Cultivating Love Page 6

  Ed’s hips bucked. He grunted, his ass obviously clenching as he tried to control his movements. Joe bobbed up and down on his stiff cock, alternating between teasing the underside with his tongue and sealing his lips to suck the life out of it.

  Ed gripped his head, his hands kneading as his moans annihilated the silence. Joe was rock hard, with pressure building. Somehow he’d come to straddle Ed’s leg. Jonesing off the scent of Ed’s need, so sharp and close, and his lover’s feral abandon, Joe ground against the hairy, muscular limb.

  In the back of his mind, a small piece of his brain told him that getting his jollies rubbing on another man’s leg while sucking him off was not something he wanted to live down. His cock didn’t give a flying fuck, though. He drove the hateful words he’d allowed to permeate his life to the depths where they belonged, rose above them, and soared on the overwhelming pleasurable sensations assaulting his nose, his taste buds, and every nerve ending in his body.

  He groaned around Ed’s cock before realizing his own was pulsating, shooting streams of spunk onto his lover’s leg.

  Ed gasped and bucked hard. “Fuck, Joe. I’m gonna…” was all the warning he got, just a fraction of a moment before hot cum exploded into his mouth.

  In the throes of his own orgasm, and taken by surprise, he choked once before recovering. He backed up a bit and swallowed before sucking out more. Ed’s groans sounded beautiful.

  When they were both spent, Joe crawled upward to flop next to Ed, who rolled to him, placed a hand on his face, and kissed him. Joe closed his eyes and savored the moment. Ed’s hand, his thumb caressing Joe’s jaw, felt warm and comforting.

  The kiss broke, and Joe opened his eyes to see Ed looking at him. “Thank you.”

  Joe smiled, thankful himself that Ed appeared solemn and wasn’t going to tease him. He still felt like a putz, coming like that. “You’re welcome. Um, I’ll get a wash cloth.”

  Ed’s eyes crinkled with his smile, but he didn’t say anything. Smart man.

  Joe walked down to the bathroom and washed off before returning with a fresh cloth, which he tossed to Ed before getting dressed.

  * * * *

  “Tomorrow we should cultivate the soybeans,” Joe said later. “It’s time for that, and we have a couple of days before the hay’s dry. Then we’ll be baling.”

  “That’s a one-person job?” Ed asked. The porch swing squeaked as they swayed back and forth. They should probably put “oiling the chain connections” on their ever-growing “to-do” list.

  “Cultivating is. We can split it, though, like we did turning the hay. One of us can take the morning, and the other the afternoon.”

  “That sounds good. I want to learn that, too. Whoever isn’t in the field can work on laundry and housecleaning. Unless there’s something else you want done?” The breeze felt good. Hell, just sitting there relaxing on the swing, making plans, felt good. It felt right.

  “That’s fine for tomorrow. That shit needs to get done. The day after, whoever isn’t in the field needs to be in the vegetable garden.”

  “Then baling, huh?”

  “Yeah. That’s pretty hard work. You’ll need to pace yourself. We’ll take turns driving and stacking.”

  “I’ll do as much as you do, though.”

  Joe grimaced. “Ed, you need to understand that I’ve built up my stamina over the course of many years. I grew up doing this work. It’s expected that I should be able to handle longer shifts stacking than you.”

  The last thing in the world Ed wanted Joe to think was he was using him, and that Ed didn’t want to do an equitable portion of the grunt work. “I’m hardly a weenie. We’re the same size. I can handle the work.”

  “Just—shit—just trust me on this, okay? I won’t baby you, but I don’t want you to get heat stroke or something.”

  Ed crossed his arms and stared at the barn. He refused to let Joe take on more than his fair share. He could handle the workload as well as Joe. He simply needed help learning what needed to be done, when, and how to do it. “The sun won’t be beating any hotter on me than it does on you.”

  “Ed?” Joe, looking as determined as he felt, cupped the side of his face with his hand. “Shut up.”

  Then Joe’s mouth was on his. It was a light kiss, just nibbling at his lips. Ed couldn’t resist relaxing his stance and softening against the lips.

  Joe pulled back and smiled. “Believe me when I say I look forward to the day you can pull an equal share on baling days, but trust me when I add that your first time baling is not that day.”

  Ed smiled. Yeah, Joe understood. Everything was coming together beautifully. Life was good.

  Chapter 7: Hay Day Surprises

  It figured baling day would be a scorcher. They had a cooler full of Gatorade bottles handy, but it was grueling nonetheless. They got to the end of a row, and Joe stopped the tractor. “Break time, Ed.”

  Ed wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt and didn’t complain. Joe tossed him a bottle and grabbed another for himself. The shade under the trees drew them, and they sat, leaning against the rough bark.

  Joe figured he might as well break it to Ed now. “Looks like we’re gonna need three days this time. It’s too hot to keep up a fast pace, and I plan on quittin’ before the hottest part of the day.”

  Ed stared at him for a few moments. “Fine.” He chewed his lip and looked at his feet. Joe had caught him staring off into space a number of times since he’d gotten back to Mayfield.

  “Spit it out, Ed. I know something’s bothering you.”

  Surprise reflected in Ed’s eyes. He opened, then closed his mouth before finally speaking. “Uh, there’s something I should tell you.”

  Joe’s heart sank. That sounded suspiciously close to “we need to talk,” and nothing good had ever followed those words. Had he been reading too much into their relationship? Maybe he wasn’t working hard enough. Joe squared his shoulders. “What?”

  Ed took a deep breath. “I hope you understand why I thought—still think—this was the right thing to do. I didn’t want to feel like I was using you, and I wanted you to be protected.”

  Joe ran fingers through his hair. What the hell was Ed talking about? Protected from what? “I don’t feel like you’re using me.”

  “Good. Look, we said we’re solid, right? Forever solid—life partners?” Ed chewed on his lip again and blushed.

  Relief flowed through Joe, and his mouth quirked. He couldn’t imagine his life without Ed in it. Hell, he didn’t want to even think about it. He took Ed’s hand. “Yeah, Ed. Uh, well, yeah.” Still, what was his point?

  “You know all this just fell in my lap, right? I didn’t do anything to earn it. And we’re both putting all of our effort into making it work. So here’s the thing…” Ed squeezed Joe’s fingers while his free hand fluttered. “It just isn’t fair for you to shoulder the responsibilities and workload of a full partner in this business but have none of the benefits. You should legally own half of this farm, and when I signed the papers, I told the lawyer to add your name to everything, too.” Ed paused, then rushed on. “Jesus, Joe. I couldn’t begin to do this without you.”

  Joe stilled as the blood drained from his face. Obviously, his worries had been incredibly off base, but what did he say to something like that? Hell, what did he even think about something like that? Ed was just fucking giving him half the farm? Just like that?

  “Joe? You okay?” Ed’s brows knit together. “Shit. Say something.”

  “I don’t know what to say right now. I guess I need to think. I don’t want to…” Joe paused, trying to find the right words. “Well, I’m off kilter. I guess I want time to think about this so I don’t say something stupid.”

  Ed swallowed and nodded. “’Kay.”

  Since this had all come about, Joe’d been so concerned about how this change would affect their relationship that he hadn’t put any thought into the fairness or possible inequality of the situation. He trusted Ed enough to
know he’d be treated justly and had been willing to wait for the details to sort themselves out. Now he needed time to relax and mull over this bombshell. This was too huge to make rash judgments.

  “Ah, I was thinking this’ll probably be our last load of the day. ’Bout the time we finish this one and off-load it in the barn, it’ll be lunch time, easily.”

  “Okay.” Ed’s cheek twitched, but he didn’t push for more.

  “Uh, Ed?”

  “Huh?”

  “I really do appreciate what you’ve done. I just need time to process it all. It’s pretty overwhelming.”

  Ed smiled. “’Kay.”

  Joe winked and smiled back.

  * * * *

  Ed huffed out a long breath as he placed the last bale on the conveyor for its ride up to Joe in the loft. He hated to admit it, but Joe had been right about the baling. He was completely exhausted, whereas Joe still had a bounce in his step. Joe did look more tired than usual, due to the oppressive heat, but still, he was clearly in better condition.

  Having the issue about the property ownership out in the open was a monumental relief, too. Joe had looked surprised. It seemed hard to believe that he hadn’t thought beyond Ed’s vague reference to sharing profits about how he’d be compensated for all his work here, but that was just Joe—easygoing and blindly trusting.

  Ed turned at the sound of a vehicle pulling onto the drive. It wasn’t Bill’s Silverado and he didn’t recognize the pickup. The truck pulled up next to the barn.

  Ed walked around to the driver’s window. “Hello, there. I’m Ed Jamison. How can I help you?”

  The older man stared at him for a moment. “Lookin’ for Joe Durham. This the right place?”

  “Yeah. This is the place.” He stepped to the barn door and spied Joe stacking the last of the bales. “Hey, Joe, someone’s here to see you.”

  Joe’s eyebrows popped up. “Oh, yeah? I’ll be right down.”

  Ed turned off the conveyor, and Joe was down the ladder in a flash. Plastering a smile on his face, he stepped out into the sun. The man had climbed out of his truck, and Joe stopped short. His smile faded. He tossed a quick look toward Ed, and his hazel eyes expressed confusion. Clearly Joe knew the unexpected visitor.

  Joe and the stranger stared at each other for what seemed an eternity. Joe’s jaw clenched, and his hands fisted and flexed at his sides. “What is it?”

  “Jenny’s missing.”

  Jenny? Joe’s sister Jenny? Could this be his father?

  “You think she’s here?”

  “Her friends said she’d tracked you down. One mentioned that another left early this morning to drop her off here.”

  Joe seemed tongue-tied, so Ed spoke up. “We’ve been out in the fields, but the house was open. Why don’t we go inside and see if she’s there?”

  The man nodded. Joe walked toward the house, his face blank. Inside, their visitor remained in the entryway. Joe went straight upstairs to look around the spare bedrooms.

  Ed turned to the man. He wasn’t sure of the details surrounding Joe’s estrangement from his family. Joe never talked about it. It couldn’t be a pleasant story, but Ed figured he should be polite. “You can help yourself to something to drink while we look for your daughter.” Ed led him to the kitchen and set a glass on the counter. “Get whatever you want from the fridge.”

  He looked in the pantry, just to make sure Jenny hadn’t seen her father’s arrival and scrambled in there. How old was the girl, anyway? Joe was twenty-six and had left home when he was eighteen. He walked down the hall to look around their bedroom and to peek into the bathroom. Empty. Nobody in the living room, either.

  Mr. Durham was drinking a glass of juice when he returned to the kitchen. Ed nodded to him. “I’m going to check the basement.”

  She wasn’t down there either. When Ed climbed back upstairs, he found Joe with his father. “Not down there.”

  Joe frowned. “She’s not upstairs, either.”

  “How old is she?”

  Joe’s father replied. “Seventeen.”

  She must have been only nine when Joe had left. Joe had a brother, just two years younger than him, too. Joe had mentioned him once when he was talking about a man who’d been fired from one of the farming teams, saying he was as lazy as his brother.

  “Maybe she and her friend got sidetracked and just haven’t arrived yet,” Ed suggested. “We can check the outbuildings, but unless she got tipped off that you were coming for her, I don’t know why she’d be hiding.”

  “She’s got a cell phone. It’s possible her friends told her I was tracking her down.”

  “Okay, then, let’s search outside. Joe, did you get a good look around the loft when stacking the bales?”

  “Not really. I’ll start with the barn.”

  “’Kay. Mr. Durham, why don’t you stay here? We’ll meet up as soon as we’ve cleared the outbuildings.”

  The man nodded his reply. When Joe strode toward the front door, his father tracked him with sad eyes. Regret? Joe sure wasn’t cutting him much slack.

  * * * *

  Jesus Christ. He didn’t have enough to sort out right now? At least the house and farm were in good order. Joe scowled as he strode across the yard. Why did he care what the man thought of their place anyway? Their place. He had to admit he liked the sound of that.

  He stepped into the barn and checked all the nooks and crannies on the ground level. Then he climbed the ladder to search behind a stack of bales in the loft, and heard a soft noise as he approached the corner. A barn cat? Or Jenny?

  He peeked around the edge of the bales and found a pair of wide hazel eyes staring up at him. She was huddled in the corner and didn’t look anything like the nine-year-old he remembered. “Jenny?”

  “Joe? Please don’t tell him I’m here.” Her voice carried a hint of desperation.

  He squatted to her level. Much as he was inclined to sympathize with whatever her beef might be, he wasn’t going to lie. “Tell me about it.”

  She burst into tears and threw her arms around his neck. His eyes widened as he awkwardly patted her back. She wasn’t the same little girl he’d kidded around with eight years ago. Had he really left that strong of an impression on her that she felt comfortable trusting him all these years later?

  When her sobs subsided to a sniffle, she sat back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I hate it there, Joe. James ruined everything. I hate him.”

  “Hate’s a pretty strong word for our brother, Jenny.”

  “He’s such a bum. He hardly helps Dad at all. He goes out and gets drunk at least three times a week, then sleeps until afternoon. It was bad enough before with them always arguing about how he needs to shape up or get a stupid job and find his own place if he doesn’t like farming.”

  That wasn’t particularly surprising. “Something happened to make it worse than that?”

  “He got some stupid girl in town pregnant and up and married her. Now they’re both sponging off Mom and Dad, and they don’t want to throw them out because of her condition.”

  “Damn.”

  “Not only is it more work for us with those two bums living there, but now it’s like Mom and Dad don’t trust me. I’m hardly ever allowed to go out and have fun with my friends, especially if it involves boys. And dates? Forget it.”

  “I’m sorry. Sounds like it’s pretty rough.”

  “It’s not fair. I don’t mind helping Mom, but I resent all the extra work caused by them. The tension in that house is just horrible. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like if they’re still living with us when the baby’s born.”

  What could he say to that? Mom needed her, and Jenny did need to finish one more year of school, but James had made life in that house tense. Joe was young enough to remember that life as a teenager could be stressful enough without that kind of mess tossed into the mix. Still, what did she think he could do about it?

  “Hon, you know that running away isn’t the answe
r.”

  “You ran away.”

  Joe winced. “That was different. It wasn’t so much that life at home was too tense. It was that, well, things were said, and it was clear that Dad didn’t want me there anymore. Unlike James, I know when it’s time to adios.”

  “He told you to leave? Why couldn’t you have called and let us know where you were?”

  “Well, no, he didn’t tell me to leave per se, but it was obvious he couldn’t stand to look at me. I didn’t get the impression that he wanted me to stay in touch. He said some awful things, and he sure as hell didn’t chase after me like he’s doing with you.”

  “Oh.” She looked down. “Well, I know they still love you and miss you.”

  Joe snorted. “The total lack of communication sure fooled me.” It wasn’t as if he’d even left the state, and he still worked in the farming community. Jenny managed to track him down, so his father could have, too, if he’d really wanted.

  Jenny looked back into his eyes. “Dad’s no good at eating crow, but it’s obvious he regrets things. And Mom was so mad at him when she found out why you’d left.”

  Joe stared at his hands. Was there too much water under the bridge? Did he want to mend fences? He’d felt so angry and self-righteous at the time, but now when he thought about the situation, he just felt sad. “I don’t know, Jenny.”

  Footsteps announced someone’s arrival at the barn doors. “Joe?” It was Ed. “You still in here?”

  Jenny whispered. “Is he your boyfriend?”

  “We’ll be right down,” Joe hollered, then turned to Jenny. “‘Partner’ is probably more accurate.”

  “Oh. Like, maybe you’ll get married?”

  Married? He smirked, imagining either of them getting down on one knee and asking the other to marry him. But hell, he did consider Ed to be his life partner. Forever. And thankfully, Ed felt the same. So really…“Well, I guess.”

  She smiled. “That’s pretty sweet.”

  He snickered. Sweet? Hardly. “Come on. It’s time to face the music.”