Bought by the Lone Cowboy

by E. Walsh

  What a gorgeous piece of…

  “Looks like your radiator hose is busted,” the man pronounced, wiping the sweat off his wide forehead with the back of a hand. “And the nearest garage is forty miles away. It’s nearly dark. I doubt they could get a tow truck out here this late. Why don’t I give you a lift to the inn and you can call from there.”

  Tommy’s eyebrows furrowed. “You mean like a hotel?”

  The man smiled. “More like a bed and breakfast. My grandparents own it, just a few miles back up the road. You can spend the night and get your car fixed tomorrow.”

  Tommy blinked. The man was inviting him to spend the night?

  “I’m sure there are a few rooms available since it isn’t the hiking season,” the man added. “My Grandma’s a great cook, too, and you look like you haven’t had a good meal in days.”

  He hadn’t. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he had a good, home-cooked meal.

  “So, how about it?”

  Tommy nodded. “Yeah. Sounds like a plan.”

  “I’m Devin by the way.” He stuck out his grease-smudged hand and smiled.

  Tommy shook his hand. “Tommy.”

  Devin glanced at his car. “Do you have a lot of stuff?”

  “Not much.”

  “Let’s get them then. Like I said, it’s getting dark. And cold. You wouldn’t want to freeze out here, would you?”

  Tommy doubted very much that he would freeze in such hot company but he didn’t say so. He simply nodded as he went to fetch his things, a smile on his face.

  He had a feeling things had just taken a turn for the best.

  * * *

  Chapter Five

  “Mmm. This is the best potato casserole I’ve ever tasted,” Tommy said that evening at the dinner table, an empty plate in front of him. “Devin’s right. You’re a great cook, Mrs. Roberts.”

  Devin’s grandmother waved her hand. “Oh, shush. You’re going to make an old woman blush.”

  “Old woman?” Devin gave a puzzled look. “I don’t see an old woman here.”

  Mrs. Roberts went on to blush as she grinned. “Oh, you and your pretty words. It’s a wonder you haven’t managed to get a woman yet.”

  “Ah, but there’s only one woman I’ve used pretty words on. The only woman I need.” Devin winked.

  Inwardly, Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. So Devin was still single?

  He couldn’t help but wonder why, though. Surely, a man who was so good-looking and kind would be married by now.

  “So, what brings you here?” Devin’s grandfather asked. “You don’t look like the outdoorsy type, if you pardon my saying so.”

  “Oh, who said only outdoorsy people can come here?” Mrs. Roberts said before Tommy could answer. She glanced at Tommy and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Don’t take his words to heart too much. He’ll forget them by tomorrow.”

  “My memory may be rusty but I still have good hearing, you know,” Mr. Roberts said.

  “I’m sure I don’t look outdoorsy at all,” Tommy said. “But I just thought I’d go up the mountains and escape reality for a bit, do some serious thinking.”

  “Ah.” Mr. Roberts nodded. “And what exactly are you trying to escape if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “Edward,” Mrs. Roberts scolded.

  “What?” Mr. Roberts gave her an innocent look. “No one really wants to escape reality. You can’t escape reality, after all. Usually, people are just running away from one thing. I was only asking what the guy’s running away from.”

  “Oh, stop it.” Mrs. Roberts glanced at Tommy again. “Forgive him. He can be nosy at times.”

  “I heard that,” Mr. Roberts said.

  “No need to answer his question,” Mrs. Roberts added.

  Mr. Roberts snorted.

  “Anyway, if you’re going up the mountain, why don’t you go on foot?” Mrs. Roberts went on, ignoring her husband. “Maybe your car breaking down is a sign that you should.”

  “On foot?” Tommy felt surprised.

  Like Mr. Roberts had said, he wasn’t the outdoorsy type. In fact, he didn’t even consider himself a fit person so he wasn’t sure he would make it. What if he collapsed along the way? Or what if he got lost?

  “There are plenty of hiking trails,” Mrs. Roberts explained. “And Devin here is actually an excellent hiking guide. He can take you to the best campsite on the mountain, one where you can truly enjoy the solitude of nature.”

  Tommy looked at Devin. “You’re a hiking guide?”

  Devin nodded. “I help out around here but yeah, I also guide people up the hiking trails for a small fee.”

  “So you can guide me?”

  Devin smiled. “Why not?”

  Tommy paused to think about it. He still wasn’t sure he could climb a mountain and the idea didn’t exactly appeal to him.

  But the idea of spending time alone with Devin? Now, that appealed to him. Very much.

  Now that he knew Devin was single, he was even more interested in him and he wanted to get to know him better in every way possible.

  After all, with two men climbing up a mountain, who knew what could happen?

  * * *

  Chapter Six

  “Ouch!” Tommy yelped as he cut his fingers on a rock that he grasped in an attempt to keep himself from falling down a steep slope.

  In the end, he still slid down, sitting on the grass as he stared in horror at the blood that had trickled down the palm of his left hand.

  “Shit.”

  “Are you alright?” Devin asked, quickly going down the slope and kneeling beside him.

  When he saw the blood, he frowned then quickly took out his handkerchief to apply pressure on the cuts.

  “That should stop the bleeding,” he said.

  Tommy said nothing, still scared.

  “You don’t like blood?” Devin asked. “Don’t worry. When we get to a brook, we’ll wash it off.”

  “It’s not the blood I don’t like,” Tommy said. “Blood has a beautiful color, actually. Rich. Vivid. Dark enough to taint everything.”

  Devin gave him a curious look.

  “I’m a painter,” Tommy explained.

  “Ah.” Devin nodded. “That would explain your fascination with colors. And your horror just now. You must use your left hand to paint.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I’m sure the cuts will heal. There may be a lot of blood but the cuts are small.”

  Tommy said nothing. He had thought he was considering giving up painting but after encountering the possibility of never painting again, he was filled with an indescribable sense of dread and despair.

  “What do you paint?” Devin asked.

  “Landscapes,” he answered. “People, too.”

  “What kind of people?”

  Tommy shrugged. “Anyone I find interesting.”

  “I see.” Devin paused for a moment. “Would you paint me?”

  The question threw Tommy off. “Paint you?”

  “Yes. No one’s ever painted me before.”

  Again, Tommy paused to think. On the one hand, he wanted very much to paint Devin, to capture all that perfection on his canvas. On the other, he was afraid. Devin was already a work of art. What if his painting didn’t do him justice?

  “I’ll think about it,” he answered in the end.

  “Okay.” Devin seemed disappointed.

  “Don’t get me wrong. I do find you interesting.”

  Devin’s expression lightened.

  “I just…Well, for one thing, I’m not sure I’m in the shape to paint right now. And it’s not even because of the fingers.”

  “Is it some kind of an artist’s block?”

  “It’s more of like I’m questioning why I’m painting and if I should keep doing it.”

  “So, you’re running away from painting?” Devin gave him a questioning look.

  “I guess,” Tommy said. “And maybe from someone, too.”

 
; “Someone?” Devin seemed curious. “A wife?”

  Tommy shook his head. “No such thing. My agent. He seems to think art should be a business.”

  “Ah.”

  “When I started painting, I didn’t have any reason for doing it,” Tommy said, the words just tumbling out of his mouth. “I just loved what I was doing and I still do. I know money is important. It’s a necessity even. But I wish I could paint just for the love of it, for the sheer fun of it, you know, without expecting anything from it.”

  “And then what would you do with your paintings?”

  Tommy shrugged. “I would just hang them in my apartment or give them to my friends. I wouldn’t care if no one saw them.”

  “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

  “Except if I paint as I like, I might not have an apartment or even materials to paint with,” Tommy said, sighing. “It’s a tragedy, really. Sometimes, I wish I was one of those people born to billions of fortune. Then I could just sit in my studio all day or paint for the rest of my life and no one would mind. I could even put up my own gallery just for the heck of it.”

  “Yeah. Some people are just lucky.”

  “What about you?” Tommy asked. “Is being a hiking guide what you really want?”

  “Not really. But I love the outdoors. And I love my grandparents. They raised me.”

  “I can see that.”

  “So I’m not really complaining.”

  “Any plans of getting married?” Tommy blurted out.

  “Not you, too.” Devin chuckled. “But nah. I gave up on the idea of marriage a long time ago.”

  “Did some woman break your heart?” Tommy asked, unable to stop himself now.

  “That would be the most convenient explanation, wouldn’t it? But no. My heart’s never belonged to any woman. It’s not meant to.”

  Before Tommy could probe further or wonder what that last remark meant, a strong breeze blew. Devin stood up, frowning.

  “Wind seems to be picking up,” he said, looking around. “I hate to say this but a storm may be on its way.”

  “A storm?” Tommy looked up at the blue sky. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Anyway, let’s get moving.” Devin offered Tommy his hand. “And this time, I’ll make sure you won’t fall.”

  Except he’d fallen already, Tommy thought as he held Devin’s hand. Hot. A devoted grandson. A gentleman. Single. And a virgin, as far as Tommy could tell. Was this man for real?

  “Shall we?”

  Tommy nodded. Right now, he would follow Devin anywhere, even to the ends of the earth.

  Not even the toughest storm could get in his way.

  * * *

  Chapter Seven

  “This is one heck of a storm,” Tommy told Devin later.

  In just a span of a few hours, the skies had gone from blue to gray, the weather turning from good to bad to worse.

  Now, he and Devin were inside a small tent which quivered each time the wind blew, rain splattering on all sides.

  He was shaking, as well, both from the fear that at any moment, the tent would be blown away, him along with it, and the cold which was starting to seep through his clothes.

  Oh, why hadn’t he thought of wearing something thicker?

  “Come here.” Devin stretched out his arms. “We can’t have you freezing to death.”

  At another time, Tommy would have refused, at least at first, but he was too cold to do that now. His teeth were chattering, in fact.

  The moment he snuggled against Devin, though, he felt instantly warmer. He didn’t know if it was just his mind playing a trick on him but he could feel his temperature rising, his body warmed by Devin’s body and his thick clothes.

  Now, he was no longer cold. He still felt scared, though.

  “Don’t worry,” Devin assured, sensing his fear. “This tent has survived worse.”

  “You mean you’ve been caught in storms before?”

  “I’ve lived here on the mountain most of my life, after all.”

  “Where are your parents?” Tommy asked.

  He didn’t mean to be nosy…again. He just needed some distraction from the storm.

  “My mother died when I was barely a year old. My father didn’t know how to take care of me so he gave me to my grandparents. They said he gave money in the beginning and that he came by every now and then to see me. Both became scarcer, though, until one day, he just disappeared. I tried looking for him once but I found out that he had died in an accident while working on a cargo ship out at sea. He didn’t leave me anything.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “A sad story, isn’t it?”

  “Everyone has sad stories.”

  “What’s yours?”

  “I never knew my father. He left me, too, before I was born.”

  “Some fathers our fathers were,” Devin said.

  Just then, a particularly strong wind blew. Tommy clung to Devin tighter, too scared to be embarrassed.

  To his relief, Devin didn’t push him away or laugh, instead wrapping his arms around him.

  “Tell me more about your art,” Devin said. “When did you first paint and what was your first painting like?”

  “I was nine and my first painting was of the snowy evening outside my bedroom window. I gave it to my Mom. My second painting was of…”

  And so he told Devin all about his paintings, ignoring the wind and rain outside. Eventually, he grew tired and his eyelids fell shut and he drifted off to a peaceful sleep in the young man’s arms.

  When Tommy woke up, the wind and rain had disappeared. The tent was still there. It had withstood the storm just as Devin had said. And Devin? He was lying right beside him, still asleep with his arms around him.

  Tommy swallowed. Now that he was no longer cold or afraid, he was acutely aware of Devin’s body pressed against his, and of one particular part of Devin’s body pressed against his bum. For a while, he lay still, debating whether to stay or to move away. In the end, he decided the latter was better and so he tried to wriggle free of Devin’s arms. He tried but just as he was about to get free, Devin hugged him tighter.

  “Where are you going?” Devin asked, awake now.

  “I’m sorry I woke you,” Tommy managed to say. “You…don’t need to…hug me anymore. The storm has passed.”

  “Has it?”

  Tommy nodded.

  Even so, Devin didn’t let go. Instead, to Tommy’s surprise, he started nuzzling the back of his neck, which sent a surge of heat straight to Tommy’s cock.

  “Um, Devin?”

  “Don’t be shy. You want this, don’t you? You feel it, too, don’t you?”

  Wide-eyed, Tommy turned his head. “You’re…gay, too?”

  “That’s why I told you.” Devin kissed the patch of skin behind Tommy’s ear. “My heart is not meant to be owned by a woman.”

  So, that was what he meant.

  “And how did you know I was gay?”

  “You were looking at me like you wanted me to fuck you yesterday,” Devin confessed.

  Tommy blushed. “I didn’t mean to…”

  “It’s fine,” Devin said. “I’ve been wanting to fuck you since I saw you, too.”

  Tommy’s eyes grew wider. “hy?”

  He could understand why anyone, man or woman, would want to be fucked by Devin.

  He was perfect, after all. But why would someone so amazing think of having sex with him? He was old, well, not that old, but he was still in his mid-thirties.

  And he considered himself plain.

  Why would Devin be interested in him.

  “Let’s just say I have a thing for older men, especially older men who have the look of a lost, little puppy I had once.”

  “Oh.” Tommy wasn’t sure that was a compliment.

  “And the fact that you’re an artist is sexy, too. I was kind of wondering how you’d look like, painting me with just an apron on.”

  “And here I was thinking of
painting you without anything on,” Tommy said without thinking.

  Devin laughed. “That was exactly what I was thinking when I asked you to paint me.”

  “Really?”

  “But we’ll save that for later. For now, let’s do this.”

  With that, Devin pressed his lips against Tommy’s fiercely, claiming his mouth.

  At the same time, he slipped his hand beneath Tommy’s shirt and sweater, searching for his nipples.

  Finding one of them, he rubbed the tiny nub as he let his tongue mingle with Tommy’s.

  Then when it had turned pebble hard, he pinched it lightly before switching to the other one, giving it the same attention.

  Through it all, Tommy gasped and moaned, his body shivering now for a different reason other than the cold or fear.

  He didn’t feel cold at all, his body melting beneath Devin’s hungry kisses and skillful touches.

  Wait. How did Devin know just how to touch him? He said he had never been with a woman but had he been with a man?

  “How…many men have you been with?” Tommy asked when the kiss broke.

  “A few,” Devin confessed. “But believe me when I say that I’ve never been as crazy about them as I am with you right now.”

  Before Tommy could ask more, Devin kissed him again, this time, his hand slipping beneath his pants to cup the bulge there.

  When he took Tommy’s hard cock out and wrapped his fingers around it, Tommy lost all capacity for speech and when Devin released his mouth to settle between his legs and capture that rod of flesh between his lips, Tommy could no longer think as well.

  He could feel his body slowly but surely being consumed by the pleasure.

  Just when he thought it would overwhelm him, Devin released him, turning him around and pulling his pants down.

  In spite of the cramped space, Tommy managed to get on his hands and knees, though his arms gave way and his knees trembled as Devin’s tongue teased another part of him, circling the ring of muscle before dipping in between.

  “Shit,” the curse left his lips as Devin inserted a lube-coated finger.