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"I notice snakes of all shapes and sizes," Aiden said with a comical leer. "No need to be shy. Yours wasn't bad."
He dropped the jeans and boots on the bed and then stuck his head in the closet to fish around for a flannel. Green, preferably. Seth always looked good in green. From inside the closet, he heard the soft whisper of sheets, and then Seth's voice asked, "Is it true you gave West Owens a hand job in the school library during your senior year?"
Aiden bolted upright so fast that he slammed his head on an overhead shelf. He whirled around, expecting to catch Seth tugging on his jeans, and instead came face-to-face with a grown man standing in the middle of the room in all his full, naked glory.
Aiden mostly rolled around with women, but he was no stranger to the rare man when it struck his fancy. Besides, he'd been in and out of bunkhouses since leaving the Double Jay. He knew men; he appreciated the shape of them. But no one in his long, vivid memory could compare to the beauty of a gloriously naked Seth McCall.
His frame was long, lean, and solid from a lifetime of hard work. A spray of fine, dark hair covered his sculpted chest, trailing in an elegant line down his flat belly and then flaring out above the thick, heavy cock hanging between his muscular thighs.
Look away! Aiden's mind screamed. Look anywhere else.
It took far too long for him to raise his eyes to Seth's impassive face and even longer to remember the question.
"He didn't look nothin' like you," he said blankly.
Seth's expression didn't change, but he gave a slow blink.
Aiden coughed into his fist and looked away. His eyes couldn't decide where to land. Seth's bedroom was a strange mix of man and boy—practical, masculine, but cluttered with random objects he never found time to throw away. The space was dominated by a sturdy brass bed. The mattress was only a double; it'd be a tight fight for more than one person, but it looked like an oasis compared to the tiny RV bunk where Aiden slept. A plaid curtain covered the single window, its once cheerful colors long faded. A cold draft seeped in around the edges of the cloth. The house probably needed new insulation and a come-to-Jesus moment with a sealant tube.
He studied the room enthusiastically, refusing to look toward Seth until he heard the rustle of denim and the clink of a metal buckle. He tossed him a shirt without looking.
"I always figured that was a rumor," Seth said casually. "You and West, I mean."
Aiden rubbed the back of his neck, feeling sweaty despite the chilly farmhouse. "It basically was, more or less. I mean, it wasn't a big thing like people said. Just one time. I was bored; he was desperate. It was something to do, you know?"
Something that felt like affection, even if only briefly, but he didn't say that.
Seth grunted wordlessly and shoved past him, practically knocking Aiden off his feet on his way to the bathroom. The tap turned on a moment later. Aiden stared at the closed door, flustered and bemused for reasons he didn't want to explore. He felt like an idiot standing there, so he decided to head to the kitchen and scrounge something to eat.
Tessa caught him with his head in the fridge, poking at a tinfoil-wrapped lump.
"Make yourself at home," she said wryly.
Aiden guiltily withdrew his finger and blasted her with his dimple-popping grin. "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," he drawled, draping one arm on the open fridge door. "You didn't get all dolled up just for me, did you?"
Tessa rolled her eyes. She'd shed the jammies she'd been wearing and donned a pair of baggy jeans and an oversized sweatshirt with a university logo on the front. Her hair was pulled up in a sloppy bun on top of her head, and her face was strangely shiny. Maybe she'd slathered it in something beautifying like his mother always used.
Aiden couldn't help but compare this woman with the little girl who used to follow him around like a puppy, nipping at his heels until he tossed her whatever scraps of attention he could spare. She'd been a cutie, bright, chatty, and smart as a whip. Now, she was a grown woman—with bosoms and everything. The two discordant pictures refused to match in his head. Women were for flirting...but not Tessa. In his mind, she'd stopped aging sometime in elementary school, so he felt vaguely surprised every time he looked at her.
"That's not the question," Tessa said, ticking her finger at him like a schoolteacher. "The question is: where have you been? When you pulled up, I saw those fencing rolls in the back of your truck. They're late by a few years."
"I've been around." Aiden clucked his tongue and pretended he didn't feel a wash of guilt at her pointed words. "You and your brother need to get out more, sweetheart."
Tessa gave him a hefty dose of side-eye and then elbowed him out of the way, carefully stacking some bacon and cartons of milk and eggs in her arms before nudging the fridge closed with her hip. "You can't sweet talk me anymore, you know," she said, but Aiden knew he was lying because her tone had softened. "How is Seth supposed to get out? He hasn't had a day off in years."
"He knew where I was," Aiden said defensively. "If he needed help, all he had to do was ask."
She pointed toward the breadbox, and Aiden attempted to follow her wordless directions. He lifted a wooden lid painted with a colorful fruit display that vaguely reminded him of the underwear label and sifted through packages of bagels and muffins until he found a half-eaten loaf of cheap white bread. He lifted his brows and held up the package.
Tessa nodded and waggled her fingers in a 'hand it over' gesture, continuing their conversation without interruption. "I don't have a lot of friends, but I've never had to ask them for help when I was struggling," she said. "They just show up whether I like it or not."
Tension was starting to creep up Aiden's neck. She was only repeating the same sentiment he'd flogged himself with all night, but he couldn't resist trying to defend himself. He cracked his jaw and said stubbornly, "Look, I tried to help. Your brother wouldn't let me. Hell, he wouldn't allow me anywhere near this place after the accident. Cattle were dying left and right, and your dad was furious. I guess Seth felt like it was something he should handle on his own."
"What about after Dad died?" Tessa wasn't looking at him as she cooked. She expertly cracked eggs one-handed into a glass bowl, then added a milk splash and a slice of bread into the mixture. Aiden couldn't help but be fascinated by the dainty way she plucked the soggy bread from the bowl with two fingers to avoid making a mess of her painted nails.
"It's complicated," Aiden said lamely. "After the funeral, your brother wanted nothing to do with me—hell, with anyone. What was I supposed to do?"
He didn't like to think of it much, but Seth's cool dismissal had eviscerated him in ways his mother's sharp tongue never had. Even now, he felt a rush of helpless anguish whenever he thought of it.
