Page 31 of His Wilde Little (Saddle Up #2)

Jace never asked me many questions about my family, perhaps because I was always giving short answers about them. The type of answers that told people you didn’t want to speak about them, but as we wrangled the horses back to their stable after dinner, he brought them up again.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he prefaced, “so, if they’re horrible, then you don’t have to say, but maybe when we’re in Texas next year, I could meet them.”

His optimism was great, I loved that about him, how sunny and smiley he always was, even when he first approached me thinking I was homophobic and was going to try and steal his job right from under him—but I learned, there were better things to do under him, and I’d never stolen a thing.

“They’re not the nicest,” I admitted, “and they’re not all that accepting.

I wouldn’t want to put that on you. Meeting them isn’t one of the things I want to happen, not until we’ve made some solid ground in this relationship. ”

“They can’t be that scary,” he said with a giggle. “They’re not gonna scare me off you.”

That was exactly where my worry lied. I didn’t think they’d do anything awful, but they wouldn’t be as welcoming as the Wilde family had been to me, and that would’ve definitely been seen as a snub to him.

I just didn’t want him to feel their cold energy, and I didn’t know how to word that without making my folks sound like monsters.

“Eventually, in a couple years, maybe,” I said. “But they’ve never been in my adult life much, so I won’t be starting to bring them in anytime soon. Besides, they wouldn’t drive up to the livestock show anyway, even if it meant seeing me for the first time in years.”

Jace tackled me with a big hug, squeezing his arms around me.

His Stetson almost went flying. I pushed it down on the back of his head, keeping it in place.

He kept hold of me for a long while as the horses stopped around us, already chewing up the grass near our feet.

Jace wasn’t one bit bothered by how close they’d got, but his face was pressed against my chest.

“I think I prefer your family more anyway,” I whispered, stroking his back.

“But when we are in Texas, we will have to go meet a friend of mine.” The guy I’d been teaching to ride horses had made a full recovery, and he’d told me to stop feeling guilty, he was walking, but he was not going to be on the back of any horses, anytime soon.

“This is the first I’m hearing about a friend,” he said.

I’d been so closed off, I just assumed I’d have already spilled everything the moment Jace opened me up. “Yeah, the one who was in the accident,” I said.

“You might’ve mentioned them, actually.”

“Well, I’m sure you can meet them,” I said.

“How did he get into the accident?”

“Well, we can talk about that later.” I still felt like I was to blame for it.

I was the one letting him practice riding some untamed horses, only because he’d wanted some practice for bull riding, and those sons a bitches could buck and bend like nobodies’ business.

“We should get the horses in their stalls.” I gave him a kiss on the forehead.

It was the best Thanksgiving I’d experienced in a while. In fact, I didn’t have any fond memories of it. My folks weren’t big on the event, they came from Mexico and would often just have a big dinner, but there were no giving thanks, and definitely no turkey on the table.

I was born and raised in Texas, so for me it was strange to have all these holidays that I often didn’t celebrate growing up with my family.

It was also probably one of the reasons I wanted to be out of the house sooner rather than later—not to mention being gay and seeing all the Jesus paintings and crucifixes around the house, as well as my grandma who would shout scripture at me in Spanish.

The week following the holiday, I had been plagued with thoughts about all the things I’d missed out on because of them.

I wondered how much my life would be different if I’d grown up somewhere else.

I loved my Mexican heritage, the flavors, the colors, the language itself was beautiful, just the parents I were given.

It was the day we were heading into town for our small overnight vacation when I almost broke down in front of him.

It wasn’t a full break, but a sit-down conversation where I told him I didn’t have a relationship with my family, and that I considered him my family now, for as long as he would have me.

“Forever,” he said, hugging me tight. “As long as you’ll have me.”

“Forever,” I repeated, a happy smile burned into my cheeks. “I like the sound of that. As long as you’re a good boy.”

“And as long as you’re a good Daddy.”

I chuckled. “Doesn’t have the same ring to it,” I said. “Dominant Daddy, now that has a ring to it.”

In my ear, he let out a slight whimper. “Yes, Daddy, what about that?”

“Always,” I whispered back.

Before we could get carried away, a knock came at the door.

It was his mom, Martha, coming to collect a list of all the things we needed her to do for the horses while we were away.

I didn’t want their schedule impacted too much with us being away.

It was a short list, but they needed to be outside, given their treats for good behavior, and ridden, if possible.

Similarly, a list I shared with Jace for our night away together.

It was going to be strange being away from the ranch and not around all the animals, but I was looking forward to a night with Jace, even if he was going to be spending a couple of hours with his friends, playing, or whatever it was they did when they were all together.

We’d packed two bags for the night. It might’ve looked like overkill, but it was definitely necessary.

Once the list was handed off, we were out of the door and on our way to the B&B.

We had most of the day together, all night, and tomorrow morning without any other responsibilities but to each other.

“I can’t remember the last time I was away from my family,” Jace said, sticking his tongue out slightly as he shimmied in his seat. “I mean, not counting the livestock shows because they’re usually there, so it’s different.”

“Well, it’s only going to be one night,” I told him. “So, hopefully you’ll manage.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he said, continuing to wiggle around in the passenger seat. “What if I like it too much and I don’t want to go back?”

“And what would you do if you didn’t go back?”

He shrugged. “Maybe join a circus, isn’t that what people always do when they run away from home?”

“Yeah, when they’re kids, not when they’re adults and they don’t need to rely on the kindness of strangers to survive.

” The same thought had crossed my mind as a kid, runaway, join a travelling circus, but I didn’t know my talent would’ve been—although I had less of those thoughts now, I knew exactly what I’d do at a circus.

“I’d probably be an animal tamer if I was in the circus. ”

“Like lions? Or horses?”

“Both. I’m also good with rope too, so—”

“Rope,” he said. “I didn’t see any that you packed. You can’t be that good if you didn’t bring any with you.”

I could only laugh at him, trying not to lose focus on the winding roads from the ranch. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, baby,” I told him. “But if you want to play with some rope, I won’t stop ya, but I don’t feel too comfortable with that in bed.”

“? Even if I consent.”

“I don’t think I have the right rope for all of that. Regardless of consent. I’d need to make sure the rope was you know, the stuff they use for that type of play.”

He giggled and hooked an arm around mine. “You’re so knowledgeable. Does that mean you’ve done it before?”

“I’ll let you in on a little secret, I’m quite vanilla, with the exception of this thing we have together,” I told him, referring to the Daddy stuff. That was as much spice as my vanilla got.

“I love it.”

“Love you,” I said, leaning slightly to kiss him. He nuzzled closer, making sure he got the full extent of my kisses.

The start of December was pretty chilly, which I had very little experience with, but that was nothing for the denim with the fur lining that I wore.

Sure, it could get cold in the evenings in Texas sometimes, but it was never the type of cold that got into the bones.

I was just reassured that it hadn’t started to snow yet, but promised the grounds would soon be blanketed in the stuff.

We got there and I was already missing the horses, at least this wasn’t me leaving them for a long time. Just the night.

The owners, Elijah and Ezekiel welcomed us in, and quickly showed us to the room we were staying in. A big room with a large bed and a several layers of blankets. As soon as the door was closed, we had our boots off, and Jace jumped onto the bed, bouncing around and sinking into all the fabric.

“Come in,” he said.

I glanced at the bags by the door. “You want to get into something a little more comfortable before we play?”

He paused. “Yeah, I wanna play.”

With one hand, I unbuckled my belt and pulled it out of the jean loops. “I want to finish all that teasing you started earlier, so the sooner you get into something comfy, the faster I can explore that body again.”

Almost rolling off the side of the bed, he caught him and rushed over to the bag where he emptied onto the floor. I didn’t rush to undress. I took my time, knowing we only had the afternoon before he was going to see his friends, and I wanted to get this off on the right foot.

With my jeans off and my cock chubbing in my underwear, I sat on the side of the bed, slowly unbuttoning my shirt, and also enjoying the way my body sank into the bed. It was like a marshmallow, ready to swallow me whole, and I let it. Laying back into it, I finished unbuttoning my shirt.