Page 12 of Saddle Studs
“Good thoughts?”
“Not really, no. And the things he was complaining about were pretty wild. He didn’t realize where he was taking me and got real quiet once he saw the different flags out front.”
“Damn, sorry.” Benny shook his head, hands in his pockets of his tight jeans. “We actually had a big campaign event here at the ranch to help Mayor Cortez get elected. She’s hosted a couple town halls here, too. Huge supporter and advocate. Johnson Springs has come a long way since you’ve been here last, but we clearly have some more work to do.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek. It hurt to think that Benny was still being put through bullshit simply because he was gay and chose to live his life in a small town. What kind of society were we where some people still clung to ancient prejudices and unfounded hatred toward someone simply for being different? So fucked up. It didn’t make any sense to me. Made me angry.
Thankfully, the rolling green pastures dotted with daises and grazing horses helped throw some water on the flickering flames of my temper.
“So you’ve felt okay? Staying here? Being gay?” Maybe it was a probing question, and maybe I shouldn’t have asked, but this was Benny. If there was anyone I could ask weird questions to, it was him.
“I have, I have. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but compared to some of the horror stories I heard, I’ve had it pretty good. I think a lot of that really has to do with Rainbow Ranch. Our energy—it just sort of spreads outward. Not only that, but we tend to attract a lot of other people like us. So suddenly, a small town that may have had three gay people, tops, is flooded with all the colors of the rainbow. People became more tolerant, so much so that there’s even a pride parade in town. Makes me feel like staying here made a difference.”
“Yeah, I can see that… Also, three gay tops? Is three too many?”
Benny gave a series of deep belly laughs.
Damn.
I really missed that sound, hadn’t I?
“Is that what you picked up on? No, I don’t think that’s too much at all. Then again, I wouldn’t know. I’m not a bottom.”
I looked to my side, eyebrows jerking halfway up my forehead. The smug little smile on Benny’s face told me he wasn’t joking. Goddamn, he was handsome, and his blunt confidence only made him even more attractive. Benny was one of those guys that anyone could confidently say was good-looking, whether they were straight, gay, bi—wherever they fell on the queer spectrum. Even me, a straight guy with curious (and avoidant) tendencies, could admit that Benny was a looker.
I was too busy silently admiring the hard planes of his face, the fullness of his lips, and the dark scruff of his beard to pay any attention to what was in front of me.
And that’s when it happened. That’s when my sneaker rolled over the top of a rock. I let out a surprised yelp. The ground gave way underneath me. The sky was above me one second, and below me the next. I rolled forward on the soft dirt, not even fighting the momentum.
“Holy cow!” Benny crouched down, looping a hand under my arm. He helped me back up onto my feet. I started to laugh. Couldn’t help myself.
“I must have looked so dumb just now.”
Benny shrugged. “Maybe a little,” he said with a teasing grin. “I didn’t know your limbs could stretch that way. You looked like one of those car salesman inflatable wacky tube men but caught in the dryer.”
My turn to belly laugh. He no longer had a hand under my arm, instead it was loosely floating over my hip, barely touching me. So then why did I get the feeling that I could trace out the individual lines of his palm against my skin? “You okay? Anything sprained, broken, loose?” He asked when my laughter died down.
Don’t focus on his hand placement. Don’t focus on his hand placement.
“Maybe my hip,” I said. “Feels a little sore.”
“It does? Here?” Benny pushed his hand forward, placing it directly against my hip. He gave a gentle squeeze. Firecrackers of sparkles and diamonds erupted inside my core. Heat flushed through my body, pooling between my thighs and spreading upward on a mission to paint my cheeks bright red.
Holy fucking shit.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Just a little sore.”
“This helpin’?” Benny asked as he began to gently massage my hip, his fingers applying the perfect amount of pressure, digging right into the V shaped muscle I worked so damn hard at the gym to make show.
I dropped my head back, eyes shut. “Damn, yeah, that’s incredible.”
“Weird, I thought you fell on your other side.”
I peeped at him with one eye. “That’s because I did. I’m just sore as fuck from the flight.”
Benny tsked and stopped massaging me, playfully slapping my chest with the back of his hand instead. “I don’t give these out for free.”
“Oh, so if I pay you, I can get a massage?”
