Chapter 14
Seth
The Star & Bar sign at the side of the road welcomed us home.
Austin had been silent for most of the drive, more so than usual.
I didn’t push. I wasn’t sure if he was happy to be heading to the ranch, or worried about his future afterward, or feeling like this was maybe a sign of failure.
Like that run-down motel was the best he could do, and it wasn’t good enough.
There was nothing I could think of to silence the worry in his head. All I could do was make my home a safe space for him. Not ask for more than he was willing to give, no matter how greedy I felt about him. I parked the pickup by my cabin in the fading daylight.
When Austin got out, Patch and Ramble came sprinting around the corner of the barn. Both dogs leaped around him, asking for petting. My heart beat kind of funny, watching those dogs so happy to see him. Dogs know when a man’s heart is in the right place.
Austin crouched and rubbed their chests and shoulders and laughed when they licked his face. I fetched his bigger stuffed backpack and the canvas bags out of the back seat while he made a fuss over the dogs. He looked up at me, his eyes bright. “They remembered me.”
“Of course they did.” I was going to joke about how they remembered the good bits of his lunch that he snuck to them, but his joy was too precious to spoil. “They like you.” I unlocked the door and put a little heat in my voice. “I think I remember you too, but you might have to remind me.”
He laughed and straightened. “Let me get that cooler.”
I set his pack inside the door and put a dramatic hand over my heart. “He loves the food more than me.” Then I went silent, because I hadn’t meant to use the word “loves.” Not yet. Austin made me all soft and foolish.
Austin slung his small pack over his shoulder, hefted the cooler out, nudged the door shut, and came my way. As he passed me, heading inside, he craned his neck awkwardly to brush my lips with his. “I wouldn’t say more than you.”
That sent a wave of heat through me, cheeks to chest to groin. I shut and locked the door, and set down Austin’s bags. It took all my self-control to say, “You want to eat first?”
“No.” Austin kicked off his boots, hung his jacket, not looking at me, but the fire between us kept rising. His breathing sped up
I copied his undressing, not bothering to stop when a boot tipped off the tray.
I’d turned up the heat before I left, thinking just maybe I’d persuade him home, so there was nothing to stop me opening my shirt.
Or moving close to him and slipping those small buttons out of the worn flannel across his chest.
Austin jumped when I slid my hands under his T-shirt and pressed my palms over his tight nipples. “Cold.”
“Sorry! I’ll—” My voice caught as he grabbed my wrists, raised my hands, and breathed warm air across my palms.
Once, twice, three times, then he pressed my hands back where they’d been. “Better.” His nipples scrunched into firm nubs under my palms, but he muttered a rough, “Fuck,” so maybe that reaction wasn’t to the cold.
I pushed his shirtsleeves down his arms and fisted the material, trapping his wrists loosely behind him.
My first kiss landed just under his ear, the second on the corner of his mouth.
I licked and nibbled and kissed my way down his neck, across his chest, and back up, while keeping his arms trapped in his shirt.
His breaths shuddered as I sucked the soft spot under his jaw.
“Bedroom?” I suggested. “What do you want?”
“I don’t know. Fuck, I’m gonna come in about ten seconds.”
“Not terrible. You know you can come again.” I nudged him backward, my hips bumping his, not freeing his arms. “I want you on the bed.”
“Okay.”
We stumbled into the bedroom together and Austin toppled sideways onto the mattress. I caught my balance so I didn’t land on him and paused to strip off my shirt and T-shirt. Austin watched me, his eyes hot, his lower lip caught between his teeth.
“Let me.” I swung his legs onto the bed, slipped his socks off his narrow, arched feet, raised and kissed his ankles, right, then left.
“I can give you better body parts than ankles,” Austin muttered.
“I like your ankles. I like all your parts.” I knelt on the bed over him and slid his shirt off his wrists, dropping the faded flannel over the side.
“I like this part.” I pushed his undershirt up to bare his smooth belly and pressed a kiss there, then nipped him.
“And this.” The white cotton bunched under his armpits as I licked one brown nipple, then swirled my tongue around the tight nub.
Austin grunted and writhed under me. “My dick’s down lower.”
“I’ll get there.” I wanted to see every bit of him and taste them all.
I worked the undershirt off him and kissed his shoulders, then one arm, using my tongue tip on his rounded biceps.
The clean hair in his pits carried his musky scent, and I nuzzled deep there, then ran my stubble down his ribs, making him giggle.
“Hey, ticklish.”
“Hold still.” I set my palm on his stomach as I kissed and licked every inch of his pecs and abs, returning to his nipples until they were peaked and wet, then blowing on them.
“Fuck,” Austin groaned, bucking under me. “I don’t want to fucking come from that.”
Taking pity, I unzipped the front of his jeans and slid off the foot of the bed to drag them free over his feet. The dark hair of his thighs called to me and I bent and ran my lips up and down his furry skin.
“Dick. Now.” Austin grabbed my hair, tugging me toward his crotch.
I flashed a grin, then gave him what he wanted, mouthing the bulge of his erection through his underwear.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He writhed and arched under my mouth, letting my hair slip through his fingers. “More.” I had to back off as Austin crunched up and shoved his waistband down, freeing his cock. He dropped back to the bed, his underwear trapped around his thighs. “Now, come on!”
My mouth watered at the sight of his long, slender cock jutting up from the dark nest of his pubes, the head flushed, his slit glistening.
I wrapped a hand around his shaft and licked the head, a long slow sweep, tasting salty-sweet precum, then sucked him all the way to the back of my throat.
Austin groaned once, clutched the sheets, arched, and came in a flood that filled my mouth.
He groaned even louder as I swallowed. I worked my throat around him, letting whatever spunk I couldn’t handle drip down my chin.
“Oh Jesus, oh fuck, yeah.” Austin gasped. “Okay. Enough. Wow.”
I eased back, letting his cock drop wet and spent onto his stomach, and wiped my chin with the back of my hand.
“Wow,” Austin repeated with a tug at my hair. “Get up here and kiss me.”
I stretched out beside him, keeping my straining zipper away from his dick, and pressed my mouth to his. Austin kissed softly, still taking short breaths in between.
“Kind of a quick trigger,” I teased. “You been depriving yourself?”
“Hey, I was several minutes slower than I expected out there.” He waved limply toward the bedroom door. Then he rolled onto one elbow. “What about you? Hand? Mouth?”
His stomach rumbled and I laughed, delight flooding me. He was here, in my home, in my bed, and tonight, I had the right to take care of him. My cock was hard but I could be patient. “I think we should eat, and then we’ll see. I like a little anticipation.”
“Oh, really.” He reached for my dick where it stretched my jeans and kneaded me. “You like waiting?”
“I do.” My breath came a bit short, and the heat building in my groin made it hard to think. But I wanted to feed him, and I didn’t want to come in my jeans like a teenager.
He is a teenager. I shoved that thought away and sat up.
Austin might be young, but he was a man in integrity, in responsibility, in everything he did.
Miguel said I deserved someone good, and I wanted to be someone good for Austin, too.
“Come on, you can borrow a pair of my sweats, and we’ll heat up the food. ”
I dug in a drawer and tossed him a pair of my sweatpants and a fleece shirt.
Austin caught them, grinning. “You just want to know I’m free-balling it. Or maybe you like seeing me in your clothes.”
Yes. And yes. “Easy access for later,” I told him. “Get dressed. Move your sexy butt.”
My shirt lay inside out on the floor. I retrieved it, tugged the sleeves the right way and slipped into them, but didn’t button the front. I liked the thought of Austin staring at my chest while we ate.
Davis had packed two big containers of his macaroni and venison casserole, and a bunch of sides.
More than enough for two with extra for leftovers.
I’d told him I was bringing the food to Austin, and Davis clearly had a soft spot for my man.
I nuked full plates for two, while Austin plastered himself to my back, his hands splayed on my chest and his dick slowly hardening as he rubbed up against my ass.
“You sure you want to eat?” Austin teased, nipping my neck despite the wonderful aroma rising from the plates. Another rumble of his stomach made the seduction easier to resist.
I elbowed him. “Yes. Quit being a pest and go sit down. Get water for us while you’re at it.”
“Meh,” he whined, but he did as I asked, filling a couple of glasses on his way to the table. I set the heated plates at our places. Austin pushed my chair back with his foot, and I sat across from him.
“Eat up.” I dug a fork into my casserole and waved the bite at Austin. “This is one of Davis’s special dishes.” I silently blessed my best friend for giving me something amazing to share with Austin.
“Not as special as your—” Austin paused, chewed his first mouthful, and tilted his head. “I take that back. This is better than your ass. Might even be better than your dick. I’m gonna ask Davis to marry me.”