“It’s been so long …”
“Enjoy it, don’t fight it.”
He nodded but his face didn’t relax so I bent low and kissed him again. I stretched my legs out along his so I was stretched out along his body and kissed his chin. I ground my hips against him and he let out an “Ooh,” of pleasure.
I picked up the pace a little until I had him panting. He ran his hands up and down my back.
“Slow down, please,” he said. “I want to enjoy this.”
I nodded and stilled for a moment until his breathing slowed again.
“Do you need to be on top?” I said. “You can set the pace for a while.”
He nodded and we managed an awkward roll that nearly landed us both on the floor. He knelt over me, his eyes intent on mine, barely visible in the dark but I could feel them staring.
He moved in me, slow but steady, a shallow movement that only held the heat in me and did nothing to build it.
“I want more,” I murmured.
“I’ll come.”
“I want you to.”
He nodded and picked up speed. Now I felt the excitement and thrill of passion and I wrapped my legs around him. Too soon he hit his climax and filled me with his warm seed. He shuddered and thrust again, still moaning.
CHAPTER FOUR
The next morning after breakfast Ryker announced he was teaching me to ride and pulled me towards the corral, a big smile on his face. I dug in my heels. “I have dishes to wash, and laundry to wash, and can’t we do this another time?”
“Today’s a perfect day, and besides, in a few days we’ll be hiking out of here.”
“What? Why?”
“We can’t just leave your car parked where it is, if it hasn’t been towed already. And you’ll need more clothes.”
“So let’s do that today and when we get back you can start teaching me to ride.”
“I can’t leave until the meat is done smoking. Come on, you aren’t afraid of a little ole horse, are you?”
“He’s not that little.”
“I thought all girls wanted a pony.”
“He’s not a pony!”
Ryker levelled a stern gaze at me, but his eyes were full of laughter. “If you want to learn to survive out here you need to learn to ride. He’s a good steady horse, very calm, as long as you stay calm and relaxed there won’t be a problem. Come on, I’ll show you how to put the saddle on.”
King did stand very still while Ryker put the saddle on and showed me all the complicated twists and knots that secured the saddle to King’s back. He then untied everything and made me do it, several times, until I could do everything without a reminder or correction. He grabbed the cinch and pulled tighter than I would have dared.
“You’re going to hurt him.”
“No, it’s not hurting him, but if it isn’t tight enough the saddle will roll and you’ll get hurt. Come on, I’ll give you a boost.”
He put the reigns in while I sat up on King’s back, and then he handed me the two long strips of leather.
“Okay, we’re not leaving the corral today so he’s not going to run off with you. Just hold the reigns so they’re slack, lean forward just a little and click to him.”
We worked on go and stop and turning and by the time my stomach started growling I was actually having fun. I smiled down at Ryker. “So when can I get my own horse?”
He smiled back. “See, all girls want a pony. Climb down and we’ll brush him and feed him and then go find some lunch for us.”
“Where do you get the food?” I asked, watching him throw together sandwiches with the leftover meat from the night before.
“I hunt. I have chickens for meat and eggs. I have a garden.”
“I’ve seen you make bannock, but bread? In a baker’s plastic bag?”
“I sell pelts and excess meat to the ranchers, there’s one who tans leather. I also sell my time, I work on the ranches sometimes, chopping firewood or other chores.” He shrugged. “It gets me enough money for coffee and bread and whatever else I need.”
“I can cook,” I said. “When you go help on the ranches, I don’t know anything about the chores and I’m pretty slow when it comes to chopping wood, but I can cook and clean.”
“I’ll let the ranchers know that next time I go in. But you don’t have to work for them, just pulling your weight here is enough.”
“I’ll need my own supplies,” I said and he blushed. “Besides, I don’t want to be a burden, or a princess. I want to live out here with you, and that means working alongside you.”
He handed me a plate. “If that’s what you want I won’t stop you from working but you could end up washing some old guy’s underwear.”
I shuddered.
“They’re not going to give you the chores they like doing. Be prepared to scrub toilets, wash underwear, and chop a lot of vegetables.”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“You’re stubborn.”
“I think you like it.”
We smiled at each other and settled in to eat. The sandwich was plain but stacked tall and I almost didn’t manage the last few bites. Ryker at two full sandwiches and was still waiting for me to finish.
“I’ll show you the rest of the place,” he said.
He had a short path through the bush to a second clearing where he had a large garden and a chicken run.
“Why are the chickens in the garden?” I said.
“They eat the bugs off the plants and they’re walking fertilizers. I have potatoes, three types of squash, carrots, peas, lettuce, and corn.”
“That’s not a lot.”
“No, but most of it is stuff that keeps in a crawlspace for months. I can eat fresh vegetables into the cold season this way. The lettuce grows fast and I can grow it inside in the winter.”
At the end of the garden was the coup and inside were little nests. Three of the hens were sitting and he shooed them away revealing half a dozen eggs. He loaded them in an ice cream pail and handed it to me. “That’s breakfast tomorrow. I’ll secure everything here if you take that back to the cabin.”
“Okay.”
After checking the smokehouse and topping up the wood in the smoker he tossed his shirt over the corral fence and settled in to chopping wood. I settled in to watch the display of lean muscle and was happily staring when he said, “What are you going to tell your boyfriend?”
“My cellphone is in the glove box of the car. I’m planning on texting him as soon as we get there and telling him it’s over between us. I’m not going back there, I can’t.”
“Why are you so set on leaving, Emily? You have loving parents and a life.”
“I told you, I was in a dead end job. At some point my parents would realize that I wasn’t going back to school for some high priced degree so I could get a high paying job and they’d probably kick me out. Joel would only take me in until he found someone white and rich and then out I’d go again. I don’t want to be passed along like a stray dog.”
“Maybe I should ask you what you asked me. Why here? Why not run to another city? Why not run away to college?”
“How could things be better in another city? I’d still be black and uneducated. I don’t know what I want to go to school for, if I even want to go back. I’m not creative, I’m not interested in medicine or law or computers, so what is there for me? Maybe more people need to give up and build cabins in the woods and live off the land again.”
“Most people who don’t want to work won’t want to live off the land either, it’s nothing but work.”
“But it all feels like good, honest work. I didn’t chop wood for very long but it felt good, okay, once I’d eaten and my hands stopped stinging. But I had done something, something you could see, something you could touch, something that was actually useful. Waiting tables is just make work. All I did was carry dishes around.”
“So it’s not that you don’t want to work, it’s that you want to do something fulfilling
and hadn’t found that something yet.”
“Exactly! Out here I’ve found that. I don’t care about the cellphone or the social media. I just typed what people expected me to type, I couldn’t really be me. I won’t miss that at all.”
“You’ll be talking to King before long, just so you know.”
“Is he a good conversationalist?”
“He was all I had.”
“I think I can handle that level of crazy.”
“Good. Can you start carrying the split wood to the wood pile.”
“But I’m staring at you.”
“Stare while you work.”
“Yes sir.”
That evening we sat by the fire staring at the stars. “Why out here?” I said. “Why didn’t you runaway to a different city or a different state? Why didn’t you run off to college? Why did you run out here to the middle of nowhere?”
There was a long pause and I thought I might have to apologize for being nosy but then he said, “This is what I knew. I almost didn’t graduate, I was sure no college would take me and my parents reinforced that idea every day. My parents wouldn’t pay, I had no money of my own, and I wasn’t smart enough for a scholarship. I was stupid, useless, worthless, I’d never do more than flip burgers or swing a hammer on a construction site and that didn’t appeal to me. I knew these woods, I knew the wild, I knew this was the only place I’d ever succeed. So I came here.”
“But aren’t you here illegally?”
“Actually the state land is on the other side of the river. This is all land owned by wealthy cattle ranch families who don’t want the city expanding to close to their properties so they keep this natural buffer zone and the state keeps the preserve nice and safe.”
“So someone knows you’re out here?”
He nodded. “I have permission to live here. I keep an eye out for trespassers and illegal hunters. I hunt nuisance animals that would disturb the ranchers.”
“And you watch out for damsels in distress too?”
“I don’t see many of those,” He kissed me. “And they never want to stay.”
“Then they’re fools.”
“Or we are.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
We made out under the stars, our kisses eager and passionate, our hands touching each other’s faces and necks, until the fire burned low and the night got very dark.
“Come on,” he said, breaking away from the kisses to pull me to my feet. “The coyotes don’t come in this close, usually, but let’s not tempt fate.”
I nodded, breathless and excited, and followed him into the dark of the cabin. We didn’t need a light to find our way to the bed but Ryker turned the lamp on anyways.
“I want to see you tonight,” he said. “I didn’t get to see you last night.”
“There’s not much to see.”
“There’s all of you to see, and I think you’re beautiful so don’t start putting yourself down or fishing for compliments. You’re beautiful and I want to make love to you tonight, and I want to see you while I do.”
There was no arguing with that so I nodded but I suddenly felt shy. The heat-of-the-moment passion we’d had outside had already faded and the light made me nervous. He reached out and touched my cheek.
“My beautiful Emily, I love the darkness of your skin and how my hand looks against it. I love your hair, your eyes; let go of the past, Emily, you’re safe here. I’ll be kind to you.”
I nodded again and he pulled me close and kissed me tenderly, his hand gentle on the side and back of my neck. His kiss was warm but rough – he hadn’t shaved since I arrived and his beard rubbed my chin.
“Let me see you,” he whispered, “And I will show you all of me.”
I couldn’t pass up an offer like that. I’d seen him without his shirt earlier when he was chopping wood, and later I would remember that he’d already seen me naked when he pulled me from the river and stripped me so I’d dry, but at that moment I wanted to see him completely naked, here in the low soft light of the lantern, so I pulled my clothes off. I got tangled in the pant legs and had to sit on the bed to get them over my feet without falling on my ass on the hardwood floor.
He stood before me, completely naked and unashamed. He was lean muscle everywhere, smooth from shoulder to hip, and very, very hard. I leaned back on the bed, giving him a full view of my body, knowing that what I saw in the mirror and what he saw before him had to be very different if the look of desire in his eyes was any indication.
Joel had never looked at me like that before.
He came towards me slowly and crawled into the bed, trapping me between him and the bed. He bent low over me and kissed me deeply.
“I want you, Emily.”
“I’m all yours.”
We twisted and stretched out on the bed and his hands caressed me, moving confidently over my body. He paused at every sweet spot just long enough to make my heart race and I tipped my head back, my eyes closed.
He spread my legs, his hand going between my legs. He dipped his fingers inside of me and I groaned sharply.
“You’re so wet.”
“I want you too.”
“I’m all yours.” He moved his hand and slipped inside me. I gasped but before he could move there was a sharp snap from outside the cabin. We both froze.
“What was that?” I whispered.
“Probably a tree branch in the wind but I should check that there isn’t a coyote trying to get into the chickens.” He pulled out of me and I whimpered. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay. But hurry, please.”
He tugged on his jeans, doing them up over this erection, and then grabbed the lantern.
“You’re taking the light?” I squeaked.
“And the gun. Just stay there, you’ll be safe. I’ll be right back.”
The door closed, leaving me in darkness. I sat as still as I could on that narrow bed, my heart thundering in my chest. Finally he came back, the light stinging my eyes for a moment.
“All clear,” he said, setting the lantern down again. “God, I’m shaking.”
“Me too. Come here and hold me.”
He kicked off his jeans and crawled into bed with me, his skin cool from the night air. He shivered as I brushed my fingers against him.
“Cold?”
“No, sensitive. Keep doing it.”
I brushed my fingers over his chest and he shivered again. I ran my hand down his body and pouted.
“Not my fault,” he said, apologizing. “Maybe you could help it along?”
I nodded and wrapped my hand around him. It didn’t take much massaging and tugging for him to grow hard in my hand. He stretched out on the bed and let me play with him while he groaned. His whole body relaxed, except his cock.
I straddled him and lowered my body onto his cock and he groaned again. There wasn’t much room on the narrow bed but there was room for this. I rode him with long slow movements and his hands wandered over my body.
The lantern cast deep shadows over us but his skin glowed softy where the light hit and his eyes stared into mine. Adrenaline from the scare was still pumping through both of us and very quickly our hearts were racing. I could feel mine in my chest and his under my palm. They were like racehorses, thundering like hooves on the track, pushing us to a frenzy of desire.
I rode him harder and faster and still our eyes remained locked. My eyes opened wide and I started to scream out wordless sounds of pleasure as I neared my climax.
“Ryker! Ryker! Oh god yes!” and then the words were gone again and all I could do was scream to the night and the wild and the river as Ryker thrust his hips up hard to meet me and send me crashing into orgasm.
The waves of pleasure hadn’t even faded before he too climaxed, coming inside me with a hard grunt that was a whisper compared to my screams.
I collapsed on his chest. “The light,” I said.
“Shit. My legs don’t work. Leave it.”
“Sure,”
I said. “I can leave it.” I turned my face away from the light and dozed off.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Get out of bed lazy-bones.”
His voice was gruff but playful. I grunted and took a swing at him but it was a feeble swing and with my face buried in the covers I missed completely.
“The meat’s done, it’s time to hike out of here. If we leave now and push hard we can be back at your car just after nightfall and we can be in town by morning.”
“It’s barely light out, isn’t it.”
“That’s right. Now up you go.” He grabbed my arms and pulled. “Come on, get up. I made coffee.”
“Fine, for coffee I will get up at this ungodly hour.”
He laughed. “But not for me?”
“Love only goes so far, for anything else, there’s coffee.”
He laughed again and went out. I flopped back onto the bed and pulled the covers over my head.
“Are you getting dressed?” he shouted.
“You sound like my mother on a school day!” I called back but I threw the covers aside and got out of bed.
Going back. That wasn’t something I’d planned on. I should have because he was right. I couldn’t just leave my car there, and I couldn’t leave my parents wondering where I was, and I really should officially break up with Joel. But they’d all try to talk me into staying in the city in my dead end life and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to waitress, I didn’t want to live with Joel. I didn’t want to live with my parents for the rest of my life.
Maybe with Ryker beside me I’ll be able to stand up to all of them, I thought, tugging on my clothes. It will be nice to have more than two sets of clothes though.
I came out of the cabin stretching and smelled coffee, and bacon. “Isn’t bacon expensive?” I said.
“The tanner has pigs,” he replied. “You need to eat lots because we’ll be burning a lot of calories today. I ate already.”
“How early were you up?”
“Early.”
“Didn’t I tire you out last night?”
He chuckled. “Yes.”
“Oh good, I thought I was going to have to try harder. How are we going to work this?”
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