They ate big peaches, their flesh yellow-orange, their juices sweet. They used white paper napkins to wipe their faces and hands dry. The fruit’s rich, sweet scent filled the air inside the car.
“Some of Yellowstone must’ve been frightening to the Indians who first discovered it,” Blaze mused.
Logan nodded. “I’m pure Shoshone, and I’ve already pictured them here even before the days of the horse, but after they’d already camped and hunted in the forest. I think they would have revered the springs with awe and as something deeply spiritual.”
Blaze trailed his fingers down Logan’s bare arm. “When I first saw you in my class, I guessed Native American, then Shoshone.”
“Really? I know I look Native, but how did you know my tribe?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been studying the history here and knew about the tribes connected to it. I thought I was guessing about yours, but maybe deep inside I just knew.” Maybe his wolf had told him. Blaze stopped stroking.
“Don’t stop. Your fingers skimming my skin feel good.”
It stirred his crotch…that was what the feel of the smooth skin did to him, Blaze thought. “Ever since that first look into your eyes, I’ve sensed a connection with you. You felt it too.” He turned Logan’s hand over and kissed the sensitive area of his wrist, evoking a gasp from the Indian. His tongue then journeyed up and over and down to the tender space between each finger.
Logan squirmed in his seat with what seemed to be pleasure before answering Blaze’s question. “I felt a connection. Not sure what it means. It worries me.” The skin between Logan’s eyebrows drew together.
“Hell, it worries me too!” Blaze said.
“Why?”
Blaze removed the sandwich from Logan’s hand and set it down between the seats. Then he slid his hand behind Logan’s neck and drew him in to slide his lips across Logan’s. At first, there was no response. Searching for a metaphor, he decided it was like kissing a carved wooden Indian outside a tobacco shop. Then he felt Logan’s body relax, and his hands cupped Blaze’s face as he opened his mouth to him. He swept inside until their tongues touched, probed, and, at last, mated in the most intimate way. Logan’s mouth tasted of sweet peaches, and he licked the remnants of the juices from the corner of his bewitching mouth.
Blaze groaned and broke the kiss to run his hands through Logan’s hair until they settled on the back of his head. He kissed Indian eyes and temples, slipped his hot tongue into warm ears, and felt Logan squirm again when he brushed a hand across his swollen jeans.
Logan sighed as Blaze’s tongue and lips traveled to the pulses pounding in his throat below his ear.
Blaze’s crotch was too tight now, his penis so big he thought all the blood in his head must have rushed in and settled there. He felt weak yet energized as his foreskin slipped back to expose the deep purplish tip of his cock. His entire body trembled with the power of his arousal. The need to fuck this man hard and fast over and over until they were exhausted from climaxing.
Gently, Logan took his hand and stopped him. He slid his fingers across Blaze’s lower lip and studied his mouth. “Why are you worried?”
“Shit,” Blaze said in complete honesty. “I’ve never fucked an Indian before.”
Logan threw his head back and laughed. When he’d regained his composure, he said, “Well, I’ve fucked white men, and I assure you my cock works just like a white man’s…circumcised or not.”
“God, but I’m glad to hear that.” Blaze ran his palms over the broad pecs on Logan’s chest, studying his face as he closed his fingers on the flat male nipples beneath the cloth, and his palms rubbed circling motions over the muscular fullness as the cloth created friction and the dark nubbins leaped to life. He dropped his mouth and sucked first one and then the other through the cotton cloth.
Logan dropped his head back to rest on the neck supports and moaned.
“Feel good?” Blaze asked, his voice rough with desire.
“Even better than skimming down my arms.”
He pulled Logan’s T-shirt out of his trousers and slid it up, pressing his lips to warm, damp skin that tasted of the sweat of a strong man. He kissed and tongued his way from the dark nipples hardened with desire and down a chest devoid of hair. His tongued dipped into the concave imprint of his belly button. “I want to suck your cock so hard you’ll come in my throat,” Blaze murmured as he ran his hand over the bulge in Logan’s pants before sucking so hard on the area just above the pants that he left a red love bite there. It would be a blue bruise tomorrow, his mark of passion.
Logan’s moans seemed to encourage him…until the moment the rip, rip sound of his zipper being lowered filled the space between them.
Logan grabbed his hand to stop him.
“What? Not ready to show me the cock I so want to see?” Blaze’s voice was rough with unsatisfied need. “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.”
Shock splintered across Logan’s face.
Blaze fought to tamp down his body’s drive to fulfillment. He pulled down Logan’s shirt, covering the beautiful, delicious chest and abs. He adjusted his hurting cock in his trousers so it would have more room. “I’m guessing this is too public for you. I was only teasing.”
“Sorry. I must be more inhibited than you. Exhibitionism’s not my thing.”
It will be when I get through with you, and you discover how very arousing it can be. Blaze smiled as he squeezed Logan’s thighs and placed another hickey just above the gateway to temptation. “I can wait until you’re ready. It’ll be damned hard, but I’ll wait because I know it’ll be good when it happens. It’ll be right.”
He concentrated on lunch, felt his cock subside and his foreskin resume its usual hooded place. He handed Logan his sandwich, and they finished eating.
Logan announced he’d done enough sketching for the day, plus the light he’d wanted had changed. It would affect the mood of what he’d planned to do with his pieces.
Blaze drove to the motel and removed his things from Logan’s car, but he couldn’t let go of his company yet. He unlocked his car, then tossed his things in. “I have fresh trout in my refrigerator. I caught them yesterday, and they should be eaten tonight. If you have time, I’d like you to have dinner with me.”
“Can’t. I—”
“Are you sure? I’d really like to spend more time with you.”
That clinched it. A lift of Logan’s mouth at the corners into a quiet smile said it all. He agreed to come. As he turned to go into the motel, he said something in Shoshone and was gone before Blaze could ask him to interpret.
Blaze hummed to himself on the drive to his house. He entered, seeing it for the first time through the eyes of another man. Not just another man—because others had been here, of course—but of someone growing in importance to him.
Old navy habits never died, so the house was neat and tidy. The bed was made, Blaze’s clothes hung in the closet, and his bathroom towels had been folded into thirds and hung on the racks. He hadn’t shaved, but even if he had, the bowl would have been washed clean of any razor stubble.
After his early breakfast this morning, he’d washed and put away the dishes. Logan was coming, and everything seemed right with the world as he set out plates, mugs, and flatware on the small dining table by a wide window. He added a jar of artichoke hearts in olive oil and packages of pumpkin seeds, walnut pieces, and dark raisins. Reaching for the TV remote, he switched the monitor on for the evening news.
He’d sharpened a knife and was scraping off glistening scales in rainbow hues from two large trout when a news bulletin cropped up.
“Visitors and residents are again warned not to feed or approach wildlife in or outside the park. In Bozeman this morning, a man was gored to death by a bison he’d prodded. Friends say he was showing off for a photo shoot.
“Inside Yellowstone National Park, a second body of a man has been found washed up by the Lamar River in the same place a body was discovered earlie
r this week. Manner of death is consistent with that of the first man.”
Blaze’s blood curdled. His wolf bristled and snarled in alarm.
What in hell’s going on? If anyone figures out those dead men were wolf strikes, it’ll mean the end of wolves in Yellowstone again. The ranchers will see to that. Even some of the shifters might not be safe, but the wild wolves definitely wouldn’t be, and that would be devastating for the park.
The doorbell chimed, interrupting his thoughts. He tore off a paper towel to cover his dirty right hand, turned the TV monitor off, and opened the storm door with his left hand.
Logan stood on the porch, waving a bottle of white wine. “I come bearing gifts.”
Relief and excitement rushed through Blaze just seeing him standing there. He was dressed in a snug white T-shirt and black Ralph Lauren pants in a waffle knit with a drawstring tie—no zipper or buttons. Remnants of charcoal and pastel chalks had disappeared from his hands, and he’d pulled his hair back and fastened it with narrow strip of decorated suede. Blaze wanted to wrap his arms around him and kiss him until their lips fell off and their cocks spun glistening threads of precum in their shorts.
Instead, the moment Logan stepped inside, he was the one who leaned in and pressed his full lips over Blaze’s mouth. The kiss ended too soon. Logan walked past him into the living room.
Blaze would have gripped him to prolong the kiss, but his hands were messy with fish scales and entrails. He recovered, figuring such a light touch was best for now. Loving could wait until after dinner, when the night folded dark and soft around them under a canopy of stars.
Logan handed him a copy of the gift he’d given out at the potlatch.
“This is incredible, Logan. Just how famous are you, Mr. Logan Swift Rider?”
Logan shrugged his wide shoulders. “Famous enough. I’m glad you like it since I think it’s one of my best. Really, it’s not a big deal. Now, what can I do to help? The wine’s been chilled. Want me to open it to let it breathe?”
Blaze followed him into the kitchen, remembering he’d only ordered water at Kaye’s. “That would be great. But you don’t drink, do you? There’s a Dr. Pepper in there if you’d like one. Or there’s cold water. There are glasses in the cupboard above me.”
Blaze stilled as Logan reached around him and retrieved two wineglasses from the cupboard. He’d showered and shampooed with something that smelled like air freshened by a spring rain. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment before continuing with the fish. Frustration rolled through him because his hands were dirty, and he couldn’t hug him, pull Logan hard against him until their chests and cocks were pressed tight and snug together.
He managed to keep his voice steady and say, “If you would, you can get a bag of lettuce out of the refrigerator and toss some in those bowls for us. There are veggies you can toss in too. I like all of them. Choose the dressing you want. Put the balsamic vinaigrette on the table for me. There are artichoke hearts on the table.”
“The trout are beautiful. You fish?”
Blaze returned to prepping the fish, and they talked as he worked.
“These are rainbows from Lake Hebgen. And, yes, I fish. Sometimes we’ve had to fish to survive on missions. SEALs are trained to be still and vigilant for hours, and fishing isn’t so different—” he smiled “—nor is waiting for an artist while he sketches.”
“I’m so sorry. I haven’t thanked you for taking me to see all those spectacular things. The colors and images are still echoing in my brain.”
“No apology necessary, Logan. I loved watching you work.”
“I know I get lost in what I’m doing and don’t communicate much, but I loved knowing you were with me.” He leaned in and licked Blaze’s neck, setting his nerves to tingling.
“Me and my dirty hands leave me helpless to return that, but I liked it and would like more of it later.”
Logan gave a soft laugh.
It seemed to take forever, but, at last, the fish were ready. Blaze coated them with flour and laid them carefully in a hot skillet as the butter in it sizzled. Soon the smell of lake fish frying in butter and flour permeated the small kitchen.
When the coating on the trout had developed to a toasty light brown, Blaze used a spatula to transfer them to their plates as Logan brought them to him. He nodded to a covered electric kettle on the counter. “There’s fragrant rice in the steamer. And a loaf of homemade bread we can tear chunks from. I use real butter. Help yourself.”
As they had done in Kaye’s, they were too hungry to talk as they ate.
“You must’ve seen some wonderful places on your missions as a SEAL.”
“Not true. We knew exactly what we needed to do. We went in fast, did our job, and got out fast. I remember the weather, the discomforts, and the danger of the jobs, but we saw little of the countries we were in.” Except for a beautiful forest and a bear in Germany, he thought. Maybe someday, if this relationship continued, he would feel secure in sharing what he was and about that incident. They would laugh together, just as his teammates had done. Except Logan would understand why Blaze had laughed.
“So it’s not Join the Navy, See the World?”
Blaze almost roared with laughter at the ridiculousness of that idea. “Not hardly. Maybe as a sailor, but as a SEAL? You don’t get a few days or hours of leave to see the town. Ours is a tour of duty, not a sightseeing tour. Hell, no.”
After a moment, his tone serious, he said, “Used to be you could read about one or two older SEAL missions online, but, after we killed bin Laden, a plane carrying a full team was shot down and those disappeared. We’re not supposed to talk about what we do. National security issues, you see. And safety of the men in future ops.”
“But the men who carried out the bin Laden raid talked.”
“Much to the displeasure of the navy and the disgust of other SEALs. I think most of them retired before they revealed its details. However, we take an oath not to ever talk about a mission, in or out of the service, until it’s declassified.”
“I agree with that. I promise I’ll never ask.”
When their plates were empty, they carried them to the kitchen counter, rinsed, and stacked them.
Logan said, “That was delicious. It’s been a long time since I’ve had freshwater fish. Thank you.”
“I have ice cream for dessert…vanilla bean. And I have some day-old sugar cookies, compliments of Kaye. They were free.”
Logan stood, stretched, and rubbed his belly, announcing he was too full and could he try Dr. Pepper over ice cream later? “You might talk me into a sugar cookie too.”
The limber, graceful stretch, and rubbing the abs he’d so recently tasted and kissed aroused Blaze until he thought he’d swallow his tongue if he couldn’t come on the spot. Concentrating on the idea of a Dr. Pepper float instead of what his cock wanted, he struggled to say, “Sounds good to me too.”
There weren’t many TV channels available in the mountains, but they did get major league baseball, so they sat on the couch to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers play the New York Mets. Blaze liked New York, and Logan, who was really a San Diego Padres fan, rooted for the Dodgers. In time, Blaze reached for Logan’s hand, and they intertwined fingers. They talked baseball strategy, shouted, and swore at the referees and pitchers.
Logan moved closer, letting his thigh and shoulder touch Blaze’s as they kissed long and hard. They missed a lot of the game, but they shared each other’s strength and warmth, and it was such a natural thing and felt so good that, in the eighth inning, Blaze had to force himself to release Logan’s hand and excuse himself to the bathroom.
“Sorry. Gotta pee.”
* * * *
Just watching Blaze’s confident way of moving and his firm butt as he walked out of the room caused Logan’s blood to circulate faster and swoop down to fill his dick. He’d wanted to let Blaze unzip him in the park, but a sudden wave of Indian modesty had stopped him. It wasn’t a major mistake, yet now he
felt foolish and stupid. What the sharpshooter felt for him seemed genuine, and more and more he’d begun to think what he’d seen deep in Blaze’s eyes was meant to be, even though he didn’t know why or how.
If it was a trick and not real, he’d deal with it when the time came. He could spend his vacation here, and if it turned out not to be real, he would simply return to his home in Encinitas. Unlike Bernie, this man didn’t pressure him.
Poor, pathetic Bernie. I’d forgotten about him until this moment.
Standing, he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the couch. When Blaze came out of the bathroom, he was waiting for him in the hall, his cock stiff and dripping precum.
Blaze pulled up short and turned a questioning look on Logan.
Logan stepped to him. “You haven’t asked what I said to you in Shoshone when you left.”
“No.”
“I said I wanted to lie naked with you.”
Before Blaze could respond, Logan covered his mouth with a long, hungry kiss as he unbuttoned the blue denim shirt Blaze was dressed in. What began as a slow, savoring kiss grew into something deeper as Logan slid the last button through its hole and slid the shirt off Blaze’s shoulders.
It dropped with a light click as the buttons struck the hardwood floor. Logan skimmed his hands over bare shoulders and down arms covered with soft, fine hair.
Blaze sighed. “You can’t know how much I love you touching me or how much I want you.”
“Oh, I think I do.” Logan pressed himself hard against Blaze and almost hummed as the rougher pelt of Blaze’s chest hair rubbed against Logan’s hair-free torso and their sensitive nipples touched and hardened. He pressed his lips to Blaze’s again, and, when he teased him into opening his mouth by running his tongue into the corners, he pushed inside and savored the sweet wetness.
Logan broke the kiss to breathe warmth into Blaze’s ear. “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.”
Logan felt Blaze’s fingers tremble as he undid the button on his jeans. The quiet rip of his zipper being drawn down added to Logan’s excitement. He closed his eyes and waited until he heard jeans and shorts hit the floor with a soft thud as Blaze kicked free of them.
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