Chapter 4
Chapter four
JOE
As soon as I met Gentry, I liked him. There was an ease about him that made me relax, and his horse was as sweet as he was.
When he had me tight against him while I fed Dusty apples, I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I was pleased by his reaction to my offer to make it up to him.
Did he feel this thing between us, too?
“Do you eat dinner?” That was a stupid question, but it was out there now.
He, of course, ate dinner, and did I really invite him over for dinner after knowing him for half an hour?
His being a good person wasn’t in question.
Martin Wilson had asked him to come over.
The patriarch of the Wilson family didn’t mess around when it came to family, and he had told me more than once that I was one of his sons.
I was drawn to Gentry—I’d only once before felt this instant chemistry.
Why not pursue it? Is he even interested in me? Was he gay?
“I do eat dinner, Joe. Do you?” He put the saddle on Amber’s back. When he teased me, it wasn’t mean, and I liked it.
“Actually, I do. What a coincidence that we both like to eat dinner. Would you like to join me for one of those dinners?” I smiled and blinked at him, and I hoped he was flirting or at least he understood I was flirting.
He grinned at me. “Are you asking me on a date, Joe?”
I blushed. Was I asking him on a date? I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but I had liked the idea of getting to know him better. So maybe I was asking him on a date. At least he wasn’t explaining to me how he wasn’t single or that he wasn’t interested in men.
“Would you like me to ask you on a date, Gentry?” I figured we could play this word game a little longer.
“Would you like me to want you to be asking me on a date, Joe?”
I couldn’t help but laugh.“Yes.”
He stopped what he was doing, which I hadn’t been paying attention to. I hoped it wasn’t something I would need to know, or something I wouldn’t need to know, before he showed me again. He cocked his head at me.
“Yes? Like you are asking me out, or yes, you want me to want you to ask me out.” We both laughed for a few seconds.
“How about you come to my house for dinner tonight when we are done here. And yes, it can be a date if you are interested.” I really liked his smile and was rewarded with a bigger one when he looked at me.
“I would love to. Now, let’s get you up in the saddle. We will cover the groundwork next time.”
At the arena gate, I caught up to him, and I watched his eyes as they traveled up and down my body. It felt like a caress, and it was another thing I liked about Gentry. Then, he waved me through in front of him. Something told me that he watched my ass the whole time.
The four of us went to the middle of the arena. He turned to Dusty, “Hang out here.” The horse really was like a big dog. He stood calmly in the middle of the arena while Gentry walked Amber over to some steps.
“I’m nervous.” I wiped my palms on my jeans.
It was hard to say how much of the sweat was from the riding, and how much of it was from being around Gentry.
“Don’t be nervous. I’ve been told that Amber is the best girl and will take good care of you. I’ll be right here with you.”
My heart was beating hard, and this time I knew it wasn’t only because of the riding. Gentry made my insides do all kinds of fluttery things.
“Once you are on the top step, put your foot in the stirrup, pull yourself up, and throw your leg over her back. Then set that fine ass on the saddle.”
I let out a long breath. “I can do that.” I followed his directions and found myself on top of a horse. Amber shifted a little bit, and I grabbed onto the saddle horn.
He put his hand on my leg, which immediately relaxed and excited me at the same time.
The fact that I felt the jolts of electricity from his hand into my thigh while I was sitting fifty feet in the air says a lot about my attraction to Gentry.
I knew it wasn’t really fifty feet, but it felt really high.
He gave my knee a little squeeze. “Relax, Joe. I promise I won’t let you fall.”
That squeeze went directly to my groin. I looked down at him, and he smiled up at me.
“I am going to lead Amber around so you can get a feeling for the movement."
He placed his hand over mine on the horn, then pried my fingers off and set my hands gently on top of it.
“Is she taller than most horses? I feel like she is. She is most definitely taller, I can tell.”
He chuckled. “She is right around average size. You’ll get used to it, and before long, you will be begging me to ride.”
“Really? Begging?” My voice cracked and squeaked.
“I wouldn’t mind hearing you beg for all kinds of reasons, but in this case, I meant begging me to go horseback riding.” He actually blushed.
Truthfully, riding a horse wasn’t what I thought about when he said it. When I looked down at him again, he held back a laugh.
“Oh. We’ll see.” I managed to say.
I never thought I was good at flirting, but Gentry was making it easy. He walked a few steps, and Amber started to follow him. Her movements felt odd, yet they were comfortable and consistent. Gentry looked back at me every so often.
“What do you think?”
“I like it. It’s a lot smoother than I expected.” He stopped and showed me how to hold the reins, then walked beside me without holding the lead rope.
“Do you want to try riding down the road and back. I’ll be with you on Dusty.”
Leaving the ring made me nervous but I wanted to try. He opened the gate and watched as Amber walked through. Dusty wandered over and waited for us. It hadn’t really registered before, but he didn’t have a saddle or a bridle on. He only had a halter and a lead rope.
Gentry swung his leg up over Dusty. Once on his back, he reached over and took Amber’s lead.
“Amber seems to be sweet and calm, but just in case, I’ll keep hold of her lead. We are going to walk down the road toward the Circle W, then back again.”
I nodded my head. “It feels so different out here in the world.”
“You’ll be fine, Joe.” His voice soothed me.
We walked out the front gate and headed down the road. Neither of us said anything for a few minutes.
“This isn’t so bad,” I said, as a feeling of accomplishment rolled through me.
“Riding is one of the greatest things in the world. You’ll be sore tomorrow, but we will have you comfortable in the saddle in no time. Why do you need to learn?”
I had assumed he would have been told. “I’m a photographer, and I’ve been hired to take pictures at a dude ranch. They want me to go on one of the trips and take pictures the whole time.”
“That’s pretty cool. It should only take us a few weeks before you can comfortably ride and take pictures at the same time.”
Already, I dreaded the day we would no longer meet for lessons.
“Let’s head back, you’ve been riding for about an hour. You are already going to feel those muscles. You’ll wish for a massage in the morning.”
“Are you offering to give me a back rub?”
The smile he gave me was lecherous, but I liked it. “Your back won’t need massaging,” he said.
“Oh? I thought you said I would be sore.” I had to ask mostly because I wanted to hear him say it and watch him blush some more. Other than my friend Dusty, I’d never felt these little sparks of excitement and potential for another man. I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Well, Joe.” By the way he said my name, I knew I hadn’t embarrassed him.
In fact, it appeared I had encouraged him.
“Your back will need some rubbing, and your abs for sure. One of the more painful areas will be your ass and from your knee to your groin. All those muscles will be begging for firm hands to squeeze them, strong fingers working out the tension.”
We stopped at the barn, but he wasn’t done talking.
“The real problem, Joe.” He walked over next to me, then placed one finger on my knee.
“These muscles will be hurting the most.” His finger ran up my inner thigh, and he stopped inches from my now very awake cock.
“They will need a deep massage, lots of rubbing.”
He stepped back, and I let out the breath I had been holding while he touched me.
“Oh. Yeah. Okay.”
His lips turned up in a smirk. “Alright, let’s get you down. You want to do exactly the opposite of how you got on. You’ll have sea legs for a minute, so be prepared.”
I followed his directions, my legs wobbly under me. He placed a hand on my hip while I remembered how to walk. “That was fun. I can see the appeal of horseback riding.”
“We’ll go out on a longer ride next time.” I was excited about that, and it wasn’t only because I looked forward to more time with Gentry.
We took Amber into the barn, and Dusty followed along without being told.
Gentry showed me how to groom her, then we gave her an apple.
I was pretty sure he didn’t need to hold my hand this time, but I liked that he did anyhow.
He gave Dusty some snacks, including peppermints. We walked over to the horse trailer.
“Let’s head home,” he told Dusty. The animal walked into the trailer without further encouragement. I even knew this wasn’t typical for a horse, but it was cool. Clearly, those two had a bond.
“I’ll let you have tomorrow off. I wasn’t kidding, you will be sore.” He chuckled like he knew something I didn’t. He looked at his phone. “How about we ride on Wednesday. Then, on Friday, we will go on a sunset ride.”
“It’s a date.” I realized what I said.
“Alright, I am good with it being a date. I unfortunately need to head back to the Circle W. A problem from earlier hasn’t been resolved, and they asked me to come back after our lesson.” It made my stomach sink a little.
It didn’t seem like he was ditching me, so I decided to try again. “How about after we ride on Friday, you come over to my house? I’ll make you that promised dinner.” I hoped he would accept.
“I would very much like that, Joe, and look forward to it.”