Page 58 of Texas Kissing

“Your place,” I said firmly. “I only have a single bed.” And I smiled at him, he smiled back at me and then we just sat there grinning at each other like idiots until someone pulled up behind us and honked their horn.

Bull’s place turned out to be an old, aluminum caravan a half-size Airstream, parked on an overgrown patch out near the ranch. It seemed impossible that someone his size could fit into it, let alone live there, but I soon discovered his trick—everything important happened outside. There was a table for eating, a mirror nailed to a tree for shaving and—

“That isnotfor real,” I told him.

“It is.”

“It isnot.”

It was an old copper bath, the kind with a raised back that lets you sit up in it.

“Let me get a fire going,” he said, “and I’ll show you.”

And, when he’d boiled a few huge pans of water, he did.

Stripping off in front of him made me a little antsy, because of my size. It had been easier when it was sex, because the heat of the moment had stopped me thinking too much. Now, all I could think about was how much of me there was. But it was getting dark, which helped, and I did it quickly and then slid into the security of the water. Bull sat behind me, with me between his thighs and his arms around me, and I cuddled in as we watched the stars come out. Between the hot water and the hard press of his muscles against my back, it was just about the most relaxed I’d ever been.

And then I felt his cock hardening against my ass. And I became very aware of his strong arms, wrapped around me not so very far from my breasts. And suddenly, the heat of the water paled next to the heat throbbing through me. I resisted for a good few minutes, drinking in the feel of his hard body against me, but eventually I couldn’t take it any longer.

I twisted around in the tub and pushed myself up against him, my glistening breasts pillowing against his chest. My head tilted up, seeking his mouth.

“Well, hell,” he said in delight. “Now ain’t you eager tonight?” And he leaned down to kiss me, tipping his hat back out of the way.

Yeah, he kept his hat on in the bath. This wasBull.

I let out a long groan as his lips met mine. I needed him so much. It was the first time I’d been the one to initiate things and it felt fantastic.

We gasped and groaned as we kissed, kneeling up in the water and running our hands up and down each other’s gleaming wet bodies, the steam wrapping around us. When we couldn’t take it anymore, he lifted me out of the bath and laid me down on the grass next to the tub and entered me with such slow, tender care I wanted to weep with joy. It became fast and then frantic, his muscled ass rising and falling between my thighs, the stars above us and the cool grass below as our bodies cooled and then warmed again.

I came, arching my back and thrusting my breasts up as he bent to kiss them. And in the afterglow, I hugged him tight. I finally felt that things were all going to be okay.

I was wrong.

Down in the town, the photographer from the fair was getting a call from the state newspaper.We’re running a piece about the town fair, but our editor just nixed the picture we were going to use. Says he doesn’t want another goddamn greased pig this year. Do you have anything we can use?

Why, yes, I surely do. Got a lovely photo of a sweet young couple, her in a scarlet dress, and him in a sheriff’s uniform. And the guy’s a minor celebrity around these parts, too, a rodeo rider.

Well, that sounds just perfect. Please email it right over. We go to press in an hour.

45

Lily

For three days, I lived an idyllic life with Bull. I’d wake up each morning in his tiny trailer and we’d have slow, sensual morning sex. He’d go off to the ranch to work and I’d drive my Toyota to the bus so that I could work. It was weird—the work wasn’t any different to before but now I practically whistled to myself as I did it. It was the knowledge that this wasn’t all there was in my life.

And when I did step out of the air-conditioned cool of the bus, the sun felt good. The heat felt good. I let it soak into my bones instead of fighting it. I’d finally acclimatized to Texas.

In the evening, we’d venture into town...or, more often, just cozy up in Bull’s trailer. Long summer evenings filled with good food: steaks cooked outdoors, sticky ribs you ate with your fingers, corn that was perfectly barbequed and dripping with butter.

And the sex. Oh, God, the sex. Up against the wall of the trailer. Bent over Bull’s bed. Twice, in thestables again (I don’t know what it is, there’s just something about stables). I’d fall into bed pleasantly exhausted with Bull spooning me from behind.

We weredisgustinglyhappy. And the nagging voices in my head, the ones that said it was wrong to keep my past from him, seemed very small and far away. How could it be wrong, when it felt this good?

Besides, I found out lots of other things about him. I found out that he liked his coffee not strong and black but milky as all hell. I found out that his dad was in oil and that he was considered the family misfit because he’d wound up riding horses. His brother, whohadfollowed in his dad’s footsteps, was seriously rich.

So weweregetting to know each other...even if it was a little one-way. He didn’t need to know about my uncle.

Right?