Page 4 of Wellspring
Alone with Erick now, Cade did not have to hold back, leaning over to press a kiss to the side of Erick’s mouth.Erick laughed and turned his head so their lips met.Cade leaned into the kiss, deepening it by degrees.His pulse pounded as Erick pressed him to the blanket, straddling him so their bodies rubbed together provocatively.
Cade slid his hand over his underwear, mimicking the friction of body against body from his fantasy.He groaned, imagining Erick’s body pinning him down, Erick’s lips stealing his breath, Erick’s hands driving him wild.He tweaked his nipples with his free hand as he stroked his cock more deliberately through the cloth, striving for release now to the thought of Erick rutting against him, driving them both to climax.Cade wasn’t usually a passive lover, but it felt so right to give in to his dream lover that he didn’t resist, letting the heat of his climax build low and deep as he imagined Erick devouring him.With a startled shout, he found his pleasure, his body pulsing with the rapture radiating through him.He collapsed on the bed, his hand sticky with his release.He would need a bath in the morning and a trip to the laundry before returning home.He had a clean union suit in his bag, but unless he wanted to wear that one all the way back to the ranch, he’d need to get some washing done.
For now, he settled for stripping bare and slipping between the sheets.He would deal with the rest—and with Heller—in the morning.
Chapter Three
THE REMAINDERof the night passed in restless, sweaty dreams, leaving Cade feeling terribly unrefreshed the next morning.He ordered a bath and dropped his clothes off at the laundry before heading to the boarding house where Heller was staying to meet him.It did nothing for his composure when Heller rose to greet him wearing a similar suit to the one he had worn yesterday and the one Cade had spent all night imagining peeling off him.“I need to go to the warehouse to pick up the furniture,” he said gruffly.“Once I’ve done that, I’m all yours for the day.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Cade wished he could call them back because the images they conjured were far too disconcerting for his peace of mind.Heller seemed to take them in stride, though, no surprise showing on his face.
“I will with you come,” Heller offered.“That way will we already together be.”
“You know….”Cade hoped his advice would be taken the right way.“… it would sound less foreign if you said, ‘I will come with you’ instead of putting ‘come’ at the end of the sentence.”
“Only come or all actions?”Heller asked.
Cade breathed a quiet sigh of relief that he hadn’t offended the man.“All actions.”
Heller nodded sharply.“I will come with you.We will accomplish more that way.Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Cade said.“You ready to go, then?”
“I am ready,” Heller confirmed.
“I’ve got to get the wagon,” Cade said as they walked toward the warehouse district.
“I will with—” Heller stopped and shook his head.“I will help you with the horses.”
“Thanks,” Cade said.“I left them at the livery here at the docks, but we still have to hitch them up, and that will go faster with two rather than one.”
They found the stable and hitched the four draft horses to the ranch’s big covered wagon.Cade noticed the stolid animals reacted as comfortably to Heller as the high-strung stallion had done the day before.Cade grinned at the reaction of the other cowboys if Heller showed up on the ranch still calling that brute Butterfly.He’d try to suggest something a little less feminine as they rode west.Once the horses were hitched, Heller swung up on the seat next to him.
Cade drove the team with practiced ease down to the warehouse.He tied them to a hitching post and unlashed the back of the wagon, dropping the rear gate as well.“This would be so much easier if she’d let me bring the buckboard,” Cade muttered.
“What is the difference?”Heller asked from where he hovered at Cade’s elbow, obviously willing to help but not knowing how.
“It doesn’t have the canvas across the top for one thing,” Cade said.“And it’s lighter and only requires two horses to pull.But the weather is unpredictable in the spring, and since the money’s spent, she didn’t want to risk any damage to the furniture.Not to mention the weight of the furniture might be too much for the smaller wagon.”
Heller nodded.“It seems I have much to learn.”
“Don’t worry.”Cade flashed a grin in Heller’s direction.“I’ll teach you.”
ERICK’S FACEtightened at the innocent comment, not because of anything Webster said but because of his own inappropriate reaction.He had spent the night tossing and turning in his lonely bed, a novel sensation for a man used to sleeping alone, but Webster had planted the idea of congenial company in his mind at dinner, and Erick had not been able to weed it out.The cowboy had haunted his thoughts until he fell asleep and his dreams for the rest of the night.
Waiting for Webster to arrive this morning had been hard enough, but then they had started work and Erick had pushed aside his inappropriate thoughts.
Until now.
Now he was assailed by thoughts of everything Webster could teach him, not on the range, but between the sheets.Erick’s social standing and the realities of acquiring amenable companionship had resulted in a certain sameness to all of his amorous encounters.With a cowboy for a lover, Webster or someone else, his social standing would count for nothing, and perhaps he could finally experience the other side of lovemaking.He suspected Webster could give him a good ride if the man was willing.
Unfortunately, he had no indication that Webster shared his preferences, much less was interested in him.He couldn’t stop the spike of desire, though.“I will learn gladly whatever you wish to teach me.”
Erick saw a spark light Webster’s eyes, but he had no way of telling if it meant what he wanted it to mean.Stifling the urge to run his fingers through his hair, a habit his mother had spent years trying to break him of, he turned his attention back to the bustle around them.“The shipping master will meet you here?”
“He said he’d be here at nine.”Webster pulled out a pocket watch.“We’re a few minutes early, but I’d rather that than miss the appointment.I’m getting anxious carrying around the money Miz Roarke sent for the final expenses.”
The shipping agent arrived before Erick could think of a reply.He opened the warehouse and showed them the six crates that contained the furniture Webster’s employer had ordered from England.He didn’t quite catch what Webster muttered under his breath, but he could tell from the man’s face that it was not complimentary.Pushing back his sleeves, he looked at his new friend.“The sooner we start, the sooner we can be finished.”
