Enjoy another excerpt from
Roped In by L.A. Witt & Marie Sexton!
*_*_*
I stopped brushing Angel and looked over at Jackson. “What if you’re right?”
“Excuse me?” He met my eyes over Petty Cash’s back.
“So what if I took some kid home? Why should it matter to you?”
“Christ, Graham! Are you kidding? He’s a goddamn punk. A protester. One of those animal rights freaks who doesn’t know the first thing about what we do. After all these years in the rodeo, I can’t believe you can look at him without wanting to punch his lights out.”
“So, that’s the issue? Not that I might have gone home with a man, but that he’s not a cowboy? If it’d been you, on the other hand, it’d be okay?”
“Jesus!” Jackson glanced around the barn, as if we were still at the rodeo and he was afraid of who might hear. “Will you listen to yourself? What the hell’s gotten into you?”
“Maybe I’m tired of lying. Aren’t you?”
I was met by a silence so profound, it scared me. Even the horses froze, as if they could sense the force of his anger and were cowed by it. “I am not like you, Graham. Do you hear me? I’m not like you and your goddamn queer boyfriend—”
“Graham?” a voice called from the front of the barn, and Kaz stepped through the door. “You in here?” He was looking down at the floor, being mindful of the mud and manure getting on his nice clean Converse sneakers, but he finally looked up, and when he saw Jackson, he stopped short. His lips—lips I couldn’t stop staring at—made a soft O of surprise.
Talk about timing.
“Christ!” Jackson swore. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I can go—” Kaz started to say, but I cut him short.
“No.” I leveled a glare at Jackson. “Jackson was just leaving.”
“Seriously? You want to be alone with this fagg—”
“Enough.” The force behind the word was enough to make the horse I was brushing sidestep away from me, but I wasn’t about to let Jackson push me around. Not tonight. “He’s a guest here, and you’re in my barn,” I warned. “On my property.”
“Not for long.”
That was fine with me. He led Petty Cash away while Kaz stood against the wall, avoiding my gaze. Jackson came back from the stall and headed for the door. He made a point, as he passed Kaz, of bumping into him.
Anger flared up in my chest. I took a step forward, but he was already halfway out the door, and Kaz put a hand out to block me. “Let it go,” he said quietly. “It doesn’t mean a damn thing to me.”
“He’s such a narrow-minded asshole—”
“And starting a fight will only validate it. In his mind, at least.”
The wind went out of my sails and I slumped. I heard Jackson’s truck start, and his wheels spinning on the gravel of my drive. I looked down at my boots. “I’m sorry.”
Kaz stepped closer, ducking his head a bit to interrupt my gaze. “For what?”
“For not standing up for you. This time, and the first time, at the rodeo.”
“It’s not me you need to stand up for, Graham. I can take care of myself just fine. It’s you who has to face this. You’re the one who apparently has to explain something to him. Not me.”
The truth of those words made me hang my head.
“Hey.” He moved closer and put his arms around my waist, settling his slim, lean body against mine. “Forget about him, all right?” He kissed my jaw, and my neck. He stood on his toes, and his lips teased gently against my ear. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
Such simple words, but they lightened my mood considerably. A slow warmth began to build in my groin, spreading up and out to my limbs. All thoughts of Jackson faded away. “Really?”
He nodded, moving to brush his lips over mine. “Yep. Thinking about exactly how to tie you up…”
The thought caused my mouth to go dry. I had to swallow hard to respond, and even then, all I managed was, “Oh.”
“And all the things I’ll do to you once I get you that way.”
*_*_*
Roped In by L.A. Witt & Marie Sexton is now available at Amber Allure.
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