Page 19 of His Wilde Little (Saddle Up #2)

While I didn’t mind going shopping for things, I didn’t know where anything in this place was.

That was quickly removed as an obstacle by how friendly everyone was towards me.

Maybe it was the unfamiliar face, or the full get up I was in that had them glancing in my direction.

I caught all those glances and used them to my advantage, making sure to get my questions in about the things I needed from the list.

There wasn’t a time limit on how long we were allowed to be in town, but I didn’t want to waste the entire day here just looking around. I liked to be methodical and know where I was going, point A to B without having to make detour back on myself because point C was between the two.

I ended up back at the hardware store where I found something I liked. It wasn’t for me, but something I liked for Jace.

“I made those myself,” the owner said, nodding at me. I spaced on his name, searching his shirt for it, but there was no name tag to be found. “They come unpainted, or I can have them painted and sent to you.”

The items in question were animal figurines made from wood. I stared at them and back to him. “They look great. You take commissions on different animals?”

“Absolutely. Name the animal, and I’ll name the price.”

“Alpacas,” I said.

He smacked his lips. “This is for Jace, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I wanted to get him something. He’d been a great help, and I wanted to show my appreciation.”

The man nodded and waved me forward, but before we could get any further, I paused to ask his name. He laughed. “It’s Mason,” he said. “And don’t worry, I forgot your name as well.”

“I’m Lorenzo, but most people call me Lolo,” I said. That was most people except for Jace. I don’t think he’d ever called me it. But that was fine, considering he was now calling me Daddy, and that felt much better all around.

“Great, well, Jace is always eyeing up this set when he comes in,” he said, leading me around the aisles of the hardware store. “It’s a set of animals on a farm. We’ve had it on our webstore for a while and nobody had bought it yet. I think it might be a little too pricy.”

On a shelf, a small farm scene played out with painted farm animals and a wooden barn where I assumed they would all fit as a means of cleaning them away. “How much?”

“One-fifty for the set,” he said. “It’s one of a kind, hand painted, hand carved, all the hands.” He laughed. “The only thing that isn’t in there are alpacas, but if you buy the set, I’ll get some made and send them over, free of charge.”

It was the best thing on there, and I did want to give him something for all the work he’d done, plus, if he was going to get on the back of a horse today, then he definitely deserved this reward.

“I’ll take it,” I said. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be back for more though.

And could I grab some of those horses as well, the unpainted ones. Four, if you have them.”

Mason smiled and nodded at me. “I believe I do,” he said. “And some paint to go with them? I also recommend these smaller brushes too for painting.” I nodded to all the things, I had plans, ideas, and I wanted to see them all come true. “I can ring it all up for you. Anything else you need?”

“Nope, I think that’s it,” I said, briefly glancing at the list. The list had included something for Jace on it, but I wasn’t going to have his mom buying him things I was going to get him anyway, and if she asked, I’d tell her the alpacas would be coming from here soon.

“You don’t happen to wrap things, do you? ”

He let out a little chuckle, it was a knowing chuckle. Knowing that Jace was little, knowing that I was taking care of him. It was unspoken, but we knew. “I can do just that for you,” he said. “If you want to come back in ten minutes, I’ll have it all sorted for you.”

“Great.”

The hardware store was the last stop. I’d been taking the little bits back to the van, like the pantry items, the fresh flowers, and a whole tub of sugar cubes I was assuming had been added there for the horses.

Jace hadn’t left the bakery. He was sitting at a table with a friend, devouring pies together.

He caught me entering, signaled by the bell dinging.

He glanced up, his lips covered in the gloss of ice cream.

He waved me over. “I was going to save you some,” he said, attempting to lick the entirety of his mouth clean with his tongue, and failing.

“Hi,” his friend said sitting opposite him. “I should be going, but it’s nice to meet you. I’m Leo.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I said with a head nod before taking the seat he’d left.

I sat in front of the near empty plate in the center of the table.

“You’ve gotten it everywhere,” I whispered, taking the napkin tucked beneath the plate and gently blotted away at his mouth. “I take it you enjoyed the pie.”

He nodded, leaning in close. I thought he was going in for a kiss, leaning in with him. “I’m doing research,” he said.

“I thought I was—”

He planted his sticky lips on mine. I licked mine afterwards. “I’ve got some real competition now,” he whispered. “But only here, I know I’m going to get first place for my bake at the livestock show next year. I came so close this year.”

“Wait. Which pie was yours?” I asked.

“It was a strawberry one, I got third place, but apparently it was too sweet and some of the people who voted I think only voted for the others because they went around the entire show begging for votes,” he said in a huff.

Maybe now wasn’t the best time to tell him that I’d tasted that strawberry pie and had been someone who said it was too sweet. Overly so that I thought it might’ve given me a cavity. But now, knowing who made it, I understood why it was overly sweet, because that’s just who he was.

“Did you find everything you were looking for?” he asked. “And can I see the list now?”

“Nope, that’s still very much between me, myself, and I,” I told him. “Anything you wanted to show me while we’re here?”

He took my hand across the table, playing with it, interlocking his fingers with mine and gently squeezing it. “I want to show you a lot of stuff here, but I don’t even know if we have the time,” he said.

“We have however long it takes,” I said.

Jace shook his head. Knowing something I didn’t. “We need to get back so I can get on the horse, and then get off it just as quick,” he said. “And then get my reward.”

I could’ve guessed. I should’ve. “It doesn’t work like that. You have to put in the work to get the reward. If you don’t, then I’ll just assume you’re trying to cheat your way into getting something from me, and that wouldn’t be good, would it?”

He gasped. “I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of trying to cheat before.”

“Well, you do have an entire thing of golden stickers, so I don’t know if you were adding more to it,” I said, winking at him. I knew he wouldn’t, but it was fun to play around with him, especially since he took his stickers seriously.

“Take it back,” he said, pouting. “Pweese.”

Usually, I’d be concerned with people watching us, but I didn’t feel eyes on me like I might’ve done otherwise. It was the norm here, same-sex couples held hands, kissed in public, and even shared cute moments together at a table over pie.

“I’m only joking,” I said. “I’d never accuse you of doing anything like that. I promise.”

“Good. Can I have a—”

One step ahead, I planted my lips on his, getting more of that sweet ice cream residue from his lips.

Then, I became conscious of the people around us, stopping me from sticking my tongue out and exploring just where that sweet stickiness came from, and exploring how sweet it actually got between those lips.

“You think anyone in here will see and tell you folks?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Probably not, but—”

“But?”

“She has been doing the delivery runs, so maybe people will speak to her.” He squeezed my hand tighter in his. “Is it that big of an issue if they find out?”

“If you’d asked me this when I first got here and I had these feelings then, I’d say yes , but now, I—I don’t think it’s that big of an issue at all. In fact, I’m almost wanting to be public about this. In a sense of the local community knowing, and your family.”

Jace giggled. “You’re blushing,” he said. “You’re cute when you blush.”

“Not as cute as you. Now, what do I have to do to get a taste of that pie leftover?”

“Well, for starters, you’ve got to tell me that mine tastes better,” he said.

“Even if I haven’t had yours before?”

“Especially because you haven’t had mine before,” he said.

“But don’t worry, that will change soon.

I’m gonna make sure of it.” He scooped some of the pie up onto a spoon with a little bit of melted ice cream and fed it to me.

It was nice, very fresh. I tried not to let out a satisfied moan from the taste alone, but some things couldn’t be helped.

“Enough pie for you,” he said, tapping my closed mouth with the back of the spoon.

After about ten minutes, I went back out for the wrapped gift and took it to the van where Jace was already waiting. He was holding onto his stomach as if something was wrong.

“You’re not gonna spew, are you?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head, then puffing his cheeks. “I’m just regretting the amount of food I ate.” He wasn’t even concerned with the large box wrapped in a beige paper.

“How much pie did you have?” I asked, loading the van and securing all the grocery bags in place.

“I had to try them all,” he said. “It would’ve been rude not to, and I’m not rude. I like to try as much pie as I can possibly get my hands on.”

I should’ve guessed from the way there was so much pie left on the plate that it wasn’t the first. And if it was. He’d let it sit for a very long time for the ice cream to melt, but the pie was warm, so that helped.

“This doesn’t mean you’re getting out of what we’ve got planned today,” I reminded him. “I believe in you.”

“But what if I vomit on the back of the horses,” he said, holding a hand to his mouth and one to his stomach. “They’d be so mad. They’d never let me go near them again.”

“Again, not getting out of this that easily,” I told him. “Unless you want me to take you present back. If you do, then sure, I’ll take it back.”

“Present.” He perked up at the sound. “Obviously, I’ll be able to try my best, but you know, sometimes things just need a little more time to sit and digest.”

Closing the van door as he tried to peek and see what the box was. “There’s no rush, as long as we do it sometime today. Although, if I were you, I’d probably want to get it over and done with as soon as possible.” I just wanted to give him the present and witness his little side come out to play.

There was probably going to be more to it than that, and since the only side to him that I’ve seen at play recently was the way he’d been playing with me in the bedroom.

I didn’t mind that he wasn’t going to play with me and the toys, but I wanted to witness it.

It had been far too long since I’d had something so pure and fun in my life, and this entire move seemed like I was heading in the right direction.

“You’re gonna make me wait, aren’t you?” he asked before putting his key in the ignition.

“Yes, of course, you’re gonna have to wait if you want it,” I told him.

There were rules in place already and the rule that we’d put in place was that he had to ride the back of one of the horses, if not, then he wasn’t getting his reward.

“I will tell you that there is a second reward if you’re lucky enough. ”

Jace became all giddy. “I think I’m definitely lucky enough,” he said. “I mean, for one—”

I pressed a finger to his mouth, hushing him before pressing my lips to them, forcing them shut while I kissed him.

I didn’t want him to ruin the luck. There was already so much luck between the two of us already, the luck from finding each other in this place, to the luck of matching each other’s wants and needs.

To say we were lucky was an understatement, although there was going to need to be a lot more luck involved if we were going to get through the horseback riding.

He kissed me back. “I won’t ask again.”

“You won’t need to ask again if we get back to the ranch quick.” But that could’ve spelled trouble the whichever horses temperament seemed good enough for him to ride, and I didn’t want any of them bucking him off, or worse yet, him spewing his pie-filled guts all over them.