“I’m your mate, and I have no issue supporting you in whatever endeavor you choose”—Rick’s lips parted, and Ian held up a finger telling him now was not the time to speak—“but idiotic behavior like today, where you could have been killed, that I put my foot down on. I stood at that damn fence losing however many lives, as you bouncedabout on that animal, understanding that thing wanted to kill my mate. Have you any idea how that feels? How awful it made me feel knowing I could lose you when I’ve just found you?”
Rick’s chin dipped, and he shook his head.
“Look at me,” Ian demanded, his temper fizzing back to life. The second their eyes met again, the tension eased at the knowledge Rick would never get on a bull again. “I can’t do that again. I won’t do that again. You mean too much to me for you to be so careless with yourself. Am I making myself clear?”
Rick reached over and took hold of Ian’s trembling hands. Eyes glimmered with tears as Rick blinked furiously. “I promise I’m done. I didn’t see it from your perspective, and that was selfish when you were being supportive of my dream, which you rightly said put me in real danger.”
He pushed his chair back and tugged Ian around the table to settle him on his lap.
Rick’s familiar scent surrounded him like a cozy blanket, and Ian felt the last of his anger melt away. Rick pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “I love you.”
Ian exhaled gustily. “Same, just please do the wild adventurous stuff somewhere safe…” he looked up from under his eyelashes, “like the bedroom,” he finished, blushing at the press of the impressive cock firming under his ass.
“Wild adventurous…” Rick scratched at his jaw the lusty light back. “I can agree to that.” Rick came closer, his breath hit against Ian’s ear as he whispered throatily, “shall we see how wild I can get with my mouth?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Rick
“You won, didn’t you win?”
It was Monday afternoon, and Rick looked up as Toby bounced into the shed where he was tightening up a few more bolts on that tractor that seemed to be a never-ending repair job.
“Are you talking about Saturday?” Toby nodded. “Yep, I did, thank you for asking. Aren’t you home early?” He glanced out the door Toby had left open. “I’m sure it’s not the end of the day already.”
“There was something I had to do in town today, and then I texted my sweet boo, and he came and picked me up earlier than expected,” Toby said with a grin. “I thought that you would be inside celebrating with Ian and Ernest after having such an epic Saturday. A win was what you were after, right? Over this rival.”
“I don’t know that there’s a lot to celebrate.” Rick gathered up his tools and started wiping them off, carefully putting them back in thetoolbox. He wasn’t usually that careful, but it gave him something to do with his hands.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Toby came around his side, peering up at him in a way that Rick already knew he couldn’t ignore. “You should be happy. You set out to win, beat that guy, and you even turned up for work on Monday, so you couldn’t have gotten injured too badly.”
“Yeah, nah, I broke an ankle on my last ride, but it’s all good. I got the points I needed. That was all that counted. It was a decent winning purse, so that’s always good to have, too.”
“Then why are you looking like someone strangled your dog?”
Rick glanced at Toby. “I don’t have a dog.”Is there something wrong with him?
“No, you know what I mean,” Toby flapped a hand. “I thought you’d be really happy, and instead you’re just looking like winning was the worst thing that’s ever happened to you.”
“I don’t think Ian’s forgiven me,” Rick admitted. “As I said, I had an accident on my last ride and broke my ankle, and even though he was standing right there because I was leaning on him, as it was difficult for me to stand…”
“You walked on a broken ankle?” Toby’s eyes were wide.
“It’s what you do, but anyway, I needed Ian to lean on after the ride, and he could’ve heard me clearly saying when I told Charlie I wouldn’t ride again. I said it as clearly as anything. Like I’m talking to you. I had set out to achieve what I wanted, and that was it. But I don’t know. Ian was still super mad, and it was like…” Rick shrugged.
He still wasn’t sure how he felt about Ian getting mad at him. On the one hand, he could totally accept it. Ian was entitled to his feelings. Bull riding wasn’t for everybody, and some people did see it as really dangerous. But how Ian could say in one breath that he’d beensupportive, and then in the next, complain because apparently Rick’s riding a bull had shortened his lifespan…It was a freaking accident.
They had made love—Rick made sure Ian felt good after that, but while they’d planned to spend a quiet day together on Sunday, apparently Ian’s mom had a charity emergency and needed Ian to run errands for her. Rick stayed home and spent the afternoon preparing a lovely meal for Ian when he got home, but apparently that wasn’t enough either. Rick still felt as though there was some barrier between them—as if he’d let Ian down in some way for doing something that was actually not a whim but used to be a huge part of his life.
“I just don’t like Ian being unhappy with me, and I don’t know what else I can do to make it right,” he added rather lamely when he realized Toby was still looking at him.
“I’m not saying that Ian’s doing the right thing, or you either,” Toby said thoughtfully. “If Ernest said he was going to suddenly take up bull riding, then I might have a few questions, like would he enjoy it if I did it too?”
“The difference is that you and Ernest don’t know how to ride a bull. That is dangerous.” Rick glanced at Toby. There really wasn’t a lot of him, and while size wasn’t an indicator of a good bull rider, it took a lot of power and strength to stay on a big animal. “Maybe start with something like barrel racing? That could be fun.”
“No, no, no, no, you’re missing the point,” Toby said, rolling his eyes. “The thing is, is how would you feel if Ian said he was going to do the same thing? If he’d entered the same event?”
“I’d be totally supportive if Ian had twenty years’ experience already bull riding, or doing something stupid as he calls it. If he already knew he could do it, was aware of the dangers, and accepted accidents happened sometimes. But then, that applies to anything in life—accidentsI mean. I could just as easily get hit by a car crossing the road to go to your cute bakery.”
