Beneath him, Jasper’s eyelids had lowered, his eyes already glazed with passion. “I wanted you to look forward to me coming home.”
“When have I ever not?” He slanted his mouth over Jasper’s, his tongue demanding and receiving entry, ravishing his mouth until his lips were swollen from his kisses. Jasper lived in fear. Gregorio knew the feeling well, although for different reasons. He spent his own life living a double lie, never able to confess his secrets to anyone until he met Jasper.
Jasper was haunted by screams in the night only he could hear, dreams that woke him bathed in sweat even on the coolest nights, his face wet with tears as Gregorio held him and soothed him back to sleep.
Gregorio worked his way down his lover’s body, biting at pink nipples contrasted against pale skin, following the light trail of hair that led from his navel to the now-stiff cock proudly standing away from his body. When he freed Jasper’s wrists, Jasper immediately reached down to hold on to his shoulders, his hair, any part of him he could, needing the contact.
He palmed Jasper’s sac, the soft, warm weight comfortable in his hand, crinkled hair soft against his palm. “Tell me what you want,” he said, teasing him.
Jasper threw his head back and moaned. “I want you.”
Gregorio wrapped his fingers around Jasper’s cock and teased him, slowly stroking, before finally lowering his mouth to it and licking at his slit.
Jasper’s hands fisted in the sheets. “Yes! More, please!”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Ai, papi, I could do this all night to you. I love making you moan.” He engulfed Jasper’s cock again, slowly sucking and licking, taking his time exploring the ridge with his tongue and teasing him into a frenzy. He used one hand on the base of Jasper’s shaft and the other on his sac. He felt the other man’s release build, his balls drawing up tight and hot in his hand, his body growing rigid until he finally let go with a cry.
Ropes of tangy seed exploded from Jasper’s cock. He eagerly swallowed him, licking and sucking until Jasper lay limp and whimpering in their bed.
He crawled up their bed to lie next to him, cradling him in his arms. Jasper slung one arm over his waist, clinging to him, their skin damp with sweat.
Finally, after a few minutes, Gregorio ran his fingers through Jasper’s curls. “Good?”
“Yeah. Always.”
His own cock twitched as he stared at Jasper’s sweet lips. “When you’re recovered, I have something for you, too.”
Jasper rolled on top of him and kissed him before working his way down his body. As the storm intensified outside, rain loudly pelting against the tin roof like buckshot, he spread his legs and drew his knees up a little. He wanted Jasper’s hot mouth on him, there, now.
He took the hint and licked his sac, engulfing his balls with his sweet lips as his fingers stroked Goyo’s shaft.
Thrusting his hips, Goyo reached down and found Jasper’s head. His fingers twined in his curls. “Still a tease? Don’t torment me, papi. I need you.”
Then Jasper sucked his shaft down his throat, deep-throating him and drawing a soft cry from Gregorio. He grabbed Jasper’s head with both hands and thrust his hips as Jasper kept up with him. His balls tightened, his climax rolling down his body and out his prick as he exploded with a cry.
Only when the last wave of his orgasm eased did he relax his grip, finally coaxing Jasper up the bed and back into his arms. Gregorio kissed him and stroked his cheek. He lifted his head to look down into Jasper’s brown eyes. “I love you.”
Jasper smiled. “I love you, too.” His smile faltered. “I don’t ever want to lose you.”
He held him tighter. “You’re not losing me. Never. Someone has to keep an eye out for you, keep you from doing something stupid like wanting to kill yourself again. Besides, who else would keep me out of trouble if I didn’t have you? No, papi, you’re stuck with me for as long as you’ll keep my half-breed self around.”
They snuggled together like that for a while longer as the storm wound down outside. Gregorio felt the tension in the air, the barometer dropping without a doubt. After the rain faded to nothing more than drips on the roof from overhanging oak trees, he gently nudged Jasper. “I think we have a problem.”
Jasper didn’t open his eyes. “I’ll take care of the shutters on the house,” he muttered, “if you want to start securing the barn.”
“How do you always know what I’m thinking?”
Jasper opened his eyes then and sadly smiled. “You didn’t know my wife.” With that cryptic comment he sat up, swung out of bed, and started pulling on his clothes.
Chapter Two
Callie swore a less than ladylike oath as she took shelter from the rain under a thick stand of oak trees. The long duster coat she wore wasn’t much shelter from the rain, but she toughed it out. By her best guess, she still had two miles to slog down the now muddy road until she reached the turnoff to the Coval Ranch. The man at the feed store said Jasper Collins had been in just that morning looking for another ranch hand. Florida was a fair sight hotter and more humid than Tennessee, but how different could working cattle in palmetto prairie and pine woods be than taking care of a hilly farm?
Her palms ached and chafed from the carpetbag handles. She had a pair of leather work gloves, but those had grown hot as she walked, making her palms slick with sweat. It was almost better to not wear them.
She should have purchased a horse in town and now cursed herself for not doing it. But she was low on money and didn’t want to resort to selling any of the jewelry yet. Not to mention she didn’t want to leave a trail her step-father could easily follow in this small town.
When the rain let up, Callie emerged from the woods and returned to the road, thankful at least for her well-fitting boots, one of the things she’d brought with her from home. She didn’t have to add wet feet to her growing list of complaints. As the sun came out, turning a hot day steamingly muggy despite the increasing breeze, she had to stop and remove the duster and tuck it into one of the bags. She’d sold all but one of her dresses that she’d taken from home with her, which weren’t worth much anyway, to help pay for the men’s clothes. She’d taken precautions to sell her other dresses at a different store than where she bought the men’s clothes. She told the store owner the clothes were for her twin brother, hence the size. When she’d left home, she’d also taken two pairs of her father’s trousers, which she’d been using as work pants after hemming them and taking in the waist.
Now it didn’t matter if she had dresses. She needed to work, and she wouldn’t be able to get a decent job if people knew she was a woman. She already discovered lying about her age, saying she was only sixteen instead of twenty, easily fooled people into believing she was a boy. It explained her voice and the lack of stubble on her face.
Another rainstorm blew through. She managed to put on the duster before her clothes got soaked again. This time when the rain ended the sky stayed dark, overcast, still threatening more rain.
Unease settled over her. While she wouldn’t say she was familiar with Florida weather patterns, the air didn’t even feel right. It reminded her of a bad summer storm two years earlier where tornadoes swept through the next town over. Spared her farm, but the nasty feel in the air stayed with her for days.
Despite her aching palms she slogged on. Hopefully, even if Collins didn’t hire her, maybe he’d at least let her sit in his front parlor and wait out the rain. At this rate she’d be happy for a straw bed in a dry barn. Thunder boomed overhead, making her jump. The land had opened up a little, thinner pine woods eking out the denser stands of live oak. Up ahead in the distance, she saw what appeared to be the start of a fence line. The feed store clerk had told her once she reached that she had another two miles or so until the turn-off to the Coval Ranch.
At least it was progress.
She’d exchanged her cloth cap for a battered brimmed hat during the first deluge. It kept the rain off her face, at least, but it didn’t stop the w
ater rolling down the back of her coat.
Sodden, miserable, and now hungry as well, she soldiered on.
* * * *
The men stood on the porch and watched as the wind picked up. They’d run the horses out of the barn and into the smaller pasture with their two milk cows. There were several thick stands of oaks the livestock could seek shelter under, but the worst place for them if this was a hurricane would be the barn. At least out there they could fend for themselves. The pigs and chickens would take shelter under the house. They allowed the two dogs inside the house, where they curled up on an old burlap sack in the corner of the front room. The fact that the dogs wanted to be inside at all made the men nervous.
“Well?” Jasper asked.
Gregorio grimly nodded. “Yep. I think we’re in for a blow.”
Jasper pulled out his watch and looked at it before winding it. A little after three in the afternoon, and already the skies had darkened almost to dusk. “It’ll get dark early tonight. I hope the worst blows through before then.”
“That makes two of us.”
They walked inside. Wind blew through the passageway connecting the newer kitchen addition to the rest of the house, carrying wet mist into the dining room. Jasper closed and bolted the door to the hallway. “Maybe we’d better eat supper sooner than later.”
“I’ll get it.” Gregorio unbolted the door but closed it behind him. A few minutes later he returned with a loaf of bread and what was left of the stew from the night before from their icebox. They’d enjoyed the luxury since they purchased it and the stove four months earlier when they built the kitchen. “I have a feeling they won’t be getting many ice shipments from Tampa over the next few weeks if this storm is bad. Good thing you brought more home. We’ll be able to eat up what’s still in there before it spoils.”
Jasper laughed. “You’re spoiled.”
“Damn right I am.” He ladled out a bowl of cold stew and ripped into it.
He loved to watch Goyo eat, how he hunched over his food as if he’d rip your arm off if you tried to take it from him.
He swiveled his blue eyes. “You gonna stare or eat?”
“I’m going to eat. Then I’m going to eat you.”
Goyo smiled. “That’s my kind of dessert, papi.”
* * * *
With the wind now howling outside the closed shutters, there wasn’t much they could do except wait and pray. The men had seen worse. Since the wind didn’t appear to be growing much in strength, and if no tornadoes spun out of the storm, maybe they’d escape with little damage or loss to the herd. After they finished eating they let the dogs have the scraps before they returned to their bedroom.
Jasper sat on the edge of their bed and pulled Goyo to him, so he stood between his legs. “As good excuse as any to get you back into bed,” Jasper teased.
“Since when do you need an excuse?”
Jasper’s fingers nimbly unfastened Goyo’s trousers, the task made more difficult as the man’s cock hardened and fought for escape. “For you, I never need an excuse.”
Goyo shrugged off his suspenders and kicked off his boots. “You’re gonna wear me out, papi.”
“You complaining?”
“Never.” He ran his hands through Jasper’s curly hair and held him close.
Jasper kissed his smooth, firm stomach, dipping his head and following the slim trail of dark hair from his navel to between his legs. He tasted salty, warm, sweet. His hands grabbed Goyo’s cheeks, his palms smoothing over the firm globes of his ass. He teased him, blowing soft breaths over Goyo’s cock without taking him into his mouth. “I want you inside me,” he murmured against Goyo’s skin. “Please.”
Goyo unbuttoned his shirt. “Then we’d better get you out of those clothes.” He dropped his shirt to the floor and reached over to unbutton Jasper’s.
Jasper closed his eyes and enjoyed letting go under Goyo’s firm hands. He sat there as Goyo pushed his shirt and suspenders down his shoulders and leaned in, nipping at his bared shoulders. The shiver he felt wasn’t due to the warm air. He tipped his head to the side as Goyo worked his way up Jasper’s neck. Jasper’s lips parted, his breath quickening as Goyo’s teeth scraped along his flesh.
“I love you, papi,” Goyo rumbled against his throat. “I’m gonna fuck you real good and show you how much.”
Jasper’s cock throbbed, restrained by his trousers. His hand found Goyo’s cock and he stroked it, slicking the drops of pre-come already weeping from the end over the head.
“You do that, you’re gonna get fucked real hard,” Goyo warned.
“I hope so.”
Goyo’s rumbling chuckle vibrated through Jasper. Goyo pushed him back onto the bed and reached for his trousers. “Can’t do nothing until we get you naked.”
Jasper closed his eyes and lifted his hips so Goyo could strip him. When he lay naked on top of the sheets, Goyo’s hands sensuously stroked his chest, his arms, his abdomen, down to his stiff cock, which he squeezed. Goyo reached for the jar of lotion on the table. “Lift your legs. I want you like this.”
He pulled his legs up to his chest, leaving his ass wide open and vulnerable.
Goyo grunted appreciatively. “That’s just what I wanted.” He stroked Jasper’s cock and sac for a moment before scooping out some of the lotion and rubbing it on his cock, slicking his member before rubbing some along Jasper’s puckered rim.
Jasper didn’t bother holding back his moan as he felt Goyo’s finger probe his ass.
“You like that, don’t you? I know you do. I’ve got something for you even better.” He withdrew his fingers and replaced them with the head of his cock. “Open your eyes, baby. Look at me.”
Jasper forced his eyes open. Goyo’s blue gaze ensnared him. He tipped his hips up to give Goyo better access. Feeling that, Goyo pressed forward slowly, sliding his cock deep inside Jasper until buried up to the hilt inside him.
Goyo closed his eyes as he tried to maintain control. “I wish I could stay right here all the time. Dammit, you feel so good!”
Jasper wrapped his legs around Goyo’s waist. “Don’t leave me like this, please! Fuck me!”
Goyo smiled. “I’m gonna fuck you real good, papi. Real good.” He slowly withdrew until just the head of his cock remained inside Jasper before plunging hard and deep inside him again, making Jasper moan. He repeated the motion, long, slow withdrawal followed by a hard, quick thrust, until Jasper squirmed on the bed beneath him. Every inward thrust hit that sweet spot within him, driving him closer to the edge.
Goyo opened his eyes and reached between Jasper’s legs. He wrapped his fingers around his cock. “Come for me, Jaz.” He stroked him. “Come hard for me.” He timed his thrusts with every stroke of his hand until Jasper finally threw back his head and cried out as his orgasm hit him, spilling his hot seed all over his lover’s hand.
“That’s it,” Goyo said. He grabbed Jasper’s hips and started thrusting, hard and fast, the entire bed shaking with the force until he felt his own release rolling through him. With one final, hard stroke he climaxed, trembling from the force of it as he leaned on Jasper for support until he could catch his breath. He carefully withdrew and rolled over onto the bed next to Jasper.
He kissed him. “That was damn good,” Jasper said with a smile. Thunder crashed outside, making them both look at the ceiling and bringing them back to the present, to the fact that a storm raged outside.
“I think I’m ready for a nap,” Goyo said, his eyes already drifting closed.
He felt Jasper get out of bed and heard him walk out of the bedroom, then the squeak of the hand pump in the wash room. He returned a moment later with a wet cloth and cleaned them both up. Then they curled up together in bed.
“A nap sounds real good,” Jasper agreed, already drifting to sleep in Goyo’s arms.
Chapter Three
This isn’t a normal storm.
Callie thought that while she slogged through the deluge as horizontal rain pelted her
face, stinging as it hit her cheeks. She had no idea how long she walked, her head bowed against the storm, thankful for the tie on her hat holding it to her head. The light darkened to a greenish-grey she didn’t like at all, but she struggled on against the wind. There was no shelter to be had.
Finally, in the dim light, as the wind picked up and howled around her, she found a break in the fence line. One of three small, neatly-lettered signs nailed to a pine tree read “Coval Ranch” with an arrow pointing down the track.
Oh, thank goodness!
She warily eyed the tall slash pines lining the rough track curving out of sight into the dim light. It wasn’t so much lightning she feared now as the wildly thrashing trees themselves, bending and swaying in the wind with dangerous-sounding cracks and groans, as if the very Earth were being tugged at and in misery.
From across the road, she heard a loud crack, followed by a long groan and a crash of the wind snapping a tree and sending it to the ground.
The sound spurred her courage, and she set off down the road. The clerk told her it was another mile or so down this trail until she reached the Coval place.
Her hands slowly went numb as she shivered. Now thoroughly soaked through to her skin, she felt utterly miserable. She wished she’d spent another night at the boarding house in town, in a bed.
In the woods around her she heard more trees loudly crack and give way every few minutes. The wind howled around her, billowing her coat behind her and forcing her to bend into the gale. She’d finally shoved her hat into one of her bags, afraid to lose it and doing her no good anyway.
As she struggled, she cursed her step-father under her breath with every step she won against the storm.
* * * *
Jasper lay awake, one arm curled under his head, his other holding Goyo as he lay snuggled against him. He stared at the ceiling and let the drone of the rain lull him back into memories. Times like this, he struggled not to think about his family. They were dead and gone and never coming back.
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