A Cowboy in Ravenna Read Online Free

put down his sketching and asked him questions about the horses they kept.
    A few days later, Trin had failed to show up and Chace had become restless, irritable. Finally he’d left the big house and gone looking for Trin, finding him in the barn, looking after a mare close to giving birth.
    Chace had watched Trin run his hands over the mare’s swollen sides and felt useless.
    “Stay here,” Trin said, as if he read Chace’s intention to go back to his room. “You can do this.”
    You can do this. It had seemed a strange thing for Trin to say but those words had vibrated under Chace’s breastbone.
    He’d stayed, spending a long day with Trin, winding up covered with afterbirth, with blood. But Chace could do this. He could help Trin, watch a foal slide free of its mother’s body and then lie in the straw, legs quivering.
    The next day, leaving the house had been easier. Trin had Chace shovelling out stalls, rubbing down horses, feeding and watering them. And within two weeks, he was riding in the ring.
    He experienced freedom on the back of a horse. He could go anywhere now, up into the foothills to camp like other boys from the school he’d been too sick to attend for years.
    Trinity had given him that freedom.
    Chace had worshipped Trin, wanting to be just like him—cool, calm and capable yet gentle, never impatient. But then one night when Chace had just turned eighteen he woke up with his sex hard, throbbing. He’d had a confusing dream about Trin… He’d been horrified. What was wrong with him?
    He remembered the first time he’d seen Trin after that night, the way his dark head had swung sharply in his direction and his nostrils had flared. He’d taken a step back from Chace. No way could Trin know about his weird dream, could he?
    Shortly after that incident, Trin had started dating a waitress from the diner. Chace had been miserable. He couldn’t understand himself. What did it matter if Trin had a girlfriend, took her home with him at night? Chace should be happy for Trin. He was so alone.
    When the gossip in town had Trin engaged to the waitress, Chace took his horse into the foothills, wanting to lose himself in the mountains and never go back. He’d been gone three nights when he woke to find Trin grilling eggs, just as if nothing had changed between them.
    Chace had blinked at him. “What are you doin’ here?” he’d asked.
    “Making you breakfast.” Trin hadn’t talked about his new girlfriend or asked Chace why he was behaving like such a freak. He’d just fed him and went riding with him.
    Now, as Chace skirted the west pasture and climbed into the branches of hills that eventually became the sharp peaks of mountains, he looked back on the golden prairie below. He still couldn’t make sense of his relationship with Trin, as if he were missing the pieces he needed to truly understand it. But standing with the wind blowing, teasing his hair, he felt himself calming.
    When do we leave? Jesus, Trin had been serious. He really intended to come with Chace to Italy. But how would Chace rid himself of his virginity with some hot guy if Trin came along?
    Chace sat on a shelf of rock, wrapping his arms around his knees. Laughter broke into his thoughts, drifting up like smoke from a camp fire. He spotted Cass and Tom, splashing naked out of a stream below him. Their bodies were brown and silky with the water. Chace’s throat dried up as he watched them.
    God, he wanted a lover in his life. He was so fucking alone.
    Tom looped his arms around Cass and Cass lifted him easily, so much larger than his lover, stalking towards a nearby tree.
    Chace sprang to his feet, meaning to head deeper into the woods, but if he did, the two cowboys were sure to spot him. His cock was aching, heavy with arousal as he watched Cass’ teeth flash as he nipped Tom’s neck. Then they were fighting, wrestling so that muscles stood out in relief, faces strained.
    Chace’s heart raced.
    Cass got on top of Tom,