Falling in Love (11 page)

He said something and she gave him a
squeeze on the left deltoid to show she understood. She pulled the
strings under the saddle belt and tied it on securely again. He
nodded approval and gave her a smile of relief over his
shoulder.

He casually wiped his bloody right
hand on his bare upper leg. Turning the horse, they set off again,
still going at a good pace and with much of the day still before
them. Their mount seemed inexhaustible, yet sweat coursed down its
flanks after a while, and there was foam on the muzzle. She felt a
moment of pity for working animals everywhere at the sight. Her
life was sheltered in many ways. This was raw—very raw, and yet
fascinating. Something weird was coming over her. It was like it
was all meant to be. She’d never felt like this before, at least
not in a very long time. It was to be born anew—the words echoed
inside of her and she wondered just exactly what that would imply.
Everything worthwhile in life had a price tag attached.

The really valuable things couldn’t be
bought at any price, not in mere money.

She knew that much, but her guts
trembled inside at the notion that she was a grown woman and
finally free…she could do what she wanted. No one back home would
ever know.

Under her hands his stomach rumbled,
but then so did hers. For no good reason at all, she felt
incredibly lucky to be alive and to have such a remarkable
experience. Maybe even a new lease on life.

He gazed into her eyes and
smiled.

This sure as hell wasn’t Kansas
anymore.

And again, she thought of those
blasted condoms; or if he’d ever even seen one before, or if
Kenn’karr would have the slightest idea of what to do with one. His
hands fell from the mane, the man clucked and muttered something,
and the horse moved on at a measured pace.

***

There was a long, tenuous
flutter in her midriff as she contemplated the unthinkable, but
putting things as logically as she could, that bloody lake didn’t
just disappear into thin air.

There was no explaining
that part. She shoved those terrifying thoughts aside.

Sooner or later they must get to a
phone.

In the meantime, Kenn’karr
seemed like a really nice guy, and if nature didn’t take some kind
of a course pretty darned soon, she might be strongly tempted to
have a go, and to take matters into her own hands.

She definitely felt that
way about him. There was no denying it.

Jayne Dickson buried her
head in Kenn’karr’s back, and taking a strong deep breath, sucked
in the very smell of him, squeezing him tight in a long and
unrestrained hug.

This was really living.

Tomorrow need never come
at all.

Holed Up When the Shadows
Grew Long

They holed up when the afternoon
shadows grew long.

Kenn’Karr seemed intent on sharpening
his sword with a worn black stone. They were in a clump of
cottonwoods and there were a lot of flat stones and large rotten
timbers lying around.

The ruins of a small barn or shed
hung, one end gaping wide open, over the bank of a small,
clear-running stream. The rest of the farm buildings must have been
long gone. It was still warm but would cool off quickly. They were
out of sight, but Kenn’Karr had stopped her when she began to
prepare some kind of a fire ring of rectangular stones.

Jayne looked around. She could see
that he had chosen a defensible position. After this morning, that
seemed wise enough.

“
Do we need more
water?”

He glanced up, but then went back to
work.

She shrugged.

Picking up the almost empty water
bags, she sat on the lip and then dropped down to the sloping
gravel river bank, where the horse was tied with a few
hastily-gathered bundles of fresh grass to nibble on. That was one
smart horse. The thing was being very quiet, without being spooky,
but it did seem to listen. It spent a fair amount of time, looking
up and all around from time to time, as if in studied contemplation
of the immediate surroundings.

It probably would let its ears do most
of the work, she realized.

Kenn’Karr was still being very
cautious.

That made sense.

She looked for a deep pool, one where
she could submerge the containers fully. There was no sense in only
filling them halfway up.

After filling them, she set them
aside. Having thought all of this out beforehand, Jayne wasn’t
wearing her bra or panties. She’d taken them off during a quick
late-afternoon bathroom break, where Kenn’Karr’s basic shyness
guaranteed her just enough time and privacy.

The dress slipped off over her head in
seconds. She put it beside her sandals, stuck in the crotch of some
branches in a small tree on the bank. The water bags were on the
damp grass, all in a row, right there. The sun felt good on her
skin, noting it was now fully turned to tan in the dark
spots.

Better than red patches,
anyways.

There were sunny glades all along here
and the tall grasses and bull-rushes obscured the camp from sight,
and vice-versa. How long would it take him to get curious? She’d
felt his eyes upon her, when he could manage it, all day
long.

Wading into a shallow pool, it didn’t
seem too bad. The water would be bearable for a short time and she
was feeling grubby. It was time for a bath, and maybe, just maybe,
to try and drop some kind of a hint. Finding a suitable sand bar in
a shallow spot, festooned with tiny green underwater plants
trailing in the current, she sat, feeling the gravel under her bum.
She settled onto her elbows, and then stretched out. She laid back
and let the water flow over her nakedness, with only her eyes,
mouth and nose sticking out.

Egads, that was cold, and she only had
so much time. There was only so much of this she could take. Being
alone out here with such a manly creature, and being unable to
communicate.

She didn’t appreciate the
irony.

Not at all.

Her body began to quake, and shiver,
and to twitch. The only sound was of running water, tinkling and
gurgling in her ears, yet her thoughts would not leave her. She ran
her hands over her body to remove some of the sweat and stickiness.
She had about another minute in there.

When she sat up again, she thought she
heard something snap or crack. Shaking the water out of her ears,
she turned to look.

Kenn’Karr stood on the riverbank, with
a look of awe on his face.

Putting a hand down, she turned to him
as she stood. With her eyes locked on his, she waded, chest and
chin held high, back nicely arched, lips slightly parted, hips
going back and forth, up and out of the water. All she had to do
was to remember to breathe once in a while.

He extended a hand, and she took
it.

Kenn’Karr bent, placed a hand behind
her knees and one behind her shoulders.

“
Good boy. Nice man.” She
was having trouble with her breathing…and her heart. “That’s the
idea.”

They stared at each other and she kept
touching him. Wherever she could reach, she stroked and caressed
and touched it. She dripped water as he picked her up and took her
up a short incline. Gently he lowered her into the long grass, her
hands still roving.

“
Now we’re getting
somewhere.”

Kenn’Karr’s hands went to the
fastening of his kilt-like garment. The thing dropped
away.

“
Oh, yeah. Now we’re
talking.” Jayne went up on her knees, grasping his penis by the
base with her left hand and giving him a little scratch just in
front of the scrotum. She pulled him in closer.

His hands came up but he wasn’t
struggling too much. His hands here upon her shoulders.

Already semi-hard, that seemed to do
the trick.

She looked up into his lowered face as
he said something softly.

“
Oh, come on.”

He licked his lips and
stared.

He said something again.

Such a gentleman.

“
It’s not like I haven’t
earned it.”

He licked his lips and stared at her,
unwilling to take her by force, apparently. In her opinion, that
wouldn’t be so bad sometimes. It would save you from your thoughts,
and indulge your inclinations.

Jayne straightened up, gave his cock
another good squeeze, and then plunged her starving mouth
decisively down on his member as Kenn’Karr gasped and held her head
and stroked her shoulders.

Oh, God, thank
you.

Thank you for
this.

He was saying things, in a stronger
voice now, and she came up for air.

“
What kind of a barbarian
are you, anyway?” She took his cock in her mouth again, the burning
in her loins becoming unbearable.

He held her head and her neck, head
rolling back in pleasure. Her own body moved and gyrated of its own
accord.

This was really living,
though.

There was still a little voice in the
back of her head.

How could she have let so many years
slip by? What a big, beautiful, gorgeous hunk of man. Then she
remembered Tom, and maybe that did, sort of, explain all those
years…sort of.

Tom was a jerk.

But this was a completely different
time and place.

Kenn’Karr abruptly pulled away. He
held her at bay, looking down in pleasant astonishment.

He said something, and Jayne lay back
at full length.

Kenn’Karr dropped to the ground and
roughly yanked her legs apart. He was on hands and knees, finally.
Finally, he was lowering his body onto hers. She thought of a
condom but to hell with it.

Too late now, she thought happily.
Besides, she could never explain it to him. Her sharp nails raked
his buttocks and he stiffened from the pain, shock and pleasure
written all over his face.

Besides, someone like Kenn’Karr would
make very good babies. What an incredible feeling that thought gave
her.

“
Give me a baby,
Kenn’Karr.” She couldn’t believe what she was saying in her sweet
madness and yet all doubts had been removed. “Please, please,
please.”

She meant it, every word of it. If
only she could tell him so. Her hands roamed up and down, and it
was sweet heaven.

God, it was like he seemed to like her
and everything.

How needy was
that?

It was the waiting that was killing
her. She kept pulling him, trying to tug him down towards her, but
he was drinking in the sight of her body and wouldn’t be rushed.
His arms were straight and firmly planted. She panted softly,
licking her lips, begging him with her eyes and hands.

His hands came up to her breasts, his
mouth came down to hers and he shoved his tongue in strongly, and,
just as strongly she fought tongue-to-tongue with him.

Her fingernails raked his
shoulders.

Her feet came up and she wrapped her
lower legs, ankles and heels, around his hips.

“
Come on, Kenn’Karr, come
on. You know what to do.”

He said something, very softly,
stroking her hair and looking deep into her eyes.

She clung to him
desperately.

He kissed her, taking his sweet damned
time about it, too. He pulled back, and looked upon her, and smiled
at her, and talked to her some more while she moaned his name over
and over.

“
Please, please, please,
don’t fail me now…Oh, God, Kenn’Karr.”

The tip of his penis was right there,
poking at her labia.

What a
bastard,
when you came right down to
it.

“
Yes, yes, that’s right,
now you’re getting’ it—fuck me, Kenn’Karr. Fuck me, oh, please, oh,
God, fuck me…oh, ah…oh…yes!”

The tip was inside of her as she tried
to pull him down, thrashing and moaning in a kind of rage. That was
the right place, anyway.

“
Fuck me…!”
Oh, God, please fuck me, Kenn’Karr.

He smiled now, just watching her, and
so she cursed him, pounding away on his chest with her fists in
frustration.

Finally,
finally,
he thrust
deeply into her, slowly, for the first time, and then again and
again, eyes never leaving hers for a minute and finding all kinds
of new and interesting things to say in a language that only lovers
understood.

And it was about bloody time,
too.

Poker Night

Scene One

Austin was tall, with soft features,
yet boyishly lean. He had sad brown eyes and a grin that lit up the
place. When he got going, his one-liners were real zingers, and
some nights they just couldn’t stop laughing. They’d been out a few
times with a bunch of friends, but then they started going out,
just the two of them.