"What the hell were you flagging the car down for? I saw how it was parked on the side of the road; it was headed into Tamworth."
"I was coming back."
"Back?"
"To the hotel, to you."
"But you didn't want to come here."
"I know, but I thought that maybe I could move close by, somewhere we could still see each other. Kind of inane, I know, but I didn't want to lose you completely and--" He was cut off by Jared's mouth crashing down on his, Jared's lips crushing his, Jared's tongue invading, taking, possessing. Kyle moaned, pulling Jared closer, uncaring that Jared was also crushing his chest; it was just so good having Jared in his arms.
"You idiot," Jared whispered harshly. "You could have been killed."
"But I wasn't."
"Jesus, Kyle." Jared looked down at him, the same terror Kyle had seen in his eyes at the hospital back again.
"I'm sorry," Kyle said, knowing it wasn't good enough. But would there ever be anything good enough he could say to Jared that would alleviate the pain he'd put him through?
Jared kissed him again. This time it was softer, gentler, but no less possessive. When Jared released his mouth, they were both breathing with difficulty. "Don't say sorry to me anymore, okay? I know you're sorry; you told me over and over again at the hospital."
"I did?"
"Yes. It nearly drove me insane because I couldn't leave you until I told you I forgave you."
"But you didn't. You were really angry with me."
"I know, but I would have forgiven you eventually."
Kyle released a little smile. "When you found my number on your mobile?"
Something registered in Jared's eyes, and Kyle knew Jared had figured out what he'd done. Jared grinned. "That would have been a good starting point."
"And now? Do you forgive me now?" Kyle asked, knowing it was too much to hope for.
"Let's work on that," Jared said before bestowing a quick kiss and levering himself up from the bed. "Wait there and I'll get the cast to put back on your ankle."
Jared strode away. Kyle watched him, eyeing the strong breadth of Jared's back and the thick muscles that angled quickly to a slim waist and hips. His appreciation wasn't lost as Jared glanced over his shoulder, the quirk of his eyebrow telling Kyle that Jared was more than aware Kyle had been ogling him. Kyle didn't care. In fact he wanted Jared to know how much he really did appreciate him and not just in a physical way. There was so much Kyle had to make up for.
When Jared came back, they refitted the cast; then Jared produced a washcloth to cleanse Kyle's stomach of drying cum.
"Did you do that for me last night?" Kyle asked him, drawing Jared into his arms.
"Yes, and at the hotel. You fell asleep both times." Jared's smile was full of amusement.
"You wore me out," Kyle explained, resting his head on Jared's chest, hearing his heartbeat, feeling him breathe. Jared hugged him, and it felt right.
"Thank you," Kyle said.
"You're welcome."
Kyle looked up at him. "You know what I'm thanking you for, right?"
"Yeah, I know." Jared's smile was warm; his kiss was hot. Kyle reveled in it until he felt his body begin to relax into sleep.
"You're falling asleep on me again," Jared said against his mouth.
Kyle yawned. "You wore me out again," he said. He felt Jared's chuckle, felt also Jared pushing him back and pulling a sheet over them. He drifted into sleep, finding comfort and reassurance in Jared arms.
Kyle snuggled against the warm body wrapped around him, and opened his eyes.
The man in his arms stirred, strong limbs and sinews flexing. Kyle watched him, awed at the sight of his powerful body. Man, Jared was gorgeous. Jared opened his eyes, and Kyle was pleased to see a smile in them. This was how he wanted to wake up every morning, with Jared next to him and with that smile in his eyes.
"Hi."
"Hi." Jared's gravelly early morning voice sent a shiver of awareness down Kyle's spine.
"Have I ever mentioned you have a sexy voice?" Kyle asked, finding the simple pleasure of being with Jared a hell of a lot better this morning than it had been over the past couple of days.
"No, but I think I mentioned you have a sexy smile."
"I do?" Kyle smiled, seeing Jared's hazel eyes change color to a deeper, more green hue with edges of gold he was beginning to identify.
"Mmm, and a sexy body." Jared reached out to pull Kyle in for a kiss, then stopped, frowning. "Did I do that to you?" Jared traced a long, warm finger over the love bites he'd inflicted on Kyle's body.
"Yeah."
"Shit, I'm sorry. I must have got carried away."
"It's okay; they blend in with the rest of my bruises."
"That's not funny. Do they hurt?" There was genuine concern in Jared's voice that Kyle gloated over.
"Nah." Kyle couldn't actually tell because he was still sore all over, but he didn't care if they did; Jared laying claim to him was erotic as all hell.
Jared's gaze met his. "Do you want to give me one back?"
"I don't bite, remember."
"Let me know when you change your mind."
The suggestive way Jared said that made Kyle think twice about turning him down. He'd never marked a man, never made that possessive, visible claim before, but maybe he now had the right. Thinking about it, thinking about making Jared his, of staking that claim had him checking out Jared's body and picking a spot. But not yet. If he was going to brand Jared, he'd do it when Jared least expected it.
He looked back up into gold-flecked eyes. "Want to do something else?"
"Like what?"
Kyle's grin was deliberately slow. "Are you a morning person?" he asked.
Realizing what Kyle meant, Jared looked down at his burgeoning erection and grinned back. "I am now."
Kyle was going to take that as a yes. He scooted up close until their cocks touched. Tingles started where their flesh met, and quickly spread around the rest of his body. It was weird, this sudden and powerful response to Jared; it was nothing he'd ever experienced before, but Kyle suspected it was only going to get better. Grasping their cocks together in one hand, he made some slight adjustments and then started a slow and easy rhythm while Jared leaned in for a kiss.
"Mmm, you do that so well," Jared said against his lips.
"First time." Kyle wasn't sure why he told Jared that, but it seemed more honest somehow to admit a lot of the experiences he had with Jared were new. Like spending more than one night with a man and waking up to the knowledge he was exactly where he wanted to be.
"Mine too." It was as if Jared was reading his mind. "Being with you has given me a whole inventory of first times." Jared's smile was warm and open; so too was the look in his eyes. "Want to go faster?" he added.
"Wanna help me?"
Jared grinned, the color of his eyes darkening as his desire heated up. "I thought you'd never ask."
The feel of Jared's firm hand joining his caused Kyle to groan. He thrust his hips reflexively as Jared tightened his hold, thrusting with him. A fierce heat shot through his veins, setting him aflame. He moaned again as pleasure curled up from his balls and centered somewhere in his chest. He continued to thrust, working in tandem with Jared, both their cocks gliding through the tunnel they formed with their tight fists.
Jared groaned, propelling his hips faster. Blood, hot and thick, pulsed through Kyle, while familiar sensations began to quickly build. Harsh grunts accompanied panted moans as a sizzling fire started in Kyle's groin, threatening to consume him.
Jared groaned again, and his back arched. "Kyle?"
"I'm with you," he panted, beginning to lose himself in oblivion.
Their bodies, their hips, their hands worked faster, their combined need overtaking anything resembling reason.
"Kyle!"
Pleasure seemed to come from everywhere, and it was too much to control. "Fuck. Now!" The intensity caug
ht him unawares, so too the hot rush of fluid hitting his stomach just before his cock pulsed and he shot his load. His hips slowed, the pleasure diminishing, and after waiting a few moments for his heart to get back to normal and for his breathing to become a little less labored, Kyle rolled onto his back.
"We made a mess." Jared's heated tone didn't even register, but the slide of cooling semen being slicked over his stomach did. Kyle quickly looked down to catch Jared leaning over him and lapping up their pooled seed.
"That's disgusting!"
Jared looked up, a grin on his face. "It tastes good, though. Want some?" he asked, scooping up the thick cream with his tongue and angling toward Kyle's mouth.
Kyle tried to back away, compressing his lips together and shaking his head.
Jared was almost laughing. "Coward," he mumbled.
That did it for Kyle. "Ah, what the hell," he said, giving in and opening his mouth to accept Jared's offering of his cum-coated tongue. He shuddered as Jared's tongue met his, but he had to admit it did taste good, tangy and sweet. He'd already tasted Jared's cum, but uniting with his own gave it a whole new flavor.
"See?" Jared said, smirking.
Kyle didn't answer, instead he pulled Jared back to him for another hot kiss. His body had just decided it wanted more when Jared moved to look at him, the color of his eyes darkening, a look of anxiety deep within their depths.
In an instant, Kyle became worried that Jared was going to tell him something he didn't want to hear. "What's wrong?"
Jared sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "Do you still want to come out with me today?"
"Out?"
"Yeah, to show you the plans I've made to change my career."
Kyle didn't like the way Jared avoided his gaze. "Don't you want me to go with you?"
"Of course I do. It's just that I don't want to pressure you."
"You're not."
"You sure?" Jared looked so uncertain it pained Kyle to see it. He eased to the edge of the bed and sat next to him, automatically sliding his hand over Jared's firm thigh.
"I want to be with you. I want to give us a chance to see if we can make a go of this, so yes, I want to see whatever it is you have planned for your future."
A short, hot blast of something shifted behind Jared's eyes, an emotion so fleeting yet so pure it had Kyle gasping. He felt an answering emotion deep inside. It turned him inside out, blew him apart, and in that one brilliant moment gave him a brief glimpse of what it could really be like with Jared once they got past the grain of mistrust Jared still harbored. He grinned, feeling a little less adrift, a lot more anchored in possibilities, and not so afraid of what was going to happen when the town found out about them.
Chapter Eight
Jared drove them through the pasture at the back of the house and into higher country. The old track ran along a newly erected fence line that Kyle noticed dissected the once-overgrown land into cleared and tended paddocks. The small stream cutting through the one hundred acres that came with the house was now also fenced off, with an added gate that allowed someone to pass from one fenced area to another.
"You did all this?" Kyle asked, realizing the time, effort, and money the fencing would have taken.
"Over the past year."
Kyle was impressed. "For horses?" he asked, hazarding a guess.
Jared just shook his head and climbed out of the truck, beckoning Kyle to follow him. Vaulting the fence, Jared walked the few hundred meters to the top of the hill that hid the rest of the property. Following slowly, but utilizing one of the gates while muttering under his breath about Jared showing off, Kyle caught up and stood beside him. Below, there were three fenced paddocks, each approximately thirty acres of prime, arable farming land, and dotted within the confines were herds of cows.
"Cows?"
Jared stood, hands on hips, viewing the property below him. "Red Angus."
"You breed them?"
"Yep." The pride in his tone was audible and impossible to ignore.
Viewing the fenced-off paddocks and the segregated cows, Kyle realized this wasn't just a beef farm. Jared was doing something different. He threw his mind back to when his grandparents were alive, and tried to remember what it was his mother's father had been doing.
"You're breeding bulls," he said, turning to Jared. The surprised yet respectful look on Jared's face was the perfect combination.
"How did you know?"
"The segregation. I know Angus are generally socially amicable, and the only reason to separate them was if you were purposefully mating a certain bull with a certain cow to get improved stock."
"I'm impressed."
"I was raised here, remember. My grandfather was doing something similar, but he was trying for a more productive dairy cow."
Jared frowned. "So why did you think I was specializing in bulls?"
Kyle couldn't hide his smirk. That part had been purely instinctive. "I thought bulls would be more your type."
"You've got a filthy mind, you know that?" Jared groused, turning away and heading back to the truck.
"I was right, though, wasn't I?" Kyle said as he caught up.
Jared glanced at him and then smiled. "I hadn't decided on what I was going to do until I spotted Felix at an auction. Right then, however, I knew I wanted to breed bulls."
"Who's Felix?"
"Come on, I'll show you." The ride this time was even shorter, but during it Jared explained the breeding program he'd started and his future plans. Kyle couldn't help but admire Jared's motivation knowing full well he'd set himself a hard task. Jared only stopped talking long enough to get out of the truck when they got to another fenced paddock. This one was smaller, as it only housed one animal. Standing in the middle of a couple of acres there was a huge beast. Thick, sinewy muscles crowded beneath a burnished red hide that shone in the early morning sun. The bull looked at them and then slowly ambled over, his movements fluid and graceful for such a large animal.
"What do you think? Magnificent, isn't he?"
"Impressive. But you don't only have him?"
"At the moment. We're due to calve soon, and from the newborns I'll be able to pick out some prospective bulls."
"To use on the cows you've got waiting in the second and third paddock?"
"No, they're still for Felix. That's where my expansion plans come into play. I aim to buy some land that's for sale next to mine and invest in more cows to breed with my new bulls."
"Land?" Kyle automatically looked toward the property his grandfather used to own. The land Kyle now owned.
"Yeah, there's five hundred acres for sale on the border north of mine. There's a great creek running through it, ideal for what I have in mind."
Knowing the land well, Kyle silently agreed. It would be ideal. "That's a lot of hard work," he said while thinking about a new possibility, one he had never contemplated until Jared had shown him his dream.
"I know, but it's something I want to do."
"So you're not a trucker."
"Not anymore."
"You're a cowboy."
Jared raised an eyebrow as if the idea had only just occurred to him. "Guess I am."
"You do realize you've just made every fantasy I've ever had come true." Jared's slow, sexy grin had Kyle melting in one spot and hardening in another. "So this is why you're selling the trucking company?" he asked to distract himself from the thickening of his cock.
"Yeah." Jared put his foot on the bottom rail and leaned against the top, resting his chin on his forearms. "I needed a change. Being on the road was too tempting, and I like working with animals."
"Too tempting for what?" Kyle put his back to the rail so he could see Jared's face. He thought he knew what Jared meant. He'd sold his own company just to get out of the city, the temptation there difficult to avoid. It had been a relief, but he quickly found out being alone was not all it was cracked up to be, either. Since
then he'd been drifting from place to place without a focus, without anything in his life to make it good. Until he'd met Jared.
Jared just shrugged, looking uncomfortable.
"We've both admitted we stopped doing one-night stands. Were you tempted to go back to it?" It was something Kyle didn't really need to know, but he was curious.
"Weren't you?" Jared countered.
"Sometimes," he confessed.
"Yeah, self-imposed celibacy's a bitch." Jared chuckled, turning so he faced Kyle. "But then I met you and everything changed."
There was so much in that sentence, so much Jared was telling him, so much Kyle had to make up for. Kyle caught Jared's gaze, and the look in his eyes caused Kyle's stomach to tighten. If it hadn't been too soon, he would have thought... Then every thought was wiped out of his mind as Jared's lips came down on his. The kiss, like Jared's others, was immediately and intensely arousing. It took Kyle's breath away and made him feel weak enough to grab on to Jared's shoulders. Jared growled low in his throat and pressed against Kyle so the thick rail was across his back.
Warm hands spanned his waist, Jared's strong fingers finding their way beneath the T-shirt he wore. Kyle slid his arms around Jared's neck and pulled him closer, moaning as Jared moved his hands higher and stroked his nipples. The pleasure that was never far away when Jared touched him spiked higher, and Kyle sought to increase it. He moved his hips against Jared's and was rewarded when Jared moved his own in return. Kyle felt the heat from Jared's cock even though there were two pairs of jeans separating them. Jared groaned and then slowly pulled away.
"Let's go home," he said, a smile on those luscious lips that Kyle couldn't resist. He nodded and cursed again at how slow he was in hobbling along the uneven ground. Jared waited impatiently to help him get inside the truck, then quickly ran around to the drivers' side, gunning the engine as he took off. Kyle didn't think Jared could drive any faster or more keenly, only slowing enough to turn into their driveway.
"Fuck!" Jared's exclamation caught Kyle by surprise.
"What is it?" There was an old, battered four-wheel drive sitting in front of the house looking like it hadn't been washed in months, the evidence of its recent excursions splattered across the side panels and doors. From this distance, Kyle couldn't tell what color it was but suspected it had once been white.
Bringing Him Home Page 14
