“Oh!” Zack said. “I knew that. I just didn’t know I knew that.”

“Right,” John said, sounding amused. “Well, my family has kept horses my whole life, and some of my earliest fantasies involved a handsome stableboy.”

“Anyone in particular?”

“No, just a vague idea of a tall, dark, and handsome man in riding gear. You fit the bill almost perfectly.”

“Ah, so you’re one of those.” Zack grinned. The fantasy began to form in his head. He pictured John as a teenager—fresh-faced and naive, lusting after the family stableboy from afar. Zack closed his eyes and submerged himself in memories of his own experiences at that age. There was nothing quite as heady as the cocktail of emotions a first crush could deliver: excitement, nervousness, longing, and in John’s case, the irresistible call of forbidden fruit. He’d probably lain awake at night, too consumed by lust to sleep, hard and yearning for his would-be lover’s touch.

Heat pooled in Zack’s abdomen and radiated outward, warming his entire body. Speaking in a slow, seductive voice, Zack began setting the scene. “I was one of the first boys who ever caught your eye. Your parents forbade you from mingling with their employees’ children, and that made the groundskeeper’s son stand out to you even more. I went to work in the stables when I was fifteen. I was just a nameless groom, nothing special at first glance, but the more you watched me, the more your lust grew. I technically worked for you, after all. It was my job to take care of your horses, to tend to their every need, and in a way to tend to your needs as well. You watched how carefully I did my work, how much pride I took in pleasing you, how I glowed when you complimented me on a job well done. It started to consume you, the need to know how far I’d go to make you happy. But your parents would never approve. That made you want it even more.”

“Christ,” John moaned, sounding shattered. “Yes, God, how do you do that? It’s like you crawled inside my head.”

“I’m good at what I do,” Zack purred. “Now that we have the general idea, I want details. Tell me more about your early years and what you’d be wearing and anything else you can think of.”

“My family has owned a huge estate in the hills my entire life, and we’ve bred show horses for years. Also, you guessed correctly: if my parents had caught me consorting with one of the hired boys, they would have had a conniption. I would have been sent to military school at the very least.”

“The military probably wouldn’t want you, even if Don’t Ask Don’t Tell isn’t technically a thing anymore.”