Page 3 of Keep You Safe
“Knock it off,” he said sternly, still holding me tightly. He’d wrangled me as easily as if I were one of those baby cows escaped from the pasture. And never had I wanted to be caught quite so badly.
“Or else what?” I taunted, amazed at how good it felt to rile this man up. “Who’s going to make me?”
Chapter Two
Grayson
Adler Kelly was a brat.A surprise given his affable nature all week. In fact, I’d found his relentless cheerfulness combined with his utter cluelessness about ranch life vaguely annoying. I wasn’t sure exactly why the guy got on my nerves, but he did. And annoying wasn’t quite the right word either. He’d gotten under my skin in a way few people managed. He lingered in my brain after each brief encounter, causing a restless twitchiness I didn’t know what to make of.
Even more of a shocker than Adler having a bratty side was that I liked it. I’d always been drawn to a certain amount of spunk, but up until this very moment, I couldn’t say as I’d found it appealing in a guy before.
I also couldn’t say as I’d found a guy appealing period, but with an armful of Adler, wet, slippery, and naked, I was hard pressed to deny my body’s reaction, cold water be damned. The restlessness I’d felt all week suddenly had a name: desire.
Huh.I’d always been one to keep sex simple—the occasional hookup, mainly. Sure, I knew what I liked in the bedroom, but I kept encounters as uncomplicated as possible. My attraction to Adler was the definition of complicated, yet here we were, and I was far more curious than I ever could have predicted.
“Who’s going to make me?” Despite being trapped, Adler radiated defiance. However, something more than disobedience lurked in his eyes. Want—no,need—to be brought in line. I’d seen similar expressions from stubborn horses plenty. They wanted to please, but they needed a firm hand and plenty of inducement to cooperate. The trick was to harness that feisty spirit, not break it.
“Splash me again, and I’ll show you,” I threatened, not entirely sure what I was doing here, only that further play needed to be Adler’s call. I wasn’t a stranger to providing some…direction in the bedroom, yet this particular situation was far outside my usual wheelhouse. It would be easy to say this was simply two dudes engaging in harmless horseplay, but nothing about this felt harmless or ordinary, and my half-hard dick underscored the erotic energy zooming between us.
I had Adler trapped in a bear hug, but I loosened my grip to see what choice he’d make. To be fair, I wasn’t sure what choiceIwas making. I had strict rules for fooling around on ranch property or during working hours. Technically, I wasn’t working now. Break time. I further rationalized my curiosity about whatever Adler was trying to accomplish as being a one-time deal. It wasn’t like Adler was a hand or someone I’d have to see more than a few more days. Maverick had said Adler was scheduled to leave soon, having extended his original plan of only staying a week because of Faith’s accident.
And maybe that was playing a role too—I’d been on edge ever since Faith and Maverick argued about the future of the ranch. Maverick said he wanted to give ranching a try and not sell the place as planned, but I wasn’t sure I trusted his decision to stick. If I were about to be out of a job, would it be so bad to let this little game with Adler unfold a bit?
Adler grinned, a wide, mischievous smile that transformed his face from ordinary to rather attractive. He was tall but railskinny, no muscles to speak of, with wild red hair that seemed to defy the rules of gravity, freckles and pale skin that made him look far younger, and soft blue-green eyes not unlike the color of this pond. I was far from an expert on what made men sexy, but Adler Kelly was hardly movie star material. Until he smiled, that was.
Seconds after he smiled, Adler drew back his arm in slow motion, gaze locked on mine the whole time as if I didn’t know how deliberate his defiance was. Continuing to grin, he sent a wall of water in my direction. I wanted to make a point, not drown the guy, so I didn’t go for another dunk as he probably expected. Instead, I picked him up, threw him over one shoulder, and marched out of the water to deposit him on the bank of the pond.
“Hey!” He made indignant into an art form, all pouty lips, wide eyes, and upturned hands. “What was that?”
“Playtime is over,” I said sternly, looming over him.
“Is it?” Adler cocked his head, considering. He also made no attempt to hide his blatant appreciation for my nakedness, eyes raking over me every bit as slow and deliberate as that splash had been. “Your dick seems rather hard for someone who wants me to quit taunting.”
“Maybe my dick’s hard at the notion you might actually behave,” I countered. I remained uncertain as to what was up with my body’s sudden decision to cross the tracks, so to speak, but that was a problem for me to sort out later. Right now, I wanted to see what would happen next, the sort of reckless urge I hadn’t known since my rodeo days. Also, it wouldn’t do for me to project anything other than the sternness Adler seemed to crave.
“What do I get if I’m good?” Rising from his untidy heap of limbs, Adler kneeled in front of me, reaching out to place a hand on my thigh. His touch seared my damp skin like a brand.
“Depends.” I met him pointed look for pointed look. “How good can you be?”
“Oh, I can be so good,” Adler all but purred. “I canblowyour mind.”
He put enough emphasis onblowthat a satellite from space could’ve picked up his meaning. And his own cock was plenty hard, in case I had any doubts. I’d seen my fair share of naked men in bunkhouses and locker rooms, but this was the first I’d seen one erect and ready up close. Long, lean, and with a pronounced oval head, Adler’s cock was proportionate to the rest of him.
“And if I let you?” I undoubtedly shouldn’t be considering a blowjob from my boss’s best friend out in the open like this—or at all—but we’d come this far. Didn’t have to mean anything, and honestly, I was stunned at how hard my dick pulsed at the notion of Adler sucking me off. In fact, the longer I stared at his erection, the more my hand flexed, an unfamiliar urge to touch.
“Oh, I’d play with that tasty cock for free.” Adler flashed another of those devastating grins of his. “But if you’re offering a reward, I wanna ride a horse before I leave.”
“That all?” I drawled. If Maverick hadn’t been otherwise occupied all week, Adler surely would have gotten his wish by now. With any other guest, I would have likely offered myself or sent him to Kat for a lesson, but I’d let Adler under my skin and then avoided him, probably for reasons related to why my dick was so damn hard at the sight of him on his knees. “I suppose that can be arranged. If you’re good.”
“Trust me. I might not be cowboy material, but I do have a few unique skills.” Adler stuck his tongue out, rolling and contorting it as if tying an imaginary knot, and holy hell if a drop of precum didn’t appear at the tip of my dick at his antics.
“So you say.” Somehow, I managed a disinterested tone. “How about you stop bragging and start working for that reward?”
“Gladly.” Adler reached for my cock, making a happy noise as he fisted it. He took his sweet time stroking me, letting his fingers brush my balls and his thumb tease my cockhead.
“Sun’s a wasting,” I drawled.
“Hold your horses.” He stuck his tongue out again, not to arouse me, but to show more of that bratty side. Accordingly, I brushed his hand aside and gripped my cock myself, teasing his lips and tongue with featherlight passes.
