Loving Link

by T. D. Hassett

  "I think you need some cooling off. I have a cloth in my bag we can wet down and clean up with before we eat lunch," Madison suggested as she rummaged through her pack to find the supplies. She turned in time to see Link peel off his black T-shirt, and her breath caught in her chest. He was glorious, all slabs of heavy muscle decorated with that beautiful dragon tattoo. His nipple ring glinted in the sun, and she had to turn away before she started drooling. She dunked the washcloth into the icy cold water and swiftly wiped the perspiration off her heated skin. The frigid water was just what she needed to get her scorching hot thoughts out of her head. They could be friends, but that was it.

  They sat down by the falls to enjoy a simple picnic of cheese sandwiches, apples, and a small bag of chips. They washed it down with water and just admired the serenity of their surroundings.

  Link picked up his guitar, pulled the pick from between the frets, and started playing some simple chords. "So Maddie, what do you want to hear?" he asked.

  "You don’t have to play me anything. I think I just like watching you." She paused a moment, licked her bottom lip, and reconsidered. "You know what? I changed my mind. Play me something new, something no one's heard yet."

  "Good, ’cause I got something brand-new. No one’s heard it before because I wrote it just for you. It was written for the piano, but this will work. Well, that and you laughed enough at me for hauling my guitar up here. I shudder to think of your amusement if I’d tried to pack my piano." Link smiled and adjusted a peg on his guitar. He strummed a little faster and started to sing in a rich baritone voice that could soar on a high note and become deep and smoky again for the lows.

  Madison had no idea he had such a beautiful voice. She knew he did backup vocals, but she’d never heard him sing lead. He had a voice that rivaled the soulful sounds of her brother-in-law. The song was beautiful—a love song about a girl who gets deep under her man's skin. She smiled, reminiscing about all the hours she spent marking his beautiful body, pushing ink into the dragon design that wrapped all the way up around his arms and over his shoulder. She could easily fall in love with a man who sang about loving a woman so much. But that was just the problem—if she let herself love him she'd be the one hurt in the end, and it was a risk she feared taking. She couldn’t be brave like her sister and chance loving the type of man who could leave.

  The last chord reverberated for several beats until interrupted by the sound of a large group of clamoring children. Madison craned her neck to look behind Link and down the path in time to see a dozen or so Boy Scouts making their way up the trail. Link moved his guitar and covered up his glorious chest with a T-shirt. "Looks like we've got company."

  They both stood up in response to the Boy Scout pack’s arrival. From farther down the trail they could hear the pack leader calling to the boys to wait up and save their energy. The first of the boys got a good look at them and started whispering to his friends. Madison could hear snippets of things like, "is that, do you think, no way man, could be…" The boys looked back at their red-faced and slightly out of breath leader as he came into view. The man grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his dripping brow before calling out a wheezy, "Hey there, beautiful day for a hike ain’t it?"

  Link spoke first. "Yeah, it’s a heck of a hill but it's certainly worth it for this view." He turned and smiled back at Madison, wanting her to know that she was the view he was describing. Her cheeks flushed at the compliment.

  "By any chance, are you—don't laugh at me if I'm wrong—but are you Link Jacks?" the troop leader asked hesitantly. The boys around them ratcheted up the volume now certain that they had a celebrity in their midst.

  Link smiled and nodded at the group, apparently used to this sort of reaction from the public. Madison felt the scrutiny of a dozen eyes looking her way. They were all probably wondering what this beautiful music god was doing up on a mountain with a plain Jane like her.

  "Then you’re that girl, the one in the video all over the news. Wow, are you guys a couple or something?" the man asked, now with more curiosity in his tone.

  Madison wanted to pull the forest floor up around her and hide as realization struck—chances were, all these kids, and definitely their troop leader, had seen her pretty much naked in the video by now. It was the trial of Phyrne all over again.

  Link reached out for her and draped his arm across her shoulders, preventing her from sinking into the earth like she wanted to. "Oh, we’re together, but there's some confusion and rumors going around about that video," Link said, earning him a shocked glance from Madison. What confusion was he talking about? It seemed pretty obvious in the video that they were getting it on. The whole troop was leaning in to hear Link’s explanation. She bit her lip and watched in amazement as Link continued, "Yeah, that video, it's actually a scene filmed for an upcoming Becket music video. What looks like is going on is not really what's happening, but you know how these things get blown way out of proportion. I'm sure once the director cleans up the angle shots and edits things everything will get cleared up."

  Madison was stunned. She’d never considered playing it off for something intentional, but Link delivered the lie so smoothly she couldn't help the small spark of hope erupting in her chest. Maybe her life wasn't going to be one of constant humiliation and criticism. Perhaps Link could persuade the town to overlook her portrayal of Lady Godiva and get them to focus on the gallop of the horse instead—or the flow of the music video.

  "Wow, I can't believe the news would put something like that out there. You must have a hell of a lawsuit in the making if they released copyrighted material for an upcoming video. Sorry, occupational hazard, I’m an acquisitions attorney when I'm not chaperoning my son’s Boy Scout troop. Anyway, I'm Frank Hayes and this is Troop 171. We’re hiking through the AT this weekend."

  Link shook Frank's offered hand and gave a big smile to the tween-age boys now surrounding him. A few of them had dug out pencils and scraps of paper and were shyly asking for his autograph. With good grace he signed his name to whatever was pushed toward him and asked the boys what sort of songs they liked. A couple of them named Becket songs, but others mentioned certain current pop radio hits.

  "Oh, I know that song by Cherokee. You boys could help me with it." Link bent over to retrieve his guitar and set the boys up tapping out a beat with their hands on their thighs. Once the kids had the rhythm to his liking, he strummed his guitar and added a little extra beat by slapping the body. He sang a wonderful version of “Dance, Baby.”

  Madison looked on in wonder and wished she had a way of filming this so she could cherish more than just the memory of it forever. At the end of the song, she and the troop of scouts burst into ecstatic applause. Link made a ham-like bow to the group. He wound up performing four more songs before the excited Boy Scouts would let them make their way back down the trail. It would be dusk by the time they hiked back to the cabin.

  * * * *

  Madison woke leisurely from her nap, the late afternoon sun streaming through the small loft windows. She stretched lazily and cocked her head to listen for sounds of Link. All was quiet in the small cottage so he must be outside somewhere. He had been a perfect gentleman so far. She scrunched her face up in disappointment. What the hell am I doing? Why fight this? I’m a responsible adult, he’s obviously interested, so why am I playing games?

  Madison rolled off the platform bed and took the ladder down to the main cabin. She splashed icy cold water on her face from the tiny pump sink and brushed her teeth. She glanced at her sweatshirt hung on a hook by the door and shook her head. It was quite warm out, probably about seventy-eight degrees; she’d be fine in her soft gray T-shirt and cotton shorts. She slipped her flats on and opened the door. It didn’t take her long to discern where Link was hiding; she could hear the strumming of his guitar coming from a spot one hundred yards away by the stream.

  She quietly trod the path toward the stream and ducked behind a large boulder just out of Link’s li
ne of sight. He looked delicious. Once again he’d shed his T-shirt and wore only a pair of faded jeans. He sat by the stream leaning against another large boulder, his acoustic in his hands blocking most of his glorious chest. He’d taken his boots off. Madison drank in the heady vision of Link barefoot, his nipple ring glinting in the sun, his head dipped down watching the frets as he played. His dark hair flopped straight and loose, softer looking without gel in it spiking it up. He looked so beautiful, her own dark angel…hers and all those other women’s. Madison pushed the jealous thought aside. He played so exquisitely; it made her heart swell in her chest and tears sting the corners of her eyes. Watching him looking so relaxed and natural was a rare treat. Link so often seemed like he was wearing a mask. It was hard to reconcile the media version of bad-boy Link Jacks with the man she’d played video games and piano duets with. He was into art, classical music, and liked Victorian décor. Where was the sex god that closed clubs out and bedded pin-up girls and actresses?

  Madison leaned down and picked up a few acorns from the forest floor. She took careful aim and launched her assault on Link before ducking back behind the cover of the boulder. His startled gasp assured her she had hit him with at least one of the little bombs. She stifled a giggle and grabbed a few more weapons. She peeked over the top of the rock and saw him looking above his head trying to determine where the acorns had fallen from. She pegged him twice more and bolted around the other side of the boulder when he stood up to check the area. She slipped silently around keeping low. Madison expected to come up behind him and give him a good startle. She crept ninja style another few feet only to let out a banshee wail as hands clasped around her waist and picked her up.

  “Damn it, Link, I thought I had you,” she wailed.

  “Sorry, baby, you just aren’t quite as stealthy as you think. A true master wouldn’t be giggling,” he replied with a wide grin.

  “You heard me? Darn it.” Maddie frowned. “I liked what you were playing. What’s it called?”

  “I don’t know yet, just something I’m messing around with. Wanna help?” he offered and pointed the few feet away where he’d left his guitar propped and his T-shirt strewn.

  They sat down, heedless of the pine needles carpeting the ground. “Not sure how much help I’ll be since I don’t play any instruments.”

  “You can just sit there and be my sexy muse. You know, it might help if you took your shirt off,” Link offered and playfully reached for her T-shirt.

  “Ha ha. I think one of us exposed is enough. Don’t want to scare the wildlife away.” Madison batted his hand, managing to knock his fingers into her breast. His index finger stroked her nipple through the well-worn cotton, and it puckered. Madison gasped at the contact. Link’s brown eyes were looking at her, scorching her with their molten heat. He put his hands under her arms and lifted her up onto his lap. He carefully arranged her legs around his waist, keeping her pinned with his eyes through the whole process. Madison could feel his erection through his jeans and squirmed. Link groaned and took her swollen nipple into his mouth, sucking through the fabric. Madison threw her head back giving him better access. He slipped his hand up her shirt to cup and caress her other breast and ground himself against her shorts. Link peeled her shirt up and over her head.

  “You are so beautiful, I could write a hundred songs about you,” Link whispered before pulling her head closer and softly kissing her lips.

  Madison felt his cold steel nipple ring brush against her bare breast and shivered. She stroked his back enjoying the smooth slabs of muscle before running her fingers through his short silky hair. He licked her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth to him. He tasted like heaven, warm and minty with a hint of the spring earth and all Link. She could taste and smell him forever. His hands stroked her back and he rained kisses down her neck, finally pressing her breasts tightly against his chest. She wanted him everywhere all at once. He slipped his hands down her back and under the waistband of her shorts to caress her cheeks. His calloused fingers gently rubbed down her ass and pressed into her wetness. Madison moaned and pressed herself more tightly against him, relishing the friction of his erection against her clit. She needed more than one teasing finger in her.

  Link unfolded her legs from his back and urged her up on her knees. He moved her shorts and panties down as far as her legs would allow and pulled her horizontal so she could wiggle her legs free of them. He laid his shirt out on the ground and maneuvered Madison onto it. He tucked her shirt under her head. “You look like a delicious forest nymph all laid out for me to feast on.” Link’s eyes drank her in.

  Madison had never felt so exposed and turned on at the same time. He slipped his jeans off, letting his cock spring free, and her breath caught. He was the beautiful one, not her. She longed to stroke him and taste him, but he knelt down between her thighs and leaned over her. He took her nipple back in his mouth, greedy lips sucking and laving until she thought she’d combust. Pure liquid heat pooled between her legs. Link dropped kisses down her ribs and tongued her belly button. His breath blew against her soft belly. He pushed her thighs wider apart and inched his thumb into her, swirling her juices. She moaned and squirmed, trying to get more of his naughty digit into her aching pussy.

  “Hmm, you are so wet and smell so delicious,” Link crooned and then dipped his mouth to her inner thigh to take a gentle nip.

  “Link, what are you doing?” Maddie asked breathlessly.

  “I am going to lick you and kiss you until you scream so loud the birds get spooked out of the trees,” he promised, smiling up between her legs.

  “Umm, I don’t know about that. I’ve never had anyone do, you know…that,” Maddie shyly protested.

  Link ignored her words and licked a sizzling path from her thigh to her inner lips, stifling anything else she might have said. He thrust his tongue deep inside her and slid it along her labia to glide across her clit. He sucked and tongued the swollen nub, stroking his fingers in and out of her clenching pussy. Madison could feel herself climbing. She watched Link’s head bob between her legs and reached out to grab his hair. She was panting and grinding her hips, reaching for release.

  “Come for me baby,” Link said and gave her clit a little nip, pulling it and licking in circles. Madison couldn’t hold back any more. She came in waves, crying out. Link slowed his movements, climbing up her body and sinking his cock into her with a hard thrust. Madison shattered around him again, rocking her hips against his. He pumped into her, stretching her, and whispering exactly what he was doing in her ear. “You are so tight and wet. I don’t want to ever be out of your body; you are so fucking perfect,” he murmured the words seductively. Madison ate up every naughty syllable watching his face strain and burn with each powerful stroke of his cock into her body. She tightened her legs around his and swiveled her hips to rub his pelvis against her clit. When Link ground out between clenched teeth, “Baby, I’m coming so fucking hard,” his rough words and pulsing cock pushed her over the edge once more. Link bucked and let out a hiss before slipping out of her and rolling onto his back. He pulled her sweat-slicked body on top of his and ran his fingers through her tangled hair. Madison listened to his racing heart and heavy breathing, still trying to fall back to earth, her core still pulsing with gentle contractions.

  Link was so incredible, a mix of raw sex and sweetness that terrified her. She would have worried about falling in love with him, but feared it was too late. She was hooked from the first time she ran her hands over his dragon tattoo. She’d been seduced by that dragon from the start.

  Link kept one arm around Madison and draped his other behind his head. Madison watched his eyes studying her. “That was…wow, I can’t describe it. I just hope the Boy Scouts appreciated the show.” Madison teased.

  “What, you see them?” Link pushed himself up to look nervously around the woods.

  “No, it’s just us, the birds, and miles of wilderness,” Maddie assured him, patting his chest and chuckling. “Alt
hough, I wouldn’t expect ladies’ man Link Jacks to be shy.”

  “Don’t believe everything you read in the tabloids. A lot of that stuff never happened.” Link bit the words out.

  “How about I just be thankful for your sexpertise and drop it?” Maddie offered, not wanting to start a fight. She certainly could give him an A+ for pleasuring her.

  Robert had been her only lover, and he never did the oral thing. He said it was unseemly. Actually, he didn’t like to make love all that much, maybe once a week and always with him on top. She couldn’t imagine him ever doing it outside by a rambling brook. Robert did sex with a checklist. Kiss her for a minute, grab her boobs, and then plunge in. He didn’t like to touch her between her legs, and it made her feel like she was dirty down there or something. Link was different. He relished touching and tasting every part of her body. It made her feel so sexy. The way he ate her up left her shamelessly grinding her cunt into his face. Doing that with Robert would have mortified him, but Link just groaned in hunger for more.

  “How about we heat some water over the wood stove and take a rinse off in the tin tub? It won’t be as good as a shower, but I need to clean up a bit.” Maddie stretched out, feeling sore in places she hadn’t known existed. A shallow bath and some food sounded divine. She was ravenous and would happily gorge on the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the menu for dinner.

  Chapter 36

  Link

  Link stroked her smooth thigh, slowly increasing pressure until her eyes fluttered open. He'd been keeping watch over her for about fifteen minutes, listening to her delicate sighs.

  “Good morning, beautiful," he whispered, and kissed a path along her naked shoulder.

  "Mmm, good morning to you too. How did you sleep?" Maddie answered huskily.

  "Fabulous, but now that you're awake…" Link threw the blanket off of both of them and covered her with his warm body. His hardness flopped onto her belly, and she reached out to clasp it in her smooth hands. He groaned into her mouth as they exchanged kisses.