Ride a Dark Horse

by Laura Moore

  The screen wouldn’t budge. She pressed, tried sliding it, banged as hard as she dared. Nothing!

  Her head pounding with frustration, she dropped it forward heavily against the dratted screen, pulling her hair. Inspiration struck. Reaching around, she fumbled with the metal clasp at the back of her head. Releasing it, she ran her index finger along its edge and set to work.

  He was sprawled in an oversized black leather chair. From the soft glow of the standing lamp in the corner, she could make out the bottle of whiskey, and his bare feet, crossed one over the other, resting next to it. She stepped closer. His head was angled up toward the ceiling, his neck pressed back against the edge of the chair.

  Another step now near enough now to see his face. His eyes were closed. Oh, no! Panic shot through her. Please God, not asleep!

  Alarm bolstered her courage. She cleared her throat. “Caleb, I need to speak with you. Please, can you look at me?”

  He heard her voice, but didn’t bother to open his eyes. Anyone who’d drunk as much as he would be hearing things. He let himself drift away once more into Van the Man’s “Mystic.”

  A hand shook his shoulder, jostling his eyes open. “Caleb, you’ve got to wake up. It’s me, Cassie. I need to talk with you.”

  He stared at her in silence, not quite sure whether he was delusional or just dreaming. Not that he particularly cared one way or the other. He closed his eyes.

  She shook him again, more roughly this time. Annoyed, he brushed her hand off. She felt real, but then again, he was real drunk. Maybe she’d leave him alone if he told her to go away.

  “No, I won’t. Caleb, I’m really sorry I hurt you. I should have believed you. It wasn’t your fault.”

  He wasn’t listening. He was trying to solve a really big puzzle. Front door was locked. He was sure of it.

  “Go away ” he repeated, just to see if it might work this time.

  “No. I won’t leave until you’ve forgiven me.”

  “Fine, I forgive you. Go away.”

  “No. I need to talk to you.”

  “How the hell did you get in here? Front door’s locked.”

  “I know. I had to climb in through your bathroom window. Caleb, I’m really sorry, but I broke your screen.”

  He was listening now. He stared at her, blinking owlishly. “Say that again.”

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly striving for patience. This conversation wasn’t going at all the way she’d imagined it. “I ripped your screen when I came in through the bathroom window. I’ll be happy to pay for it, but I really needed to . . .”

  His laughter erupted, loud, uncontrolled. His knees closed about him like a folding chair as he wrapped his arms around his middle. Caleb’s paroxysms of mirth continued as Cassie stood there, wishing she weren’t in love with such a total fool, a drunk one at that.

  Finally, he managed to speak. Laughter still shaking his voice, “You . . . you came in through the bathroom window. God Almighty Slim, that is just about the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.” He sang a line from the Beatles’ tune. Horribly off-key. Succeeding only in setting himself off again, until wiping the tears from his eyes, he stood.

  Holding a hand in front of him, he ordered, “Wait here. This I’ve got to see.”

  The first step was more of a lurch than anything. Then, recovering his balance, he headed off in the direction of the bathroom.

  Yup. She’d really done it. He looked at the neatly torn screen hanging like a flag on a windless day, then at the dirty shoe prints soiling his white porcelain bathtub. He grinned. Probably had no idea where she’d end up when she hauled herself through. Pretty gutsy of her, he’d give her that much credit.

  What the hell, maybe he was being too harsh on her. If the tables had been turned and he’d caught Cassie in such a compromising situation, finding some man kneeling with his hands up her skirt, would he have believed her, never suffering even a moment of doubt and hurt?

  He turned to the sink and yanked the cold water on full blast, plugging the basin drain. Water rose quickly until he twisted the knob shut before plunging in his head. The cold water hurt, stinging him like needles, making him gasp, spewing water. Still, he continued dunking his head repeatedly feeling the water slosh about his feet, the tiles underneath him turning slick as an ice rink.

  Finally, he grabbed a bath towel and buried his face in it, rubbing briskly. He brushed his teeth, then pulled open the medicine cabinet door. He grabbed a bottle of aspirin, popping two, not really thinking they’d do any good, but figuring it was better than nothing. Then he reached for the bottle of Listerine and poured about half of it into his mouth, gargling, swishing, spitting. He closed the top, shutting the medicine cabinet once more. It wasn’t worth the bother looking at his reflection. He couldn’t look like anything but shit.

  She was afraid he’d gone and passed out in the bathroom or wherever he’d stumbled off to. Shouldn’t she go in and make sure he was okay, wasn’t lying concussed, perhaps bleeding on the floor? She dropped her head against the coolness of the window pane, staring blindly out at the trees shimmering in the night breeze. How could this day have started out so differently? She’d been so happy a mere twelve hours ago. Funny how a world could change so quickly. She should be used to it by now but she kept getting caught off guard. If only . . .

  She turned, sensing he’d come into the room. She spoke quickly determined he at least hear her apology. She had to try to make it right.

  “Caleb, I know how much I hurt you this afternoon . . .”

  “It’s okay, Cassie, I forgive you.”

  “That’s what you said before. But you didn’t mean it.” Not believing he meant it now.

  He smiled. “No, I didn’t mean it. I just wanted you gone. I was pretty drunk. Probably still am. But this time, I do mean it. I understand how you might have thought . . .”

  “No, no. I was being horribly unfair. It’s just,” her voice dropped. “It’s just that I was . . . jealous.” Her voice faded into the quiet of the room.

  He stepped forward, unsure. He moved close, close enough to read her lips in the half-light if necessary. Close enough to feel the whisper of her words on his flesh.

  He might have been talking to a queen, his tone was so polite, his words so careful. “Excuse me, but would you remind repeating what you said? I must still have water in my ears.” His hand lifted to his damp hair in explanation.

  Her heart thundered inside her chest like a violent storm. She drew in a calming breath. Her words came out, a hushed confession. “I was jealous. I wanted to be her, to be every woman you’d ever looked at, ever touched. I wanted to be the only one.”

  He closed his eyes. The power of her words sinking deep into his heart. Healing him. Enriching him beyond his wildest dreams. He cleared his throat. He had to tell her.

  “Cassie, there’s more. She sold Orion.”

  “What? She sold Orion?” Her voice, though quiet, cracked with disbelief.

  “Yes. I don’t know what will happen now.”

  She was silent, absorbing the implications of what he’d told her before speaking, forming the words carefully. “She sold him.”

  “Yes. I’m sorry.” “She sold him. Oh, Caleb, I’m so sorry.” Then, “But that means she’s gone.”

  “Yes.”

  The slow smile transformed her face. “She’s gone, so . . . it’s just you and me. Alone. Together . . .” His breath lodged somewhere in his chest as he heard her repeat the words he’d spoken to her that first night, so long ago. In concert they moved toward each other, stopping mere inches away. He felt the shift of her body, her hands reaching out to bridge that small gap. Seeking, caressing the ridge of muscle and bone that was his ribcage. He felt her cool, soft lips press against his heated flesh, felt the space that separated their bodies as intolerable. His arms circled about her, bringing her where he needed her for . . . forever.

  There was no hurry.

  They allowed their han
ds and mouths to roam freely Cassie’s clothes slipping one by one to the floor accompanied by the sound of soft whispers and sighs.

  She stood naked before him, a pale pool of silk lapping at her feet.

  He let his eyes drink in the perfection of her body. The long, delicious length of her legs, crowned by the triangle of short, golden curls at the apex of her thighs. Up past the shadowed indentation of her belly button, to the breasts he’d dreamed of, the rosy pink nipples tight with arousal, with desire for him. The sight of her was far more potent than anything he had consumed in his life.

  “Take off your earrings.”

  Cassie’s eyes widened. “Why?” she asked, her voice a mere whisper as she lifted suddenly clumsy fingers to her lobes.

  “Because I want to be able to taste every inch of you.” Her body began to tremble.

  The earrings dropped, sinking into the silken pile, forgotten, as Caleb swept her into his arms and carried her to his bedroom. Slowly he lowered her near the foot of his king-size bed. Her eyes slid from him to take in the enormous bed, returning quickly shyly a slight flush staining her face.

  “Shh, shh . . .” He soothed, his hand stroking the golden waves of her hair. “We’ve got all the time in the world.”

  “I know. It’s silly to be nervous,” she replied quietly giving him a tremulous smile. She wasn’t about to tell him how grossly inadequate she felt. What if she didn’t please him? She’d only had one lover Brad, and truth be told, she wasn’t so sure she’d enjoyed the experience all that much. Anyway, it had been so long ago, she’d probably forgotten how.

  Instead, she blurted out an entirely different concern, one that was becoming a huge preoccupation. “Caleb, did you know your pants are still on?”

  He laughed low in his throat. “Yeah, I thought that might help keep things a bit more under control. Would you like me to take them off?”

  She nodded solemnly her eyes as wide as the ocean. Smiling, Caleb pressed his lips against her brow making no move to do so. Instead, he kept kissing her, rediscovering the sensitive places along the slender column of her neck, behind the delicate shell of her ear. His hands moved leisurely over her breasts, lifting, squeezing, his thumbs passing back and forth across the sensitive buds of her nipples.

  She moaned, a low helpless sound that drove him wild. Intoxicated from the sensations he aroused, her hands moved restlessly, kneading muscles, testing flesh, dropping lower. Finally, his hand sought hers, clasping it, guiding her to the front of his jeans. Holding her there.

  “Cassie, sweet, do you know what you do to me? Touch me. Feel what you do to me. Please.”

  Her breath stalled in her throat as her fingers did his bidding, slipping between the folds of denim, releasing each metal button, one after the other.

  Pausing.

  Easing the fabric wider. Feeling the heavy pounding of his heart against her forehead as she pressed against his chest. Mesmerized, she watched the progress of her hands. As he waited.

  She released him. He sprang into her hands, hot and hard. Entranced, she glided her hands along his shaft, learning him, delighting in the wonder of him, her previous fears eclipsed by the sheer masculine beauty offered to her.

  Sweat beaded his brow, each muscle in his body tight, throbbing with need. She was destroying him, her hands an instrument of pleasure so intense it bordered on pain. He couldn’t last if she kept this up much longer. His hands gripped her elbows, squeezing, momentarily stilling her hands.

  His voice, rough with need, pleaded. “Cassie, I’m sorry . . . But, I can’t take much more . . . I need you now. Let me come inside you.”

  His words thrilled her. In response, her fingers flexed, testing, and hearing the hiss of his indrawn breath, she exulted in her power over him. Her eyes lifted to his dark glittering ones, her small smile of satisfaction bewitching.

  “I’m glad,” she said simply rising on her toes to kiss the corner of his mouth.

  With his need spinning dangerously out of control, Caleb hated waiting even a second longer, but knew he had to. He wouldn’t rush her.

  Succumbing to temptation, her lips wandered over the warm expanse of flesh where his chest met the smooth, rounded curve of his shoulder. The tip of her tongue traced an invisible, meandering path, its pink, cooling wetness dragging slowly against him. The sensation nearly driving him mad. He didn’t know whether to laugh or groan.

  God, she was so sweet and he needed to be inside her so bad. Moving. Caleb bowed his head, inhaling the fragrance of honeysuckle from the delicate hollow of her collar bone, knowing that he’d never smell that scent again without thinking of her.

  “Caleb,” her soft whisper reached him. “Please, I want to feel you. Please make love to me.”

  A slow devastatingly beautiful smile lit his features, robbing her of breath. His words were a husky promise against her lips. “Your wish is my command.”

  His mouth swooped down to capture, his arms shifted and cradled, laying her on his bed.

  The crisp cotton of the sheets, so cool against her flushed skin, caused an instinctive shimmy, the friction delicious. Above her, Caleb groaned low in his throat, the sinuous movement of her body unraveling him. Luring him, like a siren’s song.

  “You’re the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen,” he whispered, his voice rough. He moved toward her, slipping a hand under the small of her back, arching her toward him, lifting her until she kneeled on the mattress, facing him.

  “I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you right now.” His erection brushed the nest of her curls. With an inarticulate sound of happiness, Cassie wrapped her arms about his neck, drawing him down. Glorying in the solid weight of him.

  They moved, twisting, turning, heated flesh against silken curves. His kisses devoured, roaming freely over her body, feeding, then hungering anew until she writhed against him, her body no longer hers to control.

  “Caleb . . .” she begged, incoherent. Needing so much.

  He rolled, pulling her arms up high over her head, bracing his weight on his elbows. Staring down at her flushed face, his eyes glittered, reflecting his arousal. His hips flexed. Testing, promising. Shivering in reaction, Cassie’s legs opened, trembling underneath his. Bringing him closer. Her need spinning, escalating, like some mad law of physics.

  His assault was merciless, a wildfire that spread through her body. Its tongues licking greedily across her body. His hands, his mouth relentless, moving over her, down the length of her, stopping only to tease, to torment, to delight. Making her writhe as he claimed every inch of her body as his own. Blindly she reached, her hands guiding him where she needed him so desperately now. Her slender thighs opening wider, bidding him welcome.

  He felt the slick, wet heat of her against his shaft and tamped down on the tearing impulse to slam into her. Rocketing them both into sweet oblivion.

  His eyes held Cassie’s captive as he pressed, sliding slowly inexorably. Tremors racked his straining muscles, as rivulets of sweat ran down his shoulders and back. A low groan tore from his throat, the sound as harsh as his labored breathing as he filled her, completing her. Every atom of his being fixed on her incredible tightness. Stretching, pulsing to accommodate him. The feel of her was beyond his wildest imagination. So impossibly exquisite. Muscles bunching, his hips flexed pushing deeper, and he withdrew.

  The rhythm began. The rhythm of his hips pumping slowly a controlled cadence. Bringing her higher and higher. Drawing forth helpless gasps of pleasure, throaty moans of enchantment. Refusing to hurry, wanting to prolong every second of sensation, every inch of pleasure he gave her.

  Her nails clung, digging helplessly into his shoulders. Her hips arched to meet him, to deepen his every thrust. He was taking her to places she’d never been, forcing her to climb higher and higher. The pleasure of the ascent flooded her mind, flooded her soul, setting them deliriously awhirl.

  Cassie looked up into Caleb’s eyes, glimmering like dark stones, watching her, watching the pleas
ure he gave her. Absorbing it, sharing it.

  She had to tell him, now, before she was lost. “Caleb . . .” Her voice, turned into a soft cry, torn from her as his hips flexed, rocking deliciously. So deep inside her, touching her very core. Staying deep. Just staying.

  She was so close. He could feel it in the tremors shaking her, see it in the glazed fever of her eyes, hear it in the desperate pitch of her voice calling his name.

  Not just yet. He wanted her higher, higher still. He wanted to give her everything, the moon and all the stars. He wanted her to touch them.

  Oh, God, what was he doing to her? He’d stopped, buried deep inside her. Now he was lifting her, drawing her legs around his waist. Pinning her. His hot, hard thickness imbedded as she throbbed and pulsed around him. She moaned loudly the tension unbearable. Feeling the first shockwave of her climax rushing over her, words tumbled forth, so desperate was she to say them: “Caleb, Caleb, I love you!”

  Their eyes locked. With a fierce, yet achingly tender smile, he gave her what she needed, what she was dying for: the tiniest push. Cassie’s climax ripped through her at the feel of him brushing, caressing her womb.

  Not yet ready to let himself go, Caleb rolled his hips infinitesimally. “I’m real glad to hear you say that, Slim. Because . . .” he whispered, loving her breathless moan as he moved inside her, her tremors continuing to squeeze and pull at him. “Because . . .” he repeated, withdrawing now the clamp of her muscles gripping him deliciously, until just the tip of his shaft remained inside her.

  Caleb looked down at her, so beautiful, so gloriously naked, and so well-loved his heart ached. “Because, you know ” his mouth catching hers, swallowing her soft cries. “Because you know I love you, too. And I hate flying solo.” With that, he dropped his hips, thrusting deeply watching her face as a scream of pleasure was torn from her throat. Joy flooded him at the sight of Cassie locked once more in the throes of passion. This time he joined her in her ecstatic flight, rushing toward her very soul.

  Slowly, softly, they floated back down to earth.