Chapter 15
Austin
Christmas morning dawned bright and far too early. At least, for guys who’d spent half the night with their mouths on each other’s dicks. I woke to John pounding on Seth’s door.
John’s voice came muffled. “Hey, I see you made it back here. Come muck out so my wife can have a morning off.”
Seth stirred beside me, groaned, and shouted back, “Fuck off. I said I couldn’t work this morning.”
John bellowed, “Yeah, but you’re here.”
I nudged Seth. “Tell him yes. We’re not going to get back to sleep now. My dick’s ready for a break anyhow.”
Seth eyed me, then shouted, “Okay. Ten minutes.”
We could hear the dogs bouncing and barking around John as he headed off to the barn. I rolled on top of Seth and kissed the shit out of him, till he murmured, “Four minutes,” under my lips.
“Right.” We separated, and I struggled into my chilly clothes before taking my turn in the john.
Seth glanced at the kitchen area as we entered the main room. “Fuck. Forgot to set the coffeemaker.”
I grabbed him for a fast kiss. “We had better things to do. I can warm up your mouth—”
Seth gave me a shove and laughed. “Davis will have the ranch black gold at the house with a huge Christmas breakfast, as soon as the critters are tended to. We’ll live.
” As I stepped into my boots, Seth took a furry beanie off a hook and pulled it down over my hair. “There. That’s warmer than yours.”
Tilting it to one side, I teased, “Do I look like a Cossack prince?”
“You look like a muskrat died on your head. But it was a warm, furry muskrat.” He slapped thermal gloves against my chest. “Come on. Work.”
John startled when he saw me, but just said, “Hey, Austin, can you get the water buckets?”
“Sure.”
Cody, coming the other way with sweet feed and a scoop, winked and elbowed me as he passed.
I didn’t mind. Liked it even, to have a place where people treated me like everyone else.
The way Patch romped over to me for more petting, the way Ahwan nickered— even if she was greeting her breakfast and not me— settled me in my skin.
Seth glanced at me, and I nodded. This was where I belonged, and the man I belonged with.
I was going to fight like hell to make it so.
Seth and I cleaned up at his cabin after barn chores.
He loaned me a warm flannel shirt, since mine were all dirty, and it hung off my shoulders some, but I tucked the tails into my jeans and felt like he’d wrapped his arms around me.
I wondered if Seth might take my hand, thick glove in glove, as we navigated the tromped down snow path to the house, but he didn’t.
He smiled my way, though, bright like the sun coming out, and that warmed me deep inside.
Once we’d ditched the outerwear, we made our way into the kitchen. Tiffany sat on a stool at the counter, her hair braided up, wearing a fancy red sweater and teasing Davis about how many cinnamon rolls he’d made.
Davis glanced up, saw me, and grinned. “Austin. Just the man I hoped would be here today. I’ve made plenty. I thought Seth went down to you, but I saw his truck here this morning, and I figured I’d either have to bandage his broken heart with food or feed both of you.”
“My truck’s in the shop,” I admitted. “And I’m starving.”
“Go sit at the table, people.” Davis waved to shoo us off. “Get out of my kitchen. John, go tell the boss to stop working on Christmas and come to breakfast.”
“Can do.” John strode off toward Kendrick’s study.
By the time we’d all sat down, Kendrick joined us at the head of the table, gesturing for us to dig into the feast. No one paused to say grace, and I sure didn’t miss Dad hauling out a disapproving God as a sour note on every meal.
The cinnamon-sweet pastries were rich with thick icing.
Biting into a sausage burst seasoned-pork flavor on my tongue.
Beside me, Seth laughed at something Tiffany said and stuck half a roll in his mouth.
So good. I glanced around the table as I ate, trying to impress all of this joy into my memory.
Two more months. January and February. I’d get through them somehow, with this as my goal.
Seth, and this ranch, these people. With a goal, I could survive anything.
Seth nudged my knee with his under the table, and I was able to smile back without reservations. We’d be okay.
We were down to picking at the scalloped potatoes and stewed apples to fill in around the edges when Davis stood and spoke up, his serious tone cutting through the chatter.
“I have something to say. Boss knows, and this feels like the right time to tell the rest of you. I’m going to take the rest of the winter off the ranch and come back in May.
“What?” Seth stared up at him. “Why?”
A sinking feeling hit my stomach. I didn’t need that kind of charity. “If it’s to make room for me…”
Davis winked at me. “Don’t overestimate yourself, kid.
Although you being here makes this the right time.
I want to step down from riding and outdoor chores, at least in the cold weather.
I’m popping Advil like candy to get my bad hip moving in the mornings, and it’s killing me at night.
Plus, I have some goals. Kendrik and I talked about stepping up the food we serve the dudes. ”
“What do you mean, stepping up?” Colby asked. “You cook the best of anyone I know.”
“Yeah,” Davis said. “I’m good at the stews, the chilis, the casseroles, but in the summer, that kind of food gets heavy. My bread is okay, but not great. Most of what I bake is cake or cookies. When you look at our reviews, some of them say our chow is boring.”
“Well, they’re wrong,” Seth insisted.
“I can do better.” Davis raised his chin.
“Like, these cinnamon rolls are from a can. What if I could bake them fresh? We’re less than two hundred miles from ocean-caught fish for the asking.
I could learn to do more with that. There’s a culinary school in L.A.
that offers three-month sessions, and I want to sign up for the mid-January one. I asked, and they still have space.”
“January?” John’s eyes widened. “Like, now? Uh, Boss?”
Kendrick said, “I told Davis he needed to make sure his job here was covered before he went. But he’s not wrong.
The dude part of our business is carrying more and more of our expenses.
Word of mouth matters, and great food will help.
Right now, we’ve got good food. I’m not ungrateful, but if Davis wants to level up, I’m all in favor. ”
“Yeah,” Davis said. “And here’s Austin, falling right into our laps. Can you cook, kid?”
“I, uh, some. After Mom left—” I cut off the words, because these folks didn’t need to know what that had been like.
Seth’s gaze landed soft on me. I went on, “I can do the basics. No one would starve, but it’s not going to be what you make.
” I glanced around the table. “If you all are looking for me to take Davis’s place in the kitchen, you’re going to hate me. ”
“No, we won’t—” Seth began.
Davis grinned at me. “Two weeks, kiddo. I’ve been writing down my recipes for a while, thinking about this. I have two weeks to bring you up to snuff on ranch cooking before I go.”
“It’s just for the six of us, the next two months,” Kendrick said.
“Once the seasonal hands arrive, I pay two local women to cook meals. Davis used to supervise, but they’re familiar with the drill.
Then we’ll have Davis back before the dudes arrive, and I pay extra kitchen help at that point.
You’d do some ranch work and some cooking the next two months, switch over to all outdoor chores in March or April.
But if you don’t think you can handle the job—”
“No!” I interrupted. “I mean, sorry, sir, but yes, I can handle it.” I laughed, feeling giddy.
“You have no idea what I was prepared to handle to get through to March.” A flash of Seth’s eyes said he guessed what I meant, but I forged on.
That Austin could be left behind if I grabbed this chance with both hands. “I’ll learn well, I promise.”
“Good.” Kendrick gave me a firm nod and pushed back in his chair. That nod pleased me in ways that filled some cold space inside me.
I turned to Davis. “I’m grateful for the chance. I’ll do you proud, but I still feel like I cheated my way in.”
Davis leaned his hands on the table and got a faraway look in his eyes.
“I didn’t tell you the other reason. The big one.
Back when I was seventeen, this girl moved to our town, to my high school.
Her name was Erin and she was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, smarter than me, and kind.
Just one day in class with her and I’d fallen like a rock.
Took me weeks to get her to date me. Two years to make it stick.
We were married for fifteen years.” He gazed off over our heads, like he was seeing the past.
Kendrick said, “I always liked Erin.”
Davis nodded. “We split in the end, mostly because she wanted kids and I couldn’t give them to her. We didn’t have the money to adopt, and she wanted a baby. So she left the ranch and I didn’t go with her.”
“If she couldn’t tell how awesome you are, she’s stupid,” Colby insisted.
“She had her reasons, kid. Anyhow, she moved to L.A., but she’s divorced now.
Her kids are sixteen and fourteen, and she’s raising them on her own.
We’ve been chatting some, for months now.
I want…” Davis glanced at me, then at Seth.
“I saw you two, and God, it brings back how we were at the beginning. I’m not too old yet.
Nor is she. I want a chance to see if we still strike that spark off each other, like thirty-seven years ago. ”
Seth asked, “What does Erin say?”
“She’s cautious. She thought she had a good husband, and yet he cheated and left her with two kids and hard times. But she said if I come down there, we can date. That’s all I’m asking.”
Colby asked, “If you do, and it works out, would you stay there?”
“Not this year, not next.” Davis shrugged.
“Cowboying’s as deep in my bones as Erin was.
Our ranch’s dude season is five months. Erin’s got her pride and her independence, and she said flat out she wouldn’t take me away from my work.
Maybe one day? That hip I broke might eventually say no more, but not this year. ”
“Can you afford it?” Tiffany looked up at Davis.
“I’ve got enough saved for this course and three months of expenses. After that…” He glanced at Kendrick.
“Show me better cooking made a real difference,” Kendrick said, “and I’ll cover tuition next year.”
Davis grinned. “And maybe I’ll save a bit of money by shacking up next winter.”
John said, “Don’t let Erin hear you call it that. She’s a classy lady.”
“You said it.” Davis pressed a hand to his heart, then sobered. “I want this chance, with her.” He shook himself. “Anyhow, any of you bottomless pits want more food, or can I start clearing?”
Amid the murmur of nos and thanks, I was going to offer to help when Seth grabbed my arm.
“Austin and I are going to take off for a bit, grab a couple of horses, check on the heifers,” he announced.
We are? I shrugged. “What he said.”
“Works for me,” Kendrick agreed. “An hour, then I want you back so we can get hay rolling. We’ll cut it short, gather around the Christmas tree at dusk.
” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I’ll have your sign-on paperwork then.
I will be taking out the room and board allowance from your pay this time.
Uh.” He glanced back and forth between me and Seth.
“For now, you’ll have to room with Seth, but Davis leaving will open up a single cabin, if you want it. ”
“Yeah, no.” A grin stretched my face ear to ear and I grabbed Seth’s hand. “Sharing’s good.”
For a second, as Seth turned to me, his eyes wide, I wondered if that was too much too soon. Then he squeezed my fingers and returned my grin. “Yeah. Low cost. Frugal. Shared body heat.”
A chorus of cat-calls from the other hands made him laugh.
“Come on.” Seth nudged me. “Heifers are waiting.”
Saddling up in the barn, just the two of us, with the horses’ breath warm in the chill air and the scents of leather and critters in my nose felt like a dream.
We didn’t talk, other than simple things like, “Use her saddle, we’ll fetch yours later,” and “Is your curry comb better than this one?” Seth gave me Ahwan and took Bumble, scratching the gelding’s neck through his furry bay coat.
“His winter coat’s so damned thick, he looks rough. ”
“He looks warm. Good for him.” I led Ahwan out the back door, adjusted the stirrups an inch shorter, and mounted up.
Beside me, Seth swung onto Bumble’s wide back and settled into the saddle.
Every movement was so practiced, so easy.
Even with his own winter beanie on his head, Seth was every inch the cowboy.
He picked up his reins, but before he could nudge the gelding forward, I kneed Ahwan close enough to reach over and brush his lower lip with my gloved thumb.
“Look at you,” I murmured. “Jesus, how did I get so lucky?”
“That’s my line.” Seth eyed me back, the low winter sun turning his eyes a pure green. “What Davis said, about seeing Erin and knowing. I saw you that November day, and it was like touching an electric fence.”
“Oh, that’s flattering,” I teased.
“I mean, a jolt that doesn’t really hurt but sets you back in your tracks, vibrates from your skull to your boots. I’d been going through the motions, being the perfect cowhand, trustworthy, no surprises. You? You were a shock that woke me out of my rut. You made me want more.”
“You can have more. You can have everything.”
Seth laid his hand on my knee. “I already do. Right now.”
Kissing on horseback would be a bad idea, even with mounts as steady-natured as these two. So I didn’t lean in and try it. I just grinned at Seth, hoping what I felt was in my eyes, and said, “I do too. Now let’s go look at some pregnant ladies, right?”
Seth grinned back. “Right. First one to the pasture gate gets a blowjob.” He whooped and set Brumble leaping through the snow down the lane.
I didn’t mind being behind him, watching Seth’s back as he rode, but on the principle of the thing, I tightened my legs on Ahwan to chase them. Bumble was fast, but Ahwan was taller. We’d see who ended up on their knees, when this long, perfect day was done.