Page 10

Tommy had my guard down more often than he probably knew. The way my brain told me to react versus the words that came out of my mouth were all in conflict with each other. And having seen him almost naked with his tiny blue briefs, I knew almost certainly that he was a little. And if his choice of underwear didn’t give it away, the rubber duckies and bubble bath did, as well as overhearing him talk in the voices of the ducks and hold conversations between them.

There was a soft spot in my heart for littles, and for whatever reason, Tommy was either knowingly or accidentally pressing that soft spot. It awakened the caretaker within me, wanting to cook for him, cover him up in bubble wrap, and make sure his injuries were taken care of, even if I couldn’t caress them better.

He left soon after eating, giving me two thumbs up and positive feedback to the food. If the words hadn’t been positive, the action of him nearly pressing his nose to the plate and lapping the gravy spoke for him. Once he was gone with all his things in a large bag, I was left to deal with my thoughts, one needy dog, and another dog pawing at the other to stay quiet.

“You two were well-behaved,” I said. They were both exhausted after our mid-morning walk earlier. I knew they wouldn’t be going out again while I had the horses. “What do you think about our guest?”

They loved anyone who would entertain them, and Tommy had always petted them whenever they approached.

“I guess you’re both biased,” I told them. “You know, he’s not sticking around. He’ll be gone before we even manage to form an opinion on him.” I didn’t know if I was telling them, or myself. I had a lot of thoughts on the situation. Mick should’ve really sent a note with his arrival so I knew if there was something more to this I should’ve been getting.

I settled in for the evening with some more tea and switching gears from romance to thriller. The romances were just making me feel lonely, and usually, it was fine to yearn for a little romance when I was busy, but that emotional pit like a stone in my stomach wasn’t nearly as welcome when Tommy was around, almost tempting the idea of something happening between the two of us.

The signs were there, at least, I was telling myself they were. He came out to me, he practically got naked in front of me, and he was complimenting me. At any rate, tomorrow, he’d throw himself at me and I’d call it the final sign. But what would happen if he did? A tightness struck my chest. I was nervous about the notion he actually fancied me. It had been a while. I was out of shape when it came to it in practice.

After a night, tossing and turning in bed, unable to shake the feeling of having a smaller insurmountable crush on Tommy, I was soon to be face-to-face with him. There was always the possibility of leaving him for the morning, but then he’d ask why, and he probably wouldn’t give up until I gave him an answer he was seemingly satisfied by. I had to give him props for that, he was tenacious.

Rusty and Pip were barking up a storm when I got out of the bathroom. I had to make sure the house wasn’t on fire. In fresh, thick socks, I was skidding around the entire place just to get to them at the front door.

Sully’s van was parked up outside with the plow on the front, hauling up a chunk of the snowy drive. I opened the door and the dogs jetted out to him standing by the porch.

“Why are you here so early?” I asked, grabbing my hat and fixing it to my head.

“I didn’t mean to startle you, Sir,” he said. “It’s Wednesday. I’m here to work on the stuff in the garage and help out with the roof. We don’t want a repeat of two years back when the thing near caved in.”

“Oh. Right, let me put my boots on and I’ll come out,” I said.

Sully tipped his head to me. “Heard you’ve got a guest around too.”

“A guest, who’ve you been talking to?” I asked.

“The entire town knows someone is staying here,” he said. “And June mentioned it. She went to pick him up, right?”

“I’m doing a favor for a friend. I’m sure you’ll meet him as he’s about to help me in the barn.”

“Great, is he in there?” he asked, petting the dogs. “What’s he like?”

“He’s in the cabin over there, and he’s just a kid.”

Sully laughed. “Then maybe he shouldn’t be in a cabin alone, those places can be a death trap to stay in alone.”

“He seems capable.” But he was right. Tending the fire and making sure the stove was working could be tricky sometimes. He wasn’t actually a kid, but in comparison to the cabin, he was pretty new.

“Yeah, but your capable and someone else’s capable are two different things,” he said. “June mentioned he was from the city too. I’m surprised you forced him out there. You’ve got plenty of rooms in there.”

I bit my tongue gently. I knew I had rooms in the house, but they weren’t exactly rooms I wanted to be making up for him to stay in. Although that was my initial thinking behind it. Now, I was in two different minds about what I wanted to come from the rest of his stay. Him staying in the main house might’ve been beneficial for the early mornings, and maybe even a way I could help him build better blanket forts. Lord knew he needed the help.

“I’m probably not going to be coming back up after today,” Sully continued. “I heard there’s a snow storm approaching and I don’t think my little plow will help.”

“Fuck. Where did you hear that?” I asked.

“The radio,” he said. “I figured you’d have the weather reports on.”

I usually did, but Tommy had distracted me from my regular schedule. He’d sent my entire month out of whack. “I guess I’ll need a little extra help with preparations for that then.”

Sully two-finger saluted. “Reporting for duty. That’s what I’m here for.”

“Great. Let’s go get the kid.” I grabbed my fur-lined coat and slipped it over my arms.

Tommy was up and ready when we reached the cabin. Bright eyed and big smiles. He answered the door before I could even knock. “Look,” he said, spinning on the spot. “Layered, but not too many layers, and I’ve got the thick socks on, and scarf. So, you don’t need to tell me anything.”

“And how are your legs?” I asked. “I’m surprised you’re walking fine.”

Sully sputtered approaching behind with the dogs. “What’s supposed to be wrong with his legs?”

His face froze, maybe from the cold, as he looked out to see a guest on the ranch

“Yesterday, we went out on the horses, Tommy clocked some bruises on his inner thighs,” I said. “I thought they’d be painful this morning. I was half-expecting to check in on you and then let you stay in the cabin all day.”

“I thought you were going to bring him to the main house because of the storm,” Sully said.

“No,” I said, cutting off the idea immediately. “That was something you said. Tommy is just fine in the cabin.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good here,” he said. “And my thighs are great, thanks for asking. In fact, there’s barely any bruising there at all. I’d show you, but I’m not getting undressed again.”

“Oh, I’m Sully,” he said, extending a hand out. “Here as an extra hand.”

“Tommy,” he said. “Here to get away from myself, I think.”

“And I’m trying to get some work done,” I said. “If you’re ready, let’s go.”

As Tommy stepped out of the cabin, I noticed a little hesitation with each of his steps. He’d lied to me. He hadn’t healed up overnight. I was willing to believe him because he hadn’t lied so blatantly to me before. I didn’t mention it to him, but it was pretty obvious since he was a couple paces behind both of us. Even Rusty was faster than him, and he was pretty old.

Reaching the barn, we both turned to watch him stomp through the snowy path.

“There’s no way he’s not suffering,” Sully remarked.

“Not just me thinking that then.”

“Oh no, he’s trying to prove something,” he added. “Maybe to you. Or himself, who knows.”

“A lot more snow today,” Tommy called out, almost like he could hear us discussing him. “You go inside, I’ll be right there.”

I was enjoying the view, watching him almost tuck his hand under his knee, pick it up and then move it. He moved faster with us both stood in front of the barn, unmoving. I was using the guise of politeness to wait on him, but really, just wanted to see how much more of it he could take before he crumbled under the pressure of telling us the truth.

Reaching us and out of breath, Tommy shrugged. “Don’t know how you did it so fast,” he said. “So, what have we got to do today?” He looked to both of us. “Are horses on the agenda?”

“Of course,” I said. “How do you feel about getting back on Belle? Now that’s there’s three of us, Thunder can have a rider too.”

Tommy’s face malfunctioned, zoning out with a slight head shake. “Uh.”

“Relax,” Sully said, holding back laughter. “You don’t have to pretend. Horse riding isn’t for everyone. I should know, I hate it. He wouldn’t be getting me on Thunder, not even if it was his dying wish.”

“Really?” He let out a satisfied sigh. “That’s an absolute relief. Because my legs are still so sore from yesterday and I was like, fake it til you make it, you know. Oh god.” He reached out and grabbed my arm, holding himself upright against me.

It might’ve been the first time we’d ever properly touched. I wasn’t against it. “We’ve got animals to take care of,” I said. “And we’ve got to prepare some salt grit on the paths, especially if there’s a snowstorm coming.

“Snowstorm?” he grabbed the sleeve of my coat a lot harder. “I’m gonna have to come out in this when it’s worse ?”

“This is why I was telling him you should be staying in the main house,” Sully said. “It’s a much better situation to be in, trust me. Those cabins are like stepping back in time. At least the cabin has more electrical points.”

“It does?” he asked. “You said—”

“Right, yeah, ok, I know what I said.” I might’ve made the place sound like it was completely off the grid to him, and in some ways, it was better that way. It stopped him relying on his phone or gadgets like I expected of someone from the city. “But we don’t have a lot of technology at the house either. It’s still very minimal.”

“I’ve already unpacked,” he said. “I might as well stick the storm out.”

Sully was making noises to himself from the side, like he was in the peanut gallery, hurling suggestions at us. “Boo! The main house is nicer. Have you seen the bedrooms? The bathroom? I’ve only stayed over a handful of times, and some of the best nights of sleep have happened here.”

“The bedrooms?” he asked, switching out the hand he was grabbing me with. “Do you mean I don’t have to sleep on those thin mattresses?”

“Oh, no, those things are new, barely slept in,” Sully said, making me appear like some comic book villain with a hand tugging at my beard into all types of devilish shapes. “I wonder why Hardin didn’t want you staying with him.”

Tommy looked at me, his big eyes with dramatic blinks and his lips pouting. “I think it’s because he doesn’t like people from big cities.”

He had me there. I didn’t like people too busy on their phones to notice life around them. And I had made some snap judgements before he’d even arrived. But I suppose I could always let him stay at the house, which is probably where this entire interaction was going anyway.

“You might be onto something,” Sully said. “Come on, Hardin, you’ve got to let down that guard sometime.”

“I don’t have a guard,” I said. “Contrary to what you believe. The kid can stay in one of the spare rooms during the snowstorm, but I think he’s prefer it to be in the cabin where he can work undisturbed by the dogs, and by me.” I think I’d gotten away with it as well.

Tommy smiled. “I’m not a kid, but I’ll accept your offer. Oh, I also bought cocoa powder I haven’t been able to use yet. And marshmallows.”

Sully gave my arm a nudge. “How can you refuse hot cocoa and marshmallows?”

“You should join us,” he offered.

“I would, but I’ll have to jet the moment I’m finished here. Storm is supposed to hit early evening. And I don’t want to be caught in it. Especially not on the road,” he said. “You know, he would’ve never asked, so thanks.”

I gave Tommy’s hand clinging to me a pat. “Come on. You’ve got you should’ve caught your bearings by now.” He let go of me and grumbled as he applied pressure back on his sore legs. “These goats aren’t going to milk themselves.”