by Stormy Glenn
“I have a horse.”
Mike’s eyebrows rose. “You have a horse?”
The horse they had been talking about back at the hospital was actually his?
“Well, he’s a foal, but yeah. His mama didn’t take to him and he was going to be put down, so the Blaecleahs gave him to me.”
Mike knew shit about horses, but he knew what he needed to do to make his man happy. “So, I guess we should look for a place with a yard, huh?”
Adam’s mouth dropped open. “You want to put a horse in a yard?”
Mike shrugged. “It could be a big yard.”
The most beautiful sound in the world burst from Adam’s lips. A giggle. His eyes widened and he slapped a hand over his mouth almost immediately.
Mike reached up and pulled Adam’s hand down. “I like hearing your happiness.”
“That wasn’t happiness, Mike,” Adam insisted as his face flushed red. “That was a giggle, and it’s stupid.”
“It’s wonderful, and it was happiness.”
Mike wanted to hear more of it.
“So, tell me about this horse of yours.”
“His name is Cato.”
Mike frowned at the unusual name. He also already knew that. He was there when Adam decided on the name. “Why Cato?”
“It means all-knowing in Latin.”
“Right.” He knew that, as well. Still didn’t explain the strange name. “But why name him that?”
“I figured with him not having a mama and all, he would need all the help he can get.”
That made a little more sense.
“So, you’re going to keep him?”
Adam looked him right in the eyes. “I’m going to try.”
Mike nodded his understanding of the strength of Adam’s words. The man was going to keep the foal. “So, a really large yard then?”
Chapter Seven
Adam shot Mike a look as he tried to figure out what the man’s game was. They weren’t together. What did Mike care if he had a yard or not? They weren’t likely to be together, either. Mike lived and worked in the city. Adam was giving serious thought to moving back to Cade Creek. And there was that whole pesky trust issue between them.
“My brother can probably keep the colt until I find something big enough to hold Cato.”
“Does that mean you’re staying in Cade Creek?”
“I’m thinking about it,” Adam admitted, watching carefully to see Mike’s reaction. He had no idea why it was so important to him, but it was.
“I like Cade Creek. There’s good people here.”
Adam continued to watch Mike, waiting for him to say more, but the man remained quiet. He wasn’t sure what that meant, or even if it meant anything. Maybe Mike had nothing else to say. Or maybe, he had something to say, but wasn’t sure how to say it. Adam just didn’t know.
It probably meant nothing.
Adam turned and looked out the window. His attraction to Mike was almost an obsession. He had spent so many hours with tears in his eyes and a heavy heart, thinking the man was dead. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel now that he knew Mike was alive.
Sure, joy was the first emotion that hit him, joy that Mike was alive and breathing. But that had so quickly been followed by sadness and overwhelming bitterness over the betrayal he felt. It made him uncertain about how he was supposed to feel.
Falling in love wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Adam knew that deep down in his soul. Everyone went through hardships. Hell, half the couples in Cade Creek went through some sort of crap before they found their happy-ever-after endings.
But was it supposed to be this painful?
Adam felt as if he was drowning in a sea of confusion and heartache. He wanted to grab a hold of Mike and never let him go. He also wanted to shake the man until his teeth rattled. The two desires were warring with each other, so much so that Adam’s gut was one big knot.
“Well, your car is still here,” Adam said when they pulled into the gravel parking lot of the Rusty Nail Bar and Grill.
“Harvey said he’d keep an eye on it.”
Adam held his hand out. “Give me your keys. I’ll go warm it up while you tell Harvey we’re here.”
Mike nodded as he dug into his pocket for the keys. “I shouldn’t be long.”
Adam was glad he wasn’t the one going to talk to Harvey. The man owned and operated a bar. He didn’t have regular hours like most folks. He worked until three or four o’clock in the morning. He slept late. He wasn’t going to be happy being woke up early.
Adam walked over to Mike’s car, unlocked it, and then climbed in. The car roared to life on the first try. Adam adjusted the seat so his feet could touch the pedals. Mike was several inches taller than him. Adam also made sure he could see out of the rearview window and the side mirrors.
It wasn’t a bad little car, but it wasn’t a truck either. If—and Adam hoped there was an if—Mike decided to stay in Cade Creek, he’d need to sell his car and get a truck. As pretty as it was, this was no place for a fancy car.
Adam jerked away from his thoughts when the door opened. He watched Mike climb in, wondering how the man would feel about giving up his car. A lot of people in Cade Creek owned cars, but trucks were more practical.
“Everything go okay?” he asked as Mike put on his seatbelt.
“Yeah.” Mike grinned. “Harvey wasn’t too thrilled about being woken up, but he appreciated me letting him know I was taking the car. I’m pretty sure he would have flipped if he got up and it was just gone.”
Mike didn’t know the half of it. Harvey would have been pissed. Everyone knew not to mess with the cars in his lot. It just wasn’t safe if they wanted to continue to breathe.
Adam got the car underway and started heading back toward Cade Creek. “Where are you staying?”
“Jack Helmond’s old place. He’s renting it to me.”
“For how long?”
Adam knew he shouldn’t have asked the moment the words were out of his mouth. The frown on Mike’s face when he shot him a look said it, as well.
“Until something better comes along or I go back to the city.”
Well, that helped.
Not.
Adam was even more confused now than he had been ten seconds ago. “So, are you staying in Cade Creek then or going home?”
“Depends,” Mike said, again, being oh so helpful.
“On what?” It was like pulling teeth.
“On you, Adam.”
“On me?” Adam glanced at Mike. He quickly corrected when the car swerved before shooting Mike another look. “Why does it depend on me?”
What did he have to do with it?
“If you move back to the city, then I will be back in the city. If you decide to stay in Cade Creek, then I’m staying in Cade Creek.”
Adam really had no response for that. It was what he wanted to hear and made him overjoyed, but he didn’t know what to say. Things between them were tentative at best. For Mike to plan his whole life around where Adam would be was daunting, to say the least.
“I plan to be wherever you are, Adam. It’s as simple as that.”
That was not simple.
“I don’t know where I’m going to be.” He hadn’t decided yet, although he was leaning toward Cade Creek simply because living in the city had started to get to him. Everything was so impersonal there. Here, people knew him, liked him. In the city, no one would care if he died in the middle of the street.
“Well, if my opinion holds any weight, I’d go with Cade Creek.”
Adam’s eyebrows rose. “You’re in favor of living in Cade Creek?”
“I am.”
“Why?” Adam asked. “Isn’t your work and everything in the city?”
“It is, but I can work anywhere.”
Adam blinked in surprise. “The DEA will let you do that?”
Mike smirked. “I didn’t say that.”
Now, it was Adam’s turn to frown, because he was growi
ng more confused by the second. “Then what did you say?”
“I’m saying I can find something here in Cade Creek to do.”
Surprise rippled through Adam. “Why would you do that?”
“What part of this aren’t you getting, Adam?”
“Apparently, all of it.”
Mike’s voice was stern and rough when he ordered, “Pull over.”
Adam shot him a quick glance before maneuvering the car to the shoulder of the road. He put it in park after making sure they were far enough off the road to not be in danger.
And then he turned to look at Mike. There was a definite crease between Mike’s eyes, a sure sign that the man upset. He didn’t look pissed, but he didn’t look happy either.
“What’s going on, Mike?” He had to ask, even if he wasn’t sure Mike would answer him. So much had been kept from him in the past, he couldn’t trust that Mike would tell him everything now. Adam didn’t like the queasiness that settled in his stomach at that thought.
He didn’t like the way Mike pulled his hand down his face. When Mike’s lips pressed into a grim line, the knot in Adam’s stomach tightened. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut?
“Several months ago,” Mike began, “the DEA got a tip that illegal drugs were being sold out of vet clinics throughout the city. I was sent in to figure out where the supply line was coming from. I had already been to a number of clinics when I walked into yours.”
There was something glittering in Mike’s eyes when he turned to look at Adam, something unidentifiable, but it still made Adam swallow hard.
“God, you were so beautiful. You turned and smiled at me and I swear I forgot to breathe. It was all I could do not to kiss you right there and then. It was almost impossible to remember why I was there when all I wanted to do was ask you out on a date.”
Adam smiled as he remembered that initial meeting. “You did ask me out.”
“I wasn’t stupid.” Mike laughed. “I wasn’t going to leave that place without making sure I could see you again.”
“I couldn’t believe you were asking me out.” Mike had walked into the clinic and Adam felt as if he had been stuck on dumb. The man was gorgeous and he had asked Adam out. At the time, Adam hadn’t thought his life could get better, only to learn that wasn’t what he needed to be worrying about. Life had gotten a lot worse. “So, what happened then?”
“I wanted to tell you what was going on, who I was, and what I was doing there, but you hadn’t been cleared.”
Adam gasped. “You thought I was—”
“No, no!” Mike grabbed Adam’s hand. “I knew right away that you had nothing to do with the drugs. You cared too much for the animals you were treating to ever jeopardize the clinic by selling drugs.”
“But?”
“You were still an employee of the clinic, and my boss wouldn’t allow me to tell you what was going on. I might have thought you were innocent, but all I had to go on was my gut, and my superior wanted proof.”
“I don’t like your superior very much.”
“Me either. He’s kind of an asshole. I’ve always suspected that no matter what kind of evidence I had proving your innocence, he still would have said no. The guy’s a bigot.”
Mike grimaced. “It was nothing I had ever been able to prove, but I’m pretty sure the guy hates gays. I had been given my fair share of crap assignments, but no more than anyone else. I had always thought those assignments were just part of being of the team. Now, after hearing what happened to you and the letter, I’m beginning to wonder.”
“Did you ever find out who was selling the drugs?”
“No, I didn’t. When I started to fight my boss on telling you everything, he sent me on a different assignment. That’s when I got shot.”
“And I got told you were dead.”
“Yeah.”
Adam drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Do you think your boss was the one who sent those two guys to lie to me?”
Mike’s frown creased across his forehead. “I’m starting to think so. No one else knew about you except my supervisor. I’m just not sure why he would do something like that. It just doesn’t make sense. If he was found out, he could lose his career.”
“Well, if he thought I might be involved in selling drugs through the clinic, and he felt like we were getting too close, he might have wanted to make sure I didn’t say anything to anyone that might jeopardize the investigation.”
“Yeah, but you don’t tell someone their boyfriend died,” Mike argued. “That’s just wrong.”
“Did he know we were that deeply involved or did he think I was just a booty call?”
“Oh, he knew.” Mike snorted. “I told him that I wanted to…” Mike pressed his lips together before he could finish and glanced out the passenger side window.
“Told him you wanted to what, Mike?”
Mike heaved a deep sigh before turning back toward Adam. He didn’t look directly at him, but down to where their hands were still intertwined. “I told him I wanted to marry you.”
Chapter Eight
Mike had no idea how Adam would take his confession. The man wasn’t saying anything. Mike peeked up at him, then winced at the dropped jaw and wide eyes. “Adam?”
“You wanted to marry me?” Adam whispered.
“Yes.” Mike still did, but he wasn’t sure he should mention that. Adam seemed pretty shocked by his admission. He didn’t know how Adam would take if he knew Mike still planned to marry him. He just had to figure out how to get Adam to agree.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was going to as soon as I got home from my assignment, but then I got hurt and you sent that letter and…” Mike shook his head as he went back to looking out the window. “There didn’t seem to be any point after that.”
“But I didn’t send that letter, Mike. I told you that.”
“No, I know.” When Adam pulled on his hand, Mike released him, even though it ached to do so.
“Do you believe me?”
Mike snapped his eyes up, meeting Adam’s. He didn’t like the uncertainty gleaming in their depths. “Of course I believe you, Adam. You’ve never lied to me.”
Surprisingly, Adam’s eyes widened even more. “You have that much faith in me?”
“Adam, if I didn’t have faith in you, I never would have wanted to marry you.”
Mike wasn’t prepared for Adam to lunge across the seat and smash their lips together, but he wasn’t going to fight it, either. He finally had Adam right where he wanted him. Well, almost where he wanted him. Home in his bed would have been better.
He leaned into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Adam and holding him as close as he could. The press of Adam’s body against him hardened his cock until it was a lead pipe. Mike groaned at the heady feeling.
“Come home with me, baby,” he whispered against Adam’s lips, refusing to break the contact. “Please.”
“Okay.”
Mike blinked and pulled back. “Okay?”
Just okay?
Adam grinned, but didn’t say anything. He just scooted back across the seat and put the car back into drive. Mike leaned back and watched Adam drive, unwilling to take his eyes off the man now that he was being so agreeable.
When they pulled into Mike’s driveway, he was forced to stop looking at Adam, but only long enough to get out of the car. Adam was coming around the front of the car by the time Mike climbed out and shut the door.
“You know, in all the years I lived in Cade Creek, I never saw the inside Jack’s house.”
Mike smiled as he dug out his keys. “Then let me show you around.” He unlocked the door and led Adam inside. It was a nice house, but not all that big.
Thank god.
“Kitchen, living room, the laundry room is beyond the kitchen.” Mike waved his hand as he pointed each room out. “Two bedrooms in the back, two bathrooms, one off the master bedroom.” Mike glanced at Adam. “Would you like to
see it? It’s really nice.”
“I would.”
Yes!
Mike did not pump his fist into the air, but it was close. It took all of his control to walk casually down the hallway to the master bedroom. He wanted to run, dragging Adam along with him. And then he wanted to lock the door behind them.
He walked into the bathroom and then moved to one side so Adam could join him. It really was a nice bathroom. Jack had ripped out the old one and replaced it with one that could double as a spa. Large soaking jet tub, super flushing toilet, and a walk-in shower big enough for two people and complete with rain showerhead.
Mike frowned when Adam didn’t appear. “Adam?” He stepped back to the doorway. His frown deepened. The man was sitting on the end of the bed, but he had lain back on the mattress, his arms stretched over his head. “Hey, what are you doing?”
“This bed is fantastic.”
Mike lifted an eyebrow. “It’s a California king pillow top.”
Adam grinned. “I know. It’s huge.”
Not as huge as the hard-on in Mike’s pants. The sight of Adam stretched out on his bed was playing havoc with his ability to string two thoughts together. He looked damn good there. Mike hoped to see it more often.
He walked over and sat down next to Adam and then stretched out next to him. He moved slowly as he raised his hand and trailed his fingers along the side of Adam’s jaw. He wanted to give the man plenty of time to pull away if that’s what he wanted.
Adam didn’t pull away.
Mike leaned in and pressed a kiss to the side of Adam’s face, and then another along his jaw line. He moved closer to Adam’s lips, but didn’t quite touch them.
“Michael,” Adam groaned as he pressed closer. “Stop teasing me.”
Mike grinned. He began planting small kisses on Adam’s neck, then another, each one getting longer and longer until he didn’t remove his lips at all. Kissing Adam’s skin felt too damn good.
“Mmm, that feels good,” Adam whispered, arching his head back and to the side to expose more of his throat.