Earth and Sky

had turned Bill off. He was practically living in his car. Didn’t come home most nights, with the excuse that it was birthing season and he needed to work nonstop. I was avoiding Gable, although I lived there at the time, and had complained to her about driving back and forth to see Christy. In the course of everything, I’d explained to her what I’d done for Christy, and she figured I could do the same for her. She thought I could get her pregnant and then she’d tell Bill a miracle had happened and she’d conceived, carefully omitting that it wasn’t exactly Bill’s child. We went into the city a few times for an insemination, but they didn’t take, and she couldn’t explain the cost of it to Bill, so we stopped after two tries.”

    “Is that when you ended up sleeping with her?” Hunter looked up at Grant.

    “One Christmas I was at her house with all the gifts for my kids. I’d gotten a message from Christy that it wasn’t safe for me to drive up because Frank had unexpectedly gotten a few days off, so I was pretty miserable. Calley was more than a little tipsy because Bill had decided to officially move out of their house, and one thing led to another. I don’t know who seduced who. I’d had a few glasses of wine with her, so I guess I’m just as much to blame. I also probably thought that if I could help her, it would make me feel good about myself.”

    Hunter chuckled, but didn’t laugh. “But it didn’t take?”

    “It did, actually,” Grant admitted. “Took more than a few tries. In fact, it took me almost a year to get her pregnant. She lost the baby when she was about five months along. Don’t know if Bill knew it was mine, because I’d moved out of Gable’s house by then.”

    Hunter sat up and smiled at him. “You are a stud.”

    Grant chuckled. “’S why I feel right at home on a stud farm.”

    Hunter settled against him again. “I just want to live with you, share a bedroom like any other couple would. Is that too much to ask?”

    “We’re sharing a bedroom now,” Grant stated, although it was obvious. “I like falling asleep close to you and still feeling you when I wake up in the morning.” There. He’d said it. That was as close as he could get to a declaration of love for now. Maybe one day he’d feel confident enough to actually say the words.

    “I want that for the rest of our lives, Grant,” Hunter said, so quietly that for a moment Grant wondered if he’d imagined it.

Chapter 34

    Grant’s bruises had faded, and he’d started doing some work around the ranch again. He still hadn’t managed to get on a horse again, and Hunter knew why that was. He saw Grant flinch sometimes. It always happened when he wasn’t paying attention and was just moving around without a care in the world, and suddenly he’d freeze and limp to a fence or a tree stump to lean against or sit on.

    “We should take that hip of yours to a doctor, Grant,” Hunter said one morning after they’d driven to the far side of the property, near Gable’s ranch, to fix a broken strip of wire.

    “Sure,” Grant answered. “Why don’t you take it tomorrow while I oil the saddles?”

    It took Hunter a few moments to realize Grant was taking him literally, so his laugh came a little late. “I meant—”

    “I know, Cowboy,” Grant brushed away his concern. “It’s getting better. Doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to.” To stress the point, he got up and walked a few steps toward Hunter. “See?”

    Hunter eyed him suspiciously, and Grant closed the gap between them with amazing speed, just to wipe that look off Hunter’s face. As soon as Hunter smiled again, Grant grabbed the back of Hunter’s head to kiss him. He lingered for just a moment before turning around and picking up the wire he’d dropped as if nothing had happened.

    His pants uncomfortably tight all of a sudden, Hunter exhaled loudly. Grant showing him his jeans-clad ass didn’t help calm down his arousal. He watched Grant rise to his full height again and turn around. It felt like time was moving in slow-motion; he didn’t even notice himself moving closer until he felt Grant’s muscled chest against his own, his hand on the back of Grant’s neck and his mouth softly caressing his man’s. He and Grant had kissed a lot in these past few weeks. In fact, with a few exceptions, kissing was all they did.

    “Need you,” Hunter murmured against Grant’s lips. “Need your hands on me. Need