Wilde Love (Forever Wilde 6)

After setting my drink aside, I turned to face him and scooted down a bit until my head was propped on the pillows. “You looked so sad that night, and I felt like it was all my fault. I hated thinking of you being in need.” I drew fingertips along the dark hair scattered on his forearm. “So I thought about what it would be like if I offered myself up to you like that.” I turned onto my back and looked at the ceiling. “I was watching your wide shoulders and muscular back through your undershirt. And, um, your shirt had ridden up. So there was this… hey, turn over onto your stomach.”

It took him a second to process what I’d said, but then he moved over and flipped. I ran a fingertip across his lower back, right above the crack of his ass.

“Here,” I whispered. “I could see it and… and it just made you look… god, I don’t know. But I thought about what it would be like. And I wondered what you liked in a man and what you…” I swallowed thickly. “What you did with a man in bed. What you liked to do or to have done to you.”

Goose bumps had prickled along his skin where I touched. Major’s head was turned in my direction, and his eyes bored into me. “It wasn’t your fault that I wanted you more than any of the men in the city that night, Doc. It’s funny because I got out there to a club I’d heard about, and my plan was to find someone to get my mind off of you for at least a little while. But the whole time I was there I realized I’d rather be lying in that crappy hotel room listening to you snore than thrusting into some stranger’s body for a quick release.”

“I don’t snore,” I lied, trying not to picture him thrusting into a stranger’s body.

Major’s grin was adorable. “You’re such a bad liar, it’s comical. When your dad finds out you weren’t at the hands’ poker game, I’m going to tell him I had to distract you all night with other things to keep you from betting away the ranch. Before you know it, I’ll have him thanking me for keeping you in my house overnight.”

At the mention of my dad, something must have changed on my face.

“Doc, you know I don’t expect you to tell them, right?” he asked softly. “They don’t need to know your private business.”

“They think gay is a perversion.”

He sighed and looked sad, but it was a sadness for me more than himself. “Of course they do. That’s what they’ve been taught at church, same as you.”

“I guess I just don’t see what the big deal is if it’s private and no one else’s business. It wasn’t anyone’s business what I did with Betsy in the bedroom, so why would it be anyone’s business what I do with you here?”

“If it’s any consolation, I think things are changing a little bit. But yeah, it’s tough. Especially here in Hobie. Maybe it would be different in California or something,” Major said with a shrug. “But I really like farming and ranching, Doc. And I love this land. And the kids love their safe, small town. I don’t think we should have to leave the things we love in order to live more openly.”

His use of the word “we” startled me at first. Again, he could read me like an open book.

“Doc, I’m not expecting anything,” he began carefully. “I don’t want you to—”

I swallowed and met his eye. “What if… Wes, what if I do? What if I want more than just trying it on?”

He turned on his side and pulled me in close, our legs tangling together under the sheets and blankets. “Then we will figure it out together, and we will find a way to make it work. You know I’d do anything to make you happy, right?”

I did. More than anything. He’d always shown me how important I was to him. The reminder filled me up with such warmth and hope, longing and rightness. This man was home to me, and even if our physical relationship was brand-spanking-new, I was 100 percent convinced my future was tightly woven together with his from here on out.

“I, um.” I did an internal check for the millionth time to be sure of what I meant before I put the thought into words. I never wanted to hurt him or give him false promises. Major’s usual stoic calmness prevailed. He waited while I gathered my courage.

“I love you, Wes. So much.” I choked on the last word, the enormity of what was happening between us slamming into me and taking my breath away.

In the blink of an eye, his lips were on mine, a mixture of savage and possessing, tender and sweet. He absolutely owned my mouth and my body, and part of me sat by, idly wondering how it had all happened so quickly and fully. But another part of me knew it didn’t matter.