STORY EXCERPT

Nathaniel didn’t love it. Or, to be precise, Noah Grainger didn’t love it. He didn’t love his new name either. And he hated Satisfaction, Texas at first sight. He was a gay man. A chef. He wanted to be in the city. He wanted to look for new restaurant locations. He wanted culture. Refinement. Other gay men.

Instead, they gave him cows. And horses. And a job in the diner their girlfriend owned.

Now that had surprised him. These were two alpha male secret agent types and not only were they involved with the same woman, but they, if Noah understood correct, shared her. Often at the same time. His tight-ass, uptight minders had hidden depths. More than that, they were straight-up pervs.

“You show her any disrespect and we’ll make you wish that The Hammer had gotten to you, you understand?” Tait Sorenson’s voice was cold.

“You wanted to be able to cook,” Day added. “This is the best we can do on short notice. It’s the last place anyone would look for you. You’ll be safe there. Hell, do you think we’d put our own girlfriend at risk?”

Noah had to admit that he made sense. Safe was good, but surely there were other places he could stay. Of course, their girlfriend didn’t live in other places. She lived in a small town in Texas and apparently, now, so did he.

Present day

Satisfaction, Texas

Noah snorted as he stirred the sauce. Yes, he was now Noah Grainger, something he had to keep reminding himself. Anyway, the man formerly known as Nathaniel Hawthorne, a Condon Bleu-trained chef, was cooking for cowboys and long-haul truckers, and the occasional dog. Yes, dog. He shook his head. Apparently, the denizens of Satisfaction were crazy about their pooches and he’d been requested to add homemade dog biscuits to the menu.

And to top things off, they’d dumped him in what had to be the straightest town in Texas, albeit, they were straight in one of the kinkiest ways possible. It seemed that it wasn’t just Sorenson and Day who liked to share. Satisfaction, Texas was ménage capital of West Texas. Hell, it might even be the ménage capital of all of Texas, for all he knew. And it wasn’t the typical porn movie kind of ménage. It was two guys and a woman. And from what he understood, the majority of the men only did the women and not each other. What a waste.

He had to admit that the diner was pretty impressive, considering its location, and Candy was pretty nice, too. She was a couple of years older than he was and had grown up in Satisfaction. He knew about her brother, the sheriff, and her best friends Ellie, Jules, and Jess, who were also involved in ménage relationships. Hell, he knew all about the town and everyone in it. He tried to keep his distance from her, but Candy was relentless and he’d given in. It felt good to have someone care about him, but he felt guilty, too, since he was lying to her about pretty much everything.

Candy also knew everyone and gave him the background over everyone who came in. She also seemed to be determined to sell him on staying in town, not that he understood why, but he liked her and he let her educate him on the denizens of Satisfaction.

There were some good things about the town. For example, there were lots of hot cowboys, but on the downside, none of them seemed gay, not that it mattered. Nathaniel Hawthorne, gay chef, was now Noah Grainger, celibate diner cook. He had to be in town until the trial, which was scheduled for three months from now. Then he had the choice of staying in Satisfaction or choosing where he wanted to start over. He hadn’t chosen Satisfaction. The choice had been foisted upon him. But now that he had to seriously consider where he wanted to live, he was shocked that he was even a little bit torn.

He’d wanted to sing and dance when he got the call last week from one of Sorenson and Day’s colleagues that The Hammer was behind bars, but he’d had to settle for making one kick-ass soufflé for one very cute and surprised cowboy.

Tanner Aranofsky. Actually, technically he was a mechanic rather than a cowboy, even if he dressed like one. Noah had taken one look at him and fallen in lust. Unfortunately, like most of the male population in Satisfaction, Tanner appeared to be straight. He owned the local garage and helped out in the Whips and Spurs BDSM club, manning the monitors several nights a week.

In the three months Noah had been in town, he hadn’t seen Tanner with anyone romantically, either male or female, so he allowed himself to fantasize. And now that the end was in sight, he wanted to do more than that. He wasn’t looking for a relationship, but with only three months more of living in Satisfaction, maybe he could finally relax and let himself have a little fun. If only Tanner was gay.

ADULT EXCERPT

Noah held Tanner tightly as the beast below them started moving again. It felt good to be close to another person. Too good, maybe. Because of the way they were sitting, his crotch was mashed against Tanner’s butt. The movement of the damned horse was rocking his cock against Tanner’s ass and he could feel himself slowly getting hard.

He closed his eyes and imagined them in the same positions, but naked. In his fantasy, his cock was buried up Tanner’s ass. Or, even better, Tanner’s cock buried up his. Was that even possible on a horse? The rocking of the beast would do the fucking for them. He would sit up front and Tanner’s arms would be around him and the movement of the horse would probably result some nasty damage to Tanner’s cock if the horse moved unpredictably…holy crap…just like that.

The horse came to a sudden stop.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He heard Tanner chuckle. “We’ve arrived. Scootch back a bit.”

Carefully, Noah slid back on the saddle. He watched as Tanner maneuvered carefully until he was able to swing his right leg over the saddle while balancing in the stirrup with his left foot. Then he gave a little hop and he was standing on solid ground, and Noah wanted nothing more than to join him. He slid forward until he was in position to copy what Tanner did, but it was harder than it looked. He got his weight shifted so he was balanced on the stirrup, but when he swung his right leg free, he realized that he hadn’t quite got it right. Now his momentum and body weight were taking his right foot down, but he couldn’t get his left foot free.

He knew he was starting to panic. What if this beast ran while his foot was stuck? He’d be dragged and killed. He held on tight to the saddle but could feel himself slipping.

And then Tanner’s strong arms came around him.

“Relax. I’ve got you.”

And he did.

* * * *

Tanner enjoyed the feel of Noah’s hard body against his. The boy…he had to stop thinking of him like that. Noah was slender, but Tanner could feel the muscle beneath his t-shirt.

“Just lift your foot and slide it out. Relax. See, Buttercup’s not going to run away. She’s too busy eating.”

He could feel Noah take a deep breath and try to follow Tanner’s instructions. Gradually, his breathing slowed and his body relaxed, and he was back in control enough to remove his foot from the errant stirrup.

Slowly, Tanner let him slide to the ground while holding him tight against his body, Noah’s firm ass pressed against Tanner’s hard-as-steel cock. He placed his chin on Noah’s shoulder. They fit together so perfectly. He tilted his head to the side and kissed Noah’s neck as one of his hands slid lower to grip the younger man’s cock through his jeans.

Tanner could feel Noah’s cock grow hard under his caressing fingers. He continued to stroke him even as he pressed his own erection against Noah’s ass, grinding against him.

Tanner nibbled his way up Noah’s neck, noting with amusement that he’d shaved, too. He rubbed his own smooth cheek up against Noah’s before turning his body around so that Tanner could kiss his delicious mouth.

With one hand on Noah’s waist and the other behind his head, he kissed him again. But whereas the last kiss was gentle and full of promise, this one was hard and full of intent. He didn’t wait for Noah this time. Tanner thrust his tongue inside Noah’s hot, waiting mouth, ravaging it in imitation of the act that was to come.