Page 193 of Checking Out the Librarian

Jonathan felt like he was waiting for the last drops of serum left at the end of an upside-down bottle to drip out to his palm, Connor was moving that slowly.

He wanted to thrust and compel him go faster, but the forearm clamped across his body pinned him in place. Moving it would move Connor’s hand, and he needed that hand right where it was.

“I’ll put my cheek against your thigh while I adjust the stirrup.” Connor’s voice was dreamy and quiet.

Jonathan shuddered and bit into his lip to hold back the sounds trying to break free. The fever burning in him couldn’t be treated like this. And Connor was hard again, too, parts of him prodding Jonathan’s ass.

He kept on. Slow. Steady. Given the opportunity, Jonathan absolutely would do this torture, this leisurely pull and glide, this extended play director’s cut, to Connor.

“I’ll keep you safe. I’ll be right there with you. Watching you. I’ll keep you safe.”

Oh. The words he hadn’t even known he needed wrapped around him and settled beneath his ribs, building a home.

He’d thought Connor was the one who needed to feel safe, but it was both of them. Both.

Their breathing grew louder and faster and set off a rising spiral inside Jonathan even while Connor’s hand remained the fixed star in his universe.

Fucking slow. Fucking good. Fucking safe.

“I’m going to ride next to you and watch you. And think about you spreading your legs and riding me. That’s what I’ll be thinking.”

He couldn’t stop his hips, but Connor kept him pinned and that was too much. He heard the quiet sob, and it must be him, but it couldn’t be, because he didn’t cry. He didn’t cry during sex. He didn’t cry.

“Now.” He whispered Jonathan’s own order back at him and bit Jonathan’s neck.

It was everything. Everything.

39

VILLAIN ORIGIN STORIES

At an ungodly hour the next morning, Jonathan gazed far, far down at tiny white flowers blooming next to the track where his horse walked.

Connor and Jess had chosen a pretty palomino mare named Penny that Connor claimed was the easiest of their four horses for Jonathan to ride. Jess trailed behind them both on Bug, a rather awkwardly colored mix-up of spotted Appaloosa in the back and a shiny bay in the front. Bug looked like someone had turned parts of a flip chart and combined two separate horses into one picture.

And yes, dear God, he’d been up for hours, and it wasn’t even eight a.m.

Jonathan felt more than passingly comfortable being sacrilegious about the time inside his head, even though he would never speak those words in front of Connor’s mother. He stifled his guilt that Connor had been out of bed even earlier, left him a coffee, and prepared this lovely lady Penny for him before he’d managed to get to the barn.

He was also pretty sure Connor hadn’t applied sunscreen properly, although Jonathan had, despite the painful numbers on his phone alarm.

They rode side-by-side for several more minutes. The joy of Penny’s lovely gait was only exceeded by the joy he derived from the accusative weight of Connor’s glare, which had grown more obvious as they proceeded farther from the ranch buildings.

Eventually it demanded Jonathan’s response. “Are you admiring my high contrast denim? Or my juicy ass?”

He wore cycling shorts under generously cut dark wash jeans, already certain he wasn’t going to regret opting for the extra padding. He’d paired them with a light-wash denim shirt, yesterday’s red bandana tied to protect his throat from sunburn, and the bright white hat he’d worn for his Cowboy Carter cosplay photo shoot.

“Two denim pieces of the same wash would look like a Seventies suit, and despite my ability to dance and general air of royalty, I am not a member of ABBA.”

“When did you—” Connor swallowed the rest of his question, but Jonathan knew what he was about to ask and he was petty enough to want to enjoy this. He was a lot petty, in fact.

“When did I what?”

“You can totally ride. You didn’t need my help. You vaulted onto Penny.”

That hadn’t been his finest moment. He probably shouldn’t enjoy Connor’s mix of confusion and accusation this much, but his better nature had hit the snooze alarm and missed joining the morning ride.

“I did not vault. I was never in Cirque du Soleil.” By showing off, he’d robbed Connor of that beautiful groom fantasy he’d wanted so badly last night, but Jess had been there. Jonathan had wanted to impress her.