ten
“I’ll just go and find Ramon,” he said. He’ll want to be here.” Then he paused. “Oh, and I wouldn’t go in the box without Ramon. Estel can get a bit stroppy without him.”
“Fine,” Ernest said. “I have some messages to answer anyway. I’ll wait for you.”
David nodded and walked off toward the tack room.
He was unnerved to find that his heart was racing.
What was that all about? Climbing the ladder to his room, he meant to call out, give Ramon warning, but would his voice obey him?
And OK, maybe Ramon would be sleeping. Maybe he could…
Don’t finish that thought. In his room, a square of sunlight lay on the floor, where last night the moonlight had been.
Dust motes danced in the sunbeams. This room had no curtains, so Ramon must have been dead tired to manage to sleep.
The bed lay in shadow beyond the patch of sunlight, and Ramon’s long form was stretched out on his bed, still fully clothed, snoring slightly.
David couldn’t help but look at his paquet, where his dick was swollen in a semi-erection even as he slept.
He stood looking at him for a few long moments, not wanting to wake him from his slumbers, eager to reach out and place his hand on the warmth of that bulge.
That would be insane, despite their kiss.
He needed to keep this copper at arm’s length, not start sucking his dick as he’d done in his fantasy.
Ramon’s chest was rising and falling gently, and his breath made a slight wheezing, just a soft snore, that David found sexy.
He watched the pulse on Ramon’s throat for a while, wanting to kneel beside the bed and push his face into the crook between his jaw and neck, inhale his strong masculine scent, just lie beside him, breathing in his aroma.
He couldn’t do any of that, couldn’t let him in close.
What needed to happen was for his horse to get cured, and then for him to get back to his policeman’s life and leave David in peace.
None of the things he fantasized or imagined could ever happen.
They just couldn’t. Ramon was a policeman for God’s sake!
David was on the run. And as he watched Ramon quietly sleeping, tears welled up for all the things they could never do.
He wiped his eyes. Control yourself, ya ninny (there was a word their mam used to say).
Standing here blubbing in front of a cop who could send you away for the rest of your goddamn days.
He realized Ramon’s eyes were open. He was awake and watching him!
“Vet’s here,” he growled. “Think he’s in a bit of a hurry, so we shouldn’t keep him waiting.”
And David fled toward and down the ladder, hoping that with the sun behind him, Ramon hadn’t clocked his tears.
What a dipstick he was! He walked quickly back along the row to Estel’s box.
Ernest was leaning against the door of the box, petting Estel, whose head was protruding out over the door.
They seemed to have become friends in David’s absence.
“He’s coming,” he mumbled. “So I’ll, ah, leave you guys to it. I’ve got work…”
“No, stay if you can,” Ernest said. “I’ll probably need you if we have to use a pull-up strap again. Could you get it? Though we won’t need the hobble this time, I think.”
David nodded and returned back toward the tack room, crossing paths with Ramon, who was now ambling sleepy-eyed in their direction.
He tried to avoid any eye contact, and almost achieved it.
But Ramon’s penetrating stare locking with his almost undid him.
The soft question in his eyes nearly had him bawling again.
He averted his gaze toward the concrete of the stable floor, strewn with dirt and bits of hay, and marched on.
When he got back to the box with the strap, both the vet and the policeman were inside with Estel.
He slipped in, and at the vet’s request attached the pull-up strap to the horse’s rear leg so he wouldn’t be tempted to kick out in a panic.
He kept his eyes averted from Ramon, who was largely monosyllabic at the vet’s questions, so it was Ernest’s running commentary that again filled the silence.
Now that Estel was standing and the swelling had gone down on his leg, the atmosphere should have been lighter.
But if Ernest noticed both men’s caginess, he gave no sign.
They both watched quietly as Ernest changed the bandage and gave Estel some more shots.
“He’s healing well, but it’ll be a couple of weeks before he’s back to active duty,” Ernest finally said to break the silence. Even his words had eventually petered out against the wall of muteness between David and Ramon.
“Damn,” Ramon said. “That means I’ll be stuck on a desk for that time.”
“Haven’t they given you time off to look after your horse?” David asked in spite of himself.
“Yeah, but just three days. After that, no horse to patrol with and I’ll be stuck inside pushing a pen around a desk.”
“He’s healing well, but cellulitus takes its time,” said the vet.
“Yeah, I understand,” Ramon replied. “Getting Estel better is what counts.”
“Can’t they give you another horse to patrol with?” David just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He needn’t be worried about any of that. Would he come around less if he had another horse, or if he was stuck on a desk? It wasn’t his problem, but he still asked despite himself.
“Sometimes there’s a horse free in the unit for one reason or another. But at the moment we’re all hands on deck.”
“So you won’t be coming around?”
“When I can. In the mornings before work, and in the evenings.”
David kept his eyes on the pull-up strap in his hands.
That was good. The farther he and the cop stayed away from each other the better.
Damn, he could get back to what his life was like before this.
Whatever that was. The vet was asking him to remove the pull-up strap from Estel’s hind leg.
He did so automatically and left the box, carrying it back to the tack room. The truth was he shouldn’t care.
Once there, he sat on one of the saddles that lined the walls, though if Carme had seen him she would have given him a bollocking.
Saddles were to be sat on when they were on the horse’s back; sitting on them any other way could damage them.
But at that moment he didn’t care. He closed his eyes to shut out the world.
Why was he feeling like this? Ramon going back to his police work was a good thing.
It gave them some distance. He heard movement in the yard outside—Ramon and Ernest chatting, the vet leaving.
Then for a while there was silence, except for the everyday sounds of the stable: Maria mucking out boxes on the far side of the stables; the clang of her shovel against the wheelbarrow; wind blowing in trees; a truck backing up somewhere far off, its repetitive warning sounding; distant familiar footsteps slowly getting closer.
A shadow darkened the light from the doorway, which he only registered on his closed lids.
Then he felt the shadow before him, and the heat from a body as he leaned in.
Ramon’s kiss when it came was tentative, the opposite of their frantic embrace down by the pond.
His lips were soft and warm, slightly salty, while his breath tasted sweet.
Without opening his eyes, David raised his hands to gently cup Ramon’s face between them.
His fingers caressed the rough bristle of his jaw, noting the exciting contrast with his soft lips.
Their tongues met and gently entwined. David still kept his eyes closed, not wanting to jinx this moment with sight.
Maybe if he opened them, this brief instant would be lost, and he wanted it to endure as long as was possible.
His hands found the thick hair behind Ramon’s ears and he sank his fingers deep into the curls.
Until then the only way Ramon had touched him was with his lips.
But now his hands found David’s hips and stayed there lightly resting on his thighs.
It was as if neither of them wanted to break the spell by any abrupt or hurried actions.
But soon, Ramon’s hand strayed up inside David’s jersey, beneath his tee-shirt, finding the smooth marble flesh of his torso.
David shivered at the contact, but Ramon kept softly caressing his torso, just with his fingertips, tracing tiny light circles on David’s skin.
Slowly his hand moved up until he reached the nipple on David’s chest. At the touch David shuddered, but Ramon kept on with his gentle soft caresses, as if trying to calm a spooked horse.
Again he caressed David’s nipple, lightly grazing it with his thumb, then his fingertips, making David moan and clasp Ramon’s head harder, digging deeper with his tongue into Ramon’s mouth.
Now David’s hands moved down onto Ramon’s shoulders, feeling the firm muscle through his shirt.
He pressed his hands against Ramon’s shoulder blades, pulling them towards each other, chest to chest. Both their cocks were hard and straining in their clothes, but the leather pommel of the saddle between them kept them apart.
Ramon’s fingers lightly pinched David’s nipple, making him groan and squirm more anxiously against the leather.
David broke their kiss, opening his eyes to find Ramon staring intently into his.
They were panting lightly, as if they’d just run a hundred yards to find each other.
“Go up to your room,” Ramon said, “and wait for me. I need to take a shower. Then I’ll come up.”
“Yeah, you stink quite a bit,” David said, provoking a snort from Ramon. “My toilet gear and towel are still in the bathroom. Use them.”
Ramon nodded and stepped back, drinking in David with his eyes. David swung himself off the saddle and stood facing him, his erection tenting his trackies, the way Ramon’s was pushing out his dress pants.
“Go,” Ramon ordered, indicating the ladder with a nod of his head.
David turned and climbed up to his room, conscious of Ramon’s eyes on him constantly, on his ass and legs as he climbed.
He liked that idea. In his room, he pulled off his jersey and sat on the bed.
Should he undress or wait for Ramon? He heard him walking away down the file of boxes toward the bathroom.
In the end he decided to pull off his tee-shirt and trackies, and lay back in the bed just wearing his underwear, a pair of sky-blue briefs with white piping.
Being blond-haired and blue-eyed, they looked good on him.
He’d thought so anyway, when he’d first checked himself out in the mirror after buying them.
His dick was still hard and making a bulge in his briefs, more swollen even than before.
It was the anticipation. He wanted to take hold of it, pull himself off a little, but in his excitement he might go too far. He forced himself to wait.
Looking at the photo beside his bed, he turned it face down.
He didn’t want to have that conversation.
What was he even doing? This guy was a cop.
He should be pushing him away, not inviting him into his bed like some wanton whore.
The waiting was the worst part—both the best and the worst. He tried to still his mind, not think about what he was doing.
Finally he heard Ramon’s footsteps returning from the bathroom, slow and assured.
The guy was taking his sweet time! David wanted to scream at him to hurry up, but of course he said nothing.
He wanted to yell at him to go away, get dressed and go back to his horses. But he didn’t do that either.
Ramon came into the tack room and then he heard him on the ladder.
His mane of dark hair, wet from the shower came into view, then his broad back—he’d returned shirtless.
He climbed fully into the room, wearing just his slacks and shoes without socks, the rest of his clothes and the towel slung over one shoulder.
He draped them over the chair and stood there for a moment, looking down at David.
Then he kicked off his shoes. Neither of them said a thing.