Page 21 of Stirring Spurs (Rainbow Ranch #1)

WYLIE

With a sigh, I kick off my boots and stretch out on Boone’s bed. I might like fucking with 'em on for a spell, but keeping them on too long isn’t comfortable or clean. My toes need to breathe.

Boone’s cuddled up to my chest, doing his best to be the smaller one, even though he’s not. The room smells like sweat, leather, and cum. Why someone hasn’t bottled that up as a cologne yet is beyond me. It would fly off the shelves faster than a stallion at full gallop.

“Mmmh.” Boone moans into my skin, his sweet breath making the hair on my chest flutter.

“Okay if I stay?” I ask.

I’ve spent the night in his room a few times but don’t want to assume. We barely fit on Boone’s double bed, but we’d fall off of my single like a couple of ol' coyotes at the edge of a dry creek—hanging on by a whisker.

He nods into me then reaches up, kissing on my neck. The smell of me is all over him, sending a shockwave to my cock and leaving me wondering if I could get it up for round two so soon after finishing.

Boone’s naked body is pressed up on me. Skin to skin. Yeah, I’ve messed around with guys over the years, but it was never like this. Stayin' after. So much kissin'. Snuggled up like two bugs in a rug.

I squeeze his torso, pulling him tight, wanting him closer.

“You okay?” His voice comes out tired and hoarse.

Probably from moaning into my fingers while I attempted to split him open like a stubborn leather hide.

“Oh, yeah.”

The words come out, but the tremble in my voice betrays me. Maybe he’ll just think I’m spent.

Boone props himself up on his elbow, eyeing me like I told him the sun was gonna rise in the west.

“What is it?” He lays his chin on my chest, staring up at me with those green eyes, and I take a breath.

Boone’s words echo in my head. You’re safe.

“Just, strange. Feeling like I could stay. Not movin' on.”

“Did you talk to Beau?”

“Soon. Told him I need to chat. He gave me a slight smile and a short nod. Thinking he’s probably on to me.”

“Yeah, probably.” Boone kisses my chest, right near my heart. “But that’s good. It’ll make things easier.”

“That’s what I figure.”

“So what do you feel off about? Having second thoughts about staying?”

“No, that’s not it. Just… not used to this,” I say, struggling to find the right words. Boone burrows into me, and I squeeze him tight, inhaling his slightly sweet scent. “Being comfortable.”

“Is it your family?” His eyes blink up at me, and I try to focus on 'em. “You never talk about them.”

I pull my lips in, closing my eyes. If I’m staying here on the ranch, with Boone and his family, he needs to know. Keeping it in won’t help anything.

My eyes open to his handsome face, grounding me to the moment.

“Grew up in central Wyoming. My folks were kind. Loving. I had two younger brothers, Luke and Jesse. I was the oldest, though there was only about a year and a few months between each of us. We worked hard, played hard. It was a good life, mostly. Until it wasn’t.”

Boone brushes some hair from my damp forehead. A refreshing breeze blows in from outside, but between the rustling we did before and now thinking about my family, I’m sweating like a whore in church.

“What happened?”

I reach for his face. He’s so damn beautiful. That dimple catches my thumb, and I close my eyes, letting it all spill out.

“It was a bitter winter’s night. Smelled like snow but the forecast didn’t call for it.

Well, that storm rolled in faster than anyone could have predicted.

I was out on my horse checking the herds, when Jesse came shouting from the truck.

Pop had collapsed after putting the last of the cattle in the barn.

My brothers tried to get help, but the storm was too fierce, and by the time the doctor made it out, it was too late. ”

“Oh, Wylie, I’m so sorry.”

I rub my thumb across his face, the soft indentation making my heart so damn happy.

It’s a small, almost imperceptible detail, a tiny feature maybe only I notice, a private treasure just for me.

The way it deepens when he smiles, or the way it’s there even when he’s lost in thought.

I wonder if he even knows how much that dimple tethers me.

“Heart attack. It was rough. Sudden. As bad as losing Pop was, it only got worse. My brothers and I drifted apart. Luke turned to the bottle. He was so angry all the time. Jesse pulled away too. Burying himself in the work of the ranch, trying to do it all. I did my darnedest to hold us together, but it seemed like the tighter I grasped, the more they slipped through my fingers.”

Boone’s eyes are fixed on me, unwavering, as if he’s trying to read every thought running through my mind.

I’m not entirely sure, but it looks like there’s a shimmer in the corners of his eyes.

I’m not trying to upset him, but there’s no way around it.

If he wants me sticking around, he has to hear it—needs to know what I’m carrying, even if it’s hard to say out loud.

“Didn’t think things could get worse. Fuck, I wish I was right about that.

Luke’s drinking escalated. Seemed like he’d wake up and start.

Driving an hour to the closest dive bar.

Not coming home until it was almost time to get up and get to work.

When he didn’t come home one night, I knew something was wrong.

Jesse and I searched for him for days. Maw was a wreck.

It wasn’t until the snow melted a week later that we found him…

” My voice breaks, but I force it out. “Frozen, alone. Gone.”

Boone doesn’t speak. He pushes himself up, nuzzling into my neck, kissing the top of my shoulder, holding on to me like he knows I need an anchor—his breath warm and steady against my skin.

The weight of his arms envelops me, and for a brief moment, I wonder if he fears what the truth might do to us.

“That broke me. Pop. Luke. My family, the only thing that ever really mattered, was gone. I couldn’t stay on that land anymore—couldn’t breathe the same air. The memories… the guilt… I couldn’t save them.”

“Wylie. ”

“I know. It's not my fault. I've heard it before. Don’t know what else I could’ve done. I tried my hardest, but I couldn't hold us together.”

He’s kissing my face now. My cheek. The corner of my mouth. His arm, lassoed around me, pulls me close. I try to swallow, but it’s hard moving anything past the lump in my throat.

“So, I left. Ran away. Didn’t even say goodbye to Maw or Jesse. My heart still aches about that. Packed my bag and walked off into the horizon. Been too embarrassed to even call, let alone visit. But maybe someday.”

I let out a deep sigh, releasing some of the weight that’s been pressing down on me for so long.

“Been working ever since. Hitchin' between jobs. A month here. Two there. Never overstaying my welcome. Searching for something—anything—that might give me a moment’s peace. But even with the miles between me and the pain, I never could find it.”

My fingers move to Boone’s chin, pulling his face to mine. Making sure he sees me when I say it.

“Till you.”

He’s quiet for a moment, his gaze steady, like he’s chewing over everything I just said.

Without a word, he leans in, his lips brushing mine with a slow, deliberate kiss.

It’s a promise, raw and unspoken, as if to say that as long as we’ve got each other, nothing else matters.

In that moment, it settles deep down in my bones—the kind of certainty only a man like him can offer, as sure as the sun setting over the horizon.