Today was the day. The day all of Bryant’s brainstorming finally became something tangible. Something valuable. It had taken a week for his dad to establish a line of credit for the supplies and for his cousin Austin to be able to haul them back to the ranch after collecting them from various distribution centers across the region. Bryant suspected he might have taken a detour in an attempt to catch Hayden singing at a roadside bar along the way.

Considering Bryant had spent all his nights with Vaughn since the day of Jake’s funeral, he couldn’t blame Austin for taking whatever chance he got to see the woman he’d fallen for, even if they weren’t technically a couple at the moment. Until right then, Bryant hadn’t realized how devastating a split could be.

The thought of giving up Vaughn and the time they spent together already made him feel sick. What would he do when the guy decided he’d had enough?

“You need a hand unloading that rig?” Speaking of the hellishly handsome tattoo artist… Vaughn strode over to stand next to Bryant, too close for anyone to mistake his possessiveness. Funny, since Bryant had left Vaughn crashed out in bed when he’d slipped from the apartment over Cowboy Ink not even an hour ago. “Mine are free until the shop opens this evening.”

Bryant stared at him and shook his head. It wasn’t like he was going to send him away now, but he didn’t want to be a burden. He’d already imposed enough, practically moving in with the man and jumping him every moment they were alone.

Vaughn shrugged, as if it was no big deal that he’d caught up and joined Bryant for the initial phase of his experiment.

“Don’t you have to sleep sometime?” He knew full well Vaughn hadn’t gotten much rest the night before, or the night before that, or the night before that. And he’d sort of been hoping they might have a repeat performance every night for however long he was here and working on this project. Maybe forever, if he was insanely lucky. He didn’t want to ask too much of his…

Well, whatever Vaughn was to him—boyfriend, lover, partner, friend?

“Eh. There will be plenty of time for that when I’m old and boring. I’d rather spend the day watching you work in those jeans.” Vaughn rubbed his hands together. “That’s plenty of relaxation for me.”

“Then I must not be doing it right. Otherwise, you’d be riled up instead.” Bryant hoped he could drive Vaughn even half as crazy as he felt every time they were together.

“I’m a master of self control.” Vaughn nudged him with his elbow. “Come on, Bryant. I know what you’re working on is important and I honestly want to help. I’m useful for more than fucking your brains out. Let me be more to you than a stiff cock.”

Bryant’s heart flip-flopped in his chest. And, honestly, he couldn’t afford to turn away assistance.

“Okay. I admit I’m kind of freaking out looking at all this shit and wondering how the hell I’m going to get it installed in time to meet my thesis deadline.” He rubbed his stomach. It churned at the thought of falling down so close to the finish line. “Austin is going to help, too, when he’s not out on the road. He made me promise to let him operate the backhoe.”

“Damn, I was hoping to do that.” Vaughn grinned.

“He’ll probably let you have a turn if you give him a discount on that new tattoo he’s after.” Bryant chuckled.

“Genius, Dr. Compton. Pure genius.” Vaughn leaned down as if he would kiss Bryant, right there in broad daylight.

Bryant dodged. The frown Vaughn leveled at him had him saying, “Sorry. I need to focus.”

“You sure you’re not embarrassed of me?” Vaughn asked, his shoulders bunching up.

“Not in the least.” Bryant put his hand on Vaughn’s forearm. “I would really appreciate your help. And…your company. I’ll try not to get so stressed out that I screw stuff up between us. Please, stay.”

“You got it. Anytime.” Vaughn smiled. “And if you need me to help you blow off some steam, there are plenty of places to sneak away for a quickie around here.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Austin grumbled as he carried the first load of PVC pipes to the area Bryant had designated for them in his hyper-organized and color-coded plans. “If I’m not getting any, no one should be getting any.”

Bryant turned away so his cousin couldn’t see his cheeks heat. Hopefully Vaughn understood he wasn’t used to being the object of flirtatious teasing since he’d been living the monk life for years. When he glanced over his shoulder, he caught a worried look on the guy’s face. He’d have to clarify later so Vaughn didn’t assume the worst about himself.

Bryant’s hang-ups were all his own.

He took his time spreading out his schematics and hammering the project plan to the side of the hay storage facility they were using as his project headquarters. There was plenty of room for them under the massive shelter. At this time of year, their stores were running low. It would only continue to get worse if the summer was as dry as the spring had been. At least until they had Bryant’s systems fully functional.

He clenched his jaw as he looked at the 1,247 discrete tasks necessary to complete before he could declare the project finished. Only after reminding himself exactly how much had to be done in so little time did he turn back around.

Austin, Vaughn, and about a half dozen other ranch hands his dad could spare—or at least had claimed he could—were making short work of sorting the supplies and putting them in the designated bins Bryant had set up to keep everything in order.

He undid the buttons at his wrist, then rolled his checked shirt to his elbows.

“Hell yeah. Get those hands dirty,” Vaughn murmured as he passed awfully close on his next trip to the trailer. Of course, when he did, he got a look at the plans. All jokes died then.

Vaughn studied them carefully, then read through the summary of each of the major phases—landscaping, retention, soil enhancement, sensor installation, intelligent irrigation, drone monitoring, and catchment. Then he scanned the drawings again. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that those made the most sense to him. He turned to Bryant with a new appreciation that turned him on more than anything they’d done in bed.

“It’s been a while since I worked on the ranch, but…this isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before. The feedback from the land itself, data analysis that directs water usage, and this other high-tech shit.” Vaughn plucked one of the custom-designed fittings from the bin and compared it to the schematics. “If this really works like you have it shown over here, this could be revolutionary for agriculture.”

“I sure hope so.” He nodded.

“You’re going to make a fortune selling these.” Vaughn placed it gently back in the pile even though they weren’t that delicate. The programming on the chips that controlled the flow of water, the compounds that retained additional moisture, the proprietary environmental analysis equations, and the sensors—which detected the moisture in the soil and directed water outlays plant by plant—that was where the fancy stuff was. “Installing them on other ranches, too.”

“Oh. I, uh, hadn’t really looked that far ahead.” Bryant scratched his head. “I’ve been focusing on what I could do to make things more stable here.”

But now that he thought about it, that wasn’t how he’d been raised. Though it might be better for his family if they hoarded the technology he designed in order to give Compass Ranch a competitive advantage, that’s not what Jake would have encouraged him to do. The rest of his family either. Maybe he could make more than just their ranch a better place.

Vaughn was right. There was more work to be done. And some profit to be made, most likely. Hell, because of his calculations, Bryant could show any potential customers that they would recoup their money tenfold in the first three years of using his water management systems.

Win-win, he supposed.

With even bigger goals motivating him, they got busy and didn’t stop until the sun disappeared and they ran out of stuff they could do under the lights Austin and Vaughn had rigged up on the side of the hay storage area.

Bryant leaned against the wall and crossed two more items off the project plan.

Finally, some real progress.

“Damn, this smart shit is hard work.” It was also freakishly hot for early summer. Vaughn wiped sweat from his brow. When he stretched his back, it popped loud enough to make Bryant wince. His fingers itched to rub it, to ease the knots he’d been responsible for putting there. But he balled them into a fist instead.

What they did in the privacy of Vaughn’s apartment was one thing. Out here, on the ranch… Well, he still wasn’t sure he was ready to be so bold. Not because he was ashamed of Vaughn, but because there were too many bad memories of what happened when he mixed work with pleasure at this place.

Vaughn looked away. “If you’re done with me, I’d better get back to the shop. I delayed my appointments about as long as I dare. The guys are probably over at the bar getting hammered. If I don’t get back into town soon, it’s going to be a disaster…if it’s not already.”

“Shit. I didn’t realize you did that.” Bryant paused, unsure if he should shake Vaughn’s hand or let his lover leave at that when what he really wanted to do was hug Vaughn for putting his own responsibilities aside to be there for him. Again.

When he didn’t open his arms, Vaughn sighed. “See you tomorrow then. Same time?”

Even after that, he’d still be willing to help. Still be there to support Bryant, just like he’d promised? Damn. Bryant didn’t deserve that unwavering allegiance. He’d still take it. “Yeah, but if you’re tired…”

“I’ll be here.” Vaughn tipped his hat at Bryant and Austin, then pivoted on his boot heel.

He’d only gotten a few steps away when Austin glared at Bryant.

“What?” Bryant asked his cousin in a hiss.

“Go talk to him. Don’t let him leave alone.” Austin nudged Bryant in Vaughn’s direction. “No guy volunteers for this bullshit unless he’s related or has a thing for the person organizing the project.”

If Austin only knew.

Hell, Bryant should talk to his cousins. Things had happened so fast, and they’d had their own issues, so he hadn’t had a chance yet. And now wasn’t the time or the place for midnight confessions. Soon, though. He would come clean and ask for help because right now it felt like he was screwing up.

So fix it, you idiot, he mentally scolded himself.

“Hey, Vaughn. Hold on a second.” He charged after the other man, barely catching up with him before he climbed into his badass truck. It was jet black like Vaughn’s hair and his torn jeans and his boots. “How terrible would it be if you canceled those appointments tonight?”

He shrugged. “Like I said, the guys probably have had too many for me to be comfortable inking them anyway. Won’t be a huge deal if I push them to tomorrow. That’s usually my day off, so I can fit everyone in.”

“Do it.” Bryant couldn’t believe he was being the bad influence. “The least I can do is make you dinner for helping out. I’ll grab a few steaks from the ranch fridge and enough stuff from Vicki’s garden for a salad. What do you say?”

Bryant wondered what Vaughn would say if he knew how badly he wanted to offer himself up as dessert after he’d satisfied the rest of their appetites.

Vaughn looked down at himself and frowned. “I can’t eat like this. I’m filthy.”

“Sterling and Viho’s cottage has a shower. You can use it while I’m cooking.” They both paused at that, as if they were imagining the same scene. Vaughn naked and dripping wet as he soaped himself up in the closest thing Bryant had to personal space. If his sister saw Vaughn’s truck parked next to Bryant’s, she’d keep her distance.

Hell, she’d probably go as far as shooing any other would-be visitors away. Turned out Vaughn and Sterling had become pretty good friends since their shops had opened in such close proximity. If two of the people he liked most on the planet also liked each other, that had to be a good sign, right?

“Let me take care of you tonight,” he said softly.

Vaughn considered for half a second before nodding. “Deal. Take me home, Bryant.”