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band with their gear. He was actually easy to find, kicking a ball back and forth with Leroy as a

group of girls watched; it made Jake quake in his boots, but at least he knew where Jacob was. And

he had to admit, to himself if no one else, that it was damn fine seeing Jacob in the center of a

crowd, having fun. He looked healthy, the sun and work and riding filling him out and tanning his

skin. Playing alongside Leroy, who was just as tall but about twenty pounds skinnier with glossy

dark hair, they made a striking impression and it wasn't any wonder they had a flock of admirers.

The early evening got filled up with grilling, Tor suddenly appearing and taking over when Jake

brought a huge plate of steaks out, the second of three platters. There was food all over, a row of

picnic tables set up like a buffet, and in the background Jake could hear the band testing their sound

and kids screaming with glee when someone brought out sparklers for them.

"Going good," Tor observed, passing him a bottle of juice and flipping steaks. "You holding up?"

"I'm fine," Jake said, grateful for the juice. "Talked to a lot of folks, though. I don't plan on being social again for months."

Tor smiled at him and nodded. "That's okay," he said easily. "You and me can just kind of hide for a few weeks."

"Promise?"

"You know it."

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Jake smiled to himself and went to find Jacob, who'd vanished from sight around the side of the

barn. He wasn't too worried, though--he could see Lillian with her mother, uncovering bowls of

potato salad. She was a pretty thing, almost as tall as Jacob with short dark hair that framed her

face. She caught Jake looking at her and blushed, quickly looking down at the bowl in her hand.

Jake looked away and turned pink himself, wishing for all he was worth that he had the faintest

idea how to act toward her.

As dark fell, the band picked up and the sparklers turned into cherry bombs. When the littlest of the

kids started nodding off before being put to bed, Jake saw more and more beer bottles and cans

coming out and amused himself by seeing how close to the barn he could get before Tor or Elias or

Tommy wandered over to check on him, all three sympathetic to his discomfort at knowing that he

was there for the duration, but unsure if there was really anything to be done about it.

At one point he actually made it into the stable and he leaned on River's stall, waiting. Sure enough,

Tor popped in about three minutes later and Jake grinned. "I'm fine," he said before Tor could ask him yet again. "Go bother Jacob or something."

"Not a chance. He's dancing."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Is he, now?"

"Uh-huh. He asked Lillian, or she asked him, or something. And the next thing I saw, Pike had his

missus up there, right next to him. I think Lillian's going to kill him. Pike, I mean."

Jake laughed. "Christ."

Tor leaned into him and grinned. "You smell good. Like steak."

Amused, Jake nodded and then lifted his chin so Tor could sniff him again. "You like that?"

"Sure," Tor purred at him, leaning closer and pushing him against the wall. "I like everything."

Jake's grin grew. "Wanna mess around?"

"Here?"

"Can't go anywhere else. We can sneak up into the loft for a quickie."

Tor pulled away abruptly but grabbed his hand. "Okay, let's go. Got lube?"

"Nope, gonna have to come up with something else."

Tor snorted but pulled him toward the ladder. "We'll figure it out," he said dryly as he started up.

"We've had enough practice."

"Nah." Jake watched him climb, admiring his ass. "Never get enough practice."

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Tor grinned down at him and wiggled his butt. "That was damn near sweet. Now, come up here

with me and suck my cock."

Jake reached up and smacked his ass. "Bossy. Get a move on."

"Bossy." But he hurried up and vanished into the loft, laughing softly.

Jake scrambled up after him, not wasting time, and had to stifle a surprised cry when Tor grabbed

him before he was over the top of the ladder. "Hey," he protested when Tor tossed him onto a hay bale. "These things are hard!"

"Uh-huh, and so am I, so shut up and let's go," Tor said with a laugh, pouncing on him and taking his mouth in a hard kiss.

Jake couldn't really come up with a reason to disagree, so he went with it, wrapping a leg around

Tor's and kissing him back, one hand fighting with his belt. It was a lot easier to undo his own with

one hand than it was to manage Tor's, so he gave up on groping Tor's ass pretty quickly, concen
-

trating on the kisses and getting their jeans open. "How?" he asked into a kiss as he wrapped his hand around Tor's cock.

Tor groaned and thrust a bit. "Don't care anymore."

"God, you're easy," Jake teased, stroking him again. "Zero to I don't care in less than a minute."

"No time to be fussy," Tor told him, his hips rocking again.

"Oh, if you want fast I can do that," Jake promised, letting him go. "Get off me. God, you're heavy."

"Shut up," Tor said easily, rolling away. "I ain't."

"It must be someone else making me breathless," Jake said, following him and taking another kiss.

"Better not be. I'm the only one who should make you like this."

Jake grinned and made sure Tor was propped up against a stack of bales before going down to his

knees and pushing Tor's shirt up out of the way. "Bossy and possessive."

"You love it," Tor said, sounding a little breathless himself.

Jake had to give him that; he did love it. Not that he'd say as much, not when he could be doing

other things, like nuzzle into Tor's hip and lick at his erection a little before tugging Tor's ring with his teeth.

"Tease," Tor hissed.

Jake had to give him that, too. He grinned and did it again, a little lick and a tug, his fingers digging 126

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into Tor's hip. Tor smelled incredible, sun warmed and earthy, turned on and musky. He tasted bet-

ter.

Jake hummed a little as he licked and played, chuckling when Tor's fingers tangled in his hair insis-

tently. He waited until the tug got a bit harder, then took Tor's cock in his mouth and got rewarded

with a sigh and the loosening of Tor's grip.

Under his knees bits of hay and dirt dug in, but that was all right. The smell of the barn and of Tor's skin was a heady mix and the feel of denim under his hands and grit under his knees was just fine.

He loved what he was doing, where he was, and it spurred him on to suck a little harder, his mouth

wet and tight.

He was just really getting into it, the glide up and down and a twist of his tongue around the ring at

the very tip of Tor's cock, when Tor's hand tightened again, almost painfully. He froze on instinct,

knowing that it wasn't incipient orgasm that made Tor tense like a wire stretched taut.

Elias' voice floated up to them. "Jake?"

Jake relaxed his sucking but didn't let Tor go as his mouth curved into a grin.

"He's busy," Tor called out, his voice only a little rough.

There was a short pause and Jake could hear Elias' boots scuffing below them. "Where the hell are

you?"

"Loft." Tor's breath caught as Jake started sucking again. "
Busy
."

The second pause was longer, and the boots stopped. "Oh, for fuck's sake… Hurry up. There's peo-

ple wanting… Christ, you two."

Jake laughed as best he could and curled his hand around Tor's hip as he sucked again and took Tor

deep, pulled him in with mouth and hand.

"Just be a minute," Tor said, unable to stifle a groan. "Get out."

"Like I didn't spend years listening to you when you had the room across the hall," Elias muttered, footfalls sounding again. "Still. Think y'all would calm down after all this time."

Not likely, Jake thought to himself as Tor let go and started moving with him, fingers in his hair

petting again, curling around the back of his head. Not fucking likely.

It didn't take long after that; Tor dove into him and Jake took him, faster and deeper with less

tongue and more sucking, a hand on Tor's ass to keep him going until he could feel Tor get a little

harder, taste him leaking. With a moan Jake looked up and met Tor's eyes, staring down at him, his

teeth biting at his lower lip.

"Jake," Tor whispered, and Jake winked at him, knowing it was right there in front of him. That seemed to be all Tor needed and with only a gasp Tor came, spilling into Jake’s mouth, legs trem-127

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bling under Jake's hands.

Jake licked and swallowed, but his attention was on his belt, his fingers too frantic to get it open

easily. With a curse he finally let Tor go and ripped his jeans open, not sure if he should stand or

fall over or what exactly he needed; he just wasn't about to go without, the people wanting to talk to

him be damned. He was busy.

Tor solved the whole issue by shoving him back, knocking him off his knees. "Flat," he ordered, diving for Jake's aching erection.

Jake was just as glad for the order, because all ability to think fled as soon as Tor's mouth closed

around him. There wasn't anything teasing about what Tor did, nothing sweet or charming, either.

It was a damn good blow job, though, indecent and desperate and wet, all tongue and action and the

sound of his heartbeat thundering in his ears. He could barely keep quiet as his hips lifted and fell,

and when he came he only thought not to yell and not to let Tor get a swelled head about the fastest

orgasm on record.

"Damn," he panted, his ears ringing.

"Uh-huh. Damn." Tor was grinning at him, fucking preening. "Get done up, Taggart. We have guests."

"Oh, fuck you," Jake said lazily, grinning back.

"Later. C'mon. Up and at 'em." Tor rolled to his feet and started putting himself back together.

"Don't want Elias to come fetch us again, do you?"

"Don't care," Jake said, but he rolled, too, and fumbled with his jeans.

"Right." Tor didn't sound like he believed him. He waited until Jake was dressed and kissed him quickly, tasting like sex. "Back to work."

Jake rolled his eyes but headed down the ladder, unsurprised to see Elias hovering outside the door,

gaze firmly on the lawn. He grinned and sauntered over, leaning on the door frame. "Fast enough?"

Elias shot him a dark look. "You're quieter than you used to be."

Jake shrugged. "Got used to privacy, I guess. Doing it in the loft means no yelling."

"Whatever." Elias grinned at him then and nodded out to the yard. "If you stay here, I'll start talking about how damn quick off the mark you are, too. But if you go over to the house, you'll find a crew

of men wanting to bend your ear for a bit."

Jake nodded and ignored the way his cheeks heated. He wasn't about to start debating staying

power with Elias. "Know what they want?"

"Got an idea," Elias said easily. "But I'll let them explain. Me, I'm going to find a beer and a dance or three."

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Tor's shoulder nudged Jake's. "I'll be over in a bit. Gonna go spy on Jacob."

Jake nodded. "Yeah, all right." He turned his head and kissed Tor quickly, fairly sure they weren't being stared at by most of the ranch. "See you later." He watched Elias and Tor wander off toward the band and the dancing and sighed. He'd much rather just saddle River and head out with Tor, but

that wasn't going to happen.

Straightening his shoulders, he headed to the house, wondering who and what he'd find waiting for

him. The only thing he could think of was that there had been a fight, or that someone wanted to

talk about business; Elias had said there was a crew, though, so that seemed unlikely. A little wor-

ried, Jake stepped up his pace, walking across the lane to the front porch.

Sitting on the rail and leaning against the wall was a group of men. He knew them all, and he im-

mediately knew that there hadn't been a fight; or if there had been, it didn't involve any of them.

They were friends of Doug Gillian's, all men who owned land or were longtime foremen for land-

owners, and were among the upper age range of the mass of people gathered. Business men. Seri-

ous men who'd gotten past the drink and fight stage a long time ago.

With a strange sense of sudden awareness, Jake recognized these men as his peers, regardless of the

fact that they were all about twenty years older than himself.

As he walked up the steps, nodding a greeting to Sam Borden who'd tipped his head at him, Mike

Coswell stood up from the bench. "Jake," he said, holding out his hand.

Jake nodded again and shook his hand, curiosity replacing any lingering anxiety. "Mike. What can I do for y'all?" He did a quick headcount and came up with almost a dozen of them gathered there.

To his surprise, Mike looked uncomfortable and there was more than one set of feet shifting rest-

lessly. "Not real sure how to put this to you," Mike said. "So I'm just gonna tell you. See, me and the boys ain't really a bunch for dancing if we can escape our wives, and we don't really sit and

drink much anymore. Too hard on a body these years."

There was round of chuckles and a few rueful nods. Jake tilted his head, waiting. He had no idea

what he was supposed to do; he wanted to be a good host, he really did, but he didn't really know

how, given the situation.

Mike shook his head and looked down at his boots for a moment. "See, the thing is, I--we--know

you, and we all know that you'd usually left the party by this point. So you're probably in the dark

about what Doug had going for us older folk. And we're kinda hoping that if we just fill you in, we