Free Hay and Heartbreak by Bailey Bradford Page B

ranch, but that don’t mean we have to fuck. Not unless you want to. The same goes for talking. I don’t have to hear your life story. We can just enjoy being outside and anything else we agree on.” Though he’d like to know more about Dan, but Hector guessed it wasn’t necessary. Dan would be going back to Alabama, not staying on at the Mossy G. Any relationship they could possibly have would be short-lived. “We can keep things light and just do what feels good.”
    Dan waited a few seconds before nodding. “Okay.”
    Well, Dan was certainly a man of few words, which Hector already knew. Hector wasn’t one of those people who needed to avoid silence or thought a lack of jaw-flapping meant things were awkward. In truth, he believed there was something to be learned by a person’s silences as much as there was from their words.
    He chatted about his workday once he had the horses ready and had talked Dan through getting in the saddle.
    “You’ve got a nice seat,” Hector informed him. “Just hold the reins like so.” He positioned Dan’s hands and arms to a more natural position.
    Dan cleared his throat, then said, “This is a much bigger horse than I was on as a kid.”
    “Maisy’s your average-size Quarter horse, not as big as Vil here.” Hector patted his horse’s neck. “Vil and me, we been a pair since I was seventeen, when he was born to my daddy’s mare, Esme. I named him Villian because he had quite an attitude, still does sometimes, but Maisy, she’ll treat you right.”
    Vil snorted and tossed his head.
    Hector patted him again. “So will you, Vil, I know. I’m just trying to reassure Dan that he isn’t going to get thrown.”
    “I can do this,” Dan murmured, more to himself, possibly, than for Hector’s sake.
    Hector gave Dan a riding lesson, and was impressed with how quickly Dan picked up on everything. “You’re a natural, just like Duke. A few more times riding and no one will know you aren’t a ranch-bred cowboy.”
    “I doubt that, but thanks.” Dan already sat loose and confident whether he knew it or not. He wasn’t stiff like so many new riders tended to be. His natural ease with Maisy made Hector want him even more. “So you think I’m ready?”
    “Sure do.” Hector gestured at him. “Come on and bring yourself up here with me and Vil.” Once Dan was beside him, they set out due west. “You know, the sun really only rises and sets straight west and straight east two days a year?”
    “What happened to the claim that it rises in the east and sets in the west?” Dan asked.
    “Well, it sure enough sets in the west-ish and rises in east-ish,” Hector said, unable to keep from chuckling. “But I mean, straight, direct west and east, that only happens on the first day of spring and the first day of fall. You know what today is?”
    “Not the first day of spring.” Dan shivered.
    Hector couldn’t tell if it was a real shudder or not. “Here, hold up. Are you cold?” Hector had the jacket rolled up with a blanket and some supplies behind his saddle.
    “Nah. I’m good in this flannel shirt.” Dan plucked at the collar. “It’s nice, actually, with the sun out like it is.”
    “Today’s the first day of fall.” Hector wondered, after he said that, if there was some significance to it. He came from a family that held a mixture of beliefs. His Granny Gallegos had been big on portents and signs. She’d have said there was something special about him taking a man out today like he was doing with Dan.
    Could be she’d have been right. Hector couldn’t shake the feeling she was up in Heaven agreeing with him.
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
    Dan wasn’t sure how to do whatever it was he and Hector were doing. Sex, he understood. That was two bodies merging together, and it didn’t take any talk to get down to it. He worried over what, if anything, to say, then finally felt like he had to share some of his past.
    But talking about prison, even though he’d