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house. He took the steps two at a time and held the door open for Barkley to skitter in ahead of

them. "Downstairs first, or your room?"

"Bathroom," Jacob said emphatically.

That was easy enough, and when Jacob came out, Jake took his turn before picking up the box

again and taking it upstairs. The door to Jacob's room was open, the sun spilling in and washing the

room with light. "This is it," he said, setting the box on the bed. "Hope you can make it your own."

Jacob looked around, starting to smile. "They put the books on the shelves," he said, pointing to the bookcase. "Cool."

"Left your clothes out, though," Jake said, nodding to the boxes on the dresser.

"Scared of my socks."

The room was only half put together, but Jake could tell that Tor had made an effort to do what he

could without doing it all; Jacob would have lots of opportunity to get his things where he wanted

them.

Jacob sat on the bed and picked up the only framed photo in the room, which had been set on the

small table by the bed. "Aunt Cath took this at the zoo when I was ten," he said, holding it out to Jake.

In the photo a much shorter Jacob had his arms looped around 'Lissa's waist, both of them grinning

madly. "It's a great picture," Jake said, smiling.

"We were pretending to be tigers." He took the picture back and set it down carefully. With a sigh, he pointed to the box Jake had carried up. "The tiger book she got me that day is in there."

Jake sat down next to him and pulled the box closer. "Want it?"

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Jacob smiled a little. "Nah. Maybe later. Can I look around a bit?"

"Yeah, of course. Want some time in here, or do you want the tour?"

"Tour. I'm kinda hungry, too."

"When aren't you?" Jake teased. "All right, fast through up here, then food. If someone shows up with a truck we can take a drive around, too."

"And see the horses."

"And see the horses. Not sure which ones are around, but if Tor has half a brain River will be."

Jacob grinned. "You're kind of attached to him, aren't you?"

"Tor or River?" Jake asked with a chuckle. "They both have their good points. I'm kind of fond of them both, yeah."

"You hide it well." Jacob laughed and stood up. "Come on, let's go. I'm tired of sitting."

"You'll be glad of sitting in a couple of months, I promise. Get you hauling hay bales…"

Jake followed Jacob out of his room and showed him the spare room, then the one he shared with

Tor, and the upstairs bathroom, before they went down to the kitchen again. Tor had been grocery

shopping, that much was obvious, and within twenty minutes they were well fed and ready to ex-

plore the ranch, starting with the stables. Jake hoped the horses took to Jacob as fast as Jacob had

taken to the idea of them.

He wasn't terribly worried about it, though. That piece of land was a good place to grow up, and the

critters on it were a big part of that. They'd be fine, all of them.

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"What's wrong?"

Jake blinked and pulled the sheets back on the bed, then looked across to where Tor was stripping

off his clothes for the night. "Nothing," he said, sounding unconvincing even to him.

Tor snorted and peeled his jeans off, swatting Barkley in the process. "Right."

Jake shrugged. "It's just…" He shrugged again and took his shirt off, tossing it toward the basket of dirty clothes. "I don't know what happens next."

"Next?" Tor lifted an eyebrow and climbed into bed. "Sleep. Get up. Work. Same as always."

Jake rolled his eyes and finished getting undressed. "You know what I mean," he said as he got into bed. Barkley leapt onto the foot of the bed and turned three circles before settling down.

"Well, not specifically," Tor said patiently. "I mean, there's stuff--get the trust fund set up and figure out how much to set aside annually to pay for his clothes and stuff. There's registering him for

school. There's--"

Jake was shaking his head. "That stuff's easy," he said, reaching for the light switch. "I'm more stirred up about the day to day shit. Like what do we
do
now? Neither of us has a clue about kids and you know it. I mean… what time do we send him to bed? How much does he eat--aside from 'a

lot'? How much work should he do around the ranch before we cross the line between teaching him

responsibility and making him earn his keep?"

In the dark, Tor tugged Jake to him. "We ask him. He knows how much he eats--and I figure we

just get a bunch more food and eat until it's gone. Make more if we need it. He can keep going to

bed at the same time he did for the school year--not like he's going to get much chance to sleep in

around here. And the rest will work itself out."

Jake sighed. "But what if--"

"Don't even go there, cowboy. Listen to me." Tor pressed a kiss to Jake's forehead. "This is new to all of us. Jacob knows that. All we can do is talk to him. Now, I don't want him to be a maid here or

just like one of the other hands any more than you do. He's here because we want him, and we're

going to take care of him, yeah? So we tell him that. We teach him about laundry and cleaning up

and how to take care of the animals. We give him chores that fit what he can do and give him free

time to do what he wants. We teach him to ride and we make sure he's healthy. What we don't do is

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get lost in 'what if', 'cause that's not going to do any of us any good."

Jake nodded, warm in his bed, and took comfort in Tor's voice, in his arms, and his good sense.

"You sure you haven't done this before?" he asked quietly.

Tor laughed. "Nope. Just spent the last two weeks thinking about it while you were away." He

kissed Jake again. "Tomorrow, you and one of the boys can take the rental back. I'll take Jacob with me in the truck to check out a few things around the spread, and then we'll see what he wants to do.

Until the cast comes off he won't be doing a hell of a lot, but he can tag along with whoever's doing

something that interests him, okay? It'll smooth out."

Jake resisted the urge to whine about the rental. More than anything he wanted to get out on River

and ride, see as much of his land as he could as fast as he could manage it. "Okay," he agreed, only a little grumbly about it.

"Aw, poor man," Tor teased, clearly knowing what he was thinking about. "Go in to town early, then. Oh, and get Jacob some work clothes and a pair of boots--he's going to need them."

"Yes, sir."

"Sir, now, is it?" Tor tugged on Jake again and tilted his head for a proper kiss, invading Jake's senses. "I like that."

Jake would have chuckled, but he was too busy kissing back to be bothered.

Barkley gave a low growl and got back off the bed; he was a smart dog and Jake had taught him

well. There wouldn't be a chance to sleep on the bed for a while yet, but Jake couldn't quite bring

himself to feel sorry for the pup.

He rolled onto his side and pushed closer to Tor, nudging their hips together as they kissed, getting

harder. It was good to be home, to be in his own bed; better to be lying there in the dark with Tor.

In a couple of minutes the nudging had become insistent, turning more to grinding, both of them

hard and looking for friction. Jake kissed his way along Tor's jaw and buried his head in Tor's neck,

one hand rubbing at Tor's chest before moving down. Just as he shifted so he could reach their

cocks, Tor moved as well, reaching for the nightstand.

The cap popping on the lube sounded loud in the room and Jake tensed, not sure why. He bit at

Tor's neck and held out his hand, palm up.

"Thought I was sir tonight," Tor murmured into his ear, holding the lube back. "Want to fuck you, Jake."

Jake shuddered but shook his head. It wasn't that he really objected to Tor fucking him--and it

would be an excellent welcome home--but he wasn't at all sure how well the sound would carry and

the bed squeaked. Until they got the frame tightened, he wasn't sure it was such a great idea.

He bit at Tor again and decided the bed was getting fixed before breakfast. "Gimme the slick," he 96

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said.

Tor did it, though he didn't seem very happy. He wasn't turning Jake down, though, and Jake had

an idea that he'd get Tor warmed up again fast. With a palm full of lube, he gathered their cocks

together and started stroking. Too much lube, really, but that just made everything all slick and

slippery, and Jake suddenly found himself flat on his back, Tor looming over him and grinning

down.

"Not a bad plan," Tor said, and thrust against him. The lube made it fast and more of a glide than a grind, but it was
fun
, in a silly kind of way. The next time he did it, Tor rolled his hips a little and his eyes went wide as he slid too far and Jake's cock suddenly rubbed him behind his balls.

Jake grinned and held onto Tor's hips, guiding him as they started trying to find a rhythm that

worked for them both, experimenting with more lube and then letting it dry a bit. They kissed and

whispered, and Jake thought he'd never been quite so ridiculously unfocused when getting off be-

fore.

Eventually, though, Tor found the spot that really did it for him, for them both, and Jake started bit-

ing his lip to keep back the gut deep moans as his balls got hot and tight. It was different from

when they shared a house with men; it wouldn't be funny in the morning, there wouldn't be Elias

laughing at them from the other side of the table. He couldn't let himself be even as loud as he'd

been in the other house; Tor had been the noisy one--not always, but usually--and even so, Jake

struggled to mute himself.

"Give it up," Tor whispered to him. "Come on, Taggart. Just relax, will you? Come with me, baby.

It's been too fucking long, don't you worry about it, all right? Not now."

Jake stared up at him and nodded, trying to uncurl his spine enough to just get off. He could feel it

coming up in him, sneaking and screaming, and he wanted it. He did. He just didn't want to let

loose the yell that he was pretty sure was going to come with the orgasm.

Tor shook his head and Jake could've sworn he sighed. "Jake," he whispered. "I'm coming even if you ain't." Then he ground down, slipping and sliding and fitting himself between Jake's legs and

growled. "Ah, shit."

When Tor's mouth smashed on his, Jake growled back, letting his shout out into Tor's kiss, giving

him the taste of it as he finally found the way to release. His fingers were clamped to Tor's body,

his tongue was shoved damn near down Tor's throat, and it was enough. He came, Tor right there

with him, both of them pulsing and twitching and the smell of sex saturating the sheets around

them.

"Stubborn cuss," Tor called him as he rolled over. But Jake could hear him smiling and he smiled right back, wiping his belly on the corner of the sheet.

"Shut up and sleep," he said, folding himself around Tor's body.

The bed creaked as Barkley, apparently deciding they were done, jumped up on the end of the bed

again. He walked his circles, right over Jake's feet, and finally lay down.

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"Glad you're home," Tor whispered.

"Not going again," Jake promised.

"Better not. And if you do, I'm going with. Don't want to do this again, Jake."

"Nope." Jake kissed his shoulder and held him a little tighter. "Go to sleep. Real life starts again in seven hours."

Tor snorted but in a few minutes his breathing evened out and Jake smiled. Tor was pretty good at

doing what he was told, even if it had taken years to train him.

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The two weeks between coming home and the day Jacob finally got his cast taken off were a mix

of emotions and changes. The cast itself caused problems because with it on, Jacob was more an

observer than a participant in his own life, tagging along with various people as they went about

their business and trying to figure out what his chores would be when he could finally do them. On

the other hand, he told Jake and Tor, it was good because it gave him a chance to get to know some

people and see things before he had to actually do anything.

Two weeks was a long time, though, and Jacob was as itchy to get to the good stuff, as he called it,

as anyone else. Not that anyone minded Jacob riding along in the trucks or wandering around the

barns, but it would be nice when he could help out instead of just watch.

Jake was pleased that his men seemed to go out of their way to make Jacob feel at home. Elias had

come right to the house, first thing, and dragged Jacob off to the bunkhouse to meet everyone, and

then disappeared with him into the stables. It didn't matter that Jake had already taken Jacob to

meet the horses; in fact, Jake kind of suspected that anytime he lost track of Jacob he'd be found

right there, loving on the animals.

There were a couple of trips into town to see the doctor about Jacob's arm, and one to the lawyer's

office as well. Jake made sure to stop in at a few places on the way home, and to point out the high

school. Jacob seemed to take heart a little then, relaxing a bit when he found out it was a consoli-

dated school. Three other schools fed into it, so he would simply be one of many new faces. Likely,

he wouldn't even be the only one who had just moved into the area.

Jake spent the two weeks rushing like mad and trying to find a balance between getting caught up