He stood on the porch, eyes roaming over the land around him, taking in the gently moving grass, the twitter of birds, the distant snorts of horses, the wind that touched his hair, the simple smell of nature around him. Ezra Standish, city boy, was actually enjoying the wilds of nature. He smiled slightly and sipped at his beer. If someone had told him months before, he wouldn’t have believed it. He would have laughed, plain and simple. He had been born and raised for the glittering life in the city, not to live in the middle of nowhere. He had been made to drive a fancy sports car, not a jeep.
But he had also come to love one special person and because of him, Ezra P. Standish had changed his life, his whole future. His view of the world had become imbalanced, had been shattered and reconstructed, and he couldn’t think of any other place he’d rather be than the here and now. This very place. This very time. At peace and perfectly in balance with himself once more. No one would ever get him to leave what he had fought for so desperately. He had fought for it with his own two hands, had ripped his skin off, had bled for it. He had nearly lost it, just to now find himself here, living his dream.
Steps on the heavy wood of the porch alerted him to the approach of another person. Slender but strong arms surrounded him and he automatically leaned back into the comfort offered. The smell of his lover tickled his nose and Ezra closed his eyes, just revelling in the sensation of warmth and complete security. Nothing could touch him here, no harmful words, no painful actions. Nothing could destroy what had been wrought in fire and had survived so much.
Lips brushed over his right temple, a feathery touch that sent little sparks through his body. The strong hands tightened over his stomach, pulling him closer.
“You okay?” the slightly rough voice asked.
“More than okay,” Ezra answered, fingers touching the hands that held him, tracing invisible lines.
“Won’t be a perfect sunset tonight. Too cloudy.”
“This is perfect as it is,” he replied.
The lips were back, this time at his neck, and teeth gently nipped at the delicate, sensitive skin. Ezra closed his eyes, a tremor running through him at the teasing bites. Just a touch of teeth against his skin, but something so incredibly erotic that he felt the sparks turn into small fires.
Finally he turned his head to meet the hazel eyes that regarded him. He twisted around, one hand coming up to cup the other man’s neck, and he pulled the blond head down into a kiss. Their lips parted and tongues danced with each other as they fell into a deep, passionate kiss. Chris nipped at Ezra’s lower lip as they parted, desire plain in his eyes, a possessive need in his whole being. Ezra clenched his hands into the material of the black shirt, unwilling to let him move even and inch, enjoying the closeness.
His first night at the ranch. The first night of the rest of his life with Chris Larabee. All the fights and all the pain and led here, only here. There had been no other outcome; couldn’t have been another outcome. The lips were back, that hot mouth that made him weak-kneed and dizzy. The mouth that had taken him, claimed him, and made him Larabee’s. Thinking back now, Ezra knew that the moment Chris had fallen on his knees in front of him, part of him had decided that there was no other way out, except for the coward’s.
He untucked the shirt, needing to feel the skin underneath it, and when his fingers touched the smooth warmth, he felt Chris moan into his mouth. His arousal pressed against Ezra as the younger man was suddenly pressed against the porch’s support beam. Larabee ground himself against him, Ezra’s hands feverishly running over the lithe, muscular form, stoking the fire.
“Inside. Now,” his lover ordered, voice rougher than normal.
There was no way he could disobey the command. They made it into the large living room, touching, kissing, holding, hands never away from the other’s body. Ezra knew they wouldn’t make it to the bedroom. No way they would make it. The couch was the next choice and he could only whimper his need as he was pressed into the leather, as his pants were unceremoniously removed and as Chris once more knelt before him. He lost track of time, heard only his own harsh breathing and his voice begging for completion. And he thought he could see Chris’s devious smile, the devilish glint in his eyes, just before that incredible mouth left him. Ezra moaned his denial.
“Want you,” Chris growled, rubbing himself up Ezra’s body, kissing him, teasing him.
“You have me,” Ezra managed, chest heaving in gasps. “Please….”
Chris grabbed his hips and pulled him off the couch. Oh well, so much for that, Ezra thought faintly as he came to lay on the rug that covered the hardwood floor. He didn’t mind, he didn’t care. He wanted Chris and he wanted him now. But his lover took his sweet time, nipping, biting and caressing the sweaty skin, fingers running around his opening but never entering. He briefly wondered where Chris had gotten the lube from, but that thought was quickly extinguished.
“Chrissss…..” he whimpered. “Pleazzzzz!”
“A mite impatient, aren’t we?” that devilish voice whispered into his ear from behind.
A well-lubed finger finally slid inside and Ezra closed his eyes, head thrown back. Chris moved behind him, kissing his shoulder, his neck, his temple.
“Now,” Ezra begged. Gawd, what did he have to do for Larabee to take him?
Chris dug a condom out of his discarded jeans. Then he slid inside. Ezra cried out, feeling his lovers hands gripping him, and a maddeningly slow rhythm was established. He lost himself in it, heard his gasps, his moans, the raw need in his voice. Completion hit him like a bolt of lighting. He heard Chris’s scream mingle with his, and he knew he had collapsed, his lover’s weight on him, but for a while, there was nothing but the thunder of his heart and the roar of his blood. When he finally managed a coherent thought, Chris had finished cleaning them up and had pulled Ezra into his embrace.
They were back on the couch and he didn’t even have any idea how that had come to be. A blanket was spread over them and Chris was gently stroking his hair.
“I love you,” Chris whispered, his voice so incredibly soft and gentle, it made Ezra tremble.
He turned to look at his lover and smiled. “I know,” he murmured and accepted the feathery kiss. There would never be any doubt. “Come hell or high water,” Ezra added as they parted.
He traced his fingers over the heated skin until they were captured by Chris’s hand. Smiling, he snuggled deeper into the embrace, feeling sleepy, and finally he drifted off, content.