by Ali Parker
"Up here to the right a bit," I told her.
I pulled up beside her and glanced over to watch her breasts bounce and her hips roll as her horse picked up speed. She got in front of me again and I unfastened my belt, releasing my pants and letting my erection spring free. I stroked it as I watched her, willing us to get to the creek faster.
As soon as we got to the bank of the creek, she turned her horse toward me. When she saw me, she bit down on her full bottom lip and nudged her horse forward so that she sidled up to my side. Her hand reached over and joined mine, brushing across the tip of my erection and sending a shiver down through my body. I had spent so much time concentrating on her during our first encounter that she hadn't gotten the chance to reciprocate, but she seemed more than willing to make up for that now as the tip of her tongue slicked across her lips, and I saw a flush redden her chest.
"Share?" she asked, lifting her eyes to mine.
I nodded, and she maneuvered herself so that she faced me. I slipped backward slightly, and she leaned forward, running her tongue up the underside of my shaft. The movement made my hand fall away, and I groaned, tilting my head back and closing my eyes as I savored the feeling of her warm, soft tongue lavishing me with precise, worshipful attention. When she finally opened her mouth and took me in, I drew in a sharp breath, sitting up to look down at her. Gathering her hair in my hand, I gently guided her pace so that her mouth glided across me in fast, deep strokes.
Suddenly she withdrew my shaft from her lips and slid off of the side of her horse.
"Where are you going?" I gasped.
"Come get me," she said and took off running toward the creek.
She ran on the balls of her feet, bounding with grace and confidence over the grass until she reached the edge of the water, and then waded in. The rushing water only came to her ribs at its deepest point, but she bent her knees to dip down further so that it covered her shoulders. I jumped down off of the horse and ran down to the edge of the water. She turned to me with the water streaming down around her, and for a moment, I stood there and admired how beautiful she was.
Though I had always seen how pretty she was, even through the grit and tomboy image, it had hit me unexpectedly when I realized after so many years of not spending time together how truly beautiful she had become as an adult. Now as the sun shone down on her, sparkling against the water on her skin and making her eyes seem to glow, it was unmistakable. She smiled back at me with a mixture of calm confidence and something hidden, like she held back secret thoughts she couldn’t wait to share. As she watched me, I shed the rest of my clothes and stepped down into the water with her.
I shivered slightly at the chill of the water, but I wasn't going to stop as she turned the rest of the way around and opened her arms to me. I made my way through the water and stepped into her arms, wrapping mine around her waist and gathering her up against me. Her wet, warm body felt lush against me, and I nuzzled her closer to feel her skin slip across mine. I dipped my head down to touch my mouth to hers, encouraging her to part her lips so that I could slip my tongue in across hers and explore her mouth. As I kissed her, I brought my hand around her hip and dipped it between her thighs, finding her already slick and warm. She whimpered into my mouth as I drew my fingers between her folds and massaged my fingertip pads into her tight clit.
"So wet," I murmured against her lips.
She smiled. "I am standing in a creek," she teased.
I slipped my fingers back down and plunged them into her, causing her breath to catch and her body to press harder against me, her fingertips digging into my shoulders. I pushed deeper, and she gasped, dropping her head to my shoulder and biting into my skin.
"Is that the only reason?" I whispered gruffly into her ear.
She shook her head and then dragged her tongue from my shoulder up to my ear sending tiny prickles across my entire body. Her hands lowered over my back and grabbed my ass, yanking me up until I was pressed tightly against her.
"I want to taste you now." I swept her up so that her legs wrapped around my waist and walked backward into a shallower part of the creek. Giving her another deep kiss, I lowered her back to her feet and turned her around. Placing one hand on her upper back and the other on her hip, I bent her forward until her hands hit a massive rock embedded in the bank. The position presented her to me, and I took a moment to enjoy the view, running my hand down her back and then through her core.
She arched her back and moaned at my touch, making her irresistible. I slipped three fingers in, and she cried out at suddenly being filled. Running my other hand down her thigh, I lifted her leg so that she propped her foot on the rock, and pushed my fingers deeper. The water rushed around our thighs, creating a contrast in temperature against the heat of our bodies that sent a chill through me.
I withdrew and licked my slick fingers, tasting her honey. It was sweeter than peaches, and I dipped my head and captured her silky bud gently with my teeth. Then I crushed my mouth against her velvety folds, lapping greedily and feeling a certain satisfaction as she writhed around me.
Lauralee gave a deep sigh as I slipped my fingers back inside her. I heard her sounds getting higher and more frantic as I worked her with my mouth and fingers. She toppled over the edge, her body gripping me tightly as her juices soaked my fingers and spilled into my palm.
I held her closer against me, gathering the sounds pouring from her throat with my kiss until her body relaxed and the tremors stopped. Suddenly, she pulled away from me, withdrawing my fingers from her so that she could turn around and sit on the rock. She grabbed my hips and pulled me forward to stand between her thighs. I groaned as she took me in her mouth again, my eyes closing and my head falling back as the masterful glide of her lips and swirl of her tongue immediately sent me rocketing toward orgasm.
"Lolly," I moaned, trying to ease her head away from me. "My Lolly," I said again, more insistently.
She tightened her grip on my thighs and sucked with greater intensity, making her intention very clear. Within seconds my body contracted and waves of overwhelming pleasure rolled over me as I spilled into her mouth. She gave a happy sigh and swallowed deeply, then pulled her mouth slowly off of my relaxing erection, cleaning me with her lips and tongue until my knees began to shake.
I lowered down to kneel in front of her and leaned forward to kiss her neck. Something built in my chest, but I couldn't bring myself to say the words. I compensated by kissing downward along her breasts and then up her neck until she wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. I pulled her off the rock and into my arms, cuddling her close to me as I walked back into the deeper area of the creek and dipped down to rinse us both off.
We stood in the water for a few minutes, me gently swaying her through the water and her running her fingers along my back and her lips along my neck. Her body was limp and pliable in my arms, and she occasionally let out a soft cooing sound. Finally, she lifted her head and looked at me.
"We should probably get dressed. Your family won't be gone forever." She drew tiny circles on my chest.
I made a reluctant sound and kissed her. "I wish we could stay here the rest of the day."
"Me, too."
"Do you remember when we were little and we used to have backyard sleepovers?"
She made a lazy moan of affirmation. “Those were fun.”
"We should have another one soon."
She gave a soft little giggle and kissed me again. "You'll have to ask your mama for permission. She was always pretty strict about that."
I nodded and nuzzled her nose. We both sighed, knowing that we had to end these perfect moments together and go back to the real world. I carried her slowly to the bank and lowered her to her feet. We dressed and climbed back on our horses, turning them so that we headed back toward the front of the ranch.
As we rode, I noticed that she wriggled slightly in her saddle. "Are you OK?" I asked.
"I’m fine, even if I’m a little mor
e sensitive now."
I smiled. "Well, that’s a good thing. It means you get to think about me every time you ride today."
Chapter 8
Lauralee
"I heard that she took a lot of breaking in."
The strange male voice coming from the barn made me stop. I crept up closer to the wall of the barn and eased forward. I heard Ted laugh and I scooched myself forward a little further. I hadn't seen Ted yesterday, which made me eager to see him again, but he had been difficult to track down all morning. Mason had finally told me I could find him in one of the far horse barns. Now I stood outside, listening to his conversation with a man I couldn't place.
"Yeah, she wasn't the most experienced thing when she first got here, but I taught her a thing or two. I like my girls that way. Nice and moldable. It makes it easy to show them exactly how you want things done. Rather than having to deal with one who thinks that she knows what she's doing, when it’s causing you more frustration than anything. There are some that have come along that I would rather take care of things myself than deal with trying to train them."
My breath caught in my throat. He spoke about me. He was in the middle of telling some guy that he trained me to service him properly. I took one step into the barn, slipping around the side wall, so I was concealed by a support beam but close enough to hear the conversation better.
"I can feel you on that," the guy said. "There's nothing worse than doing everything you can to take care of her and then have her bite you or get too enthusiastic and buck you off."
"Well, I don't have that problem anymore. She's smooth, silky, and never, ever uses her teeth. She's the best investment I've made in a long time. Worth every penny."
Both men laughed, and a coil of nausea rolled through me. I felt so stupid for having let him manipulate me like all those girls I had pitied for so long. I had let him tap into all of my fantasies and insecurities, and then damn it if I didn't let him tap me. Twice. Oh, god.
I backed out of the barn, hoping that he didn't see me, hoping that I could run until I disappeared into the ranch and never have to look back. I made it out and took off running, trying to see through the tears that burned in my eyes as I crossed the field toward my parents' house. Within a few seconds, I could hear heavy boot steps behind me as Ted chased me. He must have seen me as I tried to make my escape, and he was now attempting to gloss over that whole suggestion that I'm little more than a prostitute who happens to be able to take care of cows.
At least he gave me credit for being able to multitask. They weren't exactly the job skills that I would list on the next resume that I had to fill out, which would be soon since I was not going to spend another minute working for him. But from what I had heard from some of his other conquests, that little bit of recognition was far more than he usually offered the women he slept with.
Suddenly, the hurt and the sadness gave way to fury. I stopped and whirled around to face him. Ted looked startled at my movement and skidded to a stop a few feet away from me.
"How dare you?" I demanded.
"What? I saw you sneaking out of the barn, and I thought I would come see if you were OK. You are terrible at being stealthy, by the way."
"Oh, so I guess I'm not worth as much as you thought, am I? Or is it that being stealthy isn't one of the qualifications you expect in your 'girls'?"
I spat the words at him, but at that point, I was so angry that a little bit of projectile saliva was only going to work to underscore my fury.
"What in the living hell are you talking about?" he asked. "I was in there talking to the vet, and I saw you sneak out of the barn and run away, which brings us to here. Somehow, I think I missed a major part of whatever incident has thrown you into this particular stage of crazy."
"The vet?" I hissed incredulously. "You have so little regard for anyone's feelings that you tell your vet about all of your conquests?"
"Ok, seriously, Lolly. I'm not following any of this."
The use of my special name angered me. "I heard you in there talking about me. You two were laughing it up while you were telling him that I didn't have a lot of experience when I first came to you, but that you trained me up fine and now I wasn't giving you any problems. You were talking about me like a fucking horse—oh my god, you were talking about a horse."
I covered my eyes with my hand and turned my back to him.
"Yes, I was talking about my horse. What the hell is wrong with you?"
Now that I understood he hadn't been calling me a skillfully trained prostitute, but that I had fallen off the deep end because of him, I started crying even harder. I tried to get ahold of myself, fighting back the tears and trying to square my shoulders so I could turn around to face him. This was not becoming of a ranch hand.
"I thought you were talking about me," I finally said, feeling like a complete jackass. "I thought you were saying that I was worth every penny."
Ted's hands came to my shoulders and applied pressure as he tried to turn me around. I resisted, but he pulled more insistently until I finally turned around to face him.
"Why would I say something like that about you?" he asked, his eyes looking genuinely hurt and concerned as he gazed at me.
Good lord, he was beautiful. It was like he had just sprouted right on out of the ground along with the wheat and the corn. He was so perfect. He could be the bottom of my food pyramid any day.
"Lauralee?"
His voice snapped me out of my musing, and I wiped a tear away from my cheek.
"Because you see girls as disposable. You always have."
"I don't see girls as disposable."
"Yes, you do. Ask anyone. And you’ve never wanted me since what happened at prom. Hell, you’re not even sorry about that. I don't know which is worse, the fact that you go through girls like drag queens go through duct tape or the fact that you never wanted me to be one of them. That you couldn’t even apologize to me for all that happened. You just up and moved right on to the next. My heart was broken, Ted."
"I’ve always wanted you. And before you go blaming me for what happened, might I remind you that you never apologized to me. You were so mad you weren’t getting your way, that you up and went off with another guy. So don’t blame me. You stepped out on me."
“What? I stepped out on you? Andy was Bailey’s friend. It wasn’t more than that, and I would have gone with you if you hadn’t been so stubborn.” Anger boiled in my blood, and I couldn’t believe that all this time he thought I had stepped out on him? It was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. “If that’s how you felt, why didn’t you talk to me? Instead, you ruined my prom dress and nearly broke my tailbone.”
“And if I had talked to you, you still would have gone out with him because I wasn’t going to that stupid damned dance! I offered you a date, but what I had to offer wasn’t good enough for you. You wouldn’t have fallen down if you hadn’t tried to stop the fight.”
“There shouldn’t have been a fight.”
“There shouldn’t have been another guy.”
The words were spoken so close to my face I could feel the warmth of his breath. That warmth and closeness had been such a turn on before, and now it slapped me like he’d used his hand. He blamed me. All this time that I thought he had too much pride to humble himself. He wasn’t humble at all. He had thought it was my fault all along. I didn’t know what to say. I pulled my gloves from my back pocket so I could get to work.
“Look, I’m sorry about everything. I didn’t come back here expecting any of this to happen. Not us, not the sex, not the creek, none of it. I wanted to help your family, but at the same time I needed the job too.”
He shook his head. “I surely don’t need any of this shit, Lauralee. I’ve got enough on my plate, and I don’t need you telling me what a shitty person I am and throwing my past at me. The reason I wanted your brother was so he could help me get our computer system up and running. I didn’t take you on with any plan to make you like all the r
est. But I wouldn’t expect you to believe me. You used to say you saw more in me. Guess you lied.”
As he walked away my heart sank. As mad as I was at him, I couldn’t help but feel responsible for how things had turned out. And when I thought we were making progress, I had to go and throw his past at him. No one deserves that. But then again, he did throw in the fact that he preferred my brother. I could have told him about how I am the one who set up our system and the one who had trained my father and brother on the program, but he’d been too busy putting me in my place to listen. I was too upset to work. I stripped off my gloves and headed back home.
Chapter 9
Ted
I hadn’t even finished my morning coffee when I saw her coming. She marched through the connecting gate between our properties, and I was about to send her heading in the other direction. She’d left us hanging yesterday, and despite the fact that she’d walked a good six minutes across her yard to mine, I had no problem sending her ass back home. I leaned against the porch railing and watched her approach.
She had that same look of determination as last time I saw her, and I wasn’t in any mood for a fight. She straightened her shirt, which had ridden up with the sway of her hips, and I tried not to be too distracted by her curves or the memories of how much pleasure she’d given me.
“What are you doing here?” I put my mug to my lips and took a long draw of hot liquid into my mouth and down my throat as she stammered for a response.
“I—I feel awful about what happened between us, and I very much want to help. Truth is, Ted, I need the money. Daddy keeps me on a strict budget, and I’d like to have some earnings he can’t touch. Please.”
The word sent a chill through me. I never expected to hear her say it, and it tugged my heartstrings that she had. It had to mean a lot to her, and quite honestly, after fighting for so long to get her to talk to me, much less have sex with me, I wasn’t ready to let her go. I took another sip and then poured my coffee to the ground. Not meeting her eyes, I said, “Get to work.” I sent her out to the back forty with Luke and then managed to avoid her for most of the day. It didn’t mean she wasn’t in the forefront of my brain though. She wasn’t an easy girl to shake, and I understood why. She wasn’t like the others that had come and gone in my life. She meant something to me. More than I was willing to admit. But I was still mad at her, and that feeling wasn’t passing anytime soon. Hell, the last grudge had gone on for nearly six years. Another day was nothing.
