Where There's a Will (2 page)

Carlos cursed and glanced at the damn map again. Between it and the GPS navigation, he was totally lost. How the hell was he supposed to turn onto a road that wasn’t there? And if that damned snooty voice told him one more time that it was
recalculating
he was going to put his fist through the stupid little box and through the windshield the unit was stuck to as well.

www.total-e-bound.com

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

9

Make a u-turn.

“Shut up,” he mumbled as he tried to get his bearings. All he wanted to do was find the ranch that Nick was living and working on. Jesus, you’d think he was on some bizarre treasure hunt, as complicated as this trip was turning out to be! But the Mossy Glenn was in trouble, thanks to Nick’s momma’s greed, and maybe Nick didn’t want shit to do with the Mossy G—Carlos couldn’t blame him there—and maybe Nick was pissed at his momma—

and again, Carlos couldn’t blame Nick at all.

But the truth was, Nick had always been a good son even though his momma was a crazy, mean old bat. Nick wouldn’t want her to be homeless, which was close to happening.

Carlos could have called, but he had his own reasons for coming to Texas and talking to Nick face to face.

Make a u-turn.

“All right!” Carlos snapped. He turned his head and nearly wrecked his truck when a cute young woman puckered up and blew him a kiss from a passing car. Carlos jerked the wheel and got the truck back in his lane at about the same time his brain processed the fact that it hadn’t been a woman who’d blown his a kiss, not unless the women in Texas were on the hairy side. There’d been a glimpse of smooth skin and sideburns, longish ones that curved under high cheekbones. Carlos pulled the truck over and looked in his rearview. He wasn’t really seeing the bright blue little car, though. Instead it was those full lips pursed and the dark, thick sideburns, the narrowed eyes that he just bet were lit with laughter right about now.

Make a u-turn.
Carlos narrowed his own eyes. Was the guy laughing at him? Had he seen something Carlos usually kept hidden away?
Naw, not in that split second.
More than likely the guy had just been messing around, probably just having fun, something Carlos would swear he didn’t know anything about anymore. His lips twitched as he saw the guy checking in his side mirror.

“I might not know how to have fun anymore,” Carlos grumbled as he started making a u-turn. “But I bet you could damn sure show me how.”

Carlos’ smile felt predatory and his heart thudded in his chest, but he wasn’t going to chase the other man. Now, if the guy just happened to
think
Carlos would, well, that wasn’t Carlos fault now, was it? He was just following the stupid navigation thingie.

www.total-e-bound.com

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

10

The Mini Cooper surged forward, the driver shooting a startled glance at Carlos as he came up behind the smaller car. Carlos tried not to grin, because he really wasn’t going to follow the man, but still adrenaline flooded his veins and he couldn’t help but mutter, “The chase is on, baby.” He stayed behind the car, at a decent distance, letting thoughts of the way the man’s sideburns would feel against his thighs, his balls, the way his pursed mouth would be hot and heavenly around his dick—Carlos let those thoughts bring him to full aching hardness before he started feeling like a really creepy pervert, then he pissed off the navigation unit again by turning down a road it didn’t tell him to. Carlos slapped at the thing and turned it off, then he forced himself to keep driving away from the man he was irrationally tempted to keep following.

www.total-e-bound.com

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

11

Tuesdays were, in Troy’s opinion, the worst nights to work at The Xxchange. He sighed and rubbed at a spot on the bar, keeping one eye on the door. Slow nights were the worst, absolutely. Give him a rowdy crowd cursing and demanding their drinks be served faster, that was all well and good and, even if he occasionally wanted to slap the shit out of a customer or two, at least time flew by. Tuesday nights, though, they just sucked. He’d already checked every glass for water spots, wrote up the liquor order and the rest of the supply order. He’d swept and polished the mirrors and the bar, and rearranged every fucking bottle of liquor, lining them up perfectly so their labels were facing forward. And he was bored out of his ever lovin’ mind.

“Don’t look so pissed, you’ll scare any customers who come in right back out the door.”

Troy canted his head and cut his eyes at Xavier Talbot, owner—well, co-owner now—of The Xxchange. “Where’s Chase?” Usually those two were inseparable, which, yeah, sometimes Troy was a little jealous, but usually he was just happy for Chase and Xavier.

Since Chase had become a co-owner of The Xxchange, there’d been lots of talk about changing the place up, and Troy hoped the talk became a reality. Maybe he was just getting old, but all the slutty behaviour that went on here tended to annoy him now, whereas it’d been a huge turn-on years ago when he’d first started.

“You didn’t hear a word I said,” Xavier growled, jabbing Troy in the ribs.

Troy grunted and recovered from his mental lapse quick enough to pop Xavier on the ass with the towel he’d been polishing the bar with.

“Bitch,” Xavier chuckled, and Troy shook his head, still a little unused to the change in Xavier. The man hadn’t ever been a dick, but he’d never been as friendly as he was now.

Guess loving Chase changed him—or getting laid regularly changed him.
Either way, Troy kind of liked the playful side of his boss, especially since he was seeing more and more of it lately.

“You started it,” Troy pointed out, winding the towel again in case he needed to defend himself.

www.total-e-bound.com

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

12

“Because I’m bored as hell.” Xavier eyed the towel then sighed and put his back to the bar. He leant back and put his weight on his elbows, ether protecting his butt from another strike or just relaxing, Troy wasn’t sure which. Xavier turned his head, looking down the rows of liquor lining the shelves. “Looks like you’re bored, too.”

Troy snorted. “You know Tuesdays are dead. We’ve got a dozen people in here, and half of them are probably too busy screwing in the bathroom to bother with ordering drinks.

The rest are nursing their drinks. I am so beyond bored it ain’t funny.”

Xavier quirked an eyebrow at him. “You know Tuesday’s are like this. You could have scheduled someone else to work.”

“Yeah, I could have,” Troy admitted, “But then I’d probably be short a person when they died of boredom, or quit because they didn’t make jackshit in tips. Better just to keep Tuesdays scheduled for myself.” Troy had been managing the bar for a good while now and he tried to put his fellow co-workers needs ahead of his own. His finances were pretty secure, but he knew most of the people working at The Xxchange weren’t as lucky as he was.

“Well, if Chase has his way, Tuesdays might pick up a bit—and not with the horny fuck crowd,” Xavier said as he tapped his fingers against the curved edged of the bar. “That’s what Chase is doing right now. He’s locked himself in our office at home and is researching all sorts of music acts for the slower nights. He—and I agree with him—wants to bring in some classier acts during the week, at least. We aren’t sure about whether or not we should mess with the weekend band.”

Troy frowned at Xavier. “So you want classy during the week and trashy on the weekends?” The light turned on in his head before Xavier could reply. “Or you want to make sure this place doesn’t go broke, maybe see how the week goes and whether or not you and Chase can ease something new into the weekends.”

“You got it,” Xavier said, his fingers tapping out a faster beat. The man was twitchy, all coiled up energy and Troy figured he knew what was coming. Xavier looked at him, a hopeful expression lighting his features. “So, since you’re bored too, would you feel like taking over for me tonight?” His lips curled into a grin. “It can’t possibly get any more boring here.”

And Xavier no doubt had plans for a much more interesting way to spend his evening.

Troy shrugged. It wasn’t like he was busy, after all. “Sure. Go on, you’re twitchy and that’s just weird. Get out of here.”

www.total-e-bound.com

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

13

Xavier didn’t waste any time hitting the door, and Troy tried to ignore the pang of envy as he watched the man leave. What would it be like, having someone he wanted to rush home to? Would loving someone make him all happy and playful like it seemed to have made Xavier? Troy wasn’t even sure he wanted something like what Xavier and Chase had.

The one time he’d kind of fallen for someone had left him hurting, and he didn’t know if he was willing to risk his heart again.

He went back to wiping the already spotless bar down again, only to glance up when the door opened. Figuring it was Xavier back to grab something he’d forgotten, Troy’s sarcastic greeting died on his tongue when he spotted the lithe man now walking towards the bar. The club lighting made his collar length hair look dark, but Troy was used to the lighting and he thought the guy probably had medium brown hair. His sideburns accentuated the high cheekbones and emphasised his fine bone structure, and his wide mouth curled up at the corners, as if the man was constantly amused, making Troy think of all the wicked things that mouth could do.

Slim, almost too much so, but moving with the grace of a cat, the man practically oozed sex. Troy’s mouth watered as he watched those lean hips for a second, then he dragged his gaze up, over a skintight blue T-shirt framing the slight swell of pecs. His gaze tangled with a wide, heated one—maybe green or blue, he couldn’t tell yet—and the look there went straight to Troy’s cock, firming it more with each step the newcomer took.

Troy whipped the towel off the bar and tucked it in his pocket. He braced his hands on the polished wood and pretty much preened, knowing well the pose showed off his muscled chest and well-defined arms. He nailed the guy with a hungry look and was delighted when he thought he detected a slight shiver run through that sexy body.

The man slowed and put a little more sway in his hips and Troy damn near came in his jeans. The way the stranger smiled told Troy he knew exactly what effect he was having on Troy. Figuring two could play the seduction game, Troy lowered his lids and zeroed in on the prominent bulge pressing against the guy’s zipper. Troy watched appreciatively as, without the slightest hesitation, he ran a hand over his cock and squeezed.

“Jesus,” Troy muttered, certain something had shorted out in his head, because he couldn’t think to form any other words. All he could do was stare and hope he wasn’t drooling as the little tease rubbed his groin. When he stopped right in front of the bar, Troy www.total-e-bound.com

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

14

practically dug his nails into the wood to keep from lunging over the bar and fucking him into the floor. Or over the bar, which was a favourite fantasy of his.

The man pressed up against the bar, rubbing against it and purring as he devoured Troy visually. Troy swallowed and nearly choked when he did—how the hell could his throat be so dry when he had puddles of saliva pooling in his mouth—and why didn’t any of
that
go down? After an undignified sputter which made his cheeks burn, and made the stranger’s eyes light with amusement, Troy finally managed to speak. He didn’t see a need to sugar coat anything, not when the man in front of him was practically begging to be fucked.

“You always so forward about what you want?” he asked.

That got him a nod and a bigger smile along with an answer. “Sure. What’s the point in beating around the bush? You’re hot, and horny, and I was already worked up before I even walked in the door. Why pretend otherwise?”

Troy wasn’t bothered by not being the original cause of the man’s arousal—after all, he was going to be the one who benefitted from it, but he was curious. “And who got you ready to go for me?”

The man leaned over the bar and, gaze locked with Troy’s, palmed Troy’s dick, hard.

“Ohhhh,” he said with a purr again, “you
are
ready for me, too.” He licked his lips and slid his hand down, all but climbing onto the bar to reach Troy’s balls. “Mmm, yeah, you want to hear about the other guy I was thinking about, what I wanted him—what I want
you
, now—

to do to me?”

“Jesus,” Troy said again as he closed his eyes. He locked his elbows to keep his arms from shaking, or to keep from grabbing the sexy stud across from him and shutting him up by ramming his dick in the guy’s mouth. Troy wanted to hear about the man’s fantasy, but not until he was fucking him. It’d be a mental three-way, a verbal one, and it’d be damn near as good as an actual tumble of three bodies, sweating and grunting and fucking until they couldn’t move.

“What time you get off, big guy?” The voice was so close, a whisper in his ear, and Troy opened his eyes to find his little seducer sitting on the bar, his legs dangling over, open, offering. Troy stepped into the welcoming vee and placed his hands on either side of those trim hips. He brushed his thumbs over the rounded globes of the man’s ass and shuddered when sharp teeth nipped at his neck. “I’m thinking any minute now, at the rate you’re going.”

www.total-e-bound.com

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

15

His smug tone penetrated Troy’s sexual fog. He brought one hand up to fist it in silky thick hair and tugged until that long neck was arched perfectly, the man’s Adam’s apple bobbing as he tried to swallow.

“Not as quick as you’d think,” Troy told him as he slid his other hand around to his crotch. Moist heat there told him the guy was pretty close himself, pre-cum leaking from his dick. Troy grinned and unsnapped the button at the man’s waistband. “And not as quick as you.”