Page 96 of Wrangled

Toby

I walked into the kitchen. Robert was getting dressed. I might have slowed him down a tad. I’d come before him, so it was fair I sucked him off in the shower, right? Except by then we both knew Matt was in the house, so he’d had to be real quiet.

That only added to the fun.

Matt grinned when he saw me. He poured me a cup of coffee. “Good morning. Is this going to be a thing? ’Cause it makes no difference to me if I feed you here or down at the bunkhouse. I just need to know what you’d like for breakfast.”

I smiled. “Whatever you’ve been feeding me down there was perfect.” I peered at the breakfast bar. “You want me in here or the dining room?”

“Boss usually eats in the dining room. Coffee pot’s all ready for you. I’ll bring the food in.” He cocked his head. “How do you like your eggs? The boss generally goes with scrambled.”

“Scrambled is good.” And even if it wasn’t—which it was—I’d have told him scrambled so he wasn’t going out of his way to make something different for me.

I had a feeling I’d be having a few breakfasts up at Robert’s place.

I went into the dining room and walked over to the window that looked out toward the rear of the house. I could see the entrance to the ranch.

“I like that view.”

I turned around. “Who named the ranch?”

Robert joined me. “That would’ve been my great-great-grandfather, back in the eighteen-seventies.”

I blinked. “Wow.”

He nodded. “Salvation was bigger then, too.”

“Do you know why he chose the name?”

“Nope. At least, I was never told the reason. I guess he must’ve had one.”

Matt appeared in the doorway. “Morning, boss. If you two will take a seat… Breakfast is ready.”

We sat, and pretty soon the center of the table was full. I grinned at Matt. “I can’t wait to try your meatloaf on Saturday.”

He chuckled. “If you like it, you’ll need to fight Butch for a second helping. And Zeeb usually hogs all the mac and cheese.” He gave Robert a nod before withdrawing.

We dug into the food, and I suppressed a moan of delight. “There’s a diner near my apartment in San Francisco. I go there sometimes for biscuits and gravy. They’re awesome, butdamn, Matt’s are better.”

Robert didn’t respond, but occupied himself with the sausage and bacon.

I laughed. “Someone’s hungry this morning.”

He rolled his eyes. “And you’re not?” He lowered his voice. “My mornings are usually less… energetic. Not that I’m complaining, you understand.”

“You think you could handle a few more energetic mornings?”

His eyes gleamed. “Oh, I could do that.” Then he laughed.

I stared at him. “You have a great laugh.” Not to mention an amazing smile.

He sighed. “I guess it’s been MIA for a while.”

That did it. I had a goal.

I was going to make sure my remaining days on the ranch were spent making Robert smile.

Zeeb’s words rang in my head.

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