by BA Tortuga
“God. Ap. That makes me dizzy.”
“You deserve to be made dizzy.”
“I do?”
“Yes.” Ap kissed the wet nape of Trey’s neck. “You’re sexy as hell, baby, and mine. I intend to keep you, you know.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Ap. You don’t have to keep me. I’ll be here for you.”
“Hey.” Okay, that was the last straw. “We need to talk about some things, I think.”
He could feel Trey begin to tense. “Sure, man. No problem.”
“Shh. I’m not going anywhere, and no one did anything wrong, that I can tell. I just—we need it.”
“What do you need to say, then?” Trey was trying not to be ugly, he could tell, and he appreciated it. Lord knew, they didn’t have a lot of experience in talking. Hell, they both had been carrying a torch—Trey damn near religiously—and neither one had so much as said boo.
They had to do it. They had to say things, or they were going to fuck this up. That was what had happened years ago. They’d just been kids, but they should have talked over that huge span of time.
“You can’t keep putting yourself down and thinking I just want to be with you when I’m off the road. It ain’t true.”
“I… I just let myself be all stupid, is all. It’s been amazing, having you here—another adult, another person to work with, someone to make love to.”
“So, why are you so mad?” That just burst out, not at all what he’d planned to say.
“Because you’re waiting to leave. I’m having fantasies of being together, and you’re already on the road. I’m a fool.” Trey turned the water off, stepped out of the shower, and grabbed a towel.
He almost slipped and killed himself getting out after Trey. “What? I mean, last I looked, I was still right here?”
“I know, but it’s like you said, you’re ready to go.” Trey wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I don’t blame you. You… you get to go and see. I’m so jealous. So proud too. Always.”
“I’m not already on the road. I’m—is this because of what I said in the barn? Jesus, baby, I was just pissed off. I didn’t mean it.” Not to mention that he wasn’t good enough to do anything else.
Trey sighed softly. “I was in the barn having fantasies. I… I want to work next to you, raise the babies, raise bulls. I’m tired of going it alone.”
“Okay.” He pulled Trey down on the bed to sit, despite them both being dripping wet. “What’s wrong with that?” He wanted that too. So much. He wasn’t sure what he could do to help keep them afloat, though.
“Nothing. Nothing. I think we could have a going thing. I’m doing good in the futurities, and with your contacts and experience, hell, your name, we could make something amazing.”
Ap blinked. “You mean there’s a use for me?” He chuckled. “Who knew?”
“You know bulls; you know the sponsors, the stock contractors—I… I’m real tired of working alone.”
“I just… I never thought there was anything for me to do here, baby. I thought I could make better money on the road.” He spread his hands. “Are we gonna be okay without that money?”
“I ain’t used your money since the start, barring an emergency, and I’ve put it back in.”
He shook his head. “Does that mean we’re idiots?”
Trey snorted. “No, it means you’ve paid for five kids to go to college. For a new roof when we needed it. For that bucking bull so I didn’t have to pay interest on a real loan, just pay back the emergency fund.”
He searched Trey’s face. “For real?”
“Yeah. For real. I just… I want you. Here. Home. Together with me and all.” Trey’s expression was about as honest as they came.
“That’s what I want too. I can’t promise I won’t do local stuff….” He grinned when Trey took a swat. “I’m tired of sleeping in my truck.”
“We can all come sometimes, cheer you on.”
“I would love that.” He sat there, feeling a little stunned. “Can we really do this?”
“I can.” Trey finally, blessedly, looked at him, met his eyes, smiled. “I can do this with you, long-term.”
“Then I’m in.” He reached out to cup Trey’s cheek with his palm. “No more putting yourself down. You’re the core of this family, the strongest man I know. The best man I know. You gave up your whole life for Danny’s babies. You… damn, baby. I love you.”
That dark blush told him Trey had needed to hear that, had needed to hear him say it.
“I mean it, okay?” He wanted Trey to nod or say something to agree, just so he could see Trey knew he was serious.
“Thank you.” Trey blinked a couple of times before just surging forward, kissing him hard.
He threw his arms around his cowboy and kissed back, feeling like he was in a movie or something. He’d never been so damn happy.
“Our room. Our bed. Ours.” Trey covered him, threatening to squish him. “Our kids.”
“Our house. My cowboy.” He hugged Trey down to him. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you. It’s still snowing.”
Yeah, it was still snowing, all their kids were snug abed, and they had all the food they could eat. “Sounds like a good Christmas Eve brewing.”
“Mm-hmm. It does.” Trey threw the heavy comforter over them, cocooning them. “If I get you off tonight, will you make me waffles in the morning?”
“I will make you anything you want.” Ap chuckled. “Well, as long as we have it in the house. I’m not driving in this shit.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
THE snow stopped about twilight Christmas Eve, and Cole and Ap went with Trey to do the nighttime feeding, make sure all the critters were snug. Those clouds were clearing, and it was going to be bitter by dawn.
The Christmas lights reflected off the snow, the smell of piñon sharp on the air. Lord, it was a New Mexico Christmas.
There was posole in the Crock-Pot, tamales and biscochitos on plates on the counter, where the dogs couldn’t reach.
The girls were all curled up together, and Braden was wrapping the last-minute presents from the kids.
“You look all smug, Uncle Daddy.” Cole sounded altogether too damn knowing for a kid who was sixteen.
“Do I? I’m happy, son.”
“That’s good, right? You need that.”
“Yeah. Yeah. I do.”
“What does that mean for us? I mean, us kids?”
“It means I’m staying home a lot more. That I’ll ride the local circuit when I want to. That y’all better get used to having me around.” Ap’s words made his heart pound a little faster.
“Hey, I can handle it. Not so much driving!” Cole chortled. “Merry Christmas to me.”
“Listen to you. Go feed those damn ostriches.”
Ap groaned. “I want to discuss those huge evil dinosaur chickens, Cole.”
Cole raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”
“I think you should sell them.”
Cole looked to Trey questioningly.
“That’s up to you, son. They’re yours. You might listen to what Ap has to say.”
“They’re eating feed and hurting people. What if one of them hurt Bella or something? I think I could help find a buyer who would get you enough money to buy new tires and more.”
Trey hid his smile as Cole’s eyes lit up. “Yeah? I could use tires, for real. Maybe get a calf too?”
“I bet.” Ap grinned, looking tickled as a pig in shit. “So it’s okay if I make some calls?”
“Yeah. Yeah. That would rock, thanks.” Cole bounced in his boots.
“All right, let’s get this done. I need coffee and posole.”
“Me too.” Ap was a little bouncy too. “And cookies. Amelia has been busy.”
“She’s really getting this cookie thing down.” He was proud of her.
“Yeah, she—”
They all turned as the barn door opened. “I’m coming to help.”
Bella.
&nb
sp; Their cowgirl.
He looked to Ap. Ap looked at him, and they both turned to Bella, who was wearing her helmet.
“You can fill buckets, but no going in the stalls, kiddo,” Ap said finally.
“Yes, sir.” She smiled at Ap. “A cowboy takes care of her animals. Especially baby yaks.”
“She’s yours, Ap. To the bone.”
“They all are. They’re ours. Come on, y’all. It’s friggin’ cold out here.”
They got the work done, because the ranch came first, but they didn’t have to yell at Bella, so he would take it. They all hurried to get inside, because even the dogs wouldn’t come out with them tonight.
They got in, finding Court and Amelia setting the table, Braden’s phone playing Christmas carols as he made cocoa.
That was Christmas right there. His kids all there and safe, his lover with him. Ap was laughing, teasing the corgis and the lab who had appeared last week with a nonchocolate cookie.
Courtney came to him, arms up and open. He grabbed her up. “Hey, baby girl. You happy?”
“Uh-huh. Santa Claus comes tonight.”
“He does.”
“You look happy too. Did you know Cole got mistletoe?”
“Did he now?”
“Uh-huh. He kissed his girlfriend.”
“Where did he hide it?”
“He didn’t. He hanged it there.” She pointed to the doorway to the laundry room.
Trey leaned in, whispering in her ear. “Do me a favor, baby girl?”
She nodded, so eager to help.
“Go get your Uncle Ap and bring him to the laundry room?”
Her pretty eyes went wide. “Are you going to kiss him?”
“I am.”
“Wow. Okay!” She hopped out of his arms, made a beeline for Ap.
Trey moved to stand under the mistletoe while Court yanked at Ap’s hand. “Uncle Daddy needs you!”
“Yeah? Is he okay?” Ap was smiling at Courtney, not looking toward him yet.
“Yes! He wants to kiss you!”
All eyes moved to Trey, the doorway, the mistletoe.
He forced himself not to shy away. Start out like you can hold out. The kids needed to see this, to know it was normal.
Ap laughed. “Well, now you’re talking.” He stormed over to twirl Trey into his arms, taking a dramatic kiss.
“Ew!” Braden and Bella both started gagging, while Cole got the little ones settled at the table for their Christmas Eve supper.
“Merry Christmas, Ap.”
“Merry Christmas, baby.” Ap kissed him one more time. “I can’t wait for our happy New Year.”
“For all the happy New Years to come. We’ve got a lot of babies to raise.”
“Hey, I’ve got your back.” Ap was going to be a handful if the way he goosed Trey was any indication.
Good thing he was an expert at handling everything that went on around here, from babies to yaks to those crazy rodeo cowboys.
BA TORTUGA, Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, spends her days with her basset hounds, getting tattooed, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting, and surfing Pinterest in the name of research. BA’s personal saviors include her wife, Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.
Having written everything from fist-fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but has heard the call of the high desert and lives in the Sandias. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery ménages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeonholed by anyone but the voices in her head.
Website: www.batortuga.com
Blog: batortuga.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/batortuga
Twitter: @batortuga
By BA Tortuga
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
#6 – Trial by Fire
#30 – Two Cowboys and a Baby
#53 – Cowboy in the Crosshairs
#65 – Two of a Kind
LEANING N
#16 – Commitment Ranch
#42 – Finding Mr. Wright
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
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Coming in October 2018
Dreamspun Desires #67
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For a singer and a spy, love might be mission impossible.
Jaxon Powers has what most only dream of. Fame. Fortune. Gold records and Grammy awards. Lavish hotel suites and an endless parade of eager bedmates. He’s adored all over the world—even in the remote, repressive country of Vasnytsia, where the tyrannical dictator is a big fan. The State Department hopes a performance might improve US relations with a dangerous enemy. But it means Jaxon’s going in alone… with one exception.
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A fragile heart needs extra care.
Burned-out social worker Aaron McCoy is on vacation for the first time in years—boss’s orders. Road-tripping to his brother’s wedding with his best friend, Tyler, seems a fun way to spend the mandatory two-week leave, and they set out for Kansas—and a difficult homecoming.
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Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Two of a Kind
© 2018 BA Tortuga.
Cover Art
© 2018 Alexandria Corza.
http://www.seeingstatic.com/
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-725-9
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64108-102-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934246
Digital published September 2018
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America