Texas #4_Texas Christmas (11 page)

Riley snagged Jack around the waist and pulled him down awkwardly on his lap. He may well be a few inches taller than Jack, but there was nothing small about the cowboy in his arms. The chair creaked ominously, but Riley didn’t care. He kissed Jack until they had to break to breathe, then encouraged him to stand up. Jack grinned and touched his lips with his fingers.

“You taste of cookie. How many have you eaten already?”

“One,” Riley lied.

“More like five,” Eden said from the door. “Don’t let him fool you, Jack.”

Riley sent Eden an exaggerated openmouthed look of horror. “Traitor,” he gasped. Then he clutched his chest dramatically. “My own sister.”

“Max went in to see the twins with Carol, and I think he and the twins are waiting for some daddy hugs,” she prompted.

Riley thought he’d never heard anything said so perfectly in his life.

Liam hesitated at the door for a good few minutes. The key to the door burned a hole in his pocket, and his meager belongings in the bag on his back were an unwelcome reminder of what he was bringing to the Double D.

“You
can
go in,” Eli prompted. Liam was startled at the words; he hadn’t even heard Eli come up the metal stairs. So much for being aware of his surroundings.

He stepped over the threshold and was immediately out of the daylight and into the dim interior of his new home. Eli didn’t follow, and Liam turned to face him expectantly.

“Can I come in?” Eli asked politely.

“Of course you can,” Liam answered in surprise. “It was your home.”

“And it’s yours now, your space, and no one comes in without an invite.”

“In case they’re vampires,” Robbie joked from behind Eli. He reached past and held out an envelope. Liam opened it and a
welcome to your new home
card fell into his hands along with a gift card for Target.

“Thought you could buy yourself your own stuff to go around the place.” Robbie waved a hand around the place. “Knickknacks and frames and all,” he said.

“And my gift is in here,” Eli said and pulled the large closet doors open dramatically to reveal clothes of every color crammed into the space: pants, jeans, shirts, T-shirts, sweat pants and tops—even a jacket. He gestured to the bottom where shoes sat in a neat row. “Guessed on the size compared to your boots,” he said. “But I can get any size you want.”

“I can’t take that,” Liam said immediately. “I don’t need charity.” As soon as he said the words he wanted to pull them back, but Eli didn’t look offended.

“Yes, you can. It’s all stuff from shoots, some of it may be too big on you, but you can just pass anything you don’t want back to me. I get clothes left after sessions all the time and a lot of the fashion models are your height and weight, all sleek and tall. Right, we’re going. Just wanted to welcome you to your new home.”

“We hope you’ll be as happy here as we were,” Robbie added softly. He stepped toward Liam, then gave him a manly back-slapping hug before moving aside and letting Eli do the same. When they closed the door after leaving abruptly, Liam was inside his place with his things and he didn’t know what to feel first, terror or excitement. The bed was solid wood, and Jack had gotten a new mattress in for him. There was navy bedding on the quilt and the place smelled of laundry detergent and sunshine. Two windows gave different perspectives of the ranch. One faced the ranch house, the other the horses. In front of that window was a small square table and two chairs.

Liam placed his bag on the table and went to look at the rest of the place. He was familiar with the small shower room with its toilet and sink because he’d used the shower before, but he was less so with the kitchen. Along with the usual cupboards, which held boxes from cereals to pasta and coffee to packages of cookies, there was a small fridge, with a gratefully received bottle of beer in the door decorated with a red bow. Nice touch. The stove looked fairly new and the window in the kitchen also faced the horses.

He could have Marcus visit here. They’d exchanged texts nearly every hour since that night they’d cuddled in the barn. It had only been a few days, but to Liam it was too long.

In my new place,
he texted.
Want dinner? I have ramen noodles and
Cap’n
Crunch.

He didn’t have to wait long so Marcus probably wasn’t in a meeting.
You know the way to my <3
.

Grasping the iron while it was hot, he texted back immediately. He needed to make some memories in this place to make him feel less alone.
Tonight?

Late meeting at 7. I’ll bring wine, be there at 9 :) xx

Smiling, Liam felt like he needed to add a text that would make Marcus smile.
I have one bottle of beer with a bow on it.

LOL. See you at 9.

Suddenly his new home felt more like his. He had invited Marcus to visit, and Marcus had said yes. And he was bringing wine. Now all Liam needed to do was go beg ingredients from Jack and Riley, and he could actually make something better than bowls of ramen and cereal.

He wasn’t without skills in the kitchen.

* * * * *

Marcus stopped the car at the entrance to the D, right under the metal sign, and tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel in time to the song on the radio station. He couldn’t identify what it was, but it had a rhythm that had him humming along so somehow he must have heard it before.

Something had changed over the last few days of texting with Liam, and nerves spun inside him as he contemplated the night ahead. Liam had explicitly invited him over for ramen and cereal, nothing else. Not kissing or maybe even some under-clothes touching, but Marcus could hope.

Thing is, he’d done research, even while he was texting and teasing and even with all the flirting, he’d read up on things he never thought he’d ever read. Male rape, PTSD, hate attacks. He hadn’t realized just how sheltered he’d been in his family where his parents accepted who he was with no trouble and where his twin sister had his back. Panic fluttered in his chest and without a second thought he pressed speed dial one for the only person who would calm him down.

“Hey,” Marcie said immediately.

“I need your advice.”

“I thought we’d done this. You look good in the green shirt.”

“It’s not the shirt. It’s Liam.”

“What’s wrong? Did you get there already?” Marcus heard the noise across the phone of his sister slumping into the sofa, and she obviously checked the time. “It’s nine? You said nine.” He could picture her on the dark leather sofa propped up by all the brightly colored cushions she favored in her apartment.

“I’m not there yet. I can’t get past the damn front entrance.”

Marcie didn’t say anything for a pause. “Metaphorically or physically,” she asked.

“Considering I am sitting under the Double D sign about a mile from the main ranch, I am thinking I am mentally blocked here.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s not like other guys. He’s different, but he has a past, and shit, how am I going to sit in his place and not touch him.”

“Okay, so touching him is a bad thing.”

“I just want to kiss him all the time, and he’s…he hasn’t had good experiences.”

“You’re not out to hurt him, Marcus, you don’t have it in you. Just go and eat and talk and stop overthinking this.”

Marcus smiled in the dark. Somehow Marcie always appeared to balance out his procrastinating. “Is that your sisterly advice?”

“Is it enough to get you to move your ass toward this guy?”

“Night, sis.”

“Night.”

Call finished, he started the car again, and in a few minutes he was parking outside the ranch house. Without hesitation he headed for the metal stairs that took him up to Liam’s new place, then knocked on the door.

Liam answered immediately, grinning widely. He looked so good in a black T-shirt that fitted him closely and jeans that molded to his legs. Marcus held up the bottle of wine he’d bought on the way over.

“I went for white, thought it would go well with ramen.”

Liam grinned and moved aside to let him in. The tempting smells of tomato and garlic wafted from where Marcus assumed the kitchen was, and a small table was set with cutlery and glass tumblers.

Liam continued, “I don’t have wine glasses or anything like that yet. I need to hit Target and use the gift card Robbie gave me. Hell, wait here.” He left the main room through a door and into the kitchen and Marcus followed to see him rummaging through the only drawer in the cupboard. “Fuck,” he snapped. “I don’t have a corkscrew or a bottle opener or…” He trailed off and pushed the drawer shut with another mumbled curse. Marcus could see the tension in Liam’s body language.

“It doesn’t matter,” Marcus protested. “I don’t want to drink. I’m kind of tired.” He winced as he said this. Liam wasn’t stupid, he’d see the words for what they were—a way of making Liam feel better.

“I should have thought,” Liam said with an accompanying crestfallen expression which lasted a few seconds before he hid the reaction. “I was looking at having a stove and a bed and my own shower, but I guess there’s a lot more to this thing.” He sounded overwhelmed and an edge of self-criticism colored his tone.

Marcus wanted excited-Liam back, the one who had met him at the door with a smile filled with confident purpose. How was he going to handle this? Albeit not on purpose, he
was
responsible for the blank look in Liam’s gray eyes.

“Tell me how it feels when you shut the door behind you. That’s the important thing. Is it a cool place? Cozy? Is the bed comfortable? Does your shower work okay?”

Liam frowned and then said, “It’s a place to sleep, that’s all that matters.”

“And it’s yours. I came here tonight because I wanted to see your place.” He stepped close and cradled Liam’s face with his palm. “And you.”

Liam pressed his face into Marcus’s hand.

Marcus continued, “We’ll go find things to make it a house, but it’s the person who lives in the house who makes it home.”

Liam smiled and the smile actually reached his eyes. “You sure know what to say at all the right times, don’t you?” he observed.

“They don’t call me silver-tongued Marcus for nothing.”

“No one calls you that.”

Marcus pressed a gentle kiss to Liam’s soft lips. “True. But it sounded good in my head.”

“I made a pasta bake thing.” Liam gestured to the oven. “And I have one beer we can share.”

“And after that, some kissing?”

Liam moved his hand to rest against the one Marcus had placed on his face. “I’m not sure I’m ready for anything else.”

Compassion swelled inside Marcus, even though his baser instincts screamed at him. What did he do? What did he want? A quick fuck or something that could be more. His brain and heart won over the persistent semi-erection he always had around Liam.

“As long as you like,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“There’s one thing though. I’m not entirely broken. I know I didn’t deserve what happened to me, and I am convinced, when I find the right person, that everything will slot in place. And I want to have fun with that person as well as the serious stuff.”

Marcus’s chest tightened at the words. He wanted to be the right person.

“We can have fun,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m having fun here and now, with pasta bake, beer, and kisses.”

Liam grinned. “You are an easy date.”

Marcus shook his head sadly. “Sadly true, throw in dessert and I’m anyone’s.”

Liam’s wrinkled his nose. “No dessert,” he said with a sad shake of his head.

Marcus kissed him again and this time Liam melted against him with a soft sigh.

“I’ll just take more kisses then,” Marcus said gently.

Jack stood as still as stone and simply stared. He’d never seen anything so picture-perfect in his life. Carol was in the kitchen with Hayley and Max passing on her patented cookie experience. Connor was in his crib, and Jack had gone in search of Riley and Lexie. Laid out lengthways on the long sofa in the good room, Riley softly snored and held Lexie on his chest. His six four didn’t exactly fit on the sofa, and his legs from the knees down hung over the end. Lexie had her diapered butt up in the air with her tiny hands clinging to Riley’s T-shirt. Riley in turn cradled her safely. Pulling his old cell from his pocket, he wanted to capture the image forever. He frowned down at the cracked screen and wished he had Riley’s shiny new phone at hand. His had seen better days for sure.

Framing the scene he pressed the button and took a succession of photos. Peering through the dusty screen, he was pleasantly surprised that he’d actually caught what he wanted. He considered sending copies to the rest of the family, but he’d really have to ask Hayley or Riley how to do that. Probably Hayley because Riley got irritable when he couldn’t get connection, which sometimes happened on the D.

He crossed to the opposite sofa and sat on the very edge. He was tired and his head hurt from trying to balance figures for the past hour. A shower would be good, maybe some Tylenol to ease the pain in his head and the itch in his throat. He was coming down with something, that much was clear, probably the same thing that had kept Hayley off school for two days last week. He copied Riley’s position on the other sofa, but he was too short to get his legs over the end as neatly as his husband. He also didn’t have the benefit of a baby on his chest as a hot water bottle, and he was cold.

Any minute now he would get up and grab a coffee and some meds, then maybe have an early night. He had a training session with a new owner in a few days and he wanted to be prepared. He closed his eyes and willed himself to relax.

When he opened his eyes next, the room was darker and Riley was crouched next to him. He had a palm on Jack’s forehead and he was talking.

“…hot. You need to be in bed.”

“’
M’kay
,” Jack murmured.

“You’re burning up.”

“No. ’
M’cold
.”

“Come on, cowboy, up and at ’
em
.”