Not because Riley was hot as hell—though he was—but because for the first time, someone had looked at Jason like he mattered. Like Jason was worthnoticing. Worth wanting. And it hadn’t just beensomeone.It had been Riley, so confident, charming,funny, and had he mentioned hot? It was hard to believe someone that perfect existed, let alone that they were interested inhim.
Make that two things he was sure about—he also wanted to have hot, passionate sex with Riley. He was definitely not going to confess either of those things to Tristan. Or anyone, for that matter, because what if it never happened? He’d probably ruin it. Riley would be able to tell he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. His stomach swooped again—not just excitement but nerves.
He slid through the bunkhouse door, knowing that however quiet he was, Karl would hear him if he was in. Karl had senses that bordered on spooky when it came to knowing what was going on around him, but he was also sensitive enough that if he realized Jason wastryingto go unnoticed, he’d let him.
Jason had been surprised to learn how perceptive Karl was when it came to other people’s emotions, because for the first six months he’d been here, about the only time he’d spoken to Jason was to warn him never to wake him up by touching him. “I’ll have snapped your neck before I even know you’re there,” he’d said. Which hadn’t exactly been a reassuring announcement coming from Jason’s new roommate. But after a while, Karl had stopped skulking off on his own, and now he was an integral part of the pack. Just as nosy as the rest of them too, Jason was sure, which was why he was relieved to see the door to Karl’s room standing open, meaning he wasn’t in right now.
Jason knew he should shower, but he was reluctant to lose Riley’s scent on him. His skin still felt warm where Riley had touched him. His stomach gave a low, restless pull, heat settling deep in his gut.
Turning the key in his bedroom door, he lay down on the bed, where he drew his shirt up and stroked his fingers lightly across his stomach. If only Riley hadn’t had to work, maybe Riley wouldbe doing this to him right now, his fingers dipping below Jason’s navel and inside the waistband of his jeans, teasing him until he was pushing up his hips and nearly whimpering in his need for Riley to touch him.
He pressed his hand against denim, feeling just how hard his cock was. So slowly he almost hated himself, he flicked the button on his jeans open and eased the zipper down, loving the way it opened beneath the growing pressure of his cock. And then he was holding himself through his boxers, his thumb automatically going to the head of his cock and rubbing, causing the damp patch on the soft cotton to spread.
Good as it was to think of Riley lying on one elbow next to him, blue-gray eyes glinting as he looked down at Jason and teased him like that, he wanted more. He slipped his hand beneath the waistband of his boxers, andfuck,that was good, skin against the hot hardness of his cock.
Oh,God,to think of this being Riley’s hand closing around him and working him, bringing him off as he leaned in and kissed Jason again, his tongue gentle yet so damn sure of what he wanted as he worked it in and out of Jason’s mouth. Jason was gone, crying out mindlessly as he came, his hips pushing upward, desperate for Riley’s touch.
He slumped back on the bed, breathing hard and with a thrill unfurling deep inside. Because unless he’d gotten things very, very wrong, Riley wanted this too.
But however much he wanted that—and hedid, so very much—that wasn’t what had his heart beating faster and butterflies in his stomach. It was the way Riley had looked at him, like Jason wasn’t just some loser with a crush, but someone worth noticing.
And that… yeah. Jason didn’t know what to do with that.
* **
All through dinner prep, Jason hugged to himself the thought of Riley and tomorrow. Members of the pack came and went around him as he worked in the kitchen, like usual, but none of them stayed long. Sometimes, Jason felt like he was a rock around which the sea parted without noticing. Other times, he loved the fact he could be part of everything without having to make conversation.
When Jesse came in, hunting for a snack to tide him over for the next thirty minutes, he raised his eyebrows questioningly at Jason. But before Jason could figure out how to steer him away from the subject of Riley, Tristan bounded in, hot on Jesse’s heels.
“Jesse, I got that—oh, hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Jesse, who could be like a pup with a bone, thankfully realized the last thing Jason would want to do was tell him how it had gone with Riley in front of anyone. Let alone in front of Tristan, who was the sweetest guy imaginable but who couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it.
Except for the secret that Jesse was an Argent, that was. And everyone’s life probablydiddepend on that, so it was just as well.
As Jesse turned to follow Tristan out, he glanced around at Jason, who took the opportunity to relax into the smile that was lurking just below the surface. A smile that was wider than he could remember smiling inyears.Jesse grinned back, and gave him a dorky thumbs-up in response, a move he’d picked up from Tristan.
Hope was winning out over nerves. Riley had kissed him, for God’s sake. It didn’t mean anything more than sex, Jason knew. It couldn’t, with Riley looking like he modeled underwear for a living and Jason being, well,him. Someone likeRiley didn’t date someone like Jason. Didn’t mean Jason wasn’t going to grab whatever he could for as long as he could.
He was possibly still thinking about Riley when he served up dinner, smoked brisket and mac and cheese, because Bryce paused when taking his plate to look closely at him. Jason immediately bit down on his smile. Bryce was the verylastperson he wanted giving him advice.
Bryce meant well, but sometimes his attitude toward Tristan spilled over onto Jason, and he treated Jason as if he had yet to grow up. Which, at twenty-four years old, was getting, well, old.
“Barbecued side of beef tomorrow, Jason,” Christian said as he wrenched his chair out and sat down, rather more gingerly than usual. “Ever thought of raising, I dunno, emus or something instead of those damn cattle, Urban?”
Matt’s eyes creased with humor as he looked at Christian. “I’m going out on a limb here and guessing you and Betsy came to blows again.”
“Cow’s a fuckingasshole,” Christian groused, cutting into his brisket as if he wished it were a certain cow. “C’mon, Matt, she must be getting long enough in the tooth by now.”
“Got a good few years left in her yet,” Matt said unconcernedly, before turning his attention to Bryce. “How’d you go with Shannon, earlier?”
And pack dinner was the way it usually was, with several different conversations happening at once, yet none of it feeling discordant. There was a rhythm, a rightness to it.
As Jason ate quietly, he got to thinking yet again about tomorrow and what else in town he could show Riley. He’d have to come up with a few different things so Riley would keep wanting to see him, every day. His stomach swooped, and he couldn’t tell if it was due to nerves or anticipation at the prospect Rileymightwant to see him again after tomorrow.
As for what to show him, there was the haunted mining camp, and the mesa where the mayor’s daughter and her lover supposedly jumped. Why did all the sights in Elk Ridge involve ghosts or tragedy? He’d have to think of something else. Something good. Because if Riley really wanted to spend time with him again, Jason sure as hell wasn’t going to waste it.
“So either the diner’s been awarded one of them fancy Michelin Stars, or…”
