Page 18 of Baker (Bastian Brothers #1)

Chapter Nine

I made it a point not to get gussied up.

Same old clothes, just freshly washed, same boots, same belt.

No new socks or underwear. And just a dab of Old Spice on my cheek.

Whiskery cheeks at that because I’d not shaved since this was only dinner with the family—I’d have to examine when this motley group had shifted from pushy strangers to family later—and therefore warranted no date-like sprucing up.

Still, even though I had told myself a hundred times, it was nothing at all like a date, when I pulled up at Hanley’s redbud camp at dusk, my stomach did this little flipsy-doo when he walked up to me wearing my hat.

“Evening, cowboy,” he drawled and plunked my hat back onto my head.

I opened my mouth to tell him to keep the damn hat since it looked better on him, but my words were cut short when his mouth covered mine.

His fingers came to the back of my neck.

I leaned into the kiss, eager, hungry, and met each stroke of his tongue over mine.

“Mm, I bet that lasagna isn’t close to being as tasty as you are. ”

He gave the nape of my neck a squeeze before climbing behind me and settling in for the ride. His arms looped around my middle. Pity we both had coats on. I’d much rather feel him tight to my back, naked, his prick buried deep inside me.

“We going soon?” he asked beside my ear, making a shudder dance down my spine.

“I’m contemplating skipping dinner and having you fuck me senseless instead,” I confessed and got a soft grunt from him.

“Let’s eat first. I am starved . When you bring me back, I’ll fuck you into Kansas.

” He bit down on my earlobe, softly, but enough that I felt it.

Yeah, that sounded good. I gave the Honda some gas, and we sped off, startling a covey of scaled quail settling down in the dead grasses to sleep skyward.

Hanley was very handsy. Handsy Hanley. His fingers crept downward to my crotch several times as we bounded along.

“I should have had you put a plug in before we left my camp,” he whispered into my ear just as we pulled up in front of the house.

My dick, already stiff as a pencil, throbbed at the mention. Fuck and yes.

“Next time,” I ground out before nudging him with my elbow.

“That’s a promise I plan to see you keep,” he replied, kissed the fine hairs on the back of my neck, and then wiggled off the ATV. I glanced back to see that his jeans were as tented as mine, so we stood there gawking at the stars until our erections went down.

“You good?” I enquired. He nodded, smirked, and held out his hand to mine. Unsure of what he was doing, I carefully placed my palm over his and gawked when he lifted my hand to his lips for a gentle kiss to my knuckles.

“I’m good. Let’s eat.” He released my hand. I felt a little giddy and a whole lot confused.

As soon as we opened the front door, the aroma of garlic and the din of lots of people talking greeted us.

We shrugged out of our coats, toed off our boots, and I led him into the spacious farmhouse kitchen.

It was packed. Granny was directing the table settings as Bella removed two large pans of lasagna from the old oven.

“Just in time!” Granny said with a smile.

The woman was the happiest I had seen her in years.

My half-brothers all called a greeting to Hanley as they moved around the table in a circle, putting out plates, glasses, and flatware.

“Here, you sit next to me tonight. I want to hear all about your picture taking in Australia.”

She pulled Hanley to the special chair—the one brought in from the dining room—and then proceeded to hog him all through the meal.

Truly, I didn’t mind. He seemed so relaxed, even among people he didn’t know well.

I envied that. I’d always been aloof, it seemed.

Reserved was what Granny liked to call it.

Sitting here stuffing my face with some damn good lasagna even if it was meatless and listening to Hanley entertain Granny and the rest packed in tight at the table made me feel content.

The pineapple cake for dessert was one of my favorites.

I had two slabs and a large cup of dark coffee.

Dodge seemed distracted, though. When the others dispersed to the living room to chat while a few of “the boys” as Granny now called us cleaned up, I volunteered as did Dodge.

The dishwashing would take some time. There were a lot of dirty plates and pans, but I rolled up my sleeves and we dove in.

It didn’t take him long to start talking.

“So, my ex is being a dickhead about Dahn coming out for Easter,” he admitted while toweling dry a spatula.

Laughter flowed into the warm room. Something about a crocodile with a peg leg, but I didn’t quite catch all of Hanley’s story.

“He’s concerned about who is living in this commune in the wilds where his son is going to be sleeping. ”

I cocked an eyebrow. “We’re a commune in the wild now?”

“So it seems. He’s just being a shithead.

Anything to make life more miserable for me.

” Dodge sighed as he continued to dry that spatula.

The dish drainer was close to overflowing.

I shook off a cake plate and held it over the rinse sink to drip dry.

“So I’m going to ask Ollie if he can contact Chris to assure him that the ranch is not a commune, nor are we in the wilds.

Maybe see about getting a background check on everyone here… ”

“Well, we kind of are, especially to someone from Sacramento. No offense, but just yesterday you nearly shit yourself when you saw a snapping turtle sunning over at the watering pond in the south pasture.”

He did have the grace to look slightly embarrassed.

“True. That was a big turtle. Anyway, yeah, I get it. We’re all slightly out of our elements here.

” I nodded. No point in trying to sprinkle perfume on a sow.

They were all lost here, and it was obvious.

But we weren’t some hippie commune. Just a ranch filled with queers.

Which, given that his ex-husband was also a queer man, shouldn’t be an issue.

But who knows? I guess the men here were strangers to Chris just as they had been to me.

I couldn’t fault him for being protective.

“So, yeah, that’s where I’m at tonight. Would you be pissed if I got a background check run on you? ”

“Nope. I’ve not done anything too bad other than a few drunken episodes in town when I was drinking. I’m sober now. Have been for a few years. Guess that’s the baddest thing they might dig up. Divorced too, but that’s not a crime. At least that I know of.”

“No, it’s not a crime. If it was, Chris would be in prison a few times over. I’m his third husband, and rumor has it, he’s got number four in his sights.” He tossed the spatula into the utensil drawer, shoved it shut, and then had to fight with a ladle to get it closed properly.

“Damn, what is his rush to put a ring on it?” I handed him the cake plate.

“I don’t know. Low self-esteem or something.

” He plucked a pot from the drainer and glanced at me.

“And about the past drinking issues, I have no worries. Congrats on getting sober. I’ll talk to the others about it before I go to bed.

Thanks for being so understanding and honest. I know I came here with a ton of baggage, and you’ve been nothing but warm and welcoming. ”

That made me snigger. “Not sure I was ever warm.”

He chuckled. “Well, okay, lukewarm.” He shot me a look with a quirky half smile. “Granny was welcoming.”

Yeah, that she was. Maybe I should have been a bit more sociable. Guess having some family around wasn’t all bad all the time.

***

After cleanup was done, we rejoined the family in the living room where a rousing game of “Guess who sang this one” was now in progress.

Granny loved this game. She listened to a classic country station religiously, and being a person of a certain age, knew all the old-time singers well.

Growing up with the radio tuned to WRKC—Working Country was their tagline—I did pretty well with my guesses.

I took note of the rather large pile of quarters resting in Granny’s lap.

Oh yes, this game was played with money on the line.

Ford, Linc, and Bella had not done well.

Hanley, smiling up at me as I entered and announced that there was a fresh pot of coffee, seemed to be cradling a mere dollar in coins in his hand.

Bella scooted over on the old sofa to make room, slight as it was, for me to sit beside Hanley.

I caught the tiny little wink Bella gave me as I took my seat.

Great. Someone seemed to be playing matchmaker.

I’d have to pull her aside and explain that there was no match to make as I was a lone wolf and Hanley was a wandering soul.

The DJ was talking about the upcoming Easter parade in Bastian Grange.

Linc rose to go fetch coffee as I leaned back and draped my arm casually over the back of the couch, not touching Hanley in the least. Bella leaned back, smiled knowingly at me, and then shouted out an answer to who was currently singing.

“Johnny Cash!” she yelled and got a soft chuckle from Granny.

“You say Johnny Cash for every song that plays,” Granny replied with a giggle.

A gust of wind blew over the front porch, sending the chimes into motion.

Rain began to fall. Softly, and so we continued playing while the weather outside grew uglier.

Thunder could be heard rolling in, and the gusts of wind grew stronger.