The Tin Star (9 page)

She kissed him and patted his back as they walked to the front door. “You’ll do what’s right, baby. You always do.”

Yeah, he did, damn it.

* * * * *

“Oh, hell. I almost forgot. Look in the center console. John left an envelope with his new foreman so I could give it to you this morning when I went to pick up George.”

Jamie lifted the lid off the console. “He hired a new foreman already?”

“Yeah, man’s name is McCabe. He’s from somewhere in West Texas. Seems like a decent guy.”

“Hmm. So, where was John? How come he didn’t give it to you himself?” He tore open the envelope.

“He had to go into San Antone this morning. What’s inside?”

Jamie held up a small key.

Is that a blush?
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “What’s that for?”

“Oh, nothing, just the key to my box.”

Aha!
The mysterious black box. “So, what do you keep in the box, anyway?” This time he was sure Jamie blushed. Interesting.

Jamie cleared his throat and pushed his hat down further over his forehead, shielding his eyes. “Toys.”

“Toys? What? Like checkers or something?”

“Uh ... no. Umm ...”

“OH! Those kind of toys!” Ethan threw back his head and laughed. “Well, I’ll be damned!”

“Shut up, Ethan!”

Chapter Seven

Jamie two-stepped himself to the pantry to get the potatoes, then back to the sink. This was fun! He’d have to cook with music more often. George Strait was on the radio, Fred was lying on the floor watching him, and Ethan would be back inside in a few minutes after talking to Bill and unloading the supplies they’d bought.

They’d made it back to the Tin Star ahead of the storm, and Jamie had gone straight to cooking. Ethan had gone out to help the hands move supplies into the barn before it rained.

He was singing and peeling potatoes when two strong arms wrapped around his waist and a chin landed on his shoulder. “You have a nice voice.”

“Yeah?” Jamie didn’t stop peeling.

He felt Ethan grin against his cheek, then kiss it. “Yeah. What do you want me to do?”

Man, he smells great.
Jamie took a deep breath, inhaling his scent more deeply. “You can help me peel these if you want. I need to get them on so we can have mashed potatoes. Just have to get these and the rolls, and everything else is done.” He pushed his hips back and wiggled his butt a little.

Ethan chuckled and pulled away, swatting his ass. “Cut that out. Supper first.” Ethan kissed his cheek again, then moved away to get a knife and help.

Together, they sang along with the radio and finished preparing supper. After Jamie put the potatoes on to boil, they both sat down at the table with cold beers. Fred jumped up and pranced to Ethan as soon as he sat down. The dog was getting spoiled, no two ways about it. She leaned up against him, nudging his hand with her nose until he took the hint and scratched behind her ears. Ethan chuckled and continued to lavish attention on her.

“What is it, girl? Doesn’t anybody ever give you any attention? The poor baby is just starving for affection, isn’t she?”

Jamie snorted. “Yeah, right!”

Fred hammed it up; she wagged her tail and laid her head on Ethan’s thigh, licking his arm. Ethan sipped from his bottle and idly petted Fred’s head.

“How did you learn to cook so well?”

“I spent a lot of time with Mama. Daddy was always too busy, and John and Jules were enough older that they didn’t want to be bothered with a snot-nosed little brother tagging along all the time. Not that they didn’t let me tag along, as you well know, but for the most part I hung out with Mama or Hank. He always seemed to have time for me. I wouldn’t know anything about ranching if it weren’t for him.”

“Yeah, Hank is a good man. Hell of a cowboy. Where is he now?”

Jamie took a sip of his beer, then set the bottle down and leaned back. “Florida. After he retired, he moved out there to be closer to his daughter and her family. He still calls every now and again to see how things are going.”

Ethan nodded. “You going to miss not being the Quad J’s foreman?”

“Yeah, I guess I will. As long as I can remember, I wanted Hank’s job. That’s part of the reason I spent so much time with him learning the ropes.”

“What else?”

Jamie gave a mirthless laugh. “Unlike Dad, Hank put up with me without telling me I was in the way or to go back inside to Mama.”

Jamie stared off into space, not really seeing anything, just thinking back over his childhood. “Dad’s never been downright mean except for now, but ... well ... he’s never paid much attention to me one way or the other.” He caught Ethan’s gaze. “I guess I took that to mean he was tolerant of anything I did. But I’m beginning to think it was just the opposite.”

Ethan apparently didn’t have a problem following his train of thought, because he nodded. He took a long pull from his bottle and said, “Your daddy isn’t the easiest man to get along with. Even for John. And your daddy worships the ground John walks on.”

That was true. Daddy had always thought the sun rose and set in John, while he just tolerated him and Julia. “Yeah. I got lucky. John loved ... loves me. He always took up for me. I guess in a way, Daddy indulging John is what made me think he cared about me, too. ’Cause John always tried to include me, and Daddy never told him no.” Jamie shrugged. There was no use going over the past. It wasn’t going to help him now. He was a grown man and he didn’t need his father’s approval.

They sat in silence for several minutes, Ethan scratching Fred and him drinking his beer. He’d had a great afternoon hanging out with Ethan, then Margie. The only negative of the day had been Tom Cooke’s attitude. Well, that and not being able to show affection for Ethan in public. He chuckled. Being out of the closet wasn’t as liberating as he’d thought it would be.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking that the whole point of telling my family I’m gay was to not have to hide it and to be accepted. It hasn’t really worked out that way.”

Ethan grinned. “No, I don’t suppose it has. I never thought coming out of the closet would solve anything, actually. It’s always seemed to me that it causes more heartache than just keeping it to oneself.”

“When did you tell John and Julia?”

Ethan took a swig of beer, then leaned back in his chair with his hands across his stomach. “I never really told them. John just always knew, kind of like I always knew. I mean, we may have discussed it at one time or another. I don’t know, it’s been so long that I don’t remember, but it wasn’t like revealing some big secret. When we hit thirteen or thereabouts, he noticed girls, and I noticed boys. That’s just how it was between us. We both knew it and that was that.”

Jamie felt a sudden stab of jealousy. His brother and Ethan were really close.

“What about Julia?”

The timer dinged and Jamie got up and readied their supper.

Ethan laughed. “Well, when we were in college, I was out on a date and ran into her. Literally. I’d had a little too much to drink and was holding my date’s hand, walking back to John and my dorm room. I wasn’t watching where I was going and smacked right into her.” He shook his head, obviously picturing the scene and smiling widely. He looked at Jamie but didn’t seem to see him.

“It was pretty funny actually. I tried to catch her, she grabbed at me to keep from falling, and the next thing I knew, I was rolling down a grass slope on the campus grounds with Julia wrapped around me. Fortunately it wasn’t that big a slope. We only got about six feet or so off the sidewalk.” He chuckled as Jamie set a plate down in front of him. “Thank you.”

“Welcome.” Jamie took his seat and grabbed the salt and pepper, dousing his food liberally with both.

“It was hilarious. We landed in a heap, with Julia on top. She looked down at me and smiled really big -- I’ll never forget it -- and, in true Julia fashion, she sat up, straddled my hips and started rattling a mile a minute. She fired so many questions at me I don’t even remember them all. ‘Who is he, are you gay, how much have you had to drink?’ We stared at each other for several seconds, then started cracking up. My date thought I was nuts.” He smirked. “I never did see him again. I think Julia scared him off.”

Jamie grunted around a mouthful of steak. “That is insane! What are the odds?”

Ethan shook his head and took a bite, then finished chewing. “I don’t know, but Julia and I still laugh about it. She and her date were just coming from our dorm.”

The thought of Ethan on a date was even worse than thinking about how close he and John were. “Were you ever serious with anyone?” He groaned and stuffed a supper roll in his big mouth. Why had he blurted that out?

Ethan blinked and took another drink.

“I’m sorry, that isn’t any of my business.”

Ethan quirked an eyebrow, then one side of his mouth turned up. “Yeah, I was, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“Mostly I’ve just had casual friends who don’t mind the occasional roll in the hay. Cliff was a little different. We were together, but not. We never actually agreed to be exclusive, but it just kind of went in that direction my junior and senior year.”

“So what happened?”

“John.” Ethan got a fork full of potatoes.

“Excuse me?”

He swallowed. “Cliff and John hated each other. To make a long story short, Cliff made the mistake of giving me an ultimatum -- him or John. It was no contest. I didn’t even have to think about it. John and I have been friends all our lives. And to be perfectly honest, thinking back, I can’t imagine what I saw in Cliff anyway. We had nothing in common. Well, nothing but sex.”

Okay, now he was jealous of some unknown man
and
his brother. “Wow. Did John know why you dumped the guy?”

“Oh, yeah. I came in that night and I believe his exact words were, “So where’s dickhead?” when I told him all about it. Good Lord, your crazy brother actually wrapped his arm around my shoulders and blew kisses at Cliff the next time we saw him. John isn’t the most subtle person in the world, in case you hadn’t noticed. And like I said, he hated Cliff, so, yeah, he made a big production out of it. Competitive bastard.”

Jamie grinned. That sounded just like something John would do. Hell, Ethan should be thankful for the fact that John hadn’t stuck his tongue in Ethan’s ear, or something equally suggestive, just to get at the other man.

“How about you? You have any serious relationships you’ve managed to hide from us?”

“Nope. None.”

“None, as in no one serious or, none, as in none?”

Oh, boy!

“Spill it, Jamie. You’re blushing.”

Damn!

“None as in none.”

Ethan’s eyes widened. “Well, hell, not even girls?”

He frowned. “Now why would there have been girls?”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Because a lot of men try to tell themselves that they’re straight, so they date women.”

He snorted. “I’ve never tried to convince myself I was something I’m not.”

Ethan grinned and took another bite of steak.

“What?”

“First sex toys, now this. Anything else you want to throw at me today?”

He groaned and rolled his own eyes at Ethan. “Not that I can think of ... no.”

“Well, then let’s clean up, then go upstairs and start your education. On the other hand, you’re the one with toys, so maybe you can teach me a thing or two.”

Sometime between putting the last plate in the dishwasher and letting Fred out, they’d started kissing. Jamie was all hands; he brought to mind an octopus, but Ethan decided that he didn’t mind being octopus prey. After a few moments of necking in the kitchen, he broke their kiss long enough to get them upstairs. However, as soon as they hit the top landing, Jamie was all over him again. Crushing him into the wall across from his bedroom, devouring his mouth. God, the man was eager. It was pretty heady stuff to be wanted so desperately.

He grabbed two handfuls of that magnificent ass and walked Jamie backward toward his door, never breaking contact. Jamie hit the door and Ethan fumbled for the knob. When he found it and twisted it, they would have toppled to the floor if he hadn’t quickly steadied them. Jamie didn’t seem to notice. In fact, he doubted Jamie even knew where they were, he was so into their kiss.

Jamie was making sweet little whimpering noises in the back of his throat, and it was all Ethan could do to keep his head about him and get them to the bed. At the edge of the mattress, he pulled away.

Jamie whined and his top teeth nipped that kiss-swollen bottom lip, his hands still clutching at Ethan.

“Gotta get our clothes off, Blue Eyes. And we need stuff.”

Jamie blinked those baby blues, hands wandering down the front of Ethan’s jeans. “What stuff?”

Damn, his eyes are gorgeous.
“What? Oh! Lube, we need lube. Shit! I hope I have some.”

“I have some.”

“You do?” Ethan caught Jamie’s hands, placed them on his shoulders and leaned in to brush a chaste kiss on those puffy lips.

Jamie nodded and kissed him back, wrapping his arms around Ethan’s neck. “In my box.”

Ethan grinned against his mouth. “Don’t suppose you have condoms in there, too?”

Jamie caught Ethan’s lower lip between his teeth and shook his head just a little, then let go. “We don’t need them, do we?”

Ethan pulled back and looked into those wonderful peepers. “I’ve never
not
used them.” He caressed Jamie’s cheek.

“I mean, I’ve never ... I’m clean, Ethan.”

“So am I, but you shouldn’t take someone’s word for it.”

The corner of Jamie’s lips turned up slowly and those blue eyes twinkled. “But you aren’t just anyone. I’ve known you my entire life. I’ve never known you to lie or put anyone in any kind of danger.”

Damn! Ethan felt like someone had just sucker punched him. That much blind trust was a hell of an aphrodisiac. He pushed Jamie onto the bed and came down on top of him, mashing their mouths together in a hard and bruising kiss.

Jamie was right there with him, his tongue plunging into Ethan’s mouth, dueling with his. He pulled at Ethan’s shoulders, his hips, anywhere he could grab. Those sexy moans were back and his hips bucked up into Ethan’s.