Running Wild

didn’t change your dad’s mind about boyfriends?”
“I think my parents see Pete as an anomaly. He can be very charming. It actually got irritating at times.”
Ri laughed in that way of his that meant he felt hopeless. “You don’t have to worry about becoming irritated by my charm.”
“You don’t irritate me period.”
Their gazes locked. Seamus didn’t know what Ri saw in his face, though he knew what he felt was affection. Well, and some lust. But he didn’t want to end up in bed, he wanted to get back to the farm.
Ri looked away first and rose, still on edge. Then he admitted, “I really need to run.”
Seamus smiled. “Let’s get you home.”
Chapter Eleven
    The drive back was uneventful, and quiet. Ri didn’t know what to say after that visit with parents, and Seamus touched on a few topics in a halfhearted way before lapsing into silence. When they were almost at the farm, Seamus did speak again. “You don’t have to worry about Pete, you know.”
    Ri wasn’t sure if he was referring to Pete being a threat, or Pete being Seamus’s ex. The simplest thing to do was nod.
Pete was more complicated than Seamus realized, even if Ri no longer thought all wolves were psychopathic. They wouldn’t have behaved as they had yesterday if that were the case. That didn’t mean Ri was going to lower his guard. Once he got back to the farm, he was going to reconnoiter the area. Not that he intended to mention that to Seamus.
He needed to run anyway.
They got out of the car, and Ri felt like an age had passed since they were last here, not one day.
“I still don’t know what to do with this place.” Seamus’s tone was apologetic. “It’s going to need major work.”
“I’ll help you,” Ri said quickly.
“All right.” Seamus’s expression suggested that wasn’t going to be enough. They needed to discuss the farm’s future—or lack thereof—but Ri had to do something else before that.
“First,” he began.
“You need to run. I get it.” Seamus smiled at him. “Or I get it as much as is possible. Shouldn’t you eat before?”
“Later.” Ri paused, not sure how much to say. “Don’t like to shift on a full stomach.”
“I suppose I haven’t given that much thought.”
Ri searched Seamus’s face for doubts. He could barely believe Seamus understood he was a shifter, let alone was attracted to him. Of course, he hadn’t known that shifters had come out to the world either.
Seamus stepped into his space. “Hey.”
Ri found himself speechless and fascinated by the darkening of Seamus’s gray eyes.
He placed a palm on Ri’s neck, and Ri was pleased he didn’t jump. He just heaved a sudden, large breath.
“You’re coming back here, right?”
Ri’d had no thoughts of running away, but Seamus’s doubts surprised him. “For sure.”
Seamus’s hand came to rest on the back of his neck. He pulled Ri down towards him and kissed him lightly on the lips. Ri licked his lips, liking the taste, liking this novelty of kissing way too much.
Then Seamus tugged him again, mouth rising to his and opening Ri up, delving in, tongue sliding over his while Ri’s head swam with pleasure.
Seamus stepped back. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, you know. But we’ll figure this out.”
Ri nodded sagely and realized they were holding hands. Seamus squeezed once, let go and said, “Run.”
Seamus threw himself into working the farm. Yes, he had to go back to the lab in two weeks, but now that he knew Ri was about, he could get some projects started and hope that Ri would help carry them on. That might be unrealistic. It was hard to know how much he could depend on Ri, but Seamus chose to be positive. He wanted to give something to Ri who had too little in his life.
It was late for planting, but some crops could still be coaxed into a fall harvest, and Seamus went for fast-growing lettuce, frost-resistant kale and the ever-hardy cabbage. Perhaps not Ri’s favorite foods—Seamus had no idea and Ri wasn’t around to be asked—but they wouldn’t be ruined by late planting.
Seamus also worked on maintaining that barn, which was in danger of falling down. Ri was amenable to eating eggs, so maybe he’d be willing to keep chickens as his grandfather had. Although Seamus supposed Ri taking off for days at a time could make it difficult to care for the birds properly.
At the end of the second day without Ri, Seamus had to consider that he was making all these plans in his head when he needed to talk