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panted breaths.

"That's it," Jake told him, trying to match his rhythm. "With me. Soon."

"Christ. Tell me you've still got your shirt on."

"Pushed up."

Tor groaned. "Get it messy."

Jake's gut cramped and he curled up. "Tor--"

"Fuck! Jake."

Jake bit his lip, bit back a yell before it could get out, but he knew Tor would hear him coming,

could tell by his breath, by the not-silent quiet. Jake knew that Tor would feel it, the same way the

pounding of his heart measured out Tor's orgasm.

"Wish you were here," he whispered when he could breathe.

"Wish I was, too," Tor whispered back.

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Clearing

Jake squinted as he went into the kitchen, the light dim compared to the bright glare of mid-

morning sun outside. The yard was already filling up with trucks and cars, people arriving early to

grab prime camping spots before they settled in for the afternoon of socializing and the evening of

music and drinking and barbecuing. At ten-thirty there were already about a hundred people there,

including all the little kids, and there'd be a whole lot more in a few hours.

"Jacob?" he yelled, going to the fridge for a bottle of apple juice. There was a line of coolers out on the lawn, but he was pretty sure there wasn't anything in them other than booze and drink mix.

"Stop yelling," Tor said with a grin as he rounded the corner from the living room. "He's doing laundry. What's up?"

Jake rolled his eyes. Jacob was always doing laundry; between clothes for school and clothes for

the barn, the kid went through more than his fair share of laundry detergent. "Again? Christ. Tell him he can just throw it in with ours."

Tor shook his head, grin growing. "Oh, no, cowboy. I'm staying as far away from that whole issue

as I can get."

"Whatever." Jake shrugged and tossed the cap from his bottle into the sink. "His friend Lillian is here, is all. Turns out her daddy is Pike Kobel."

"I'm pretty sure he knows," Tor said with a wink. "That's why he's doing laundry."

Jake shook his head and swallowed a mouthful of juice. "He's gonna leave her out there while he

waits for his favorite shirt to dry? Boy's got messed up priorities."

Tor laughed and leaned on the counter. "Ain't his shirt. He'll be along soon."

"Jeans, whatever." Jake drained the bottle and set it on the counter. "Point is, you'd think he'd get his laundry sorted out the day before the party."

This time Tor's laugh was longer, long enough that Jake figure out he was missing something.

"What?"

"Jesus, Jake. Don't make me spell this out for you." Tor was grinning at him and shaking his head 118

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in what was clearly disbelief.

"What?" Jake said again, confusion battling with annoyance.

Tor took a deep breath and moved to stand in front of him, his eyes dancing with suppressed laugh
-

ter. "How old is Jacob?"

Jake glared. "Fifteen, and what does that have to do with the price of bulls? For someone who

doesn't give a shit about fashion, he goes through more clothes than--"

"He ain't washing clothes, Taggart. Christ, don't you remember being fifteen?"

Jake's scowl turned into a frown. "I remember getting into a lot of trouble. I remember spending as much time as I could out of the house."

Tor's eyes rolled and he sighed. "Other stuff. What about what your body was doing all the damn

time and shit like that."

Jake stared at him. "I'm not following you."

"Oh, for… when
I
was fifteen I was following Kincaid around like a lost puppy and sneaking off every chance I got so I could…" he trailed off and raised an eyebrow.

Jake's brain seized up on him, flooding him with images he'd just as soon never have again. Not of

Tor and Kin, but of himself and guys he couldn't put faces to and of being alone in his room doing

stuff he'd really rather not associate with his nephew. "Jesus," he said, closing his eyes and turning away really fast, like that would stop him from ever knowing what Tor was trying so hard to make

him understand. "Fuck."

Tor grinned at him. "Laundry."

"Shut up," Jake said, scrubbing at his eyes. "God."

"Oh, come on, it's normal," Tor told him in what Jake could only assume was supposed to be a

soothing tone.

"I don't care if it's normal, I don't want to know!"

"And he doesn't want you to know, either! So you just let the boy do his laundry and forget about

it." Tor grinned and reached for him, but Jake stepped back. "Cut it out," Tor said with a leer. "He's not the only one in this house with needs."

Jake shuddered and backed farther away. "I don’t think I'm ever having sex again."

Tor's eyes narrowed. "I think I have something to say about that."

"Ever," Jake insisted. "Or until my brain blocks this whole thing out. God, why didn't you just toss a box of tissues into his room or something? And how long have you known about this?"

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Tor shrugged. "Since I noticed he washes his sheets about three times a week. And I keep forget-

ting about the tissues--kind of figured he'd get some himself."

"Right, 'cause he does the shopping. It's not like he's going to ask, Tor." Jake closed his eyes again.

"What about… fuck. What about other stuff? I mean, should we talk to him about condoms and shit

like that?" He ignored the way his stomach tensed at the idea. He never once thought he'd have to

have a conversation like that from the parenting end of it, and other thoughts were crowding in, like

how Jacob spent just as much time with Leroy as he did Lillian, and there still weren't any posters

on his walls. Abruptly, he pulled a chair out from the table and sat down, hard.

"Easy, cowboy," Tor said, laughing at him again. "Want some more juice? You're awfully pale all of a sudden."

"What's wrong with you?" Elias asked, the door slamming shut behind him. "Got any ice in here?"

"It's all out in the yard," Tor said, turning a chair backwards and straddling it. "Taggart here just found out our little boy is growing up and he's taking it kind of hard."

"Fuck off," Jake said weakly.

"What's the problem?" Elias said curiously, going to the fridge and looking in the freezer. "No ice."

"Told you."

Jake waved a hand. "We don't even know if he's into girls or not," he said to the room in general.

Elias shrugged. "That's easy to find out." Before Jake could do anything, Elias walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Jacob!" he bellowed. "Your girlfriend is here! Lookin' pretty, too!"

Footsteps thundered across the floor above them and down the stairs. "She's here? Why didn't any
-

one call me?" He shot a hard look at Jake and headed for the door.

"Hey, kid," Elias called after him. "Keep it in your pants, yeah? Her daddy's a big man."

Jacob turned scarlet and nodded once before barreling out of the house.

"And that's how you find out," Elias said with a wink. "I'll get him stuff when I'm in town next week."

"Okay," Jake said faintly. "But he's not… I mean, they're not?"

"Not that I know of," Elias said, walking to the door. "But. Don't know about you, but when I was fifteen I was damn sure
trying
to, though."

"I ain't ready for this," Jake said to the top of the table.

Tor's hand landed on his shoulder. "He'll be fine," he said softly. "He knows right from wrong.

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Trust him."

Jake nodded. He didn't have a whole lot of choice about that, really. He only hoped his day wasn't

going to get any worse.

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Lillian Kobel's daddy really was a big man, and between him following Lillian, and Jake trailing

after Jacob, there was quite a parade wandering around the yard until Tor and Mrs. Kobel stepped

in.

"You're playing football," Tor said firmly, yanking on Jake's elbow.

"And you're going to sit down here a bit and help me with… not annoying your daughter," Mrs.

Kobel said, giving Tor a distinctly sympathetic look.

"We weren't doing anything," Jake protested. He let himself be led away, though, fairly sure that he and Pike Kobel were going to have a chat to compare notes in the near future.

"You were interfering," Tor told him with a grin. "Come on, now, and let Jacob be. Stop looming."

"I don't loom," Jake muttered, letting Tor turn him so his back was to where Jacob and Lillian were sitting with a group of kids their own age.

"Of course you don't." Tor pointed to where a game of touch football was starting up. "Want to join in?"

Jake shook his head. "Not right now. You go. I'm going to… wander a bit. Make sure everyone's

got what they need."

Tor nodded, his eyes on the game. "Think I saw Ben and Jeff earlier," he said. "And I know Steve Adleman is here--might want to talk to him about those horses of his, if you have a mind."

"Horses?" Jake asked, stressing the plural.

Tor wouldn't look at him. "You got a few more good years with River, Taggart. But it might be

time to start getting yourself attached to a new critter. I know how you are; just… take some time,

you know?"

Jake's jaw clenched, his immediate need to deny that there was any need to think any such thing

getting stuck on the truth. River was almost twenty-five and he was feeling fine, but there weren't

any guarantees. "I'll talk to him," he said finally. "But I'm not making any promises."

"Not asking you to," Tor said easily. He rested his hand on the small of Jake's back and gave him a quick caress. "I'll find you in a bit. Lots of people to talk to around here today. Try to have a good 122

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time, hear?"

"I hear." Jake managed a weak smile. "I'll be stir-crazy by the time the band starts up, bet you anything."

"No bet. Just be glad it's only one night instead of the two the Boss did every year."

Jake shuddered. "Go play," he said, stepping away and catching Tor's hand with his own for a moment. "I'll find you in time for supper. And don't go getting damaged out there."

"Worrywart," Tor accused, his voice more amused that anything else. "Go on, get. And leave Jacob alone."

Jake sighed and rolled his eyes, letting Tor's hand go after another quick squeeze. It was going to

be a long day.

***

they were having a good time. He played soccer with Jacob and the group of teens until he was

breathless and feeling his age, then escaped back to the adults, wondering when exactly hours of

talking to people became something he preferred to playing in the dirt. He really was getting old,

he decided, and he was damn sure he'd never talked to so many people one after another in his en-

tire life.

"Got a good crowd in," Steve Adleman said as Jake wandered up to him. He was standing in front of a tent and shaking out a blanket, looking like he'd rather be doing anything but making up a bed.

"Almost as many as Doug would get."

Jake nodded, his hands stuffed into his back pockets. "Yeah," he agreed, surveying what looked like a sea of tents and piles of blankets all over the front lawn. There were people all over, cooking

or sitting and talking in groups, kids running around and dogs barking. "Only down about fifteen

families," he said with a nod. He and Tor had found out the first summer they'd tried to duplicate Doug Gillian's guest list that while most people were fine, there were in fact a number of people

willing to do business with them but not spend a day socializing. That it was less than a dozen and

a half, Jake counted as a blessing.

"Not bad. How's your nephew making out? School okay?"

Jake nodded again. "Yeah, he's fitting in. Got a girlfriend, apparently."

"Ah, that explains why you look like you're going to bolt."

"Nah, that's just me," Jake grinned. "Tor says I'm gonna stroke out if I don't relax."

Adleman laughed and nodded. "Sounds like Rosie. Don't tell Tor I said that, mind."

Jake smirked, imagining the look on Tor's face when he found out he was acting like a middle-aged

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ranch wife. "Tor says you got some horses coming up for sale," he said, changing the subject.

"Few," Adleman said with a nod. "Boy need something to ride?"

Jake nodded. "He's just new to the saddle, so we need a gentle mount for him. Broke in, not too old, nice size. And I've been told we should look at a youngster for here."

Adleman had been nodding, but his eyes narrowed and Jake cursed the fact that the man had known

him for more than fifteen years. "For you, you mean. How old's River now?"

"Old enough," Jake said. "I don't want a new horse, but Tor's right. Wouldn't hurt to have another animal in the stalls, and it's not like it won't get put to work. If we could afford it, I'd say we'd get two for the ranch and one for Jacob, but you know how it goes."

"I do." He flipped out the blanket again and nodded sharply. "Come around next week some time, bring the boy. Got a few you can look at, one in particular I think'll fit."

"All right," Jake said, nodding back. "Think you better find Rosie--last I saw of her she was looking over the band's play list and planning her dancing."

"Lord help me. That woman's gonna be my death." He was smiling, though, and Jake knew full

well that Adleman would be up there doing a smooth two-step as soon as the music started, his

arms wrapped around his wife and both of them having a grand time.

Jake grinned and left him there, making sure to find Jacob in the crowd before going to help the