Free Red Dirt Heart 04 - Red Dirt Heart 4 by N.R. Walker Page B

minutes?”
    “Shut up. I’m so horny, it’ll be lucky to be one minute,” he said, getting to his knees so he could unzip his jeans. He freed his hard cock and gave it a squeeze, and he crawled up my body. The look in his eyes was smouldering.
    Jesus.
    I quickly undid my fly, needing any kind of friction I could find. Charlie growled and batted my hand away, taking both our cocks in his hand as he leaned over me, sliding and pumping, kissing and sucking.
    I don’t even think we made it to one minute.
    But he was considerably less tense at dinner.
     
    * * * *
     
    Charlie had his cuddle with Gracie before Trudy and Bacon took her back to their home for bath and bed, and then had playtime on the floor with Nugget. The wombat crawled all over him, tickling his face with his nose kisses, and they wrestled with Rumble Bear before Nugget got bored and demanded belly rubs.
    Charlie looked happy enough, but jeez, he looked tired. “Ugh,” Charlie groaned from lyin’ on the floor. He held his hand up at me. “Help me up.”
    “You that tired?”
    “I shouldn’t have laid on the floor,” he said. “I’ve got stuff to do.”
    I took his hand and pulled him to his feet. He grabbed his laptop bag, and we left Ma and George watching the TV and went into the office.
    He sat in his chair, rubbed his hands across his face and through his hair before sighing loudly. “Greg said there’s a broker doing the rounds.” He sounded a mix of tired and defeated.
    “A broker? Doing the rounds of what?”
    “Buying and selling properties. Cattle stations mostly.” He leaned down and plugged the laptop cord into the power outlet. “I guess I should be expecting a call sometime.”
    I stared at him. “We’re not selling. Not for any amount of money,” I said adamantly, a little more harshly than I intended.
    Charlie smiled widely at me. “No. We’re not.”
    “I didn’t mean that how it sounded. I mean, you’re not selling. I mean, you can’t, Charlie. This place is everything. It’s my home. Tell me you’re not even—”
    “Travis,” he said softly, cutting me off. “ We’re not selling anything. Not while I have breath in me.”
    I exhaled loudly, putting my hand to my hammering heart. “God, you scared me.”
    He smiled warmly at me. “I liked the we’re not selling part of your little speech.”
    I snorted. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s not my place to say, really. If you wanted to sell, I wouldn’t stop you.”
    He was quiet then; what he was thinking, I could only guess. After a long few seconds, he said, “The broker called Greg and Allan. Greg twice, actually.”
    “Is he considering it?”
    “Nope. Told the guy to stop calling him, said it was harassment.”
    “Pretty tame for Greg,” I allowed.
    Charlie smiled. “Allan wasn’t so polite.”
    “I could imagine,” I said with a laugh. “I like Allan and the way he gets things done.”
    Charlie smiled, but it didn’t last long. “The broker’s got some farmers around Tennant Creek already. Or so Allan said.”
    “They’re selling?”
    Charlie nodded. “Yep. Tough life, little rewards, I guess. Some aren’t as lucky as us…”
    I could tell Charlie needed to talk, so I just listened.
    “Greg said it’s not the farmers’ faults. We know that. It’s hard out here and if someone offers the right amount…” Charlie sighed. “But Greg said it ain’t the broker’s fault either. That he’s just the man in the middle. If people want to sell up, I guess he’s just doing his job.”
    I could tell by the set of his brow, it didn’t sit well with him. “You don’t agree?”
    “I dunno. I guess I can see his point,” he admitted. “But that’s not what concerns me.”
    “What is it?”
    “My first question was, who is this broker working for? Which conglomerate is buying up land across the Territory? Who is trying to dominate sales and influence the market? That’s what I wanna know.”
    I was smiling at