Page 56 of Road to a Cowboy

Austin continued on his rounds, giving feedback and advice to his students. Normally, they’d stay in the clearing for an hour and then return to the community center. Everyone would share one of the images they’d taken, and the rest of the group would critique it. With this being the last workshop, though, Austin wanted to give them as much time behind the camera as he could, while offering constructive criticism as they worked.

They were lucky that the night was clear—they’d had to make mad dashes for their cars during one of last week’s workshops when an unexpected rain shower had blown through ten minutes into their practical session.

At ten-thirty, everyone packed up for the night. As cars pulled away from the curb and Austin set up his own camera equipment, a truck parked nearby and a tall cowboy hopped out, sporting a lazy smile and carrying a blanket and a bag of Twizzlers.

“I was going to ask if you wanted me to stick around to help with your night shoot,” Marco said with a leer, nudging Austin in the ribs with an elbow, “but I see you’ve got that covered.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Austin said, laughing. “Get out of here.”

“Hey, man,” Marco said to Cal as they crossed paths, Marco on his way to his car and Cal on his way to Austin.

Cal nodded a hello, then dropped a quick kiss on Austin’s lips. The gesture, so casually intimate, sent a bolt of longing and pleasure through Austin.

“Hey,” Austin murmured. He leaned in for another kiss. “Mm. You smell like soap.”

“Went home to shower before coming over. Hottest day of the year so far, and I was outside for most of it.” Cal jerked his chin at Austin’s tripod. “You done setting up?”

“Not yet. Give me a minute?”

Cal grunted an acknowledgment and unrolled the blanket. He spread it out on the ground, then spread himself out on top of it, hands tucked behind his head, and blinked up at the stars.

Distracted from his task, Austin ran his gaze the length of him and gulped. Cal was all long legs and tapered waist and strong shoulders, and Austin wanted desperately to splay himself out on top of him. Since he was going to be in Europe for the next week, the urgency that strummed through him to do exactly that had him taking a step away from his tripod.

“Finish what you’re doing, Austin,” Cal said without looking, laughter in his voice. “I’ll still be here when you’re done.”

“I’ll still be here when you’re done,” Austin repeated in a childishly mocking voice, making Cal laugh.

He didn’t have a plan for tonight’s photography. He’d been busy all week, and although his fingers had been itching for his camera, now they were itching for something else. Still, he’d brought his equipment for a reason, so he set everything up with his camera facing the mountains, modified his settings, and clicked the shutter.

The photo was... meh.

He tried different angles, set up various light sources he’d brought along with him to illuminate different parts of the landscape, and even had Cal hold a flashlight on the knee-high grass in the foreground.

“Did you take it?” Cal asked from Austin’s feet.

His position sent very naughty thoughts through Austin’s head.

“Nope.” He sighed. “Something’s not working.”

“Not enough light?”

“No, there’s plenty of light. Just... I don’t know. I’ll wait a bit. Sometimes that helps. If I wait, the sky will be a deeper blue and the position of the stars will have changed.”

Cal rose and flicked off the flashlight. “And that will make for a better photo?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Leaving the tripod where it was, Austin sat on the blanket. “What’d you do with the Twizzlers?”

Cal handed them over and sat behind him, nestling Austin between his legs. Letting out a sound of satisfaction, Austin leaned back into him, feeling warm and safe and like everything was right in the world.

Cal kissed his temple. “Thanks for bringing my mom her groceries earlier. I hope she didn’t give you a hard time.”

“She was typical Barbara.”

“So she did give you a hard time,” Cal said, tensing behind him.

“Meh. Nothing I can’t handle. I offered to help with whatever else she needed so I could save you some work, but she wouldn’t have it.”

“No, I bet she wouldn’t.” Cal rested his chin on Austin’s shoulder. “I appreciate you trying anyway. Especially since you don’t like her.”

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