Rough Ride CV4 (4 page)

All Wyn knew was half-way through their meal, he had his hand under the table rubbing his cock through his designer jeans.

Ezra stopped eating and stared at him. “Are you jacking off?” His voice had gone deeper than normal and if Wyn wasn’t imagining things, he heard a bit of a growl.

Deciding to torture his new lover, Wyn grinned. “Not jacking, just rubbing. My cock’s hard and it’s all your fault.”

“Why? You think I’m sexy,” Ezra teased, running his hands over his chest and pinching his own nipples.

“Stop it,” Wyn laughed. “You’re gonna make me cum in my jeans.” Ezra scooted his chair back and beckoned Wyn over. “And it would be a damn shame if those expensive jeans got all cummy.”

Without thought, Wyn went over and straddled Ezra’s lap. He wrapped his arms around the big man’s neck and pressed their lips together. Ezra opened and Wyn delved inside. “Mmm, bacon.”

Ezra chuckled. “You could’ve tasted the real thing had you eaten your breakfast.” Wyn sighed dramatically. “I guess I’ll just have to suffer through a few more tastes of you.” He kissed him again, pressing his cock against Ezra’s firm stomach.

With a groan, Ezra pulled back. “Baby, I’d like nothing more than to take you back up those stairs and spend the day in bed, but we’ve got work to do. The quicker we finish up here, the faster we can both get back home.”

For some reason the thought of going back to Cattle Valley didn’t hold the same appeal it had a few days prior. Who could blame him really? His damn hair was almost grey, and he now had scars up the side of his bony face. In Pamona, the only competition he had to worry about was Richard. On the other hand, Cattle Valley was full of hot single men.

ROUGH RIDE

Carol Lynne

24

Ezra tilted Wyn’s chin up. “Hey, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

“Nothing,” Wyn said. “I guess I like having you all to myself.”

“Other than work, you’ll have me all to yourself back home, too. Believe me, I don’t plan on letting you get away.”

“Really?”

Shaking his head, Ezra sighed. “You and that low self esteem. Why the hell do you think I’ve waited so many years for you to get over your fear of me?” Ezra ran his hands down Wyn’s back to squeeze his ass. “I don’t want anyone but you.” Wyn’s insides warmed. Maybe, just maybe, this one would work out. “Let’s go take care of the horses. I still have to finish the fence, and make some calls. I’ve got to find an auction house for the livestock.”

As they walked out towards the barn, Ezra turned to him. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll fix the fence and you can call about the auctions.” Wyn stopped. “I can fix a damn fence, Ezra. I tightened the wire too much, that’s all.

Doesn’t mean I’m incompetent.”

Ezra grabbed Wyn under the arms and lifted him to eye level. “Don’t go puttin’ words in my mouth. I care about you. You brought me down here to help, now dammit, let me do that.”

“You’re right. Sorry,” Wyn mumbled.

After giving him a kiss, Ezra set Wyn back on his feet. “Now, about these horses…”

* * * *

By two o’clock they’d gotten a lot done. Ezra was a little shocked at the condition of the ranch. He knew he was a bit of a perfectionist, but Wyn’s dad seemed to think ‘fixing it for now’ was good enough.

He tightened the last bolt on the new hinge of the pasture gate and picked up his tools.

“Wyn!” he yelled, not seeing his little man anywhere.

Wyn stepped out of the tractor shed, with grease smudges on his face. He was wiping his hands as he walked towards Ezra. “Yeah?”

“What’re you doing? I thought you said you were gonna make some calls?” ROUGH RIDE

Carol Lynne

25

“I did. Finished up there and thought I’d tinker with the tractor. It’s not running right and I haven’t found the problem.”

Ezra bit the side of his cheek. The last thing Wyn needed was to get dirt in his wounds.

He didn’t feel like another argument, so he decided to divert Wyn instead. “How far away is your dad’s pickup?”

Wyn pointed towards the west. “About a mile straight that way.”

“If you give me the keys, I’ll go get it and bring it back. I kinda fancy going into town for supper later.”

Wyn continued to wipe the grease and oil from his hands. “Maybe we should go into Tulsa?”

Ezra grinned. He knew exactly what Wyn was doing. “The quicker the folks in town see you have backup, the better.” He walked over and gave Wyn a quick kiss and held his hand out for the keys.

Rolling his eyes, Wyn handed them over.

“Thank you,” Ezra bowed and dropped the keys into his jeans pocket.

Wyn turned and started heading back to the tractor shed. “Don’t you think you should try to keep your stitches clean?” Ezra couldn’t help asking.

Wyn’s fingers went to the white bandages. “They’re covered.” Blowing out an irritated breath, Ezra took off down the drive. “Stubborn man,” he mumbled.

“I heard that!” Wyn yelled after him.

Ezra grinned, never breaking stride.

* * * *

Smiling, Wyn went back into the tractor shed and sat on an old wooden stool. He wouldn’t tell Ezra, but he knew absolutely nothing about fixing farm machinery.

Pulling out his phone, he called Nate.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Wyn.”

“Well, stranger, I guess since you didn’t call me back, Ezra’s there.”

“Yeah. He’s planning to go into town later and scare the locals.” ROUGH RIDE

Carol Lynne

26

Nate erupted in a full blown belly laugh. “God I wish I could see that. As a rule, I’m not afraid of much, but Ezra in a mood is enough to have me cowering in a corner.” Wyn nodded. “Yeah, I’m even worse than you. Knowing my luck, I’ll be the one scared shitless when he starts his posturing for the locals.”

“Actually, I’m glad you called. When do you think you’ll be finished up there?”

“Hopefully by the end of the week if I can get the livestock off to auction and put the old place up for sale. Why?”

“Are you sitting down?” Nate asked.

“Spit it out, Nate.”

“Gill and Kyle are getting married in three weeks. They told me to invite you since they didn’t know the address there.”

Wyn rubbed his jaw. “Well I’ll be damned. Tell Kyle and Gill I’d love to come. I’ll even try to get Ezra to put on a suit for the occasion.”

“So it’s like that is it? You and Ezra finally worked things out?”

“We’re trying, but yeah.” Wyn felt almost giddy telling his best friend about his new relationship. “It’s nice.”

Nate was silent for a few moments. “That’s great, Wyn. You deserve a good guy in your life.”

“Thanks.”

“Well I have to teach a class so I’d better let you go. Call if you need anything. And don’t worry about the store. I bought a new spring wardrobe out of that shipment Gavin just put up.”

“Bless you. At least one of us is looking good. I’ve worn nothing but jeans since I’ve been here.”

“Well do yourself a favour and dress like Wyn for dinner later. Even if the town won’t appreciate it, I bet Ezra will.”

“Good idea. I think I’ll go in and start getting cleaned up.”

“Take care, buddy,” Nate said.

“You, too.” Wyn hung up and threw the greasy rag on the tractor seat. “Later,” he said to the old John Deer.

* * * *

ROUGH RIDE

Carol Lynne

27

Digging out the key’s, Ezra walked up to the truck he assumed was Wyn’s.

“Don’t take another step,” a voice said from behind him.

Turning his head, Ezra looked over his shoulder at an old man holding a shotgun. His arms went up. “You must be Richard’s granddad. I’m Ezra James. Came down from Wyoming to help Palmer Wynfield get his daddy’s ranch ready for sale.” The man lowered his gun. “Didn’t know that Wynfield boy had any friends who weren’t queer. Maybe you can straighten him out while you’re here. Lord knows his dad never could.”

Ezra’s hands fisted at his sides as he took a step forward. “Evidently you don’t know Palmer Wynfield like I do. I know him as one of the finest men on this planet. A man who owns one of the best clothing stores in Wyoming. The same man who walked away from his very livelihood at a moment’s notice to come to this god-forsaken town to take care of his father until his death.”

He left the old man sputtering, his face screwed up like he’d eaten a bowl of lemons.

Ezra walked back towards the truck and opened the door. He was shocked at the amount of blood on the seat and steering wheel. He hadn’t realized just how close Wyn had come to bleeding to death.

Getting in, Ezra started the truck and rolled down the window to address the old bigot once more. “If my parents hadn’t raised me to respect the elderly, I’d probably be telling you to get your head out of your ass and look at people for who they are and not who they love. I might even be tempted to tell you you’re not worth the cow shit on the bottom of Wyn’s shoes. But I won’t say that, you being elderly and all. Good day.” Ezra rolled up the window and pulled down the drive.

ROUGH RIDE

Carol Lynne

28

Pulling up to the house, Ezra went straight to the kitchen and fixed a pan of hot, soapy water. Grabbing a rag, he took his supplies back out to the pickup. As he began wiping the blood from the cracked vinyl seat, he felt the threat of tears.

He wasn’t sure why. Was he mad at the old man, or was it something deeper? The red-brown stains belonged to a man he held close to his heart. Maybe that was it? Could even the thought of something happening to Wyn cause this kind of reaction?

Shaking his head, Ezra rinsed the rag and continued his work. He hadn’t cried since Nancy’s funeral. Although he suspected the tears on that particular day were more out of a sense of guilt than love.

Ezra stopped. Love? Was he in love for the first time in his life? No, no way. He’d heard people talk about being in love. It usually happened over time, not within days.

Finishing up the truck, he sighed. He was in love, and it hadn’t been days, but years of longing to hold Wyn that brought it on.

“What are you doing?” Wyn asked from the porch.

With a deep breath, Ezra picked up the pan and turned around. “Cleaning up a bit.” Once he got a good look at his man, he whistled. “You look good enough to eat.” Wearing a pair of skin-tight jeans, white button-up shirt and chocolate brown leather vest, Wyn was every gay cowboy’s dream.

Wyn looked down at his brown crocodile skin boots. “I didn’t want to get too crazy. I figured if I wore one of my sweaters into town, there’d be a lynching. This is close enough to let me feel like my old self.”

Ezra walked up the steps and kissed his love. He was careful to keep the pan of dirty water away from Wyn’s clothing. “Give me fifteen minutes, and I’ll be ready to leave.” Wyn looked down at the reddish brown water. “I could’ve cleaned that.”

“Yeah, you could’ve, but it’s done now.” He gave Wyn one last peck before going into the house. “Just let me grab a shower and change my clothes.”

“Can I watch?” Wyn asked with a grin.

ROUGH RIDE

Carol Lynne

29

“I have a feeling if you watched, we’d never get into town,” Ezra said, pouring the dirty water down the drain.

He noticed Wyn had shaved and changed his bandages. “Next time, I’ll help you with that,” he said, pointing towards Wyn’s face.

Wyn nodded. “They aren’t as bad as I thought. I’ll still have scars though.” After washing and drying his hands, Ezra took Wyn into his arms. “If you had any idea what those jeans are doing to me, you’d know not to worry about a couple of scars.” He lifted Wyn and set him on the counter. “Better,” he said, closing in on Wyn’s soft lips.

The kiss was everything he needed it to be. His revelation earlier had his head spinning, and as Wyn devoured his mouth, he felt centred.

Wyn wrapped his legs around Ezra’s hips and pulled him closer. “Are you sure you want to eat at the café? We could stay right here and make a meal of each other.” Grinning, Ezra shook his head. “Are you using your body to try and persuade me not to go into town? You’re shameful.”

“Yeah, but is it working?” Wyn rubbed his cock against Ezra.

With a groan, Ezra took a step back. “It’s working a little too well. Let’s get this town introduction over so we can get on to more important things. Speaking of which, I didn’t bring condoms or lube. Do we need to make a stop in town to pick up some supplies?” Wyn’s eyes went wide. “Uh, no. I mean, I don’t have anything here, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to buy that stuff at Landry’s.”

“Why? Don’t people in Oklahoma use condoms?”

“Yes, I assume so anyway, but they know I’m gay at Landry’s. They’ll know what we’ll be doing.”

Ezra cupped Wyn’s cheek. “Are you ashamed for people to know we’re a couple?”

“No, not ashamed. It’s just that they’ll know you’re gay too.”

“I’ve got news for you, baby. I’m not ashamed to be gay. Maybe it’s different for me because no one’s ever tried to pick on me for it, but I am who I am.” Wyn looked like he was considering Ezra’s words carefully. “Okay.”

“Good,” Ezra kissed him. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Grinning, Wyn looked at his watch. “I’ll time you.” ROUGH RIDE

Carol Lynne

30

* * * *

When they walked into Jenny’s Café, all eyes were on them. Wyn saw the looks of disgust aimed his way, seconds before jaws dropped as Ezra stepped in behind him. Wyn couldn’t help but to give a satisfied smile.

The waitress tried to show them to a back table next to the kitchen door, but Ezra wasn’t having it. “I’d like to sit by that window up front.” He gave poor Maddie Wilson a look that dared her to refuse him.

Maddie was hesitant but gave them the table Ezra requested. As Ezra looked over the menu, Wyn couldn’t help but hear the low murmurings in the café. It was obvious the town’s people were intimidated by Ezra, but there seemed to be strength in numbers.

Soon the talk grew louder. Ezra waived the waitress over and they both ordered the daily special.

Ezra leaned in. “Are any of the folks here the ones responsible for jumping you?” Wyn didn’t need to look around. “Two, but I wouldn’t do anything about it while all these people are around.”