Page 74 of Affair

It had been a silent ride into the woods. Neither man spoke, and there were a few reasons. Mostly, Gamble was freaked out that something he’d done was going to cost Poe his life.

This had to be about him.

Another thing he was worried about was keeping the man’s body safe. He was sitting in front of him, and pressed to his chest. Since he was smaller than Gamble, he was able to block him with his body.

And be up against him.

Oh, and it was torture.

The whole trek, Gamble was focused on keeping them safe. Now, he was listening to the sounds around them, hoping to hear Rufus barking.

Only, there was nothing.

He wasn’t sure if it was because they were so far away from the farm, or because the mercenaries were going stealth and tracking them.

That would be a problem.

There were at least ten of them, and only Gamble to keep Poe safe.

The odds were not in his favor.

Speaking of Poe…

Every now and then, his hand would go to Gamble’s thigh, and he’d get shockwaves through his whole body.

It was difficult not to be acutely aware of the man pressed to the front of his body. His one arm was around Poe’s waist, as his hand was holding onto Diablo’s mane.

It was distracting, to say the least, since he could smell his aftershave, mingling with his scent.

Damn it.

He smelled good.

When Poe broke the silence, Gamble blinked, pulled from his thoughts.

“Why are they trying to kill us?” Poe finally asked. “What did we do?”

He’d been sitting there twenty minutes against Gamble, and he was going insane. The feel of his body against his, and how he tightly held him to him, like he wasn’t willing to let go…

It made it difficult to do anything.

The man felt so damn good.

For the last month, Poe had purposely put space between them, and was careful not to touch him. He didn’t want to exacerbate that need between them.

Now, he was up close and personal with the man’s body, and he was enjoying it way too much.

Poe felt…safe.

That was crazy since they had been shot at leaving the field.

If he stayed against him much longer, he was going to go insane.

The bottom line was that Poe was protecting Gamble. He wanted the man to be able to leave and have a life, and making little connections might destroy that. He was pretty sure Gamble bonded to him, and that was it.

Hyper-masculine men like Gamble didn’t get all hot and bothered by studious doctors like him.

On top of that, Gamble had been straight, and now, he was sure that once he was gone, back in his life, he’d be a distant memory.