Love Means No Shame - Andrew Grey Read Online Free PDF

seemed so excited.
    “Then get home and start celebrating!” Geoff scooted him out of the barn and watched as he ran to his bike and took off home. Len and the men were all heading toward the house, and Geoff wondered what was going on until he remembered it was Friday, the night of Len’s weekly poker game.
    The weekly poker game had been a tradition on the farm…
forever. Geoff could remember as a kid sitting next to Len, watching him play, learning from him the entire time.
“Geoffy… you gonna come and get your ass whupped at cards?” one of the men called out.
    “I’ll be in soon!” he called back, smiling. Fred had always called him Geoffy—he was the only person on Earth who got away with it. It was nice to be home. The city had been fun, but these people cared about him, had known him most of his life.
    But things were different now. Before, his dad had been the boss. He was the one making the tough decisions, and Geoff hadn’t really been involved and hadn’t had to worry about the consequences. Now, Geoff was the boss, and everyone on the farm was going to look to him to make decisions.
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Andrew Grey
    It made him nervous. Granted, he had Len for advice and help, but the farm, the animals, and the people who worked there depended on it for their livelihood; they were his responsibility now.
    “Jesus, what am I going to do?” The enormity of what he’d taken on hit him all at once. He leaned against the side of the barn and forced breath into his lungs. “Take it one step at a time. That’s what dad would say.” He took another deep breath, “Fuck and Christ, now I’m talking to myself. Get your head on straight and don’t be a baby. You grew up here. You know what to do.” The sense of panic started to subside, and he breathed easier.
    Getting himself together, he stepped into the barn and headed for Kirk’s stall. The majestic black head poked out of the stall as soon as he got close. Geoff got a carrot and fed it to Kirk, rubbing his nose, the horse calming the last of his nerves as it munched loudly, those huge, deep eyes watching him closely. “You are something else, boy.”
    Len had tried to convince his dad for years to have Kirk gelded, but Cliff would have none of it, and Geoff had no intention of doing it either. With a farewell stroke of that black nose, Geoff left the barn and headed toward the house.

    The kitchen was filled with voices and laughter, the four men talking and joking easily with each other.
    “Come on, Geoffy, pull up a chair.” He took a seat away from Fred, and Len dealt him in the next hand. Simon continued the banter. “Pete, did you see Joey brushing Kirk this afternoon?” Kirk wouldn’t let Pete get anywhere near him without trying to bite the short, stocky man. Not that he’d let Simon, a.k.a. Lumpy, anywhere near him either, but Pete had always bragged about how good he was with horses.
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Love Means … NO SHAME
A cheese curl went flying across the table. “Knock it off, Lumpy.” The aim was good—it left an orange splotch on Simon’s shirt. “Are we gonna play?” Pete grumbled into his cards.
    They settled down as the betting got under way. Not that there was big money involved. Geoff thought that someone might have won five dollars once, years ago. For them, it was all about who could bluff whom.
    Geoff couldn’t help himself and got in on the ribbing, “Come on, guys, Kirk’s a big baby.”
Fred snickered. “Only ’cause he likes you.”
    “And apparently Joey.” The fact that the teenager found favor with the stallion amused Geoff immensely. Geoff always felt that horses could sense what was in your heart, and Kirk was a particularly astute horse. That he liked Joey spoke a lot about the young man, as far as Geoff was concerned. It didn’t hurt that the kid was as cute as they came, either. If he were a little older…. Geoff had to force the thought from his mind as he bet carefully with his full house.
    Sure enough, Lumpy bet