Vetting the Cowboy Page 3

  “Just dandy. She’s comin’ to the barbecue on Friday so you can say hello.” He turned to Foster and Grant. “Okay, boys, let’s mount up and ride.”

  Seth cringed when Foster giggled. What a douche…

  Parker sighed after they’d gone. “I won’t be cryin’ any tears on Saturday morning after they check out.” He frowned. “And where the hell is Randy? He’s a no-show again and didn’t even call this time. He and I are gonna have words when he does deign to show up.”

  “What can I do, boss?”

  “Help me take the other horses down to the pasture. All except Bonney. She needs to rest until after Mike or Doc. Walker has been here.”

  Seth hadn’t anticipated it might be Doc. Walker instead of Mike tending to Bonney. He’d been looking forward to seeing the good-looking veterinarian again so he could ask him if he’d like to come to the barbecue on Friday night.

  Well, darn…maybe I could call him if he doesn’t show, or would that be too pushy?

  He could tell Parker was in no mood for matchmaking this morning, so he didn’t bring the subject up. When they got to the pasture, two of the other hands, Andy and Tim, were there repairing the corral rails.

  “What happened here?” Parker asked.

  “One of the horses must’ve got frisky last night, I reckon.” Andy Holt, one of Parker’s original employees, wasn’t trying to hide his annoyance. He’d been there from before they’d opened the ranch to paying customers, helping Parker with his expertise. Seth knew Parker and Royce thought the world of him and had promoted him to foreman after the first week of opening.

  “And no one noticed till this morning?” Parker led his two horses through the gate. After he’d removed the bridles and reins, he turned to inspect the damage. “Son of a— Looks like one of ’em tried to climb over the rail—but why and when?”

  “All I can think is maybe Blaze tried to mount Misty and she wasn’t having none of it,” Andy said. “They were alone here after Clint brought those two that complain a lot back from their ride. Well, the one that complains, and his partner.”

  Parker nodded. “I’ll talk to Clint, and in the meantime, we’ll have to separate Blaze and Misty. She’s too old to bear us a foal anyways, and I don’t want her getting hurt. Seth, give Tim a hand here. I need Andy to look at some accounts with me.”

  “Okay, boss.”

  “Shoot.” Tim waited till Parker and Andy were out of earshot before saying, “Leaving me with a lazy ass to finish the job.”

  “Hey, who you callin’ a lazy ass?’

  “You, y’lazy ass!”

  Seth shoved Tim, who stepped on a piece of broken rail and went down on his butt. Seth laughed and dived on Tim, and the two wrestled on the ground, giggling like kids. Tim rubbed dust on Seth’s face and Seth grabbed Tim’s balls. Time howled like a banshee and jumped to his feet.

  “You touched my junk, you prevert.”

  “And you loved it, admit it.”

  “Will not!”

  They were still laughing like idiots, but Seth was the one who had to admit, if only to himself, that he’d gotten excited wrestling with Tim.

  Man, I have got to get laid.

  * * * *

  Mike pulled his Camry into the Seven Plus Ranch driveway and looked up at the sign as he passed under it. Strange name, he mused, wonder what it signifies? Maybe Seth knows… He’d thought about the young ranch hand a lot since he’d met him yesterday and couldn’t deny he was looking forward to seeing him again. Trish’s little snippet of gossip had confirmed what Mike had guessed about Seth, that he was gay. It was obvious Trish was a fount of information about the gay men in Denton. Jed over at the Double R, Seth, and Parker Jones himself. Amazing, so many hot gay guys in such a small community like Denton.

  He pulled into the parking area near the stable and walked over to the entrance. He saw Parker and Bob there, but no Seth. He swallowed the disappointment that stirred in his throat and called out, “Hi, Mr. J—I mean, Parker. Just come to check up on Bonney.”

  “Good to see you, Mike.” Parker smiled at the young vet and held out his hand for him to shake. “She seems to have had a good night. No visible problems, anyway.”

  “Excellent.” Mike made his way over to Bonney’s stall, Parker trailing behind him. He knelt by Bonney and, remembering how Seth had lifted her foreleg and placed it on his knee, he did the same. He was amazed at how easy it was. Bonney must be the most placid of horses. She even bent her head and nuzzled his hair while he removed the pad from her hoof. I think I might really like dealing with horses.

  “She likes you,” Parker said quietly.

  “She’s a beauty.” Mike unwound the bandage and removed the dressing. “Looks good, Parker. The abscess is drying up and no new ones to see. Another day and she can be walked gently.”

  “No ridin’, then?”

  “Not yet. I’d wait a couple more days after tomorrow just to be on the safe side.” He opened his bag and brought out the antiseptic ointment he’d used the day before. He glanced up at Parker. “Did you need her sooner?”

  “No. I have one customer who’s bent outta shape ’cause she wasn’t available today, but I’m not risking her health for one picky guy. He’ll be gone day after tomorrow anyway. By the way…” Parker leaned in a little closer to Mike. “We have a barbecue every Friday night. Wondered if you’d like to join us. We only have a few customers, so I thought we’d swell the party with some friends. Royce, my hubby, will be there, some of the hands and neighbors and, uh, Seth.”

  Mike didn’t miss the emphasis on Seth’s name. He smiled to himself. “Uh, that sounds great. What time?”

  “We start around six o’clock and go until the last one leaves.”

  “Can I bring something?”

  “Just yourself.”

  Mike smeared the ointment over Bonney’s hoof then added a fresh dressing before applying a bandage and the pad. He stood and stroked Bonney’s neck, laughing a little when she turned to nuzzle his hand.

  “She really likes you,” Parker said approvingly. “I think once she’s all better, you should take her for a ride.”

  “Oh, I’ve never ridden a horse, Parker.”

  “Never too late to learn. Seth’s a real dab hand at teaching how to ride a horse.”

  That’s the second time in two minutes he’s mentioned Seth. Is he trying his hand at matchmaking? “Well, I’ll have to remember that,” he said, mentally rolling his eyes. “Okay, I’ll stop by tomorrow just to make sure Bonney’s still progressing…and thanks for the invitation.”

  “Look forward to seeing you, Mike. Take care.” He clapped Mike’s arm and walked to the other end of the stable where Bob was working.

  Mike packed up his bag and headed for his car. He was almost there when he heard his name shouted. He turned and smiled as Seth bore down on him, looking like he’d been rolling on the ground.

  “Oh, hey, Mike, glad I caught you. I wanted to ask you something.”

  “There are leaves in your hair,” Mike said, laughing.

  “Oh, yeah?” Seth ran his hands through his hair, making it stand up in all directions.

  God, but he is adorable. Mike wanted to run his fingers through that thick blond thatch. His cock pulsed at the thought of it. “What have you been up to?”

  “Oh, fixing some rails on the corral.”

  “Really? Looks more like you were rolling in the dust.”

  “What?” Seth’s face took on a rosy glow. “No, just fixin’ corral rails.”

  “You can do that?”

  Seth seemed unsure if Mike was teasing him or not. “Of course.” He preened a little. “Not much around here I can’t do. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if—”

  “Jack of all trades, huh?”

  “Well, sure, but anyway, I wanted to ask you if—”

  “Does Parker know you’re such a dab hand at so many things?”

  “Yes. Now listen, Mike, I wanted to ask you if you’d come with me to our ba
rbecue tomorrow night.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Seth, but someone already asked me and I said yes.”

  “What?” Seth’s cheeks grew even rosier. “Who asked you? I mean, that’s great and all that you’ll be there, but ― Sorry, I have no business askin’ who—”

  Mike chuckled. “Seth, I’m just teasing you. Parker asked me. Said there would be a bunch of people there, including you.”

  “He did? Oh, that’s okay then.” Seth beamed at him. “And you’ll be there?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it.” The pleasure on Seth’s face made Mike want to lean in and kiss him. “And I was teasing about the other stuff too. I figured you’d be good at a lot of things.”

  “Uh…thanks.”

  Mike smiled as Seth’s face went an interesting shade of pink.

  “See ya there, then. Oh, Bonney’s hoof okay?”

  “Progressing nicely. Okay, Seth, see you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, tomorrow.” He stepped back so that Mike could get in his car.

  “Oh, by the way—” Mike paused after he’d opened the car door. “I meant to ask you what the name of the ranch, Seven Plus, signifies.”

  “Oh, uh…well…”

  “You don’t know?”

  “Yeah, I know. You want the real story or the raunchy one?”

  Mike chuckled. “Well, now you have my total interest. There’s a raunchy story?”

  Seth drew a deep breath. “On my first day here, I asked a couple of the guys about the name and they kinda chortled and said, ‘What d’ya think it means?’ and one of them waved his hand in front of his crotch like so.” Seth demonstrated and Mike’s eyes widened as his gaze zeroed in on Seth’s impressive bulge.

  “Oh, wow…”

  “But that’s not the real reason for the name,” Seth said quickly, his face flushing once again. “I think they were just trying to embarrass me, kid the new guy, y’know. Anyway, when Parker and Royce built the ranch they had seven horses and Parker wanted to call it The Seven Horse Ranch. But Royce said what if they bought more horses? So that’s where the ‘plus’ came in.”

  “I think I prefer the first story,” Mike said with a mischievous smile.

  “You do? Yeah, it’s funny, right?”

  “It is.” Mike smiled into Seth’s eyes and it took all his restraint not to kiss the guy. “Well, thanks for enlightening me. I’ll see you at the barbecue tomorrow night.” He opened the car and slipped inside.

  “Drive careful, now,” Seth said.

  “Will do. Bye, Seth.”

  “Bye.”

  Seth bounced on his toes, watching Mike’s car drive away then disappear around the corner onto the road. So Parker had made sure Mike would be at the barbecue tomorrow night.

  How cool is he? No man had ever had such a great boss, of that he was certain. And Mike had looked even hotter today than yesterday.

  Bet the guy didn’t know just how much I wanted to grab him and kiss the bejesus outta him. Wonder if I’ll ever get the chance.

  Chapter Four

  Next morning, Parker made a quick tour of the stables and the grounds and was pleased to see that the horses were already in the pasture and Seth and Bob were working hard cleaning out the stalls. There was no sign yet of the ‘complainers’, for which he was grateful. This was their last day. They’d be at the barbecue, but after that it was adios and good riddance. Parker rarely disliked any of his customers, and when he thought about it, Foster and Grant weren’t really terrible, just apt to pick at stuff for the sake of it.

  Speak of the devils… “Morning, guys, nice to see you up and eager for the day.”

  “Clint said we could try our hand at roping today,” Foster said, “so I’d like to ride Bonney―”

  “Sorry, no can do,” Parker interrupted, determined to get this out of the way quickly as possible. “The vet wants her to rest another day. He’ll be by this afternoon, but until he says she’s fit, she’s not available for riding.”

  Foster’s eyes flared with annoyance and his lips thinned. “That is just ridiculous. We paid good money to come here and we were assured we could ride the horse of our choice.”

  Parker sighed. “Mr. Foster, surely you don’t want to ride a lame horse? You say you like Bonney? So why would you want to distress her unnecessarily?”

  “Parker’s right, Harold,” his partner said. “You can choose another horse.”

  “But it won’t be the same, Monty.” Harold pouted. “I think we should be recompensed for this inconvenience.”

  “You should be recompensed because of a lame horse?” Parker stared at the man like he’d grown ten heads. He was on the verge of telling him to go fuck himself when he saw Clint getting out of his Range Rover. Thank Christ…

  “Harold, that wasn’t very nice,” Monty said. “Oh, and here’s Clint. I don’t think he’d approve of what you said.”

  Clint’s presence acted like a balm, Harold’s expression changing to one of excitement when the handsome cowboy approached them. He beamed at them and Parker thanked his lucky stars for the day he’d hired Clint.

  “’Morning, all. I see Bonney’s not in the pasture, so I guess she’s still under the doc’s care?”

  “Yeah,” Parker said before Harold could start his whining again. “Doc. Henry’ll be back today for another looksee.”

  “Okay, boys.” Clint put his arms around Harold and Monty’s shoulders. “Let’s go down to the pasture and choose your horses. Harold, I know Misty is callin’ your name again.”

  “You think so?”

  Parker could not believe the change in Foster. Clint must have cast some kind of magic spell over the whiner. He chuckled softly, watching Clint lead them off to the pasture after winking at Parker behind their backs. “The patience of a saint,” he murmured. He made a mental note to say ‘Sorry but we are completely booked up…for forever’ if those two should ever call for a reservation again.

  He turned at the sound of a car engine and saw Mike’s Camry pull into the parking area. He’s early… “Hey, Mike,” he called out when the young vet got out of his car.

  “Parker, beautiful day,” Mike said looking up at the blue sky. ““Doc. Walker’s got me scheduled for a bunch of first-time visits, so I thought I’d come early to look at Bonney.”

  “Seth’s down at the pasture. D’you need him to help?”

  Mike shook his head. “No, that’s okay. With any luck, I can put on a lighter dressing and you can probably remove the pad tomorrow. Let her walk around a bit.” He walked over to Bonney’s stall and stood for a moment or two stroking her neck. Bonney acknowledged him with a soft whicker then nuzzled his hair as he bent to look at her hoof.

  “She likes you, Mike. When you decide to have a riding lesson, she’ll be perfect for you.” Parker strolled outside and pulled his cell from his jeans. “Hey, Seth, Mike’s here if you want to say hi.”

  “He’s early.”

  “He’s gonna have a busy day, he said.”

  “Okay. I’ll just saunter in, nonchalant like.”

  Parker snorted. “Yeah, that’ll work.” He peeked inside the stable. “Need any help, Mike?”

  “No, I’m good, thanks.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave you to it.” He grinned and watched Seth hurry toward him with his long, loping stride. “That was quick. Better take a breath or two so you can act all nonchalant.”

  “Oh, right. How do I look?”

  “Like you just ran all the way from the pasture to here. Flushed and horny.”

  “Boss!”

  Parker laughed. “Just joshin’ ya. Go get him, tiger.”

  Despite his best efforts, Seth’s ears were still burning when he strolled into the stable. “Oh, hi, Mike. Getting an early start?”

  Mike turned at the sound of Seth’s voice. “Yeah, got a busy rest of the day. Good news is, Bonney’s in great shape. One more day and she’ll be right as rain. Wanna see?”

  “Yeah.” He’d use any excuse to get close to the handsome
vet. He leaned over Mike and put a hand on his shoulder as he peered at Bonney’s hoof. “Wow, that’s great. Hardly see anything at all. But no riding her yet, huh?”

  “No, I’d give her another coupla days before taking her out.”

  Seth squeezed Mike’s shoulder. “Good. We’ve got a customer who keeps carping about not getting to ride her. He’s leaving tomorrow so he won’t get a chance, which is just fine with me. He’s a real dick.”

  Mike chuckled. “Should you be talking about Parker’s clients like that?”

  “Probably not, but I think Parker would agree with me. You need a hand with the dressing?”

  “If you don’t mind. Just hold her leg steady while I put some more of the ointment on.”

  Seth was only too eager to get even closer to Mike. He knelt beside him, so aware of the fact that their arms were pressed together. Seth inhaled the mild scent of Mike’s cologne. Before he could stop himself, he said, “You smell real nice.”

  “Thanks.” Mike turned and smiled at him, their faces so close they could kiss if either one closed that gap of an inch or so. Their eyes met and held, and Seth’s senses reeled from the warm sensation of Mike’s breath on his lips. He was trembling and harder than a tire iron, his cock aching for release within the too-tight confines of his jeans.

  Oh, my good God…

  Then Mike moved away slightly. “Uh, Seth…” His voice sounded thick and he cleared his throat. “Uh, just hold her leg, okay?”

  “Yeah, okay…sorry ’bout that.”

  “No worries. I’ll just finish up here, then I have to get going. Doc. Walker wants me to join him on his rounds today, so I can’t be late.”

  “Right.” Seth stood when Mike had finished and, without meaning to, he gave Mike quite the eyeful of the bulge behind his fly. Oh, shit…now he knows how turned on I was. He was semi-relieved when Mike stood and passed his hand over the front of his jeans as though he was trying to adjust himself. They gave each other small smiles, then Mike picked up his bag and walked out of the stall.

  Seth trailed behind Mike on the walk over to his car. “So, see you at the barbecue tonight?” he asked, going for nonchalance again.