Payback (38 page)

“So, you split your time.”

“I’ve suggested that, but she’s not convinced I’ll honor the bargain.”

“Boy, you do have trouble getting women to the altar. I don’t want to sign a prenup, and she doesn’t believe you’ll honor your version of a prenup.”

He rolled his eyes. “Just eat your sandwich.”

We talked for half an hour about the land, our son, and living on a ranch. “I’m sorry that I yelled at you in the stables for helping out. Christ, here you were, working like a trooper, while Brooke ran around in cowboy boots with high heels? I don’t know how I got my priorities all screwed up.  Can you imagine Brooke mucking a stable?”

“Only if you buried a Neiman Marcus credit card somewhere in the stall.”

He laughed and then emptied his glass, filling it and mine up again. We walked around a little and took photos with his cell phone camera, including one of us together. Back at the blanket, we started to pack up, laughing as we did about an incident that had happened during the shooting when Cathy had let a little fart get by her.  Rather than let Cathy be embarrassed, Caden had excused himself in front of the crew, giving them the impression that he was the culprit. But I had been close enough to know the difference, and, frankly, it made me love him even more.

“You and Cathy have your bedroom scene next week. Are you up for it?” I said it without realizing what I had just said.

When Caden saw that I was oblivious, he fell back on the blanket and started to roll with laughter.  I stood watching and wondering what his problem was. After wiping his tears, he shrugged, his palms face up.  “Marie, you asked if I was ‘up’ for it.  ‘Up’ for my bedroom scene?”

“Oh, oh, oh!  Oh, my God!  That’s so funny!”  I joined him on the ground laughing. 

He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “I really enjoyed this.”

“Me too.”

Our gaze into each other’s eyes lasted a little too long igniting a huge explosion of energy between us. We were rolling on the ground, our tongues in each other’s mouth, hands groping for genitals and breasts.  I felt like a mad animal on fire. I couldn’t get to his naked body fast enough, and I know he was thinking the same thing. 

I popped those shirt snaps off of him so fast that he stopped to look down.  His very capable hands had my
T-shirt halfway down the hillside in a snap of a finger. My bra came off almost as fast, and his mouth found my nipple like a heat-seeking missile.

“Oh, fuck, that feels so good.” With every suck of my nipples
, I felt mild contractions in my vagina.  I was so distracted, I was having a hard time unbuttoning his jeans. “Get these damn pants off now!” 

He reached down and
pulled his boots, taking them off and throwing them to the side. His pants came off just as I was tugging on my boots, my breasts jiggling with every jerk. 

“Christ, I’m not going to last if you don’t stop those breasts from dancing around. Right now you
look like a stripper the way they’re twirling around.”

“Stop staring then!” I
demanded, with another tug that finally pulled the last boot off. I laid back and undid the button on my jeans and pulled them partially down, but Caden, now just in his boxers and cowboy hat, stopped me.

“The white lace panties…my favorite pair.  You wore them just for me?”

“I didn’t know you were going to kidnap me…they just came up in the rotation.  Are you going to continue with this fashion moment or are you going to fuck me?”

“Say, ‘fuck me’
again,” he said with a devilish grin.

“Fuck me, Caden, fuck me so hard I can’t ride or walk.”

The jeans flew off, along with the white panties and before I could say anything, he was fucking me hard, my body jerking up the slight slant of the hill with each thrust. I loved how he grunted with every thrust inside me, as if he was giving it everything he had. I could feel the hair of his chest against my breasts as he pinned my hands over my head so he could suck my breasts unimpeded. It was a real turn-on whenever he held me down and fucked me. There was something primal and dirty about it.

“God
, you feel so good.  Too good. I don’t want this to end, but baby, I’m coming.” He closed his eyes and moaned as he pumped ever so slightly with short strokes that delivered everything he had. He pulled out and rolled to his side.

“Do something with that finger, would you?”

He played with me until the congestion inside me exploded under the magic of his fingers. I bucked and fell back several times so hard he almost stopped.

“No! Don’t! Keep going, harder, harder….oh damn!  Oh, God that feels so fucking good!” I could hear every word of my screams echoing back from the valley like some bad porn movie, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want him to ever pull that finger out of me, but eventually, after I stopped bucking and started to calm down, he did.

Caden pulled me on my side so he could hold me to him. The smell of our sex, the warmth of where our bodies touched, it all made me a little dizzy and way too happy. And then it hit me that he was “kind of” engaged.

“Caden, what about Brooke?”

“I know. I know. I was just thinking that I just did to her what you did to me.”

I gasped when he made the analogy
, even though it was the truth.

“But you broke up with Brooke and we hadn’t.”

“Yeah, but you had been deceived into thinking that Valentine and I were fucking behind your back.   You should have trusted me, but now I know just how young we both were and how stupid it was not to have forgiven you. We would have been celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary soon if I hadn’t been an idiot and you signed a prenup.”

“
Well, I understood. I still do. I should have trusted you.”

“And now, I’m a cheater.”

I pulled back because I could hear the disappointment in his voice and I didn’t want him to think he had to be with me just because we had too much wine and let our libidos get in the way.

“Hey, don’t do that.” He pulled me back into his chest. “I’m not sorry for what happened, I just wish I knew where I stood with her so I would know how to deal with my guilt.”

“I want you to know that no matter what you say or do, I have no expectations. I’ve been so damn horny lately that when you grabbed my hand to pull me up on the horse, I started to get wet.  I have a hard time being in close proximity to you without wanting some part of your body inside of me.”

He chuckled and hugged me in response.  “God, I miss you so much. Sometimes I just want to call you just to hear you breathe.”

It was both painful and exciting to hear him say things like that. This day had been perfect so far and I didn’t want it to end. Naked, we held each other as the sun crept into our shady spot. His leg was flung over my hip, and for a few minutes we both went to sleep, content in the arms of the other. I woke and lifted up, waking him by my movement. The sun’s position had changed, shedding a different light on the meadow and lake.

“God, it’s even more beautiful in the afternoon
with the sun shining like that,” I noted.

“I love the way the sun and moon add new dimensions to the scenery. It’s three, we should start back.”

“Yeah, I know,” my voice revealed my disappointment.

He kissed my neck. “I don’t want to go either, but you see those brown spots on the hill over there?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s a s
leuth of bears.”

“A sleuth?”

“Or a sloth…but I prefer sleuth.”

“You learn something every day.”

“So, I’d like to get on the trail before they make it to this side of the lake.”

“I say we sleuth right out of here,” I grinned
.

He winced at the bad joke but gave me a kiss anyway. As we dressed and then picked up, I wondered if I should bring up the elephant in the meadow—what did this mean? Was it just sex or was it more?

We took our time and traveled a different trail on the way back. This one went by a tall waterfall that pummeled down into the river we’d passed earlier. We got off and took pictures. I loved the rushing sound of the water as it fell and hit the rocks below. I wanted to go down on a long ledge just below us to get a better view of a second set of falls, so Caden helped by holding my arm as I climbed down. After the photos, he pretended to take off as if he was going to leave me.

“I warn you—taking care of Jack is a full
-time job! You may not want to leave me here.”

He stopped and sighed, pretending to think it over and then came back, extending his arm again.  I climbed up into his arms and we stayed connected, just holding each other for several minutes without saying anything.  He eventually put a finger under my chin and lifted it up to kiss my lips. I tingled all over as he slipped his tongue into my mouth.

“You ride in front of me.”

“Why?”

“So that different parts of our butts get bounced.”

It made sense, the ridge of the saddle had been cutting into my upper butt making it sore. As w
e traveled, I started to giggle. His hand had started out on the reins, but then one of them moved to my breast.

“Hey, that’s not the horse
, you know.”

“Thank Go
d, because it’s given me a hard-on.” He kissed my neck and then bit my earlobe. “I’ll take you to Jason’s and then put Jubilee away, take a shower, and then join you, okay?”

“You’re going to spend the night with little ol’ me?”

“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”

He dropped me off at the back patio
, but before I left, I grabbed his hand. “You don’t have to shower for me. I like the smell of you after a hard day’s work.”

“Oh, God, you must be joking. I smell like sweat, dirt, horse
, and sex.”

“Sounds good to me.” I blushed a little.

“Are you sure?”

“If it gets to be too much, you can always take a shower here.”

He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief.  “You are one strange woman, but if that’s what you want, I’ll be back shortly, okay?”

I nodded. “I’ll shower for you.”

“That’s not fair.  I can’t be the only one stinking up the room.”

“I know how much you like to sniff my s
hampoo and body. I’ll give you Clean Marie, you give me Dirty Caden, okay?”

He winked and gave me a little wave before setting off.

I didn’t see Jason when I went in, but eventually found a note saying that he went into town. I cleaned up and then pulled out the sexiest panties I had and a low-cut night gown and waited in my bedroom. After a couple of hours, I thought about calling, thinking that maybe Jeremiah had grabbed him to help with some editing, but I didn’t want to seem desperate. So I put on a robe, went downstairs and made myself a bowl of soup and waited, finally falling asleep on the sofa.

“Hey, babe.”

I wasn’t sure who was talking to me but I could smell alcohol and a hand on my upper arm.

“Did you wait for me?”

I opened my eyes and looked up into Jason’s. “Uh, what time is it?”

“Midnight. I hope you didn’t wait up for me, I left a note.”

“I just fell asleep, long day.”

“I’m off to bed too,” Jason said
, with an exuberant burp at the end. “Sorry.”

“Jason, are you dating anyone these days?”

“I’m seeing a gal in Kalispell. She has a four-year-old girl, a real doll. I don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere, but I enjoy her company.”

“Good. I’m glad
. You deserve someone.”

“You do too. Relationships have their ups and downs
, but they’re worth it.  Look at Caden and Brooke. She bolts out of here two days ago and now she’s back with arms wide open as if nothing had happened.”

“She’s back?” my heart had squeezed so tight I grabbed my chest.

“Yeah, came back this afternoon. Caden was out riding the property, so I had to pick her up.  You should have heard her. She knew she’d been foolish almost breaking up with him.”

“Did Caden say anything to her?”

“Yeah, when he got back he sounded surprised. “You’re back? Are you here to stay?” She didn’t want to touch him, his clothes were dirty and he was sweaty, so they disappeared upstairs so he could clean up. I left.”

She was back to stay and he had chosen her. 
What did I expect?
I was a mess.  I went upstairs, changed into a pair of jeans, a western shirt, and my cowboy boots. After grabbing some money and my driver’s license, I slipped them into my pocket.  I found the keys to the oldest vehicle on the property, a 1983 Ford F150 and took off.  I made it to Whitefish by one a.m. and ordered several tequilas, which I drank in succession.  By one-thirty, I was way too drunk to drive. Luckily I had the presence of mind to know it.

I started walking back to Trego, which in my drunken stupor was just over the ridge—yeah
, thirty-five miles over the ridge. I thought I was walking on the side of the road, but I kept drifting to the left, into the path of cars, which luckily were few and far between. I’m not sure how far I got before a truck stopped and a cowboy leaned over to the passenger window.