Chapter Twenty-Seven
Joa walked around in a daze, his lips chapped and swollen, his ass sore and his mind whirling.
He couldn’t—how could he feel what he did for Balta and then need Raul’s touch, his kisses? He loved Balta. Balta was his world, his hero, his lover. Raul was his friend, his dear friend.
His beloved friend.
Then again, how could he feel guilty? He’d woken up this morning with Balta on one side and Raul on the other, two amazing male animals in their prime, and the way they had both smiled for him, kissed him, told him how happy they were.
There was a deep whisper that said that this was a sin, was doomed to leave him alone and hurt, but when they stared at him, he couldn’t refuse them a thing.
He worried, though. Balta and Raul, they were both used to being in control, and they didn’t touch each other. Did not look at each other as they did Joa. What if they hated each other before it was over?
What if…
He headed to the barn to feed, hispapai’sname popping up on the phone as he jumped the fence.
He answered when his boots hit the ground, speaking in Portuguese.Maipreferred English, butPapaispoke his native language or Mexican. That was it. “Hello,Papai. Good morning.”
“Hola. You need any help today, son?” His father loved to play rancher.
“I’m okay, I think. Thank you. Did you move the ostriches?” He hadn’t seen them and they were…distinctive.
“Sim. They were bothering the goats. The bald spots.Ay de me.”
“Ah. Well, thank you. Can you sell the eggs?” The thought of that much raw egg made him a little queasy.
“I can, yes. I found someone who will take them to Austin for me and sell them. Good money.” Hispapai. Such a wheeler and dealer.
“Bom. What all are you up to today?”
“Heading to the auction with Uncle Eazee. You want to come?”
“Not today. I’m going to work on the barns.” Unless two evil men tempted him back to bed. Raul might not be a demon made flesh like his Balta, but the man was dead sexy and ready for anything…
“Ah. Well, if Balta wants to come tell him there’s a bull he might want to look at.”Papaiand Balta kept talking about raising bucking bulls together.
“You should text him a picture. He’s interested. I know he is.”
“I will.”Papaichuckled. “You talk to him, though. Tell him I know bulls.” Yeah, his father had worked with the big bull ridings in Sao Paulo once upon a time.
“You know everything,Papai.”
“I do. Some day you will too. Right now you have to know bulls.”
“I have to know how to ride them, is all. You and Balta will do the rest.” Not that he couldn’t pick a bull. That he was good at. He even went to the futurities for Troy to help out.
He loved to see the little bulls with the bucking simulators.
“You are too modest, boy. Have Balta call me if he wants to come. I’m leaving at ten.”
“Yessir. I’ll tell him.” They hung up and Joa got to work, losing himself in the easy rhythm of feeding and cleaning and working.
He almost jumped out of his skin when a warm hand landed on his back, because he hadn’t heard anyone coming. Raul grinned at him when he whirled around, dark eyes dancing.
“I brought you coffee. We worried you had run away.”
“Nao. I’d just come out to feed. Thank you.” He had to smile back, a happy heat building in the pit of his belly. “Do you have animals back in Brazil?”
