Free Troy's Surrender by K.M. Mahoney

shoes. Mark exhaled.
“All right,” he gave in. “But don’t expect me to do the whole reminiscing thing. And I don’t know you from Adam, so no more hugging.” He added the last with a glare at Rafe.
Rafe smiled and, oh, but it was a gorgeous smile. Made the world brighter and Troy’s chest tighten up in that damned knot again.
“No more hugging,” Rafe said with complete insincerity.
Ken snorted. Mark groaned. And Troy snuggled closer to Rafe, utterly pleased with himself.

CHAPTER 8
Two weeks later
    The spreadsheet went sailing. Troy watched the papers flutter to the floor and suppressed the urge to smack Rafe upside the head.
“Come on, do you really want a bunch of idiots tramping all over your ranch?”
“No. But it’s a good plan.”
Troy studied Rafe’s mulish expression over the expanse of the scarred wooden table. “You don’t have to, you know.”
“I just barely scraped even last year,” Rafe pointed out. “You know that. And last year was a good year. I’m gonna lose my shirt if we don’t start bringing in more money. Dude ranches are popular right now.”
“And you’d have to shell out an insane amount of money to even begin to make one viable. It’s not necessary,” Troy stressed again.
“Then what do you suggest?” Rafe snapped.
Troy was a bit startled. He’d never heard that particular tone from his easygoing cowboy.
“I’m the numbers guy, remember? Let me take over the books, get some computer programs up and running. Maybe think about renting out some of the unused land. You’ve got options. And I can help you find them.”
Hope crept across Rafe’s face. “I’m not a business person,” he admitted.
“No kidding.” Troy softened the rebuke with a smile. “But lucky for you, I am.”
Rafe made that little humming sound of his. He looked across the table with an unusual uncertainty in his eyes. “You’d have to stick around.”
“I would,” Troy admitted. “At least for a while, until I got you back on your feet.”
Rafe began making little circles in the water spots on the table from where his glass was sweating. “Maybe I don’t want it to just be for a while.”
Troy swallowed heavily, trying to ignore the fist that grabbed him in the gut. He wanted this, so bad, but at the same time he didn’t.
Oh, hell. He could admit it, to himself at least. He was scared. He’d never been good at long term. Then again, Troy had never met anyone who meant as much to him as Rafe did.
“You fit in here,” Rafe said. “With me. With the ranch.”
“That’s not…” Troy paused before voicing his biggest fear. “What if it doesn’t work out? Between us, I mean.”
“It will.”
“You can’t know that.”
“It will,” Rafe insisted stubbornly. Troy couldn’t help feeling a little thrill at the certainty in his cowboy’s voice.
Troy just wished he had some of that certainty.
“I don’t know, Rafe. I can promise to stay until I get the books straightened out, until I get the ranch running efficiently from the administrative end. Any longer and I’ll have to think about it. Give me some time.”
Rafe wasn’t happy with the answer. That much was obvious. But the cowboy just nodded reluctantly.
“I’ll take what I can get. But I reserve the right to try and influence you,” Rafe warned.
“Bring it on, cowboy,” Troy teased. “Bring it on.
Rafe brought it. Over the next few days, he began a focused campaign—oh, hell, it was an all-out assault—on Troy. If he wasn’t snagging Troy into a kiss every five minutes, he was listing all the reasons why Troy’s life would be better if he stayed. Truth be told, Troy had been convinced after the second round of chase. He hated his life, his job, and the only friend he had back home was Ken. He must be getting old, because the bar scene didn’t appeal anymore. Here, he had work that he actually enjoyed, a relaxed atmosphere far different from the stress of his old life, and guys who, if not friends, were at least