Dalton relaxed under Everett’s gently exploring hands.
“You have the softest skin.” Everett kissed his shoulder then worked his way up to Dalton’s ear. Pulling the lobe into his mouth, he let go with a sigh. “And I swear you taste sweet.”
“Sweet?”
“Yeah. Not like sugar, but like...air. The way the air tastes in spring. Fresh, and a little warm, with a hint of heat to come.” That was what sparked him so hot about this man. There was fire in him. Even naked, Dalton looked city slick, but inside he was primitive, like the full-blown heat of summer.
“Do you like when the wind blows?” Dalton’s voice was very soft, almost as soft as his skin, and quiet, like the first few drops of a storm.
It was a curious question, but the way Dalton asked, the answer seemed deadly important to him. Everett kissed his neck while teasing his fingers around the very edge of his nipple without touching the most sensitive center.
“I like it when the wind blows.” Everett lifted his finger and lowered it to a fraction above one straining nipple. “Today the wind cooled the sweat on my brow.”
Dalton held his breath, waiting for contact. After a long time, Everett lowered his finger to his now sensitized nipple. Dalton gave a little jump, as if he’d been shocked, then he sighed and chuckled.
“When I first saw you across the fire, I thought you would be rough and dirty, almost cruel in your passion.” Dalton lifted his hands above his head in a show of submission. “But you’re not.”
“No?” Everett licked his way around and around his nipple, upping the torment. “I think looks can be deceiving. I want to be all those things, but I’m holding back.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” Everett had a feeling that Dalton had been hurt more than most men could bear. There was just something…fragile about him. Not feminine, because he wasn’t that at all, just something brittle. A good punch wouldn’t knock him down, but a harsh word, a cruel act—those would kill something that was just starting to grow. For about the first time ever, Everett wanted to protect someone other than himself. “I swear, I would kill anyone who tried to hurt you.”
“You would?” Dalton lifted his hands higher above his head.
“I would.” With lips, teeth, and tongue, Everett teased every inch of Dalton’s flesh, but for the one place he most wanted to go, the one place Dalton most wanted him to go. Avoiding his cock had Dalton thrashing side to side and moaning up a storm.
“I thought you didn’t want to hurt me?” Dalton asked.
“I ain’t. There’s a huge difference between driving a man to the edge of frustration and hurting him.”
“My cock is so hard right now it’s starting to hurt.”
“Yeah?” Everett chuckled against Dalton’s taut belly. “That’s just where I want you.” He looked up, but all he could see was a vague outline of Dalton’s hands above his head and his face tilted low. “All desperate and hungry and willing to do just about anything I say.”
“Tell me what you want.”
“I want you to hold very still.”
“That’s not doing something,” Dalton groused.
“If you don’t hold still, I can’t do what I want.” Everett eased himself between Dalton’s legs. As much as he wanted to fill him in one long thrust, he wouldn’t. Virgin or not, Dalton deserved to be touched with the greatest of care. Everett didn’t pamper him because of what someone else might have done to him. Everett took his time because he wanted to show Dalton how good they could be together. He wasn’t going to enter him until he knew Dalton was good and ready. Preferably tossing, turning, and begging like he’d been earlier.
Clearly anticipating penetration, Dalton gave a confused groan when Everett lifted his spread legs, and pushed on the back of his thighs until they were pressed almost against his chest.
“What are you—oh.”
As soon as Everett’s hot breath caressed Dalton’s parted cheeks, he stopped talking and he stopped squirming. Instead, he grabbed his own legs, right at the back of his knee, and held them up so Everett could focus all his attention on his ass.
Chapter Seven
Using only his breath, Everett held Dalton in thrall. He had yet to touch the now overly sensitive puckered flesh of Dalton’s bottom, but he was thinking he might not have to.
“If you don’t calm down, you’re going to blow your load before we even get started.” Everett kept his mouth tantalizingly close while he spoke, which only ratcheted up the tension. Hell, if Dalton didn’t calm down, Everett feared they both were going to climax without a touch to their shafts.
Just when Dalton had endured about all he could, and was surely convinced contact would never come, Everett lowered his head and flicked his tongue right across his hole. Damn it all if he didn’t taste sweet there, too. What was even sweeter was the sound Dalton made. High, breathless, and utterly enraptured, Dalton’s cry was just the kind of noise Everett had always wanted to compel from another. Emboldened, Everett licked him again, and again, until the sound he made was almost plaintive.
“You like that?”
“Yes,” Dalton said, holding himself wide, silently asking for more.
Pleased, Everett licked him while easing his finger inside with plenty of slicking saliva.
Dalton moaned so low and deep he almost shook the wagon.
“You like that?” Everett eased another finger inside the tight ring of flesh.
Dalton whimpered and spread his legs even wider. “I want you inside me.”
That was exactly what Everett wanted to hear. He’d been afraid that whoever left him here had hurt him before dumping him off, but from the incredible tightness of him, he thought Dalton was a virgin. Anticipation caused quivers to prick across Everett’s flesh. Just the thought of filling his sweet, tight channel with his aching cock had him shaking. He’d longed before, and he’d been swamped with raging desire, but this was different. This feeling was just as powerful but kinder, gentler. He wanted Dalton completely but only if he was ready.
“Please, Everett.” Holding his legs wide, Dalton lifted his head so he could look down. “I want you hard and hot inside me.”
When he was sure Dalton was good, wet, and ready, Everett rose up over him, balancing his weight on his arms. He angled his hips so his cock pressed right against his thoroughly teased hole. Slow-building tension had them both in a state of almost excruciating expectation.
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
Dalton didn’t answer with words. He let go of his legs, wrapped them around Everett’s hips, and pulled him down.
Everett’s cock slid into him as if their bodies belonged together. Dalton’s body was hot and crushed around his shaft, clinging to his cock.
“My God.” Everett lowered his lips to Dalton’s and kissed him. “I’ve never felt anything as good as you.”
“Good?”
“Beyond good.” Everett nuzzled his nose to Dalton’s. “Snug. Hot. Clutching around me so perfectly. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Even in the dark, Everett saw Dalton’s beaming smile.
“You feel good inside me.” Dalton tightened his legs. “I thought it might hurt, but I feel only pleasure.”
“That’s why I teased you so long.” Shaking his head, Everett kissed him then eased back. “I’m not gonna last.”
“That’s okay, we can go again. And again.” Dalton kissed him so soundly he took his breath clean away.
Everett had never felt anything as good as being balls deep inside this man. When Dalton’s cock smoothed against his belly, he readjusted his opinion. This was the best feeling he’d ever had. Everett had thought that earlier he’d found blissful completion, but that was before he’d mounted Dalton.
Dalton wrapped his strong legs around Everett and tightened his ass around his cock while their bellies worked against Dalton’s prick with each thrust that they made. What started slow turned frantic, and the more Ever
ett tried to ease back, the more Dalton urged him to ride.
“Fuck me, dirty cowboy.” Dalton gripped his legs tight around his hips. If he’d been wearing spurs, they would have dug right into Everett’s butt. As it was, Dalton was getting in some good urging flicks with his naked heels.
“What’d you call me?” Rising up by extending his arms, Everett loomed over Dalton in the dark.
“I called you a dirty cowboy.” Dalton stroked his hands up Everett’s arms. “Now prove me right.”
“You want dirty? I’ll show you dirty.” With a mighty flick of his hips, Everett thrust his cock deep into Dalton.
“More, cowboy. Give me more.”
Certain now that playing rough was exactly what Dalton wanted, Everett did his best to be the dirty cowboy his lover needed. While hissing raunchy words into Dalton’s ear, Everett fucked him so hard they slid the makeshift bedroll toward the front of the wagon. When continuing on would mean jamming Dalton’s head into a mound of gear, Everett stopped.
“Don’t stop now!” Dalton let fly a string of profanity that damn near had Everett blushing.
“Get on your knees.” Pulling out, Everett got Dalton turned around and bent over one of the barrels filled with salted meat. After ordering him to hang on, Everett lined up his cock, but he didn’t plunge inside, not just yet. Pale moonlight gave the inside of the wagon a milky-mud glow and allowed Everett to see how Dalton looked back over his shoulder, watching.
“Spread your cheeks for me.”
Reaching around, Dalton did as he was told.
Everett slid back inside Dalton’s tight channel with a sigh that Dalton echoed. They picked up right where they had left off. The only problem was giving Dalton’s cock some attention. That problem was solved when Everett rested one hand on the barrel edge to steady the thing from rocking, and reached his free hand around Dalton’s hip and grasped his cock.
“You’re close,” Everett said, feeling the slickness at the crown of Dalton’s prick when he palmed him. “Don’t you come until I say.”
Nodding agreement in time to Everett’s thrusts, Dalton braced himself against the barrel and the edge of the wagon. Frustrated at the way the barrel kept rolling and dislodging his rhythm, Dalton pushed away from that and grabbed the edge of the wagon with both hands.
Riding him hard, using his grip on his cock to help keep Dalton’s hips at the perfect angle, Everett felt the inevitable rising up through his body.
“I can’t hold on much longer.” Dalton’s grip on the edge of the wagon was so tight his fingers looked white even in the dark.
“Come.” As soon as Everett spoke the word, they both erupted. They uttered simultaneous cries of release. When the last of the trembling thrusts left him, he gripped Dalton’s hips and pulled him against his chest.
Kissing his ear, murmuring his name, Everett maneuvered their bodies down onto the bedroll. There was something jammed into his hip, but he didn’t care. His body was spent, he had Dalton in his arms, and no matter what came at them tomorrow, they’d face it together.
Chapter Eight
Morning came and went, but they didn’t leave the shelter of the wagon until midday. Huddled together against the chill wind that drove sheets of rain, the only thing Everett had left their bed for was to retrieve his clothing and boots in the wee hours of the morn. If he’d left them out, they never would have dried.
Dalton suggested they make a name for themselves as the first naked cowboys, but Everett shook his head.
“I don’t want that kind of notoriety.”
“You don’t want to be famous?”
“Nope.”
Curled onto his belly, with his head cradled by his crossed arms, Dalton grinned at him. “What do you want?”
Lying on his back, Everett propped himself up a bit higher by stuffing his mostly dried pants behind his head. He’d never really thought about what he wanted. All he knew was what he didn’t want. Now, though, with Dalton in the picture, the possibilities were staggering. Still, without even giving the matter a tremendous amount of consideration, Everett thought he knew what he wanted, now that he had what he’d been looking for.
“I want a homestead. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. A place where…” And here Everett trailed off. What if he spilled his heart only to find that his dream wasn’t Dalton’s?
“Where what?”
“Doesn’t have to be in the middle of nowhere, I guess. Just a place where I can live without having to explain myself to others. Where I can be at peace.”
“I’d like that, too.”
Dalton’s words eased the tightness in Everett’s chest.
“So…” Everett started then corralled himself. He wanted to get things straight between them, but he didn’t want to seem clinging.
“So?” Dalton prompted.
Cautiously, feeling his way along, Everett asked, “That mean you and I might stay together?” Damn. He sounded like he wanted to slap a brand on the man and claim ownership. And he did, but he didn’t want to scare him off. Just because the man had a moment of weakness and begged him to stay right where they were didn’t mean he would follow Everett anywhere he went. People said things in the heat of the moment that they ended up regretting.
“I told you that you and I have been seeking. Now we’ve found. What makes you think after all that I want to go back to bitter loneliness?”
“Well, hell, when you put it like that…” Everett trailed off this time because he leaned over to kiss Dalton.
Sweet and tender turned rough and demanding mighty fast. For a brief moment, he wondered if it would always be like this—crazy and fierce—or if they would eventually settle down. Not too much, but maybe just a bit so his cock wouldn’t get chapped from too much attention. Not that he minded so much. Not when the payoff was so spectacular.
When the storm passed and the sun came out, they left the wagon to make some grub, wash up in the spring, and debate where they were headed. Dalton insisted he wanted to stay right where they were, but Everett knew others would come. The greener cottonwood trees in a landscape of mostly dried vegetation were a big calling card that water was here.
“This spot is an oasis, which, like most things, means good and bad.”
“How so?”
“Well,” Everett said, settling back, “it’s good because there’s water and all we need to be happy here, but bad because other people will come. There is no way to stop them, not when we couldn’t lay claim to this land.”
After a long debate, a smattering of sexual persuasion, and a last night in the sweet spot, they decided to push onward to the next cow town, whichever one that might be. It would be nice to make it to Abilene, but he had no idea how far away Kansas was.
Everett had heard of some government act that would give them the rights to a good chunk of land if they just lived on it for a few years. With his seemingly endless drifting, Everett welcomed the idea of staying put. As a bonus, they had a good deal of what they needed to get started. A wagon, oxen, and a horse. With a winter’s work in some town, they could get themselves fully outfitted to start homesteading in earnest come spring.
“But why can’t we go now?”
“Ain’t you the impatient one!” Everett had the itch to go now, too, but he was nothing if not practical. “We need supplies, and I don’t have the money to get us all what we need.”
First things first, they had to get to a town big enough to find work. Everett had skill as a ranch hand, but most of those jobs dried up in the winter. He could work as a blacksmith, and they thought Dalton would make a fine barber. It would be tough going at first, but if they were willing to work hard, and save everything they could, they could be on their own land come spring.
“At the latest I’m thinking middle of summer.” That was the cutoff as they would need time to build a place to get them through the winter.
“We could just live in the wagon,” Dalton suggested.
“Naw. Further north we go,
the colder it gets come winter. This is fine for now, but I’d like a cozy home with a fireplace, and a bed, and maybe a table to toss you over when I’m feeling frisky.”
“Well,” Dalton drawled. “I can’t argue with that.”
“Sure you could.” Everett grasped his hands. “And I could persuade you again.”
After another lengthy debate that was more physical than verbal, they washed up, and then they loaded up the wagon, which Dalton had thoughtfully organized.
“We’re ready?”
Dalton looked back at the spring. He sighed heavily then nodded definitively. “We’re ready.”
They set off. The oxen pulled and his horse, tethered to the back of the wagon, followed behind. He and Dalton rode on the tiny wagon seat. It was a tight fit, forcing them to sit with their sides touching, but neither of them minded. The only problem was that proximity caused rising tension. Twice they had to pull off the main trail and then slake their passions.
What made things almost unbearably sweet for Everett was that this was the first time he had a true partner. Dalton wasn’t just a man he sought for sexual pleasure. Dalton was his companion, his lover, and his friend all rolled up into one. Everett didn’t think he could be any happier if he tried.
Blazing sun ate up the water from the rain. By midday, Everett would have sworn summer came back for a second visit. He lifted his hat and wiped the sweat off his brow. They were going to be welcoming the nightly cool-off this evening. Traveling with Dalton was a lot more pleasant than going alone. They didn’t talk much, but it was nice to have someone to see what he saw. Marveling at the curious alone was boring, but with Dalton, it was high entertainment. Dalton had a way with words and a way of looking at the world that renewed Everett’s somewhat jaded interest. Things just looked different to him now. Dalton faced everything with an openness, a breezy spirit that Everett admired. Even the fact that the man had no boots didn’t bother him.
McLeod, Anitra Lynn - Dirty Cowboy (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Page 4
