Page 45 of Rainbow Rodeo

“You can feel the water on you too. It’s the one place you get to touch some.” He grinned, thinking about what he wanted to touch. Dalton made him insatiable.

“Yeah?”

Mmm. Look at that sweet little bounce.

He grinned. Dalton was enthusiastic, tactile, and damn fun to be around. Tank loved seeing this familiar setting through Dalton’s fresh eyes. Made him feel like it was all new again. And the view—Jesus, that ass. It drew his eye, no matter what. Talk about a natural wonder.

Tank chuckled, then took a long drink of water. Okay, he was ready to keep on trucking. That waterfall was worth the extra climb.

Dalton headed up, dogged, sure, correcting when the gravel slid under his boots. Good man. He had grace in and out of the saddle, which was odd for a horseman. Not that Tank was biased or anything.

Not one bit.

By the time they could feel the spray on their skin, Tank was needing it. The sun felt so much closer up here.

“Oh….” The wonder in Dalton’s voice was worth the hike. That was a happy man.

Tank didn’t say anything, just took in the glory of the place. The fragility of it all took his breath away, and the lake just seemed to really hang off the side of the mountain. The sky was so blue it hurt his eyes, and he was damn glad to be alive.

Dalton squatted down, elbows on his knees, eyes wide as saucers.

Tank nodded. All was right with the world in a place like this. He backed up into the shade of the rocks because his nose was starting to tingle. Sunburn bad.

Dalton took a shit-ton of pictures, humming softly, greeting the few people that came up, nodding and smiling. Lord, you could tell he was the face of the rodeo, the easy welcoming one.

People reacted to him with such warmth, as if they knew he thought they were all special. Tank, now, he was more in tune with the bulls. Head down, get out of my way.

Save his cowboys. It was what he was made for.

He grinned, taking off his hat to wipe his brow. “Glad the rest of the way is down.”

“We did the hard part, huh? You want half a bar?”

“I do.” Man, he was gonna murder lunch wherever they went. He was betting on German, but Dalton was always a surprise.

“Cool.” Dalton pulled one out and broke it in half. “There are two more.”

“Awesome. I’m hungrier than I thought I would be, so I bet we need another one down at the truck.”

“Altitude, right? And good hard work.”

“Totally. Just think of how hard our lungs are working. It’s great for oxygen supply.” Sports medicine. Doc would be so pleased.

“In. Out. In. Out.” Dalton started laughing, the sound filling the air.

Tank hooted, drawing a couple of stares, but that didn’t bother him none. He knew he sounded like a big owl.

“I do love that sound, man. Seriously.”

“Thanks.” He reached out to brush a crumb off Dalton’s shirt.

There was something bone-deep satisfying about the way Dalton’s nipple drew up, just like that. He glanced up to see Dalton smile.

“You do it for me,” Dalton murmured.

“I’m glad. I want to.” He wanted to turn Dalton inside out.

“Well, we’ll get along fine.”

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