Page 33 of His Cowboy Heart

Flynn paused. I couldn’t see his expression, but I had a good idea of what he was thinking.

“Hypocrisy,” I said quietly. It was another concept I understood all too well.

“Yeah,” Flynn responded flatly. He sighed. The warmth of his breath against my neck made me shiver. The good kind of shivers.

“Anyway, after about thirty-six hours in the elements, I was dehydrated, exhausted, and scared out of my mind. One of my older brothers had walked into the woods and never come back, so I was sure whatever happened to him would happen to me.”

“But Frank found you,” I supplied.

“I kind of found him,” Flynn responded. “Or his horse, rather. It was the beginning of my second night of being lost. Every snap of a twig or rustling of leaves kept me from getting any kind of rest. Have you ever heard a pack of coyotes howling?”

I shook my head. Fear for a young, terrified Flynn caused the blood in my veins to run cold. Flynn seemed to notice because he tightened his arms.

“I’d heard them a million times growing up, but that was from the safety of the house. That night in the woods, it was like they were all around me. I had my rifle, but I was so fucking scared that I pretty much forgot all about it and just started running even though that’s the last thing you should do in the presence of a predator. Anyway, I was basically running blind. I got cut up by thorny bushes, bruised when I fell over rocks and fallen logs. Out of nowhere, I slammed into what felt like a wall.”

“Titan,” I guessed.

“Yep,” Flynn responded. “I pretty much bounced off his shoulder and landed on my back. Got the wind knocked out of me. I was sure I’d run into a bear but the only mauling I experienced was from a big-ass horse nudging me like it was trying to see if I was still alive. Then there’s this light shining in my eyes. I must’ve hit my head on a rock or something because everything went dark after that and the next time I woke up, I was bundled up in a sleeping bag next to a small campfire. Then I saw him. The old man our parents had warned us about. The one who haunted the woods at night looking for naughty children to scoop up and eat. I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could make a sound, something hit me in the chest. I was certain the guy had put an axe through me and was going to start eating me while I watched, so I start begging the guy to kill me all the way instead of making me watch him as he began eating my still-beating heart. Next thing I know, the guy’s telling me to stop my hollering and eat my rabbit or he’d leave me for the wolves to find.”

Flynn chuckled. I loved the sound of it. “And so began the tale of an old man, a rare horse, and a freaked-out teenager,” I said with a smile.

“Pretty much,” Flynn said with a laugh. “The next morning, Frank tossed me onto Titan’s back. No saddle, no bridle, just a thick, long mane to hang on to. I was so freaked out that it took me a while to realize Titan was calmly walking next to Frank. That stallion never strayed from his side, and Frank was making all these sounds and talking to the horse like it understood him. I fell in love with that horse then and there. Frank took me close enough to my house that I’d be able to find it and then he was jumping onto Titan’s back like he’d been doing it all his life. I watched in awe as the pair disappeared into the forest like the urban legend they were supposed to be. After that, I made it my mission to track the man and his horse down. Frank’s ranch was small and pretty remote, but he took care of his horses like they were his kids. When I showed up on his doorstep, he told me to beat it, but then his wife was inviting me inside for peach cobbler and iced tea. From then on, I was hooked on Frank’s every word, whether he wanted me to be or not.”

“And you eventually won him over,” I suggested.

“More like wore him down. He finally started teaching me all about his horses while his wife, Maribel, stuffed me with the most amazing meals I’d ever had. The thing was, I was supposed to be working every day. My twin brother, West, and I used to run drugs for my dad and uncle?—”

I jerked around so hard that I hit Flynn’s jaw with my head in the process. “Twin?” I squeaked as I rubbed my head. “You have a twin brother?”

“Yeah,” Flynn confirmed, clearly confused.

“Ohhhhh,” I said in understanding. “Are you identical?”

“Yeah. West’s about a minute older but we’re identical in every other way.”

I sighed in relief and turned around again. I practically fell back against Flynn so that I once again had my back to his front.

“What?” Flynn asked.

“Nothing,” I murmured. “Just surprised, that’s all.” I definitely did not need Flynn to know about the ugly green monster I’d been carrying inside of me ever since I’d been in his room in the bunkhouse.

He was quiet for several long seconds before he chuckled. “You saw the picture in my room,” he said. “You thought it was me in the picture.”

“What? No, I?—”

Flynn skimmed his lips over the shell of my ear. “So all this time, you thought I had a wife and kids out there somewhere. That must’ve been driving you crazy.”

I squirmed in Flynn’s arms, partially to escape him and preserve my dignity, but mostly because the sensation of his lips on my skin was causing goose bumps to grace my skin all while my dick was demanding he not stop touching me.

“Fine, yes,” I growled when Flynn refused to release me.

“I told you I was gay and single,” he responded softly. His lips brushed against my skin with every word he spoke.

“Yeah, well, I can’t tell you how many supposedly gay but verymarriedguys have said that to me right before they fucked?—”

Flynn’s mouth covered mine before I could finish the sentence. Strong fingers supported my head as it was tilted back. The angle made it possible for him to deepen the kiss. I was breathless by the time he eased his mouth from mine. “Don’t,” Flynn warned. If he’d said the word in anything other than a possessive tone, I would have been pissed, but the fact that he didn’t want to hear about any other men I’d been with made me shiver. I nodded and was rewarded with another searing kiss that didn’t last long enough.

Despite the kiss being over, Flynn’s palm gripping my inner thigh had me shifting my body in the hope of somehow getting his hand closer to my painfully hard cock which was struggling against the confinement of my pants. When that didn’t work, I dropped my hand over his and unabashedly moved our joined fingers up my thigh.

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