"Firstly, I want to apologise for the way that me and your mum reacted when you told us about Josh." Cole's eyes flicker to mine upon the mention of my name but quickly return to face the boy that I can feel vibrating his hand against mine as he tries to keep himself composed. I've got you Miles. "We obviously weren't expecting this, it was a lot to take. I don't think that either of us appreciated just how important you had become to each other though, mostly because we were only just hearing about it all now."
That's fair, we didn't exactly give them a lot of time to prepare for this. Finding out your son is into men, and that he's dating one of your daughter's best friends, was never going to be a straight forward conversation.
"And how do you feel now?" Miles asks, his voice flippant but his eyes clearly crying out for acceptance from the only man he's ever considered a father.
Cole breathes deeply, the words almost writing and then rewriting themselves in his mind as he tries to perfect them before they leave his lips.
"Honestly, yesterday I was pretty angry. I was angry that this has been going on for a while and you'd been sneaking around behind my back to hide it. I also thought that maybe you had both got caught up in something and were in over your heads... But then a whirlwind came through the house last night and the destruction she left in her wake kind of cleared things up for me."
Me and Miles look at each other, confusion clear until Cole smiles at us both.
"Brianna. She came by too talk through some wedding stuff with Tara and May, the second she found out what Tara was feeling about the two of yout... Let's just say that she wasn't particularly articulate in tearing us both down to size... but it worked." That's my girl. "When I went to bed last night, all I could think about was how disappointed she looked in us. I realised that if I had caused her that much pain.. then what you must have been going through at that moment was even worse Milo."
Miles is shaking so bad that I can't take it anymore, moving my hand around his and letting him link our fingers as he continues to just glare through at his father.
"I sat down with your mother this morning, we had a long talk and both of us realise that, honestly, you were right and we were wrong. You aren't a child anymore and you have the right to make decisions about every aspect of your life. As much as you might be our baby forever, we really need to come to terms with the fact that out in this world you are far from it... I don't know how this happened between the two of you and quite frankly I don't need to, hearing about my son's love life is something I can definitely live without."
A small laugh escapes from all three of us, the grip Miles was imprinting into my hand loosens and I swear I watch him take the first breath he's absorbed into his lungs since Cole walked in here.
"But the way you talked about Josh, it should have been clear to us then that this wasn't something we should be getting in the way of... So we won't. I will hate myself everyday for the rest of my life for causing my daughter so much pain in keeping her away from the person she was always supposed to be with, neither me or your mother want to do that again Milo. I'm not going to say that I don't have any concerns, I do, but you have proven for your entire life that you are trustworthy, that you are capable of making your own decisions, and therefore we are going to let you make this one without our input."
This is all he wanted, neither of us expected them to be over the moon about us being together but he just needed them to trust him, to trust that he knew what he was doing when he picked me.
Miles moves forward, keeping our hands linked and taking me with him as he presses against the counter and closes the gap between him and his father.
"Thank you," He begins, "Dad I swear to you that this is exactly what I want. What we want. He is the best thing in my life, but you are such a massive part of my life too, I don't want to have to live in a world where I have to keep the two things separate."
Cole pushes back the bar stool, scraping it along the tiled floor before stepping around the counter and straight past me to his son. Miles let's go of my hand just in time for Cole to wrap his arms around his body, the two of them letting out a breath that I don't think either of them realised they were holding.
"You don't have to do that son, we just want you to be happy. If this is truly what makes you happy, then that's all I care about."
I try to step away and give them a moment but Miles quickly reaches out and snatches back my wrist, Cole letting go of his hug but not completely removing his arm from Miles' shoulder before turning to face me.
"So, Joshua Jones, what exactly are your intentions with my son?" He absolutely can't think I'm actually going to answer that, right?
The fact he's completely taking the piss out of me becomes extremely evident when the two of them burst out into laughter at the sight of my flustered face. I'm definitely rethinking this whole supporting him being part of his family thing.
Although maybe Cole would appreciate me telling him that my intentions are to make Miles smile like this every day for the rest of our lives if he'll let me.
"I'm only messing with you Josh, just tell me, are you going to hurt him? Are you sure about this? Because I've already had two guys from work today come up to congratulate me on my son 'coming out' at a house party last night after their kids came home and told them, so if this is something you aren't one hundred percent on then I need you to step the fuck away."
Cole keeps his tone even, but the fact he swore when the guy never fucking swears is enough to tell me that he's very passionate about the words he's saying. I understand his concerns but he doesn't need to worry, I've never been so positive I want something as I am that I want to be with his son.
Miles looks up at me through those deep dark lashes, I was pretty sure when he kissed me last night the world was going to find out rather quickly, but I don't think either of us expected it to spread like wildfire. I hope to fuck Jayce doesn't hear about it before we get the chance to tell him.
I look directly at Cole, removing Miles' hand from my wrist and slipping it into my own before I let him know exactly how I feel about his son.
"I've never been more sure of anything than I am of him. Neither of us saw this coming Cole, it caught me off guard as much as it did you I can promise you that, but now I can't imagine ever not having him here with me. I'm not capable of hurting him, crushing his soul would only destroy mine. He's my everything, my absolute everything." Cole holds my glare for longer than is comfortable but I don't back down from it, I've been in enough boardroom meetings to know that when you're being stared down by a lion you hold your fucking ground.
When the intensity in the room becomes almost too much to bear, his lips twist up into a smile, letting go of our sight battle and looking over at his gorgeous son.
"Why didn't you just let him say that to your mum yesterday? You know that she loves all that lovey dovey romance stuff just like Aleah. We could've saved ourselves this whole ordeal."
Oh they are real fucking funny laughing like that.
Cole slips back out of the kitchen, smacking his hand on my shoulder just as Miles grips the back of my head and brings my forehead down to meet his lips. I expect to have some kind of reaction out of Cole to seeing such an intimate gesture but to be honest he looked seriously unfazed. I guess having Brianna Parker practically grow up in your house you're probably used to seeing much more terrifying sights in the morning.
Cole picks up his coffee mug and takes down what's left before grabbing his keys from the counter and gently waving towards us as he makes his way to the door.
"But don't think this means that you can just do whatever the hell you want Milo, while you're still living in that house I would appreciate it if I knew which bed you were sleeping in, so I don't have your mother walking the floorboards at three am worried about you anymore." Miles nods, waving until a sudden thought comes to him and he calls him back.
"Dad, did May stay at the house last night?" Cole looks at him with a hint of confusion and worry before answering.
"Yeah, but she left for Hope's place early this morning. She was still pretty angry at us, like she usually is when it comes to you, she wouldn't even give me the chance to explain how we feel now before she left. I spoke to poppet as well, are you guys still planning on telling Jayce today?" Miles bobs his head, his hand clutching slightly at mine.
The two of them have hardly had a chance to patch up their relationship and we are about to drive a bulldozer through it again. "Okay, just be patient with him, sometimes people's immediate reaction isn't the way they truly feel. But then again, I guess of all people, he should be the one to understand best what it's like to be with someone unconventional."
I fucking hope so.
Cole smiles gently at us before closing the door, his reminder to Miles that he expects to see him home tonight hangs loudly in the air.
I've never particularly felt strongly one way or the other about Cole, watching Aleah be in so much pain through college because him and Tara couldn't accept her love for Jayce kind of soured my view on the guy, but watching him with Miles I realise that everything he feels comes from his desire to see his children safe.
That's something all fathers should feel, something I never had.
Miles steps behind me, circling his arms around my waist and lowering his lips to the back of my neck in the way that always makes me feel just as giddy as it did the first time he did it.
The world knows about us now. Almost every single person in our lives except for one.
"Are you ready to do this Josh?"
It's so funny that he's the one asking me that question, this is a guy who two months ago was happily in a relationship with the captain of the cheerleaders and harbouring a secret crush on his sister's best friend.
Now he's a man that has never been shy about how he feels, a confidence that most people can only dream of having and with no inhibitions or concerns about the outside population of our bubble seeing who he is.
He kissed me last night in front of everyone he has to walk the halls with for the rest of the year, something I was only able to do after battling my internal demons for fucking years.
There's something so beautiful yet so innocent about the way he looks at our relationship, he never sees the pain or the damage that it could cause. He never has any concerns about what it could mean for the rest of his life.
He just knows that I make him happy, and that he makes me even fucking happier. For him, that's enough.
And thank fuck for that.
I twist in his hold, his soft hands stroking over my skin until I'm looking directly at him again. If he keeps getting more and more beautiful everyday like this, then by the time we walk down that aisle I don't think I'll actually be able to take in his face anymore. He's already the embodiment perfection.
"Am I ready?" Kissing his cheek, the scratch of his day old stubble graces my lips but it only spears the feel of him further into my skin. No matter what happens later, I know it won't change anything between us.
I move to the other cheek, kissing him lightly before pressing his head against mine and leaving my hands sitting at the back of his neck. What we have is far too special for one man to break.
"For you, always."