Page 30 of Wellspring
“Naw, you’d have found something by now for sure.You’re too smart and too good with horses.E-A-G-L-E.I know that’s an eagle, but why is it E-A?Why not just E?”
Erick very carefully did not move his leg where Cade had left his hand.He might have to resign himself to only Cade’s friendship, but that didn’t mean he’d be the one to pull away when Cade touched him.
“E by itself has a different sound,” Erick explained.“Think of egg, England, Eldorado—even Erick,” he said, feeling daring at calling attention to himself.“E and A together sound like east, ear, eat.”He watched Cade’s lips as he formed the words silently, flushing again when he realized Cade had stopped and he was still staring at his mouth.
Before he could think of an excuse or even a deflection, Cade leaned in suddenly and pressed their lips together.He pulled away so quickly Erick didn’t have time to kiss him back, then Cade was on his feet and running like the hounds of hell themselves were on his heels.
Erick was too stunned to react before Cade disappeared, and as much as he longed to chase after him and demand to know if the kiss meant what he hoped, he needed to ask Cade in private, not in front of a crowd of interested cowhands.Alone in the growing dusk, he traced a finger over his lips, reliving the press of Cade’s mouth.For once he didn’t deny the hope that warmed his heart.Perhaps his dreams were not so impossible after all.
STUPID, STUPID,stupid.How could he have been so stupid, kissing Erick like that completely out of the blue?He was lucky Erick hadn’t punched him in the face, but he could forget about more reading lessons, more dinners sitting side by side, more anything.He’d given himself away.
He just hadn’t been able to help himself.Erick had been so kind and patient and had looked so handsome in the soft light.And he hadn’t pulled away from any of Cade’s touches, even the ones that pushed the limits a bit.
Cade stormed into the bunkhouse, grabbed his bow and quiver, and stormed back out.He couldn’t deal with people right now, not even Chel, who quirked an eyebrow at him as he blew in and out.He had to calm down, and the only way to do that right now was to shoot.At this hour, no one else would be out on the impromptu shooting range Payne had agreed to let them set up on the far side of the main house.No one would want to run the risk of angering Payne or Miz Roarke with the sound of gunfire, but Cade wasn’t planning on using a gun, and his bow didn’t make enough noise to carry into the house.
He pushed his turbulent thoughts aside and focused on the easy draw and release of shooting until the rhythm of it overtook the chaos in his mind and he could see things with more perspective.
Erickhadn’tpulled away from any of Cade’s touches, not even when Cade set his hand on Erick’s knee and left it there.The touch itself could have meant anything or nothing, but Cade hadn’t moved his hand.Surely Erick would have said something if he hadn’t welcomed it.
Or would he have?He was still getting used to the way things were done on the range.Maybe he thought it was normal for Texas and hadn’t wanted to stand out as a foreigner.Though if Cade found out anyone else had been touching Erick that way, he’d make sure they lost a few fingers for their trouble.
Erick hadn’t punched him for the kiss, not that Cade had really given him time to react.It had been enough for Cade to feel the prickle of a day’s worth of beard, though.Enough for him to register the dry heat of Erick’s lips.
Enough for him to know Erick hadn’t kissed him back.
Fuck.He was going in circles.
“Of course you’d be here.”Cade didn’t know how long Chel had been watching him, another sign—as if he needed it—of how fucked up he was.“You’re so predictable, Cade.What did you do now?Erick was worried about you.”
“He was just making sure I wasn’t around to throw myself at him again,” Cade said bitterly.He shot another arrow without looking her way.
“Oh, Cade.”Great, now on top of screwing his friendship with Erick, he’d disappointed Chel too.“What did you do,louveteau?”
Cade lowered his bow and rubbed a hand over his face.“I kissed him,” he mumbled.
“And Erick was so scandalized that he punched you in the face?”
“He’s too much of a gentleman to do that.Not that I hung around long enough to give him a chance,” Cade admitted.“Nobody will notice if I toss my bedroll under the trees out here, right?”
“He didn’t look scandalized when he came back to the bunkhouse,” Chel mused.“Concerned not to find you there.Wondering where you might be.You wouldn’t want to worry him further by not coming back.The poor man probably wouldn’t sleep all night.”
Cade sighed and leaned against the fence that marked the border between Miz Roarke’s garden and the firing range.“Did he say anything?”
Asking made him pathetic, but not knowing was worse.
“Would you want him to, in front of everyone?”Cade shook his head.“Believe that I know enough about men to tell that he wasn’t angry, or disgusted, or whatever other ridiculous reaction you’re imagining.Cade, that man thinks you hung the moon.”
“You think so?”Cade asked, desperate for a sliver of hope that he hadn’t fucked up the best thing to ever happen to him.
“How can someone with the vision of a wolf not see what’s right in front of him?”Chel took the bow from Cade’s hand and tilted his head up to meet her gaze.“Talk to him, Cade.Not tonight,” she added at Cade’s panicked flinch.“Figure out a way to get him alone and tell him what you want.I think you’ll find he wants the same thing.”
“Is that what you did with Javier?”Cade knew the question would probably earn him bruised kidneys, but that was preferable to the squirmy feelings in his chest at the moment.He didn’t get good things in life—or if he did, he didn’t get to keep them.
“Javier is a man, not a frightened little boy.”Chel linked her elbow around his, the rare touch somehow settling his jittery nerves.“Come to bed,petit loup, before Erick comes looking for you.”
Cade couldn’t decide if he wanted to bristle at the jab or curl into her side.The insult was better than bruised kidneys, even if it was a little too on-point for comfort.He let her draw him back toward the bunkhouse, though, because he couldn’t face a private conversation with Erick right now, no matter what she said.At least in the bunkhouse he could see that Erick was okay with his own eyes.He’d work up his nerve to talk to him tomorrow.Or the next day.Or never.
Judging by the look Chel shot him, he wasn’t going to get away with never.
