Exhaustion settled in my limbs as I looked around my bedroom. My eyes focused in on the empty nails on nearly every wall. I couldn’t even remember the day I’d taken down all of the pictures of Matty and Jenna. Just like my daughter and grandson, they’d been there one day and gone the next.
Movement outside the window caught my attention. My room overlooked the back of the property which included a small barn and two large pastures. I let my gaze travel over Dante’s body as he approached the closer of the two paddocks. His hands were in his pockets and his shoulders were hunched…a far cry from the cocky way he typically carried himself. I regretted my harshness earlier. The young man hadn’t deserved to be the target of all my frustration and hurt. He’d simply been doing his job.
I got up and went to the window so I could see him better. Both horses had started walking up from where they’d been hovering near the doors that allowed them to go in and out of their stalls as Dante had neared them. He stopped just short of the fence and I wasn’t surprised when my horse, Ace, stuck his head over the top rail and extended his neck towards Dante. The big sorrel gelding was a ham and craved attention, whereas his stablemate, a gray mare named Dolce, hung back.
Dante held back for several long seconds before he finally reached out to stroke Ace’s face. My horse was pushy and clearly wanted more because he bumped his face against Dante’s hand until his chest was pressed up hard against the fence. Dante finally seemed to get the message and stepped forward. Ace nuzzled Dante’s pockets, looking for a treat, and then settled for pressing his face against Dante’s armpit. I couldn’t see Dante’s expression, but I saw him tentatively reach his arm out to wrap around Ace’s muzzle before he slowly dropped his cheek to Ace’s forehead.
The sight of Dante reveling in the quiet comfort the horse was offering fucked with me big time.
Because I was actually jealous of my horse.
I shook my head in disbelief. I had no idea how to reconcile all the emotions this man brought out in me. Not to mention the physical reactions I had whenever he was near. Hell, he didn’t even need to be around for my body to respond…all I had to do was think about him and my insides drew up tight while my skin grew hot and itchy. Images of Dante with the nurse in the hospital parking garage and the catering guy at the wedding assaulted me on a regular basis, though I never considered the other party in either scenario…just Dante. And the wrongness of him being with those other people had nothing to do with the fact they’d been random or inappropriate hook-ups, but I absolutely refused to consider the truth about why they still bothered me so much.
I needed to hang on to my delusions for a little while longer.
I had to believe that my reaction to him last night while he’dbeen with the two women in our hotel room, along with my subsequent, mind-altering orgasm in the shower afterwards, had been related to the stress I was under.
As for today when I’d watched Dante tease Jeff with the seemingly random comment about Jeff’s sturdy desk…shit, I had no explanation for my sudden desire to bend Dante over said desk to test his theory.
I actually felt my cheeks heat when Dante suddenly looked up at me. From the distance, I knew he couldn’t see my face, but I still felt like he knew I’d been thinking about him, because his eyes stayed on me for a long time. As much as it went against my nature, I was the one to look away first. I would have liked to say I just had other shit to do, but the reality was I didn’t want to be reduced to jacking off again in the shower in a desperate attempt for relief. And since my cock had thickened in excitement the second Dante’s gaze had connected with mine, that was exactly the direction I was headed.
I turned my attention back to my bedroom with the intention of deciding which pieces of furniture I wanted to take with me to Seattle versus which I wanted to donate to charity, but even as I studied my king-sized bed, all I could imagine was Dante bent over the side of it, his hands fisted in the bedding as he begged me to fuck him.
“Jesus,” I bit out.
Magnus, please…
The sound of Dante’s soft whisper had me closing my eyes and reaching for my cock.
“How do you want it, Dante?” I asked as I fisted my dick with one hand while running the other over his lower back before slipping my fingers between the globes of his ass.
A breathy, “Now,” was all I heard and then a hand closed around my cock and urged me forward until there was nothing but white-hot heat and…
“Fuck. Dante,” I groaned as I came hard, cum spilling over my hand and onto the floor. I looked down in disbelief at the ropes of semen all over the walnut colored hardwood. I didn’t even remember taking my cock out of my pants. My knees shook as aviolent aftershock rolled through me and another spurt of cum welled up from my dick.
I stared at the proof of my release, not caring that what was on my hand was now dripping onto my pants. Because there was just no more denying it…the proof was literally in my hand.
I wanted Dante and I wanted him badly.
Chapter 7
Dante
I hated Magnus’s place.Yeah, the house was nice and his horses were pretty cool, but it was just too fucking quiet. I knew that was pretty much the point of living in the country, but I’d take the hustle and bustle of the city any day. Too much quiet left you with nothing to do but think…and to question things.
And I was damn tired of questioning things.
Like why Magnus had gotten so pissed off just because I’d been sweeping the bedrooms. It wasn’t like I’d gone rooting around in them trying to dig up shit on him.
Okay, yeah, I kind of knew why he’d gotten mad.
Coming back to this place had stirred up all kinds of shit for him – I’d known that even before I’d seen him standing at his front door with fisted hands and his head pressed up against the wood. But to know he’d had to take the time to psych himself up to step over the threshold of his own house was hard to acknowledge.
Because it meant Magnus wasn’t the hard-ass I’d always pegged him as. He wasn’t untouched by his past.
It was the first and only thing we had in common.
But it was a damn powerful thing.
