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minutes later, he was wearing dry clothes and his wet curls were all over the place. He also looked slightly flushed. Gable wasn‟t sure whether that had anything to do with him standing under a hot shower, or whether Flynn had used his shower time to take care of a little urge. Although Gable was tempted to joke about it, he didn‟t. He quietly hoped that the weather would soon turn warmer so Flynn would take his showers downstairs and he‟d get to watch. Then again, maybe a better bet was for him to get more mobile so he could follow Flynn upstairs as soon as he heard the shower being turned on.

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    Flynn came up behind Gable and hugged him close. “Add some salt and pepper,” he suggested, looking over Gable‟s shoulder at the kale he was searing in the pan. “Let me get a little lemon juice.”
    “No, stay,” Gable asked playfully, grabbing Flynn‟s hands around his waist to keep them there.
    At first, Flynn complied, even squeezing Gable a little tighter, but then he let go anyway. “I‟ll be back. I like your style of cooking.” Flynn grabbed a lemon out of the fridge and cut it in half with the studied casualness of someone who used to do this for a living. He then squeezed it over the kale, his hand underneath it to catch any pits that might fall from the fruit. The pan sizzled and steamed, but the aroma was amazing. Flynn also took out a clove of garlic and started carving it up.
    “You know, before you came along, I didn‟t have all that fancy stuff in my kitchen,” Gable remarked.
    Flynn chuckled. “I remember what your kitchen looked like the day I arrived.” He shuddered theatrically. “It was not the sort of place I wanted to prepare food in. I‟m still surprised you managed not to poison yourself.”
    “Well, that‟s not the only thing you turned around in my life,” Gable said, turning toward Flynn.
    Flynn looked him in the eye and moved into Gable‟s personal space. Gable thought he was going to get a kiss, but Flynn sort of hovered. “I‟ll make a good wife out of you yet.” Gable raised an eyebrow and pulled back without stepping away.
    “Meaning?”
    Flynn smiled, unable to hold his serious face. “You‟re cooking already. Pretty soon you can do the cleaning too, and the laundry.”
    “I‟ve always done the laundry,” Gable defended himself.
    “Okay, I‟ll give you that,” Flynn conceded. “So just the cleaning?” he teased.
    Gable growled at him and let go of one of his crutches to grab the back of Flynn‟s head and kiss him.

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    “Mmmh, I love to get you all riled up,” Flynn admitted with a groan after Gable let go of him. “Is this the sort of thing it takes to get you to top?”
    For a moment, Gable was taken aback, given their fiasco of the night before, but Flynn didn‟t even blink, so he straightened his face.
    “Who needs to top when they have you?” he quipped.
    Flynn molded himself against Gable. “Sometimes, I don‟t mind turning the tables.”
    “I‟ll have to remember that,” Gable replied, leaning toward Flynn to kiss him again.
    Suddenly Flynn broke the kiss. He pushed Gable aside and almost made him topple over.
    “Damn, we ruined the kale. I knew this was going to happen.” He laughed and took the burned pan off the fire, throwing it in the sink and opening the faucet to cool it off.
    “We can always open a can of beans,” Gable suggested.
    “We‟re hopeless, aren‟t we?” Flynn said.
    Gable moved closer and was happy to see a broad smile on his face. “Maybe we are, but at least we‟re hopeless together?” Flynn nodded. “Yeah, at least we‟re together.” BECAUSE of their little mishap in the kitchen, dinner was decidedly more bachelorlike than usual, but neither seemed to mind.
    “I was talking to Hunter,” Gable said casually, biting into a nice piece of steak. “He‟s a wrangler short to muster a large group of horses.
    I suppose he wants to sell some and I suggested asking you. Unless you‟re too sick, of course.”
    “I‟m not too sick,” Flynn was quick to answer. “This cold will be gone in a day or two. I can work. When does he need me?” Gable was glad Flynn seemed so eager. He tried hard not to look too happy, though. “Day after tomorrow. He‟ll need you most of the day. He suggested sending one of his ranch hands over to help here, but I said we could manage. Nothing much going on here anyway. Besides, 142

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    we‟ll probably need his