Heat Wave (Riders Up) (13 page)

“Babies?”

Chuckling, Maggie
unwrapped herself from his arms, kicked off her flats and stepped to the
counter, where she rummaged in her purse. She let out a sigh of relief and
handed him a thin disk. “I’m told this is quite effective,” she whispered, with
a catch in her throat.

“Thought the man
was supposed to be prepared.”

“Figured you might
never take the initiative, and, if you did, lack of this kind of preparation
would be another convenient excuse for you to back off. So,” she giggled, “I
took things into my own hands.”

“So I’ve noticed.” Her
half smile and shimmering eyes spoke loudly of her conniving. He’d had no more
chance at escaping her charms than a fly caught in a spider’s web. Why had he
struggled so hard for so long?

Her fingers reached
for the buttons on his shirt, then spread across his bare chest. “Yes,” she
purred, “the kitchen will do just fine.”

Stepping back from
him, she unbuttoned her dress to the waist, shrugged her shoulders, and bared her
upper torso.

Ed held his breath
as two exquisitely round breasts greeted him. Plopping back down on his lap,
she rubbed taut nipples across the hairs of his chest.

Drip…drip…drip. The
only sound to be heard was the steady tapping of water slamming against the stainless
steel sink. They clung to each other for a long moment.

Finally, Maggie
stood again and stepped out of her dress. She slid her hip hugging panties down
to the floor and stood with her gaze fixed on his.

“You’re beautiful.”
His mouth dried. He’d never realized just how perfect a female specimen she
was. And now the sexy woman who had tormented him since the moment he’d seen
her approach on the sidewalk outside the Resting Arms Hotel stood before him
with palms turned upward, inviting him home.

Maggie moaned
softly when Ed easily picked her up and laid her on the kitchen table. Sale
catalogs and pedigree charts tumbled every which way.

Ed leaned over to
kiss her lips, her neck, and then her breasts. Each breast received equal oral
attention: each orb washed, each nipple stroked to full extension, each crown
suckled.

Clasping her bare
legs tightly around his bottom, Maggie rocked back and forth. Ed smiled when
she pressed his head gently downward. He needed no more encouragement. With his
tongue he traced a trail across the rivulets of perspiration forming on her
flat stomach.

“I’m not a yearling
filly to be gentled,” she squealed huskily. She applied more encouraging
pressure to his head.

“I’m not very calm,”
he muttered, moving his tongue lower still. Her sex opened before him. The soft
fleece of golden ringlets was already soaking, and not just from the humidity.

He breathed deeply,
sucking her scent into his lungs, never wanting it to escape. She tasted
slightly salty. He would never get enough of her. His tongue searched further. Her
legs jerked; her thighs squeezed. He paused for air.

“Oh my God,” she
screamed. “Don’t stop now!”

In response, Ed
slipped two fingers into her cleft. Spreading her thighs wide, wiggling her
bottom, she offered him a better angle. He probed deeper while his tongue
tapped her clit. Repeatedly, he rhythmically grazed and licked her engorged
flesh.

- o -

Through the hazy
fog of her mind, Maggie became aware of what Ed was doing. His subtle, sensual
movements matched the beat of the faucet drip. Excruciating. Exhilarating.

She waited. He
flicked his tongue and plunged his fingers. Maggie moved closer to the edge. As
the faucet dripped, he continued his excruciating pace. This was different. She’d
never before been played like some erotic instrument. The edge was near. She
was the edge.

Shaking
uncontrollably, she felt her release cascade through her body.

When at last she
hunched forward on her elbows to peek through teary eyes at Ed’s head resting
on her belly, Maggie ginned lazily. “What a way to beat the heat.” She yawned,
stretching like a satisfied cat. “Why did we wait so long? But what about you?”

Maggie didn’t have
to wait long for an answer. She watched Ed stand and unbuckle his belt.

In a manner of
moments, Maggie straddled her lover’s thighs, smiling down at him. Ed didn’t
seem bothered at all by the kitchen tiles. Again, he was letting her assume the
lead. She leaned over and kissed him lightly. “I’ve dreamed of this often. Have
you wondered?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’ve thought
about it once or twice,” Ed deadpanned, lacing his fingers under his head.

“I should leave you
hanging for that,” she said, tickling his ribs, “but I won’t, because I finish
what I start. Unlike some people I know.”

“You’re not going
to let me forget about that night in the loft, are you?”

“Never. It’s too
much fun to threaten to leave you in the lurch, so to speak. But enough of this
chatter.” Maggie raised up and moved forward. Positioning herself over him, she
began an unhurried descent.

Settling back on
his torso, she luxuriated in the touch of him pressing against her inner walls.
It had been so long. Too long. Maggie pulled on her nipples and rocked slowly
back and forth. She bent forward to run her tongue across his lips and then
pulled back, grinning broadly. “You like?” she asked.

- o -

Ed nodded, not
trusting himself with words. Her heat surrounded him. Ed waited for Maggie to
set the pace. She was more patient than he had expected. She looked so in
control, so powerful. Waiting. Squeezing him with her inner muscles. Waiting
again.

He watched her inch
up his shaft in tiny spirals, her tempo painfully slow. A devious smile crept
across her face; her eyes remained fixed on his. And then it dawned on him: she
was doing the same thing he’d done. She was slithering up and down to the
cadence of the drips falling from the faucet. When a drip splashed in the sink,
she crashed to the floor, swallowing his shaft deep inside.

Ed squinted at their
juncture, praying for the drip to pick up speed. It didn’t.

Shifting her weight
slightly and placing her hands on his knees, Maggie sparked yet a different
sensation, as if she were testing a new prize possession. Ed didn’t care. There
would never again be a first time for them.

Grinning broadly,
Maggie sat back up and stretched her arms high about her head. “Two can play
this game,” she whispered merrily, continuing to match the pace of the dripping
faucet.

“Ah.” Ed smiled
back at her. “And you play it so well.”

Maggie rode him
steadily. He started to tense. They both knew it was only a matter of time and
friction. She rode on.

“Oh hell,” Ed moaned,
his torso straining toward completion.

He began to pulsate
and rumble. At last he grabbed her hips and slammed her to his loins, draining
himself. He felt Maggie shudder with her own release. Ed’s entire body quaked
with aftershocks. He hugged her tenderly as she settled against his chest.

Maggie mumbled
somewhat incoherently, “You know, if I had any energy left, I’d get us some ice
water. There’ll be other times. I bet you’re going to be around a long time.”

Reality burst
through his sated haze. A long time? Hardly. Eventually, he’d become a
millstone hanging about her neck. Later. Later, he’d worry about that. For now,
he permitted himself to wallow in the pleasure of her body pressed atop his.

It had been a
fantastic day, Ed acknowledged grudgingly. To have a woman to love like Maggie
who worked as hard as he did and shared similar dreams was an uncommon
experience. Oh, there had been women before, plenty of them. But no Maggie
Anderson. Most of the women he’d been with weren’t interested in getting their
hands dirty, and he’d never shared his hopes and dreams with any of them.

He glanced down at
Maggie nestled in the crook of his arm. They sat on the porch swing gliding
rhythmically back and forth, letting the day wash gently over them. Robins
chattered and finches chirped as the sun settled for the night. The evening seemed
so right. That humbled and frightened him.

“This is pretty
good.” Maggie said, peering up at him.

“Yeah, this is
pretty good,” he agreed, pulling her closer. He wouldn’t allow himself to wish
that it could last. They had some time before the kids returned from camp. That
might be enough for her to tire of him or to wake up and see the fatal flaws
that marred his character. But for now he wasn’t going to dwell on the
inevitable. Now was a time to enjoy and to fill his senses with Maggie. He
leaned over, breathed her scent deeply and kissed the top of her head.

He watched her look
up at him inquisitively. Her faint smile would confound any man’s heart. Her
eyes were misty with tears of joy. He shuddered—they were only harbingers of
tears of a different kind.

“I’m glad we
finally got our act together, Mr. Hot Shot Trainer,” Maggie teased. “There for
a while I thought you were running a marathon, and I didn’t know if I was going
to keep up.”

“Humph. You have
enough stamina and courage—you could run any man into the ground.”

“No, not just any
man,” she disagreed. “You’re the only man I’m interested in. And I’m a one man
woman.”

“I never doubted
that a bit, Maggie.” Ed stood abruptly, leaned with his back against the porch
rail, and faced those sky blue eyes.

He saw her swallow
hard. Fear flickered across her features before she folded her hands in her
lap. She was probably wondering if he would even stay the night.

Ed shoved his hands
in his front pockets. “Woman, you’ve gotten to me, I have to confess that. Yeah,
I know you’re a one man woman. I don’t know if I’m a one woman man. It’s been
so long I’m not sure about anything when it comes to women. Fair warning—just
don’t get your heart set on anything long term.”

“I didn’t ask for
promises.”

“Your body speaks
louder than any words can. Ah, Maggie.” He pulled her off the swing into his
arms. “It’s hard as hell to be with you, but it’s even harder without. Just
remember, I warned you. Your roots are deep in this rich Iowa soil. And I’m a
rolling stone.”

“It’s okay,” she
moaned into his chest. “I don’t have a crystal ball either. But be forewarned,
I collect stones.”

Gliding his hands
over her buttocks, pulling her closer, rubbing his lips tenderly across her
forehead, Ed whispered, “Maybe we ought to find a bed this time. My body’s
getting a little too old for tile floors.”

“I think your body
is just the right age, but I bet a bed can be arranged.” Placing her hand in
his, she tugged him through the kitchen doorway toward the stairs leading up to
her bedroom.

- o -

Five spectacular
love-drenched days sprinted by far too quickly. Maggie lay in her bed watching rays
of the sunrise peeking through lacy curtains. She gazed at the lined face of
her sleeping lover and her eyes watered. She couldn’t remember a more delicious
five days in her entire life.

Daily, she and Ed
had risen early to make love, cook breakfast and then go work with the horses. In
the evening, they would sit on the porch and listen to the twilight sounds as
nature prepared for bed, and then they too retired to make fabulous love again.

Ed had surprised
her with his attentiveness. She’d soared so often in a sensual orbit of
fulfillment there weren’t enough hours in the day to do all that needed to be
done.

She greeted each
day as a blessed gift. Never had she expected she would be fortunate enough to
find love twice in a lifetime. Wasn’t that what fairy tales were made of? Could
it last when the kids returned from camp? It had to.

Yet as her spirits
climbed new heights, Ed was less talkative, more glum and at times downright
rude. Was he struggling with commitment? Did he wonder about how the kids would
react to him as their mother’s lover?

Or did he regard
her as not good enough for the long haul? He was probably used to flashier
women in the big city. Maybe he’d quickly tire of a plain farm girl.

And it wasn’t like
he had pursued her. But he was such a considerate lover. He’d matched her
passion. She didn’t doubt his love for her. Still, there was something
troubling him, and he wasn’t talking about it.

- o -

Through narrowed
slits, Ed cringed at the sight of radiant bliss on Maggie’s face. How had he
allowed things to get so out of control? She was the most beautiful women he’d
ever been with. She was stunning on the outside, but even more especially, she
was beautiful on the inside. He didn’t want to see her hurt, but pain was
inevitable now. He’d failed at protecting her—from him.

She would do okay. She
was a survivor. Behind her air of innocence stood a steel-trap will. The woman
had more grit and determination than most men he’d known. If she set her mind
on something, she seldom failed. She exercised a sharp sense of judgment that
would take her far in the horse world. How had her powers of discernment had
gone so far awry with him?