Chapter Six
When Landon made enough money to pay the taxes on the land, he was getting a bigger truck.
He leaned the seat back as far as he could, covered his face with his hat, and tried to get more sleep before Adam got there. Lord knew, once his cowboy showed, there wasn’t gonna be more napping. Landon had ridden four bulls today. Four. Two re-rides, one eighty-six point long round ride, and one short go for a payout of just about twice the fees he’d paid into the event.
Lord.
Sister was going to shit a pink Twinkie of joy.
His body, though? It was tired to the bone. Everything had been twisted and spun and jostled. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure he still had his balls.
A knock on the truck window had him jumping like to break his head open.
“I ain’t drinking!”
“No? Well, let me buy you a beer, honey.” Adam. The man must have flown to get here so fast.
“Cher, how you been, bon homme?” Lord, Adam was the finest son of a bitch ever.
“Been okay. Needed to get away for a bit, though.” Adam looked him over when he stepped out of the truck. “You need a shower, huh?”
“Rode four today. Came straight from the arena.” He was bruised—toes to scalp.
“Christ.” Adam took him by the elbow. “Well, since I ain’t riding, I didn’t bring the trailer. I got us a room at the Marriott.”
“Mmm. Door with a lock and bed with springs.” Best of all was the idea of a tub. “Let me get my gear.”
“Sure.” Adam let him go for all of two minutes. Someone had grabby hands.
“How you been? Seems likes eons.” Hell, it’d been weeks.
“Working my ass off. You?” Adam’s boot heels rang on the asphalt.
“The same. I been ridin’, workin’. Did some roofin’ and a bit of plumbin’. Me and Sister helped a mare whelp triplets. Triplets, can you believe it? I ain’t never, never seen that before. Laurel says it’s a sign.” Damn, Adam was tall, fast, hard to keep up with and talk to at the same time.
“A sign of what?” Adam slowed a little when Landon tripped.
“Who the hell knows, cher?” He snorted. “She’s a witchy type.”
“Oh.” They got to Adam’s truck, and Adam helped him in, leaning to give him a quick, hard kiss before shutting the door.
Whoa. That kiss tilted his world on its axis, made him a little stupid. He blinked from it, licking his lips. Adam was whistling when he climbed into the cab, a cheery little song. The sound made Landon smile.
“It’s good to see your face, Vieux.”
“It’s good to see you, too.” Adam’s eye lines wrinkled up with a smile, even if his eyes stayed intent on the parking lot.
He leaned his head back, let the traffic zip by them. The hotel wasn’t far, and he didn’t get near enough of a nap on the way. It seemed all fancy and new, too.
“Oo-eee! We gon’ be all sparkly.”
Adam laughed. “They just built it, I guess. I figured the beds would be good.”
“Beds are good, but really, I’d be happy to see you in a barn.” Anywhere.
“Yeah?” He got a sideways kind of look as Adam parked. “I want you.”
“Well, thank God. I might die of blue balls otherwise.”
