A Subtle Breeze by Bailey Bradford (libby ebook reader .txt) 📕

phone again, causing Brendon to hold the phone at arm’s length as he finished the call then tucked the phone into his pocket.

He could still feel the tension in Zeke’s shoulders, so he began working at the knotted muscles with both hands. Brendon leaned down, placing his lips against Zeke’s ear. “Hey, it’ll be okay, all right?” He straightened, massaging the tense flesh under his hands until he finally felt the man relax. Zeke reached up and grabbed one of Brendon’s hands, bringing it to his cheek. The tenderness of the gesture hit Brendon so strongly he felt his eyes prick with tears. Not the time to be a damn puss, he thought.

“I hope so, Brendon, I really do.” Zeke twisted in his chair and, using the hand he had captured to pull Brendon around, settled him on his lap. He stared at Brendon, not bothering to hide his fear or his desire. “I want… I just don’t know if I can believe it. If we’ll be safe,” Zeke said wearily. He closed his eyes briefly and sighed.

Brendon wasn’t going to let the man doubt it. “It will be, babe. I’m not saying it will be easy, or always a barrel of monkeys, but sometime you have to start trying to live, Zeke. You can’t just avoid life.” He waited for the backlash, denial and anger, but Zeke only nodded.

“Charlie, my ranch hand and friend, pretty much said the same thing to me this morning,” he admitted. “I wanted to rip his damn head off,” Zeke said ruefully. “He’s tried before to get his point across, but this time, something snapped. Besides my temper.”

“Well, I think that maybe our first step should be for you to drive me over to Gloria’s to get my clothes and SUV. If it’s okay that I stay here, with you.” Brendon used ‘our’ deliberately, wanting to see Zeke’s reaction. He held his breath, wondering if there would be acceptance or rejection, knowing he was pushing past his lover’s comfort zone. Hell, he was blowing the whole zone to bits. Brendon watched as Zeke took a steadying breath, and that was when he noticed it.

The sweet scent was back, the one he’d caught a whiff of right before he’d felt that…nudge last night. The one he’d tried to forget, because it was just a little too scary to think about.

Still… “Do you smell it, too?” Brendon didn’t know if he wanted the scent to be real or not.

Zeke jerked his chin up so fast their heads almost smacked together. He stared into Brendon’s eyes, searching for long seconds before answering. “Sweet, subtle, like it’s carried through on a breeze?” he asked.

“Yeah, exactly like that, except last night…” Brendon suddenly had second thoughts about continuing that sentence. He didn’t want to sound like some spooked kid, but it was obvious Zeke wasn’t going to let it go. He bounced his legs, jostling Brendon.

“Last night, what?”

Brendon groaned, trying not to roll his eyes. He needed to learn to bite his tongue, but he hadn’t, and now here was the consequence.

“Last night, when you walked off and left me in the hall, bare-assed naked, I might add.” He couldn’t resist teasing Zeke, drawing a smile from his sexy lips.

“I’m sorry about that,” Zeke murmured, his gaze flickering away before returning to Brendon’s. “I was a complete asshole last night to say what I did.” Zeke tightened his arms around Brendon, the action as much of an apology as the words. “But, you really do need to quit distracting me and finish telling me what happened.”

“I wasn’t distracting you. I was just pointing out… Okay, okay. Anyway, I was trying to figure out whether I should just give in and concede defeat, or go after what I wanted—you. So, there I stood, confused as hell, when that scent just appeared, and then…uhm.” Brendon glanced down at the floor as he considered whether or not he wanted to admit to what happened in the hallway last night. This was the hard part to confess, because if Zeke laughed at him, Brendon didn’t know what he’d do.

Zeke stroked a finger along Brendon’s cheek, down below his chin. He pushed gently, forcing Brendon’s head up, looking him in the eyes. “Whatever it is that you’re so worried about telling me, just stop worrying. You came in and found me last night. You know how you found me. You didn’t laugh, didn’t tease, instead, you helped me. Why would I laugh at anything that upset you?”

And just like that, with the sincerity shining at him in those beautiful green eyes, Brendon felt the rest of his heart tumble straight into Zeke’s hands. Sunk, for certain. He was terrified and elated…and Zeke was waiting for an answer. Brendon cleared his throat, trying to work out the tightness that had suddenly seized his vocal cords.

“You, ah, you wouldn’t, I suppose. It’s just kinda…heebie-jeebie-ish, creepy. I was standing there confused and such, like I said, then there was the smell, and then there was a, uhm, a nudge. On my back, like, pushing me toward your room, that kind of nudge. Now do you understand why I wasn’t real eager to explain it?” Brendon twiddled his fingers together, feeling like an idiot despite Zeke’s assurances.

“No feeling foolish,” Zeke ordered. “I don’t feel foolish, and I’ve felt a nudge, a push, even a caress sometimes when that scent hits. And it always comes when I seem to need it. I needed help last night, Brendon,” he whispered, melting Brendon with his gaze. “I needed you, and that nudge, that scent—you really are going to think I’m crazy, Brendon, but it’s the scent my mama always wore, and the way she would nudge and push to get me to do what she knew was right. She always knew what was right, babe.”

Strangely enough, that explanation didn’t freak Brendon out. Well, maybe he was a little uncomfortable at the idea of his man’s mama—in any form whatsoever—seeing him bare