Blaze nodded, and tried to give the keys to Gabe as they walked toward the truck, but Gabe shook his head.
“I could use the break,” Gabe said, climbing into the passenger seat.
He watched the pleasure move across Blaze’s face as he got behind the wheel and started the truck up.
If all ex-cons could be so easily repatriated by a bit of trust, then Gabe knew he could handle a world of parolees. As it was, there was something about Blaze that made him unique in this. Or maybe the sense of ease came from the chemistry between him and Blaze.
Gabe didn’t quite put his booted feet up on the dash, but had it been an older truck, one he owned himself, then he would have, as he allowed his gaze to travel over to Blaze as often as it wanted.
Chapter17
Blaze
Blaze had never showered and shaved so fast in his life, except maybe in prison, but certainly not since coming to the valley, where he could linger under the spray of deliciously hot water, spending all of his tokens. Tonight, though, he rushed through his ablutions, jittery inside, drops of water still on his skin as he pulled on a clean snap-button shirt, and used the edge of his towel to wipe off his cowboy boots before striding out of the shower and straight to his tent where he dumped his things before racing to the mess tent.
There, his buoyant joy collapsed into empty steam as he took in the long table where they usually ate. Those two cowboys, Quint and Brody, were in attendance, and taking all of Gabe’s attention as they sat across from him. Tom and Wayne were sitting on either side of Gabe, and though they didn’t exactly look enchanted as Quint glared at them, they were taking up space that Blaze wanted.
He couldn’t walk up to them and demand that they move. It would cause a scene and not the right kind. Blaze felt his chest tighten as he walked up to the table, and it didn’t matter that his boots were shiny or that his shave had been perfect, without a nick, or maybe even that he smelled nice. He was locked out from the precious circle around Gabe and his handsome shoulders and his easygoing smile.
Dubious, he sat next to Quint, right next to that mountain of a man who smelled like smoke and engine oil and who barely grunted a hello in Blaze’s direction. But at least Blaze had a direct eyeline to Gabe, whose smile at Blaze was warm, his eyes sleepy with pleasure.
Blaze opened his mouth. What he wanted to say was how amazing Gabe had looked on horseback, how dusty and manly and utterly edible. But not only would Gabe not be receptive to that kind of babbling overflow of Blaze’s feelings, nobody else sitting at the table would care, that or they would be horrified. And just when had Blaze decided he gave a damn about what anybody thought of him?
It’d been forever since anybody had given a damn about him, and he knew that.
“That was fun today,” said Blaze, trying it out, a medium tone, a happy, upbeat attitude. “Are we going to do it again?”
“It’s possible,” said Quint, leaning back when the cooks came out with T-Bone steaks and green beans cooked with butter and garlic. Then he leaned forward and began slicing into his steak without saying anything else.
Across the table, Gabe, a bit more restrained, smiled to himself and then looked up.
“I had a good time, that’s for sure,” Gabe said in a general way. Then he focused his attention first on Wayne and then on Blaze, perhaps lingering on Blaze for a minute. “And I sure did appreciate the help I got from Wayne and Blaze. And Tom showed me how many stumps he marked with flags this afternoon, which will give us a good direction to follow when we bring the stump digger in.”
“You gonna have to rent that digger?” asked Quint, and it was all Blaze could do not to stir in irritation, bump Quint with his elbow and glower. It was all well and good to talk shop, but what he really wanted—
Was just to be with Gabe. All by himself. Just him and Gabe.
“We will,” said Gabe. “I don’t know how to use one, so maybe we hire a guy who does? Save us all a headache.”
Nobody said anything about the time that Kurt had pushed Blaze into the wood chipper, but then, maybe they didn’t have to. There was a grapevine in prison, so there must be one up at the ranch as well. Everybody must have heard that Blaze had come that close to losing parts of his body because of Kurt.
“As to your question, Blaze,” said Gabe, drawing everyone’s attention as he looked at Blaze as if he was the only other person at the table. “We’ll be getting small herds of horses throughout the summer, so we’ll have plenty of days like this one where I’ll need help getting out to the drive and getting picked up from the ranch afterward.”
It could be that Gabe was looking at Blaze like he felt Blaze would be the only one he wanted to do this for him. Or maybe not.
Gabe didn’t seem the type to play favorites, so he was just answering Blaze’s question, and surely meant nothing by it. Blaze needed to make his heart stop pounding with want and needed to focus on making it through this summer program intact. Then he needed to figure out what he’d do once he got his walking papers.
“I’ll also be doing an orientation about horses and horse care after dinner,” said Gabe as he tucked into his meal. “For my team.”
Everyone at the table nodded, as if that was the most sensible course of action. All except for Wayne, who was looking at Blaze, wide eyed, and Blaze knew he was debating whether now was the time to bring up the fact that he was allergic.
Blaze shrugged and tipped his head at Quint, who seemed the kind of guy to think someone was weak simply because they were allergic. Wayne shrugged back, but it wasn’t till after dinner, when Quint and Brody left them to go back to the ranch, that Blaze jabbed Wayne with his elbow.
“He’s gonna understand,” said Blaze as they trailed after Gabe to the pasture, where just beyond, in the growing shadows, the lake, furled by a small invisible breeze, winked silver and blue amidst the green pines.
“You think?” asked Wayne, but they’d arrived, and Blaze just jabbed him again.
“I think.”
