I took him in one deep swallow, my lips sealing around the base of his cock, my throat opening for him. He groaned, the sound guttural, jerking forward as I hollowed my cheeks, my tongue working the thick vein on the underside of his shaft. The taste of him exploded on my tongue, and I moaned around him, the vibration making his cock twitch.
“Shit—Lucas—” His grip guided me as I pulled back, my lips dragging along his length before I took him deep again. His thighs trembled, the muscles straining beneath myhands as I urged him to fuck my face. “Gonna—fuck, I’m gonna?—”
I didn’t let up.
I took him deeper, my nose pressing into the coarse hair at the base of his cock, my throat fluttering around his tip. His breath came in ragged gasps, his control fraying. I could feel it—the way his body tensed, the way his cock swelled, the way his grip on my hair bordered on pain.
“Come on,” I murmured, pulling back enough to speak, my lips still wrapped around his crown. “Give it to me. Want to taste you.”
That was all it took.
His hips snapped forward, his cock hitting the back of my throat as he came with a broken cry, his release spilling down my throat in thick, hot pulses. I swallowed around him, my cock aching, leaking in my pants, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was the way he groaned, and his breath came in ragged gasps, the way his fingers loosened in my hair as I pulled back, licking my lips.
His eyes were dark, dazed, as he looked down at me, his chest heaving. For a moment, there was silence—the sound of our breathing, then he reached down, hauling me to my feet, his mouth crashing into mine again. I could taste myself on his tongue, could feel the way he still trembled against me as he pushed his hand into my pants, and dragged me to my toes. Just the pressure on my cock was enough, and my orgasm tore through me before I could catch my breath.
This was something. Right?
Only he let me go, pushed me to one side, unlocked the door, and then walked out.
I caught up to him as he grabbed his coat from the hook.
“Jesse, wait! Can we talk about what just happened?”
He stiffened. “Nothing happened.”
“I know I messed it up before, but we had?—”
“Jesus!” He pulled my jacket and tugged me out of the main door and into the yard, away from anyone who could see and hear, I guess. “I’m not out to everyone here!” he snapped, and I winced. “I’m not gay, or bi, or whatever the fuck this shit is with us. So, take a fucking step back!”
“Shit, sorry, you didn’t say, and I thought with Miguel being… and me…”
“Stop!”
“I just wanted to say, I really am sorry about what I said, and I thought maybe we were connecting, and I could learn more from you about the ranch and?—”
“What? So, you can value it better?” he asked, releasing my sleeve. I stumbled back from him, and he reached to steady me, but I avoided him and balanced all by myself.
“No… I mean… yes… but I just want what’s best for everyone and?—”
I was talking to his back as he stalked away.
Great.
Chapter 22
Jesse
Ispent the afternoon doing anything but what I needed to do. I checked a fence line that didn’t need checking, moved feed that could’ve waited, and fixed a latch I’d already fixed twice. Work had always been the answer, except now it felt like hiding, and I knew I was avoiding the talk. The one Lucas and I owed each other.
Feelings had snuck up on me like that—unwanted, badly timed, and impossible to shake. I couldn’t get my head around why I’d feel anything for the man who’d shown up with plans that could turn my life inside out. Maybe the answer was that this impossible lust we seemed to be enjoying didn’t have to mean anything. A short-term thing. Sex. Simple, contained, as long as he understood that was all it was ever going to be, and that none of it would change my mind about selling.
When I headed back toward the house, the yard was empty. No sign of him outside, but the truck he’d been using was still parked where he’d left it. I went in and called hisname. No call back, but I heard movement instead—soft, uneven. Footsteps, maybe. Upstairs from Walter’s room. I knew he’d been up there clearing things out, wondered if maybe he’d take over the room, although he was still in the small and much colder room my idiot ass had stuck him in when he arrived, as if that alone would make him turn tail and run.
I took the stairs two at a time. The door was open, just a crack, and there was a sound I couldn’t place at first. Not pain. Not exactly. Something breaking.
A sob.
I stepped inside.
