After more than a month of slaving away on the ranch improvements and fucking Vaughn every chance he got, Bryant was utterly exhausted. At precisely four in the morning, he grumbled to Vaughn’s home automation system, “Alarm off.”

“Snooze for how long?” it responded.

“No snooze. Alarm off.” Vaughn answered for him.

Bryant groaned. “I wish I could stay here all day and sleep, but I can’t. We’re almost finished.”

“It’ll wait one damn day.” Vaughn wrapped his arms around Bryant as if he didn’t plan to let him go. “Doug told you last night—there isn’t a chance it’ll rain for the next week, until that low pressure system works its way over us. Today is going to be the hottest and most miserable yet. You’re going to sweat your balls off and I think you’re already dehydrated, especially after that marathon last night.”

Bryant snorted. They had worked up quite a sweat. He didn’t want to admit it, but he’d almost been too tired to fool around. Too beat up. They’d been busting their asses nonstop for weeks and he wasn’t used to ranch life anymore. It was taking its toll. How Vaughn was keeping up with that and his shop, Bryant had no idea. Though sometimes he’d join Vaughn downstairs, answer phones, clean the place up, and take appointments, most nights he came upstairs and took a nap before rejoining his boyfriend. If Bryant went out to the ranch today, Vaughn would follow.

Maybe if he took the day off, his boyfriend—because there was no doubt now that that’s what they were, even if neither of them had said the word out loud—would do the same.

He’d obviously been silent too long.

Vaughn grew serious again. “You can’t keep this up. One day, Bryant. Rest. Then you’ll be able to bang out the rest of the finishing touches on the system faster, with less chance of making a mistake. How much could that cost you?”

Everything. It was true. All of it.

They’d talked to his cousin at length yesterday, getting the scoop on his current documentary about storm chasing as well as professional input from the very pretty weather expert Doug was following around. Very diligently, in Bryant’s opinion. Not that he could blame him, considering how he’d dogged Vaughn’s steps every waking moment lately and how that still wasn’t enough, despite their near inseparability. Doug had predicted at least one—if not more—additional week of this hellacious dry spell and record-breaking heat wave.

Bryant tried to calm his racing heart. Unlike the wildfires it was causing farther west, which his cousin James had to deal with, the drought wasn’t critical here…yet. It was only delaying his research. In the grand scheme of things, everyone was probably right. He needed to relax. Regroup. Then finish his project strong.

“Okay, fine. I will take one day off. One.” They really only had a little bit more to go. Hook up a few pipes, seal the joints, turn on the monitoring system, and that was it. The rest was up to nature and ironing out any wrinkles in the automation software.

Waiting to find out if it worked as anticipated was likely to kill him if he didn’t distract himself. Fortunately, Vaughn was more than willing to help in that department.

“Smart move.” Vaughn smiled widely as he pulled Bryant over him like a blanket.

Bryant settled himself in the place he’d come to love most, lying on his boyfriend’s chest. “I thought we were going to rest.”

“We will. After we’ve knocked ourselves out with a few solid orgasms,” Vaughn promised.

Bryant hummed. “Good plan. I want to see if morning sex is as amazing as everyone says it is.”

After a few lazy kisses, Vaughn said. “I’d like to find that out myself.”

“What do you mean?” Bryant narrowed his eyes. Surely Vaughn had done it a million times. He’d seen the looks they’d gotten from guys in the shop or even around town. There were plenty of men jealous as hell of Bryant for monopolizing Vaughn’s sex life lately.

“You’re the only person I’ve ever invited to stay over. And the only person I’ve ever hooked up with more than once,” Vaughn admitted, rubbing his thumb over Bryant’s lower lip.

Waaaaaaaaaay more than once. Hell, more than once a day.

“Really?” Bryant reared back, taking in Vaughn from an arm’s length. “Why me?”

Vaughn shrugged then reached for him, pulling him back. Instead of answering, Vaughn kissed the shit out of Bryant, making him forget why it mattered. All he cared about was their chemistry and making the bond between them burn bright.

Deciding he wanted to show Vaughn he understood what a big deal it was, he shifted and trailed his lips down Vaughn’s neck, then his chest and his abs. He didn’t think he’d ever admit it to his cousins, but Bryant enjoyed sucking Vaughn’s cock nearly as much as he did receiving a blowjob. Of course, sixty-nine was his absolute favorite. But not this morning.

This morning he wanted Vaughn to bask in Bryant’s devotion and know just how much he was appreciated. He had spent a good amount of time rubbing Vaughn’s cock idly as he licked at the solid six-pack beneath him, when something rumbled.

At first Bryant thought it might be his stomach, or Vaughn’s, but then the deep bass reverberated through the walls.

“Did you hear that?” Bryant asked.

“All I hear is my cock wishing you’d hurry the fuck up.” Vaughn speared his hands into Bryant’s hair, using the grip to guide his mouth closer to the tip of his fat cock.

Bryant grinned. “Not that. I thought I heard thunder in the distance.”

“Just a delivery truck going by. They restock the grocery store across the street at the ass crack of dawn every Tuesday. Ignore it.” Vaughn waved him away. “Be here fully. Stay with me, Bryant.”

It was a sign of Bryant’s desperation that even while fooling around with the sexiest boyfriend a guy could ask for, he was—somewhere in the back of his mind—still dwelling on his project. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Just get over here and let me help you forget about all that.” Vaughn tugged Bryant closer, his erection brushing the seam of Bryant’s lips.

Bryant parted them and licked the warm, satiny skin in front of him.

After groaning, Vaughn said, “I wish you were as obsessed with me as you are with that damn thesis.”

“I am. Believe me, I am. I swear. Here, let me show you.” He leaned in and took Vaughn’s cock in his mouth. Soon enough, he forgot all about the clock ticking on his assignment. There’d be plenty of time later to finish it up.

Time when he didn’t have utter control over his boyfriend’s pleasure. Maybe that was why he loved going down on the guy so much. He knew that in these moments, he was in charge. Sure, Vaughn might be fucking up into his mouth, or holding his face where he liked it, but Bryant was the one driving him wild. He experimented with different grips, various motions of his tongue, and the addition of his fingers playing with Vaughn’s balls until he found the perfect recipe. He could draw things out or make Vaughn come quickly, whatever he liked.

Right then, he chose to extend the moment so that he could look up at the hard plane of muscles flexing and bulging while Vaughn’s head was thrown back. The hitch in his breathing and the rock-hard quads that cradled Bryant between them were all thrilling.

He got off on bringing his partner so damn much pleasure.

His own cock throbbed beneath him, begging for the relief he knew Vaughn would be generous in returning once he’d recovered from what Bryant hoped was the most amazing blowjob of his life.

Without thinking, he slid his hand between Vaughn’s legs and below his tight sac. He ran his finger between Vaughn’s ass cheeks and was surprised when the other guy didn’t tense. Instead, he spread his legs farther and gave Bryant better access, which he used to both their satisfaction.

He’d barely begun to prod Vaughn’s ass, rubbing circles around it in between forays into forbidden territory, when his partner froze. Without the usual warning he gave, he drew Bryant’s mouth down his entire length, then shot hard and fast, glazing Bryant’s tongue with his come.

The intensity of his reaction impressed Bryant. It also turned him on. To know he could do that to Vaughn. He flexed his hips, rubbing his cock on the sheets a few times, surprised when his own orgasm overtook him without anyone even touching his dick.

Bryant unloaded on the bed while Vaughn murmured reassurance that it was okay to lose control. They fed off each other, and that would never be a bad thing. When the spasms subsided, Bryant collapsed with his head on Vaughn’s torso and the other man’s cock still in his mouth.

He suckled it gently until it softened, loving the way Vaughn stroked his hair and rubbed his back the entire time.

Eventually Bryant stretched, prepared to climb up so he could snuggle into Vaughn’s open arms and make good on his promise to sleep the day away.

Until he heard something that didn’t make any sense.

Bryant paused, but this time the sound of dripping water only got louder. “Is the faucet leaking or something?”

Vaughn’s eyes widened, triggering Bryant’s alarm. He froze momentarily before bolting from bed and dashing to the windows to rip aside the blackout curtains. Outside, rivulets poured across the glass, the sky gray and unfriendly behind it.

“It’s raining!” The moment Bryant had been waiting for had come, at exactly the wrong time. “Fuck! We’re not ready! The system isn’t complete, the circuit isn’t closed. We’re not capturing any of it.”

He grabbed his jeans from the floor, then started hopping into them as he made his way to the door. He didn’t even have his boots all the way on before he grabbed his keys out of the little bowl he’d gotten used—too used—to storing them in on Vaughn’s counter, then stumbled down the staircase.

What had he done?

Had he missed his chance because he’d been too busy fooling around to finish the job?

“Bryant, wait!” Vaughn yelled into the storm from the doorway.

“I already waited too long. Fuck, thanks to you…I’m even more fucked than when you’re buried in my ass.” He snarled as his brain flipped into the old pattern it had been stuck in for so long. Once again his dick had led him straight down a path of horrific decision-making.

When the hell would he learn?

Then Vaughn was there beside him, grabbing his shoulders. “I’m sorry. Let me help you fix this. If we go now, maybe we can seal up that last section of pipe before it stops.”

“I’ve got it.” Bryant wrested his shoulders free of Vaughn’s grasp and began running. For the truck, for Compass Ranch…anything away from the mess he’d made. “You helped enough.”

Vaughn looked as though he might argue, standing there drenched, his bare chest glistening with the rain they’d needed so badly. But just then the downpour abated, trickling off to a shower, then a drizzle, and lastly a few lingering spatters in a matter of moments.

“Son of a bitch!” Bryant threw his hat at his truck. This couldn’t be happening. He watched a gush of water swirling down the storm drains, completely wasted.

“Bryant—” Vaughn tried one last time to convince him this wasn’t a complete disaster. It was futile.

“Go take care of yourself, Vaughn. You think I didn’t see those negative reviews your system emailed in last night from the out-of-town friends who couldn’t get appointments? You’re spending too much time with me and neglecting your business.” They’d been foolish, both of them, and risked too much. It might be too late for Bryant’s project, but he wasn’t about to take Vaughn down with him.

If the guy couldn’t do the right thing for himself, then Bryant would do it for him.

Because, despite everything, Bryant cared. A hell of a lot. It sucked that that wasn’t enough to matter sometimes.

Vaughn nodded slowly. “Come back when you’re finished. Okay?”

Rather than lie, Bryant didn’t say anything at all. He didn’t even look at Vaughn when he hopped into his truck and headed for home.

The silence as he drove back to Compass Ranch alone for the first time in what seemed like forever gave him a lot of room to think. He tried not to recall Vaughn’s laughter, or the way he sang along to the radio most mornings, or how they’d had to pull over for a quickie a couple times because even a few hours with their hands off each other seemed like far too long most days. He snarled at the rainbow that appeared in front of him, unable to enjoy it without Vaughn to share it with. It just didn’t seem the same. None of it did.

How hadn’t he realized how entangled their lives had become? And how dangerous that could be?

Bryant slammed his truck door when he reached the project site, then grabbed his tools. He was about an hour in when his dad popped his head through the access panel into the area where he was connecting the last of the PVC pipes.

“I’m guessing that grimace means you didn’t catch the shower?” Sam sighed.

“Sorry, Dad. I should have—”

His dad slapped his hat on his thigh. “That wasn’t an accusation, son. You’ve been busting your ass on this thing for weeks. Sometimes nature doesn’t cooperate with a rancher’s plans. We’ll get the next one.”

Bryant nodded. “Can we make it another few weeks without rain?”

“Yeah. After that we’ll have to start letting some of the hay go to keep the animals safe.” Sam shrugged as if that wasn’t another huge financial hit when they’d already outlaid a ton of cash for Bryant’s work. “But what about your school stuff?”

He shook his head. “It’s due at the end of the week. I’ll have to hand in what I have and hope that’s good enough.”

Acid bubbled in his gut at the thought. They’d already given him a two-week extension. He couldn’t ask for more. Hell, graduation was only ten days from now and he still had to defend his work. In person. His time on the ranch was short. Maybe it was for the best he’d put some space between him and Vaughn now.

“It’s good enough for me and your mom, your uncles, and everyone else around here. You remember that. No matter what happens.” Sam put his hand on Bryant’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’re doing your best. That’s all I’ve ever asked of you.”

Bryant thought of Vaughn’s face as he’d stood there, dripping in the rain while Bryant shouted at him. After all he’d done to help, he hadn’t deserved that. It definitely hadn’t been one of Bryant’s finest moments. But if he wasn’t ready to handle those tough times, maybe he shouldn’t be screwing around with Vaughn either.

He was a mess. Still broken inside, no matter how much he’d tried to hide it these past several weeks.

Once he’d had time to calm down, he realized that the brief shower wouldn’t have been enough to prime the system, even if they’d already finished it. But still, the reminder of his poor judgment and the lengths he’d go to just to get off was a solid kick in the ass.

Bryant finished taking pictures, documenting the last of the installations. He saved them and shot them off in an email to the head of his department. That was it. They either accepted his work and granted him his doctoral degree, or they’d send him packing.

Either way, his college career was over.

He’d lost a big part of how he’d defined himself, and it was making him testy. His thoughts and emotions were scattered and confused as he suddenly found himself adrift.

Which was why it sucked extra bad when he realized he’d missed about a dozen calls and texts from Vaughn, his phone on silent while he’d completed his work. As he should have done early that morning. He wasn’t Vaughn’s bitch. He was a fucking scientist. One who should be able to think straight, even when his mind was being addled by hormones.

If he couldn’t do that, then maybe he needed to take a step back.

They needed to take a break until he could think clearly again.

Bryant stood, dusted off his jeans, then headed over to Sterling’s cottage to pack his stuff. He was going back to school to defend his thesis and finish what he’d set out to do. Maybe then he could be confident enough, independent enough, man enough to handle being Vaughn’s partner.