Ashton got up and went into his bathroom to clean up before returning to the bedroom. He was used to having company in bed. With six dogs, they were often jostling for who would sleep with him. What he didn’t expect to find was a man curled under the covers, peering up at him from his blankets.
Ben lifted the blankets without saying a word, and Ashton slipped off the rest of his clothes, turned out the last of the lights, and climbed into bed.
“This is certainly unexpected,” Ashton breathed.
Ben rolled over. “You can’t tell me that you built a company and manage this ranch without knowing what you want. Well, I learned that I need to go after what I want as well.” He slid right against him, pressing Ashton onto his back. He went willingly as the wire of energy that was Ben came alive in his arms. Damn, it was hot, and when Ben kissed him, he threw everything into it.
There was no holding back, and Ashton loved that. The few guys he had dated all seemed tentative. Maybe they wanted him to take the lead and be the strong one, but Ben didn’t need that. He went for it, leading Ashton down a path of intense passion. Ben was hot, beautiful, lanky muscles long and sleek, his skin smooth.
The past few nights, whenever he’d imagined this, Ashton had expected that Ben would be tentative, especially after the things he had told Ashton about. But Ben was just the opposite: intense, forward, taking what he wanted in a way that only heightened the attraction. Ashton had always loved strong men, and Ben was turning out to be among the strongest of all. “Is this how you always are?”
Ben paused. “You don’t like me like this?”
Ashton smiled, peering deeply into his eyes. “I adore you like this.”
Ben stilled. “I was never this way… with… you-know-who. He wanted to be in charge of everything, and I let him. I won’t go back to that.”
“I don’t want you to. You should be who you are, in bed and outside of it. That’s the person I’m interested in.” Ashton smoothed Ben’s hair out of his eyes and drew him closer and down into a kiss. He tightened his arms around Ben, holding him, their heat combining in the otherwise cool room to create a bubble around them that Ashton hoped never broke.
“Are you sure this is okay?”
Ashton sighed. “I haven’t been with anyone since I hurt my leg. Sometimes things are difficult and I can’t get my leg to do what I want it to.”
“How about you lie back and let me take care of it.” Ben slid down his body. “Just lie still and put yourself in my hands.” He reached over to the bedside table for supplies, and then his warm hands stroked Ashton’s thigh.
“Oh God,” Ashton sighed as the tension and ache of the day leached out of his leg under the ministration of hands that Ashton was starting to think were magic. “That’s—”
“I know. You carry all your tension in this leg right now. You probably used to hold it in your neck or shoulders, but with the injury, the strain shifted there.” He smoothed his hand up and down the skin, and Ashton clenched his teeth as tension built and then released, the muscles relaxing. Some days his leg never stopped aching, especially in the winter. This was absolute heaven. “How did you hurt it? Was it when you were in the Army?”
Ashton shook his head. “You’d think so, but it happened a little over two years ago, after we started the security company. Reg and I both worked a ton of hours, and we were contracted by a prominent woman who had picked up a stalker. We caught him, and in the process of apprehension, the fucker—” Ashton hissed and then sighed as the muscles relaxed under Ben’s hands. “—hit me with his car, running over my foot and leg. Then he backed up for good measure, making sure to grind the bones.” And he screwed up the muscles something awful. It was so dumb. Ashton made it through hell in the Army only to get permanently injured by a stupid stalker. He groaned as the last of the pain eased from his leg. “How did you learn to do that?”
Ben sighed softly. “I was in school for a while. I thought of being a nurse but shifted to massage therapy. It was something else Dallas took away.”
Ashton’s phone chimed three times in rapid succession, and he reached for it with a groan.
We have visitors and I need you now! Come fast! Reg’s message read.
“Reg says there’s trouble. He needs help.” Ashton sat up, and Ben jumped off the bed and started pulling on his clothes. Ashton texted Lucy and Marcel and got an immediate response that they were on their way. “Thank you for this.” Maybe he’d be able to make it through this latest crisis without too much pain, and hopefully he and Ben could pick up where they left off.
ASHTON PULLED in to a hive of activity, with Reg’s and Marcel’s trucks blocking the driveway and a trailer up near the barn.
“What the fuck is this?” Ashton got out of the truck.
Ben came around to his side and took his arm. “It’s slick as hell and I don’t want you to fall,” Ben said as raised voices split the cold night air.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Reg boomed as Ashton approached. “Horse thieves can still be shot.” Damn, that tone took Ashton back to one of their first security jobs protecting the teenage son of a Hollywood producer. Only that time, the words had been leveled at their young client after he’d decided to take a joyride through LA in his father’s Rolls.
“But we have authorization,” a man said as Ashton approached. It took a few seconds before he recognized Gary Meyers hanging in the shadows.
“What is this?” Ashton demanded. “Gary, what the hell are you doing here at this time of night with a trailer?”
“It was reported on our tip line that your horses were emaciated and not being fed properly, so we came to remove them to a proper location.” He sneered.
Ashton shook his head. “You can plainly see that there is nothing wrong with any of the animals on this ranch. Whoever told you that was full of shit. You aren’t taking anything anywhere.” He snatched the paper from Gary’s hand, read it over, and handed it back. “It says you have the right to verify, nothing more.” He stepped closer. “You little shit. I took care of you in high school and I’ll do the same thing now.” Ashton turned to Ben. “Dial 911, ask for the sheriff, and report that we have caught thieves attempting to steal our horses. Let’s see how Gary likes spending the rest of the night in jail for exceeding his authority.” He turned to Reg. “Awesome job.”
Reg nodded, and Ashton loved the granite-hard expression he directed Gary’s way.
“The sheriff is on his way.” Ben handed Ashton back his phone.
“Great.” Ashton went over to the barn door. “Did this idiot get inside?”
Reg shook his head. “I must have gotten here just after he arrived. I called the guys, and we blocked him in and called you.”
Ashton checked that the horses were all okay, with huge sets of eyes watching like he was crazy to be there while they were trying to sleep. They had water and hay, and he patted noses and then left the barn, closing the door behind him.
“I get to verify that the horses aren’t being mistreated,” Gary protested, his chest puffing.
“Not until the sheriff gets here. Then you can look before the sheriff takes you into custody. I’m going to press charges, so you’d better start thinking about how you’re going to weasel your way out of this.” Gary clearly thought being the county AG agent gave him permission to act like the livestock and agriculture police.