High Country Baby

by Joanna Sims

  “Ah—ah—ahhhh!” It was a primal cry that was wrenched from her body, a mixture of the pleasure and joy that she felt in her body mingled with the sadness and heartbreak that she felt in her soul. It was a release, beyond the physical, that she had needed since the day she left her old life behind.

  “Taylor.” Clint’s body was still connected to hers, his large, capable hands holding her face. “Taylor. Why are you crying? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. Nothing’s wrong.” Taylor started to laugh through her tears. “I’m high on endorphins. Two orgasms! That’s never happened before!”

  Chapter Eight

  They made love again before falling asleep. She wasn’t accustomed to sleeping in the spooning position, so after some cuddling time, which Clint seemed to enjoy, she scooted out from beneath his arm and moved onto her back to sleep.

  Exhausted from the trip and from the lovemaking, Taylor didn’t awaken until midmorning. After she opened her eyes, she started to take a happy inventory of her body: her left nipple was a little bit darker and sensitive from Clint’s attention. She ran her hand over her breast with a smile and then continued down to between her legs. With his really-rough-around-the-edges exterior, and being a cowboy and bull rider, a woman wouldn’t suspect that Clint McAllister was a passionate, attentive, thorough lover who genuinely appreciated a womanly figure. The way he touched her, they way he kissed her—he loved her thick thighs and large, natural breasts and her extra-rounded apple bottom.

  Exiting the tent she said, “Good morning,” to Clint, who was cooking the rest of the fish for his lunch.

  “Mornin’.” He smiled at her. “You sick of fish yet?”

  “Beyond.” She sat down on the log bench by the fire.

  “If you’d let me shoot somethin’ I could fix that for you.”

  He kept on asking her if she wanted him to shoot a bird or a rabbit or a deer. She had given up all meat except for seafood and couldn’t stomach the idea of him killing something, skinning it and then cooking it in front of her.

  “I’ve got a couple of freeze-dried meals we can share.” She wrinkled her nose. “Is there any coffee left?”

  Clint poured her a cup and brought it to her.

  “Oh—thank you.”

  Instead of returning to his side of the fire, Clint sat down next to her. He didn’t have his hat on and he pushed his hair off his forehead.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her.

  She took a grateful sip of the coffee, not caring that it was tepid and grainy and bitter.

  “No regrets.” She smiled at him. It had been a long time since she felt this alive. “You?”

  “No. Once I decide, I decide.” Clint returned to the fire to flip over the fish. “Not much sense in takin’ off today.”

  “Agreed.”

  “It’s hot enough to swim.” He knelt down by the fire. “You up for it?”

  She was. After she ate one of two remaining protein bars and downed a second cup of thick, cold coffee, they hiked down the mountain a ways until they reached a place in the stream that was wide and deep and surrounded by giant boulders.

  Taylor dropped her stuff in a pile; Clint was facing her, pulling his shirt out of the waistband of his jeans.

  “You comin’?” He started to unbutton his shirt.

  In the dark, her tarantula armpits and hairy legs weren’t a major concern. But here? In the bright light of day? That was a whole other situation entirely.

  “Come on!” Clint lifted his arms in the air. “Look at this place!”

  “I really haven’t shaved...”

  “I don’t care.” Clint shrugged out of his shirt. “And neither should you.”

  When she hesitated, the cowboy walked over to her, the look in his eyes undeniably appreciative. He was free to look at her any way he wished and he was taking advantage of it.

  “You know what? You’re right. I came here to find out who I am...” She hit her palm with her fist. “And then love the heck out of that person.”

  “I’ve got no complaints.” Clint yanked off his boots and socks.

  “But...” She added. “I’m leaving on my top.”

  Clint, who lacked the usual self-consciousness about his own nudity, pulled off his jeans, balled them up and dropped them next to his boots. He stood in front of her, completely unabashed, and dragged his fingers through his hair to push it off his face. The man had obviously spent quite a bit of time, out in the woods, in nothing but his birthday suit.

  Taylor shook her head with a laugh. Clint just stood there with a pleased grin on his face. The question in his eyes was easy to read: Do you like the view?

  She did like the view. She had found her Adam in this beautiful Garden of Eden. After she took off her jeans and folded them neatly next to her boots, she tucked her towel under her arm and carefully picked her way over to a flat boulder.

  “If you’re not careful the rocks will cut you up.” Clint stood with his back to her. “Let me carry you out there.”

  No one had offered her a piggyback ride in years—no doubt they had been afraid that she would have sent them to the chiropractor. But Clint was the kind of man who knew what he could handle; she needed to put her trust in him. Deciding to take a leap of faith, she climbed onto his back. Without a second thought, Clint carried her to one of the giant boulders in the widest part of the creek. From her perch on the warm boulder, she dangled her feet into the cool water.

  Clint flipped his body backward, dunked his head back into the water, and then shook his hair like dog. He pushed his hair back and waded out to the deepest part.

  “You can swim, can’t you?”

  “Like a fish,” she retorted.

  He waded back over to her and held out his arms. He lifted her off the rock and held her hand until she reached a spot that was deep enough for her to tread water. She didn’t like the feel of slimy rocks on her toes, but the cold water was refreshing. To a point.

  “I’m already cold.” She swam over to the boulders where she had left her towel.

  Clint watched her climb out of the water onto the boulder. He didn’t hide his thoughts—her wet T-shirt was showing off her assets and he enjoyed looking at her.

  Even though the sun was strong and the boulder was radiating heat through the towel to her skin, wearing the wet T-shirt and panties was keeping her from feeling warm. When Clint was under the water, she quickly slipped her shirt off and waited for him to break through the water’s surface. Playfully, she threw her balled-up shirt at the back of his head.

  Surprised, Clint turned around, soaked shirt in his hands. She squealed when he sprang forward to grab her.

  “Don’t you dare try to pull me in!” She scooted backward as far as she could, holding the towel tightly so it wouldn’t slip down from her breasts.

  Clint threw the waterlogged shirt and it landed with a splat on the shore. “I’m not gonna pull you in...”

  “Then what are you going to do to me?” she asked on a laugh. She hadn’t acted this playful for such a long time. There was a devilish twinkle in his eye that let her know he had something very specific in mind.

  “Something I’ve been wanting to do to you ever since I saw you yesterday.” Clint slid his hands up her thighs, underneath the towel, and hooked his fingers in the top of her panties.

  “Whoa! Not the panties!” Taylor pulled her legs up to her chest. “I thought you wanted to give me a kiss!”

  Clint held on to the edge her panties. “I do want to give you a kiss.”

  It took her a split second to catch his meaning, but once she did, she shook her head and pressed her thighs together to keep her panties in place. “No! No way! Not out here!”

  “I thought you were brave?”

  After spending a month on
the CDT with her, he knew exactly which button to push to get his way. She had a very hard time passing up a dare, as Clint was well aware.

  “Nice play, McAllister.” She glanced around nervously.

  “I play to win.” Clint put his hands on her knees. “We’re alone out here, Taylor. No one else will know.”

  Taylor met Clint’s eyes. It was so tempting. I seemed like years since someone had wanted to love her that way—she had missed it so much that she’d had fantasies about it.

  “It’s a jungle down there,” she warned Clint.

  Clint tugged her knees apart. “You worry about the strangest things.”

  His fingers hooked back onto her panties, but this time, she didn’t put away. “I have gray hair.”

  Clint pulled her panties down her thighs. “I don’t care.”

  He balled up her panties, threw them, and they landed on the shore near her T-shirt. “Lie back, Taylor.”

  Holding tight to her towel, Taylor leaned back all the way on the boulder. It was uncomfortable, like lying down on uneven concrete, but the anticipation of what was to come helped her ignore the ridges of stone scratching at her skin.

  Given the green light, Clint pushed the towel up to her waist, exposing her sensual flower to the bright light of the sun.

  “Beautiful.” Clint murmured. Her thighs were creamy alabaster, like a porcelain doll, but the bud between her thighs was the palest pink. Delectable.

  Taylor closed her eye tightly, the warmth of the sun flushing the skin of her cheeks and her forehead. The cowboy’s hands, strong and calloused, traveled up the inside of her thighs, asking her to open more for him. She bit her lip and let her thighs fall apart. She felt the familiar softness of his beard on the inside of her thigh, the unfamiliar sensation of his breath dancing across the most sensitive center of her body—and then he kissed her. She had to stifle the sound of shock and pleasure and relief that bubbled up inside of her. Now that she had it, she didn’t want it to stop.

  Please don’t stop. Please don’t stop.

  Clint had no intention of stopping. Taylor tasted sweet, like a delicacy designed with his pleasure in mind. When he heard his lover gasp, it only made Clint want to have more of her. Taylor arched her back, her thighs fell further apart, and the towel that she had been clutching so tightly fell away. She felt the sun on her naked breasts, on her stomach and the top of her thighs; she knew that she was completely unclothed for anyone to see. But she didn’t care. In that moment, with Clint’s searching tongue buried deep inside of her body, she didn’t care. All she could do was enjoy the gift of pleasure Clint was giving to her. He was relentless with his love; he was taking her on a different kind of journey—a new journey that her body had never known but so desperately needed.

  “Don’t hold back,” Clint ordered in a husky voice. “Give me what I want, Taylor.”

  He stayed with her, loved her, caressed her until her muscles began to tighten and her breathing became shallow and it seemed that the only sensation that mattered was the incredible pleasure that Clint was creating with his mouth. Without planning to do it—she was running on instinct alone—she reached between her legs, dug her fingers into Clint’s hair and pressed him down into her body with a passionate scream.

  Breathing heavily, leg muscles as weak as a rag doll, eyes closed, Taylor drifted down from the orgasmic cloud while Clint dropped little lover’s kisses on the insides of both her thighs. She opened her eyes when she felt him take her hands.

  “So sweet,” he said before he kissed her.

  She didn’t have any words to explain to Clint what he had just given to her.

  Clint reached down and squeezed his erection to stop it from hurting.

  “We need to go back to camp.”

  Taylor nodded her understanding. He needed relief, too.

  Clint took her in his arms and carried her to shore. They gathered their clothing, putting on only what was necessary, and returned to camp as quickly as they could. Inside of the tent, Clint stripped off his jeans, his erection gone. She had never been sexually aggressive, but with Clint she was empowered to be someone else—to take more control.

  “Sit down.” She dropped her towel.

  Clint had made it very clear that he loved her body—he loved her hips and her breasts and her backside. She was more comfortable being nude in front of Clint than she had been with her ex-husband.

  The cowboy smiled at her as she knelt between his legs. She took him into her mouth until his shaft was thick and hard.

  Clint, who had been reveling in her attentions, opened his eyes and reached for her. “Come here.”

  Taylor straddled his thighs and slowly slid down his shaft making Clint groan loudly; fully impaled, Taylor wrapped her legs around his back and they wrapped their arms tightly around each other.

  “God damn, lady—you feel like you were made for me.” Clint grabbed her backside and pulled her tighter into his body.

  Taylor buried her face in his neck and held him as tightly as he was holding her. “You feel so good. You feel so good. You feel so good.”

  They rocked together, giving pleasure, taking pleasure, and making love hard and long and deep and rough. Sweaty, panting—their bodies slick and wet—Clint cupped her breast in his hand, took her nipple into his hot mouth and sent her over the edge.

  “Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!” Taylor dropped her head back, her hands gripping Clint’s shoulders.

  “Ahhhhh!” Clint found his release, pumping her full of his seed.

  They collapsed into each other’s arms to catch their breaths, to come down from their orgasmic highs. Taylor was the first to move; she slid off Clint’s lap and rolled onto her back. With Clint, she had taken charge of her sexuality—she owned it.

  “Wooo...” He rolled onto his back and lay down next to her. “Damn.”

  She started laughing—she couldn’t help it. Had she ever been this happy before? Had anything ever felt better than making love with Clint McAllister?

  Clint looked over at her and smiled, reaching for her hand to stay connected to her while he closed his eyes again. Their fingers intertwined, she closed her eyes, as well. Soon after she heard his breathing become slow and steady, until he was lightly snoring. She thought about getting up, rinsing off, but then she changed her mind and just let her body be.

  Several hours later, Clint awakened with a raging erection. Taylor was still asleep. She had turned on her side, her curvaceous, sexy backside facing him. He curled his body around hers and ran his hand down her arm to her hip and down her leg. It had been while since he’d been with a woman, so it made sense that he was horny as hell, yet this unparalleled desire he felt for Taylor was beyond his experience. He was a pretty sexual guy, but this craving to connect his body to hers again was blowing his mind. He pulled her back into his body and kissed the back of her neck.

  “Taylor...”

  “Hmm?”

  Clint rubbed the head of his shaft along her soft, tight opening, filled his hand with her breast and gently bit her shoulder.

  “More?” she asked groggily.

  “More,” he growled into her neck.

  Taylor smiled sleepily, pressed his hand hard into her breast and let out a sexy little sigh of pleasure when he entered her from behind. He wanted this time to be slow, controlled—he wanted to torture their bodies, bring them to the brink of ecstasy and then pull them back until they couldn’t stand another second without demanding a release. He loved her with long, slow strokes, plunging deep, plunging deep, plunging deep until her muscles squeezed his shaft, until he felt the wetness of her orgasm. With Taylor shuddering in his arms, Clint took his own release.

  * * *

  “Damn, woman! What the holy heck did you do to me?”

  They’d broken down the tent, eaten a quick breakfast and
were getting the horses and Easy ready for the last leg of the journey. They would be back at the ranch by late afternoon.

  Taylor zipped the last few items into her pack. “What are you talking about?”

  Clint grabbed his crotch and shifted his package inside of his jeans. “The family jewels are sore! You drained every last ounce out of ’em.”

  “Suck it up, cowboy!” Taylor laughed. “You did some damage yourself.”

  When she first started this trip, she had ached all over her body. In particular, her lady parts had been chafed and raw, which made riding on horseback excruciating. A couple of days into their return, she noticed that her body had adapted. The muscles didn’t hurt as much, she was much stronger, and her cardio had improved. Now, after two days of nonstop lovemaking with Clint, she was so sore between her legs she was right back to where she started—but for a much more acceptable reason. She wore her soreness proudly, like a badge of honor.

  “You ready to be back today?” Clint tightened his horse’s girth a couple of notches.

  For days, she had been dreading her return. She didn’t feel ready for reality. But now? Today? She was ready.

  She nodded her head. “What’s the very first thing you’re going to do when we get back?”

  “Bum a cigarette.” Clint adjusted his hat on his head. “You?”

  “Hot shower,” she didn’t hesitate to say. Oh, how she had missed hot water!

  Before Clint could make it to her side to help her mount, Taylor got her foot in the stirrup and pulled herself up from the ground without using a boulder or a tree stump as a mounting block.

  “Did you see that?” Taylor asked excitedly. “I finally did it!”

  Clint swung into his saddle. “You’re beautiful.”

  Surprised, Taylor smiled at him fondly. “Thank you. You make me feel beautiful.”

  “You ready to head out?”

  She looked around the last campsite—it was hard to believe that it had already been a month. She had changed so much on the inside, and even though she hadn’t seen herself in a mirror, there was a very good chance she had changed on the outside, as well.