Chapter Nine

Ricky

If my ballsy-bull thought he was keeping his thoughts to himself, he'd be totally wrong. I was getting everything loud and clear, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that if seeded just right, he'd be just like any other stalk with a belly full of seedlings. That conversation wasn't one I wanted to have now, not when we had to go see Dom.

Was I worried? Nope, Dom needed me, and he knew it. I believe he was just jealous. I was totally getting my stalk on, and he hadn't seen any action in years. I mean, who wouldn't be jealous—besides Tim, who had someone to stalk on—of my gorgeous ballsy mate?

"Are we going out there?" Burke questioned as he looked nervously at the door, looking all kinds of cute in my clothes, which were a bit too long for him.

I grabbed his clammy hand, squeezing gently and tugged him unwillingly to the door. "Yep. We might as well face the rhubarb." I unlocked the door and opened it, the familiar noise of music and chatter hitting us like a wave. The club was open for business.

Oops! No wonder Dom had gotten annoyed. Had the whole of Valentine Growville heard us? Did I care? I had won the ball lottery. Smugly, I guided my bull into the busy club, nodding at other stalks as we passed. And making sure to give them warning looks. Yeah, look all you want, stalks. He's mine.

Nice as that is, no one's gonna look at me.

I glanced at my blushing mate. " Why not? You're gorgeous. All pink and flushed, smelling like a little bit of rhubarb heaven." I got closer and whispered in his ear, "With balls to stalk on."

He coughed and glanced at the other stalks close by. "Erm… thanks."

"You're welcome." I kissed his cheek. "Now let's see what Dom wants before we go and have that conversation you want." Still close to his ear, I added, "By that, I mean getting you to moo for me."

His whole body shuddered, and his scent flooded my nose, making me grin wider than Glass's rhubarb stalk. He was the longest stalk in town.

"Hey Ricky, looking good my friend," said Tartie, a rhubarb stalk that lived in town, but often traveled out of state as he had decided sheep shearing was his thing. Although why anyone would choose sheep shearing to hair cutting on stalks, I'll never know. "Aren't you gonna introduce us to your friend?"

Burke's hand clutched mine, and he tugged me closer to him. Wasn't that sweet. "Tartie, this is Burke, my bull ."

I felt Burke's big-ballsy swagger in my head as he grinned at me.

"Hey there, little cutie." Tartie, who wasn't all that tall but had some muscles on him, arm flexed in his shirt. His bicep bulged as he held out his hand to Burke, smiling sexily.

Was he showing off to my mate?

Flirting with him?

"We're mates, Tartie," I pointed out very quickly. Nobody was going to get any ideas about my bull. I'd never been possessive over anything—ever. But Burke was mine!

You don't need to scream it at me. I know I'm yours.

Sorry.

"All good, you know I was just bein' friendly an' all." Tartie smiled charmingly at us, dropping Burke's hand. "You got any friends? A sheep that needs shearing, I'm your stalk."

Burke blinked. "Actually, one of my pride is a ram. Randy mentioned the other day he could do with a shearing."

Tartie perked right up. "We got a ram in town? Well I never. Send him my way. I'm taking a vacation, so I've got plenty of time on my hands."

"Yeah… okay… but you should know he's a little… different."

Tartie tilted his head to one side, looking all kinds of rhubarb intrigued. "How so?"

"He's pink."

"Why, I ain't never sheared a pink ram before. Does he do anything with his wool? I could use it to make some knitted jumpers."

"You knit?" I asked, seeing Tartie in a whole new light.

He blushed full stalk pink and nodded. "Not all the wool gets sold, so I keep some. I taught myself how to make the yarn and… well… it's a waste not to do anything with it."

He shrugged, but didn't have time to say more as Dom stalked up to us. "You… you… did you have to do… that, here? I said you could use the place for dancing!"

I chuckled at how Burke cough-snorted and looked at the ground. "We were dancing. It was the rhubarb mating tango, wasn't it, Burke?" I winked at him when his head fired up and he glanced between me and Dom.

"Er… yeah… whatever he said."

I released his hand to wrap it around his waist, before stroking down over his ass to give it a good squeeze, getting a good whiff of his rhubarb yumminess. "We'll need to do some practicing before we perfect it. And you know what they say. Practice makes perfect rumba rhubarb."

"That, I'd like to see," Tartie said, grinning from ear to ear.

I was shaking my head before he stopped speaking. "Sorry, that's a private show. For my rhubarb only!"

"Spoilsport." Tartie said good-naturedly whereas Dom was giving off serious rhubarb vibes of pissedoffness.

"Did you clean up after yourselves?" Dom's question got a full body shudder from my mate.

"We did. Now I think it's time I took Burke home."

Dom thrust out his palm as if he were stopping the traffic. "Wait a minute, young stalk. You're going nowhere. You've got a performance to do!"

Oh rhubarbs! How had I forgotten that?

Sorry. Wanna watch me spin around my pole?

Hello! Of course I wanna see that. Just make sure that it's me you're looking at.

That won't be a problem, you're all I wanna look at.

I focused my attention on Dom. "Alright, but just one show and then I'm outta here as I'm mated, don't you know!"

"The whole damn town knows now," Dom muttered, blushing like I'd never seen before.

I smirked at him. "Sharing is caring."