Stop Dragon My Heart Around

  “Don’t you want a walking stick?” she asked. “You’d be amazed how much easier it makes the walking.”

  “I’m good.” Leo walked in front of her with an easy, light-footed tread that made the irregular terrain seem flat. He wasn’t even breathing hard.

  “Whatever you say,” she teased. “This is your domain, after all. You desert dweller, you. I’m just an appreciative visitor.”

  “Please. I know you’re just waiting to pass me on the uphill.”

  His reply made her happy. It pleased her that although he teased her, he acknowledged her skill and knowledge of the desert. She might never have felt she belonged among the tribe, but out in the open desert, she was as at home as anywhere in the world.

  She inhaled deeply “Do you smell that?”

  “The cedar?”

  “Yes, I love it when it starts to warm in the morning sun. It’s like the desert is yawning and stretching into the sky.”

  “You’re really in tune with the desert.” He sounded curious. “Would you say you’re more in touch with the land than others in your tribe?”

  “You mean like a shaman?” she laughed.

  “You seem very aware of surroundings and people,” he said. “And you always know what your players want before they ask for it.”

  “Please don’t call me sensitive, I hate that.”

  “An empath.” Looking stunned, Leo shook his head. “I should have seen that.”

  Tee stopped and leaned on her stick. Above her, Leo paused. “Maybe it’s just you. I’m more in tune with things when I’m with you.” She gave him an easy smile. “You make everything Technicolor.”

  “Keep up the flattery, Princess. Maybe I’ll let you pass me after all.”

  They walked on, following the trail and gaining altitude. As they rose, the path revealed more of the tangerine, purple, and red cliffs.

  “Isn’t it beautiful?” Tee asked as they stopped to take in the view.

  “It is.” Leo dropped a light kiss to her mouth. “Like you.”

  “Oh yeah, I’m so hot with no makeup and in your gym shorts and T-shirt.”

  “I like you like this as much as I like you in that get up you wore to the cowboy wedding. The boots and that irresponsible dress.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.” He started walking uphill again.

  “You know”—Tee followed happily in his wake, huffing slightly—“hiking is like life.”

  “How so?”

  “You can spend the whole trip just watching the trail ahead, worrying that you’ll twist an ankle or fall. And then you miss all this.” She spread her arms to encompass the sky and stark, vivid colored landscape.

  “You really love it out here, don’t you?”

  “It’s the main reason I don’t want a casino built on the rez,” she said. “Johnny is right about needing another source of income. But a casino? You know what all those people out here would do to all this.”

  “Have you ever considered something less intrusive?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like a resort spa for the tribe instead of a casino? Something that plays to the peace and beauty of the desert instead of destroying it. Maybe with a golf course.”

  “I try not to get involved in tribal politics. It upsets the Chief and makes it look like I’m not supporting him.”

  “Maybe you should rethink that too.” Leo gave her a level look. “You always say you want to be a part of the tribe. To be a part of something, you have to be involved. As long as you stay out of the decisions, you’ll always feel like an outsider.”

  Tee dropped her gaze to the trail. Building a resort, like Leo suggested, would be a massive undertaking and would need the Chief’s support. The thought of talking with him about a project for the tribe made her stomach hurt. She shook her head, knowing her “no” was an automatic response.

  “It’s Nevada. There’d be no way to keep the gambling out. People would expect it and the Chief would never go for gambling.”

  “You could control the level of gaming, make that less a focus.”

  Again, her head shook of its own accord. She would butt heads with the Chief. It was too complicated. “There’s a cool Joshua Tree grove up ahead.” She looked at him and pointed ahead.

  Leo gave her a stare that said he knew she hadn’t given his suggestion credence, but he nodded. “Tell me about it.”

  “Joshua Trees are pretty ingenious survivors.” Tee walked ahead.

  “They put down deep roots?”

  “No, the opposite.” She looked appreciatively at the grove. Two hundred yards away, tree branches lifted high overhead. “They have a shallow root system to collect rainwater, and their leaves collect water too and divert it back to the tree.”

  “Why do you love them so?”

  She shrugged. “I always thought they looked like cheerleaders with green pompoms, rooting for the desert animals to survive.”

  “Desert cheerleaders?”

  “Don’t laugh,” Tee said. “You asked, and that’s why I like them. Everything in the desert has to find a way to live in the drought and heat. If a tree uses too much energy and water making leaves it can’t put down a good root system, and it’s going to die out here.”

  “What about the animals?”

  “It’s the same. The desert tortoise hibernates for eleven months out of the year.”

  They walked side by side up a tight switchback as they rounded the trail. “They must be busy during their one month of freedom.”

  “I’ll say. They have to get their sustenance for the whole year.”

  “Whew, that’s a lot of sex.”

  Tee slugged his arm and laughed. “Food, I meant food!”

  “Man can’t live on food alone.” He flashed her a devilish smile.

  His easy admission was such a change from twenty-four hours ago. She stopped to enjoy watching him place one booted foot in front of the other with even strides. Despite the angled hillside, he and his heavy pack were always upright, totally unconstrained by gravity.

  “So, you hungry now big boy?”

  Leo flashed a smile. “Famished.”

  “But you just ate last night?”

  “I can feast anytime, anywhere.”

  “Even out here in the open?” She hurried to catch up to him.

  “Anytime, anywhere, as long as it is with you.” Leo slid the straps of her pack off her shoulders and unclipped the waist. “Besides, we were in the open last night.”

  “In a tent, where no one could see us.”

  “Who’s going to see us out here?”

  He caught her waist and tugged her closer. “Come on, Princess, live a little.”

  Tee wound her arms around his neck, feeling the wind pull her hair from her braid. She reached under the hem of his shirt and ran her hands up the firm contours of his belly feeling the sweaty warmth of him under her fingers.

  “How hungry are you?” she asked.

  “Tortoises got nothing on me.” He leaned close and kissed her neck, nibbling until the hair on her arms stood on end. Tee rested her cheek on his shoulder. She loved this—loved the easy give and take, the certainty of their shared passion.

  She could stay like this with him forever.

  In a flash, Leo had her shirt over her head. A slight breeze from the canyon brushed over her naked skin. “You want it bad enough to be on the bottom?” she asked with a questioning smile. “With the cactuses?”

  “Oh yeah.” Leo ran his hands from her waist up her back in the groove of her spine. “Cactuses don’t stand a chance.” He kneaded his fingers back down to her hips, pulling her closer.

  What if someone came up on them? Tee listened along the path for footfalls, but heard only the wind and the distant caw of a crow.

  “I’ve decided I like this no bra thing.” Leo bent his head and nuzzled her breast. The sensitive skin of her nipples puckered appreciatively. Desire stretched in the pit of her belly. Who cared if someone cam
e up on them, anyway?

  “Me, too.” She let go of her reservations. Leaning back over his arm, she gave him better access. Leo supported her weight with his forearm and played with her nipples with his tongue.

  The sun heated her face, adding to the dream like feel of the moment. She closed her eyes. “You’ve convinced me,” Tee said on a sigh.

  “That was easy.” Leo chuckled and straightened her in his arms.

  She snapped her eyes open and held onto his forearms, suddenly awash with insecurity. “Too easy?”

  “No, never too easy.” He returned his attention to her neck.

  He was right; she was easy when it came to him. She’d wanted everything with him from the minute they’d met. She twined her arms around his neck again, needing the contact. “You know, I’m only easy with you.” She tried to make the statement light-hearted, but her seriousness came through.

  “I know.” He cupped her face and gazed into her eyes, his expression gentle. “I know.”

  “When we go back to the real world, how’re things going to be between us?” she asked, watching his face for clues. All the one-sidedness in their past relationship, the repeated excuses and rejections, his sudden reversal.

  Uncertainty coiled where desire had been and caution rushed into the void, squeezing the remaining joy from her heart. She needed more from him. Assurances that things were going to continue the way they were here and now.

  Leo took a breath and stepped back. Tee let him go, her arms bare and empty in the dry air. “I don’t know,” he said. “That’ll depend on you.”

  “Me?” She picked up her shirt and covered herself.

  Leo dropped his backpack under one of the nearby Joshua trees and sat down on it in the shade. He looked up at her, his expression clearly stating, “we need to talk.”

  Tee swallowed hard and looked away, past the grove to the sharp desert cliffs beyond. Worried fingers spread the tee shirt material tight around her chest. How had she been so dumb? She loved him completely now. She was at his mercy. It was an awful, vulnerable, raw feeling to consider losing him.

  It was going to hurt. A lot.

  She lifted her eyes to find him watching her patiently as if he understood her nervous struggle. In the speckled light under the tree, he looked perfect. A golden god out of some outdoorsman magazine. He had just the right amount of dust on his boots, and his worn shorts showed firm legs and quad muscles. His tee shirt was just the right amount of sweaty, and his arms, akimbo behind him, were strong and steady.

  She focused on his hands. She loved the slight calluses below his fingers, loved his wide palms. Didn’t wide palms mean he was a generous person, that he had a big ’ole heart? Big enough for her? His fingers were perfection too, the fusion of elegant utilitarianism, with their length and slight taper.

  An unconscious sigh slipped past her lips.

  Leo’s gaze and the overhead sun burned her to the spot. Finally, she could avoid it no longer. Tee looked at his face and he still waited for her to speak. “Never mind,” she said with sudden certainty. She didn’t want to know. Not today. “Whatever you’re going to say, it can wait? I just want to enjoy the rest of the time we have out here.”

  “Tee, we need to talk about some stuff.”

  “No, we don’t.” Her mind made up, she knew of one certain way to divert his attention.

  She pulled off her top, her bronze skin shone in the sun. Walking over to his spot, she straddled him with her legs. Her hand fell to the loose inside hem of her shorts. “The only thing we need to worry about is if someone’s coming up the trail.”

  “I have excellent hearing.” Leo eyed her up and down. “I’ll hear someone coming up the switchback.”

  “Then we have nothing to worry about.”

  “Come here.” His voice was low and intense, his eyes on her body.

  He ran his hands up her legs, under shorts. “No panties. Nice.” He slid his hands further up her shorts, wrapping them around her hips and gently tugging her down to his lap.

  “You’re so beautiful.” He freed his hands, traced his fingers from her belly to the top of her left breast, and flattened his palm over her heart, much as she had done at the powwow. He pulled her forward but kept his hand in place against her skin. “I love how your heart speeds up when I touch you.”

  Tee smiled. She couldn’t have resisted him if she wanted to.

  She didn’t want to resist. Not on this gorgeous day with this gorgeous man under her. The gorgeous man who belonged to her, if only for now.

  Leo rocked her hips forward so his sex rubbed hers through their shorts. The material was rough, and Tee lifted away and unfastened his zipper, so his full, solid length sprang free in her hand. She pulled her loose shorts to the side and slid the tip of him against her wetness. His swollen shaft was thick in her fingers, and the friction against her throbbing cleft made her inner muscles clench with need.

  She wanted more of him.

  Throwing her head back, she let Leo move her hips against him in a delightful dance which built tension in her lower belly. “That’s better.” He tilted her forward and back, watching her face, gauging her pleasure until she moaned low. “That’s so much better.”

  Leo reached behind her, pulled the braid band loose, and spread her hair over her shoulders, veiling them both inside her long hair. “I love watching you.” He pulled her face to his and kissed her hard, running his tongue along the inside of her lips, tasting her. Easing her into his desire.

  “Now.” The word was half command and half plea. Tee no longer listened for footfalls on the trail. She could only think of him, and the sensations he sent spiraling through her body.

  Lifting her hips and keeping her short to the side, he sat her down on his engorged head. His body trembled between her legs, and he leaned back against the tree, releasing her slowly, letting her move for them.

  She rose on her knees and worked him deeper inside the core of her body. “Touch me,” she said on a gasp of pleasure. “Like before. Touch me.”

  Leo lifted her thumb to his mouth and wetted it before moving it between their bodies to rub her sensitive nub under her fingers. Tee closed her eyes and let the sensations build and tighten. She rocked, feeling the little jerks begin, the catch and drive of her hips, forward and backward. Leo pressed her hand harder, and lifted his hips under her, impaling her deeply with his rigid cock.

  “Leo,” she said on a deep slide downward.

  “I can’t wait,” he said in a guttural voice. He grabbed her hips, bucking under her. The slide of him pressed against her nub and Tee trembled, feeling his thrusts deep inside her. The dance, as old as the land, vibrated and shook through her limbs.

  “Yes,” he gasped.

  Tee’s release spun her inward. She cried out and burst out of her mind. Leo grabbed her hard around the waist and thrust up into her, moving her limp body with the demands of his, muffling his cry of satisfaction behind his clenched teeth. Her midsection warmed as he exploded deep inside her, filling her with his love.

  In the aftermath, she rested her head on his. “I love you,” she said, content to never move again. “I really love you.” Satisfaction filled her from her head to her toes. Tears filled her eyes, and she didn’t care anymore that she was laid bare to him.

  Leo slid his hand through her hair, anchoring her head so she looked square at him. Inches away from her face, his eyes were green and dilated. Open, with no shields between them. “I love you too, I always have.”

  He was hers.

  They belonged together.

  At least until all the reasons they couldn’t be together—reasons she still didn’t understand—forced them apart.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “So, how does this desert compare to Australia?” Tee asked Leo as they hiked back to camp. They’d rested in the shade of the Joshua Tree grove, eaten, and cleaned up. She could have stayed there forever, but they needed to get moving so they could return to the campsite by dinner.<
br />
  “It’s similar, but different.” Leo’s voice held a touch of wistfulness.

  “You miss your home?”

  “I miss my family. I have a nephew. He was just a baby when I left. I wish I could see them.”

  This surprised her. Leo was such a solitary man, except when he was in his fake charming mode. It seemed strange that he would miss a child he didn’t know. She caught up to him and touched his arm. “You should talk to Alec about giving you some time off so you can visit them.”

  He stopped walking at the top of the rise. “Would you go with me?”

  Her heart expanded and contracted with happiness that he wanted her to meet his family. It seemed to indicate their change from friends to lovers was indeed permanent. “You would want that?”

  “More than anything,” he said, but he glanced over her shoulder as if he heard something. He crouched behind a rock and motioned for her to join him. In the valley below, a herd of five wild mustangs chomped on switchgrass.

  She shrugged off her backpack. “Can I have one of your apples?”

  “What’re you going to do with it?” Leo asked suspiciously, and then shook his head. “Tee, those horses are dangerous. And mean.”

  “Just give it to me.” She smiled and held out her hand. “I know what I’m doing.”

  Leo pulled a green apple out of his pack, but held it against his chest, waiting for her explanation.

  “I know this herd, they’re gentle,” she said. Leo put the apple in her palm. “They’re usually closer to the reservation, but the powwow has probably moved them from their grounds. Come on, I’ll introduce you. Bring the other apple.”

  Leo shook his head. “Horses don’t like me.”

  “Horses like anyone with an apple.”

  “Go ahead, say hello to your friends.” His forehead furrowed in concern. “I’ll wait here.”

  Tee climbed over the rock, fell onto her stomach, and crawled forward, so as not to spook the stallion. She knew he’d run if startled and take the mares with him. The stallion sensed her immediately. He snorted a warning and stamped his hooves. The mares whinnied and fell in line behind him.

  On the reservation, they called him Ghost. He was a magnificent creature, probably solid white if he was clean, but he always had a layer of dust from rolling in the dirt. His haunches were strongly muscled, making him compact for running and climbing. Many had tried to catch him and failed.