Rough, Raw and Ready(4)

So two years ago, Trevor loaded up his horse, his measly belongings and cut himself off from his entire family. He hadn’t regretted it. Next to marrying Chassie West, it was the best thing he’d ever done.

Chassie.

Just the whisper of her name in his head brought a smile to his face and calmness to his soul. She’d made him feel like a real man, a worthy man, for the first time in his thirty-year existence. Treating him like a rancher, not another good-for-nothin’ washed-up rodeo cowboy. Listening to him when no one else would. Understanding him when he scarcely understood himself.

His sweet, loving, funny and stubborn wife embodied everything beautiful, good, honest and true in the world. She was every damn thing he’d ever wanted in a life partner 12







Lorelei James

and never thought he’d find or that he deserved. Trevor hadn’t believed in love at first sight until he’d met Chassie West.

You believed in it with Edgard.

Had he?

Yes. No. Maybe.

Shit. Trevor scrubbed his hands over his face. No, it wasn’t love right off the bat with Edgard, even when he’d suspected that was what it’d become, even when he’d refused to admit those feelings to Edgard or to himself. He’d fought his damn attraction to Ed, mostly because it pissed him off to be attracted to a man.

It’d been hard as hell to comprehend. He’d never so much looked at another guy the way he looked at Edgard. Not once, in all his sexual escapades starting when he was a green lad of fifteen, had Trevor fantasized about fucking another man…until he’d hooked up with the quiet, intense, sloe-eyed Brazilian.

No one besides their traveling partner, Colby McKay, ever knew the true nature of their relationship. As additional cover, Edgard participated in the wild sexual exploits on the road to rodeo glory. With a bevy of buckle bunnies following the three of them, the other male rodeo contestants lumped Edgard in with Trevor and Colby as players in musical bed partners.

Edgard’s preference for men wasn’t obvious to anyone. Except Trevor. Edgard never touched him suggestively. Nor did he come right out and state his desire to throw Trevor in his bed and fuck him like an animal.

After months of hot looks and evocative comments getting him nowhere, Trevor figured he’d have to make the first move. It’d taken him a pint of Jim Beam to act on the attraction and even then he’d made a clumsy pass at Edgard. Kissing him sloppily.

Groping him between the legs.

But Edgard refused his advances, saying he wouldn’t let alcohol be an excuse for them becoming lovers. Trevor would either come to Edgard completely sober or not at all.



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Rough, Raw, and Ready

So Trevor swallowed his pride, his fear, and practically begged. Edgard remained leery. Until that first explosive touch. In the two and a half years they were together, the heat between them never cooled, yet Trevor wondered if the urgency and secrecy contributed to the appeal.

Is that why Edgard was here? To rekindle that flame? To tempt Trevor away from Chassie? Or had Edgard found a new love and needed to prove there was nothing left between them but molten memories and deep regret?

Only one way to find out.

Trevor trudged from the barn and headed for the house.

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Chapter Two


By the time Trevor finished scrubbing the machine oil from his hands, Chassie and Edgard had returned to the kitchen.

Chassie said, “Who wants coffee?”

“Sounds great, Chass.”

“There’s cookies, unless Trev ate them all. The man has a serious sweet tooth.”

“Then I oughta munch on you, darlin’, since you’re so durn sweet.” Trevor nibbled the side of her jaw and Chassie squealed. He reached above her head for the coffee cups on the pegs.

Trevor turned and saw Edgard staring at them. Not with jealousy, but with longing.

Simple affectionate moments had been rare between them and Trevor remembered it was one of the things Edgard had needed that Trevor hadn’t been able to offer him. Why did he feel just as guilty about that shortcoming now as he had back then?

Chassie poured the coffee. Trevor automatically grabbed the milk jug from the fridge and set it next to Edgard. He snagged a spoon from the dish rack, passing it and the sugar canister to Edgard, ignoring Chassie’s questioning stare.

Didn’t mean a damn thing he remembered exactly how Edgard liked his coffee. Not a damn thing.

“So, Edgard, what are you doin’ in our neck of the woods?”

“Reliving some old memories. I drove past my grandparents’ place yesterday. With the shabby way it’s looking I’m wishing I would’ve bought it when I had the chance.” He smiled wryly. “I’m kicking myself for letting another thing slip through my fingers.”