Right Move (Clean Slate Ranch #6) - A.M. Arthur Page 0,31

a nap. George tidied up, then stood in Orry’s bedroom doorway and watched his brother sleep. He didn’t completely buy that nothing was up, but it was also possible George was overthinking everything—as he often did—and that Orry was simply overworked and stressed out. Orry was so used to being the one who took care of George, and for too many years, George had relied on that. It was far beyond time that George step beyond his comfort zones and do more for his brother.

He went back to his room, put on his headphones, and got to work.

* * *

The next day, George was deeply focused on transcribing a three-way fisting scene when he thought he heard the faintest of noises. Maybe the front doorbell, but he wasn’t expecting anyone, so he paid closer attention to the words coming out of the mouth of the guy who was punching his fist in and out of the bottom’s ass. Mostly words of pleasure and praise, but the bottom’s response was harder to decipher. George had a list of noise words to use from this particular studio, but none seemed quite appropriate for the sounds the poor bottom made.

Orry was home—napping, George was pretty sure—and a bit later Orry filled his doorway. George paused the video and took off his headphones. “What?”

“Door’s for you,” Orry said. “Your boyfriend’s back.”

George blinked dumbly at him for several seconds.

“It’s Levi,” Orry finally said. “He says he has something for you.”

George nearly overturned his desk chair in his haste to stand, shocked to his core that Levi was back after only a day. Was something wrong with Ginger? Had he done something wrong? Forgotten the bag of treats?

“Dude, relax,” Orry said, hands up. “He’s calm and I’m here. Go talk to him. Your porn can wait.”

Annoyance burbled up inside George at the porn dig. It wasn’t as if he sat there and masturbated all day to the videos he transcribed. It was his freaking job. Whatever. George turned his computer screen off—just in case—then gently pushed past his brother and walked into the living room, his insides jumping all over the place the instant he set eyes on Levi.

Levi stood a few feet beyond the front door, his familiar smile in place, and an envelope of some sort in his hand. George tried to downplay how happy he was to see Levi again and probably failed miserably. “Hi,” George said.

“Hey.” Levi’s smile brightened. “I know it’s kind of soon, but I think I figured out a way to thank you and your brother for being so kind to Ginger this past week.”

Of course, it’s about the cat.

“Um, okay.” George beckoned Levi toward the futon, where Levi perched on one end; George did the same. “I volunteered. You don’t owe us anything.”

“Yes, I do. When people do me favors I like to pay it forward somehow. Do something kind. Usually for someone else but I really wanted to do something for you.”

Levi seemed intent on doing this something, so George nodded. “Okay.”

“Here.” Levi handed him the envelope. No name on the front but it had Clean Slate Ranch’s logo on the upper left corner.

Intrigued, George lifted the unsealed flap and pulled out two rectangles of paper. It took him a moment to understand what he was looking at. Two paid-for vouchers for a week’s vacation at the ranch. His insides shook and his pulse raced. George pushed the vouchers at Levi. “No, I can’t. It’s too expensive.” And in his experience, expensive gifts led to bad things.

“I got the family discount, and the regular rates aren’t as high as you think. It’s also winter and the business gets slow, so they drop the prices anyway. There will also be fewer other guests to interact with.”

George met Levi’s gaze, impressed by how well Levi had read him again. He did want to experience the ranch and its amenities, and he’d never ridden a horse in his life. Or been camping or any of the other things he’d read about on their website. “I, um, I’m still not sure.” He glanced over his shoulder, unsurprised to see Orry hovering in the hall. “What do you think? He’s giving us a ranch vacation.”

“I can’t,” Orry said flatly, the tone annoying George when Levi was being this generous. “I have to work. We can’t afford both of us not working for a whole week.”

“I apologize if I overstepped,” Levi replied. “I didn’t even think about you being able to take time