Page 19 of Unbar the Barred
“I get that.” His eyes gleamed with amusement. “Is this why you’re thinkin’ a matin’ changes ya?”
“Not really, I was meanin’ me.”
“So Trey’s always clingy when you fuck in the bar's restroom?”
Blushing hard enough to make sweat gather on his top lip, Cassidy found it hard to hold Ethan’s gaze. “That ain’t none of your business.”
“Then maybe you should have fucked some place no one could hear you,” Ethan said matter-of-factly. “I ain’t mated, so it’s hard to say what changes and what doesn’t. Though to my thinkin’, everything changes ‘cause you got someone else to consider, whether you like it or not.”
Cassidy frowned once again at how Ethan made mating sound like an inconvenience. It most definitely wasn’t that.
“It ain’t like that,” he muttered in frustration. “And I’m not bein’ clear.”
“Then explain yourself.”
“I’m not sure I know how to,” he confessed, when none of his thoughts made sense.
“Is this where you’re hiding?” Jupiter’s smooth, sexy voice interrupted them.
Ethan groaned, just loud enough for Cassidy to hear it, despite the smile he offered Jupiter as he wandered from the direction of the big house. Those who stayed on the ranch for the team building experience usually bunked in the cabins. Cassidy had heard that Jupiter had moved up to the big house.
“I ain’t hidin’, just runnin’ a ranch is all,” Ethan offered affably. Cassidy didn’t miss the tightness of his jaw or the slight narrowing of his eyes.
“Seems like hiding to me,” Jupiter replied, striding closer, his hand lifting for Hero to sniff. “Cassidy, looks like the experiment worked for you.”
“Experiment?” Ethan asked, his eyes narrowing further as they moved from Cassidy back to Jupiter. “What’re you talkin’ about?”
Hero nudged at Jupiter’s shoulder, nuzzling at his immaculate button-down. Jupiter’s head tilted and rested against Hero’s in a relaxed move.
Cassidy glanced at Ethan, who wore the same expression of surprise as Cassidy did. Horses were sensitive creatures,very empathic and able to pick up things that other animals couldn’t sense. Jupiter had an affinity with most of the animals on the ranch, which Cassidy had witnessed firsthand, despite how much he had complained while doing the team-building activities.
Hero was Ethan’s horse, and he rarely paid attention to any of the visitors to the ranch. Ethan couldn’t miss the special attention Jupiter was receiving.
“Cassidy believed that Trey and he were just fuck buddies, but it was easy to see that was not the case.” The devilishly handsome smile Jupiter aimed at Ethan brought with it a rosy glow to his cheeks. “It only took me placing my hands on Cassidy’s…” he paused long enough to gain a frown from Ethan, “hips to get Trey to vault the bar.” He winked at Cassidy. “A hot move I’m sure he followed through on.”
“Am I interrupting somethin’?” Trey drawled.
Cassidy glanced to the side and tried to work out what he was picking up from Trey. He looked a bit rumpled in the clothes he’d arrived in the night before, which had spent the night lying on the floor in a heap. His damp hair curled around his hat, with the brim sat low enough to shield his expression. “No.”
Trey came to the fence, grabbed the post and in a move Cassidy would absolutely never tire of seeing, vaulted it to stand next to him. Trey’s freshly showered scent didn’t disguise Trey’s arousal, which automatically triggered Cassidy’s. Not that it took much these days.
Hero glanced at Trey and whinnied in disapproval.
Jupiter chuckled and scratched Hero’s neck. “I think that’s my cue to leave.” He tipped his hat at them and strolled off.
“Trey… we don’t want no trouble, ya hear me?” Ethan’s stance changed as he stood to his full height, giving Trey a warning look.
“I’m not looking for trouble as long as folks understand who Cassidy belongs to,” he asserted in a low growl.
Cassidy didn’t feel conflicted. Maybe he should, given how Trey was behaving, but that would be a double standard because Cassidy felt the same. When he looked at Trey, he wanted others to know that the wolf was his. He’d pined for this and now he had it, he would not be shy about it. Though that didn’t mean there wasn’t a conversation that still needed to be had.
“That good for you, Cass?” This was what made Ethan a good boss.
“It is,” he asserted, turning his attention to Trey. “‘Cause same goes.”
The smile that slowly spread as Trey stepped to Cassidy meant that was all he could focus on. Heat warmed his body and his heart beat harder.
“You finished?” Trey asked.
