Cowboys Down (7 page)

Calum hung his hat on the pommel and chugged half the bottle straight down. He upended the rest over his head and as the water poured down his hair and over his face onto his shirt, Jasper’s cock turned hard as stone. Oh Christ. Had Calum done that knowing how fucking sexy it looked? Or because he was hot?

“That’s better,” Calum said with sigh. “Course, it won’t last long in this heat. You need to wear a hat.”

Jasper stood with his back toward Calum, pretending to look at the view. His fingers fumbled with the screw top of the bottle and then he tipped the water into his mouth. He’d never upended a bottle over his head and fought an urge to copy Calum. The idea of pouring cool water over his face was appealing. When Jasper turned, he made sure he held the bottle so it disguised the bulge in his pants. Calum sat on a rock in front of him, his wet hair dripping down his tanned cheeks and Jasper suspected the attempt to hide his rather obvious reaction was doomed to failure.

The water glistened like diamonds in Calum’s hair. As the drips fell off his chin and trickled down his neck, Jasper wanted to leap on him and lick up every one. Calum leaned back on his hands and closed his eyes. He tipped his head so the sun fell on his face, and Jasper sighed at the knowledge that his cock wasn’t going to give up anytime soon. He still wasn’t completely certain Calum was gay, but Jasper was edging that way.

Calum had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to reveal strong forearms, the fine light blond hair shining in the sun. His long, denim-and-leather-clad legs were stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle, spurs glinting. The bulge at Calum’s groin grew as Jasper stared.
Guess that answers one question.

Note to self: Put my tongue away.

Chapter Four

Excitement bubbled inside Jasper. He sat on the rock beside Calum but faced the other way. His heart pounded, his voice trapped in his throat as he stared through the trees toward the river. Much safer than looking at the guy next to him…or that swelling at his crotch. But almost immediately Jasper began to convince himself he was mistaken. Could be any number of reasons for Calum having an erection.

“I suppose you’ve got what you came here for,” Calum said. “You’re riding again. Didn’t seem like such a big deal.”

Jasper snorted and his chest loosened. He turned to face Calum. “You missed me throwing up then? Anyway, that wasn’t the only reason I came.”

I want to get down with a cowboy. Oh shit. Is that really why I’m here?

“Why else did you come all this way?”

“To learn how to get dirty and not mind.”

Calum chuckled. “I’m an expert in that.”

Oh fuck. Take a deep breath and be sensible.

“I also thought it was about time I learnt how to…unwind. I work in a hectic, constantly changing environment where I have to make important decisions quickly. There’s no chance to relax. I spend most of my day on the phone pitching stock ideas to potential or existing clients and then issuing sell or buy orders involving vast sums of money. High octane, high adrenaline stuff and I have to maintain tight control, keep everything balanced or it would come crashing down around my ears to not only ruin me but my clients.”

“The keeping control and balanced part’s not so different from riding a horse.”

Jasper laughed. “True, but here there’s no urgency to this, no requirement to take a particular route, to make a certain point at a particular time.”

“Not so sure about that. We need to be back for lunch or Vera won’t be happy. And if I pick the wrong path, we could end up lost.”

Jasper’s heart had calmed, his cock soft again. Conversation was safe. Just because they’d both had erections didn’t mean—
oh fuck, yes it does
—but it didn’t meant they had to do something about it.

“You say you wanted to relax yet you picked a vacation you knew would be stressful,” Calum said.

“I assumed once I’d conquered my fear of riding, I’d enjoy it.”

“And get dirty.”

Something in the way Calum said that made Jasper swallow hard.

“So riding’s important for you to get back under control?”

Jasper supposed it was. Another box to tick in his life.

“You have to be in control of everything?” Calum asked in a quiet voice.

“Not everything.” Jasper’s cock uncurled like a sprouting plant.

“Because I’m a sort of controlling guy too.”

Shit, shit, shit.

Calum brushed a smear of dust from the knee of Jasper’s pants. The slightest touch and Jasper’s breathing hitched. Every muscle tensed.

“You resisted wiping that off,” Calum said with a mouth-watering grin.

Maybe I was hoping you’d do it for me.
Jasper averted his gaze and stared at a tree. Of course the words stayed in his head. Ultra-decisive in his professional life, he was a different person in his private. The chances of Jasper making a move were zero.

Calum lifted Jasper’s sunglasses off his face and set them aside.
Oh fuck.
Now Jasper had to look at him.

“The getting dirty thing could be because you grew up too fast.” Calum stared straight at him. “No time to be a kid. Probably had something to do with what happened to your brother. You stayed under the radar by being a good boy.”

Clever guy.
Except how could Jasper begrudge the time his parents had spent with Ben and not with him? Jasper had to behave, stay in his room, keep out of trouble, not make a nuisance of himself. How could he have fun and laugh when his brother was able to do little more than blink? How could he be happy when everyone in the house was steeped in misery, when every conversation was about Ben and never about him?

“The control thing,” Calum said, “I understand that. When I’m breaking in a horse, I can’t let my concentration slip for a second. I have to show the animal I’m in charge, and that I understand what he needs. But work is work and pleasure’s pleasure.”

Calum’s hand lay flat on the rock between them. Jasper’s hand mirrored it, their fingers inches apart. A small gap the size of the Grand Canyon. Jasper imagined his hand sliding over to touch Calum’s fingers.

So easy.

So damn difficult.

Jasper’s heart thumped so hard it hurt.

“You know the first thing I noticed about you?” Calum asked and swung round so he was sitting the same way as Jasper.

“You thought I had pink luggage?”

He laughed. “No, the purple.”

Jasper couldn’t dislodge the lump in his throat.

“Your huge brown eyes,” Calum whispered.

Oh God.
Jasper’s cock made a determined attempt to get through his zipper and his grip tightened around the water bottle held at his groin as if he could push the thing back down.

“I have a thing for sparkling blue eyes,” Jasper blurted. Like a pool he wanted to dive into and then never climb out.

“Is that right?”

“And tanned skin that looks as though it’s always warm.”
Shit.
Where did that come from?

“Not in the winter. I get so cold I feel like my skin’s freezing.” Calum’s voice was hoarse. “I like soft hands.”

Oh God, he’s flirting with me. And I’m flirting back.

“For me, there’s something about a rough touch,” Jasper choked out.

Calum barked out a laugh.

Jasper sighed. “I wasn’t sure about you.”

“Nor me about you.”

But I am now.

Jasper swallowed to bring moisture to his mouth. “Which makes you just about perfect.”

“Hell, I’m a long way from perfect.”

Not me for, you’re not.

“So,” Calum said. “We going to ignore this?”

Jasper tightened his mouth. Calum wanted to slam the lid back on the box already?

“Or do something about it?” Calum asked. “Only I’ve just ridden seven miles with a cock so stiff it hurts.” He gave a wry grin.

“Me too.”

“I know we
should
ignore it,” Calum said. “The wranglers aren’t allowed to fuck the guests. It causes complications and that rule applies to me too even though I’m the boss’s son. Especially to me since I’m supposed to be setting an example. My father will just about kill me if he finds out, but you’re distracting me beyond reason. I came so hard after I left you last night, I thought my heart would stop.”

The effect on Jasper’s cock was as effective as if Calum had stroked it. Jasper glanced down to check it hadn’t burst his zipper and wasn’t out scenting the air.

“I sort of understand how Eve felt when she was tempted with that apple.” Calum grinned. “So bad, so good.”

How many before me? Does it matter?

Jasper stared at their hands, fingers inching closer and closer until the tips touched. The jolt that went through him could have been a lightning strike for the impact it had. Jasper burned head to toe. His throat dried so fast he couldn’t speak. His cock strained against his zipper and made the water bottle jump. Then their fingers linked, and their hands clasped and tightened.

“Oh fuck,” Calum whispered.

It was as if they’d been welded together, and while their entwined hands didn’t shift, to Jasper’s astonishment, his other hand let go of the bottle and rose to slide up Calum’s forearm. It was Jasper’s hand that crept to the damp hair at the nape of Calum’s neck, Jasper’s hand that tugged Calum nearer. Their faces were so close they breathed each other’s air. Calum brought his free hand to the back of Jasper’s neck, and when Jasper slid his fingers into Calum’s hair to press into his scalp, Calum did the same to him.

Their other hands unlinked as if by mutual consent, and as Calum lifted his fingers to Jasper’s face and stroked his chin with his thumb, Jasper’s palm settled over Calum’s chest. Then their lips were together and Jasper wasn’t sure who’d moved first, nor did he care. Their kiss was wet and open, tongues tangling as the sound of their ragged groans filled the air. Calum’s tongue teased his while his fingers twisted harder in Jasper’s hair, urging him closer.

The first deep thrust of Calum’s tongue surprised him.

Calum pulled away, muttered, “Oh God, you taste good,” and then he kissed him again.

Jasper curled his tongue under Calum’s, exploring his mouth, but a gentle kiss grew rougher by the second. Deeper and harder lunges as they dueled, each fighting for control and then they were on their feet, bodies plastered together, hands on backs, on butts, on necks as they staggered around and writhed and humped and fucked each other’s mouths until they couldn’t breathe.

They came up for air like kids in a swimming pool competing over who could stay under longest. They gasped and laughed, wanting to do it all over again. Jasper’s senses were consumed by need. Damp mouth, hot tongue, strong hands—if his cock could have moaned, it would have.

Calum’s breathing rasped in his ear. “Oh fuck, fuck.”

Jasper panted into Calum’s neck. “Oh fuck, fuck.”

Then they went at it again, kissing, groping, grinding their hips together until it almost hurt. Calum’s fingers tugged at Jasper’s shirt until it came out of his pants. A warm hand slid onto his lower back and tingles raced up Jasper’s spine. Roughened fingertips wormed their way into the back of his chinos, and pressure spiraled from Jasper’s balls to set fire to his belly. Calum groaned into Jasper’s mouth as he squeezed one of his butt cheeks, his thumb sliding into the crease. He rocked his cock against Jasper’s and they bucked and rutted as if there were no clothes between them.

Vaguely, somewhere in Jasper’s head, buried under a mountain of greedy lust, he knew they ought to slow down, take their time, at least make sure no one but the horses watched, but it was as though he’d stepped onto a speeding train with no way off until the destination was reached. And if Jasper was going to come in his pants, he was determined not to be the only one. He pushed his hand between their excited hips and while his cock rubbed one side of Calum’s dick, his hand pressed against the other.

Calum gasped into his mouth. “We can’t go back with wet patches on our jeans, and if you keep doing that with your hand, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

“Don’t want to stop,” Jasper panted.

He found the head of Calum’s cock and rubbed his finger over the denim.

“Jesus,” Calum gasped and grabbed Jasper’s hand.

“I want to suck you off,” Jasper blurted.

Calum jerked away and backed up a few steps, but the look in his eyes told Jasper he wasn’t running far. Jasper’s pulse kicked up a notch. Calum ran his tongue over his lower lip and then reached for his belt. But before he touched it, he straightened and looked around.

“Fuck it,” he snapped. “Someone’s coming.”

Jasper groaned.

By the time three horses came into view, Calum had remounted Blue. He adjusted his hat on the pommel to ensure it obscured his crotch, but his cock knew when it was beaten. His balls, on the other hand, made their displeasure very clear. They ached like hell. There was some comfort in knowing he wasn’t the only one.

“Howdy, dudes,” Melissa shouted. “What are you guys up to?”