Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Chapter Thirteen
FLYNN
Once we knew where we were going, the ride was a little easier, but still dangerous. As badly as Brooks wanted to get to Xavier, he had the sense to understand the danger he’d be putting himself, his mount, and all of us in if he tried to climb the trail any faster.
Since Curtis seemed to know where we were headed, he and his horse were at the beginning of the line. With it being too narrow for the horses to walk alongside one another, that meant Brooks was riding in the middle and Jules and I were last.
While the night air wasn’t overly cold, the dampness made it uncomfortable. I hadn’t even considered that fact as I’d moved Jules to the front of the saddle. In addition to being slapped by tree limbs if he didn’t duck in time, the younger man was shivering. He hadn’t complained even once, though. He also hadn’t tried to keep his body separate from mine after he realized how much more dangerous that made the ride not only for him, but for me and even BJ as well.
“Hold the reins,” I said to Jules, keeping my voice low. He automatically did what I said. I quickly removed my jacket and began to drape it over Jules’s shoulders, but he glanced at the jacket and shook his head.
God, the man was so damn stubborn. I wondered if he even understood the concept of trust.
“Jules, let me put it on you. It—”
“Just hold me tighter, Flynn,” Jules murmured.
Caught off guard by the request and Jules subsequently pressing his back against my chest so that he was relying on my grip to keep him upright, I quickly put the jacket back on and then wrapped my arms around him, cocooning him in warmth as best I could. Jules’s willingness to cooperate meant I could protect his head from the sharp branches that had been scraping his skin.
He had finally stopped shivering in my hold when BJ stumbled over something. Jules gasped and grabbed the saddle horn.
“I’ve got you, Jules,” I reminded him. “BJ’s got both of us, okay?” I whispered into his ear. “Just think about that ‘just okay-looking’ guy in that movie and how sure-footed his horse was. That’s us.”
Jules nodded and then, surprisingly, released his death grip on the saddle horn and tucked his bare hands into the folds of the sheepskin lining of my jacket.
“He was gorgeous, but he’s got nothing on you,” he said. My stomach flip-flopped. Was Jules actually saying—
“That horse was amazing, Banana Jammies, but you’ll always be my favorite,” Jules continued, quickly extracting one hand so he could give BJ a pat on the neck.
I sighed and shook my head. Of course, Jules had been talking to my horse. Whatever momentary trust Jules was giving to me, it was just that—momentary. As soon as we got back to the ranch, he’d forget about my presence altogether. This moment wasn’t going to change how I’d treated him on the top of that hill the previous day. If anything, I should have been happy about that because I’d bared my soul to Jules when I’d admitted that my heart attacks had done just as much damage to my psyche as they’d done to my body, and he’d walked away like I’d been telling him about the weather. Then he’d disappeared without a word and I’d forgotten to feel anything except terrified that I’d never see him again.
I’d spent the rest of the evening and the start of a sleepless night driving myself crazy with worry and then, just like that, he’d been pounding on my door in the middle of the night telling me Xavier had gone missing.
“Don’t pout,” Jules said, keeping his voice low. “You’re gorgeous and you know it. It doesn’t change the fact that you suck, though.”
I found myself smiling. I must have made some kind of rumbling sound or something because Jules immediately added, “I mean suck in the bad way, not the good way.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s both,” I responded lightly. “I mean, I guess all those hot little moans and sexy as hell demands could’ve been faked, but I don’t think a guy shoots that much jizz down someone’s throat unless the sucking is pretty damn—”
Jules elbowed me hard. “Shhhh!”
Despite the seriousness of the circumstances, I knew verbally sparring with Jules would ensure he didn’t notice any unevenness in BJ’s gait as the horse continued to adjust his body based on where he needed to put his hooves.
I kept my mouth close to Jules’s ear so only he could hear me and said, “I can still taste you.”
Without a doubt, Jules would have been sending me his best death glare if he’d been able to. When he didn’t respond, I couldn’t help but poke the bear. “And the way you were holding my head down—”