Chapter Twenty-Three
Balta knew it was time.
He’d made sure Raul was with them all the time, watched the way Raul and Joa were together. They smiled and tried not to touch, and they wanted. It was sweet, and might have been sad if Balta did not have a plan. Balta wanted, too. He wanted to make sure that Joa never left because he was lacking something, and that meant that Balta had to give Raul to Joa. It would not be a hardship having them both for him, either.
Not at all.
So, off he went with the smell of Joa still on his skin, and the bruises from a little hard loving showing, just wearing his jeans. He would talk to Raul, absolutely. It might just not be about what Joa thought it would be.
Raul stood in the front room, hands in his pockets, staring out the front window. The set of his broad shoulders told Balta the talking would have to start fast and furious just to put him at ease. Raul had obviously heard everything.
“Joa was wondering if you want to grill, huh?”
Raul turned around so fast he nearly fell, eyes going wide. “I—sim. Sure. If you want.”
Poor Raul. He had no idea. Balta smiled, wandering closer. “That would be fun. We can have potatoes.”
“Fun.” Raul’s answering smile was strained. “Mm-hmm.”
“What’s wrong, huh?” He clapped Raul on the shoulder, the touch making Raul jump.
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”
“You are a terrible liar, Raul. Just like my Joa.” He might as well just jump right in.
“Your Joa. I suppose I am. I should not have come here, Balta.” Raul’s light-dark eyes met his, so full of misery that Balta knew he was absolutely making the right decision. “I had hoped, but you are. I mean the two of you are very much, no?”
“We are. The two of us. Very much.”
Raul nodded. “I thought so, but I wanted to be sure. I didn’t know if it was all the time or not.”
“Joa is hard to give up on.” Balta knew that. Joa was truly his angel, impossible to resist.
“I will be happy to be his friend.” Now Raul was serious and sure, but no longer miserable. Balta had been dead on the money, as Sam Bell would say. Raul was a good man, deep down, and he genuinely cared for Joa. It was not simply physical.
“What if you could be more?” Balta shifted, moving closer to Raul an inch of a time, close enough that he could feel the heat from Raul’s body and be reminded that Raul was surprisingly big for a bull-rider.
A frown creased Raul’s face and he stepped away. “What do you mean?”
“Come and sit with me.” Balta took Raul’s arm and drew him to the couch, which was more comfortable than it seemed. Joa’s mama had picked it out, and it seemed so formal. Raul came easily, but still frowned, his arm stiff in Balta’s grip. “I was just thinking maybe you could be with us.”
“Us?” Both of Raul’s black, heavy brows rose, the sharp nose dipping with almost comical surprise. “The two of you? Like…”
“Sim. Like.”
Now he was having to hold Raul down, because that long body was recoiling from him, Raul seeking some sort of balance. Maybe some kind of safety. Raul was ever cautious with him, even if he seemed more admiring than was proper sometimes.
“I don’t understand.” Raul shook his head, the movement sharp. “He loves you. I can see it, Balta. I know it is not my business, but I am not blind.”
A tiny ball of heat grew in Balta’s belly when he thought of all of the ways Joa loved him.Sim. That was the best part of what was a very good life, indeed. He loved Joa, too. To distraction.
“I know this, Raul. I love him. More than my ego or the ride, huh?” That should tell Raul everything.
“Then why? What could you get from offering this?” Raul shifted, trying to move back again, boots sliding on the tile floor.
“What do you think of me, Raul?” Keeping hold of Raul’s arm with his right hand, Balta moved his left hand up to wrap his fingers around the back of Raul’s neck, the move intimate, intended to disarm.
“Well, you’re Balta.” Raul blinked, long, spiky lashes covering those worried eyes for a moment.
