Chapter Seven
Gabe
Not willing to face being stuck in a damn tin can yet again, I decided to check out the stable instead. Never having had the chance to get close to any livestock, I fancied the idea of stroking a horse for the first time in my life.
A row of light switches sat on the wall by the entrance, so I flicked a couple and waited as a long strip of them flickered to life, illuminating the large space. Toward the end of the run, a couple of the horses appeared over the top of their stall gate, waiting expectantly as I made my way down to greet them. The calm air held barely any warmth, but I didn’t regret the fact in my annoyance and haste to get out of the cabin, I’d forgotten my coat.
“Hey, horsey,” I murmured softly to the first one, as I tentatively extended my hand to stroke the side of its cream-colored head and down its neck a few times, the hairs sliding under my fingers not as prickly as I imagined they’d be. I received a gentle snicker as my reward. “At least you’re pleased to see me. Unlike the rest of them.”
The horse nudged my hand, making me chuckle. “Sorry, boy or girl, I don’t have anything for you to eat right now.” If a horse could look disappointed in me, I’m pretty sure the expression it gave was it. “You’re not the only one, buddy. You’re not the only one.”
My hands dropped to rest on top of the gate, and eyes closed, I tried to let go of the residual anger still coursing through my veins at the fucking nerve of the guy getting off on two people, but especially me, being stuck with him for the next three days.
I’d lied when I told Leo I was okay with staying a few days because of how nervous he’d been to tell me, and I didn’t want him to blame himself, which he tended to do for some reason. Why shoulder something you were unable to prevent, especially since I’m the one who insisted we come here in the first place. A huge fucking error on my part I now readily acknowledged.
A knock on the side of the stable surprised me, and thank goodness I had hold of the top of the gate, or I’d have collapsed on the spot when the last person I expected to see appeared around the corner and strolled down the length of the stable until he stopped beside me.
Mitchell confidently rubbed his hand down the front of the horse’s face. He had a thick blanket with him, which he placed on top of the gate, smoothing down the wool with his hand. Had he brought that for me? I deliberately didn’t ask. The fact I’d started to feel chilly made no difference. It was probably a trap of some kind, and I wasn’t falling for it.
“You lost?” I asked.
“Nope.”
Fan-fucking-tastic. “I’m really not up for any more of your cozy chitchat, so why don’t you do us both a favor and go back inside your home.”
He stiffened beside me. “I’m so not in the mood for this,” he grumbled.
“Me neither.” He stood far too close to me, the heat from his body a temptation I did not want to succumb to, so I moved away to go pet another horse.
He took a couple of deep breaths. “I’m here to ask you to come back inside.”
I was kinda shocked. “Why?”
He shuffled around a bit, moving awkwardly from foot to foot, refusing to face me. “And to apologize.”
Well, damn, this felt surreal. “Again, why?” I wanted to see his face when he answered to make sure this wasn’t a trick of some kind so turned to him head-on. “You don’t like me. You’ve made yourself pretty clear on that, so why the hell are you apologizing?”
He didn’t answer me, and I sure as shit wasn't going to say any more so stood and waited for him to reply. He continued stroking the horse for a while, and despite my anger at him, my gaze followed his long fingers as they lovingly grazed along the animal’s coat. I was slightly jealous they were getting his hands on them instead of me. Totally fucked up but what could I do?
“I’m not the easiest man to get along with.” Finally, something we both agreed on. “But I…” He hesitated. “I went too far. I didn’t think. Didn’t factor in how difficult this might be for you and Leo, so, again, I wanted to apologize.”
“Okay, I’m waiting.”
He shot me a hard look, and though I shouldn’t be pleased about provoking him, I was. His annoyance put us on an equal footing once again, a place we both knew where we stood.
“You are an exasperating man, Mr. Sanchez.”
“What can I say? It’s a gift.”
He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry.”
The words didn’t sound insincere; in fact, they sounded as if he truly meant them, and his honesty threw me. What to do? Be the better man and accept his apology, or throw one of my regular sarcastic comments at him when things made me feel nervous? To my surprise and very likely his, I chose the former. “Thank you. Apology accepted.”
He appeared taken aback, his eyes wide and his mouth open. The idea of filling his mouth with a specific part of my anatomy zipped across my mind, making me chuckle. Christ, first jealous of him touching a horse for fuck’s sake, and now wanting to shove my cock between his lips. Hell, I must desperately need to get laid.
“What’s so funny?”
I shook my head. “It’s nothing. I guess I never thought the two of us would ever be able to be in such close proximity without hurling insults.”
I got a real shock when he laughed, the sound so unexpected. I let it envelop me, warm me, savoring the feel before reminding myself that we were indeed in close proximity, just the two of us. Alone. And the more I considered the situation, the more I envisaged the thought of Mitchell taking me in his mouth as I shot my load down his throat. The image of him on his knees right here was so vividly clear, my cock began to stiffen, forcing me to unobtrusively move my hips to accommodate the growing length.
Yeah, I definitely needed to get laid.
“Stranger things have happened, I guess,” he said.
“Ya think? I’m not so sure.”
Laughter filled the space again, and I liked the uninhibited purity. When was the last time I’d heard someone be so refreshingly open?
“So where do we go from here?” I asked him, needing him to set the rules for any future interactions.
“Now, we start over.” He extended his hand across the space between us. “Mitchell Houghton. But please call me Mitch.”
I reached my own hand across, realizing we’d yet to physically touch, deliberately discounting his punch from earlier, of course. However, when our fingers met, I wasn’t in the least bit prepared for the effect. His hands were big. Totally engulfing mine big, and the callouses on his palm and fingers rubbed roughly over my much smoother hands. I loved the feel of his hot skin, the way his fingers wrapped around mine, their strength holding me securely in their grip and not letting me go.
Sparks traveled up my arm, along my shoulder, and when they reached my heart, kicked off a massive jumpstart. I swallowed a couple of times, trying to get my throat to work and my mouth to engage. “Gabe,” I eventually replied, my voice lower than ever before. “Call me Gabe.”
Was he as affected by our contact as me? Apart from his body tensing and his grip tightening, I saw no other reaction at all.
“Gabe,” he replied and hearing my name from his lips made my entire body heat. I nodded, unable to do anything else, and when he released my hand, I nearly didn’t let him go, then instantly felt silly for not wanting to.
His gaze never left my face, and I eventually had to look away, apparently losing any and all of my business acumen and advantage I’d gained when around these two. I needed to get a handle on my emotions if I had any chance of maintaining my cool. I needed the strict rigidness I’d enforced on my life to stop from imploding. It was too close to Christmas Eve, less than a week away, and I determinedly shied away from thinking about what would be happening on our day.
“Let’s go,” Mitch stated. He continued to stare at me, brow furrowed and a definite question in his hazel eyes. “The temperature’s due to drop another ten degrees tonight, and I don’t plan on staying out here any longer than I have to.”
I agreed and followed him as he scooped up the blanket off the gate, slung it over his shoulder and walked down to the stable door. I liked how he’d tried to anticipate my response to his request. If I hadn’t agreed, he’d what? Want to leave me the blanket to ensure I had some protection against the cold? The thoughtfulness of his action touched me, leaving me unsure how to take his kindness, but as I’d agreed to go with him, I didn’t need to think about the implications anyway.
We exited the stables, and I hoped to God this was the last time I’d be out here as the temperature had already dropped so much more in the last half hour. Of course, not wearing a coat didn’t help any. Hurrying to catch up to Mitch, my foot hit a patch of ice, and as the leather sole began to lose traction, I quickly lost my balance. Awkwardly trying to remain upright made my other foot slip, too, my legs going in different directions, while my arms tried to compensate by freewheeling about like an out-of-control fan, and I would have gone down on my ass if Mitch hadn’t swiftly turned and caught me.
His strong arm whipped out to land securely about my waist, and he hauled me in close, my chest hitting his with a thump, knocking the air from my lungs for the second time that day. His grip strengthened as I slipped again and our bodies fully connected, hips aligned, his powerful leg steadfast between mine. My crotch riding his firm thigh, I was sure he noticed my semi-hard dick pushing against him.
My heart fluttered as I stared up at him, its erratic beat pumping hard enough to penetrate through his thick jacket. My breath, more shallow pants than anything else each time I breathed out, left puffs of foggy air in front of our faces, letting him see quite clearly how our closeness affected me.
We stayed frozen for a few seconds, him looking down at me, me looking up at him as time stopped. He had his back to the cabin, so his features were in darkness, but I still sensed his eyes locked on mine, and I had to repress the desperate urge to lick my lips in anticipation of his face lowering and his mouth dropping on mine for a kiss.
He didn’t move, though, only tightened his grip, pulling me even closer, his thick fingers digging into my side, momentarily followed by him pushing me firmly away to arms-length, while still reluctantly holding on to make sure I wouldn’t slip. His big hands gripped my shoulders in the only place he allowed us to touch. Then a second later, he cut that contact, too, when I stayed upright and stable.
A horrible thought occurred to me. I might have misread the signals I presumed he sent out earlier. He had looked at my lips and then my crotch back in the cabin, of that I had no doubt. However, before she died, the guy did have a wife, and while I know that isn’t always an indicator on sexual preference, perhaps in his case that’s exactly what it was, and I’d been looking for something that just wasn’t there. A mistake I prayed I wasn’t going to pay for now.
“You need to be more careful,” he groused, his voice sounding deeper, huskier, the anger from earlier resurfacing and giving his words a hard edge. He turned abruptly, then stalked ahead, leaving me to catch up, seemingly no longer bothered if I fell on my ass. Trailing behind him carefully, my heart sank as I realized the progress we’d made in the stables was probably long gone, and we’d more than likely have to start at the beginning all over again.