Earth and Sky

Grant’s surprise, he didn’t remove his hand from inside Grant’s coat.

    “Hunter? I thought I heard your truck pull up,” Hunter’s mother said. “How did your talk with Miranda go?”

    “I was just telling Grant about it,” Hunter answered as if they were just having a casual conversation. “I made it clear to her I would support her in any decision she made, but that I wouldn’t marry her. Ever.”

    His mother nodded with a serious look on her face. “No matter what your plans are, Hunter, you need to take up your responsibility.”

    “And I will.”

    She left the two without once looking at Grant.

    Grant put his hand over Hunter’s, the coat separating them. “I don’t think she was comfortable with our closeness, Cowboy.”

    “She wasn’t or you weren’t?” Hunter asked, not hiding his annoyance as he pulled his hand back and sat up, creating distance between him and Grant.

    “I don’t mind having you close, but we do share this house with your mother, and rubbing her the wrong way isn’t the best way to make that more comfortable.” Grant sat up slowly and put his hand on Hunter’s back.

    “Then let’s move out. Let’s move to your room at the crew house. I want to have sex with you without thinking she might hear me.”

    Grant raised his eyebrows. “We have an audience at the crew house as well. The walls are even thinner there.”

    Hunter sighed loudly. “Remember when I told you about what I wanted to do with that patch of land?” He pointed at the large empty space between the main house and the stables.

    Grant nodded.

    “Let’s build that house.”

    Grant chuckled and grabbed for his ribs. “That will take at least a year, Hunter. What do we do in the meantime?”

    Hunter sat back and leaned against Grant. “I thought telling everyone would make it easier, would mean we could stop hiding and sneaking around.”

    “And here I thought you liked sneaking around.”

    Hunter smiled. “It wears off quickly. Fuck, Grant, you’re excitement enough for me.”

    “I know, Cowboy. Same here.” How could he tell Hunter that, for the first time in his life, he looked forward to just being with someone? How could he explain that he lusted after Hunter but went all fuzzy warm inside from just a casual touch, or from the way Hunter looked at him across a room, and how could he do it without sounding like a woman?

    “What ‘no’?” Hunter asked.

    “Did I say no?”

    “You were shaking your head.”

    Grant shrugged. “Thinking too much. So tell me what Miranda said that bothered you so much.”

    “Something about her always knowing I was gay because I didn’t like her tits.”

    “Hey, you like my tits,” Grant joked.

    “I like your nipples, because you like it when I lick them.” Hunter wasn’t shy to admit it.

    “Guess who taught me that?”

    Hunter pushed himself even closer to Grant, and Grant nuzzled Hunter’s temple. “She’s just yanking your chain, Cowboy. If I recall, she’s not exactly big-busted herself.”

    “She is now. She grew real knockers,” Hunter said, his mood clearly lifting.

    “Are you turning straight again?” Grant asked, not really too worried.

    “Nah,” Hunter assured him. “But you’ve been with women, right?”

    “Yes,” Grant replied, none too enthusiastically.

    “Have there been other women after Christy?”

    Grant smiled. When had Hunter become so preoccupied with which women Grant had slept with? “Yes,” he drawled.

    “I’m not being nosy or anything, I’d just like to know.”

    “Calley, actually,” Grant replied softly.

    Hunter left Grant’s embrace and turned to look him in the eye. “Do I know a Calley? Hang on. Not Calley who’s married to our vet and who runs the grocery shop?”

    “The very same.”

    “You sly fox. A married woman?”

    Grant shrugged. “Long story.”

    “Your stories always are,” Hunter laughed, settling his back against Grant before easing away as he realized it might hurt him.

    Grant didn’t flinch. “Good side.”

    Hunter snuggled closer again, signaling he understood what Grant had meant with that short statement. “Come on. Spill,” Hunter said calmly without looking at Grant.

    Grant took a slightly deeper breath. It didn’t hurt as much as it did two weeks ago. “She was lonely and miserable and Bill hadn’t touched her in ages, because they’d been through all these fertility treatments and she told me that fucking on demand