by Andrew Grey
Ky liked that Brodie seemed comfortable with being touched and with touching him. He just wasn’t sure what to make of it yet. It was too soon for him to go jumping into anything. He had only known Brodie a few days… and yet it seemed like longer, like he had known Brodie and Emily for months instead of hours.
“I had to do the books, and the computer decided it was going to do what it wanted rather than what I wanted it to do. In the end I just had to wait for the PITA to finish whatever it decided was more important than my work so I could finish.” He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
This was his house, and he knew each room and board. He’d worked with his dad to install the floors, and he’d patched walls and helped put on the addition. As he inhaled, Ky smelled his dogs and the room, but now there was something new—earthy, rich, and enticing. He was well aware that it was Brodie, but he didn’t know what to do about it. His pulse beat faster just sitting next to him, and that scent had him squirming slightly so his boner didn’t stick out and say howdy.
“Why don’t you find someone to help you with it?” Brodie asked. “I bet your aunt has someone. I doubt she does her own books, and she’s smart enough to make sure that there’s someone watching over the person who does and the people who work for her. I think your aunt is pretty shrewd.”
Ky nodded. “She is. But I’m just starting to get this ranch back on its feet. Mom couldn’t take care of it after Dad died, and I was out, well….”
Brodie patted his leg. “I understand. You weren’t able to help here for a time, and I suppose after everything was over, it was hard for people in town not to take sides, especially knowing my cousin.” He turned on the television, and Ky was grateful for something to do other than rehash his past.
Ky nodded off at some point. He got up, and after telling Brodie good night, half stumbled into the bathroom, where he cleaned up quickly and then fell into bed.
The next thing he knew, he was being poked on the arm. He opened his eyes to a blond head and a pair of blue eyes. Emily blinked at him as Ky slowly pulled himself out of slumber. “Where’s Brodie?” Ky asked.
Emily turned and pointed to the other room.
Ky felt like he had been rode hard and put away wet. His joints ached and his head pounded. He actually thought to try to remember if he’d had too much to drink, but he hadn’t.
He took Emily’s hand and pushed open the door.
Brodie jumped out of bed in one motion, panic rolling in his eyes until he spotted Emily. “Sweetheart, you scared me.” Brodie lifted her, and Ky turned to go back to his room when his legs buckled from under him.
“Ky,” Brodie called, and helped him up. “Come on, Emily, let’s help Uncle Ky back to bed.” Brodie took his arm and got Ky back into the bed. He groaned and pulled up the covers. The room felt really cold and the blankets couldn’t get him warm enough. “I’ll bring you something to drink.” Brodie took Emily’s hand.
“Do!” she cried, and the dogs all hurried in.
Ky groaned again as all three decided his bed wasn’t full enough, but at least the chills abated. He lay still, hoping that if he didn’t move, his head would stop spinning.
“Come on. Let’s let Uncle Ky rest. We’ll get him some juice and something light to eat.” Brodie left the room, and it grew quiet, except for Misty’s snoring. That little dog could make quite the noise when she wanted to. He closed his eyes, then woke sometime later out of a doze, twisted in the covers. Ky was hot and threw back the covers until the air-conditioning made him cold and he pulled up a blanket.
“Here’s some juice, and I made you some toast,” Brodie said, placing the glass and plate on the nightstand. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and used his hand to check Ky’s forehead. “If you haven’t guessed, you definitely have a fever.”
Ky pushed back the blanket and slowly sat up. “I have things I need to do.” Dizziness nearly swamped him, but he stayed upright by sheer will. “We need to do something with those paddocks in case Aunt Rita comes through. Her friend is going to want to see the facilities, and what I have needs work, and….”
“What you need to do is drink a little and go back to bed.” Brodie put his hands on his hips, his eyes hard. “You won’t get better working when you’re sick.” He guided him back to the bed. “Eat a little something and keep drinking. I’m not going to let you overdo it.”
Ky thought of fighting him, but didn’t have the energy. Instead, he got under the covers and tried not to worry how he was going to get the work done.
Ky lost track of the time. He slept, and when he woke up, there was juice and water next to the bed. He drank them and ate a little, but mostly slept and slept. He figured he was lucky he wasn’t sick to his stomach, but food tasted like nothing, with only the sweet tang of the juice cutting through the gunk that filled his throat. But he had to get up and make sure the ranch was functioning. Slowly he swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up. His head didn’t get all swimmy, and he could actually stand. Opening the door, he stepped out into the hallway, wrinkling his nose at the scent, and realized it was him.
After a shower, he felt clean and like he could make it all the way to the kitchen, where he found Brodie, Ben, and Aunt Rita sitting at the table.
“Un Ky,” Emily said, banging the tray of her high chair. “Un Ky!” She giggled and banged again.
“Hey, little princess,” Ky said softly, ruffling her hair and lowering himself into another chair. “Is it dinnertime already?”
“Ky,” Brodie said. “It’s Tuesday. We put you to bed Saturday morning. I was starting to worry that we were going to have to get some help if you didn’t start to feel better.” He brought him some more juice and a little food.
Ky took a few bites and waited, his appetite kicking in, and he ate the rest of the noodle casserole, his sluggish brain catching up with him. “Tuesday?” he groaned. “I need to work. Aunt Rita, did Lilly want to board her horses? Please tell her I’ve been sick and will….”
Brodie snickered, and his aunt looked at him as though he were dumb.
“Honey, we told you, but you must have forgotten. Lilly brought her horses yesterday morning. All four of them are in your barn, munching away at hay and making themselves at home.”
“But the paddocks and the ring and….” He tried to stand, but Aunt Rita got to him first.
“Everything is fine. I watched Emily while Brodie took care of the paddocks. That boy sunk new posts and repaired the fences. He even got that old tractor of your daddy’s running. It seems he has talents with engines. He graded the ring, and I had one of my men bring over a load of sand, which we used to augment the surface. Lilly is pleased and comes every day to take care of the horses. She even helped with some of the work. Lilly is such a lovely girl.”
Ky narrowed his gaze. “Aunt Rita, I thought we were going to agree to disagree on certain things.”
She rolled her eyes. “Men always think they’re the center of the universe.” Aunt Rita smirked. “She and Ben were making eyes at one another.”
Ben took that as his cue to leave the room and stood up.
“I promise to butt out, but she really is nice.” Aunt Rita turned to Ben. “You need to call her.”
There was no way Ben could get out of the house fast enough.
“Aunt Rita, that was mean,” Brodie told her, and then chuckled as though the two of them had cooked it up.
Ky shook his head and closed his eyes. Now that he had eaten, he was sleepy, but not in the way he had been for the last few days. He didn’t feel feverish, so maybe he could just rest.
“Do you want to go see the paddocks? The sun is going down, so the heat is starting to abate a little.” Brodie brought him a glass of water, and Ky drank it, then got up and followed Brodie outside.
The slight breeze kept the heat from being oppressive, and the sun was behind the barn and going down quickly. “Wow, you did all this?”
“Ben helped show me what to do, and he worked wit
h me a lot of the time, but yeah.” Brodie paused. “I wanted to do something to thank you for everything you’ve done for Emily and me. Your aunt is something else, by the way. She came over every morning to check on you and look after Emily while I worked. I think all your aunt has been looking for is some family to take care of.”
“I guess,” Ky agreed. He hadn’t given it all that much thought. The last few years had been him doing his best imitation of a turtle, though it seemed maybe it was time for him to come out of his shell. Ky smiled as he looked over the almost brand-new paddocks and the riding ring, which had been rudimentary but now looked amazing. “Thank you for all this.”
“Oh, and Ben and I worked things out with Lilly as far as the board for the horses. I put it in your office. You just need to sign it and then return a copy to her. Your aunt thought it best that something get put down on paper, especially since you were under the weather.”
Damn, Ky wanted to hug him for what he did. Hell, he wanted to kiss him, and if he’d had the energy, he’d have lifted Brodie off his feet and swung him around out of sheer joy. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.” He turned to Brodie, and for a second, it seemed like all the air had been sucked away. Brodie’s eyes glistened in the long light of sunset. He licked his lips, and Ky so wanted to know how they tasted. The breeze rustled lightly around them as Ky slowly closed the distance that separated them, his gaze locked on Brodie’s.
Crunching tires on gravel made him turn away, and he groaned as Jacob’s truck pulled into the drive. Instantly Ky stiffened. “What the hell does he want?” He turned and watched as Jacob got out of his still-shiny truck. What the hell did the man do, wash it every day?
“Maybe his day isn’t a success unless he can intimidate someone?” Brodie said, standing next to him. “What do you want, Jacob?” Damn, the edge in Brodie’s voice was hot.
“I’ve been talking to some people at the county offices, and it seems they have some concerns about how little Emily is being treated,” Jacob said, the threat hanging in the air. “I can make all that go away, and you can keep your sister.”
“Jacob Tyler,” Aunt Rita called as she came out of the house with Emily in her arms. She strode to Brodie and handed him Emily. “You go on inside and watch your sister.” She smiled at Brodie and patted his shoulder before turning on Jacob with a look that said dark, painful death was just around the corner. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Whatever it is, I suggest you put a stop to it.” She strode forward, every bit the cowgirl she’d once been… and from the look of it, still was, under her church-lady persona.
“I can’t allow that little girl to be dragged all over the country without a home, living in that car.” He made it seem so reasonable. “Chandra and I can give her a proper home, and Emily is family.”
“So is Brodie, and this is how you treat family? No wonder the good Lord never blessed you with any more children.” Man, she was throwing everything at him. “Brodie and Emily have my support, so whatever you’re planning will die on the vine. Brodie is caring for his sister much better than you ever would. I’ll testify to that, and there is no one in the county who’s going to second guess me.” Damn, Ky hadn’t cared much for his aunt the church lady, but his aunt the tiger was something to behold. “Now, I suggest you go home to your ranch and your pole-dancing wife and leave the rest of humanity alone. Do I make myself clear?” Her eyes shot daggers at Jacob, but it seemed he wasn’t done.
“You know what he did to my boy, my only son. You’re a good Christian woman. How can you stand by like that?” There was anger in his voice, but none of the feeling one might associate with losing a child.
“I know what you claim happened.” She was on the attack once more. “But I think there’s more to it than what you’ve said, and so did the courts. I have some friends who will be looking into the matter much more closely, and they will find out what happened.”
In that moment, a flinch and a shot of worry passed over Jacob’s eyes. It was gone in almost an instant, but Ky saw it, and he knew Aunt Rita did as well.
“You can dig all you want, but he killed my son, just as sure as if—” Jacob cut himself off and yanked open the truck door. “You mark my words. I will have justice.” He climbed into the truck, pulled the door closed, and peeled out on the gravel as if he couldn’t get away fast enough.
“Aunt Rita,” Ky said once he was gone, “that was a thing of beauty. And where was my church-going aunt in all that?” He lightly bumped her shoulder.
“Being a good Christian means fighting for what’s right. The devil takes many forms, and sometimes he arrives in a shiny red truck.” She held him in her steely gaze before smiling. “You know, sometimes when I think about dying, I hope I get to be an angel. And if I do, I hope God makes me one of the ones who gets to carry a sword.” She turned and walked back toward the house as though nothing had happened.
Ky made a note to never, ever piss off his aunt.
C hapter Six
Brodie couldn’t sleep, hadn’t much for the last few days, not since Jacob’s last visit. Emily was warm, and the dogs all insisted on sleeping near her. It meant that the damned bed was way too full, and Misty had decided to snore like a trucker. He climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen for a drink of water before sitting in the living room. He turned on the television, keeping the volume low.
He thought about what he and Emily were going to do. As much as he liked Ky and his aunt, he couldn’t stay here forever, sponging off them. Maybe he should ask Ky for a job. At least then he’d be contributing, and he had done good work on the paddocks. But part of him also said that he should just get away from his cousin for Emily’s sake. Ky told him what Jacob had threatened, and regardless of what Aunt Rita had said, Brodie wasn’t so sure that Jacob wouldn’t try to go after Emily out of spite. It was becoming clear to him that Jacob wasn’t willing to let anything go and was more than willing to try to punish anyone who crossed him. Even family… or maybe especially family.
“What are you doing up so late?’ Ky asked, startling him, pulling Brodie out of his thoughts. Brodie hadn’t heard him moving in the house.
He turned and found Ky shirtless and in a pair of sleep shorts that left very little to the imagination. “I keep wondering what I should do,” he answered slowly, swallowing hard at the display of muscular manhood that he couldn’t look away from, because Jesus, Ky was hot as hell—and it had nothing to do with the heat outside.
“About what?” Ky asked, drawing nearer, and Brodie lost track of what he wanted to say. He blinked and got to his feet as Ky stood right in front of him. Brodie placed his hand against Ky’s heated chest and held still while Ky closed the distance between them.
Time seemed to slow, the space between the ticks of the mantle clock growing longer as Ky drew closer. The television receded into the background, Brodie no longer seeing the flickering images, only the play of light on Ky’s skin. Ky’s musky scent tinged with the soap from his shower pulled him in, and Brodie leaned a little. That seemed to be the signal Ky was waiting for. He lightly cupped Brodie’s cheeks in his large hands, the touch soft and gentle.
The first touch of their lips was like electric fire, and Brodie quivered, returning the kiss as Ky arms wrapped around him, pressing him against his firm chest. His strength was there, but seemed banked, as though Ky was afraid that moving too fast would cause Brodie to bolt like the new colt that Lilly had brought in. Yet Brodie gave measure for measure, deepening the kiss, wanting more, and since his mouth was otherwise occupied, he pressed nearer, adding pressure and desire.
“Brodie, are you okay with this?” Ky asked as Brodie wound his arms around Ky’s neck and then jumped up, curling his legs around Ky’s waist. If he could have climbed the man like a tree, he would have. Now that Ky was well and seemed receptive, Brodie had every intention of giving in to the fantasies that had seemed to follow him for days. While Ky was sick, when Brodie went into his bedroom, seeing Ky in variou
s states of dress, even then he was sexy, and the fact that he was willing to let Brodie help him only made Brodie like him more. Ky was a strong man, and Brodie got the idea he didn’t accept help from just anyone, so the fact that he did from Brodie was telling. “Are you sure?”
Brodie groaned and kissed Ky harder. When he parted his lips, Brodie took advantage, using his tongue to explore. If that didn’t give Ky all the go-ahead he needed, Brodie pulled away to add, “You better believe it.”
Ky carried him down the hall, his hands supporting Brodie’s ass through his boxers, and as soon as the door closed, Ky worked his hands inside, Brodie’s bare ass cupped in Ky’s strong hands. God, it felt good to have Ky touch him. And when Ky laid him on the bed, he didn’t hesitate. Brodie had barely finished bouncing before Ky had his boxers off and pressed him against the bedding.
Energy and passion seemed to take over for both of them. Brodie wished he had more than two hands, like one of those Hindu gods, because then he could touch Ky all over all at once. As it was now, he had to choose. And at a time like this, patience wasn’t something he seemed to have in abundance. “Ky…,” Brodie whispered, his fingers carding through Ky’s surprisingly soft hair.
“I know. I’ve been watching you too. Almost since you showed up.” He cupped Brodie’s cheeks in his hands, their gazes locking. “It’s been a while for me, and I want to get this right.”
Brodie smiled. “There’s no right and wrong, just pleasure. That’s why they call it making love. It’s supposed to be special and tender and whatever we want it to be.” He tugged Ky down closer. “Have you ever been with someone you really cared for, or has this sort of thing been just sex?”
Ky seemed to hesitate, and Brodie figured he had his answer.
“I don’t quite know what it was.” Ky’s answer wasn’t at all what Brodie expected.
“Okay. Then what do you want things to be between us?” Brodie asked. “You don’t have to answer. It isn’t a question that requires thought or a response. We aren’t in one of those beauty contests where you have a say what you think I want to hear. This is about what’s in your heart, and you show that.” He closed the distance between them, taking Ky’s lips in part to stop him from thinking he had to talk and in part because he didn’t want to hear whatever Ky’s answer might be.