Lauren Read online

  “I’ve got you. You’re safe now. Are you hurt?” His words were fast and sure.

  Her teeth chattered. “I don’t think so.”

  “Come out here into the sun. Let me see.” He bent and picked her up as if she were a child.

  It felt awesome to be cradled in his arms. She still had a death grip on his shirt and it dangled down. He turned her through the patch of trees and they came out into a meadow’s grassy edge. He lay her down gently, kneeling first, then draping her out. Stiff grass stems prickled at her back and neck and she grimaced.

  “Where does it hurt?”

  Focusing on more important things, she touched her forehead.

  He took her hand and pulled it away. “Yes, you have a big egg starting there already and a small abrasion, but no cut.” His hands coasted down her cheeks, throat, down her arms, then came back and went right over her chest, businesslike, passing over her belly and hips. He paused. “Here?”

  She could feel his warm touch on the side of one rib, and knew her suit was ripped. “It feels sore. My shins sting.”

  “You’ve got some small cuts and scrapes there.” His palms swept down her thighs and his fingertips dabbled gently down to her feet. “Nothing that will need stitches.” He came up to her side and clasped her hand.

  She held on hard, grateful. “Thank you. Thank you so much for helping.” The sky was insanely blue. It hurt her eyes.

  “I’m really ticked at you right now, Lauren.”

  “I really can’t handle that right now, Walt,” she retorted shakily.

  He planted his nose right in front of hers. His tanned face was wonderful. His damp hair stood up every which way. His colorful eyes sparkled from their narrowed slits, and his slightly scruffy jaw clenched tight. “You let go of that rock on purpose.”

  “I didn’t need you in the river, too.”

  His hands surrounded her icy ones with warmth. His thumbs pressed gently on her wrists. Leaning in close over her face, he searched her eyes. “You endangered yourself to protect me.”

  She licked her lips. Aches were starting to spring up everywhere. “I guess. You couldn’t save me if you were drowning, too.”

  He shook his head. Despite her filthy state, his lips touched hers, feather light. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

  “That sounds good.” She was dizzy.

  “Do you think I should go get medics to bring you in on the backboard?”

  She grimaced. “Let’s get me up first and test standing.”

  Standing turned out to be okay and she walked a few shaky steps. “I think I’m fine, Walt.”

  “Okay. Good. Then I’ll carry you in.” He swung her up in his arms and she held onto his neck and shoulders.

  “Can you carry me the whole way over?”

  “I’ll stop and rest if I have to.”

  But he didn’t. Because he’d swum the river to get to her, they had to ford across where she’d first met him. They both walked that part, holding hands and placing their feet firmly with each step, even though the river was so wide here that the current was much slower. They didn’t take any chances, and she liked that he didn’t mind about how slow she went. Before they left the water, she splashed off the mud and cobwebs from her face. She walked the short bit up to her cabin and as she minced over the stones and warm dusty dirt she realized Walt’s bare feet were bleeding.

  He saw her notice and merely said, “We’re almost there.”

  At her cabin she got the key and they both went in. Walt called the main lodge. She showered on her own, despite his offer to help, and the medics were there by the time she got out. While they checked her over on the bed, he showered.

  That’s how they were both in fluffy white robes, outfitted with bandages and ice packs, when everyone left. They sat side by side on the edge of her bed. The room was dark because night had fallen. Only the bathroom light was on. Sounds of a band filtered through the cabin walls.

  “You’re missing your hoedown,” Lauren mused softly. “And I really wanted to dance with you.”

  “I don’t mind at all. This is about perfect, right here. Do you still want to go?”

  “No way. I’m not sure I could even walk to the barn now.”

  They held hands, constantly tracing over each others’ skin. His were callused and scarred. Hers were soft and smooth. She never wanted to let go of him. He was a hero. He was real. The spark of connection that had flared between them at the river was now a strong cable of attraction.

  “Could you ever be happy living in the mountains?” he asked quietly.

  She shrugged, her heart swelling like a bright balloon of joy. “I’ve only been here a day, but everything about them has impressed.”

  “I need a business manager. The one I’ve had the last four years is pregnant with her second and has given me five months notice. But Sharon’s been more of a partner. She does PR and helps on the farm if I’m shorthanded, too. I’ve been trying to figure out how to advertise for her position, or maybe hire a few part time people to do all her duties.”

  “I don’t know a thing about llamas.” She stroked up the crinkly hairs on his forearm, then smoothed them down again. Everything about him was a tactile magnet. “And is it good to mix business with a really new and really personal relationship?”

  “I don’t see how I can hope to develop one without giving you a reason to be out here beside me. I absolutely can be professional with you during the day and woo you at night, and you’d always be able to leave if things don’t work out.” He gestured toward the sounds of the party. “And you know Sorrel, so maybe you wouldn’t even stay at my ranch, but here. That would give you some distance, maybe make you feel safer.”

  She giggled. “I could ride to work every day. On a horse.”

  He patted her thigh. “Don’t go getting ahead of yourself. But if you worked hard, and if I accompanied you, yeah, within a few weeks you could.”

  “You don’t think I could do it?” She got ready to get indignant.

  “Horses take a lifetime of experience, and mountain weather is as changeable as the sea. Yes, I know you can do it, but it would be awhile before I’d be able to live with myself letting you do it alone.”

  “You’re kinda old-fashioned, Walt.”

  He nodded. “I know it. You can work on me. But this has nothing to do with you being a woman. It has to do with you putting yourself in danger in order to be employed with me.

  “If you really wanted to ride over, you need to know horses’ personalities, abilities, injuries, and tack inside and out. Then there’s all the wildlife and how to counter them. We’ve got rattlers, bears, cougar, elk, bighorn up near the pass, coyote, even wolves now. Besides that you’ll know a bit about plant lore and how to survive a summer blizzard, and find your way in fog, and—”

  “I’d love to learn all that.” She turned more fully to face him, drawing one leg up on the bed.

  He took a huge breath and let it out long and slow. Then he lifted his face up to hers. “As long as I live, I will never forget the look on your face when I was about to leap out to you and you let go of that rock. It was the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me.”

  Her cheeks burned. “I was in a creek. I think we’ve blown this a bit out of proportion.”

  He drew one finger along her sore jaw, tracing the emerging bruise. “Don’t you put it down like that. You could’ve died. What you did was a brave, noble thing. I liked you before, but now, I feel like if I don’t get to step out with you as my woman, I’ll be missing the biggest opportunity of my life.”

  He drew her forward into a hug. She hugged him back, staring wide-eyed at the cabin walls, stunned at the depth of his regard. “Oh, Walt. You know how we were almost kissing? But you said you wanted to wait?”

  He laughed and nodded against the crown of her head. />
  “I’m ready to step out with you, but it’s not enough. In my imagination, we’re going straight to making love.”

  He held himself very still.

  “Not very old-fashioned, huh?” She wondered if she’d shocked him.

  His hands snagged her shoulders and shoved. Bouncing on the bed, she stared at him, mouth hanging loose, while he stood at the side and fisted his hands. “Tell me again.”

  She swallowed. “I want to make love with you.”

  “Give me permission to take the lead.”

  She smiled, wide and shaky. “Okay.” She held up one hand. “Come love with me.”

  He dropped the robe from his body. “Be sure, River Fairy, because for me this isn’t a fuck, and this isn’t play, and this isn’t just sex.”

  Lauren just about melted with awe.

  “If I get on this bed, I’m going to love you.”

  It was a promise, an oath. His erection was long, straight, and lifting high.

  She pulled her own robe free with frantic hands. “Come on down here, Centaur. I want your love.”

  He started at her feet. Kissing her arches and her ankles, he breathed warm air over her boo-boos and spent a long time kissing her knee. Taking her hips, he flipped her over onto her belly, and spent even longer kissing the back of her other knee. Then he straddled her thighs and palmed her cheeks, squeezing hard.

  “Are you an ass-man?” She laughed into the pillow.

  “Hell, yeah.” But then his fingers coasted softly up her spine. His hands settled on her shoulders, and he pressed with his weight.

  She softened, relaxing. The massage began with strong sweeps of his thumbs, and curling fingertips that plucked at knots she didn’t know she had. The heat of him sank deep into her bones perfectly.

  But even as he soothed her back, her hips continued to squirm. His balls rested below her ass on her thighs, and when he leaned far over her, she could feel the brush of his erection along her crease. By the time he’d worked back down to her ass, she was dripping with need. “I want to touch you,” she pleaded.

  “All right.” He dismounted and rolled her back over. “Anything you ask, I’ll provide.”

  The room spun, but not from the movement. He was magnificent. Lying down alongside her, he put one hand on her belly and leaned in to kiss her. Hovering just over her lips he said, “You’ve got a few minutes to kiss me, and then I’m going to finish you.”

  His warning zinged right to her toes. His lips moved on hers while his hand idly kneaded her tummy. Her hands reached for his shoulders, massaging and petting with as much coordination as she could muster while his mouth kept sweeping over and into hers.

  He was so warm, so hard, yet he kissed her so softly. His kisses were intense, and her fingers fumbled over his nipples, toyed through his chest hair, and stroked his throat with increasingly frantic desire.

  When he pulled away from her and straddled her thighs this time, she was a shivering wreck. “Condoms are in my bag. I’ll go get them,” she said breathlessly.

  “We won’t need them.” He planted one hand on each side of her torso. “But I’m glad you want me that much.”

  “I insist we use them.” She ended on a squeak as he bent to suck the tip of one breast into his mouth.

  “I insist we wait before we fuck. Tonight, I just want to love you. And it’s just what I imagined. Magic. This is so much better than I’ve ever had.”

  He moved to the other breast, nipping the slope of this one, then tonguing the valley between them.

  “Wait?” she wailed, clasping his head close, pulling on his hair then gripping his skull. “You want to wait?”

  He kissed her breasts silly. Over and over he lapped across them, plucking her swollen nipples with his lips, lashing the slight swells with his tongue. His beard was coming in and it scoured her skin, adding to the fire.

  He sat up higher on his knees, crawling up over her body until he straddled her belly and his knees at her shoulders prevented him from coming any closer.

  “Touch me?” he begged.

  She clasped him eagerly, staring in awe at his hard face looking down at her. He moaned and flinched, clearly struggling to be still. His body was one long flat plain, and her fingers went wild on his balls, his scratchy nest, and his thick base. She was frantic, almost rough with those bits, but when she trailed up to the round, delicious crown of him, her touch barely breathed across the baby-soft skin. Ever so gently, she petted the tight, wet tip of him.

  “Why are you holding back?” she asked. “I want to make love to you.”

  He shook his head. “Not yet, you don’t. But I want to make love to you. I am. And you’re accepting me. It’s not about intercourse with me. I’m loving you, Lauren, and you’re feeling it, and it’s so rare. Thank you.” Dismounting, he prowled down between her knees.

  When he swung her shaking thighs wide, she moaned. “Oh, no. Oh, God.”

  He chuckled, and laid himself out on his belly, pushing her even wider. “Yeah, baby. Just feel me lovin’ you.”

  She strained her hands down toward him, but he lifted his head away. Clasping her hand, he squeezed her fingers, then pushed them away.

  “Hold onto the headboard if you need to.” She clasped her damp breasts instead, and he licked his lips. “That works, too.”

  Then his hands pressed her folds open with a kind of tender softness that made tears spring to her eyes. Blinking, she stared at the ceiling while his tongue scalded a slow motion circle around her clit.

  “Give me one to start, Lauren. I’ve gone slow. I know you’re ready.”

  He blew on her, then pressed in tight and began to lick her firm and fast.

  Her lungs stopped first. Her hands froze second, immobilized by the lunging pleasure. Her toes curled, and her back arched. He drove in even harder, tongue grinding over her aching nub, and she cried out with the spiraling thrill.

  He didn’t stop. Her hands scraped on the rough-hewn wood of the headboard. Her thighs closed tight around his skull, but he just thrust harder against her mound, his tongue undulating, his mouth sucking, his stubbled cheeks scraping, his fingers easing into her channel, stretching her. She shrieked like a banshee, shock locking her spine while her head thrashed. Her blood burned and her heart melted.

  “Breathe, baby fairy mine. C’mon. There ya go.” He coaxed her back into the world with gentle encouragement.

  She slumped, sweat pouring from her, body thrumming, splayed loose. Lifting her head to look down at him, she met his gaze. The colors in his eyes had settled into an intense emerald. Treasure, she thought dimly.

  His face was etched into hard lines, which made his soothing words that much more powerful. “Someday we’ll fuck and it will be good. But I’ve never been farther from wanting that. You could just lie out before me like this every night, and I’ll never get bored discovering your beautiful soul. The way you touched my cock, it was so sweet. You treated it like it was me, not some toy to use. I’m touching you the same way. This is you, Lauren.”

  He fluttered his fingers deeper into her vagina, then stroked out to the tips and back in. “This is me touching you.”

  He dipped back down and licked over her, little hard flicks with the tip of his tongue while he pumped his hand against her.

  She was crying and coming, bucking and twisting. He nipped her pulsing clit and she thought she’d fly to the moon. He sucked at her vagina, drinking in her juices with noisy slurping swallows. His slippery grip settled on her clit and slowly, surely, closed down on it, tighter, harder.

  She shattered, sprawling into a twitching mass across the bed.

  He thumbed circles up both sides of her labia, massaging her puffy folds. Cascading back down, he drove both thumbs into her and pulled her stingingly wide, blowing across her clit.

  She screamed, fists pounding on t
he bed.

  “One more.” His thumbs worked aching circles inside her.

  Brain spinning from the touch, from his hot breath, from his heavy shoulders pinning her thighs wide, she throbbed with something close to pain. The flat of his tongue settled against her and drew up, slow, slow, firm, and when the tip flicked off, she broke.

  There is no sound when your heart stops beating. She stayed locked, pleasure blasting through every pore.

  Then he was up alongside her and holding her in strong arms, one leg wrapped over both of hers. She clung to him, pressing in tight to his fuzzy chest, struggling to breathe. When her body settled, she sighed.

  “Watch your feet,” he said with a slurred, satisfied bass rumble. “There’s a hell of a wet spot at the end of the bed from me.”

  She smiled and pressed kisses into his throat. “I’m glad you got something out of it. I feel positively decadent. Cowboy, you’re one amazing lover.”

  “Glad you enjoyed it, ma’am.”

  She smacked him on the shoulder. “Sheesh! Such manners even now!”

  He squeezed her. She loved it. She was very astonished that she might just love him.

  “Lauren, I’ve no right to ask, but would you be willing to put your city life on hold and come on out here? I can’t pay you half of what you likely make now, but I can help you find an incredible cabin with soul-lifting views.”

  He gave her a crooked grin and raised his eyebrows. With mock excitement he said, “Llamas are awful cute, you know.”

  She laughed. “Walt.” Climbing up onto her knees, she smoothed some of the sweat from his temples, pushing back his hair. “I do believe I have a sudden craving to learn how to run a small business, how to saddle a horse and how to find my way in foggy mountains. I want to know how to hoedown and I definitely want to get my hands all over a scorching hot llama rancher.”

  She leaned in and whispered, “I want you. Your ranch. Your mountains. Your hands on me. Cowboy, I think we were meant to be. I’m going to put in my three weeks’ notice tomorrow morning. I’d be happy to accept your offer of employment.”

  He squeezed her again, for a longer time.