“So,” Everest said, smiling tenderly at Cole, “we tell family, then foremen, then our employees. That sounds like a logical order. If you want, we can go to the next card game night together as a couple, and then we can stay or go, depending on people’s reactions.”
Cole mulled that thought over for several minutes, and Everest remained quiet, letting him think it through. Finally, Cole began to nod against the pillow.
“Honestly, I think once our employees know, then word will get out pretty quickly,” Cole said. “We’ll know ahead of time if we’re welcome at the next card game or not. Or anywhere else ’round here.”
“And if we’re not, then that will be okay too,” Everest said softly. “It will be their loss. Anyone who would purposely turn away from us because we love each other isn’t someone I want to associate with.”
Cole inhaled, and his jaw flexed. “We’re gonna be okay.”
“Oh, honey. We’re gonna be more than okay,” Everest assured him. He ran his hand down Cole’s arm, just petting the man’s smooth skin and enjoying another chance to touch his lover.
Cole chuckled softly. “I’d say we already are.”
Everest smiled indulgently, proud to hear Cole looking for ways to see the potential good that was poised to flow into their lives now, rather than what they might lose.
“You also mentioned figuring out livin’ arrangements,” Cole said. “That’s something I want us to work out today before we get back to work and have hours away from each other.”
“Well, now…” Everest paused and propped himself up on his elbow. “That’s gonna be easier in the short term than I think it will be down the road.”
Cole frowned and reached out to run his hand across Everest’s chest. Everest took the move to mean Cole needed to stay connected in some way and he trapped Cole’s palm under his, holding on as he confessed one of his long-held dreams for Cole and himself.
“Hear me out here, honey.” Everest waited until Cole dipped his chin.
“I’m listen’.”
“Well, keep in mind that I’ve told you I’ve waited years for an opening, for a chance to tell you that I wanted you for my own. And in all that time, I dreamed of what life with you could really be like – if it were us working toward a common goal instead of you and me separately.”
Cole smirked. “That’s usually what being a couple means, Everest.”
Everest narrowed his eyes. “Cute.”
Grinning, Cole pulled Everest back down to lay beside him, so they still faced one another, but were closer again.
“That would be you,” Cole murmured, a warm smile lighting up his rugged features. “Now, say your piece, love.”
Everest leaned in and brushed their lips together, needing the contact. When he pulled back, he saw that Cole’s eyes held a different kind of warmth – something mighty similar to rekindled need. So, Everest finished what he had to say before they lost themselves in the newness of their physical connection once again.
“Okay. When I envisioned us sharing a life together, I thought of completely intertwining our lives in every way. That means marriage and children to raise, either through adoption or surrogacy – however we decide to approach parenthood is fine by me – and it also means we join our assets as married couples do.”
That got Cole’s attention, for he grew very still and just stared at Everest.
Everest continued, needing to say it all now that he’d really begun confessing his most heartfelt desire for them.
“Our ranches are only separated because of some fencing, Cole. If we wanted to, we could tear down those fences and join the two spreads – make one large ranch that combines our stock and our staff. We could rename the place to honor your family name and mine, and then we could pass the ranch, in its entirety, on to our kids one day. And in the middle of all that land, we could build a new home – one that we both have a hand in designing with the future in mind. Does that sound like somethin’ you’d be interested in?”
Everest paused and watched a myriad of thoughts and emotions flicker through Cole’s expressive green eyes. He remained quiet, giving his lover time to absorb the idea of what a combined future – in every way imaginable – might look like for them.
A slow smile began to spread across Cole’s face as he reached out to cup Everest’s cheek. He smoothed his thumb over Everest’s stubble and began to nod his head.
“You have thought about this – about us – a lot, haven’t you, Everest?”
“Pretty much every day for years, Cole,” he answered truthfully.
“And I take it that you’ve thought through all the ins and outs of merging our herds and livestock? How we’ll join our crop output? And about how we’ll combine our staff, too? We can’t have two foremen.”
“I have, though nothing is set in stone, Cole,” Everest assured him. “I don’t want to be the one in charge here, and I’m not aimin’ to be your boss. Far from it. I want to be your partner in every sense of the word. That means we stand alongside each other and see this through as equals.”
“That’s the only way this can work, Everest. I…” Cole broke off, and Everest shook his head.
“No, finish that sentence for me, Cole. Tell me what you’re thinkin’ and what you’re feelin’ and don’t hold back.”
“All right.”
Cole seemed pensive still, but to Everest’s relief he opened up to him and gave Everest the full measure of his honesty.
“I don’t think I’d be able to just turn everything over to you and blindly let you take the reins. Not that I didn’t like it last night when you took the lead, but I don’t think I’d respect myself very much if I just stopped trying to be the man I am – workin’ and leading my hands as we try to make a livin’ off this land. And I don’t think I’d be happy being under someone’s thumb, now that I’ve been running this place for years.”
“All understandable, Cole. I’d never, for any reason, expect you to be subservient to me.” Everest ran his hand up Cole’s arm until he cupped his neck. Gently, he ran his fingertips over Cole’s skin and watched Cole shiver slightly when he touched a mark he’d left the night before. “As I said, I want you to stand beside me, not behind me. I wouldn’t be fulfilled either if you were takin’ orders from me.”
“No,” Cole said with a slight shake of his head. “Neither of us would. One thing I do know is that you’ve always advised me well since Dad passed away. When everyone else was tryin’ to tell me how to keep this place goin’ as it had been, though Mom and Dad were really strugglin’ those last few years of his life, you were there patiently showing me that there was another way to conduct business. You gave me the information and then backed off and let me decide what was best for me and my own. And because of your guidance, my spread is doing better than it ever has before. My staff’s happy, and I’m not ruled by anyone’s prejudice to make my livelihood.”
“I know,” Everest whispered. “And I’m so damned proud of you.”
A warm glint lit Cole’s green eyes, and Everest was glad to see it.
“I’d say,” Cole murmured, sliding close enough that their pelvises collided, causing Everest to inhale sharply, “that we’ve already proven we make a damn good team, Everest. I don’t see why we couldn’t make an amazing go of this – of sharing everything as equals – if we put our minds to it.”
“And our hearts,” Everest added, knowing that had to be said too.
“Yeah,” Cole sighed, “and our hearts. I think we’ll make one helluva team, Everest Cooper. And the rest of the ranches ’round here won’t know what hit ’em once they take a look at what we’ll build together,” Cole said determinedly, his eyes narrowing.
“Damn, but do you make me hot as hell when you look at me like that, Cole,” Everest ground out, even as he thrust his reawakening cock against Cole’s hardening shaft.
Cole looked shocked momentarily, and then a mischievous light fired in his gaze.
“I do, huh?”<
br />
“You know good and well you do, honey. You’ve got me wrapped around your finger already.”
“Then I’d say we need to practice this merger a bit more before we go about tellin’ anyone else what we’re plannin’.”
Everest threw back his head and laughed, tickled to his bones at Cole’s play on their words and at his lover’s wit. God, but did he love this man.
Cole rolled them over and settled on top of Everest. This time, however, he reached for the lube on the bedside table, rather than grind their bodies together to completion as he had when they first woke up. Everest reached up and held on to Cole’s hips when he settled on his knees and slicked up two of his fingers. Everest arched an eyebrow in question, wondering which one of them was going to bottom this time.
“Wanna feel you again, Everest,” Cole answered his silent inquiry in a husky voice that made Everest’s dick finish hardening to full mast. “Never imagined that it would be so good to have a lover inside me, but I know now. And I want you.”
“Then ride me, Cole. I’m all yours.”
Everest guided Cole as he swung a leg over Everest’s hips and positioned himself. He stroked Cole’s cock while his lover prepared his channel for Everest’s aching shaft. The stunning visual image Cole painted there on his knees, getting himself ready to take Everest into his body, made Everest moan and buck his hips involuntarily.
Cole removed his fingers from his hole and lubed Everest up. Then he let Everest line up his cock, and he began to slowly lower his strong body, one satisfying inch at a time. A fine layer of perspiration appeared on Cole’s forehead as it creased slightly.
“Easy,” Everest crooned and petted Cole’s ripped abdomen with his free hand. He continued to slowly caress Cole’s cock with his other, making sure to pay special attention to the skin around the head with his thumb on every upstroke.
After what felt like minutes, but had to be seconds, Everest felt Cole’s fine ass settle on his upper thighs. He arched up, sending his throbbing shaft in the last little space, filling Cole up as he pressed in as far as he could within the other man’s body. Cole groaned low in his throat and let his body fall forward, claiming Everest’s lips in a kiss meant to consume Everest in every way he could.
When Cole drew back, he began to move again. Slowly at first, his body rising as he undulated his pelvis and falling as he rotated his hips, causing both men to emit heady sounds of pleasure. Everest nodded, encouraging Cole to repeat the sensual motion. Good Lord but did his cowboy know how to ride.
“Damn,” he gritted out and tightened his hold on Cole’s shaft. “Just like that, Cole. Fuck, it’s so good!”
“It is.” Cole peered down at him as he began to pick up speed, bracing his hands on Everest’s chest to steady himself.
Everest rocked up into each of Cole’s downward plunges, seating his cock in his lover’s warm channel over and over again. The sounds and scents of their lovemaking permeated the room and Everest’s senses, heightening his arousal to a fever pitch so rapidly that Everest knew it wouldn’t be long before he spilled inside Cole’s body.
Cole’s rhythm began to falter, and the walls of his channel fluttered briefly before squeezing down around Everest’s dick. It created the most primal, wonderful massage for his aching member and it tipped Everest over the edge. He tightened his grip around Cole’s dick as his own erupted, and to his great relief, he felt Cole’s warm cum splash over his torso as they came in unison.
Everest cried out Cole’s name and he heard Cole keening his in return. They quaked and shuddered, yet both men were smiling when they were able to catch their breath again and really look at each other. Cole started to chuckle, and he lowered his body until he lay flush against Everest. Everest wrapped Cole in his arms and sighed, feeling utterly and completely content.
“Love you,” he murmured and kissed Cole’s sweaty temple.
Cole hummed and nuzzled in a little closer.
Everest knew that Cole would give him the words soon enough. He had meant what he’d said earlier about not pressuring Cole to say them before Cole was ready. Everest felt he would be cheapening their value if they came simply because he demanded them. He wanted nothing about his relationship with Cole to be forced. Not at their beginning, nor down the road.
Everest felt his softening cock slip from Cole’s channel, and the younger man shivered against him.
“That’s a feelin’ to get used to,” Cole mumbled, his lips tickling Everest’s neck.
Everest grinned and leaned his head against Cole’s.
“Want this every night and every mornin’, Cole,” he said, his voice raspy from the sounds he’d let fly while lost in the throes of passion. “Wanna hold you and love on you every chance I get.”
Cole nodded and lifted his head, staring down at Everest. “I want that too. Don’t wanna be without you either.”
“Good.” Everest reached up to push Cole’s damp hair from his forehead and smiled. “We can split our time between each other’s houses at night, set up a schedule that works until we can build something new and combine our ranches. It’ll mean a little bit of a commute for us on the days we’re not on our respective spreads, but it’s worth the sacrifice to get to hold you in my arms all night.”
Cole cast a warm smile his way after hearing Everest’s declaration.
“I like the way you think, Everest.”
“In this case, so do I.”
They chuckled softly, still gazing into one another’s eyes.
“Never knew it could be like this,” Cole whispered.
“Like what, honey?”
“Easy. Without drama and havin’ to constantly be… on all the time.”
Everest frowned. “On?”
Cole shrugged one shoulder and pinked a bit. “You know… Havin’ to keep your significant other entertained. Worryin’ that you weren’t gettin’ it right.”
A sad look was there and gone in Cole’s green eyes so quickly that had Everest not been watching him so intently, he would have most certainly missed it.
“Oh, honey.” He threaded his fingers through Cole’s locks and massaged his scalp gently. “No entertaining necessary with me. You and I have enough to do outside these bedroom walls to keep us busy all day. And inside these walls, well….” Everest gave Cole a wicked grin. “I think we’re smart enough men to figure out how to fill up the hours in between, don’t you?”
Cole huffed out a laugh and palmed the side of Everest’s face.
“I do, indeed. Partner.”
Everest saw Cole watching him intently to gauge his reaction to Cole’s use of the word.
“I am that, Cole. I’m your partner now, in all things and in all ways. Trust that my regard won’t pale over the years and leave you wantin’. You come first now, in both my heart and in all decisions we make – together.”
“I understand.”
Cole drew in a deep breath, and Everest could practically see his lover letting go of whatever final reservations he’d held about them joining their lives in love and in business. It made Everest relax in response. He knew that whatever came, with Cole at his side, they could not only weather the challenges but be made stronger by them. The future had never held such promise for Everest as it did in that one moment in time.
Chapter 9
Cole lifted his hat to wipe some of the sweat off of his brow, squinting over at Mike as he directed Andre, Hank, and Pete while they rolled out the last section of wire fencing needed to repair what the recent storms had destroyed. They’d been at the task for several hours that Monday morning, making sure that, at least for now, his and Everest’s herds didn’t mingle. Combining stock always took careful planning, and Cole knew it would be many months before he and Everest pulled off that feat.
Thoughts of what they had shared that weekend flashed through his mind, and Cole felt the familiar heat spread over his skin that always gave his emotions away to others. It was a terrible tell and one that he had long wished
he could rid himself of, but there was no changing the hue of his complexion, even with his tan.
“Gonna daydream again, boss?” Andre asked, his tone teasing but not mean by any stretch of the imagination.
Cole rolled his eyes and slapped his hat back on his head. He walked over to where they were working and smirked at Andre.
“Don’t mind me none. You got more important things to concentrate on.” He angled his head toward the wire and grinned.
“Yeah, yeah,” Andre muttered.
Still, the younger man chuckled at Cole, and Cole didn’t miss the humored glint in his brown eyes. Cole arched an eyebrow at him in question, but Andre merely shrugged and then got back to the business at hand. Cole stepped forward to help, and soon the fence was as good as new.
Cole led them to where several hands were working with the herd that morning, knowing he needed to check in with them before he and Mike rode over to where most of his other employees were preparing several fields for planting. A few men were completing tasks in and around the barn, and Cole had decided to stop there last before he and Mike called it a day.
All in all, it was a typical day on the ranch, but to Cole, everything felt different. He saw his staff in a new light as he imagined how they would mesh with Everest’s employees. Cole’s attention was more keenly focused on the herd when he rode alongside his men there, thinking through the logistics of having one massive operation instead of two smaller ones to manage. Hell, even the land appeared different, as he envisioned it being his and Everest’s and not just his anymore. And someday, it would be their children’s.
That last dream was one which Cole hadn’t let himself entertain much, thinking he wouldn’t ever find a partner who wanted to share the responsibility of parenthood with him. Robbie had always been vocal about not wanting any kids underfoot to slow him down. Somehow, Cole had allowed himself to put that hope on the back burner for far too long, but not anymore. Now, he could dream of a family of his own and know that it was really doable. At least with Everest, it was.
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