by Jena Wade
“A few years ago, just when I was old enough for the actual circuit, not just the youth division, I decided to have Cash bred with a friend of mine’s mare. Instead of doing the usual artificial insemination, I just took him over there and left him for a while. Turns out the mare was less than willing. She gave him a solid kick to the back leg. She didn’t break anything, thank God. But it fucked up the muscle enough that he can’t pivot to the left like he should. He’d never place high enough in competition to be worth the entry fee.”
Perry could see the sadness in Cory’s face as he told the story and he could sympathize. He’d seen a few career-ending injuries while working at the Rockin’ R. It was always hard on the owners as well as the horses. “But he’s still ridable?”
“Oh yeah. I team pen with him every once in a while.”
Cory stepped closer to Perry, invading his space.
Perry forgot to breathe as Cory’s eyes darkened with arousal.
“I know you’re attracted to me. Why don’t you do something about it?” Cory asked.
Perry froze, unsure of where this was going. Since when was Cory attracted to him? Fuck, he wasn’t prepared for this. How’d they get on this topic? “That’s not a good idea.” For so many reasons.
“C’mon. I promise to be gentle.” Cory’s chest grazed Perry’s, fanning the fire that had already ignited in his loins. Cory closed the last bit of space between them and pressed his lips to Perry’s.
Cory was warm and tasted as good as he looked. All the fantasies Perry had been ignoring for the past few weeks flashed through his head. Cory naked. Cory underneath him. Cory on top of him. Cory everywhere.
Perry moaned and wrapped his arms around Cory’s naked back, feeling the smooth skin underneath his calloused fingertips. It’d been too long since he’d been this close to another person. Least of all one whom he was so attracted to.
One who had the power to get him fired. Again.
The thought hit him like a cold bucket of water.
He pushed at Cory, putting some space between them. “No. I don’t fuck around with people I work with. It’s not a good idea.”
Cory snorted out a laugh. “We don’t work together.”
Temptation to ignore his better judgment lingered, but Perry continued, “It would just complicate things. I don’t really do the whole…casual thing.”
Cory backed away and nodded. “Sure. I understand.” He flashed a wicked smile that caused Perry’s dick to harden even more. “I’m not giving up though. You’ll give in. Sooner or later.”
Perry swallowed hard. The determination in Cory’s voice was unmistakable. Perry shook his head. “I don’t think so. Thanks for breakfast. I’m going to go get chores done.” Perry grabbed his boots and walked out the door without putting them on.
Once he was back in his own house, he wiped his bare feet on the welcome mat and leaned against the closed door. Christ. That was not what he’d expected from Cory. The man was even more confusing than Perry first thought. And he shouldn’t, couldn’t be thinking about him at all. He hit his head against the door. Once. Twice. Three times. Trying to knock some sense into himself. He couldn’t fuck around with the boss’s grandson. He liked it here. The place was starting to feel like home. Another long-term job where he could settle down.
He would just have to resist Cory. Simple as that.
Chapter Four
Cory unbuckled the straps to the breast collar, then uncinched the saddle and pulled it from Mister’s back. The horse shook as soon as he was free from the added weight. It’d been three days since his bout of colic and he’d recovered just fine.
“Hey, there you are.” Cory’s grandpa stopped outside the open stall. “You’re grandma’s making a big dinner tonight, so come up to the house as soon as you get cleaned up.”
Like he wasn’t there for dinner almost every night. “Okay. What’s the occasion?”
Garrett chuckled. “You know your grandma; she don’t need a reason to make a big meal.” He paused and lowered his voice. “Perry is going to be there also.”
Cory nodded, attempting to be nonchalant. He saw Perry every day, so it was hardly a big deal to share a meal with him. Only it seemed like since they had breakfast the other day Perry had avoided being anywhere near him. Cory had started coming to the barn earlier and earlier each day, and in turn Perry had switched up his usual routine, feeding the cattle before the horses so he wasn’t in the barn at the same time as Cory.
He bit back a laugh. He supposed he had come on a little strong. But he knew Perry was just as interested in him as he was in Perry. It was only a matter of time.
“I shouldn’t be too long. I just need to put the tack away and give this guy some oats. I’ll be up after that,” Cory said.
Garrett lingered in the doorway of the stall, his eyes narrowed like he had something he wanted to say.
“Spit it out, Grandpa. I know you have something on your mind.”
“Ain’t none of my business, but I suppose you could do worse than a man like Perry. He’s a good guy.”
Laughter burst from Cory before he could stop it. “Matchmaking? Really? Is that why you hired him? So you could find me a boyfriend?”
“Nah. I hired him because he’s a good worker. The other is just gravy.”
Cory picked up the saddle and exited the stall. “I appreciate the thought, but I think I can find my own dates.”
Grandpa scoffed. “Hrmph. You ain’t been bringing any around here that I’ve seen.”
With a shake of his head, Cory waved off his grandpa’s comments. “I’ll see you at dinner.” Hopefully this would not be a topic of conversation for the meal.
Twenty minutes later, dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a white T-shirt that hugged his chest, Cory entered the dining room of his grandparents’ home. It’d taken him ten minutes to find the shirt he knew looked best on him, but it would be worth it to see Perry’s reaction.
Under his grandma’s command, Cory carried the platters full of food to the table and filled water glasses. She’d made his favorite, homemade beef ravioli with garlic bread.
“Smells delicious, Mrs. Matthews.” Perry walked into the room and sat down across from Cory. His eyes widened slightly when he looked at Cory for the first time, but he quickly looked away and hung his hat on the back of the chair.
Success. Cory chuckled to himself. Another confirmation that Perry wasn’t completely unaffected by him.
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me by my name?” Anne set the last of the dinner on the table and took her seat.
Perry mumbled an apology. Anne Matthews was seventy years old, but spending three quarters of her life on the ranch meant she didn’t put up with any guff, and when she said jump, you did it without question.
Garrett entered the room and sat at the head of the table. Cory bowed his head and mouthed the words as they said grace. Though religion wasn’t his thing, he did respect his grandparents’ tradition.
After they filled their plates and began their meal, Garrett said, “Perry, tell me about the two-year-olds that are coming next week for training.”
Cory’s interest piqued. He wasn’t aware that Perry would be training any horses here.
“Got two geldings and a mare coming for sixty days. They haven’t been worked with much. The owner is looking to have a few good cutting horses for his ranch.”
“You’re going to train three horses on top of everything else to take care of around here? Can you handle that?” Cory asked. It would be a lot to take on, and as far as he could tell Perry’s schedule was full as it was.
Perry’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t foresee a problem.”
The icy tone in his voice sent shivers down Cory’s spine.
This wasn’t quite the way he’d anticipated the conversation going.
“We’ll need to hire an extra part-time hand for the next few months, but I think getting back into training horses will be good for the ranch,” Garr
ett said.
Heaviness settled in Cory’s chest. It should be him who his grandfather was discussing the future of the ranch with. Being absent for long periods of the time in the past few years had obviously convinced his grandpa that he was no longer interested in taking over.
Though that wasn’t the case. He didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. He had plenty of ideas, but he wasn’t ready to voice them out loud. The dream was too new, too fragile to share with others.
“Sounds like a wonderful idea to me. But what about the stalls? Aren’t we full?” Anne asked.
Perry nodded. “The new horses aren’t stalled, so they’ll be kept on pasture each day.”
Garrett and Anne both nodded and smiled at Perry, obviously happy with the way he was handling the ranch that they’d built.
Anger and something that felt a bit like shame filled Cory. It should be him. He should be making those decisions and plans. Or at least included.
“Cory.” His grandfather’s voice broke through his haze.
“Yes?”
“I asked you if you plan on going to Foster’s for their annual team penning competition.”
“Yeah. Tre and I are already signed up.” Damn, that was already a week away. Which meant he was only a month away from leaving for his next competition. The finals. Which he’d barely qualified for.
“Last time I checked it took three people to compete,” Anne said.
Cory shrugged. “I figured I would pick up an extra rider at the show. Shouldn’t be too hard. There’s usually someone looking to join a team.”
“Perry. Why don’t you be their third rider?” The gleam in Garrett’s eyes told Cory that his grandpa’s matchmaking attempts weren’t done. This was just another step.
Damn it.
“I’m sure Perry has better things to do.” Cory might as well give him the easy out. From what he could tell, Perry didn’t much care for horse shows. “Besides, that mount of his would probably slow us down. I’d like to win this year.” He smiled wide, hoping Perry might look up and be…mesmerized, or something along those lines.
Instead, Perry dropped his fork with a clang against his empty plate. His jaw clenched. “Is that so?”
Cory’s smile slipped. Maybe poking fun at Perry’s horse wasn’t the way to go about getting his attention.
“Sure, I’ll be your third rider,” Perry said.
Cory wouldn’t have been more surprised if Perry had just grown an extra head. “Okay. Sure. That sounds great.” Spending time with Perry would be worth the risk of losing. Maybe. He and Tre could always pick up the slack of having a weak team member.
Perry nodded, thanked Garrett and Anne for the meal, and then left the house without giving Cory a second look.
Something would have to give. Cory needed to break down Perry’s defenses. Do something to get through the icy wall that surrounded him.
* * * *
Perry grabbed his hat and stuffed it on his head. Again, he questioned why he agreed to participate in this silly competition. With one last check to make sure he had his wallet, he left the house and sauntered toward Cory’s horse trailer.
Cory was already loaded up and ready to head out to Foster’s, which was only forty-five minutes away. By Perry’s watch, they had plenty of time. But Cory was pacing around like they were late for the world finals.
“You got all the horses loaded up?” Perry asked.
“Yeah, just waiting on you.” Cory opened the truck door and hopped inside.
Perry resisted the urge to roll his eyes; instead, he climbed into the passenger side and made himself comfortable. “Where’s Tre?”
“He and Grandpa are driving separate. They left already.”
“You going to be grumpy the entire night?” There were a lot of things Perry could be doing besides riding in a damn team penning competition. He should’ve never agreed to ride. The less time he spent with Cory the better. Sooner or later he wasn’t going to be able to resist those dark eyes and that easy smile. Although tonight it would be pretty easy if Cory remained in a sour mood.
“A little road head might ease the tension a bit.” Cory’s dark eyes lit up as he laughed.
Perry’s mouth watered at the thought; then he remembered where they were—driving down the road with a forty-foot trailer packed full with three horses. Oh yeah. And this was his boss’s grandson. The one he wasn’t supposed to be attracted to. “Not gonna happen. I’m afraid I would knock myself out on the dinner plate you call a belt buckle.” He eyed the gold-and-silver oval buckle that must nearly reach Cory’s belly button. He couldn’t quite make out the words on it, but it had a horse and rider in the middle of a perfect sliding stop. “How many of those do you have anyway?”
Cory shrugged. “I don’t know. This one is from last year’s finals. Third place. Not too shabby for a youngin’, eh?”
“If you say so. I haven’t really followed those competitions in years.” Or ever, really. It did sound impressive, though. Considering Cory was just a young kid, training his own horses, competing against professionals from around the world who had oodles of money and years of experience.
“You’ve done some team penning though, right?” Cory asked.
“Sure, I cut cattle all day long. That’s the main objective, right?” Couldn’t be too hard. He watched it on TV a few times so he knew the basic concept.
Cory shot him a look that spoke volumes about how he felt about Perry’s lack of experience. Laughter threatened to escape, but Perry held it in. He was sure Cory wouldn’t appreciate it at the moment. Apparently Cory took competition way more seriously than he did real life.
“You ever cut three specific steers from a pack of thirty in under ninety seconds? ’Cause that’s what we have to do. When the time starts, the announcer will give us the number and we have to cut the three steers wearing that number out of the herd and pen them at the opposite end of the arena. It takes a lot of teamwork and coordination in order to get it done.” Cory took on a whole new level of seriousness that had Perry biting back another chuckle. This was just for fun, right?
“What happens if we don’t get all three steers in the allotted time?”
“Then we get a penalty. And we won’t win.”
Perry shook his head. “You really like to win, don’t you?”
Cory shot him a look of complete disbelief. “Of course. What other purpose is there?”
“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because it’s fun. ’Cause you enjoy riding. Haven’t you ever just done it for fun?”
The slight slump in Cory’s shoulders told Perry he’d struck a nerve. This was what happened when he opened his mouth. He should’ve just kept quiet.
After a few moments, Cory finally spoke. “I used to. When I was riding Cash I had fun. Even the first year with Denny was fun. But then it became more of a job. Everything was about getting better, being the best, having the best equipment, and who could spend the most money. It wasn’t just about the horse and rider anymore.”
“Why do you still do it?”
Cory shrugged. “I get to travel. I don’t have to settle down and get a real job. I kinda like fuckin’ around, living in my trailer.”
Perry scoffed. “Makes sense.” Yeah. That sounded more like the Cory he thought he knew. The guy probably had a different man in every town. If Perry ever needed to know the best gay bars in any town in America he could ask Cory.
“Didn’t you ever screw around when you were younger? Sow your wild oats or whatever?”
“No. I went to college, and then I got a job.” He’d never had much time for “fucking around.” He’d dated occasionally, but mostly focused on his career, hoping to someday buy into a ranch and have something to call his own. But he hadn’t planned on that ranch being sold out from underneath him by the owner’s son.
Cory took his hands off the wheel and applauded. “Well, la-di-da. Aren’t you special?” He placed his hands back on the wheel, much to Perry’s relief. “I’ll
make you a deal. If we even make it into the placings tonight, you have to take me out to a nice dinner. Or make me dinner. And then, if that goes well, you can take me to bed. Either way, we’re going on a date. If we don’t make it into the placings, then I’ll consider not hitting on you anymore. I can tell it makes you uncomfortable.”
Perry squirmed in his seat. “It doesn’t make me uncomfortable. It’s just not a good idea to get involved with people you work with. That’s like Adulthood 101.” He had a feeling Cory never took that course, and Perry hadn’t exactly passed it with a four point oh.
“We don’t work together. You happen to work where I live for half of the year. Your boss happens to be my grandparents. It’s not a big deal.”
“All right, so if we make this bet, how do you know I won’t just lose on purpose?”
Cory smiled and Perry thanked his lucky stars he was sitting down or he just might have swooned. Damn that man for being gorgeous. “Oh, I have a feeling once we get there and start riding, you’ll find yourself with a competitive streak you didn’t even know you had.”
Considering there would be some of the best team penners in the state at this competition, and this would be Perry’s first time, Perry was sure they wouldn’t place. And he was damn sure he didn’t have a competitive bone in his body. But there wouldn’t be any harm in having a friendly bet between him and Cory. Worst-case scenario, he had to take Cory on a date. That wouldn’t be so bad. Surely he could keep it in his pants for one night. He was a grown man, and Cory wasn’t that difficult to resist. Unless he smiled.
“So?” Cory turned and grinned. His handsome face lit up under his black hat. The tan plaid shirt he wore brought out the milk chocolate color in his eyes.
Yeah. Perry could totally resist that. “You’re on.”
* * * *
Before Perry knew it the drive was over, and Cory pulled into the fairgrounds where the competition would be taking place. There was a large arena, surrounded by many parked trailers of varying sizes. Most of which were just as fancy as the rig Cory drove.
