by Jake Logan
“There are tomatoes! Very good.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. It seems to work, so let’s just leave it at that. How on earth would you come up with a recipe like that anyway?”
“It started as a way to punish those lazy workers I told you about,” she admitted. “The more awful things I poured in, the more good it seemed to do. Finally, I hit upon something that honestly did the trick.”
“Must have taken a lot of trial and error.”
“There’s no shortage of drunkards in Dodge City.”
“Well, thanks to your tonic,” he said while handing back the cup, “I am no longer one of them. Back to work for me.”
“Good. Anything else I can get for you?”
“I learned my lesson with the first thing you got for me, but thanks all the same.”
“The marshal had nothing but good things to say about you, John. Anything else I needed to know, you told me just by honoring your promise to come back and do some work for me. At least, that’s all I need to know for today.”
When he looked at her, Slocum felt even less foggy behind the eyes. They shared a quiet moment before she turned around and left once again through the side door. As if sensing his eyes were still upon her, she stopped and said, “One more thing, John.”
“What’s that?”
“If you can’t afford a bath, I’ve got a tub you can use.”
“Much obliged.”
“Don’t mistake that for kindness either,” she added. “The stink coming off of you is making the horses nervous.”
4
Slocum returned to the Dodge House a few hours later. Since he’d already been covered in dirt, blood, and dust, he figured a healthy layer of sweat wouldn’t make much difference. When he left the Lucky Days, the horses were brushed and most of the stalls were clean. Now that Anne’s putrid tonic had worked its way through his system like acid through a set of rusty pipes, he was starving. There was still work to be done, but she didn’t have any problem with letting him get back to it later. And as the sun drew closer to the western horizon, Slocum wanted to be certain everything was in place for dealing with Cameron and his hired guns.
Slocum was out to do more than just reclaim his stolen possessions. Dodge City wasn’t just any cow town. It was a point on the map written in bold letters that stood out to everyone from ranchers and land barons to gamblers, killers, and thieves. There were already enough men who knew about Slocum’s reputation. Some gave him a wide berth on account of all the men he was rumored to have gunned down, and others sought him out to avenge the real blood debts. Still others hunted him because killing any man with Slocum’s reputation would serve to build up their own name. If he was bushwhacked like a common drunk in Dodge City, word would spread quicker than wildfire and more men would come after him like wolves after catching a whiff of fresh meat. That simply couldn’t be allowed. More important, men like Cameron, Milt, or Fitz couldn’t be given bragging rights of that magnitude.
The woman behind the front desk in the Dodge House’s lobby was a younger girl whom Slocum had seen only once before. Although he couldn’t think of her name, she seemed to recognize him well enough. Her eyes snapped open wide and she drew a quick breath to address him the moment he was close enough to hear her voice. “Good day to you, Mr. Slocum,” she said.
“Hello. I’m—”
“Here for your bath, no doubt,” the girl interrupted. “I was told to get it ready the moment you arrived.” She’d already grabbed her master key and was headed for the stairs before she turned back around and asked, “Would you like it now?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Good,” she said with a smile. “I’ll come to collect you when it’s ready. Shouldn’t be a moment. Will you be waiting in the saloon?”
“No, I don’t even want to look at a bottle of whiskey right now. I think I’ll step into my room for a spell.”
“All right. We have a first-class laundry if you’d like to get your clothes cleaned along with the rest of you.”
Already heading for the stairs, Slocum said, “Think I’ll just go up to my room, if it’s all the same to you.”
She pulled in a short breath and did a bad job at hiding the distaste that came along with it. “You really might want to consider using our laundry. I mean, seeing as how you’ll be scrubbing up and all.”
Slocum brought his sleeve up to his nose and took another whiff. “You’re right. I’ll send these clothes down as soon as I’m out of them. If you can’t remedy the foul smell, feel free to burn them.”
That brought a brighter smile to her face as she rushed away to attend to some other bit of important business.
Slocum’s room was number 42, and he went to it without having to think much about where he was going. After climbing up and down the stairs enough times when he’d been drinking or gambling, his feet knew the way. It wasn’t often he came to Dodge City, but his visits were always eventful. This time around, he’d treated himself to a room in the town’s finest hostelry, which he’d paid for during a run of good luck at the card tables his first night in town. He was already all too familiar with how that luck had turned, and he braced himself for another round of bad news as he reached out to take hold of the handle of the door to Room 42.
Fitting his key into the lock, he imagined varying scenes of upended furniture, clothes scattered about, and whatever remained of his possessions lying on the floor. What he got was a neatly tended room, a bed made up with fresh linens, a basin of clean water on one of the dressers, frilly curtains on the window, and the few possessions he’d brought to town stacked right where he’d left them. His saddlebag was draped over one chair, and a spare set of clothes was folded upon its seat.
Now that he saw the little room, Slocum felt silly for his initial fears. Cameron and his hired guns may have been back-shooting thieves, but there was no reason they’d be interested in stealing another man’s clothes. Cameron had won most of the cash from Slocum’s pockets as well as the horse he’d ridden in on. Besides that, the Dodge House had a reputation to maintain which wasn’t served very well if they made it easy for heavy-handed thieves to get into any of the upstairs rooms.
His foul-smelling clothes came off him like a skin that wasn’t quite ready to be shed. His shirt stuck to his back. His jeans scraped against his legs and he needed to sit upon the edge of his bed in order to pull his boots off his feet. He’d just slipped into a robe that had been hanging on a hook next to the bed when a small set of knuckles rapped against his door. Cinching the robe shut, Slocum crossed the room and opened the door.
The girl from the front desk showed him her usual smile, but her eyes widened and she pulled in a quick breath when she got a look at his bare chest beneath the open folds of the robe. “Your bath is ready,” she said.
Since her eyes were still wandering south of his face, he asked, “Care to join me?”
Judging by the rise of her eyebrows and the tone of her laugh, that may not have been such an improbable notion. “I need to get back downstairs, Mr. Slocum. The bathroom is right down this hall on the left. If there’s anything else you need, please let me know.”
Once she turned around, Slocum was able to watch the sway of her hips and the inviting way her dress rustled against her backside. “I most certainly will,” he said to himself.
The carpeting of the hallway felt soft beneath feet that had become accustomed to either slapping against packed earth or being stuffed into a pair of stirrups. The subdued lighting thrown off by lamps fixed to the wall was welcomed by a pair of eyes that had become almost permanently narrowed due to an unforgiving prairie sun. By the time he reached the bathroom, Slocum was in positively good spirits. Those only improved when he opened the door to find his tub situated in a stall that was revealed by a curtain that had been pulled aside. He knew it was his tub for two reasons. First of all, it was the only one filled with steaming hot water. Second, the woman
lying naked within that hot water reached out with one hand to beckon for him to approach.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Estrella said.
Slocum locked the door behind him and then tugged at the ties of his robe as he crossed the room. “Hope it wasn’t for too long. I expect that to still be warm.”
“It is,” she replied while sitting up so her full, rounded breasts emerged from the water. “I thought you’d be here earlier.”
“I’ve been tending to some business.”
“Well, I’ve got some business I’ve been meaning to tend to.” With that, she climbed out of the tub. Water flowed over skin that was darkened by the sun as well as her Mexican heritage. The fine lines of her body were accented by rivulets that flowed over large, dark nipples to trace lines down her flat stomach all the way to the thatch of hair between her legs. Every step she took made her breasts sway and her hips twitch. By the time she was close enough to touch him, Slocum was fully aroused.
“Is this part of the service offered to all hotel guests?” he asked.
Estrella’s fingers wrapped around his erection. The water on her skin allowed her hand to glide easily back and forth as she stroked him. “Only for ones as handsome as you.”
“So I’m not the first man you’ve surprised like this? Perhaps I should be offended by that,” Slocum said in a mocking tone.
“Then you can leave.” Estrella let him go and turned her back to Slocum as if she had every intention of gathering the dress that was heaped on a nearby stool and returning to her duties.
Slocum allowed his robe to drop to the floor and reached out to place his hands upon her hips. Although Estrella kept moving forward, she didn’t try very hard to escape his grasp. When Slocum pulled her close enough for his rigid pole to press against the curve of her buttocks, she responded with a surprised moan and reached back to slide one hand along the side of his face.
“Where do you think you’re goin’?” he asked.
“I’m not a whore.”
“Never called you one.”
“What you said about me treating all of the guests this way is…” Her words trailed off when Slocum’s hands wandered from her hips to move along her sides and come around to cup her breasts. Closing her eyes, she leaned back against him and slowly ground herself against his stiff member.
Estrella’s body was smooth as silk, apart from her nipples, which were erect and hard against his touch. She was tall for a woman and within a few inches of Slocum’s height. Therefore, she matched up very well to him, and all she needed to do was open her legs a bit for his cock to slide between them. Her ass was firm and massaged him nicely as she and Slocum ground against each other. When he squeezed her breasts, she pulled in a deep breath, and when he pinched her nipples, she had to fight against squealing with delight.
“What’s the matter?” he whispered. “Don’t want to make too much noise?”
“I…am still working, you know,” she said in a voice that was colored by more of a Mexican accent than when she was fully composed.
“So the management frowns on this sort of thing?”
“I’d rather not find out.”
Slocum put his hands back onto her hips and pushed her forward a few steps. From the moment he’d seen the spark that had been in her eyes when he’d signed the Dodge House’s register, he knew this moment would come. Now that it was here, he positioned her in front of another bathtub and eased his cock between her thighs. She bent forward, grabbed on to the edge of the tub, and moved her feet apart to spread her legs for him. That way, he could enter her from behind while she held on to maintain her balance.
The instant Slocum found the lips of her pussy, he could feel her body tense. She was even wetter there than the rest of her body, which still dripped with hot water. Now that he was closer to her, he could smell the scented salts she must have put into the bath. That, along with the natural scent of her body, drifted through the air as he started pumping. Estrella grunted every time he thrust into her. When Slocum found his rhythm, she tossed her head back to send her black hair over her shoulders.
Slocum looked down to admire the curve of her hips and the slope of her back. Her hair was wet and clung to her in ropy strands. He savored the feel of her body wriggling between his palms as every inch of his cock glided in and out of her. When the mood struck him, he gripped her tighter and pounded into her harder. Estrella arched her shoulders and braced her legs to receive him.
“Dios mio,” she cried. “Delo a mi.”
She was begging for him to give it to her, and hearing the request in Spanish made Slocum want to honor it even more. Every time he drove into her, Estrella’s entire body trembled. Soon, the sound of their bodies coming together filled the room along with the moans that she tried so desperately to stifle. When Slocum pulled out of her, she let go of a breath as if she’d been holding it for days. Estrella spun around and came at him with fire in her eyes. Her hands pressed against his chest at the same time her lips pressed against his mouth. When Slocum once more grabbed her hips, she began gnawing impatiently on the side of his neck.
Before he could decide where to take her next, she pushed him with the same amount of urgency that he’d shown when getting her to the side of the tub. Estrella moved him to a high-backed chair that sat in the corner of the largest stall. It was padded with soft white cushions that felt good against his body as he allowed himself to drop down onto the decorative furniture. The moment he was settled, Estrella climbed on top of him to straddle his hips.
She spoke in a steady torrent of Spanish promises regarding what she intended on doing to him. Her voice was harsh and musky, reaching down to a primal part of him that was stimulated even more by the touch of her hand along the shaft of his cock. He felt his tip brush against her damp pussy before she lowered herself down onto him. From there, she wasted no time whatsoever before bracing her hands against his chest and riding him in a furious bucking motion.
“Damn, girl,” Slocum said as he tried to steady her. “You’re about to break this fancy chair!”
But Estrella didn’t care about that. She was completely absorbed in the act of riding him and probably couldn’t even hear what he said above the sound of her own voice. She closed her eyes and dug her fingernails into Slocum’s flesh while arching her back.
Since he wasn’t about to try and slow her down, Slocum cupped her backside in both hands and pounded his cock up into her. After just a few powerful thrusts, she leaned forward to place her hands upon the back of the chair on either side of Slocum’s head. That placed her close enough for him to kiss and lick the smooth slopes of her breasts while continuing to pump between her thighs.
Sweat mingled with the scented water beading upon her skin when she slowed down to a gentle rocking pace. Estrella looked down at him and said, “I wanted you inside me the first night you checked in.”
“You should’ve said something.”
“So should you.”
“Actions speak louder than words.”
“That is why I met you here today,” she said.
Slocum locked eyes with her, ran his hands along her thighs, and drove into her with solid, powerful movements. She grunted softly with each impact, placing her hands upon her breasts and rubbing herself as she was brought toward climax. Slocum could feel her pussy tightening around him and could see the expression on her face shifting as she gave herself over to the pleasure coursing through her body. As her groans became louder, he felt the tide within him start to build. She had to purse her lips shut tightly when he exploded inside her, barely maintaining enough control to keep from filling the bathroom with her passionate cries.
After taking a few seconds to catch her breath, Estrella climbed off him and went to the bathtub. “Your water is still warm,” she said while dipping her hand in to splash some of it onto her chest and neck.
“Considering how bad everyone thinks I smell, I’m surprised you were able to get so close to me.”
> “I like a man to smell like a man. You are like a wild animal between my legs.”
“Somehow I thought you might say something like that.” Slocum stood up and made his way to the only tub that had been filled. “Still, it’s high time for me to clean up.”
“I agree. Sometimes being like an animal is good. Other times…not so good.”
She stood in front of him, dripping and naked. Slocum wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the lips. After a few short seconds, he felt his body once more responding to her warmth. Estrella pulled away and picked up a nearby towel. “Don’t start something we can’t finish.”
“Oh, I can finish it all right.”
“But I can’t. If I don’t show my face downstairs soon, people will think I left early for the day. Not all of us can come and go as they please, you know.”
“I suppose being a transient does have its advantages,” Slocum chuckled.
Having mostly dried herself, Estrella turned to look at him while holding the towel against her breasts. “What was that?”
“Nothing,” Slocum said as he eased into the water. “Do whatever you need to do.”
All Estrella needed to do was get dressed and primp herself so it wasn’t too obvious what she’d been doing for the last several minutes. Slocum admired the view while settling his back against the rounded surface of the bathtub. In no time at all, she was ready to face the rest of the Dodge House. Estrella unlocked the door, peeked outside, and gave him a quick wave before ducking out and shutting the door behind her.
Slocum grinned wider than the cat that ate the canary. The water was still hot and did wonders to soothe his tired muscles. Soap cut through the dirt that had caked onto his skin, leaving him smelling more like a human being and less like a dog that had spent the last week and a half sleeping in a ditch.
5
The rest of the day went by so well that it was easy for Slocum to forget about what he had planned for the evening. After changing into his fresher set of clothes, he dropped the old ones off at the Dodge House’s laundry. The man working behind the counter there stood as if he had starch running through his veins and couldn’t guarantee that the clothes would only need to be run through once. Slocum left them in his hands and headed back to Anne’s stable. After cleaning out the stalls and moving several bales of hay, he still didn’t stink as bad as he had earlier that morning.
