AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They returned to the motel midafternoon. Dog went straight for her water bowl, while Wyatt went straight for Jackson’s dick. The blow job was spectacular, and Jackson eagerly returned the gesture. He had a couple of shelf-stable beef stew meals in his dresser that he nuked for an early dinner. They ate in their underwear, as comfortable as a couple who’d been dating for months, not just days.
Ifdatingwas the right word. He hoped so.
At one point they ended up lying in the bed of his pickup, legs dangling over the edge of the tailgate, as the sun sank lower on the horizon. It had been an amazing day, and Jackson plucked a blade of grass to whistle on, sending his music to the sky above. Wyatt seemed to take that as a challenge, picked his own piece of grass, and tried to remember what Jackson had taught him. He wasn’t as good but he did his best, and it was a lot of fun. Whistling on grass in the January cold, with the gorgeous Texas land all around them.
Perfection in its own way.
And something Jackson didn’t want to lose. But all good things had an inevitable end and around five he drove Wyatt back to his car. The Tavern parking lot was pretty empty, with only a few early dinner stragglers coming in for cheap beer and greasy appetizers, so they kissed for a while. Jackson wasn’t sure how he’d stop himself from kissing Wyatt at work tomorrow, but he’d manage. He was a grown-ass man, after all, and he’d learned his lesson about letting his libido guide him.
He waited until Wyatt drove away before moving to a different spot that gave him a better view of the bar’s entrance. While he’d reported what he knew about the night Wyatt was drugged to the owner, Jackson couldn’t help watching out for the two fuck-nuggets. He stayed for about two hours, watching for the guys, but didn’t see them. Good. Even if they hadn’t been the ones to roofie Wyatt, they’d definitely been planning to take advantage of his state. That made them predators in his book, period.
Work the next day was a challenge and a half, because Brand had him and Wyatt out riding the line again. Intellectually, Jackson knew it was to get Wyatt familiar with the pastures, the land borders, and comfortable riding Cobblepot so he could eventually be trusted out on his own, but it was still frustrating as hell, all alone with Wyatt and unable to touch him the way Jackson wanted. Wyatt seemed to be on his best behavior, though, only tossing him a handful of flirty smiles.
Then the kid somehow managed to cut the back of his hand while untacking his horse. It bled enough that instead of patching it with the first aid kid in the break room, Jackson sent him to see Rose in the main house. Wyatt came back twenty minutes later with a bandaged hand and a sugar cookie.
Michael, who’d been on barn duty that afternoon, snickered. “You sure know how to work a wound. You bring any cookies for the rest of us?”
Wyatt waved his bandaged hand in the air. “Trust me, this hurts like hell and was not done on purpose. If I want a home-baked cookie, I’ll go to the store, buy a tube of premade dough, and bake them myself.”
“That’s not technically home-baked.”
“Actually, it is. Baked at home. Just not homemade.”
Michael opened and closed his mouth several times in an amusingly confused way. “Whatever. Enjoy the cookie and try not to harm yourself again today.”
“Will definitely try not to do that. One injury per day is enough. I don’t want to give Brand a reason to fire me.” He shot Jackson a meaningful look that wasn’t just about Wyatt’s employment here.
Jackson winked and nodded in a way he hoped telegraphed what he couldn’t say in front of Michael: that if Wyatt blew his trial period and wasn’t hired on, Jackson would help. He’d help him stay in the area until he got the answers he was seeking. He’d help him stay so they could be together, because them together was so much better than alone.
For the first time in a long time, Jackson liked together a lot more than alone.
As January bled into February, the next few weeks took on a kind of routine, with Jackson and Wyatt as perfectly professional as possible during working hours, and then spending their shared days off holed up in Jackson’s motel room having sex. All kinds of sex and really great sex. Jackson enjoyed bottoming for the eager younger man, and Wyatt never brought back up the idea of Wyatt switching things around, so Jackson didn’t, either. They had fun, explored each other’s body, and had some amazing orgasms.
The farm equipment consignment auction was the first Saturday in February, and Hugo, Brand, and Rem had all been active in preparing old Woods Ranch items for sale, in between regular ranch duties. The whole thing was held in a field adjacent to the Pearce property, and while Jackson was working that day and couldn’t attend—not that he was looking to buy a tractor or rototiller for himself—the Woods family apparently made out well in selling their stuff. Likewise, Wyatt passed the four-week mark of his trial run without a single complaint to Jackson, so the training was going well. Only four weeks left to prove he could be a real horseman.
The only thing that bothered Jackson at all was Wyatt’s secret search for his birth father. They didn’t talk about it during their days off together, and they definitely didn’t discuss it at work. Jackson was crazy curious about Wyatt’s progress, and if he already had an idea of who the man was. Between the combined populations of all the small towns in Claire County, he had quite a few possibilities who’d be the right age, which Jackson guessed to be forty and up.
Jackson knew with absolute certainty it wasn’t him, because he hadn’t grown up here or slept with any women in his life.
Today, he’d met Wyatt at their favorite truck stop diner for breakfast, and they’d left Wyatt’s car there because they planned on going back for a late lunch/early dinner that afternoon. They were quickly becoming well-known by the waitresses, which was fine. It was far enough from Weston that they were unlikely to run into anyone they knew. Both of them wanted to keep their relationship on the down-low for right now. Ramie had a clue that Wyatt was seeing someone, but so far she hadn’t pressed him for details. She just made the occasional joke to Wyatt about him leaving home and sowing his wild oats.
Wyatt was definitely sowing some oats, but as far as Jackson knew, he was only sowing them with him. They hadn’t talked about exclusively dating each other, but Wyatt didn’t have a whole lot of other free time to fuck around on him. Maybe he’d bring it up today.
One of their favorite things to do while chilling was spread a blanket out in the bed of Jackson’s truck and park in different spots around the motel simply to talk and enjoy the view. Today a random rain burst ruined that plan, so they were lounging on the bed in just their jeans, their shirts and boots scattered around the floor. Wyatt’s head rested in Jackson’s lap, and Jackson was enjoying the soft tangle of Wyatt’s hair in his fingers.
“We’ve been seeing each other a couple of weeks now,” Jackson said, picking his words carefully so he didn’t come across the wrong way. “You wanna keep doin’ this, right?”
“Of course, I do.” Wyatt gazed up at him, his lips pursed into an upside-down frown. “I love hanging out with you and the sex is fantastic. We get along. Do you want to keep seeing each other?”
“Definitely. I guess I can’t help but wonder, because you’re still so young and have never been in a serious relationship, if maybe you’ll wanna explore...other options.”
“Like see other people?” He shrugged, which wasn’t very effective on his back. “Not really. I mean, yeah, I’m curious, but right now I really like what we’re doing.” A blush crept up his cheeks. “I really like you, Jackson.”
“I like you, too.” Jackson helped Wyatt sit up and face him. “So are we exclusively dating? Just you and me, until one of us says he’s done?” Wyatt seemed briefly hurt by the idea that Jackson might dump him. “As things are right now, I have no intention of doing that. I don’t trust easily, but so far you’ve earned it.”
Wyatt smiled. “Then yeah, just you and me. I know I’m young but I’m also incredibly stubborn when I set my mind on wanting something.”
“Like finding your birth father?”
