Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
GENTRY
When I saw Joe come out of his cottage, I couldn’t stop my heart from doing a somersault. It had only been a few nights since we had been together, but it was safe to say I was addicted to him. If I wasn’t afraid of pushing him too hard, I would be with him every night, but I was patient.
Waiting by my truck, he gave me a smile that reached his eyes, and I wanted to pull him to me. We weren’t at that point yet, but I hoped we would get there. He had his camera bag and a few other things.
“Hi.” Christ, I blushed when I said it. How pathetic was that? “I missed—” I stopped talking. It was a terrible cover, but I gave it a whirl. “Are you ready to go on our ride? You should get some great pictures and start getting a feel for riding and using your camera.”
“I can’t wait.” Fortunately, he didn’t say anything about my slip-up. I had been talking to him for thirty seconds, and I was all over him, saying I missed him, grinning like a crazy person. It appeared he wasn’t bothered by any of it as I walked him to the passenger door and helped him in.
“This should be a great ride. We will go down by the lake and have our picnic.”
“One of those bags has a bunch of desserts in it. I took pictures at Stella’s Diner today, and they sent me with all kinds of treats.”
I was unable to stop myself from thinking about feeding those sweet confections to Joe while he was naked. I had it bad.
“Let’s get going. While we ride you can start telling me what you might need from me as your humble assistant.”
I was pretty sure the look he gave me wasn’t that far off from what I had been thinking a few minutes earlier.
I brought saddle bags putting them on Amber and decided to go bareback again.
When I was working cattle or doing other ranch duties, I would saddle him, but when we were doing something for fun, no saddle was better.
Joe knew how to groom and saddle Amber, but I still felt it was my job to check his cinch. He was doing a good job, and I wouldn’t need to worry about him doing the basics when we took our trip.
He mounted and looked over at me like I was holding us up. “Let’s go slow poke.”
I slapped his leg before I was seated on Dusty’s back. When he was close enough, I leaned in and kissed the shit out of him. “If you keep being sassy, you might get punished.”
“Is that a threat? Or a promise?” He grinned at me.
“It could be both.”
Lots of grinning between us, and my body got warm all over.
My cock also took notice, which made it a bit difficult to ride comfortably.
As we started down the trail, I couldn’t help but look over at Joe.
He was such a sexy figure riding Amber, to me a man on horseback was a turn on, and knowing what was under Joe’s jeans made it that much better.
When he looked over, I knew I was caught, but leaned into it.
“You’re staring at me.” He said with his eyes on the trail.
“I can’t help myself, the view is gorgeous.”
He blushed, and I smiled. We rode quietly for a bit as I willed my hard-on to settle.
“Let’s start getting a feel for how you will use a camera when you ride. Remember, Dusty and I will be with you the whole time.”
“What do you want me to do?”
I growled. “You can’t say things like that, Joe. It makes me all. Excited.”
He turned and laughed. “Show me how to. Help me learn.” He laughed, “There is literally nothing I can say that doesn’t sound dirty.”
I wiggled my eyebrows at him. “I like how you think. Now, get your mind out of the gutter. I am here to make your job easier. Let’s start with you standing in the stirrups.”
“You what now?” He looked at me, panicked.
“Using your knees, stand up. You should be able to balance. We’ll stop so you can practice.” Both horses stood still while Joe followed my directions. He was a little wobbly, but he did it. “Okay, now sit back down and try doing it while you walk.”
He was like an adorable baby horse trying to walk. He would start and sit back down, then start again. “This is really hard.”
“I have an idea.” I got off Dusty, then went over to Amber.
I got on behind him, my butt on Amber’s rump.
“Okay, start walking again.” Grabbing his hips, my hand slipped under his t-shirt, and I didn’t bother to change my grip because I enjoyed the warmth of his skin under my palm. “Now stand. I’ll help you balance.”
He wobbled a little, but I held him steady.
“I’m really going to need to do this?”
Dusty was walking along next to us and snorted like he couldn’t believe he asked the question. “It will allow you to have better angles and a little more stability. You will also be able to move your hips and see behind you.”
He moved a little bit. “Oh. I see.”
His ass was directly in my face, and I wanted to sink my teeth into the firm cheeks. I’ve never had desires like this for any man that wasn’t my Dusty, the man. “Okay, sit, ride a bit, then we will do it again.”
When he sat, I pressed against his back. Fuck. The little devil on my shoulder wouldn’t let up, so I moved forward and kissed the back of his neck. I watched him shudder.
“What are you doing back there?”
“Hrmm? Me? I’m innocent.” I kissed along his neck again.
“That doesn’t feel innocent.”
He didn’t ask me to stop, though. After he told me he was dating someone else, I hated it, but I liked him enough to give him time to figure out his shit. Already, I could feel a tug in my heart that I wasn’t prepared for.
“Maybe it will help your balance. Let’s try again. If you do well, you’ll be rewarded.”
“You’re very good at motivating.”
This time, I intentionally slid my hands under his shirt. He was going to do fine, but I had planned on making him practice a whole lot more.
“Now twist and look behind you, put your arms up like you are using a camera," he lost his balance and sat down hard.
“You did well. When we are on the trail, I’ll keep Amber on a lead so you can focus on taking pictures and not on where your horse is going.”
“Oh, that would help a lot.”
As promised, he deserved a reward. I ran my tongue from just below the collar of his shirt up to the hairline, where I sucked gently. His body rewarded me with another delicious shudder, and goosebumps broke out on his skin.
“We will continue to practice standing and moving in the saddle. There will be times you will want to get shots on horseback while we are moving with the cattle.”
I scraped my teeth along the back of his neck, and he wiggled. “We are almost to the lake, we’ll dismount and enjoy our picnic.”
“Ngh. That feels amazing.”
I put my hands on his legs, moved them to his inner thighs, then pressed right up against the edge of his balls.
“Are you going to get back on Dusty?” He asked, breathing unsteadily.
I looked over at my buddy as he walked along happily. “Do you want me to?”
Joe didn’t say anything as I continued running my hands over his legs. I sucked on the tight muscles near his neck.
“I don’t see a reason for you to move if we are almost there.”
I bit the helix of his ear gently. “I agree.”
We rode for another five minutes before we got to the lake, the entire time I teased Joe’s body. He made filthy noises, which made my cock rock hard.
When we stopped, I slid off Amber and stood there while Joe dismounted. When he turned around, I couldn’t help but pull him tight against me. I kissed him hard, my hand going to his neck as I sought the heat of his mouth. I could feel the desire and passion in the way his tongue danced with mine.
“Let's give Amber a rest and take her saddle off, then we can take a break of our own.”
He kissed me lightly again. “She is a good girl.”
He turned and rubbed her head, giving her a kiss, too. I had no idea if I could be with a man who didn’t love horses, because they were everything to me. I was a cowboy.
Once the horses were settled, I got our lunch ready. I had a small flask of tequila and tacos kept warm while we were on the trail. I had made the meat in the bunkhouse; the guys there insisted on getting samples, and I got rave reviews. Hopefully, they were right because I wanted to impress Joe.
I handed him three of the foil-wrapped packets.
“I made tacos.”
He looked at me and smiled. “Seriously? I love tacos.”
When he looked at me like that, it made my stomach tumble. It was a feeling I had become addicted to.
He rested his head against my shoulder and happily took a bite.
“These are so good, Gentry.” He made little happy noises as he took another bite. I sat there and watched him eat.
“You’re not hungry?”
“What?”
“You aren’t eating.” He gestured to the food on my lap.
“Oh. You had me distracted.” He blushed. It was true, but I looked down and opened one of my tacos. They were good, he was right.
“These really are good Gentry. I need to cook for you next time.”
I wiggled in my seat a little, and he laughed. “What was that?”
I was a little embarrassed, but leaned into it. “It was my ‘I can’t wait for you to cook for me wiggle’.” Then I gave him my cutest grin.
We chatted and watched the ducks play on the lake while we finished eating our tacos. I took the limes and the flask out of the basket. “Do a shot with me?”
He smiled enthusiastically. “Okay.”
“I’ll go first.” I took out the salt, the flask, and the shot glass.
Unable to help myself, I kissed him deeply, and a rumble I couldn’t control came from deep in my chest. His mouth was hot, and the moment our tongues met, I got painfully hard.
I pulled back from him, then tilted his head and licked up his neck.
Leaving a wet trail, I took the salt and sprinkled it on that path. Then placed the lime between his teeth.
I wiggled my eyebrows. “Ready?”