Skyler shook his head, and Craig spent the next half hour teaching Skyler, who utterly delighted Craig with his solemn attention. He moved as though every action that he took was of crucial importance, and he picked the motions up quickly because of it.
What would it be like to have the full force of that attention focused on him? And, when Craig took that a step further, what would it be like in bed? Because there, surely, Skyler would be even more intense. Even just the thought had his dick twitching in his jeans. It was too easy to imagine touching and being touched, trapped in that seafoam-green gaze, drowning in it.
Or it had just been too long since he’d gotten laid. That was actually more likely.
“Okay. Good. Step into my hands,” Craig instructed, lacing his fingers together so that his broad hands formed a platform where Skyler could slot his sneakered foot in and Craig could boost him up. For a brief, thrilling moment, Skyler was steadying himself with a hand on Craig’s shoulder, but Craig was good. He didn’t so much as try to touch Skyler’s calf, despite the desperate desire to do so.
It took only a second for him to mount, and Craig grinned as he felt the familiar warmth of the horse beneath him, the scent of it filling his nostrils as he inhaled deeply. It was the same scent, the exact same one, that he had grown up with, sweet and clean.
He set a leisurely pace, and just as he had suspected, his own horse was the one who naturally took the lead, with Skyler’s more submissive mount plodding along just slightly behind.
“Talk to me,” Skyler said suddenly, and Craig heard a tension in his voice that made him look back over his shoulder, slightly worried. Skyler so rarely initiated conversation, and he didn’t like the sound of his voice. “Tell me about the ranch.”
Craig frowned as he took in the sight of the other man, who was keeping his seat in the saddle easily enough, but who was pouring sweat now. His cheeks were very red, and Craig immediately knew what was going on.
Skyler had outright said that he wasn’t used to the heat, and he had probably mostly been inside since he came here. So he reined in his horse and let Skyler’s catch up, then took the hat off of his own head and plopped it down onto Skyler’s.
“Do you have anything under that?” Craig asked, indicating the button-up shirt that Skyler was wearing. Skyler nodded, and Craig reached over and, telling himself it was just what needed to be done, he undid the buttons on that fussy shirt and pushed it off of Skyler’s shoulders.
The man was nothing short of glorious.
Without that shirt on, he wore a simple white t-shirt that clung to him and showed off more of his body than Craig had ever seen. He had sensed that Skyler was more beautiful than he liked to let on, but seeing it, all those slender, strong muscles, the lean, tight body, was a completely different thing.
“Okay. There. That should help. You’re overdressed. But don’t worry, we’re almost somewhere where you can relax more,” Craig encouraged, tucking Skyler’s shirt away, wrapping it around the saddle horn. He started off again, and when he glanced back a few moments later, he was glad to see that Skyler’s cheeks were back to their normal color, and the sweat had largely dried up.
As they rode, Craig spoke, just as Skyler had requested. He pointed out landmarks as they passed, and as he did, a strange feeling came over him, one that he hadn’t felt since he was a teenager, and honestly, not even much then. After all, he had enlisted as soon as he was old enough to do so. He had wanted excitement, adventure, and to see the world. And he still wanted all of those things.
But there was this feeling of pride as he glanced around. This was his family’s work, their lifeblood. And that pride of ownership made him enjoy, more than he would have expected, showing the whole place off. Asking Skyler if he could show him around had been nothing more than an excuse to spend time with the other man, but now that he was here, he was enjoying himself more than he would have thought.
The air started to grow cooler and moister, not by much but with the sun beating down on them, even the slightest bit was a huge relief. They were getting near to the creek, and Craig smiled slightly, glad that he still remembered how to get here. He had sort of wondered. It had been so long.
“See that tree?” Craig asked, pointing with the hand not holding the reins, and Skyler, who was just clinging to the saddle horn, simply nodded. This was, most likely, the longest time that Skyler had ever been on horseback, and if that was true, he was doing incredibly well.
They rode up, and Craig swung down off of the horse, securing it to one of the lower branches of the tree, in the shade. The horse could graze on the grass nearby, which was still green because of the creek, and even reach the water. It was the perfect spot.
“You’re going to have to let go of the saddle horn so I can help you down,” Craig directed. He knew what he should do. He should verbally instruct Skyler how to get down. The other man was more than smart enough to figure it out just from those instructions.
Instead, as soon as Skyler did release his grip, Craig reached up and took the other man’s slender waist between his hands. Gently, feeling the heat of the skin under the thin material of the t-shirt, he lifted Skyler’s body easily out of the saddle and placed him carefully onto the ground.
It was far too intimate, and he knew it while he was doing it. But that didn’t stop him from giving a cheeky little grin as Skyler glanced up at him with surprise. He was going to remember that for a long time. Probably that was as far as he should go, though, given that Skyler was giving pretty much no signs of interest back. Craig was pretty good at reading people’s signs, and he was getting nothing back from Skyler whatsoever.
Well, even being this man’s friend would be better than nothing. So Craig patted Skyler gently on the shoulder, then turned away to carefully tie Skyler’s horse, too, so that it had access to the fresh, clean grass and the sparkling green water, too.
“Is that water safe to swim in?” Skyler asked, just as Craig was finishing and was starting to root around in his horse’s saddlebags to find the blanket and picnic supplies that he had brought for today.
“Hmm? Oh, yeah,” Craig replied, a little distracted. “Yeah, my brothers and I used to come here all the time during the spring and summer. Even into the fall, when it was warm enough.”
“Okay. Good.” Skyler said, and then there was a little whisper of fabric, barely louder than the soft breeze which was ruffling Craig’s hair. Somehow, it sounded much louder than it actually was, and Craig slowly, slowly turned around to find that Skyler had slipped his shirt off, his protected skin gleaming pale in the shade of the huge old willow tree.
“Uh, Skyler?” Craig licked his lips, which suddenly felt dry in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature. Because Skyler was reaching for the buckle of his belt next, showing no signs of slowing down. Skyler was stripping. Why was Skyler stripping? Not that Craig was complaining, but he had no idea how to make any sense of that.
“It’s still too hot. I’m going to go swimming,” Skyler stated. His pants fell in a puddle around his ankles, and he stepped out of them, kicking off his socks and shoes too so that he was clad in nothing but a pair of snowy white boxers. “You could swim, too, if you wanted.”
Craig had never shed his clothing as fast as he did then. Because while he still wasn’t sure how to interpret the other man’s signs, while Skyler still mystified him most of the time, the chance to get mostly naked and wet with Skyler was one that Craig couldn’t resist, even if he probably should.
Five
Skyler
