“Hold up there, pretty eyes.” Large, meaty hands hooked under his armpits and lifted him up effortlessly before his ass hit the ground in an undignified show.
Two things registered at once. Lionel would be in his element, having bought the ticket, causing Ian to stumble right into his mate. And that there were far too many folks around for him to climb the bear—after he’d stripped—to do all the things his mate directed him to do.
Ian would do just about anything to alleviate the large problem in his jeans. And wasn’t that just wonderful?
The man’s eyes shifted and there was his bear. A hint of sharp fang appeared giving Ian more ideas that would get him arrested, then disappeared when the man got himself under control faster than Ian could blink. “Well, ain’t that just the chocolate gravy,” he murmured, a wide grin spreading over plump, tasty-looking lips. “Hi, I’m Rick.”
“Are you alright, Ian?” Remy was there, flushed and flustered. Not that Ian blamed him after what happened to Toby at the last Bucket List Buddies event. He supposed it was why he’d done the speech that Ian had missed on safety.
“Fine, just missed my footing is all.” Ian locked his knees out to at least pretend he knew which way was up. He didn’t, he was damn clueless at this point. He had to twist his lower body to avoid giving everyone a front row seat. He didn’t think Remy or anyone would appreciate watching a puppet show that involved his cock and nohands. Unless the bear wanted to use its hands, then Ian was most certainly up to do a cock puppet show.
You certainly need to get laid with thoughts like that.
“I’ll pair with Ian,” Rick said with confidence, “and make sure he’s okay.” That he said directly to Ian in a deep, husky voice that sent electrified shivers through him. The hands holding him turned into a gentle caress before slowly releasing him.
Oh, my, be still my beating heart.
Ian’s cheeks were now a delicate shade of cherry red as he peeked shyly up at his mate. “Thank you.”
“Wonderful, now, let’s take a tour of the stables so we can pick horses to groom, then ride in the paddock.” Remy was off, moving towards the crowd.
Ian wasn’t sure what to do when Rick gave him a sultry, enticing smile, ensuring he lost the ability to chat sensibly.
“Have you been on a ranch before?”
The deep, rumbly voice was not helping his situation as he shook his head.
“Quiet type, hey?” Rick chuckled.
“Not usually,” he managed to rasp. “I’ve never met a mate before.” The second the words left his mouth he realized how stupid that sounded.The Fates only give us one mate, and this was mine, so how could he have met a mate before?
“I’d hope not, because I prefer not to share,” Rick murmured with an intensity that didn’t help Ian’s arousal.
The heat scorching his cheeks grew to epic proportions at the reality that Rick didn’t deny they were mates and wasn’t pissed off about it.Yay!“Me either.” He groaned, finally getting his thoughts in order—probably. “I’m making a fool of myself.” Didn’t Rick feel this intense attraction that was tying his tongue into knots, too?
He dropped his gaze and swallowed hard when it landed on the obvious bulge that had Ian’s ass clench in eagerness.
Rick slipped his hand into Ian’s, tugging him closer, his lips next to his ear, his breath touching his overheated skin. “You are adorable, pretty eyes. Want me to show you the ropes?”
Ian knew he wasn’t talking about sex, but Ian’s overexcited cock took the conversation to mean it, and it twitched hard against his zipper in response.How am I going to survive?Despite his concerns of embarrassing himself further, he nodded, giving Rick a shy smile. “I’d love that, show me the way.”To heaven.That he thankfully kept inside his head.
Chapter Five
Rick
I’ve not been here more than five minutes, and all my assumptions have just been blown out of the fucking window.Not that Rick was unhappy about it, he was more quietly stunned. It helped that Ian, for all his size, reminded him a bit of a gangly foal when they first started to walk. And yes, he did have a quiet chuckle to himself because clearly Ian being overwhelmed was due to his presence more than anything else.
So yeah, Rick had that going on, but he’d also paid attention to the safety rules that Remy had outlined. He was immediately protective of Ian. Ranches, places like that, where animals and people interacted, could be dangerous, especially if people were inclined to show off. Not that Rick wasn’t already thinking about doing that later on in the day.If seeing me on top of a bull doesn’t stir Ian’s blood, nothing will.
It wasn’t easy, though, walking by Ian’s side over to the stables where they would learn to brush down and prepare a horse for riding. Rick could do that sort of thing in his sleep, and every instinct hehad demanded that he take Ian to his den. There were far too many alphas around who were potential competition, and worse, Ian could get hurt. He’d been there when Ernest’s mate, Toby, had gotten hurt, hot air ballooning of all things.
Ian had already admitted, that he’d never been to a ranch before. Ian was one of those people that years ago, Rick would have laughed at, not wanting to help at all—because that’s what it was like back in the day. He pushed back on his bear, who was thinking of making honey muffins and feeding them to Ian, surrounded by all the pillows on his bed. Ian deserved to be shown respect, to have a date of sorts. He had paid for his ticket the same as Rick had, and while Rick would have cheerfully chucked that money away and not cared about it, there was another part of him that realized that being on the ranch would give him the time to show Ian how caring and helpful he could be.
Charlie was waiting in the stables, and he quickly tapped Rick’s arm. “I’ve got Beauty over here for you,” he said. “I know there’s no point in letting you have a learner pony. And then for this guy, well, that horse over there will be fine.”
Rick shook his head as he quickly glanced at the animal that Charlie indicated would suit Ian, and he glared at his friend. “Would you put Pip on that horse?” he demanded, putting his hand on the base of Ian’s spine. He could see the way Charlie was joining the dots.
“Oh.” Then his eyes widened. “Oh, yeah, right, definitely not doing that. Sorry,mate. Ian. Whatever. Um, that one over there, Annabelle, she would work better for a learner rider, wouldn’t she, Rick?” After another quick glance at him, Rick nodded, and Charlie hurried off to get the replacement horse.
