Dreamspinner Press Year Six Greatest Hits

by JD Ruskin

  “Looks like your brother is making headway on Plan B.”

  “Yeah. Looks like you’ll be riding home with me.”

  Dane didn’t say anything, and we drank without talking for a while.

  “So did you spend more time in Iraq or Afghanistan?” I asked, trying to think up something to say.

  “Once I picked up Pashto, it was mainly Afghanistan,” he answered. “But let’s stay off that subject.”

  “Sorry.” Maybe it was something only he and Jesse could talk about. What’d I know since I hadn’t been there? I kept my mouth shut so he could pick the next topic. But he stayed quiet. He didn’t seem uneasy with it, and he sure wasn’t worried that I might be.

  I kept a steady eye on the various corners of the bar, watching Hanson and his buddies, and Jesse talking with Jane. Every once in a while, in the kitchen, a plate crashed to the floor. Behind the bar, Ben would wince. He was keeping count.

  Finally, Dane started talking again. “So, what time do you think I can get into those cabins your uncle wants me to work on?”

  “By eleven, I’m guessing. There’ll be breakfast at eight thirty, and then a lot of good-byes. I’ll need to be up there for that. And then families loading up their cars. I help with suitcases and stuff. Yeah, I’d say eleven.”

  “You want another beer?”

  “Nah. But you go ahead.”

  Dane shook his head. “I’m game to go if you are, cowboy.”

  I left money on the table, and we got up. As we walked out, Jesse smiled and waved.

  “SORRY. MY radio’s busted,” I said once we got in the truck.

  Dane seemed to take up all the room inside, and I suddenly had to concentrate to get the truck out of the parking lot. All my senses wanted to do was focus on him, the energy vibrating off him, his smell, and the moonlight moving across the sharp planes of his face. Dane didn’t say anything. He just looked out the window. The silence crawled up my skin like an itch.

  “You know, you might want to spend the night at my place.”

  He didn’t answer. Okay. Well, maybe this was going nowhere. Maybe that was a good thing. At least I wouldn’t make a fool of myself. I was so caught up in my own internal conversation I didn’t realize Dane was talking until he’d finished.

  “What?”

  He turned to look at me. “I said, I think I will sleep with you tonight, cowboy.”

  “You’ll be glad you did.” Crap, didn’t that sound sleazy and stupid. “I mean, Jesse tends to use up a lot of the house when he brings home a girl, if you know what I mean.”

  I tried to smile, but my face froze when I looked at Dane. He was watching my lips like they were dinner and he hadn’t eaten in a month. Slowly, he licked his own. My cock jumped, and I jerked my gaze back toward the road in self-preservation.

  “And how are you when you bring home a new guy?”

  “Uh, yeah, well….”

  “Relax, cowboy.” Dane dropped his hand on my thigh. “Just relax.”

  I tried. But my thigh burned where he touched me, and I thought my swollen cock might rip through my jeans any second. Eyes on the road, eyes on the road. My hands got sweaty on the wheel, and the tires spun and gravel flew when I turned off the highway onto the dirt road to the ranch. Dane chuckled. I didn’t dare look at him.

  Once we passed the big house, I picked up speed all the way to my place. Then I threw the truck in park and killed the engine.

  “All right,” I said stupidly.

  Dane opened his door and slowly unfolded himself from the cab. I jumped out and led the way toward the cabin.

  Inside, I watched him make a study of my living room. The furniture was leftover from when Gran had lived here: her upholstered couch and afghan, her leather chairs and doilies, her wood stove and ceiling fan. The only things I’d added were a flat-screen TV and a solid, wooden coffee table, and I replaced her embroidered flower pictures with photographs of horses. Doorways from this room led to the kitchen and to the hallway where the bedroom and bathroom were. What was he thinking?

  “You want anything to eat or drink?”

  “No, thanks. I’m good.”

  My heart pounded, loud enough I was sure Dane could hear it. “You want—”

  Without warning he grabbed me around my neck with one huge hand and threw me up against the front door. My hat tumbled to the floor. I was having trouble breathing, and all he was doing was pressing his thumb under my jaw. With his other hand, he grabbed my crotch and slammed my ass against the door too.

  I made myself go perfectly still. He didn’t let up any, but I could tell he’d noticed and seemed pleased.

  “Now, cowboy,” he said slowly, “tell me what your game is. You come on to me in the barn and in your truck, but you dance with Sarah like she means something to you.”

  He moved his thumb a hair so I could get enough breath to answer.

  “You jerk—”

  Just like that, the pressure was back on.

  “Okay,” I rasped. I was not going to gasp out an excuse and sound like a pansy. I waited. I couldn’t breathe and my heart pounded, but I made myself stay still. I knew he wasn’t going to kill me.

  The pressure let up once more, and I took in a controlled breath.

  “Sarah has been my friend forever. My best friend. But I sleep with guys. You don’t want to, I’ll take the couch. It’s up to you.”

  He loosened his grip on my neck, but not on my crotch. And he kept staring at me. I twisted my neck left, then right, then stared back. It took all the courage I had not to look away, but I knew somewhere deep inside that I’d lose something real important if I did.

  He rested his right hand loosely on my shoulder, his thumb stroking my collarbone, and ground his left against my zipper. I moaned and thrust into his hand, then grabbed onto a huge bicep to steady myself. Hot pressure built in my balls and cock.

  “Dane, please….”

  “Quiet,” he snapped. He moved his right hand to my waist. “You stay quiet and do as I say. Open your eyes.”

  I hadn’t realized I’d closed them. He still stared at me intently. He moved his right hand again, down my side to rest on my hip, and his eyes followed, sweeping from my head to my crotch, then staying where they stopped.

  “You are a good-looking thing, cowboy.”

  “I wanna see more of your muscles.”

  He squeezed my hip hard. “I said quiet.”

  I gulped and nodded.

  “Off with the shirt.”

  His order came out with a growl, and he moved back one step to give me room to obey. I tore my shirt out of my pants and worked the buttons with fumbling fingers. When I’d undone the last one, I looked at him again. His jaw hardened.

  “I said off.”

  I took it off. I didn’t look as buff as he did, but I wasn’t embarrassed. Muscling horses and throwing hay bales is a good workout. He looked me over for another long minute, then moved in and swiped his tongue across one of my nipples. It went hard and goose bumpy all at once. I put my hands on his head to keep him there.

  “Hands above your head,” he snapped. “I’ll do the touching.”

  “Do you want me to say yes, sir too?”

  I gasped and my arms flew above my head when he squeezed my balls hard.

  “Okay, okay.”

  He squeezed again, gentler this time, and tongued all around my nipple. I had to remind myself to keep my hands above my head. The position made me feel stupid, but soon enough I forgot that. He was more than arousing me. I whimpered, then squirmed like a kid who had to pee. I wanted him to lick me everywhere. I wanted to touch him. My Wranglers were so tight I started thinking they wouldn’t come off or, worse, that I might come in them.

  “Dane, please.”

  He stepped back, smiling at my discomfort. His eyes blazed hot. Otherwise, he didn’t look bothered.

  “Take off the boots and jeans.”

  I managed the boots with a few hops. The pants and briefs were an undignif
ied struggle.

  “You know, we could go find a bed.” I was standing naked against my front door, my cock red and stiff as a fence pole, while he still had all his clothes on. It was embarrassing. But then I saw the bulge in his jeans and smiled.

  He stepped toward me again and ran a hand down my jaw. “Yeah, cowboy, you be proud,” he teased.

  His mouth fell on mine, his tongue pushing inside, deep in my throat, running along my teeth, teasing along my tongue. He smelled woodsy and tasted sweet and beery. His stubble scratched my face, and the tingle made my cock throb. I relaxed and let him do whatever he wanted.

  I brought my hands to rest on his waist, and I burrowed under his shirt to feel skin. Wherever I touched, he had muscles. Hard, smooth, powerful. I slid my hands lower to feel his ass. More muscles, flexing now as he pumped and rubbed his denim-packed cock against my bare one. The touch of the scratchy fabric made mine weep. I squeezed a handful of his ass. It was like grabbing steel. I moaned.

  “You. Naked. Now,” I mumbled, frantically working his belt buckle.

  He froze. “What did I say you were supposed to do?”

  My hands began to tremble.

  “N-nothing. Not talk.”

  “And are you doing it?”

  “Sorry, sorry.”

  He ran a finger down my cheek. His lips whispered across mine. “Now, do as I say.”

  I nodded.

  He smiled. “Don’t move.”

  He dropped to his knees and flicked his tongue across me. I thought I was gonna die. It had been so long. I fell back against the door, and he grabbed my waist and held me up.

  “Hands behind your head.”

  He looked up to make sure I did it, then lowered his mouth to my cock again.

  “Mmmm,” he moaned, the sound vibrating down to my balls. My prick jumped like it had a life of its own.

  His tongue was all over me, licking up the front, twirling around the head, pushing into the slit. He nipped me all the way back down, then sucked one of my balls into his mouth. A shiver like electricity shot through me. I squirmed some more and slammed my arms into the door to keep from grabbing his hair, afraid he’d stop if I did.

  When he began to do everything all over again, I had to push him away from me.

  “Stop or I’ll come.”

  He ignored me and continued his tongue’s wicked assault.

  A growl punched through my clenched teeth as I exploded, long spurts shooting down his throat. He groaned and kept swallowing and sucking and holding me up.

  When I was aware of myself again, he was kissing up and down my cock, whispering, “Good, so good.”

  I played my fingers through his coarse hair, petting him, and he rubbed his stubbly chin across my stomach. I made to slide down to my knees, and he sat back on his heels to let me. I started working his shirt buttons.

  “You now. I want to see and touch you.”

  He held his arms out so I could remove his shirt. The yellow porch light streaming in the door window was all I had to see by, but it was enough. He was beautiful.

  He watched as I moved my hands slowly over his chest and down his chiseled abs. To my calloused fingers, his skin felt smooth, the muscles underneath rock hard. I stopped when I hit a rough patch on his right side. It was large, and I retraced it.

  “Roadside bomb,” he said.

  I looked up in surprise. He was staring into the dark, like he was seeing something far away. Then he blinked and cocked his head.

  “Keep going.”

  He let me push him down to the floor. I crawled up his legs, sat on his thighs, and kept exploring, and he let me. Soon I found another, smaller punctuation of scar tissue.

  “Bullet.”

  Pictures of what he must have been through flooded my mind, images from every war movie I’d ever seen. Explosions, bursts of gunfire. I closed my eyes to stop them.

  “Don’t think about it. Keep going.” I felt his hands warm on mine, urging me to move them again.

  When I did, he dropped his hands to his zipper and undid it. I eased his jeans down his hips, sliding my hands down muscled thighs and more scars. Jeez, how many did he have?

  But I didn’t go there. I concentrated on his hard, flat stomach. I began kissing my way to the coarse dark hair that made a neat mat below his belly button. My chin bumped into his cock, and it jerked. Like him, it was big and powerful. I ran my fingers up and down it once, twice.

  “Yes.” I don’t know which of us said it.

  I closed my fist around the wide base and took his tip between my lips, mouthing it like the top of an ice cream cone I wanted a bite of. He groaned and pumped his hips, and I smiled. It was power like you had over a horse, having this effect on a man.

  He smelled of musk, and I inhaled deeply. I kept pumping and licking and sucking him. I got lost in it, moving against the smooth skin, tasting the bitterness of his precum until his hands pulled me off him.

  “I want to fuck your ass, cowboy. Where’s the supplies?”

  “Bedroom.”

  He pulled me up and pushed me down the hall, following right behind. A hard swat fell across my butt.

  “Hey!” It stung and made me hard both.

  “What you going to do about it?”

  He laughed, and God, it sounded good. I wanted to make him laugh for days. Then maybe he’d forget what had caused the scars and made his eyes so scary.

  I led the way into my room and opened the nightstand next to the bed. I’d just managed to grab the lube and some condoms when he heaved me up and set me on all fours on the bed like I weighed no more than Steve Sanderson.

  “Pretty,” he sighed. “Stay that way, cowboy. No, wait. I think I’ll have some of this first.”

  He spread my ass and licked down my crack. I groaned.

  “Oh, man, this is going to be the best night of my life.” It came out before I could stop it.

  He laughed, and I realized how dumb I was.

  “Crap.” I dipped my head to the bedspread and covered it with my arms.

  “That’s kind of cute.”

  “Cute?” I started to crawl across the bed, trying to flee to someplace to hide my embarrassment. He reached out and grabbed me.

  “Oh, no. You stay right here for the best night of your life.”

  I felt one hand stroke my ass while the fingers of the other began to tease my hole. I shivered all over, and he laughed again. He punched a finger through and withdrew it. The pang of pain was followed by hollow emptiness.

  “Dane… please.”

  “Please what, cowboy?”

  He slipped his finger inside me deep, then stilled.

  My gut jumped and I grasped at the sheets. “Dane.” It was all I could manage to say.

  He twisted his finger and curled it, scraping my prostate as he withdrew. I yelped and jumped, and he laughed again.

  Then he probed my hole with two fingers, dipping in, stretching me, and withdrawing, repeating the pattern over and over, getting me ready. I groaned my pleasure.

  “Mmmm,” he answered.

  Cool lube hit my crack, followed by the sound of the condom packet tearing. He spread me wide, and I felt his cock poke me and plunge in. The sharp pain burned, and I gasped. God, but he was big.

  He stilled and began to rub soft, warm circles across my back.

  “Tell me when,” he breathed. “But don’t make me wait too long. Fuck, cowboy, you feel good.”

  Heat spread through my insides, burning me everywhere in a good way, and I grinned like a fool.

  “Okay. It’s okay.”

  He moved, a gentle rocking that eased into slow, long pushes and pulls that lit up every nerve ending I had. When he sped up, his balls slapped my ass, and I bounced across the bed until I had to grip the headboard to keep from hitting the wall.

  Groans and grunts and smells of sweat and sex filled the room. He grabbed my hips and pulled me up higher so every thrust hit my prostate. I yelped.

  “Nice, isn’t it?”
His chuckle melted into grunts again.

  I could barely manage a moan in reply. I was lost in a rush of intense sensations spiraling high toward a peak I wanted to throw myself off of.

  “Oh yes, you are one nice, tight ass.”

  He reached around and grabbed me. I was hard again.

  “Bet you could come again, couldn’t you?”

  “Yes.” I thrust back and forth between his gripping fingers and the fat cock that impaled me. Then he began to thrust again and rub my dick fast and hard in the same rhythm.

  “Now you do it,” he ordered, gripping my hips hard with both hands and snapping his torso into my ass.

  I shot as soon as I grabbed myself, shuddering hard and pumping strings of cum across my chest and stomach.

  Dane thrust deep twice more and froze. Giving a strangled growl, he spurted hard into the condom, then collapsed across my back without warning, smashing me into the bed. His quick breaths tickled my ear.

  Soon enough, he rolled to lie beside me on his back, his chest heaving up and down as he dragged in air.

  “Bathroom?”

  “Down the hall.”

  “Be back.”

  I didn’t move. When he returned, he wiped a warm washcloth down my ass, then pulled the blanket at the bottom of the bed across me. He slipped in next to me to lie on his back, and I moved over against him, draping my arm across his stomach. He pulled me close with a hand that stayed possessively on my ass. I was crazy happy sated just listening to him breathe. Pretty soon, the evenness told me he was asleep.

  “This was the best,” I whispered when I knew he couldn’t hear. But I should have known, worst follows best a lot of the time.

  I SLID out of bed early and went into the kitchen. I put on the coffee and started making blueberry pancakes and bacon. I thought the smell would lure Dane in, but he didn’t appear, so I went back to the bedroom to check on him.

  He was still asleep, but he was mumbling now, tense and agitated, sweat beaded across his face. I leaned over and touched his shoulder to wake him.

  “Dane? Dane, breakfast is—”

  He sprang at me with a startled cry and knocked me over. Before I could say anything more, we were both on the floor, him on top of me throwing painful punches to my gut.