Once she was through exploring his testicles, she ran her tongue up along the broad ridge on his shaft. A network of slightly raised veins crisscrossed the smooth skin, and he more than filled her hand. When she reached the blunt crest, she licked her way around the underside of it before slurping up the bead of pre-cum that had formed at the slit. Wanting more of his salty, earthy taste, she dipped the tip of her tongue inside the narrow opening and was rewarded by his hands tightening in her hair.
“Carmen,” he said on a ragged gasp. “Honey, I’m not going to last if you keep that up.”
“Mm, good,” she murmured, nibbling on his tip with her teeth sheathed by her lips.
“I don’t want you to last. I want you to come down my throat.”
47
Cindy Spencer Pape
“You’re kidding.” His breathing was short and shallow, his muscles rigid. “You don’t have to do that.” Even as he said it, his hips bucked up, pushing his crown into her mouth.
Carmen sucked lightly then pulled away long enough to say, “I want to, Dash.
Please.” Then she took the crest deep into her mouth and began to draw rhythmically while one hand circled the base of his cock and stroked. The fingers of her other hand cradled his balls and played softly.
“Anything.” He moaned. “Sweetheart.” His hands in her hair helped her set the rhythm and pace he needed, and Carmen gloried in the scent and taste of his skin and the hard thickness of his cock in her mouth. Knowing she could bring this powerful man to such mindless passion was a bigger aphrodisiac than anything she’d ever experienced. Wetness slicked the inside of her thighs, and she couldn’t help rubbing her engorged nipples against the crisp hair on his legs now and then as she bent her head over his lap. When he started bucking harder into her mouth with every stroke, she wondered if she could come too, just from giving him head—she was that aroused.
Pushing down so his crown was at the very back of her throat, she swallowed, easing him just a little farther in, and she knew the muscle contractions of her throat would caress him as she sucked hard. With a hoarse shout, Dash lifted his hips up off the bed and came, streams of hot fluid filling her mouth and throat as she swallowed repeatedly, drinking down every vital drop.
When he finally stopped coming, she pushed him back to lie on the bed, his knees still hanging over the edge. “Condoms…in the bag,” he grunted, lying there with his cock still rock-hard and pointed at the ceiling.
Carmen fumbled in the bag beside her and found the box of rubbers. She grabbed one, opened it with her teeth then stood to roll it on over his undiminished erection.
Desperate to feel him inside her, she climbed onto the bed, straddled his hips and lowered her aching pussy onto his rigid shaft.
48
Eagle’s Redemption
“Oh yes,” she murmured as he filled her deeply. His hands came up to cup her breasts, pinching her swollen nipples as she began to rock back and forth on his cock.
Her pelvis ground down on his in a way that rubbed her clit against his pubic bone each time she moved. Each time she lifted, it dragged his cock against her G-spot, spiking her arousal even higher. When he lifted his head to take one of her nipples into the wet heat of his mouth and sucked hard, she screamed out his name and bowed her spine as her body convulsed. Her fingers dug into the corded muscles of his shoulders as she rode out the climax, her inner muscles clamping down hard around his cock.
He bucked his hips beneath her and went rigid as well, a sweat breaking out on his skin as she felt him empty himself into the condom. Long moments later, she collapsed onto his broad chest, savoring the feel of his powerful arms holding her close.
“What is it about you?” he murmured into her hair. “Suddenly I feel sixteen again.”
Carmen managed a shaky laugh that ended in a yawn. “Well, I’m sure as hell glad you’re a grown-up.” Laying her head on his shoulder, she fell asleep with him still nestled inside her.
49
Cindy Spencer Pape
“You’re absolutely sure this is a good idea?”
Carmen looked over at Dash, mounted on a big bay gelding named Moose, and grinned. He was so cute—she knew he was more worried about her than he wanted to admit, wondering if it was safe for her to be on horseback. Given that she was a far more experienced rider than he was, she couldn’t help being amused.
“Grandfather and Leah have trained Ghost specifically for me since she was a foal,”
she told him. “She’s the gentlest, calmest thing on four legs. She’s also trained to stick closely to whichever other horse she’s with. I promise, Dash, one thing I don’t do is ride alone. I’m not unaware of my limitations.” The little gray mare wasn’t even spooked by Silver running alongside.
Dash snorted. “I wasn’t worried about you.” Since she knew his lie was intended kindly, she let it go. “I’m worried about
that.
” She knew he was pointing at the third horse on a lead rope behind them with a large plastic animal carrier mounted to its saddle.
From inside the carrier, the eagle gave a short squawk, as if responding to Dash’s concern. Carmen laughed. “She’s fine too, worrywart. She’ll be even better when we release her.” They were riding up to the hilltop where Dash had found the eagle. She was fully recovered now, and it was always better to let wild creatures go as close as possible to the place where they’d been found. Since it was Sunday, and Dash took weekends off from all but the most pressing ranch duties, Carmen had recruited him to go with her instead of her grandfather. “I’m sure her mate will be happy to have her home.”
“I’ll bet,” Dash agreed. “Especially if they have young.”
50
Eagle’s Redemption
Carmen had explained to him that both male and female parents would normally take turns feeding any babies and protecting their nest. With the female missing, the male would have been doing double-duty as well as leaving the nest unprotected while he hunted. While Dash didn’t know much about Texas wildlife, he was interested and a quick learner. She was having fun teaching him as they got to know one another.
They’d spent the last nights together, but this was the first time they’d actually left her property—almost like a date.
“I just hope we don’t run into whatever idiot shot her in the first place,” Dash continued. “Why on earth would anybody do that?”
“Well, a lot of farmers worry about them hunting chickens or young livestock,”
Carmen replied. “Though they’d much rather fish. Some people just get freaked out by other predators. Honestly, it never made much sense to me either.”
“Any stories about eagles in one of your books?”
“Eagles are very important in Cherokee culture, but they’re mainly war totems, and since my books are for kids, I haven’t written one specifically about eagles. I do have one that features A-wo-ha-li, or Eagle, along with lots of other birds, reptiles and mammals.” The tale had been a favorite of her great-grandmother’s and retelling it always gave her a warm rush of memory.
“Tell me,” he said, his voice a silky caress that was almost as warm as the Texas sun.
“Okay. It’s about a ball game,” she began, speaking just loudly enough to be heard over the steady beat of their horses’ hooves. “The animals—the four-legged ones—
challenged the birds to a game. Bear was the captain of their team, big and tough, and ready to take out anyone who got in his way. They also had Terrapin, whose sturdy shell would keep him safe—if he got the ball, no one would be able to get it away from him—and Deer, who could outrun everyone else. All through the dance before the game they bragged about their certain victory.
51
Cindy Spencer Pape
“Eagle was the captain of the bird team, and though he had Hawk and other strong fliers on his side, he was starting to get nervous. While they were getting ready for the game, two tiny animals, as small as mice, came running up the trunk where Eagle and Hawk were perched and asked if they could join in the game.
“Since they had four legs, Eagle asked them why they didn’t join the team down on the ground. The little mammals said they had, but Bear, Terrapin and Deer had just laughed and sent them away. Eagle thought this was unfair, but he knew he couldn’t let them join his team unless they could fly. Finally, one of the birds came up with an idea.
They would make wings for their little friends. Using the skin from a drum and some cane splints, they made a set of wings and gave them to one of the animals, which is how Bat came to be. There wasn’t enough skin, though, to make wings for the other.
“Then someone thought of stretching the animal’s own skin, to make sort-of wings.
Two birds on each side used their strong beaks to stretch and stretch the skin between the little animal’s front and back legs until it had flaps, enabling it to soar and glide, creating Flying Squirrel.
“When the game started, Flying Squirrel swooped in and grabbed the ball then carried it to a tree where he threw it to the other birds. They kept it in the air for a very long time, not even giving the four-legged animals a chance to get it back. When it did finally drop, Martin dove in to catch it before Bear could get there. He darted and dodged, avoiding all the other animals until he could throw it to the pole and win the game for the birds. As a thank-you, the other birds gave Martin a beautiful gourd for his nest, and that’s where he still likes to live today.”
Dash remained silent for several minutes after Carmen stopped talking. Finally she heard him let out a long, deep breath. “Wow. That was amazing. You could be a professional storyteller, as well as cook, writer, artist and opera singer. Is there anything you
don’t
do well?”
52
Eagle’s Redemption
Basking in his regard, she laughed. “Well, I’m not terrific at driving a car.” It was so freeing to be able to actually joke with someone about her disability. “And I think you learned at the wedding that I kind of suck at dancing.”
“Nah, that was me,” Dash replied, “and my gimpy leg. You were…perfect.”
What the hell was she supposed to say to that? Fortunately for her crumbling defenses, she felt the ground beneath Ghost’s feet level out as they reached the top of the hill where Dash had discovered the wounded bird. When he reined in his horse, Ghost drew to a stop beside the larger mount.
They both swung themselves out of the saddle then Carmen held on to their horses’
reins while Dash untied the plastic airline kennel from the packhorse’s back and set it on the ground, following Carmen’s instructions.
“Okay, you’re the one who rescued her, you set her free,” Carmen said. “Just open the door of the carrier, with it pointed away from the horses, then step back so she doesn’t feel threatened.”
The latch clicked then Dash’s boots thudded on the packed earth as he moved back to stand beside Carmen, laying his hand on her shoulder. She heard the soft scratch of the bird’s talons on the newspaper lining the carrier, and then there was a loud, joyful screech and the flutter of powerful wings as she took to the sky.
“She’s calling her mate,” Carmen told Dash, blinking back tears. “We did good.”
“
You
did. All I did was bring her to you.” His voice was thick too, as if he had a lump in his throat. “Oh my god! There are two of them now, Carmen, circling each other.”
She heard the male’s welcoming cry and nodded. “Somebody’s glad to see her home.”
“That may be the single most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” He pulled Carmen close against his side, and she felt his head tip down just as she lifted hers for his kiss. “Thank you for sharing it with me.”
53
Cindy Spencer Pape
His lips covered hers before she could say, “Anytime.” This kiss was hot and yet sweet at the same time. Carmen poured into it all the emotion she couldn’t yet put into words, and it seemed to her as if Dash did the same. Of course that might just have been what she wanted to believe.
“You know, we’re not far from my place,” he said when they came up for air. “It’s not much, but it’s more or less home. Want to come see it?”
“I’d love to.” She’d been in the shack before, back when it was actually used by ranch workers as an overnight stopping point. Grandfather had taken her with her sister and cousin for “campouts” there as children, though Aida had hated the dust and dirt of trail riding almost as much as Leah and Carmen had adored it. Carmen’s big sister was a city girl, through and through. “But let’s have our picnic here first.”
Later, after a hearty lunch of fried chicken, Carmen’s homemade biscuits and fresh fruit, they rode in a comfortable silence down the trail toward Dash’s line shack. It wasn’t really a shack, despite the name. The White Eagle maintained its properties better than that. The tidy cabin Carmen remembered had been small but pleasant, with two rooms, a full bath and a wide front porch.
She smelled bluebonnets as they rode up to the cabin and even saw the mass of indigo surrounding the dark brown blotch that was the house.
“There’s a paddock out back,” Dash said. “We can unsaddle the horses if you think you’re going to be here for a while. There’s even a sort of shelter with a bale of hay and a water trough.”
“The idea of a line shack is so the hands can take shelter in a storm,” she told him.
“There has to be the means to care for their horses as well, just like there’s always food and coffee inside for the cowboys.”
“Was a half bottle of bourbon in the cupboard too,” he stated wryly as they rode around the house toward the paddock. “Wonder if that’s standard or just some cowboy’s private stash.”
54
Eagle’s Redemption
When they reached the gate, he swung off his horse and opened it, leading his mount through on foot to the three-sided shelter. Ghost and the packhorse followed along. Once they were all inside, Dash stepped up to help Carmen down, sliding her torso slowly along his as he lowered her to the ground.
“Mm. I like the service here,” she teased, her face tilted up toward his.
“Just wait ’til we get inside,” he said. “Right now we’d better take care of the horses before we forget.”