Page 64 of His Cowboy Heart

The only thing that I hadn’t figured out yet was why he always made some excuse about needing to get back to the house the second we’d finished. When I snuck into his room every night, I always tried to ask him if something was wrong, but he’d been attacking me from the moment I’d closed and locked his door behind me. His lovemaking had become frantic. At one point, we hadn’t even made it to the bed before he’d ordered me to get on my back on the floor. Seconds later, he’d had my fly open and my already hard cock out. His already well-lubed ass had meant he hadn’t been interested in foreplay, and by the time his ass had engulfed my dick in one hard downward thrust of his body, I’d forgotten all about asking if he was okay. He’d keep me in his bed all night, leaving only short breaks between each round of lovemaking. By the time I’d stumbled out of his room every morning, my own body wrung dry, Jules had been tangled in the sheets, lost in a heavy slumber. I, on the other hand, had been burning the wick at both ends. I’d only managed to snatch a few z’s here and there before I’d had to get to work.

While we hadn’t gotten to a point where Jules was ready to fuck me, he’d started playing with my ass in the most delicious of ways. If he wasn’t fingering me while blowing me, he was eating my ass like a starving man while I jacked myself off. He’d then proceed to clean up any jizz that hadn’t ended up on the ground by licking it off my body and sharing it with me.

Any concern I’d had about an impending heart attack had been wiped away after that first night when Jules had gotten me through my panic attack. If Jules’s and my sexual antics hadn’t killed me yet, I doubted anything would.

I chuckled as I began to lead the mare into the barn so I could introduce her to BJ. As a stallion, BJ wasn’t exactly immune to the presence of female horses, especially when they were in heat, but for the most part, he behaved himself. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of babies the gorgeous pair would make. The mare wasn’t a Waler, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t gotten BJ with the intent of producing more purebred Walers since he had plenty of siblings out there in the world somewhere to take care of that.

“Flynn, hold up,” I heard someone call from behind me. Since I knew Jules’s voice by heart, I knew it wasn’t him. When I turned, I saw Xavier striding toward me from the house. I hadn’t had much time to interact with Xavier like I should have, and since part of my job was supposed to be working alongside him with the horses, I’d been expecting the man to confront me about all the time I spent away from the ranch, supposedly tracking predators and keeping an eye out for any signs of humans in places where they didn’t belong. I’d done that part of my job, but the rest of the time I’d either been fucking Jules or holding him in my arms while we talked.

Based on Xavier’s expression, he was clearly pissed.

I’d never seen the man angry, but if the way he was coming at me was any indication of where his head was at, I couldn’t even imagine if he ever expressed any kind of true rage. I knew the man had a soft side, especially when it came to Brooks and his mother and Sara who were temporarily living with Curtis in the main house. Since Xavier looked at Brooks the way I looked at Jules, I had a feeling he was dealing with the reality of his role as foreman and finding the time to be intimate with Brooks.

In truth, Brooks and Xavier did spend a lot of time conveniently missing throughout the day, but they at least had an obvious excuse. The men were over the top in love and like Jules and me, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. However, since they’d gone public with their relationship, no one questioned their prolonged absences.

I envied them for that. Not just their bravery in confronting a town full of people who saw only two men sinning, not two people in love and as deeply committed to each other, if not more so, as a lot of straight couples. Curtis’s announcement about his marriage to his beloved Del had tongues wagging too, but Curtis didn’t give a shit what other people thought. Jules and I would be facing the same reactions when it was time for us to announce our own relationship.

The man striding toward me may have survived prison and looked scary as hell even when he wasn’t angry, but I wasn’t afraid to stand my ground. I wasn’t about to out my relationship with Jules solely for the purpose of saving myself from a pounding. My only hope was that the man wouldn’t fire me on the spot because that would complicate things for me and Jules.

“Hey,” I began even before Xavier reached me. “I hope you don’t mind, but I borrowed your truck and trailer to go pick up this beauty early this morning. I’ll pay you for the gas?—”

“I don’t give a shit about gas money,” Xavier snapped. “I want to know what the fuck you did to upset Jules because whenmy guy’sbest friend is upset,my guyis even more upset.”

“Wait. What?” I asked in confusion. Had Jules told Brooks about us and Brooks told Xavier? If he had, then why was Xavier pissed? Why would Brooks be upset? Hadn’t Jules explained what he and I meant to each other?

“Look, Xavier, I don’t know what Jules told you… or Brooks, for that matter, but I swear to God, the last thing I’d ever do is hurt him. Yeah, we got off to a rocky start, but we figured some stuff out and I like to think that we’re at least… friends now.”

The word “friends” had gotten stuck in my throat, but since I didn’t know how much Xavier knew, I had to be careful about what I said when it came to my relationship with Jules. “If I’ve upset him, I’ll apologize. I’ll apologize to Brooks too if that’s what it takes, but I promise you, I’d never hurt Jules. In any way.”

Xavier didn’t say anything. I felt like the man was a human lie detector and I was his subject. Since everything I’d said was true, I stood there and kept my eyes on Xavier the whole time.

When his body relaxed, I carefully expelled a breath. “Look, I know I’m behind on my work, but?—”

“You really have no idea, do you?” Xavier said softly.

I shook my head. “Idea about what?”

“Fuck,” he muttered. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. My gut began to churn as Xavier went from a rampaging bull to a docile lamb.

“What?” I asked as the dread began to enter my bloodstream. “Tell me, damn it. Is he hurt?” I practically yelled. I didn’t give him time to answer. Instead, I practically threw the mare’s lead rope at Xavier and hurried toward the house.

“He’s not in there!” Xavier called.

I came to an abrupt stop. “You’re lying,” I responded and began walking again, albeit much slower this time around.

“I wish to God that I was.”

My brain refused to accept Xavier’s words, but when Brooks opened the screen door that led into the house, I instantly knew. Brooks had his arms crossed, and his eyes were puffy and red like he’d been crying. I quickly scanned my surroundings and noticed for the first time that the Range Rover was gone. Had it been there when I’d left in the early morning hours so I could go pick up the mare?

“What’s going on?” I demanded, no longer caring about keeping up with any kind of ruse. To Brooks, I said, “Where is he?”

Brooks just shook his head slowly.

I spun around. “Where the fuck is he?” I snarled as I strode back to Xavier. “If you’re keeping him from me?—”

“We’re not, Flynn,” Xavier said gently.

His look of regret was like acid eating away at my insides. “No,” I said adamantly. “No, he wouldn’t do this to me.”

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