Cowboys Down (10 page)

“Can I get you boys anything to eat?” the barmaid asked.

“Burger and chips…fries, please,” Jasper said and Calum mentally groaned.

No one would mistake Jasper’s accent. One detail Calum hadn’t thought of. It was too late now. Fuck it, Calum didn’t care. He wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life doing what his father wanted without having some fun as compensation.

“Where you from?” the barmaid asked Jasper, looking at his tie.

“London.”

“You as well?” she looked at Calum.

“Local. I’ll have the same as him.”

The drinks arrived and Calum looked on in envy as Jasper tipped the bottle to his lips, not sure whether he’d rather drink the beer or be the bottle.

“Want a mouthful?” Jasper asked.

Their fingers brushed as Calum took the beer, deliberate on both their parts. He stared at Jasper as he drank and Jasper stared back at him. Calum’s cock began to harden as he thought about Jasper’s lips on the bottle, on his mouth, on his dick.
Fuck it.

He handed the beer back and shuffled farther under the bar counter. “Thanks.”

“Oh Christ,” Jasper whispered. “Why did you let me watch you do that?”

Calum smothered a laugh.

“What do you usually do for entertainment in the evening?” Jasper asked.

“Whatever the guests want.”

A smile quirked Jasper’s lips. “I should think so too. And when there are no guests?”

Jack off.
“Watch TV.”
Jack off.
“Listen to music.”
Jack off.
“Mess around on the internet.”
And jack off.
“And work with clay.” Christ, how had that slipped out?

“Clay as in mud, not Clay as in long, lean and male?”

Calum glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “Modeling animals mostly,” he mumbled. “Sometimes figures—cowboys.”
Maybe an English guy next.

Jasper’s brown eyes opened wider. “Like Remington?”

Calum snorted. “Yeah, just like Remington. That’s why I help run a dude ranch and still live with my folks. Nothing of mine has made it into bronze.”

“Will you show me what you’ve made?”

He shifted in discomfort. “Okay, though most of my models are too fragile to keep. I tried baking a few, but it didn’t work too well. It’s expensive to get them cast. The nearest foundry’s a couple of days’ drive.”

Now he’d told Jasper he’d looked into it.
Shit.
Out of sight under the overlap of the bar, Jasper’s knee rocked against his.

“I wish I could do something like that,” Jasper said quietly. “Use my hands and be creative. To squeeze and twist and bring a lump of something soft and pliable to life and make it go hard.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Calum hissed but he couldn’t help laughing.

“That’s what you have to do when you throw a pot, isn’t it? You get your hands nice and wet. You draw up the clay taller and taller. Then you put your thumbs in the center and press down before you drag the thing up again. And you keep doing it over and over.”

Jasper stared straight at Calum as he spoke. “Sadly all my erections eventually collapse, but they do it with a bang.” He winked.

“Oh God.” Calum’s jaw twitched. “You’re not fit to take out in public.”

“How did a cowboy end up playing with clay?”

“You’ll laugh.”

Jasper chuckled.

“Told you,” Calum said.

“You have to tell me now.”

“I fell, got plastered in mud and picked it off my clothes. I molded the bits into a ball and made a figure.”

“How old were you? Twenty-five?”

Calum quietly growled. “’Bout eight.”

“Do you draw as well?” Jasper asked.

“Yeah, some.”

“I’m not in the slightest bit artistic. I can’t even manage a respectable doodle. They all turn out looking like—well, not decent.”

Calum snorted. How come it felt so easy to talk to this guy?

Jasper took a swig of his beer. “My other problem with clay was that I didn’t like—don’t like—to get dirty. I blame my mother. She was obsessive about me and Ben being smart and clean at all times, mostly in case the vicar called. Ben was the rebel. I was the neat freak. Even now, I wouldn’t dare turn up to see her not wearing a suit and tie.”

“I like your tie.”

Jasper smiled. “I wear it out of habit.”

Calum kept his voice down. “I’ve been thinking of what bit of you I’d like to wrap it around.”

When Jasper shuffled farther under the bar, Calum barked out a laugh.

Jasper groaned. “God, don’t. I need food to distract me. I’m so hungry I’ve been thinking of chewing off my arm.” He bent his head closer to Calum. “Or chewing on something of yours.”

Calum sniggered. “You do realize that if we keep this up, neither of us is going to be able to move until they switch off the lights?”

The food arrived and Calum ordered more drinks. Jasper began to eat the burger with a knife and fork and Calum gaped at him.

“What?” Jasper asked.

“Nothing.” Calum picked up his bun and sank his teeth into it. The filling oozed out and a slice of tomato dropped onto the plate.

“Hah.” Jasper raised his eyebrows. “That could have fallen on your shirt.”

“Men do
not
eat burgers with cutlery.”

“Those who want to stay clean do. Anyway, I’m British. Everyone already thinks I’m weird.”

And fucking gorgeous.
Calum had known it was hopeless from that moment at the airport when Jasper had held out his hand. Nothing was going to stop them tonight. A reckless part of Calum didn’t even care if his father found out. What the hell would he do? Shoot him? The threat to write Calum out of his will or sell the ranch from under him would hurt his father as much as Calum. No way would his dad follow through on the threat.

Then the sensible part of his brain took over. If his father had a fatal heart attack because of something Calum had done, how could he live with himself? Whether he liked it or not, whether he thought it was right or not, in the long run, Calum had little choice. In a way, it was just as well Jasper would be gone at the end of the week.

“You play any sport?” Calum asked.

“No.”

“Watch it?”

“No.”

“What do you do in your spare time?”

Jasper shrugged. “I don’t have any. When I get back from the office, I’m too exhausted to do anything other than slump in front of the TV with something to eat and I usually fall asleep. Particularly if I’ve found something vaguely creative to do with my right hand.” He grinned and Calum had to swallow the lump in his throat. “I work Saturday too. Sunday I clean and grocery shop.”

Calum pushed his empty plate aside. “Doesn’t sound like much of a life.”

“It isn’t.”

“Do you like your job?”

“I hate it.”

Calum was shocked at the vehemence in Jasper’s response. “Then why do it?”

“Good question. Want a game of pool?”

“Sure.” Calum accepted they both had things they didn’t want to talk about.

Jasper pushed away Calum’s wallet and put money on the bar. Calum thought about protesting, but it would draw attention and he’d get it next time.
Oh God, let there be a next time.

There were three pool tables, two of them in use. Jasper racked up the balls and then as he deliberately chalked his cue, he stared at Calum and flicked his tongue over his lip. Calum couldn’t help laughing. Jasper stood out in the room among all the jean-clad guys with their old shirts and worn hats and beer bellies. He looked like a fucking prince. Yet that thought made Calum sag. What could Jasper see in a guy like him with calloused hands and little brain? But when Jasper turned and smiled straight at him, it was as if the whole room lit up.

“Want to break?” Jasper asked.

A few minutes later, Calum realized he should have said no. Jasper was about to sink every ball. Calum’s gaze hovered between the emptying pool table and Jasper’s trim butt. His butt usually won, which was why Calum had tugged his shirt out the front of his pants. Shit, he’d be too distracted to make a decent shot anyway. Might just as well enjoy the view. Calum had a thing for slim-hipped guys. He imagined his fingers rubbing the soft skin below Jasper’s hipbones, trailing his hands—

“Best out of three?” Jasper asked.

It was a miracle Calum won the next game. After one terrible shot by Jasper that flew off their table and almost landed on someone else’s—thanks to a nudge against his butt by Calum with the pool cue—Calum concentrated on what he was doing and not on Jasper. Though it did cross Calum’s mind after a couple more duff shots by Wonder Boy that Jasper might have let him win. A thought confirmed when he saw the smirk on Jasper’s face.

Jasper moved to his side. “What does the winner get?”

Calum leaned against the wall and said in a quiet voice. “Well, since you’re gonna win, why not tell me what you want?”

“Guess.”

Shit.
Calum didn’t want to guess. He had no idea whether Jasper was a top or a bottom. Usually it was fairly easy to tell, but Jasper was both strong and weak at the same time.
Same as me.
Except Calum hadn’t been fucked for a long time, and after it had happened, he’d sworn never to let it happen again. He stepped forward and racked the balls.

Note to self: Do I want to win or lose?

Chapter Six

Turned out it was irrelevant whether Calum wanted to win or lose. One mistake by Calum and Jasper was unstoppable. He called out ball after ball and sank every one despite the number of beers he’d consumed. After he sank the last, Jasper flashed a triumphant grin and held out his hand. Calum laughed and shook it. But the laugh faded as Jasper’s fingers wrapped tighter around his. Calum pulled free and slotted his cue back in the stand.

“Coming?” he barked hoarsely at Jasper and then walked out of the bar.

His cock was so hard the damn thing throbbed. He slammed the truck door as he settled in the driver’s seat and then turned to watch Jasper saunter across the parking lot. Calum yanked the other half of his shirt out of his pants so it disguised the bulge in his jeans. Jasper sat beside him and fastened his seat belt.

Calum hadn’t pulled out of the lot before Jasper reached to slide his hand under Calum’s shirt. He stroked his cock through his jeans, and Calum sucked in a breath. “Oh fuck.” His body crackled as if he’d been touched by a naked flame.

“Want me to stop?”

Yes. No. Yes. No.
That dialogue could go on for some time. Calum managed a gurgled grunt. Jasper could take it anyway he liked.

“Is there some place we could go?” Jasper asked. “A motel? A deserted beach.”

“We’re not near the sea.”

“It was a joke. If there a motel around here?”

He massaged Calum’s balls until a squeak escaped. A large bed, a comfortable mattress, sheets… It was too big a risk. Calum lied, “Not around here.”

“No motels?” Jasper sounded incredulous.

“They’re not big enough to slip in and out of without people noticing.” Another lie, but Calum couldn’t chance it.

“You won’t have that problem with me,” Jasper said then hiccupped, and Calum let out a choked laugh.

Oh God, can I let him fuck me? What if I freak out?

Jasper kept rubbing his cock as Calum pulled onto the main road leading home. Every speck of blood had rushed south. It was impossible to think, difficult enough to drive.

“Any more turns?” Jasper asked.

“Not for a while.”

“Good. Don’t get us killed.”

Jasper flipped open the button of Calum’s jeans and eased down the zipper.

“Oh Christ, if I crash, it’s gonna be your fault.” Calum gripped the steering wheel so hard he suspected he’d leave marks in it. It had to be the alcohol making Jasper this forward but Calum wasn’t complaining. Well, not really.

The relief at the reduced pressure on his cock lasted a split second before fingers slid inside his shorts. Jasper rubbed his thumb over the head of Calum’s erection and like throwing a match into a pool of gas, heat flashed through Calum’s body and he went up in flames. He let out a strangled groan and his grip on the wheel slipped. The truck swerved, a horn blared and Calum yanked the vehicle straight.

“Jesus. Sorry, sorry.”Calum blinked hard. He ought to tell Jasper to stop, but he didn’t want to. He kept his gaze fixed on the road, though he wondered how much he was taking in. Good thing he knew this route like the back of his hand, except he didn’t recognize the white knuckles gripping the wheel.

Calum’s cock was out now, in front of his shirt, scenting the air like some ravenous, slavering wolf.

“Oh Christ,” Jasper whispered. “I shouldn’t have done that. It’s like unwrapping a bar of chocolate and then not eating it.”

He bent his head and Calum gasped. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

“I dare.” But Jasper straightened up and laughed.

“It’s not fucking funny.”

At that, Jasper laughed harder. Calum quivered when he felt a finger and thumb roll over the crest of his cock and move away. He glanced across and caught Jasper’s tongue snaking out to lick his fingers. Another brush against his dick and this time Jasper’s hand touched Calum’s mouth.