Jared Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (6 page)

After getting a long, lingering look at Caleb’s bronzed back, McBride dropped his attention to the table. It was a piece of paper, and Caleb was scrawling words across the page. Every so often he would stop and press the upper part of the pen to his lips and close his eyes. After a moment, he would return to writing.

But what was he writing, exactly? It could be a list, a plan for part of the land, or any number of things.

“Perhaps he is penning his good-bye letter.”

That notion caused McBride to seek out the bottle of brandy, but he forcefully told himself no. He didn’t want to sink any deeper into stupor than he already was. Technically, he was still the sheriff. Keeping a sober head and a clear eye was part of his job. Besides, if Caleb wanted to go because he thought he could do better elsewhere, McBride wasn’t about to force him to stay. He could and would do all in his power to make him see the benefits of living here on the farm, but he wasn’t going to hold him captive.

Still, McBride had never been so intrigued about what Caleb was doing. He realized that he had always been terribly cruel in his estimation of the eldest Morgan brother. He’d pegged him as a brute and a bully who only pursued McBride because he wanted to have something to hold over the head of the man who owned him. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Caleb was a thoughtful man who was probably more ruled by his passions than his intellect, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t intelligent.

After several steamy encounters, McBride had to admit that Caleb wanted him for who he was, not because Caleb had some misguided notion of gaining power. Lusty and direct, Caleb hadn’t demurred about what he sought. At one time, McBride could have had him. Caleb would have been happy with a secret affair, but McBride resisted. He was a landed gentryman, and he refused to become sexually involved with one of his slammers. Blood and work was all he could ask of the Morgan brothers. Even when Caleb offered him sex with no strings attached, he’d resisted. Now that he wanted to give in, it was Caleb who was refusing to take their relationship to the next level.

When Caleb called them equals, McBride realized he wasn’t talking about their class or their stations in life. Caleb meant that he and McBride were on even footing as far as their beliefs went. Both of them were equally passionate about what they perceived as the right thing to do. What had pushed them apart was that they disagreed—completely and fully disagreed—about what should be done with Jonas and Ollie.

As much as McBride wanted to believe he’d done right by the star-crossed lovers, he now understood why Caleb had fought so strongly to keep them apart. Caleb wasn’t trying to be cruel. He honestly thought he was doing the right thing and protecting his brother. Caleb could be a complete bastard at times, but no one could say he didn’t love his kin. There wasn’t anything Caleb wouldn’t do to protect his siblings. He was even willing to put his own happiness aside.

Damn that his actions made McBride fall a little bit more in love with him.

And damn them both that McBride’s actions had made any kind of reconciliation between the two of them utterly impossible.

Jared had never been so happy. He and his new mate had given each other amazing climaxes and then showered. Discovering all the sensitive spots on Easton’s body was made easier when he was smoothing soap all over him. Easton was ticklish, which Jared thought was cute, but he was also amazingly sensual. A touch here and a kiss there could arouse him almost effortlessly.

“Are you hungry?” When Easton had first come to his door, Jared had been dubious about his quality, but not anymore. Jared was pleased with the beauty of his mate and his perceptiveness. Jared had been consumed with the idea of getting Easton to mimic what the valet had done to him. He’d tried to think of a way to get him to do that without asking. When he realized he could simply ask, he’d tried to figure out how to word his request. He needn’t have bothered. Easton seemed to sense what Jared wanted and had given him a taste of what milking was like. Jared hadn’t been disappointed. He’d never had a climax so powerful in his life. But what made him even happier was that he’d pleased his mate, too.

“I am a bit hungry, but I don’t want to be any trouble.” Easton dried his hair and then realized there was only one towel. He handed it over to Jared with a hasty apology for getting it so hopelessly wet.

“Don’t worry about it. Now that you’re here, I’ll have to get another.” Jared thought about the little shop in town where he could buy things for his home and his new mate. Belatedly, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to do that any longer. From what McBride announced to everyone this morning, no one was going into town until things settled down. “Or I guess I’ll have to make another.”

“Has the world really changed?”

“McBride said so, and since he’s the sheriff, he would be the man who would know.”

“But how will we survive?”

Easton looked to Jared to take care of him, and that scared Jared. He had always looked to McBride to provide for him, but now that he had a mate, there was more responsibility on Jared’s shoulders. He felt a slow-sinking fear but pushed that away. He was strong, intelligent, and hardworking. If they needed something, he would find a way to get it. As he accepted his new role, Jared had a far deeper appreciation for the heavy burden of obligation that McBride had always carried with such seeming effortlessness. If he remembered, he would thank him, but right now Jared needed to reassure Easton.

“The farm can be completely self-contained. Everything we need we can grow or make.”

“Really?” Easton sounded a little unconvinced. “What about power?”

“There’s a geothermal tap and solar.” Jared shrugged. “Caleb knows how to work them.”

“And if he leaves?” Easton reached out and trailed his fingers along the trail of hair that went down the center of Jared’s chest.

“You really are fascinated with my body hair, aren’t you?”

“I am.” Easton looked up at him and grinned. “Probably because I don’t have any.”

Jared nodded and considered his mate’s body again. He loved the creamy smoothness of his skin. He also found that without hair, all of him was fully displayed. It made him seem vulnerable and fragile somehow, which made Jared feel powerful and protective. Clearly, whoever came up with the idea of how to engineer thralls knew what he was doing.

“So would he?” Easton leaned over the sink so he could finger-comb his hair back from his face. The way he was standing lifted his tight little butt high. Jared couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and lightly bit each of Easton’s buttocks, making him jump and giggle.

“Would Caleb leave?” Jared thought about it as he re-dressed in the clothing they’d tossed off onto the floor. Since he hadn’t worked a bit all day, the garments were still fresh. He didn’t want to have to wash them for no reason, not when McBride had cautioned everyone to conserve what they had. “I don’t think Caleb would go unless…”

“Unless?” Easton turned from the sink and helped Jared button up his shirt.

“Well, if there are no more thralls coming to the farm, Caleb might go in search of one.”

“He’s lonely?” Easton folded up the shirtsleeves so they hit around Jared’s forearms.

“I think so. Once, we had a mechanical man that was for us to use for our physical needs and Caleb fucked it to death.”

“Zooks!” Easton shivered. “He’s that big down there?”

Jared laughed. “It wasn’t the size of his dick, which is pretty damn big, but he’s really strong. He threw the thing in the stocks and fucked it so hard he broke it.” Jared would probably never forget the sight of the snapping and popping fireworks exploding from the robot while Caleb kept right on plowing away at his backside. “When he climaxed, he jerked back and came all over the poor thing. I thought Bailey was going to burst into tears since he’d never even gotten to use it once.”

“Did you?” Easton exited the bathroom with Jared right behind him.

With a tap on his shoulder, Jared got his attention and pointed toward the kitchen. “I got to use it once, but I didn’t really like it all that much.”

“Why?” Easton settled at the table.

“It felt weird.”

“His backside, you mean?”

“Yeah. It was cold and squishy, but I don’t know what a real man is supposed to feel like, so that wasn’t it so much as the strangeness of having my brothers watch me.” Jared was too much of a private person to enjoy being on display whereas Caleb reveled in it.

“Everyone stood around and watched everyone else?” Easton made a face.

“Yeah. Weird, huh?” Jared programmed the cookbot to make something fast and simple. Again, he was trying to conserve what they had.

“Didn’t you watch?”

“I did, but I felt odd doing it. I really just wanted—” Jared cut himself off rather suddenly when he realized he was spilling his guts to a man he hardly knew. Easton was his mate, but still, he had been private for so long that sharing made him feel strangely uncomfortable.

“You can tell me. I won’t laugh or make fun of you.”

Jared looked over his shoulder at Easton. His face was open, earnest, and very compassionate. He would never do anything to hurt someone else deliberately. He simply wasn’t that kind of a man.

“I watched because I wanted to learn how.” Jared blushed. “That makes me sound so pathetic.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Easton rose and came near so he could place his hand on Jared’s back. His touch was light but surprisingly soothing. “It makes you sound like a very caring man.”

“Caring? Because I wanted to watch my brothers fuck a robot?”

“Caring because you wanted to see how it works so that when you had a mate, like me, you would know what to do.” Easton leaned up into him and kissed his mouth very lightly. “I think that’s nothing but sweet.”

“Aw, well, thanks.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Well, if all of you were using the bot, isn’t that kind of…messy?”

“Messy?”

“In his backside.”

“Oh! No, no. It wasn’t like—ew!” Jared shook his head to remove the yucky visual. “We had to wear a protective sheath, and the robot was self-cleaning. Well, Caleb didn’t wear one, I don’t think. Anyway, after each man used him, the robot washed himself out.”

“Well, good. Otherwise…”

“Yeah, that would be gross.” Jared glanced out the kitchen doorway and then out the living room window. From this angle, he had a good view of the stocks where Caleb had immobilized the mechanical man. Even though he’d watched, Jared didn’t feel he really knew all that much about how to approach his mate in the bedroom.

“I think brothers should share, but not that much.” Easton giggled.

“So do you really know a lot about sex?” Jared was somewhat intimidated by the notion that his mate knew more than he did. He was the alpha partner, and he thought he should be more knowledgeable.

“I know theory, but I’ve never put it into practice.” Easton laughed, but Jared didn’t know why.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, just, I also studied cooking, and when I put that into practice I made the most awful food in the world, so I’m wondering if I’ll do the same with sex.”

“No way.” Jared pulled him close, loving the way his body fit so perfectly against his. “You seemed to know what you were doing when we were in the bathroom.”

“We did do a very good job, didn’t we?”

“We certainly did.” Jared made a series of lazy circles on Easton’s back. “Does it bother you to be naked all the time?”

“No. I’m used to it after being this way my whole life.”

“How old are you?”

“I turned legal age just last week.”

“Eighteen, huh? I always wanted a younger man as a mate.”

Easton pulled back a bit so he could look up. “How old are you?”

“I’m an ancient twenty-three.”

“Oh, my. A
much
older man. Well, if we’re lucky, you still have a few good years left.”

“Let’s hope.” Jared chuckled and pulled Easton tight to his chest so he could rest his chin on the top of his head. “You feel good.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. Like you fit me perfectly.”

“I think I do.” Easton tilted his head up, offering his lips.

Unable to resist, Jared kissed him and eased him backward.

“Where are we going?” Easton asked in between kisses.

“The table. I’m going to eat you up.”

Easton’s laughter filled the small kitchen. “You already did that in the bathroom.”

“Well, maybe I’ll take a bite of your long and sexy neck.” Jared waggled his brows as he laid his mate down on the table.

Suddenly, the playful gleam in Easton’s eyes was gone. He lifted his hand to his neck and protectively covered it.

“What’s wrong?” Jared had only been kidding, but Easton seemed to be suddenly serious. And the way he was covering up his neck made Jared suspicious. “Let me see your neck.”

“Let me see your neck,” Jared said again, and his look of suspicion deepened.

Easton demurred and playfully pushed Jared’s hands away. “We are supposed to wait for McBride.” He was trying to recapture their earlier ease, but his fear must have shown clearly to his mate.