Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
RYKER
When my alarm sounded early the next morning, there was something warm snuggled up beside me. I figured it was Gray, since it wasn’t unusual for him to try to get as close as physically possible to me.
Reaching out to stroke the little man, I wasn’t met with soft fur. Instead, warm skin and a low hum had me blinking my eyes open.
It was then that I remembered I’d offered for Sam to sleep in my bed last night. Apparently, sometime through the night, he’d kicked his blanket off the bed and crawled under mine.
Sam was on his side. He’d forgone his pillow and was using my arm instead. His warm body was pressed fully against mine so tightly that practically nothing could slip between us. Not even Gray, who was now walking back and forth across my body after failing to get in the middle of our cuddle pile.
I couldn’t breathe, not because Gray was stepping on my lungs, but at the vision Sam made snuggled into my arms. His sleeping shirt had lifted to expose his belly and the sensual curve of his side.
I had to look away before things got even harder down there. Welp. There was no questioning that I was, in fact, very attracted to Sam. I could chalk it up to my morning wood, but I knew I could only lie to myself for so long.
It was just Sam and the way he continued rubbing his face against my side, like he was seeking warmth, that stirred something within me.
Then Sam swung a leg over my body. It gently pressed over my erection and that had me sprinting out of bed like I was on fire.
Gray let out an angry yowl with the action, also causing him to make a sudden jump off my chest. Thankfully, Sam slept through it all and had now taken over my spot completely. He rolled himself into a ball, muttered something I couldn’t make out, then let out a snore to signify he was completely back in dreamland.
The poor man must be exhausted from these past few days. I felt bad for him, but was also extremely thankful that he hadn’t woken up to find me standing above him with a massive boner in his face.
And that thought kicked me into gear. I snuck out of the bedroom and locked myself in the bathroom. With my back pressed against the door and my heart hammering inside my chest, I pulled my pants down to free my throbbing cock.
It was swollen with need and not just the usual kind after waking up. Some mornings, I didn’t bother stroking one out, either because I was too sleepy or couldn’t put myself in the mood. It would solve itself eventually.
But I knew there was no ignoring my morning wood today. Not when the blood was rushing through my body, all heading straight between my legs, and images of a rumpled Sam played through my head.
If he had woken while I was standing above him, would he have been confused by what was happening? My fantasies had him reaching out for my cock and slipping it into his sexy mouth.
And since he was still so sleepy, his movements would be lazy and slow. It wouldn’t even matter if he didn’t work his mouth, because it would still be warm and wet, and it would be Sam.
Sam warming my cock in his mouth. His eyes, half-lidded with sleep and a sliver of drool sliding down the corner of his mouth. The image was enough to bring me over the edge with a stroke of my hand.
Inside my fantasy, Sam stuck out his pink tongue, ready to lap up every single drop so nothing spilled. I wondered if afterward his eyes would curve the way they did when he looked pleased with something? Would he lick his lips, curl back into my spot on the bed, and fall back to sleep?
That was something I was destined to never find out, and after jerking off to the thought of coming inside Sam’s sweet mouth, I wasn’t sure how I was going to face him after this.
I quickly washed the evidence of my actions from my hands, then took a scalding shower, just for good measure.
I couldn’t look toward the bed when I returned to my room to grab my work clothes, but I heard Sam’s soft, even breathing and knew he was still asleep.
I quickly changed and got the hell out of there.
After feeding Gray and having my own breakfast, I left the place to head to work. Annabelle looked up from her spot by her garden bed.
“Mornin’,” she called and raised her gloved hand to cover the weak sun as she looked up at me.
I hopped the last few steps to the ground and walked up to her. “Mornin’, ma’am. You doing some morning gardening?” I asked.
“Mhm,” she replied, her eyes moving up and down my body.
I fidgeted under her gaze, wondering if she could confer something by examining me. It was unnerving.
Could she see that Sam and I weren’t actually together? Or, even worse, could she somehow tell that I’d just jerked one off using Sam as the main source material? Either way, I couldn’t stop the huge sigh of relief that left me when she smiled and told me to have a good day.
I returned the greeting and hightailed it out of there. My heart was still racing when I arrived at the construction site.
“Why do you look like that?” was the first thing Jones said when he saw my face.
I frowned. “What do I look like?”
“Like someone bagged up skunk stink into a paper bag and covered your face with said bag.”
My nose twitched at that image. “That’s oddly specific. Is this from personal experience?” I asked with a raised brow.
Jones laughed and shrugged. “That’s what happens when two bored kids are let loose in the woods. Jordan and I got up to some stupid shit back then.”
“You talk like you two don’t do stupid shit now.”
Jones flipped me off, and I laughed.
“Speaking of, where is Jordan, anyway? Why don’t I see him or Wren?”
Jordan was usually the first person on-site. He’d once told me that nobody was going to give more of a shit about his company than himself, so it only made sense he put in his all. I admired the hell out of the man for his good work ethic and for generally being a good boss, even if he had been taking a more off-hand approach recently.
“Wren got a last-minute collab offer. Jordan went with him,” Jones said.
I nodded in understanding. This wasn’t the first trip Jordan went on with his boyfriend.
Wren was the popular travel vlogger who had stumbled into our little town early last year. Apparently, he’d been driving west toward California when his van broke down at the edge of town, and it just so happened to be right outside of Jordan’s property.
Wren liked to claim that Jordan had come charging in like a knight in shining armor, saving both him and his van, and that without him, who knew what would have happened to Wren?
Jordan insisted it wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Wren made it out to be. It was just a simple serpentine belt change, and what took the longest time was actually waiting for the part to arrive.
Either way, the two had been inseparable since. Wren had officially made Kither Springs his home, moving into Jordan’s little cabin where his van had broken down in the first place.
Wren still traveled pretty often for his channel, but Jordan usually stayed home for the shorter trips. This trip must be a longer one if he went with his boyfriend.
I figured Jordan would stay there for a few days to make sure his boyfriend settled down before returning like he usually did and thought nothing of it.
But then I took a closer look at my best friend’s face. Jones was facing my direction, but he wasn’t really looking at me. He seemed dazed, as if something heavy was on his mind.
I went to his side and swung an arm around his shoulder. “What’s up?”
The action shocked Jones out of whatever he was thinking. His eyes shifted from me to the rest of the crew, who were trickling in, before he sighed.
“Jordan had a talk with me last night before they left. He’s talking about making me one of the owners of the company.”
“Really? That’s great news, man!” I said, but when my cheer was met with a grimace, I added, “Isn’t it?”
He sighed again. “I don’t know. I’m flattered he’s offering this, but I don’t really feel like I deserve this chance, you know? The company’s my brother’s baby. He built it up from scratch, and now he just wants to give me a piece of it? I might be his younger brother, but that doesn’t mean I need his charity.”
I laughed so hard that I tipped us both over. Jones grumbled with a scowl and pushed me off him.
“You, my friend, are probably the only person in the world who’d give their all to something, then think being offered what you earned is charity .”
He gave me a skeptical look.
“Jones, you work harder for this company than anyone else here. If this is Jordan’s baby, then you’re a damn fine uncle. With Jordan being away more often now with Wren, you’re the one showing up every day to make sure our little circus is staying on track.”
“Taking care of you rascals is basically the same as wrangling a circus,” he agreed with a chuckle.
I gave a dramatic roll of my eyes but kept my smile wide.
“See? You know it yourself. Jordan leaves you in charge because he knows you have what it takes to round us all up. And the boys listen to you because they respect you, not just because you’re the boss’ younger brother.”
Jones wasn’t someone who got emotional over things, but I swore I could see a hint of a sheen in his dark brown eyes. He quickly looked away and swiped his hand over his face, but when he turned back to me, there was a huge, genuine smile there.
“I guess that means I’ll officially be your boss in the future,” he said, swinging his arm over my shoulder as we walked towards where the others were setting up. “I demand you call me ‘sir’ from now on. ‘ Ryker, get your ass moving !’ ‘ Yes, sir ! Whatever you desire, sir !’”
He pitched up his voice to make hisimitation of me sound like I was a chipmunk from that one movie franchise.
“Fuck off,” I said with a laugh, and tried elbowing him to push him off, but Jones only held on tighter. We laughed and jabbed each other in the stomach as we continued our way to the others.
The others on the crew smirked when they saw us. They hooted and teased us for being all lovey-dovey so early in the morning.
We told them to fuck off as we sat beside them for our morning coffee. One of our crew member’s wife always sent him with a whole gallon of coffee, so it became a ritual of sorts for us to start the day chatting as we enjoyed some home-brew.
Our crew was a pretty tight, good group. Teenaged me never would have imagined I’d be working construction one day, but my coworkers made the job enjoyable.
After our round of coffee, we got off our asses and got to work. We’d just finished the main structure for the building, and next was to start the siding.
The process was pretty repetitive, but I found I enjoyed tasks like these. Ones where I didn’t have to strain my brain.
All I needed to do was focus on the movement of my body and not think about anything else…like how Sam was probably waiting for me at home and going to crawl into my bed again tonight.
Oops…
So much for not thinking.