Page 44 of Wistful in Wyoming
“Okay. I should probably check on Anthony and the guys anyway. They’re used to me being around most of the day after lunch.”
Both men wrapped towels around their waists and went in search of their clothes. Everything they’d each been wearing earlier was scattered in disarray all over the bedroom. Bending forward to untangle his boxers from his jeans, Jeremiah winced and hissed at the pain in his ass.
“Sore?” Dale asked from behind him before gripping Jeremiah’s waist and pulling him back against his muscular chest.
“Yeah, but in a good way.” Glancing over his shoulder, he smiled at Dale, his lover who was no longer a secret. “It was worth the wait. I’m glad my first time was with you.”
“Me too, cowboy, me too.” Dale spun him around, cradled his face with big, warm hands, and took his lips in a blistering kiss. Jeremiah melted in the man’s arms and was disappointed when the kiss ended all too soon. Dale gently pressed his lips to Jeremiah’s forehead. “Let me cook for you tonight?”
“I never say no to blow jobs, cold beers, or home-cooked meals.” Grinning, Jeremiah moved away and dropped his towel, loving how Dale’s eyes immediately drank him in. Stepping into his boxers and pulling them up, he made a show of adjusting his cock and balls.
“Such a fuckin’ tease.”
Jeremiah winked. “You love it.”
“I do, I really fuckin’ do. But if I give in every time, we’ll never get out of this bedroom, and if that happens, I’m pretty sure I’ll get fired, no matter how much Willow likes me.” Dale dressed quickly. “I’ll see you tonight. Six okay?”
“Six is perfect. Your place?”
“Fuck no! You have a nice grill and a giant deck.”
Laughing, Jeremiah couldn’t resist and gathered Dale into his embrace. “Okay, I see it now. You’re just with me because of my big ... deck.”
Snorting, Dale gave him a loud smacking kiss on the cheek. “Yup!” He popped the “p” at the end. “I love your big, beautiful, hard ... deck.” He grabbed Jeremiah’s hips and thrust his pelvis forward several times.
“So mature, Marine. So very mature.”
“Hey, you started it!” Dale let Jeremiah go and swatted him on the ass.
“Okay, okay, so I did.” With joy and contentment coursing through him, he searched the floor and found his shirt and jeans. “Get going before I never let you leave.”
“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, cowboy. It might be worth getting fired.” Winking and tipping his hat, Dale strode out of the bedroom, whistling as he descended the steps and went out the front door.
Smiling from ear to ear, Jeremiah shook his head and finished getting dressed. He’d just had wild monkey sex in the middle of the afternoon with the man he loved and honestly didn’t care if anyone else knew about it. In fact, he wanted to shout it from the rooftop. Hmm. Maybe not. The last time he’d climbed up on the roof, he’d been a teenager and had broken his arm. He’d have to find another way to celebrate, preferably when Dale returned for dinner and Jeremiah got him naked again.
* * *
“Hey, Ethan! Gimme a hand for a bit!”Anthony shouted from where he stood in front of the horse barn.
Ethan Rivers waved in acknowledgment at the JP’s foreman before turning off the hose he’d been using to rinse the filthy ATV he’d rode earlier to check out a fence line. The ground had been muddy from an overnight rain, and the little boy in him hadn’t been able to resist plowing through a few of the larger puddles. Yeah, despite being twenty-eight years old, he was still a kid at heart—something that seemed to annoy his fiancée, Lacey Morrison, more and more as their wedding date approached, and it was still fifteen months away. His friends had all told him he was crazy to propose after dating her for less than a year, but for him it’d been the next logical step. Now, he was thinking that logic might’ve been skewed. Don’t get him wrong—Lacey was a great girl—beautiful, intelligent, and fun—but lately she seemed more excited about the wedding than about spending the rest of their lives together. And that had Ethan wondering if he’d made the biggest mistake of his life when he’d gotten down on one knee with the ring he’d spent months saving for.
At the side of Jeremiah’s house, an engine roared to life, catching Ethan’s attention as he strode toward the barn where Anthony was waiting for him. Dale Harris’s truck did a U-turn before driving away. Since yesterday, when the gossip about Dale and Jeremiah “making a scene” at the Rock Diner had spread like wildfire, it now made perfect sense why the foreman from the neighboring ranch had been at the JP so much lately. Like everyone else, Ethan had been shocked to learn both men were gay and secretly dating. While he’d heard rumors about Dale screwing both men and women—whomever caught his eye really—Jeremiah Urban’s coming out had blown everyone’s minds—well, at least most of the people Ethan knew. Some of the Rock residents he’d spoken to said they’d suspected the man swung that way, since they’d never seen him date any women. But then again, Jeremiah hadn’t seemed to date anyone, of any gender, for the nine years Ethan had worked for him.
He didn’t care one way or another who his boss dated—it wasn’t his business or anyone else's—but what’d bugged the hell out of Ethan was the dream he’d had last night after finding out Jeremiah was gay. As a young, red-blooded man in his prime, Ethan was used to having erotic dreams, some raunchier than others. However, last night’s had freaked him out a bit. The person who’d invaded his unconsciousness hadn’t been his hot fiancée or even some sexy movie starlet he would never have a chance in hell with. Instead, Ethan had experienced a wet dream with someone else completely in mind—Kam Fox, fraternal twin brother of Ethan’s coworker, Ged.What the hell had that been all about?Seriously, they were both straight, as far as Ethan knew, so it defied his logic why he’d had one of the sexiest dreams he could ever remember, and it’d involved another guy.
While Ethan had become good friends with Ged, he didn’t run into Kam often enough to be more than just acquaintances. Waking up to cum covered sheets with thoughts of hard muscles and rough stubble abrading his skin had been downright bizarre.
Shaking off the unwanted memories of last night’s titillating fantasy, and the stirring in his groin, he approached Anthony. “What’s up?”
“I need someone to hold the new gate for Cricket’s stall while I install it.” The mare was one of the dozen horses on the JP. Two nights ago, a garter snake had made its way into the equine barn and the horse’s stall. Cricket had freaked and kicked the gate a few times, breaking one of the hinges and the lock. Thankfully, she hadn’t injured herself, but she had managed to kill the non-venomous snake, which they’d found stomped to death in a corner the next morning, with the horse not happy it was still within her view. Last night, Cricket had been placed in another unoccupied stall and had made her displeasure about that known by trying to nip Ged when he’d hung up her feed bucket. The fussy horse did not like any upsets to her routine.
“Sure.”
Following Anthony into the barn, Ethan paused for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darker surroundings. The overnight squall that’d raged had been followed by a pristine, cloudless sky that morning, brightening their part of the world again. He loved the way everything smelled after a storm, fresh and new, like the world had been washed clean, albeit temporarily.
Anthony opened his mouth to say something, but both men froze when they heard a loud male voice spewing malice. “—fucking fudge packers. Should’ve known the asshole was queer. If I see him looking at me twice, I’ll kick his fucking ass before shoving a branding iron up it.”
“You and me both. Last thing I need is people thinking I’m a faggot because I work for him.”
