“Stop your points-making gab, Arlo. Get yourself settled on that painted pony now.” Drakker twisted to the side, reaching down he rummaged through one of the leather bags strapped over his horse’s rump. “Where are the damn flairs?”
Arlo rolled his eyes, and a faraway smile stretched across his lips. His chest bounced with what appeared to be a silent huff of amusement. “Try checking the other bag.”
With a grunt, Drakker pulled three large sticks from the other leather bag. He patted his chest before resuming his search of those same two leather bags. He cussed under his breath. “Where are they?”
Arlo’s smirk grew wider. He was clearly enjoying Drakker’s agitation. “If you’re looking for your matches, old man, try your back pocket.”
Drakker held up his fist. “Try a mouth full of these, old man.” Pulling a small timber stick with a red-and-white tip from his back pocket, he then swiped it with a snap over the heel of his boot, igniting it and used it to light the larger sticks. “Old man my ass.” He blew out the small timber and tossed it and the longer sticks to the ground. A soft pop sounded and three small pods ejected from the long sticks, whistling as they soared high into the air. Two red smoke rings formed in the sky followed by a blue ring. They were visible for five seconds before extinguishing themselves. She glanced down and saw the longer sticks Drakker tossed to the ground now looked like rolled seared tubes. Fay scanned the charred grass. There in the scorched remains lay portions of her airship. Only her well-padded five-star ejection seat was intact with head and body harness. It was a miracle she was alive without a scratch.
The smoke rings were some form of warning, but too simplistic to show up on any fancy detection device the Underworld government had. If any Dirt Dweller pilots were in an airship and saw the smoke, they wouldn’t be able to tell where the rings had come from.
Fay sighed. If her assumptions about her government’s lies and motives were wrong, she was in enemy territory. How would she ever get home? And if she did get back, what punishment awaited her?
Arlo made sure she was comfortable astride his beast before he jumped up behind her. He flipped her braid over her shoulder and leaned into her. Her heart raced when she felt his muscled chest press against her back. His strong arms flexed around her as he reached for the leather straps linked to metal in the horse’s mouth. His cheek brushed hers. She held her breath, and her heart sped up in anticipation of a kiss but relaxed when he didn’t.
“Let me get these reins, and we’ll be off.”
So much for the savage Airbornes. She had to admit, she was disappointed. He didn’t even try to kiss her. What kind of barbarian is that? Maybe she didn’t smell right. Perhaps the Airborne men only responded to the scent of their own women. Damn, these Airborne men are too sexy. They even smell good. He smelled like leather and the manufactured rain of her Dirt Dweller world. The scent was a masculine aroma driving her crazy, so unlike the sickening-sweet perfume of the Dirt Dwellers’ pampered aristocrats. Maybe she should have ridden with Drakker, but he in all likelihood smelled the same.
Arlo made a clicking sound with his lips that spurred his horse into a trot. He unknowingly enlightened her with his nonstop comments about their surroundings and his own musings, but as the day waned Fay’s body was starting to feel every ache the crash had given her, and the long ride straddled over a horse’s back wasn’t helping. She tried distracting herself from her discomforts with the beautiful sights, interesting smells, and musical sounds of nature when she noticed white puffs of clouds drifting above them. They were pretty to see until a sudden wind stirred and brought with it some gray clouds that dropped water on their heads. What Arlo called a “spring shower” drenched them. Even though it cooled them off, she didn’t care for the feeling of the wet droplets thumping on her head. The rain made her bottom stick to the leather, and already numb from the long ride, she now was wretchedly uncomfortable.
“I wish your throat was better so we could talk.” Arlo cocked his head sideways to look at her. “I’d like to know more about you.”
She turned her head toward him and smiled as she wiped the drops of water from her face.
“So did you like the shower?” He gave her waist a squeeze. “The rain cooled us down some, didn’t it?”
Fay nodded, deciding she liked the trees, rocks, blue sky, and Airborne men. She could get use to them all. Nature on the other hand would take some adjusting to. It was a perplexing and perpetual changing beast.
“It’s almost dusk,” Arlo called ahead to Drakker. He’d been in the lead for the better part of the day. “It’s too dangerous to keep traveling with her.”
Dusk? Fay didn’t care for the sound of that. Whatever dusk meant, danger came with it.
Drakker yelled back, “Yep. Best make camp.” He pointed to their right. “Let’s hunker down for the night near the stream. The trees will give her some privacy for bathing.”
What the heck’s a stream? Underground living left her clueless to a lot of what they were saying. She was about to ask when Arlo guided his horse in next to Drakker, who had dismounted and tied his horse to a twisted pole-like thing with a green bushy top.
“Toss me your reins, bro.” Drakker held out his hands. “I’ll tether them to the tree here.”
So, this is what a real tree looks like up close in its uncut state. The only comparison she had from her world was broccoli. These trees looked like giant, brown-stemmed broccoli heads. It had to be the material the furniture and walls in Logan Abán’s den were made from.
In three long steps, Drakker was at the side of Arlo’s horse putting his large hands around her waist to pull her down. She couldn’t be more grateful. Riding this beast all day spread eagle wasn’t her idea of fun. She groaned when he pulled her off.
“How’s your throat?” Drakker asked in a husky tone that made her feel all wiggly inside. He set her down and backed up, giving a tap to the edge of his cowboy hat as he did.
“Fine. Body. Sore.” Her words sounded like sandpaper scraped over gravel.
“You sound great.” He smirked, and two cute dimples cratered the center of each of his cheeks, causing a tingle at the center of her chest and her eyelashes to flutter. He slid his glance to Arlo. “Get her to the river before dusk sets in. I’ll set up camp.” He strolled away. A strong, decadent tug pulled at her clitoris.
Fay swallowed hard realizing she was in major trouble. Was it something in the air? How was it possible for her, a born and raised Dirt Dweller, to be feeling a sexual attraction to both of these men? This was unacceptable behavior.
Arlo distracted her when he grabbed her hand and led her toward a cluster of trees he’d called the woods. The trees cast a wonderful net over her, providing relief from the waning sun. Arlo bent down and picked up what looked like large seeds and ate one while handing her the other one.
“It’s a Piñon nut. You can eat it.”
“Off the ground?” Her words scratched out of her throat.
The joy behind his laugher made feathery tickles in her chest. Is this what happiness feels like, light and euphoric?
“Every bit of food we eat comes from the ground or from these trees.” He bent down, picked up a few more nuts, and dropped them into his mouth. “I don’t think I could eat that hydro food you Star Riders live on.”
The fresh, clean scent of the green woods and damp earth filled her nose with a kind of overwhelming inner joy, but Arlo didn’t give her a chance to experience it. He dragged her with him as he headed deeper into the multilayers of trees. He stopped at a break in the land where beautiful, clear liquid ran past them.
He laughed at her expression. “You act like you’ve never seen a stream before.”
Ah, so this is a stream. Nope, she hadn’t seen one of these. Her throat tightened. “What is the liquid in it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Does it burn or melt the flesh?”
His raised brows were an obvious reaction of surprise. “Neither
. It’s water…for you to bathe in.”
Water! Didn’t he know how precious it was? People didn’t bathe in water. That would be a waste of a scarce commodity. Water was for drinking only. In her world, each citizen had a monthly allotment of four hundred and eighty ounces of water. That equaled out to about two cups of water a day, no more. That was it. The rest of their fluid intake came from artificial means.
If this was real water running past her, she now knew why the Underworld government was considering moving to the surface and why they were so willing to go to the extremes to get it. “You want me to bathe in the water? Fresh water you could be drinking?”
He laughed. “You’ve got something better to wash up in?”
“Not here.”
He cocked his head. “Then I guess you’ll have to make do with the water. You can strip here. I’ll keep watch while you bathe.”
“Keep watch for what?”
“Well, just to name a few, I’ll be watching for western diamondback rattlesnakes, giant poisonous toads, black bears, and mountain lions. Take your pick.”
The only words she understood out of all he said were giant, back, poisonous, black, and mountain. All the rest were gibberish to her. Guess she’d wait and find out what the other words meant as she went along. Until then, she would just point out anything that moved. “Are any of those things in the water?”
“Only the toads. The water is clear, so you can see them if they’re around. Just don’t step on them or touch one.”
“Oh dear God. What do they look like?” She cringed when he described the creature. The man had to think she was senseless. Why on earth would he even think she would bathe in that water? Even more crazy was his thinking she would remove her clothes to do it.
“It’s fine. I already checked. There are no toads in there.” He stopped talking and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you going to get cracking, or do I have to put you in there myself?”
I’m not getting into that. It’ll swoop me away for sure. After sliding a glance down his rock-solid chest and arms, she shook her head in a defiant no. Maybe I can distract him. “Do you have lots of streams like this?” The spy in her had to ask.
He smiled, flashing perfect white teeth. They were faultless except for one tooth on the bottom turned slightly sideways. It gave his beautiful looks the ruggedness he needed as a man.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, sweetie. This water is sterile. Old Drakker and I have been traveling it for years. The river is small and pretty much covered by all the bushes and woods. It doesn’t show up on the Dirt Dwellers’ radar. You don’t have to fear any attack by them. Only the wildlife, and I’ve got that covered.”
Small? That stream’s at least thirty feet across and moving! “Dirt Dwellers,” she whispered.
He shrugged. “Guess not all you Star Riders know about them. They’re the ones who spend all their time trying to kill us off with germ warfare. So far, we’ve been able to counter most of their attempts. Andonis…ah…he’s one of our healers. He knows a few Old World Moles who have amazing knowledge they’ve shared with him, and because of that…well, anyways, he’s been able to find a lot of natural cures and create amazing antidotes. He’s been able to cut back on the number of our women and infants the Dirt Dwellers have been killing off through genetic mutations, sterilizing, or infecting with deadly diseases. Their attacks were hitting us hard until—ah, I’m sorry. I’m chewing the cud, ain’t I?”
“Chewing…” She shook her head, confused by some of his words. It didn’t matter. What she did understand was important. “Why would they want to kill your people off?”
“I don’t know. That struggle has been going on much longer than I’ve been alive.” He shrugged. “You’d have to ask Logan about that. He’s more familiar with the history than I am.”
Could he possibly mean Logan Abán? What kind of luck would that be? This man could save her a lot of time if he had an in with the leader of the Airbornes. “I love history.”
“I’ll introduce you, but for now stop your talking. You’re going to really hurt those cords. Lord Almighty, you could be out of a voice for days, and we don’t want that, now do we? It makes it kinda hard to get to know each other when one of us can’t talk. So for now…If you need to talk…Whisper. At least until we can get you to suck on some slippery elm.”
Slippery elm? That doesn’t sound enticing. Her last mind-traveling mission came to mind. A flash of the woman sucking on the cowboy’s penis was vivid in both image and tactile memory. Oh my God, if he was talking about doing that, could she do it? Vicarious experiences through mind travels or fantasies were one thing, reality was quite another.
At her silence, he stripped off his shirt. A prickle of heat flushed down her neck as she watched his arm muscles flex with the movement. She had the strongest impulse to touch his smooth, tanned skin. She fought the urge to reach out, but curiosity plagued her. Would it feel warm and silky, unlike the pasty Dirt Dweller men who never made her core throb like this? She shook her head and looked away, resisting the desire. But she couldn’t stop her gaze from returning to him as he tossed the shirt down and hooked his thumbs over his large silver buckle. His actions dropped his pants a tempting two more inches below his hipbones, exposing the lower half of his hard stomach. Except for the hair on his head, the man’s body was hairless. Those pants were riding low enough to show some pubic hair by now, but there wasn’t any. She continued to stare at his thumbs, hoping his pants would fall another inch lower.
“Beautiful lady?” Arlo tilted his head down, capturing her attention when his long, semisweet-chocolate hair slipped over his muscled shoulder. Her breath caught in her chest. Something about his long hair added to his sexual attractiveness. The temptation to caress his physique and run her fingertips through his silky-looking hair was overwhelming. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her hands tucked where they were.
“Ah, hmm.” The clearing of his throat drew her gaze up. He gave a cocky smile. “If you keep looking at me with that hungry look in those stunning violet eyes of yours…I’ll be honest, I don’t think I can stop myself from kissing you.”
In her world, modesty was expected. Though reluctant, she dropped her admiring scrutiny. Her pounding heart made her feel dizzy.
“Well.” Arlo’s tone was low as he slowly moved into her space while reaching out to pull her closer to him. The soft scent of sage filled her senses.
She didn’t resist his embrace as he whispered in her ear, “I’ll be damned if that reaction wasn’t more of an invitation than a rejection.”
Captivated by the sexy sound of his voice and the words he spoke, she didn’t argue with his observation. She wanted him to kiss her. No Dirt Dweller would ever confess to lusting for a woman as Arlo just did. Just the thought he desired her and let it be known made her heart beat faster. The idea of a man lusting for a woman was sinfully enticing. Guilt washed over her, but didn’t stay. She didn’t care how many prayers of forgiveness she would have to say for this moment of passion. It would be worth it.
Arlo leaned back a smidgeon and angled his head down until their gazes met. He briefly paused as if silently asking permission to kiss her. This time she refused to look away. He gave a sexy smirk and a wink before slipping his hand behind her neck in a seductive move bringing her mouth toward his succulent lips. His lips merged with her willing mouth in a heated kiss. Their bodies followed, pressing into each other. She couldn’t get close enough to him.
He broke the kiss and murmured next to her ear, “If I’m moving too fast for you, tell me.” He kissed her again not waiting for her answer. Fay couldn’t think of a reason to stop him, nor did she want to.
His mouth was soft and warm. His kiss lingered on her lips, and the warmth between her thighs moistened her panties. She glided her hands over him as she molded her body into his. Every inch of her flesh craved him. She was hungry to feel his body’s heat sizzle against hers. She imagined what he might l
ook like naked. Lusty images swirled around in her mind as her heart filled with passion. Every cell in her body desired him.
Fay ravished every inch of his exposed skin with her fingers. She raked them up and down his back never having felt a man’s body like this. He was so hard and muscular. The sensation was driving her libido wild. In a moment of clarity she realized what she was doing. She’d been raised to know she was acting in a shameless and disgraceful manner. Teachings, not belief, made her pull away from him. She’d never done anything like this before. It had to be the fresh air. Maybe the levels of oxygen were higher here compared to her Underworld’s limited supply.
He slipped his fingers along the closure of her flight suit making her skin heat with wanton desire.
“Now, I’m getting distracted,” he said, pinching the pull tab of her zipper between his fingers and sliding it downward.
Her breasts bounced with each rousing breath she took.
“I’m here to see you get a bath, my little filly. Are you going to get undressed, or am I going to have to do it for you? And if I do it for you…it’ll most likely lead us to…things other than bathing.”
“I-I don’t want to bathe.” She could not believe she said that.
He smiled. “Neither do I…right now.”
“There’s something else on my mind.”
“Mine too.” His hand fell from her zipper as he leaned slightly away from her.
Her gaze followed his down to see he had an erection. She glanced up and met his apologetic stare. He raised his brow silently asking for her understanding.
“If I bring you back still smelling like my horse, Drakker will flip out. He likes his woman smelling sweet.”
His woman? Fay stiffened her back and narrowed her eyes with his insulting insinuation she belonged to Drakker.
Arlo’s brows rounded as he shifted his weight. “That didn’t come out right, did it? I’m sorry. I just meant he thinks you’ll be more comfortable washing off some of this rider’s dust. Trust me, it’s not like we’ve laid claim on you as ours, but I ain’t saying we wouldn’t like to.”
Sinful Surrender Page 4