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rsadelleTitle: Eleven Days at the Rocking M
Author: Ruth Sadelle Alderson
Pairing: Matt Damon/Ben Affleck
Rating: FRAO
Disclaimer: Not real, never happened.
Summary: AU. City boy Matt meets cowboy Ben.
Author's Note: Many thanks to Sky and Amy for beta reading services and to Molly for encouragement.
"Eleven days! But I have to be in Santa Fe on Monday."
"I'm sorry," the mechanic told him. "Rodeo's in town. No one's goin' anywhere, and I can't get the parts until next week. I suggest you find yourself a room and enjoy it."
Matt sighed heavily. "I guess there's nothing else I can do." He flipped open his cell only to find he had no bars. "Figures."
"Not much call for those around here," the mechanic agreed.
"I guess not. Do you know where I might find a hotel around here?"
"Well, there's the Diamond downtown, the Sage House a couple blocks over, and the new Best Western out by the highway."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, but I'm not sure it'll do you much good. Everything's full up for the rodeo."
Matt held onto the last threads of his temper. "Then what do you suggest I do?"
A stranger stepped into view. "I've got an extra room. Be happy to rent it to you." The stranger touched the brim of his hat and nodded to the mechanic. "Hank."
"Ben. What've you done to that baby now?"
Ben looked sheepish. "Well, I don't rightly know. Just know she's not running quite right. Think you could take a look at her?"
"Sure thing." Hank nodded at Matt and went to take a look at the large, dark red truck taking up space in his garage.
Ben extended a hand. "Ben Affleck. Got a ranch out West of town. Meant what I said about a room. The hands are mostly staying in town for the rodeo, so I've got plenty of space."
Matt met Ben's hand with his own. "Matt Damon. I'd appreciate that."
"Well, Matt Damon," Ben said with a wide smile, "let me find out what Hank has to say about my baby, and then I'll take you out to the ranch."
"Thank you." Matt gathered his coat, laptop, small suitcase, and suit bag from his no longer fully functional car and piled them up on one of the chairs in the empty space that served as Hank's waiting room.
"Ben," Hank groaned from under the truck, "why do you do this to me? Why do you do this to her?" He pushed himself out. "You have to take better care of her."
"Now, Hank. You know how it is on the ranch."
"I do know how it is, Benjamin Geza Affleck. My daddy's ranch was just down the road from yours." Hank fixed Ben with a stern look. "I know you can do better than this."
"Yes sir." A smile played around Ben's lips. "Is she drivable now?"
Hank nodded reluctantly. "She is, but don't overdo it. I'll get what you need in with city boy's order."
"Thanks, Hank."
Hank accepted Ben's handshake. "You're welcome, but you'll damn well take better care of her after this."
"I will." Ben turned and winked at Matt. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah." Matt draped his coat over his arm and hefted his laptop over his shoulder. He let Ben take the suitcase and hanging bag.
When Ben said out of town, he meant out of town. The road took them through the town, and then farther west, out through dry brown fields that alternated with the occasional bright green crop. They eventually turned down a dusty road and came to a gate. Ben left the truck running and hopped out to open it and again on the other side to close it.
"Welcome to the Rocking M," he said when he hopped back into the truck. "Named after Mimi, the first horse my daddy let me raise from birth." Ben flashed a smile at Matt.
Matt smiled back. "So this isn't your family's ranch?"
"Naw. My daddy's place is north of town. My brother works out there. This place is all mine." Ben parked the truck in front of a large, well-kept ranch house. Matt could see a couple of other buildings far enough away to give the house a little privacy. "Home sweet home." Ben helped gather up Matt's luggage. "The bunk house is over there," another large building, not quite as homey looking as the house, "but the boys are always in and out of the big house. Barns are back that way." He pointed toward a cluster of buildings and a corral. "Come on in." He held the door for Matt, and they came into a blissfully cool and dark entryway.
"Living room, parlor. Kitchen and dining room are back that way." Ben gestured in various directions. "My office is off the kitchen. I'll take you upstairs. You probably want to change into something cooler."
Matt grimaced. "I don't have anything cooler. Just more of the same."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "You're driving through Texas and all you have are suits?"
"I expected to be in my air conditioned car."
Ben acknowledged the point with a nod and started up the stairs. "I can loan you something."
"Thanks," Matt said. "I really don't feel like spending my whole week in this."
Ben grinned at him. "No problem." He pushed open a half-closed door. "Here you go. Bedroom." He put Matt's luggage down by the door. "Closet. Bathroom." He pushed the respective doors open. "I'm just across the hall. I'll find you something to wear. Yell if you need anything."
"Will do." Matt dragged up a smile. Now that he was inside and there wasn't much of anything else he could do, all he wanted was a cool shower and a change of clothes.
There were jeans and a t-shirt draped over the edge of the bed when he got out of the shower. The jeans were a little too long, and the shirt pulled a little across his chest, but they were wearable, and infinitely cooler than his suit. He decided not to bother with shoes. He didn't really plan on going anywhere anyway.
He flipped open his phone in vain hope that maybe something was different, but he had no more bars than he'd had in town.
He padded down the stairs and followed the strains of something soft and twangy into the spacious kitchen.
"Hey." Ben smiled broadly. "You look more comfortable."
"I am." Matt glanced at the clock. "Do you mind if I use your phone? I need to call the office and let them know what's going on and where I am. I'll pay you back for the call."
"Sure." Ben pulled the cordless off the wall and handed it to Matt. "Let me write down the number for you." He wrote it on a Post-it with quick, sure strokes.
Matt took the Post-it and the phone and paced the length of the front of the house--parlor, entryway, living room, and back again--while he called the Santa Fe office and let his new assistant know where he was. She promised to have relevant files about his next client FedExed to him.
When his pacing took him past the open doorway into the kitchen, he glanced in to see Ben watching him over a mixing bowl and measuring cups.
"Everything okay?" Ben asked when Matt came back to return the phone to its cradle.
"Yeah. They're going to send me some stuff to work on so I can be mostly caught up by the time I get there." He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Need any help?"
"Sure." Ben got out a knife and an onion and put them down on a cutting board. "Go ahead and chop the whole thing. I never know if it's going to be just me for dinner or if some of the boys'll show up."
Two of "the boys" did show up, and Ben introduced Matt to Tim and Rory. The three of them carried on a conversation about the ranch and the rodeo that let Matt just eat and listen.
He tried to help with the dishes, but Ben waved him off and assigned Tim and Rory to do it. Matt wandered his way outside and sank down into the porch swing.
"Long day." Ben joined him.
"Yeah."
Ben took over the task of pushing the swing. The gentle rocking and mellow heat of the evening threatened to send Matt to sleep.
Ben finally stopped the swing. "You look beat. Go on up to bed. We get up pretty early around here. Help yourself to whatever you want in the kitchen when you get up."
It took Matt a long moment to pull all his energy together enough to stand. "Good night."
***
Matt slept well, and he woke to the deepest silence he'd ever heard. Or not heard, as the case may be. Ben had left a couple of t-shirts and another pair of jeans on the chair in his room. Matt added his own shoes to Ben's clothes and headed down to the kitchen where he found biscuits left over from breakfast. He heated one and rummaged through cabinets until he found honey to drizzle over it.
There was a local paper on the table. Matt glanced it while he ate, and then gave it up in favor of studying the large, open kitchen.
He had to squint against the sun when he ventured outside. He headed out toward the barns, figuring that would be the best place to find Ben or one of his ranch hands.
When he came around the edge of the barn, he found Ben hanging over the fence with three other men while a fifth man worked a horse in the corral.
"Morning," Ben said. He introduced Matt to the three men he hadn't met yet; Rory was the one in the corral. "The hats aren't just for show," he said when Matt had to shade his eyes with one hand to be able to even see what Rory was doing. Ben scooped off his own hat and dropped it onto Matt's head. "Looks good on you," he said, and a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. "We'll make a cowboy out of you yet."
Matt wrenched his eyes away from Ben's and turned to watch Rory. The other hands, and Ben after a minute, kept up a running commentary that served the dual purpose of offering advice to Rory and teaching Matt a little something about horsemanship.
The conversation at lunch was a mixture of horse talk and sports talk; Matt was at least able to join in on the latter.
"I grew up in Boston," he defended himself. "I've been a Sox fan since before I was born."
Ben smiled indulgently at him over his Coke. "Well, you really are a city boy, aren't you?"
Matt smiled back. "All my life."
After lunch, Ben grabbed a second hat for his own head and took Matt into town with him. Ben ran errands and they took in the rodeo preparations.
"This afternoon's just setup," Ben explained. "The fun really starts tonight and goes all the way through final competitions on Monday. Most rodeos run Friday through Sunday, but we've always had to be different."
Matt and Ben headed back to the ranch for dinner and found that the hands had taken off to town for the evening.
"You grew up in Boston."
"Yep." Matt answered the implied question. "My parents split up when my brother and I were pretty young, but they both stayed in the city."
"What brings you to Texas?"
"Work. I was in Houston, and just got transferred to Santa Fe."
"What do you do?"
"Oh, consulting," Matt said. "It's not that interesting."
"You must like it, if you're moving for it."
Matt shrugged. "I'm good at it. Other people usually find it boring."
***
Matt was up and restless early in the morning.
"You ever ride a horse?" Ben asked.
It made Matt laugh; he almost choked on his coffee. "No. I've lived my entire life in cities."
"No time like the present." Ben dumped plates and mugs into the sink. "Grab a hat and let's go."
Two hours later, they were cantering out across Ben's ranch.
"Is this the back forty?" Matt asked.
Ben laughed. "Something like that." He slowed them to a walk. "The Rocking M extends out another dozen acres this way. It's just over a thousand acres all together."
Matt looked out over the acres and acres of open space. "How does that compare to other ranches?"
"Oh, bigger than some, smaller than others." Ben joined Matt in gazing out over his ranch. "Big enough for me." They went out a little farther before Ben reined them in. "We'd better go back. I have some things I need to get done before lunch, and you're waiting for that package of yours."
Matt groaned when he finally slid off of his horse. "I had no idea horseback riding took so much out of you."
Ben just laughed at him. "You get used to it."
"Easy for you to say," Matt grumbled. "You do this all the time."
"City boy," Ben teased.
"I'd like to see you navigate the New York subway system," Matt shot back.
Ben just laughed at him. "Take a hot shower and lie down for a while. It'll help."
Matt took his advice, and he really did feel better by the time Ben called him down for lunch.
"Do you have any kind of internet access?" he asked while they were clearing the table. "I'd like to at least check my email."
"Whole place is set up for wireless." Ben grinned at the surprise Matt couldn't quite hide. "We may not have cell reception, but that doesn't mean we're totally cut off from civilization. Get your laptop and I'll add you to the network."
It was just his luck, really, to be working on a Saturday, even when he couldn't even go into the office. All he really wanted was a beer, and maybe a nap or a ballgame, but he'd done nothing productive on Friday.
FedEx knocked on the door at half past three. Janey, bless her heart, had sent him copies of every report he might possibly need, three CDs worth of PowerPoints, and several files of legal documents.
He spread everything out around him on the parts of the coffee table and couch not already occupied by his laptop or his body and set himself to learning everything he could about his new clients.
Ben found him there. "Working hard?"
Matt looked up at Ben leaning in the doorway without really seeing him. He blinked, refocused, and realized he was staring. "Oh, yeah," he said. He gestured at the papers and files still spread around him. "They sent me a whole bunch of stuff to get started on."
"I can see that."
Ben's dry tone made Matt realize just how much space his stuff was taking up. "I'm sorry. I'll get this all cleaned up." He started gathering papers together.
"No, leave it. It's fine." Ben pushed himself off the doorjamb and stretched his arms up to catch at the top of the doorjamb.
Matt looked away and put an errant CD back into its case.
Ben didn't seem to notice his discomfort. "There's a big dinner dance in town this evening. We're all going." He smiled slyly. "You wanna eat, you'd better come along."
Matt smiled back. "Sure." He glanced down at the t-shirt and jeans he was wearing. "What's the appropriate dress for this?"
"Western shirt and boots," Ben answered, "but nothing of mine will look right on you. Your own clothes will be fine."
Matt nodded. He didn't put everything away, but he did straighten out the mess he'd made before he went upstairs for a quick shower and a change of clothes.
Ben was waiting at the bottom of the stairs by the time Matt was dressed. Matt stopped at the top step and just looked for a long moment. Ben was wearing the darkest, crispest blue jeans Matt had ever seen. The jeans were paired with a white Western shirt. The red piping along the edges of the pockets curved up like smiles and drew Matt's attention up to the embroidery across the shoulders. Boots whose embroidery matched the shirt's and a hat that even Matt's untrained eye could see was expensive completed the outfit.
Ben looked up when Matt started down the stairs, and a slow smile spread across his face. "Not bad," he said. "You'll stand out a bit, but you'll be fine."
"Thanks." Matt flashed Ben his own smile. "You clean up nice."
Ben laughed. "All new outfit. You're the first one to see it."
"Looks good on you."
"Thanks."
Ben rolled up the windows and turned on the air conditioning for the ride into town. He parked at the back of a large, nearly full parking lot and led Matt through the rows of cars to the door where he waved off Matt's attempts to pay his own way and bought two tickets.
Ben seemed to know where he was going, and he took them to a long table somewhere along the edge of a sea of long tables.
"Benjamin!"
"Hi, Momma." Ben hugged the woman and shook hands with the man with her. "Dad."
"Son."
Ben cuffed another man across the back of the head. "Hey little brother."
"Watch it," the man said, but he smiled and stood to exchange a manly hug with Ben.
Ben hugged the woman with him and then reached for the baby at her side. "And there's my boy." He swung the baby up and laughed when the baby did. He easily tucked the child into the crook of his arm. "This is Matt," he said to the bunch of them. "He got stranded on his way through town, so he's staying at the house for a couple of days. Matt, this is my family. Tim, Chris, Casey, Summer, Indiana," he bounced the baby, "and this here's Joaquin," he finished as the last man joined them.
Matt shook hands all around and then followed Ben--still holding the baby--to the food line.
"Indiana?" Matt asked when they were out of earshot.
Ben grinned. "Summer and Joaquin's parents were hippies. They came here as some kind of back to the land thing. They rest of them eventually moved on, but Joaquin fell in love with ranching, and Summer fell in love with Casey, so they stayed. Casey and my dad are partners in the ranch now, and Joaquin's Casey's right-hand man." Ben stopped talking and took a breath. "He and Summer may have stayed, but they're still hippies at heart."
"Hence Indiana."
Ben turned a soft smile on the baby who was trying to gnaw on his shirt. "Yep." They came to the end of the line and Ben looked at his plate, the baby, and Matt's free hand. "Could you grab me an ice tea?"
"Sure." Matt managed to juggle his own plate and two drinks as they made their way back through the tables to Ben's family.
Matt answered Chris' polite questions about his life and asked polite questions back about hers. When the topic inevitably turned to ranching, he was able to ask questions without sounding or feeling like an idiot; not all of his use of Ben's wireless had been work-related.
Their dinner table conversation came to an end when a voice boomed out over the speakers. "Good evening, cowboys and cowgirls. Welcome to our tenth annual roundup dinner dance!" The announcement was met with loud cheers and applause from the crowd of families and rodeo participants. "I hope you're all enjoying your dinner, put on by the lovely ladies of the CattleWomen." The announcer waited for the applause to die down before he continued. "In just a minute, we're gonna get started with some dancing. We're lucky to have a great band with us this year. All the way from Austin, it's Bright Tree. Let's make them feel welcome."
The band came out to a thunderous round of applause, and people started moving from their tables to the dance floor. Casey and Summer and Tim and Chris took to the floor, leaving Indiana with his uncles.
"I'm gonna grab a beer," Joaquin said. "You want one?"
"I'm driving," Ben said. "Matt?"
"Sure, I'll take one. Thanks."
Ben cooed at Indiana and held him up so he could watch the colorful parade of people go past them on the dance floor.
Matt smiled his thanks to Joaquin and took a deep pull of his beer. The icy bottle in his hand and the cool liquid sliding down his throat felt indescribably good.
After a few dances, Tim and Chris came back to the table.
"Do you know how to swing?" Chris asked Matt.
"No, ma'am. Can't say I ever learned."
"We can't have that," she tsked. "I'll teach you."
They found a relatively empty corner of the floor and Chris led him through a couple of basic steps until he was able to lead her through a whole song.
The band started a slow song, and Tim came to claim his wife, sending Matt back to the table where he quickly downed the rest of his beer.
"Want another?" Ben asked. "I could use another iced tea. If you'll keep an eye on Indy, I'll get the drinks."
Keeping an eye on Indy wasn't much of a chore; he'd fallen asleep sometime while Matt was on the dance floor. Ben came back with drinks, the band took a break between sets, and Joaquin took orders and collected drinks for everyone else.
When the band started up again with a few fast songs, Matt took Chris back out for another dance, and then switched partners with Casey. He watched Ben hand Indy over to Joaquin and dance with a blond woman he clearly knew. Ben caught him looking and flashed him a grin over the woman's shoulder. Matt found himself smiling back.
The band switched back to slow songs. Matt returned Summer to Casey and saw Ben handing the woman he'd been dancing with off to another man.
Ben tipped back his glass to get the last of his tea. "You ready to go?"
Matt felt pleasantly fuzzy. It had been a while since he'd had more than one drink, and even two beers was having an effect on him.
"Yeah."
They said their goodbyes and wound their way out of the maze of tables and out to the parking lot. Ben reached out to steady Matt as they came around an aisle of cars and trucks. In his intoxicated state, Matt let himself feel the way the just that simple touch made every inch of his skin tingle.
Ben rolled down the windows and let the night air blow through their hair.
Ben stayed close to Matt on the way up the stairs, even going so far as to rest one large, warm hand against the small of his back.
They stopped in the hallway between their doors. Neither one of them moved for a moment that seemed to go on forever. Then Ben took a step toward Matt.
"You can tell me if I'm wrong," he said as his hands came to rest on Matt's body and he leaned in.
"You're not wrong," Matt said, and he met Ben's kiss halfway.
***
Matt woke up when Ben got out of bed. He forced his eyes open. It was early enough that light was only beginning to filter through the curtains. He turned to look at the clock on the other side of the bed. The glowing, red numbers told him it wasn't even six.
He groaned. "You don't even sleep in on Sundays?"
Ben laughed from somewhere across the room. "Livestock don't know it's Sunday." He leaned across the bed and kissed the edge of Matt's jaw. "Besides, we've got church later." He finished zipping up his jeans and pulled a shirt over his head. "I'll be back in a couple of hours for a shower. You can sleep until then."
"Oh, good." Matt closed his eyes and pressed his face back into the pillow. Ben's chuckle followed him back into sleep, and it was Ben's soft touch that woke him up again.
"Come on," Ben said. "Time to get up. We need a shower, and then we're going to church." He emphasized the point by pulling the sheet away from Matt.
Matt grabbed at it. "Someone kept me up all night," he protested.
"There's no call for laziness." Ben pulled the sheet out of Matt's hands and dropped it onto the other side of the bed. "We can't be late for church, but you can have a nap when we get back."
"I can't believe you go to church." Matt finally let himself be pulled out of bed and into Ben's bathroom. "I don't think I know anyone who goes to church." He winced as he leaned over the sink to brush his teeth. He really hadn't realized what horseback riding took out of a person.
Ben turned on the shower and waited for Matt to finish before pushing him in and letting the hot water cascade over them. "I think you'll find that West Texas is a bit more religious than whatever cities you've been in lately."
"I won't argue with you on that." Matt looped his arms around Ben's neck and pressed his lips against Ben's in a slow, languid kiss.
Ben kissed him back but resisted Matt's attempts to deepen it. "Church," he reminded.
"All right, all right." Matt agreed. He stretched and groaned. "I'm too sore for anything adventurous anyway."
Ben chuckled. "Sorry. We shouldn't have ridden so far yesterday."
Matt leaned against him. "I guess not." He closed his eyes when Ben kissed his shoulder and relaxed into the hot water and the soothing touch of Ben's hands.
When they got downstairs, Ben put on an apron over his church clothes and mixed up a batch of pancakes, which he placed on the table with a flourish.
"I like a man who can cook," Matt told him.
"Good," Ben said, "because I like a man who appreciates my cooking." He paused in collecting plates to kiss Matt. "These'll have to get washed later or we'll be late to church."
They weren't late, and they even had time to chat with Ben's family about how nice the previous evening had been. When the minister made his way to the front, Matt settled down with Ben at one end of what was clearly the family pew.
He'd never been to a Baptist service before. He liked the choir, and he found that he could pick out Summer's voice despite only having met her the night before.
There was dinner afterwards, a large, hearty picnic in honor of it being rodeo weekend. The large crowd in attendance was made up entirely of people who weren't at the rodeo, but the contradiction didn't seem to bother anyone. The men stood in small groups and talked ranching and sports in long questions and lazy single-syllable agreements. The women bustled around setting up groaning tables of food. The children ran all around the yard and heeded their mothers' calls to keep their church clothes clean, to stay out of trouble, to remember that this was the Lord's day.
Matt asked the right questions, complimented the women on their cooking, and took his turn holding Indy. They stayed well into the afternoon.
"How do you do that?" Ben asked on the way back to the ranch.
Matt stopped gazing out at the countryside to look at Ben instead. "Do what?"
"Fit in." Ben glanced at him and then back at the road. "Three days ago you didn't know anything about life here. Today the only thing to tip people off is your clothes."
"It's what I do. I go into a place, observe and learn it for a couple of days, and then do whatever it is we've been hired to do. Jim calls me The Chameleon."
Ben glanced at him again. "Jim?"
"James Crawford. He's our CEO."
Ben's eyebrows went up. "You're on a first name basis with the CEO?"
"It's not that big a deal."
"How many people work for your company?"
"About three thousand."
Ben snorted. "That's a big deal."
"I told you I'm good at what I do."
Ben reached out and put his hand on Matt's thigh. "I never doubted that." When he stopped the truck in front of the house, he leaned over and kissed Matt while sliding his hand farther up his thigh. "Come on," he said. "I promised you a nap."
Matt slid out of the truck. "What if I'm not sleepy?" He crowded up against Ben as he tried to unlock the door and nipped at Ben's earlobe, trailed his lips down Ben's neck.
Ben tipped his head back to let Matt work his way around to his mouth. "I guess I'll have to see if I can tire you out."
Matt smiled against Ben's lips. "Bring it on, cowboy."
***
It was the best week of Matt's life.
He moved his things into Ben's room; there was no one they needed to keep up a pretense of two bedrooms for. Matt got a lot of work done on Ben's couch during the day while Ben was out doing whatever it was his daily routine consisted of. In the evenings, they watched part of a game--"Satellite," Ben explained. "Full sports package"--or played cards or just talked over beers in the kitchen. They went to bed early and to sleep late. Ben took him riding a couple more times, and once he knelt in the middle of the empty rangeland and blew him while Matt desperately tried not to let go of the horses' reins.
He got used to Ben's casual and not-so-casual touches.
"I have to do some work in the office," Ben said Thursday after dinner. He kissed Matt. "Shouldn't take long."
Matt tried to get some of his own work done, but he couldn't focus. He'd already done eight hours of work and he'd gotten used to spending the evening with Ben.
It made him restless enough to wander into Ben's office and wrap his arms around Ben's shoulders. He kissed Ben's cheek.
Ben smiled briefly up at him, but stayed focused on his spreadsheet.
Matt hadn't really been in the office before; he took the opportunity to look around. One whole wall was made of wide picture windows that looked out toward the barns and the rangeland beyond. The other walls had what you might expect from an office--a bulletin board with recent notices pinned to it, a few framed photos of ranchland and Ben's family, and, in its own open space to the right of the desk, Ben's diploma, framed and hung square with the corners of the room.
"Texas A&M?"
Ben pushed back from the desk and turned to look up at the diploma. "One of the best ag schools in the country. Where'd you go?"
"Harvard, undergrad and business school."
"Course you did," but it wasn't unkind.
"I shouldn't have distracted you."
Ben pulled him over to straddle his legs. "Doesn't matter. The problems will still be there tomorrow." He pulled Matt down for a kiss.
"You sure?" Matt really didn't mean to interfere, despite the way Ben's hands on his hips were making him harden.
"I'm sure." Ben pushed him upright and turned around to turn off his computer.
"It's a nice office."
"The windows remind me why I have to do this crap." Ben stood and stretched, and smiled when he caught Matt's eyes traveling all across his body.
***
The Rangers played the Sox on Saturday. Matt and Ben drank and threw popcorn at each other and heckled every chance they got.
The Rangers won, but it didn't seem to matter so much when Ben sank deep and warm inside him, or when Ben kissed him for what seemed like hours, or when he fell asleep with the sound of Ben's heart beating in his ear.
***
They went to church again on Sunday, and Ben's family seemed genuinely glad to see Matt. Ben introduced him to a few of the other congregants, and if anyone noticed the way Ben's hand occasionally brushed against his, they didn't mention it.
They had Sunday dinner with Ben's family and the ranch hands Tim and Casey employed. They were quiet on the way back to the Rocking M.
"Hank called," Ben said after he listened to the messages on the answering machine. "Your car'll be ready tomorrow afternoon."
Matt nodded. "Thanks."
They were silent for a long time while Matt packed away his files and laptop and Ben just watched.
"You're leaving tomorrow," Ben finally said.
Matt left the things still unpacked where they were. "Don't talk about it," he said, and he kissed and pushed at Ben until they were upstairs in Ben's bed.
***
"Shouldn't you be out working?" Matt asked when Ben woke him up with breakfast in bed.
"The boys can take care of it for one morning."
Ben let Matt up for a shower and immediately dragged him back to bed. They made love soft and sweet, and then hard and desperate.
Matt finished packing while Ben made lunch.
Ben tried to refuse the check Matt wrote him, but Matt kept pushing it at him.
"Jesus, Ben," he finally said, "it's not even my money. It's company money. Let them pay for my stay here. That was the deal in the first place."
Ben finally took the check from him and folded it into his wallet. He waited in the entryway while Matt made one last pass through the house to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
"Matt," he said, when Matt was done and back at the door, "I--"
Matt stopped his words with a kiss. "Don't. Don't, Ben." He kissed Ben again, knowing it was goodbye even if he wouldn't let himself say it.
Ben's hand slid soft against his cheek, and then Ben dropped the hat he'd originally loaned him onto his head and grinned at the effect of Matt's business clothes and Ben's wide-brimmed cowboy hat.
"Let's go."
Matt nodded and picked up half his things, letting Ben get the rest.
Ben left the windows down. Matt knew he'd be tasting the dust of the Rocking M halfway to Santa Fe.
Matt paid Hank and listened to Ben and Hank chat while he loaded his things into his car. He dropped the hat onto the seat of Ben's truck.
He smiled and held out his hand to Ben. "Thank you," he said, and he savored the feel of Ben's palm against his, "for everything."
"It was real nice knowing you," Ben said. He squeezed Matt's hand and then let go.
"If you're ever in these parts again," Hank said, "swing on by."
"I will."
Matt climbed into his car and turned the air conditioning on high. He glanced in the rearview mirror once, and then resisted the temptation to look back until he was well out of town.
***
Six Months Later
Matt stood when Ben came through the back door into the kitchen, a shaggy half-grown dog at his heels. Man and dog looked up when the chair scraped against the floor. It put Matt and Ben nearly at eye level. The dog growled and then calmed when Ben put a hand on its head.
"I'm not a rancher," Matt said. "I'll never be a rancher. I have my own job, and I'm good at it. I can telecommute, but I'll still have to travel, sometimes for weeks at a time. When I come home, I want to come home to you."
Ben took one step towards him. "I never thought I'd see you. Every time the phone rang--"
"I know." Matt kept from throwing himself at Ben through sheer force of will. "I thought it was because I was stuck here, or a cowboy thing." He laughed a little hollowly. "I even went to a cowboy bar. The whole time, all I could think about was you."
"Matt," Ben said, and it sounded like just saying it was tearing him in half. And then he moved, and they were together, they were in each other's arms, and all Matt could think was, 'Thank God.'
End
Author: Ruth Sadelle Alderson
Pairing: Matt Damon/Ben Affleck
Rating: FRAO
Disclaimer: Not real, never happened.
Summary: AU. City boy Matt meets cowboy Ben.
Author's Note: Many thanks to Sky and Amy for beta reading services and to Molly for encouragement.
"Eleven days! But I have to be in Santa Fe on Monday."
"I'm sorry," the mechanic told him. "Rodeo's in town. No one's goin' anywhere, and I can't get the parts until next week. I suggest you find yourself a room and enjoy it."
Matt sighed heavily. "I guess there's nothing else I can do." He flipped open his cell only to find he had no bars. "Figures."
"Not much call for those around here," the mechanic agreed.
"I guess not. Do you know where I might find a hotel around here?"
"Well, there's the Diamond downtown, the Sage House a couple blocks over, and the new Best Western out by the highway."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, but I'm not sure it'll do you much good. Everything's full up for the rodeo."
Matt held onto the last threads of his temper. "Then what do you suggest I do?"
A stranger stepped into view. "I've got an extra room. Be happy to rent it to you." The stranger touched the brim of his hat and nodded to the mechanic. "Hank."
"Ben. What've you done to that baby now?"
Ben looked sheepish. "Well, I don't rightly know. Just know she's not running quite right. Think you could take a look at her?"
"Sure thing." Hank nodded at Matt and went to take a look at the large, dark red truck taking up space in his garage.
Ben extended a hand. "Ben Affleck. Got a ranch out West of town. Meant what I said about a room. The hands are mostly staying in town for the rodeo, so I've got plenty of space."
Matt met Ben's hand with his own. "Matt Damon. I'd appreciate that."
"Well, Matt Damon," Ben said with a wide smile, "let me find out what Hank has to say about my baby, and then I'll take you out to the ranch."
"Thank you." Matt gathered his coat, laptop, small suitcase, and suit bag from his no longer fully functional car and piled them up on one of the chairs in the empty space that served as Hank's waiting room.
"Ben," Hank groaned from under the truck, "why do you do this to me? Why do you do this to her?" He pushed himself out. "You have to take better care of her."
"Now, Hank. You know how it is on the ranch."
"I do know how it is, Benjamin Geza Affleck. My daddy's ranch was just down the road from yours." Hank fixed Ben with a stern look. "I know you can do better than this."
"Yes sir." A smile played around Ben's lips. "Is she drivable now?"
Hank nodded reluctantly. "She is, but don't overdo it. I'll get what you need in with city boy's order."
"Thanks, Hank."
Hank accepted Ben's handshake. "You're welcome, but you'll damn well take better care of her after this."
"I will." Ben turned and winked at Matt. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah." Matt draped his coat over his arm and hefted his laptop over his shoulder. He let Ben take the suitcase and hanging bag.
When Ben said out of town, he meant out of town. The road took them through the town, and then farther west, out through dry brown fields that alternated with the occasional bright green crop. They eventually turned down a dusty road and came to a gate. Ben left the truck running and hopped out to open it and again on the other side to close it.
"Welcome to the Rocking M," he said when he hopped back into the truck. "Named after Mimi, the first horse my daddy let me raise from birth." Ben flashed a smile at Matt.
Matt smiled back. "So this isn't your family's ranch?"
"Naw. My daddy's place is north of town. My brother works out there. This place is all mine." Ben parked the truck in front of a large, well-kept ranch house. Matt could see a couple of other buildings far enough away to give the house a little privacy. "Home sweet home." Ben helped gather up Matt's luggage. "The bunk house is over there," another large building, not quite as homey looking as the house, "but the boys are always in and out of the big house. Barns are back that way." He pointed toward a cluster of buildings and a corral. "Come on in." He held the door for Matt, and they came into a blissfully cool and dark entryway.
"Living room, parlor. Kitchen and dining room are back that way." Ben gestured in various directions. "My office is off the kitchen. I'll take you upstairs. You probably want to change into something cooler."
Matt grimaced. "I don't have anything cooler. Just more of the same."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "You're driving through Texas and all you have are suits?"
"I expected to be in my air conditioned car."
Ben acknowledged the point with a nod and started up the stairs. "I can loan you something."
"Thanks," Matt said. "I really don't feel like spending my whole week in this."
Ben grinned at him. "No problem." He pushed open a half-closed door. "Here you go. Bedroom." He put Matt's luggage down by the door. "Closet. Bathroom." He pushed the respective doors open. "I'm just across the hall. I'll find you something to wear. Yell if you need anything."
"Will do." Matt dragged up a smile. Now that he was inside and there wasn't much of anything else he could do, all he wanted was a cool shower and a change of clothes.
There were jeans and a t-shirt draped over the edge of the bed when he got out of the shower. The jeans were a little too long, and the shirt pulled a little across his chest, but they were wearable, and infinitely cooler than his suit. He decided not to bother with shoes. He didn't really plan on going anywhere anyway.
He flipped open his phone in vain hope that maybe something was different, but he had no more bars than he'd had in town.
He padded down the stairs and followed the strains of something soft and twangy into the spacious kitchen.
"Hey." Ben smiled broadly. "You look more comfortable."
"I am." Matt glanced at the clock. "Do you mind if I use your phone? I need to call the office and let them know what's going on and where I am. I'll pay you back for the call."
"Sure." Ben pulled the cordless off the wall and handed it to Matt. "Let me write down the number for you." He wrote it on a Post-it with quick, sure strokes.
Matt took the Post-it and the phone and paced the length of the front of the house--parlor, entryway, living room, and back again--while he called the Santa Fe office and let his new assistant know where he was. She promised to have relevant files about his next client FedExed to him.
When his pacing took him past the open doorway into the kitchen, he glanced in to see Ben watching him over a mixing bowl and measuring cups.
"Everything okay?" Ben asked when Matt came back to return the phone to its cradle.
"Yeah. They're going to send me some stuff to work on so I can be mostly caught up by the time I get there." He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Need any help?"
"Sure." Ben got out a knife and an onion and put them down on a cutting board. "Go ahead and chop the whole thing. I never know if it's going to be just me for dinner or if some of the boys'll show up."
Two of "the boys" did show up, and Ben introduced Matt to Tim and Rory. The three of them carried on a conversation about the ranch and the rodeo that let Matt just eat and listen.
He tried to help with the dishes, but Ben waved him off and assigned Tim and Rory to do it. Matt wandered his way outside and sank down into the porch swing.
"Long day." Ben joined him.
"Yeah."
Ben took over the task of pushing the swing. The gentle rocking and mellow heat of the evening threatened to send Matt to sleep.
Ben finally stopped the swing. "You look beat. Go on up to bed. We get up pretty early around here. Help yourself to whatever you want in the kitchen when you get up."
It took Matt a long moment to pull all his energy together enough to stand. "Good night."
***
Matt slept well, and he woke to the deepest silence he'd ever heard. Or not heard, as the case may be. Ben had left a couple of t-shirts and another pair of jeans on the chair in his room. Matt added his own shoes to Ben's clothes and headed down to the kitchen where he found biscuits left over from breakfast. He heated one and rummaged through cabinets until he found honey to drizzle over it.
There was a local paper on the table. Matt glanced it while he ate, and then gave it up in favor of studying the large, open kitchen.
He had to squint against the sun when he ventured outside. He headed out toward the barns, figuring that would be the best place to find Ben or one of his ranch hands.
When he came around the edge of the barn, he found Ben hanging over the fence with three other men while a fifth man worked a horse in the corral.
"Morning," Ben said. He introduced Matt to the three men he hadn't met yet; Rory was the one in the corral. "The hats aren't just for show," he said when Matt had to shade his eyes with one hand to be able to even see what Rory was doing. Ben scooped off his own hat and dropped it onto Matt's head. "Looks good on you," he said, and a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. "We'll make a cowboy out of you yet."
Matt wrenched his eyes away from Ben's and turned to watch Rory. The other hands, and Ben after a minute, kept up a running commentary that served the dual purpose of offering advice to Rory and teaching Matt a little something about horsemanship.
The conversation at lunch was a mixture of horse talk and sports talk; Matt was at least able to join in on the latter.
"I grew up in Boston," he defended himself. "I've been a Sox fan since before I was born."
Ben smiled indulgently at him over his Coke. "Well, you really are a city boy, aren't you?"
Matt smiled back. "All my life."
After lunch, Ben grabbed a second hat for his own head and took Matt into town with him. Ben ran errands and they took in the rodeo preparations.
"This afternoon's just setup," Ben explained. "The fun really starts tonight and goes all the way through final competitions on Monday. Most rodeos run Friday through Sunday, but we've always had to be different."
Matt and Ben headed back to the ranch for dinner and found that the hands had taken off to town for the evening.
"You grew up in Boston."
"Yep." Matt answered the implied question. "My parents split up when my brother and I were pretty young, but they both stayed in the city."
"What brings you to Texas?"
"Work. I was in Houston, and just got transferred to Santa Fe."
"What do you do?"
"Oh, consulting," Matt said. "It's not that interesting."
"You must like it, if you're moving for it."
Matt shrugged. "I'm good at it. Other people usually find it boring."
***
Matt was up and restless early in the morning.
"You ever ride a horse?" Ben asked.
It made Matt laugh; he almost choked on his coffee. "No. I've lived my entire life in cities."
"No time like the present." Ben dumped plates and mugs into the sink. "Grab a hat and let's go."
Two hours later, they were cantering out across Ben's ranch.
"Is this the back forty?" Matt asked.
Ben laughed. "Something like that." He slowed them to a walk. "The Rocking M extends out another dozen acres this way. It's just over a thousand acres all together."
Matt looked out over the acres and acres of open space. "How does that compare to other ranches?"
"Oh, bigger than some, smaller than others." Ben joined Matt in gazing out over his ranch. "Big enough for me." They went out a little farther before Ben reined them in. "We'd better go back. I have some things I need to get done before lunch, and you're waiting for that package of yours."
Matt groaned when he finally slid off of his horse. "I had no idea horseback riding took so much out of you."
Ben just laughed at him. "You get used to it."
"Easy for you to say," Matt grumbled. "You do this all the time."
"City boy," Ben teased.
"I'd like to see you navigate the New York subway system," Matt shot back.
Ben just laughed at him. "Take a hot shower and lie down for a while. It'll help."
Matt took his advice, and he really did feel better by the time Ben called him down for lunch.
"Do you have any kind of internet access?" he asked while they were clearing the table. "I'd like to at least check my email."
"Whole place is set up for wireless." Ben grinned at the surprise Matt couldn't quite hide. "We may not have cell reception, but that doesn't mean we're totally cut off from civilization. Get your laptop and I'll add you to the network."
It was just his luck, really, to be working on a Saturday, even when he couldn't even go into the office. All he really wanted was a beer, and maybe a nap or a ballgame, but he'd done nothing productive on Friday.
FedEx knocked on the door at half past three. Janey, bless her heart, had sent him copies of every report he might possibly need, three CDs worth of PowerPoints, and several files of legal documents.
He spread everything out around him on the parts of the coffee table and couch not already occupied by his laptop or his body and set himself to learning everything he could about his new clients.
Ben found him there. "Working hard?"
Matt looked up at Ben leaning in the doorway without really seeing him. He blinked, refocused, and realized he was staring. "Oh, yeah," he said. He gestured at the papers and files still spread around him. "They sent me a whole bunch of stuff to get started on."
"I can see that."
Ben's dry tone made Matt realize just how much space his stuff was taking up. "I'm sorry. I'll get this all cleaned up." He started gathering papers together.
"No, leave it. It's fine." Ben pushed himself off the doorjamb and stretched his arms up to catch at the top of the doorjamb.
Matt looked away and put an errant CD back into its case.
Ben didn't seem to notice his discomfort. "There's a big dinner dance in town this evening. We're all going." He smiled slyly. "You wanna eat, you'd better come along."
Matt smiled back. "Sure." He glanced down at the t-shirt and jeans he was wearing. "What's the appropriate dress for this?"
"Western shirt and boots," Ben answered, "but nothing of mine will look right on you. Your own clothes will be fine."
Matt nodded. He didn't put everything away, but he did straighten out the mess he'd made before he went upstairs for a quick shower and a change of clothes.
Ben was waiting at the bottom of the stairs by the time Matt was dressed. Matt stopped at the top step and just looked for a long moment. Ben was wearing the darkest, crispest blue jeans Matt had ever seen. The jeans were paired with a white Western shirt. The red piping along the edges of the pockets curved up like smiles and drew Matt's attention up to the embroidery across the shoulders. Boots whose embroidery matched the shirt's and a hat that even Matt's untrained eye could see was expensive completed the outfit.
Ben looked up when Matt started down the stairs, and a slow smile spread across his face. "Not bad," he said. "You'll stand out a bit, but you'll be fine."
"Thanks." Matt flashed Ben his own smile. "You clean up nice."
Ben laughed. "All new outfit. You're the first one to see it."
"Looks good on you."
"Thanks."
Ben rolled up the windows and turned on the air conditioning for the ride into town. He parked at the back of a large, nearly full parking lot and led Matt through the rows of cars to the door where he waved off Matt's attempts to pay his own way and bought two tickets.
Ben seemed to know where he was going, and he took them to a long table somewhere along the edge of a sea of long tables.
"Benjamin!"
"Hi, Momma." Ben hugged the woman and shook hands with the man with her. "Dad."
"Son."
Ben cuffed another man across the back of the head. "Hey little brother."
"Watch it," the man said, but he smiled and stood to exchange a manly hug with Ben.
Ben hugged the woman with him and then reached for the baby at her side. "And there's my boy." He swung the baby up and laughed when the baby did. He easily tucked the child into the crook of his arm. "This is Matt," he said to the bunch of them. "He got stranded on his way through town, so he's staying at the house for a couple of days. Matt, this is my family. Tim, Chris, Casey, Summer, Indiana," he bounced the baby, "and this here's Joaquin," he finished as the last man joined them.
Matt shook hands all around and then followed Ben--still holding the baby--to the food line.
"Indiana?" Matt asked when they were out of earshot.
Ben grinned. "Summer and Joaquin's parents were hippies. They came here as some kind of back to the land thing. They rest of them eventually moved on, but Joaquin fell in love with ranching, and Summer fell in love with Casey, so they stayed. Casey and my dad are partners in the ranch now, and Joaquin's Casey's right-hand man." Ben stopped talking and took a breath. "He and Summer may have stayed, but they're still hippies at heart."
"Hence Indiana."
Ben turned a soft smile on the baby who was trying to gnaw on his shirt. "Yep." They came to the end of the line and Ben looked at his plate, the baby, and Matt's free hand. "Could you grab me an ice tea?"
"Sure." Matt managed to juggle his own plate and two drinks as they made their way back through the tables to Ben's family.
Matt answered Chris' polite questions about his life and asked polite questions back about hers. When the topic inevitably turned to ranching, he was able to ask questions without sounding or feeling like an idiot; not all of his use of Ben's wireless had been work-related.
Their dinner table conversation came to an end when a voice boomed out over the speakers. "Good evening, cowboys and cowgirls. Welcome to our tenth annual roundup dinner dance!" The announcement was met with loud cheers and applause from the crowd of families and rodeo participants. "I hope you're all enjoying your dinner, put on by the lovely ladies of the CattleWomen." The announcer waited for the applause to die down before he continued. "In just a minute, we're gonna get started with some dancing. We're lucky to have a great band with us this year. All the way from Austin, it's Bright Tree. Let's make them feel welcome."
The band came out to a thunderous round of applause, and people started moving from their tables to the dance floor. Casey and Summer and Tim and Chris took to the floor, leaving Indiana with his uncles.
"I'm gonna grab a beer," Joaquin said. "You want one?"
"I'm driving," Ben said. "Matt?"
"Sure, I'll take one. Thanks."
Ben cooed at Indiana and held him up so he could watch the colorful parade of people go past them on the dance floor.
Matt smiled his thanks to Joaquin and took a deep pull of his beer. The icy bottle in his hand and the cool liquid sliding down his throat felt indescribably good.
After a few dances, Tim and Chris came back to the table.
"Do you know how to swing?" Chris asked Matt.
"No, ma'am. Can't say I ever learned."
"We can't have that," she tsked. "I'll teach you."
They found a relatively empty corner of the floor and Chris led him through a couple of basic steps until he was able to lead her through a whole song.
The band started a slow song, and Tim came to claim his wife, sending Matt back to the table where he quickly downed the rest of his beer.
"Want another?" Ben asked. "I could use another iced tea. If you'll keep an eye on Indy, I'll get the drinks."
Keeping an eye on Indy wasn't much of a chore; he'd fallen asleep sometime while Matt was on the dance floor. Ben came back with drinks, the band took a break between sets, and Joaquin took orders and collected drinks for everyone else.
When the band started up again with a few fast songs, Matt took Chris back out for another dance, and then switched partners with Casey. He watched Ben hand Indy over to Joaquin and dance with a blond woman he clearly knew. Ben caught him looking and flashed him a grin over the woman's shoulder. Matt found himself smiling back.
The band switched back to slow songs. Matt returned Summer to Casey and saw Ben handing the woman he'd been dancing with off to another man.
Ben tipped back his glass to get the last of his tea. "You ready to go?"
Matt felt pleasantly fuzzy. It had been a while since he'd had more than one drink, and even two beers was having an effect on him.
"Yeah."
They said their goodbyes and wound their way out of the maze of tables and out to the parking lot. Ben reached out to steady Matt as they came around an aisle of cars and trucks. In his intoxicated state, Matt let himself feel the way the just that simple touch made every inch of his skin tingle.
Ben rolled down the windows and let the night air blow through their hair.
Ben stayed close to Matt on the way up the stairs, even going so far as to rest one large, warm hand against the small of his back.
They stopped in the hallway between their doors. Neither one of them moved for a moment that seemed to go on forever. Then Ben took a step toward Matt.
"You can tell me if I'm wrong," he said as his hands came to rest on Matt's body and he leaned in.
"You're not wrong," Matt said, and he met Ben's kiss halfway.
***
Matt woke up when Ben got out of bed. He forced his eyes open. It was early enough that light was only beginning to filter through the curtains. He turned to look at the clock on the other side of the bed. The glowing, red numbers told him it wasn't even six.
He groaned. "You don't even sleep in on Sundays?"
Ben laughed from somewhere across the room. "Livestock don't know it's Sunday." He leaned across the bed and kissed the edge of Matt's jaw. "Besides, we've got church later." He finished zipping up his jeans and pulled a shirt over his head. "I'll be back in a couple of hours for a shower. You can sleep until then."
"Oh, good." Matt closed his eyes and pressed his face back into the pillow. Ben's chuckle followed him back into sleep, and it was Ben's soft touch that woke him up again.
"Come on," Ben said. "Time to get up. We need a shower, and then we're going to church." He emphasized the point by pulling the sheet away from Matt.
Matt grabbed at it. "Someone kept me up all night," he protested.
"There's no call for laziness." Ben pulled the sheet out of Matt's hands and dropped it onto the other side of the bed. "We can't be late for church, but you can have a nap when we get back."
"I can't believe you go to church." Matt finally let himself be pulled out of bed and into Ben's bathroom. "I don't think I know anyone who goes to church." He winced as he leaned over the sink to brush his teeth. He really hadn't realized what horseback riding took out of a person.
Ben turned on the shower and waited for Matt to finish before pushing him in and letting the hot water cascade over them. "I think you'll find that West Texas is a bit more religious than whatever cities you've been in lately."
"I won't argue with you on that." Matt looped his arms around Ben's neck and pressed his lips against Ben's in a slow, languid kiss.
Ben kissed him back but resisted Matt's attempts to deepen it. "Church," he reminded.
"All right, all right." Matt agreed. He stretched and groaned. "I'm too sore for anything adventurous anyway."
Ben chuckled. "Sorry. We shouldn't have ridden so far yesterday."
Matt leaned against him. "I guess not." He closed his eyes when Ben kissed his shoulder and relaxed into the hot water and the soothing touch of Ben's hands.
When they got downstairs, Ben put on an apron over his church clothes and mixed up a batch of pancakes, which he placed on the table with a flourish.
"I like a man who can cook," Matt told him.
"Good," Ben said, "because I like a man who appreciates my cooking." He paused in collecting plates to kiss Matt. "These'll have to get washed later or we'll be late to church."
They weren't late, and they even had time to chat with Ben's family about how nice the previous evening had been. When the minister made his way to the front, Matt settled down with Ben at one end of what was clearly the family pew.
He'd never been to a Baptist service before. He liked the choir, and he found that he could pick out Summer's voice despite only having met her the night before.
There was dinner afterwards, a large, hearty picnic in honor of it being rodeo weekend. The large crowd in attendance was made up entirely of people who weren't at the rodeo, but the contradiction didn't seem to bother anyone. The men stood in small groups and talked ranching and sports in long questions and lazy single-syllable agreements. The women bustled around setting up groaning tables of food. The children ran all around the yard and heeded their mothers' calls to keep their church clothes clean, to stay out of trouble, to remember that this was the Lord's day.
Matt asked the right questions, complimented the women on their cooking, and took his turn holding Indy. They stayed well into the afternoon.
"How do you do that?" Ben asked on the way back to the ranch.
Matt stopped gazing out at the countryside to look at Ben instead. "Do what?"
"Fit in." Ben glanced at him and then back at the road. "Three days ago you didn't know anything about life here. Today the only thing to tip people off is your clothes."
"It's what I do. I go into a place, observe and learn it for a couple of days, and then do whatever it is we've been hired to do. Jim calls me The Chameleon."
Ben glanced at him again. "Jim?"
"James Crawford. He's our CEO."
Ben's eyebrows went up. "You're on a first name basis with the CEO?"
"It's not that big a deal."
"How many people work for your company?"
"About three thousand."
Ben snorted. "That's a big deal."
"I told you I'm good at what I do."
Ben reached out and put his hand on Matt's thigh. "I never doubted that." When he stopped the truck in front of the house, he leaned over and kissed Matt while sliding his hand farther up his thigh. "Come on," he said. "I promised you a nap."
Matt slid out of the truck. "What if I'm not sleepy?" He crowded up against Ben as he tried to unlock the door and nipped at Ben's earlobe, trailed his lips down Ben's neck.
Ben tipped his head back to let Matt work his way around to his mouth. "I guess I'll have to see if I can tire you out."
Matt smiled against Ben's lips. "Bring it on, cowboy."
***
It was the best week of Matt's life.
He moved his things into Ben's room; there was no one they needed to keep up a pretense of two bedrooms for. Matt got a lot of work done on Ben's couch during the day while Ben was out doing whatever it was his daily routine consisted of. In the evenings, they watched part of a game--"Satellite," Ben explained. "Full sports package"--or played cards or just talked over beers in the kitchen. They went to bed early and to sleep late. Ben took him riding a couple more times, and once he knelt in the middle of the empty rangeland and blew him while Matt desperately tried not to let go of the horses' reins.
He got used to Ben's casual and not-so-casual touches.
"I have to do some work in the office," Ben said Thursday after dinner. He kissed Matt. "Shouldn't take long."
Matt tried to get some of his own work done, but he couldn't focus. He'd already done eight hours of work and he'd gotten used to spending the evening with Ben.
It made him restless enough to wander into Ben's office and wrap his arms around Ben's shoulders. He kissed Ben's cheek.
Ben smiled briefly up at him, but stayed focused on his spreadsheet.
Matt hadn't really been in the office before; he took the opportunity to look around. One whole wall was made of wide picture windows that looked out toward the barns and the rangeland beyond. The other walls had what you might expect from an office--a bulletin board with recent notices pinned to it, a few framed photos of ranchland and Ben's family, and, in its own open space to the right of the desk, Ben's diploma, framed and hung square with the corners of the room.
"Texas A&M?"
Ben pushed back from the desk and turned to look up at the diploma. "One of the best ag schools in the country. Where'd you go?"
"Harvard, undergrad and business school."
"Course you did," but it wasn't unkind.
"I shouldn't have distracted you."
Ben pulled him over to straddle his legs. "Doesn't matter. The problems will still be there tomorrow." He pulled Matt down for a kiss.
"You sure?" Matt really didn't mean to interfere, despite the way Ben's hands on his hips were making him harden.
"I'm sure." Ben pushed him upright and turned around to turn off his computer.
"It's a nice office."
"The windows remind me why I have to do this crap." Ben stood and stretched, and smiled when he caught Matt's eyes traveling all across his body.
***
The Rangers played the Sox on Saturday. Matt and Ben drank and threw popcorn at each other and heckled every chance they got.
The Rangers won, but it didn't seem to matter so much when Ben sank deep and warm inside him, or when Ben kissed him for what seemed like hours, or when he fell asleep with the sound of Ben's heart beating in his ear.
***
They went to church again on Sunday, and Ben's family seemed genuinely glad to see Matt. Ben introduced him to a few of the other congregants, and if anyone noticed the way Ben's hand occasionally brushed against his, they didn't mention it.
They had Sunday dinner with Ben's family and the ranch hands Tim and Casey employed. They were quiet on the way back to the Rocking M.
"Hank called," Ben said after he listened to the messages on the answering machine. "Your car'll be ready tomorrow afternoon."
Matt nodded. "Thanks."
They were silent for a long time while Matt packed away his files and laptop and Ben just watched.
"You're leaving tomorrow," Ben finally said.
Matt left the things still unpacked where they were. "Don't talk about it," he said, and he kissed and pushed at Ben until they were upstairs in Ben's bed.
***
"Shouldn't you be out working?" Matt asked when Ben woke him up with breakfast in bed.
"The boys can take care of it for one morning."
Ben let Matt up for a shower and immediately dragged him back to bed. They made love soft and sweet, and then hard and desperate.
Matt finished packing while Ben made lunch.
Ben tried to refuse the check Matt wrote him, but Matt kept pushing it at him.
"Jesus, Ben," he finally said, "it's not even my money. It's company money. Let them pay for my stay here. That was the deal in the first place."
Ben finally took the check from him and folded it into his wallet. He waited in the entryway while Matt made one last pass through the house to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
"Matt," he said, when Matt was done and back at the door, "I--"
Matt stopped his words with a kiss. "Don't. Don't, Ben." He kissed Ben again, knowing it was goodbye even if he wouldn't let himself say it.
Ben's hand slid soft against his cheek, and then Ben dropped the hat he'd originally loaned him onto his head and grinned at the effect of Matt's business clothes and Ben's wide-brimmed cowboy hat.
"Let's go."
Matt nodded and picked up half his things, letting Ben get the rest.
Ben left the windows down. Matt knew he'd be tasting the dust of the Rocking M halfway to Santa Fe.
Matt paid Hank and listened to Ben and Hank chat while he loaded his things into his car. He dropped the hat onto the seat of Ben's truck.
He smiled and held out his hand to Ben. "Thank you," he said, and he savored the feel of Ben's palm against his, "for everything."
"It was real nice knowing you," Ben said. He squeezed Matt's hand and then let go.
"If you're ever in these parts again," Hank said, "swing on by."
"I will."
Matt climbed into his car and turned the air conditioning on high. He glanced in the rearview mirror once, and then resisted the temptation to look back until he was well out of town.
***
Six Months Later
Matt stood when Ben came through the back door into the kitchen, a shaggy half-grown dog at his heels. Man and dog looked up when the chair scraped against the floor. It put Matt and Ben nearly at eye level. The dog growled and then calmed when Ben put a hand on its head.
"I'm not a rancher," Matt said. "I'll never be a rancher. I have my own job, and I'm good at it. I can telecommute, but I'll still have to travel, sometimes for weeks at a time. When I come home, I want to come home to you."
Ben took one step towards him. "I never thought I'd see you. Every time the phone rang--"
"I know." Matt kept from throwing himself at Ben through sheer force of will. "I thought it was because I was stuck here, or a cowboy thing." He laughed a little hollowly. "I even went to a cowboy bar. The whole time, all I could think about was you."
"Matt," Ben said, and it sounded like just saying it was tearing him in half. And then he moved, and they were together, they were in each other's arms, and all Matt could think was, 'Thank God.'
End