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.Only the fact they had to settlein stopped him from taking her right there on the skinny single mattress.Sharing had been amazingly freeing even as he wondered where all this honesty was going to takethem and just how fucked he was that the idea of Cassidy standing over him with a crop made himshiver.Cassidy pushed the final fifty-pound bag of oats onto the shelf and turned back to find thecountertop was empty. Is that it? We got it all put away already? The head cook nodded. Never seen so much food vanish that quickly without me cooking it first. Cassidy laughed. Thanks, Ted.Let s see what the rest of them are up to. Through the swinging doors in the common room of the cookhouse, they found the small gatheringof men and women who would be setting up the Trailblazer camp over the coming weeks. You allsurvived your trip to town for supplies, I see. The youngest of the work crew, David, piped up. It s a damn long trip.Glad we don t have todrive that too often. He held out a beer, and Cassidy accepted it gratefully. You re all good here for the next while.If you do have an emergency or things you need, make alist and someone will pick up what you need when we re grabbing fresh food once a week. The door swung open, and Ashley stepped into view followed closely by Travis.Cassidy focusedon keeping his expression neutral. Come on in, I ll introduce you to everyone. Travis pulled out a chair for Ashley before offering a hand to the oldest man at the table. TravisColeman.You must be Ted.Nice to meet you. The cook grinned and nudged the worker at his side. See? My reputation is epic. Travis pointed at the dark-haired woman on the other side of the table. Well, according to thatone you re sort of a god of the cookhouse.Vicki s been sending message after message home to mybaby brother for the past three days talking about how incredible you are.I heard about it every night I think Joel was getting a little jealous. Vicki came around the table to give Travis a huge hug. You re a turkey. Travis squeezed her tight before tweaking her nose. You re lucky you re engaged, or you d haveall these wildcats after you, not just Ted. Cassidy wasn t sure when he d lost control of the meeting.Travis seemed to know everyone andwas ready to sweet-talk them all.He stepped in. Vicki, this is Ashley.She s doing some photography work over the summer, andshe s a friend of Travis s. Vicki s cheeks bloomed crimson. I know Ashley. Oh God.Cassidy glanced up at Travis, not surprised to see amusement on the bastard s face.Thiswas probably another tangled mess Cassidy didn t want to know about that somehow, undoubtedly,Travis was at the center of.Cassidy rushed through the rest of the introductions then motioned for Travis to join him. Some ofthe equipment Karen ordered arrived, but I m not sure what came is right.Can you go over it with meso we can make exchanges if needed? Travis nodded, kissed Ashley on the cheek then headed outside with Cassidy to the storage shed.It took over an hour to get to the bottom of the list, a half-dozen items set aside to be sent back onthe next trip and replaced with new tack.Working by Travis s side was awkward and yet so natural once he told himself to stop being anidiot.The man had shown up with a woman who was obviously capable of keeping him happy in bed.All the sexual tension had to be on Cassidy s side, but no fucking way was he going there.Not evenwhen they touched and bumped in the tight quarters of the storage shed.Cassidy was ready to head out the door to escape to fresh air and a cold shower when Travisspoke about something other than nose ropes and stirrups. You know, when you took off I tried to find you. This conversation had to happen sometime.Cassidy leaned on the wall, needing a solid base tohold him up. I told you not to. Travis shrugged. You see me doing what I m told very often? His deadpan dry tone only made it even more wrong, but Cassidy still laughed. No. Travis stepped closer, a lock of dark hair hanging over his forehead, his dark grey eyes burninginto Cassidy s. I emailed you.I called.I texted. Stalking me. His eyes blazed. You d been beat on, badly, because of me.I wasn t sure if you were dead oralive.Not sure what kind of asshole simply takes off and leaves his best friend in the first place, but Iwas worried about you for more than one reason. Ouch, that one hurt. I m sorry.I know that part was wrong. It was all wrong, Travis snapped. Even if I disgusted you, we re still adults.You should havetold me to fuck off.I could have laughed it off, and we d still be friends. Cassidy s chest burned. You didn t want to be simply friends, and like you said, how often do youdo as you re told? So you took off. Like a fucking shot. The longer Travis pushed, the higher Cassidy s temper rose. I got out ofthere for your own damn good, and while I m sorry about scaring you, I m not sorry for stopping youfrom making the biggest damn mistake of your life. It wasn t your decision to make alone.We were best friends. Travis dragged a hand through hishair, his voice shaking as he fought his anger. I went to your house, you know. That was all it took for the bottom to fall out of his stomach. You went where? Your house your folks place in Drayton Valley
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