Love in Xxchange: Miles to Go (13 page)

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some raging flu virus or something.” She stood up to walk to the front door as heavy footsteps thudded up the porch steps.

Bo wished he could ask her what she understood, because maybe then she could

explain it to him, too.

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It had to have been the smell of cum that gave them away. Max burned with equal parts embarrassment and need. To be precise, he’d nearly keeled over when Rory had sat down and started grilling him about what he was doing with Bo. At first it’d just been a light round of questions, like was Max interested in Bo and was he sure that’s what he wanted when Max had stutteringly admitted that yes, he was very interested in the man. That had been bearable, barely, and Max had thought they were done—but then Rory started asking specific questions. Max sat on the edge of the bed utterly stunned as the questions got more and more personal, like what had he and Bo done together, which had made Max blush so fiercely his blood must have been boiling right up under the surface of his skin.

Then it just got worse, with Rory talking about oral and anal and Max had finally found his voice and asked Rory what the fuck kind of pervert was he? Max was only now

beginning to accept being pulled out of his asexual hidey hole. He absolutely wasn’t comfortable discussing it, and that discomfort fired his temper into overdrive.

Rory had just looked at him with an arched brow and twitching lips, then started on a lecture that was close to thirty years past due. Condoms, safe sex, tests for diseases, and all sorts of things guaranteed to make Max just…want to die, right then and there. He’d only barely managed to shake his head when Rory asked him if he had condoms and lube—why the hell would Max have any of that stuff? He’d never used it when he’d jerked off. Rory had looked surprised, then at a loss and mildly embarrassed as he admitted he and Chance didn’t use condoms, therefore he couldn’t give any to Max. Max wanted to snark something about Rory practicing what he preached, but for all Max knew Rory and Chance had already done all that testing stuff and Max would end up looking like an even bigger idiot.

Rory had hollered for Bo, and the instant that sexy man walked into the room Max found the heat of embarrassment shifting to a different sort of heat, this kind slithering down to Max’s cock and settling in his balls. It was a reaction Max couldn’t hide, sitting there with his legs spread and only the thin sheet covering his parts. Rory had coughed, one of those

‘disguise the laughter’ kinds of coughs, which Max had chosen to ignore. He hated to be MILES TO GO

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laughed at, but he was too mortified by what Rory had been talking about to care that the man was snickering at him now.

“You have condoms and lube, or do I need to pick some up for y’all tomorrow when I’m in town?”

Bo didn’t even blink at Rory’s question. Instead his eyelids dropped down as he shot Max a look that had him biting back a whimper. “I have some, though we’re probably going to need more. Soon.” Bo glanced from Max to Rory, then back at Max. “Has he been giving you a hard time, Maxie? You’re looking a little tight through the shoulders.”

Max ignored Rory’s snigger when Bo called him Maxie. As far as Max was concerned, Bo could call him whatever he wanted when Bo was looking at him like he wanted to eat him up one slow, sweet bite at a time. Max cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders, chasing off some of the tension that had settled there during Rory’s lecture. “I’m fine. Just going through sex ed all over again.” Well, really for the first time. His parents hadn’t allowed any of their children to be taught anything about sex other than it’d send them straight to hell. That wasn’t something he was ready to share, especially with Rory sitting there with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Irritation snapped in Bo’s eyes and his voice as he looked at Rory. “I wouldn’t do anything to put him at risk. When I was in the hospital, they ran every damned blood test known to man and everything came back fine. I may have been a slut, but I was always a careful one.”

Okay, Max had sort of known Bo wasn’t exactly a prude, but a slut? Max had to think about that for all of two seconds. He didn’t want to think about any man touching Bo, but Max was realistic and couldn’t see where he had any right or reason to be jealous. He was a little concerned, though, about why Bo had ever thought of himself as a slut, or why he’d done things to make himself fit into that role. Max was absolutely determined Bo would never think so little of himself again.

Max had been so lost in his own thoughts he’d barely heard the drone of conversation between Bo and Rory. Whatever was said, the two men seemed to have got past the flare of temper from moments earlier. Rory stood and patted Max’s shoulder before exchanging goodbyes and leaving. Max forgot the humiliating conversation with Rory. Nothing could compete with the ache building inside him for one very special man.

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And that man was looking at him with a heated gaze that made it nearly impossible for Max to breathe. There was desire in that look, sure enough, but there was something softer that sent warm tendrils of effervescent hope through Max. “Lay back and kick off that sheet,”

Bo ordered.

Max swallowed and bobbed his head, unable to look away from the erection tenting Bo’s sweats. “Yeah, yeah, okay.” He flopped back on the bed, still keeping his eyes on Bo’s bulge.

Bo shuffled over to the duffle bag he’d set in the corner by the dresser. He crouched down and dug out something then stood back up. With his back to Max, Bo stripped, his hips swaying slightly as he shoved his sweats down. Max’s gaze zeroed in on Bo’s pert ass, drinking in the sight of those firm globes and the dusky crease separating them. By the time Bo stood up straight and turned around, Max’s cock was leaking pre-cum at a steady rate.

Bo started moving, a sensual swivel of hips and dick that freed the whimper Max had bitten back earlier. Max held out a hand to his lover. “C’mon over here.”

Humming, Bo stalked Max, moving slow and pinning Max with his gaze. Max

struggled to think. There was something he wanted to make clear.

“You aren’t a slut.” Not now, not ever.

Bo’s step faltered but he quickly recovered. “Used to be. There’s plenty who’d still say I am.”

Max would beat their heads in if they did. “But you’re not.” Max levelled his lover with a look that he hoped was sexy and powerful and everything he wanted to be for Bo. “I don’t care about what happened in the past. All that matters is here, now, us—and you knowing what you are.” Bo had completely stopped walking now. He looked sad and hopeful and terrified all at the same time. He started to speak, but Max waved him off with a hand slicing through the air. “There’s only one thing you need to believe is true about who and what you are right now.”

“Oh really?” Bo asked neutrally. “And what is that?”

Max shoved off the bed and was up and pressing against Bo’s chest in a split second.

He kept one arm around Bo’s hips and with the other he grabbed a handful of the silky fine hair. Max didn’t have gentle in him just then and he took Bo’s mouth in a kiss that threatened to bust both their lips. By the time Max felt he had thoroughly claimed Bo, or his mouth at MILES TO GO

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least, Max was ready to shoot his load. He leaned in and nipped a tempting patch of skin on Bo’s neck before trailing kisses up to Bo’s ear while he shuddered in Max’s arms.

“The only thing you need to know and believe”—Max nudged his dick against Bo’s—

“is that you. Are. Mine.”

Bo had every intention of putting the condoms he’d grabbed to good use, but hearing those words from Max had rocketed him right to the edge of a climax. No one had ever wanted him, claimed him like that. Condoms flying every which way, Bo tackled Max, taking them both down onto the bed. Almost before hitting the mattress, they were rubbing off on each other in a frenzied burst of heat. In mere minutes their bellies and chests were covered in cum, their hearts racing and the only sound in the room was the rasping rattle of their breaths.

Bo had fallen asleep, sticky and sated and more content than he’d ever thought

possible, and he had a plan in place for getting Max’s thick cock in his ass first thing in the morning. The thing about plans, though, at least in Bo’s experience, was that they tended to get altered by outside forces.

The first outside force was Sheba, a pretty bay mare who dropped her foal in the middle of the night. Of course it wasn’t an easy birth, but hours later when that little baby straggled to his feet, his thin legs wobbling, even Bo couldn’t be irritated about the change in plans. Bo had felt a warm fluttering in his chest when he watched the newborn take his first steps, and pushed his plans back a few hours.

Then there’d been the downed fence in the south pasture. By the time Max straggled in that night it was almost eleven, and he had looked ready to drop where he stood. Bo had shelved his own needs and taken care of Max, who’d been too exhausted even to stay awake during the shower they’d shared. He told himself it would be enough just to sleep with Max, to feel the man pressed against him and listen to his soft snores, and it had been—for the whole three hours Max got to sleep.

Another mare, another foal, and so it continued. Four days had passed without Bo and Max being able to do much more than kiss each other goodnight if they were lucky, and Bo had had enough. He needed Max to touch him. Even with the logical reasons for the frenetic MILES TO GO

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pace around the ranch lately, Bo illogically felt as if Max was avoiding him. Nothing he told himself could chase that feeling away, and Bo was desperate to be reassured that he was still Max’s. He didn’t want to lose what he’d always wanted, not now and not before he ever truly had it.

Bo sat on the couch, trying his best to come up with a solution that didn’t involve him jumping Max while the man slept. It wasn’t looking good—unless he could get some help.

That
he could do, and he knew just who to ask.

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“You sure you’re up to this? It’s kind of chilly out.”

Bo arched a brow at Annabelle and tried not to give a raunchy reply about how Max would be warming him up soon.

Annabelle arched a brow right back, and damned if she didn’t do it better, too. “I meant riding out to Max. You’re still moving a little stiff—don’t
even
say it, Bo, or I’ll insist on riding along and keeping y’all company. That might put a damper on your plans.”

“At this point, I don’t think so,” Bo muttered, ignoring the blush those words brought to Annabelle’s cheeks. “Nothing short of the apocalypse is going to stop me this time—and even that might go unnoticed if things go right. But thanks for your help.”

Annabelle snorted and slapped Bo on the ass as he mounted his horse. “You deserved that, so don’t even give me that wounded look. Got everything y’all need?”

Bo felt his cheeks—the ones on his face and the one Annabelle had walloped—warming up. Maybe he was just paranoid after Rory’s little chat with Max, but it seemed like she was getting way too close to a safe sex talk for his comfort. “Yep, got it. Gotta go!” Bo reined his mount around and took off, almost as eager to escape Annabelle as he was to find Max.

Half an hour later, Bo halted his horse and looked around the area Annabelle had suggested. The stream that ran through this part of the ranch was full, the current moving at a steady clip, the sounds of water flowing almost musical. There was plenty of shade, the grass was green and not too high, and there wasn’t another soul around. Not yet, at least.

Bo dismounted and led his horse to the stream for a drink. Once that was taken care of, he tied the horse to a sturdy branch in a good sized patch of shade and went to work setting up. Pulling the blanket roll from the saddle bag, Bo tried to decide the best spot to put it down. Somewhere away from the horse, for certain.

There was a perfect place beside the stream, a nice sunny patch where they could lay after and hopefully not get chilled. Bo spread the blanket down then hurried back to grab the lunch he’d pack for him and Max along with the condoms and lube. He placed it all on the blanket then hesitated. Should he strip down now, or wait until Max had eaten? The sound of hoof beats sent a shiver down Bo’s spine. His dick was so hard that he hurt clean up to his MILES TO GO

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belly button.
Oh hell, we can both work up more of an appetite.
Bo stripped out of his clothes and sprawled out on the blanket and only then thought of the shit he’d catch if that wasn’t Max he heard approaching.

This plan was definitely holding together better than his first one, because Max rode right up to the blanket and seared Bo with a heated look.

“I was wondering why Annabelle told me to get my ass over here,” Max rasped, his gaze trailing down to Bo’s cock. “I was gonna come up to the bunkhouse for…but this is better.”

Bo’s mouth went dry as Max dismounted. He wished he could say something witty or seductive, but his throat was too tight, his breath too short. Max didn’t even tie off his horse, just nudged its shoulder with his and told it to ‘go on home’ as he visually devoured Bo.

A tendril of fear slithered through Bo. This felt more intense than he’d ever imagined, more…just
more
. He realised, as Max began removing his own clothes, that something irrevocable and life-altering was about to happen. As much as he wanted it, wanted to love and be loved, he hadn’t known it would be such a scary thing to experience. It dawned on Bo that Max could crush him with a few words—
no, leave, whore
—not that he thought Max would ever call him names, but it wouldn’t exactly be an untruth.