Adina’s fever burned through her like a vicious entity possessing her body. Being sick was a normal part of life in the wastes. You either survived it or you didn’t. But she’d never been sick like this, even when she’d nearly died of influenza when she was sixteen. The awful feeling of being too sick to sleep and everything else that came with it wracked her – when she was coherent enough to understand what was happening.
Her skin burned, every brush or touch searing like a brand while what felt like worms of ice and fire squirmed in her guts.
And the fever dreams – sometimes she knew they were just dreams…
Raiders shrieked in her ears, their hands hooked claws in her nightmares, tearing her skin. Their eyes were burned black into hellish, soulless pits.
Awful screaming… Terrified, shrill, then suddenly silent. That was what tore at her soul. The things she knew weren’t nightmares.
She threw her hands out at the raider trying to stop him as he hacked at a boy, Frere. He was thirteen. The raider shoved her away. Then he just kept hacking and hacking. Her nausea at the sound the weapon made and how Frere stopped screaming overwhelmed her again.
“Adina. It’s alright…” Asher’s voice seemed so far away. It was gentle and reassuring. He was holding her arm to keep her on her side. There was a pan. She was throwing up into it. “You’re safe…” Then everything disappeared again.
Again and again the horrors of the hours before Asher spirited her away rose up and attacked her. In the night, in the day…
It had gone from day to night before Adina opened her eyes and actually saw what was in front of her. But even then, her mind was filled with flashes – pain, vomiting, Asher’s face bulged, growing freakishly large and then small again in her pulsing vision.
She could see other figures. Raiders danced in and out of focus, shrieking their terrifying battle cries. She screamed and fought, lying next to the pools, a cold sheet over her. The raiders were everywhere and so was Asher.
His eyes were burned to black pits too. She shrieked and pushed him away, but she was too weak to fight. His burning face twisted, every millimeter of her skin felt like it was under a blowtorch, being struck with a hammer. His hands, gentle on her face felt like they were peeling her skin off.
“It’s alright Adina. It’s just the fever. You’re hallucinating. They’re not real. They’re not…”
Real..
His words turned to a fading echo as wild, feral faces filled her vision again, raiders in their terrifying war paint. She felt hot blood again as a raider slashed one of fuel men who’d thrown himself between them.
“Shhh… It’s alright.”
Everything ached, even Adina’s eyelids hurt as she slowly opened them. She couldn’t tell if it was day or night. There were long shadows that might have been from lanterns, or from the sun cutting through the buildings above the rift. When she moved laces of fire seemed to run through her muscles, as if her whole body was a leg she’d sat on for too long.
She was on the cot again. As consciousness finally settled in, she could tell it was night. A fire was burning a few yards away with pots and a kettle on stands over the coals. She looked for Asher. He was lying on the ground next to her, his right arm propped on the edge of the cot, his hand closed around hers, snoring lightly. She let her head fall to the pillow again and just watched him for a moment before she closed her hand around his.
He jerked awake. When he saw her looking at him, he became as still as a statue, his lapis blue eyes traveling over her face.
Her heart tugged hard at the worry she could see there.
His hand closed around hers and he pushed to his knees, his other hand moving to her face, then her neck feeling for her fever. A relieved smile split his face.
“There you are.”
She shifted her head to see him more easily with a grimace and small hiss of pain. “Here I am.” She drew his hand up and kissed his fingers.
He pushed hair out of her face, lightly trailing his fingers over her brow and temple. “You had me worried.” He bent and gently kissed her forehead.
“Why?” She let her eyes close and shifted over onto her back. Even now she could feel strength returning to her muscles.
“You’ve been sick for over three days.” He lifted a wet cloth and ran it around her lips, wetting them, then squeezed it. Cool water flow into her mouth. She drank. Her throat was raw, it hurt initially but quickly eased. “Do you think you can drink some more?”
She nodded. Now that she’d had something, she was parched. He helped her sit up, tucking the blanket around her naked body. Her hands shook, but steadied as he helped her hold the canteen, watching her eyes. “I was afraid I was going to lose you.”
She drank carefully, but it only took a few swallows for things to feel more normal. When she’d finished, she rested against him feeling strength flow back into her. “You said it would only be a day.”
She felt him nod. “It should have been. A day, maybe a day and a half. Whatever the inoculant was trying to get rid of had a real hold on you.”
She was suddenly starving. She stayed tucked up against him, just resting and looked around. Where her clothes had been hanging, a towel, the sheet she’d remembered being wrapped in and a few other things hung.
“I don’t want to do that again.”
She felt his lips on her forehead. “I bet. I wouldn’t want you to either.”
She smiled as much at his warm tone as the words. “I’m hungry.”
She looked up; he was smiling at her. “Good. I was hoping you’d say that.” He sat back steadying her. “You okay to sit up on your own?”
She adjusted herself to get comfortable. “Mmm hmm.”
He stepped away and poured something that looked like broth into a cup and brought it back. “It’s not very interesting, but it’s what you need. Careful, it’s hot.” He handed her the cup and she passed it from one hand to the other blowing on it until it was cool enough to drink. It was strong and salty; she could taste fat in it. She took a few drinks, the heat from it seeming to help spread strength back through her battered body. “It’s good. What is it?”
“Boar marrow broth. I threw in extra salt because you need it.” He smiled again and sat on the cot next to her. She leaned against him again, tucking the blanket up and hugging the cup to her. She suddenly realized it was cold out. “What now?”
He put his arm around you. “We let you rest for a day or so, see how you feel and then I’ll start training you.”
She lifted her face. “Training me?”
His expression was serious, but the creases between his eyebrows weren’t there. “If we’re going to be together, you need to be able to protect yourself. You need to know how to fight, how to shoot,” he nodded to the truck. “and how to drive the Bearcat.”
“Bearcat?”
“That’s what we call them.”
She looked at the Bearcat and back to him. “You’re going to teach me to drive that? And to fight?”
He nodded. “And a lot of other things.” His expression softened. He watched her eyes, then leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.
Adina’s body felt like it caught fire. She wanted to grab him, but her hands were occupied with the broth and holding the blanket around her. She pressed her lips hard against his. The kiss was long and lingering and when he pulled back, she was still leaning forward wanting more.
He smiled again, a wide, playful thing. “You need to get some rest before we go much further down that road.” He ran his thumb lightly over her lips. “I just wanted you to know what I’m thinking.”
“I like what you’re thinking,” she answered breathlessly, having to concentrate to not dump hot soup all over herself.
He got up and when he came back, he was carrying a stack of clothes and a pair of boots. He set the clothes on the cot next to her, the boots on the ground. “I grabbed some things that I thought should fit you.” He pointed to the boots. “They seemed to be about the right size.” He pointed back to the truck. “There are more things in the Bearcat, but I washed these since they seemed like the closest fit.”
She looked at the trousers, shirts, underwear, there were even a couple of jackets.
“Where did you get these?”
The matter of fact expression was back again. It wasn’t intense or angry, he’d just closed up a little bit. “From people who didn’t need them anymore.”
She looked at the stack of things, her heart sinking. “From my town? After the attack?”
He nodded. “Yes.” He watched her expression intently.
As she looked at the clothes and boots, images of people she’d known flashed through her mind. Had one of them been wearing these when they died?
She turned back to Asher. Like everything else about him, there was brute practicality in what he’d done, the straightforward logic of survival.
“One of my friends could have been wearing these…” She couldn’t say the rest.
He nodded, a slow understanding thing. “I’m sorry for that.” He pointed to a rock. “Your other clothes are over there if you’d be more comfortable just in those. But you’ll need a change of clothes.” He pointed to the boots. “And those are better than yours. I’d wash anything else from the bag in the Bearcat before wearing it.”
She just watched him. He was so hard at moments like now, after being so gentle seemingly only a breath before. Confusion roared up in her again.
He scared her. And aroused her. And there were so many other feelings crashing through. She finished the broth and handed him the cup.
“I’d like to clean up.”
He pointed again to where her clothes were. “The towel is on the rock with the soap.”
She got up, holding the blanket around her and gave him another glance before walking to the pool. Her confusion only deepened when he didn’t follow or say anything.
She wanted some space to sit with her feelings and the newly awakened memories of people she’d lost, but she also wanted his attention, his touch. But he stayed away, not even looking at her as she dropped the towel and stepped carefully into the warm water.
Adina couldn’t help the deep sigh that escaped as she let herself slip down into the warm, enfolding waters. She looked back and he was doing something at the fire. His body language seemed forced; he didn’t even look in her direction. She dunked her head and washed. Her skin’s soreness seemed to wash away with the soap. Lathering her long black hair, she kept peeking at him. He never looked at her. When she felt clean, she set the soap on a rock and climbed carefully into one of the higher pools. It was hot. The mineral tasting water seemed to seep in between her fever-battered muscles and her bones. And it made her buoyant, the mineral rich waters holding her up. After she’d adjusted to the temperature, she let herself float on her back, her breasts and nipples thrilled by the cold night air as the rest of her relaxed in the penetrating heat.
The sky spread out beyond the teeth of the buildings atop the cliffs around the rift. It was like looking out of a giant mouth. The stars were a thick fabric behind the buildings. The bright, blue-white pinpoints were turned different colors by the millions of miles that separated them from Earth, the fabric’s folds and creases seeming solid. A satellite streaked across the star fabric. As she watched it, stories people told about them and the other wonders of the world that was rolled through her mind.
She realized she had dozed only when her breasts ached from the cold and she pushed down into the water again, the heat pinching her nipples with its change of temperature.
He wants to teach me to fight? She bobbed up looking for him. He had one of the side panels of the bearcat open, doing something. The idea of learning to fight was both frightening and exciting. And there it was again, fear and arousal.
She slipped a hand between her legs, her fingers tracing along her smooth folds in the hot water.
She climbed out of the hot pool and slid down into the lower pool, the cooler water a shock and thrill. She ducked down, one hand between her legs, the other on her breast. She sighed, watching Asher, pulling hard on her nipple, her fingers rolling over her clit. His broad back was to her as he worked, his pants pulling tight over his handsome ass. She fantasized about him on top of her as she pushed fingers inside, running along her interior clitoral ridges, her hips pushing forward as she excited herself even more, thinking of pushing up against him. Her whole body shuddered as she squeezed her breast and played. She withdrew her fingers and ran them back over her anus. Her hips arching back as a finger played around the sensitive boundary. She squeezed her eyes shut, holding herself rigid as she moved her fingers back to her clit again. She felt like she was on fire.
She stood up and waded out of the water, not bothering with the towel. She walked to him, barely noticing the rocky sand under her feet.
He turned as she reached him, and she threw her arms around his neck, putting her lips to his, smashing her body against his. “Fuck me. I can’t take it anymore.”
He returned her kiss, their tongues playing. His lips moved onto her neck and down her chest as she arched back, her mouth opening as his lips found her inflamed nipple. She sighed, and her body twitched as he kissed it, her hips pressed hard against him, moaning as he began to suck on her nipple.
Adina’s head was spinning. She felt hot and cold. She lifted his face and kissed him again, her fingers fumbling with his shirt. He helped her, pulling off his shirt and pulling her hard against him. Her breaths came in short gasps as he picked her up and carried her to the tarp again. She felt like a toy in his strong arms as he lowered her easily to the ground. She tore at his belt and pants and when she felt his penis, it was bigger than she’d expected. She looked down at it, hard in her hand, then smiled at him and put it against her wet folds, slowly slipping it up and down. Then slid the head into her.
Her vision tunneled as she threw her head back at the penetration. She clawed at his back, pulling his mouth onto hers. He pushed into her, just a little. She bit her arm, curling her body and wrapping her legs around him. She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t draw blood if she bit him. Everything was spinning faster.
She felt more of him slip inside, stretching her. It had been over a year since she’d been with anyone.
Suddenly, she felt like she was falling.
“Adina?” She felt him turn his face to hers. Then there was nothing.
Adina woke to Asher’s face close to hers. He was smiling, still breathing a little heavily.
She blinked, trying to sort out what happened. Then it suddenly came back, and she blushed furiously, her face feeling like it was on fire as she put her hands over her mouth, her eyes huge, watching his. “I passed out, didn’t I?”
He nodded.
She hid her face in her hands and pushed against him. “Oh, Earth and Sky!”
Asher chuckled, holding her close. “I’d like to say that was me, but that would be a lie. I don’t think you were up to it after being so sick.”
“While we were…” She couldn’t look at him, her embarrassment tickling her belly and making her laugh.
“Mmm hmm…” he acknowledged, still chuckling.
“Stop laughing!” she laughed into her hands against his neck.
“You first.”
She dropped her hands and pulled him into a kiss. “It was still… Wonderful.” She was grinning so wide that it made her cheeks hurt. She raised an eyebrow. “What I remember of it.” She pulled back watching his playful expression. “Did you?”
He shook his head. “No. Your eyes rolling back in your head kind of spoiled the mood.” His crooked good-natured smile took any potential sting out of the teasing. He got behind her and pulled her against him, then drug the blanket over them. “You should sleep.” He looked up and around. “It will be light in a few hours.” He kissed her ear and nuzzled her hair. “We’ve got plenty of time to get to know each other.” She pulled his hand around and put it on her breast and then let her head relax onto his arm. Her grin only eased a little as she burrowed back into his strong chest, feeling his still semi-erect penis against her backside. She kissed his hand.
“I like that.”
The sun was high in the sky by the time Adina woke. Asher wasn’t behind her, his arm had been replaced by a pillow, but she was still on the tarp, naked under the blanket. She rolled onto her back and stretched, looking for him.
He was back to doing whatever she’d interrupted, working on something in the open side hatch of the Bearcat.
“Good morning.”
He turned at her voice and smiled. “Good morning.” He shielded his eyes and looked up at the sky as he walked to the fire. “Or should I say afternoon.”
“Hi.” She felt like herself again. But as she arched into a long, whole body stretch she realized there was more to it than that. She felt really good; stronger than she could remember feeling in a long time. She pulled the blanket around her and sat up. Everything seemed a little brighter, more focused.
Asher dished some food onto a plate.
“What was in that shot you gave me? I feel… great.”
He walked to her with the plate and a canteen and handed them to her.
“The inoculant’s working then.” He settled cross-legged in front of her. “I’m not surprised you feel better. You must have been carrying around something nasty for the inoculant to knock you down the way it did. You’ve probably been sick for a long time.”
Adina hadn’t realized she’d been wolfing food down until the raised corner of his mouth caught her attention.
“Well, you’ve got an appetite, that’s a good sign.”
She blushed again, putting a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, I’m just really hungry.”
His grin turned to a smile. “Nothing to apologize for. You should be. Don’t let me stop you.” She went back to eating. “There are a few things you need to know about the inoculant. You’re likely to feel a little up and down over the next few days, while it figures you out.”
“Figures me out?” she asked between mouthfuls of the porridge mixed with boar meat.
He nodded. “The inoculant is artificial; it learns about you and adjusts things to help you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, not sure if he was making a joke. “How does a vaccine know how to ‘figure me out?'”
“Tiny robots. Like me, you now have millions of tiny robots running around inside you just looking for things to fix, to make better.”
She stopped eating. “You put robots inside me?”
“That’s the easiest way to describe them. They bolster your normal immune system; help fight off diseases. But they do a whole host of other things too.”
She was still trying to figure out if he was joking.
People can’t do that… But even as the thought formed, what she’d already seen contradicted it. Her eyes traveled over the bearcat and all his equipment, then back to him.
“What else do they do?”
“Well, for one, you can’t get pregnant. At least not for a while.”
She stopped eating again. “What? What do you mean I can’t get pregnant?” It wasn’t like she’d ever wanted to have a child, and she’d been lucky enough to not end up pregnant, but him being so blunt about it was still a shock.
“The inoculant sterilizes us. It depends on the person, of course.” He waggled a hand. “But it lasts about a year before we have to immunize again.”
“You do this every year?” She couldn’t imagine going through it again.
“No, not the full inoculation. It’s a lower order immunization. It reinforces what’s already there from the initial inoculation.”
The idea of having a baby had never really been in the forefront of her mind. But being told so bluntly that she suddenly couldn’t, even if she wanted to, threw another monkey wrench into her internal workings. “What if I wanted to have a baby?”
“You’d be able to after the inoculant’s effects wear off. Like I said, for most people, it takes about a year. ‘We take nothing from the wastes and leave nothing of ourselves in the behind.'” He sounded like he was quoting something.
“Who is we? You keep talking like there are more of you out there. But I’ve never seen or even heard of anyone like you before.”
“You wouldn’t.” He raised his eyebrows. “At least not if we’re doing our jobs correctly.” He took her empty plate. “Are you still hungry?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He went back to the fire, talking over his shoulder. “We try not to be seen. We’re called Longhunters. We look for secrets from the world that was and try to learn about what may still be out there.”
“Why?” The idea of spending resources to just wander the wastes felt far-fetched, if not outright sun-mad. But the Bearcat, the inoculant, even his clothes were concrete, real.
He returned with the plate and handed it to her. “Because we believe there are things still hidden out in the wastes that can help us to turn the world back the way it was; green, growing, full of life.” He sat again.
Her insides felt like a sheet flapping in the wind, caught in the branches of a dead tree. He sounded like he was out of his mind. People who talked the way he did were usually sun-mad.
“How do you turn the world back?” She tried not to sound like she was scoffing, but it was hard. The whole concept was just too insane.
“In small pieces. Around the city states, the growing zones expand by hectares every year. But it is slow.”
She wasn’t sure she even wanted to ask. “The city states are real?”
He nodded, and to her relief, he didn’t look at her like she was an idiot for asking. “They are. They are just a long way from here.” He smiled, putting a hand on her leg, his expression having suddenly gone playful and disarming again. “And they are as beautiful as you’ve probably been told. More beautiful probably. The walls of Cosanti, where I come from, are of faded yellow stone. They are topped with gardens. The most amazing green growing things trail down from the towers and walls all over the city like water.”
She could see him looking back in his mind, his expression softening, becoming joyful at the memory. Again, he looked so… different. So open.
“Windmills, sails and turbines move the breeze into the city, some create power. And every rooftop and balcony is covered with gardens.” He looked her straight in the eyes. “And not just food, but flowers. People grow things just because they are pretty, or they smell good.” He gave her a kiss on her bare leg. “And outside the walls, there are hectares and hectares of farmland, apiaries and…”
“Apiaries?”
“Groups of beehives,” he explained, another kiss falling further up her thigh. She set the plate aside, her breath suddenly coming fast again.
“Tell me more…”
“Markets filled with fruit and vegetables, bright woven cloths.” He pushed the blanket out of the way so he could kiss the top of her thigh, pushing her leg up, his beard brushing the inside of her thigh. “Houses and apartments filled with light and growing things, with baths of hot and cold running water.” His lips touched her stomach, as she laid back, letting the blanket fall away.
Thrills ran through her skin as his lips and hands moved lightly over her legs and tummy. She lay back, her hands caressing his hair.
“And there are people who don’t have to fight.” He kissed her mound lightly, then down along the inside of her legs. She arched her back letting her head hang back as his beard brushed her labia. He kissed her inner thighs, so close to her center, but not quite touching. She gripped his hair, her belly pulling in hard as she tried to breathe.
“Yesss… Tell me more…” she groaned.
“Spices you’ve probably never heard of, flavors you can’t imagine.”
She moaned, a sudden, sharp sound, as his lips fell onto her sensitive velvet folds. Her whole body contracted, then released as his tongue touched, gliding along it. She squirmed, pulling his hair with one hand, her other grabbing the blanket as his tongue found her clitoris. He stopped talking, his tongue playing there, his fingers slipping along her wet center. She let go of his hair and grabbed his other hand pulling it up onto her breast, her body shuddering.
“Yes… Asher…”
His fingers slipped inside her. She moaned loudly, her whole body shaking. She couldn’t move, paralyzed by the sensation of his tongue on her clit, his fingers inside her and on her nipple. He pushed his fingers deeper, running the tips along her clitoral ridges. She spasmed, curling around the sensation as he sucked her clit. Her fingernails scratched his scalp and she clung to his hand on her breast, only able to take catching breaths. He slid his fingers in and out of her slowly, stopping every few motions to stroke her ridges again. Fire was building inside her as she clung to his hand and his hair, her abdominal muscles clenching in preparation.
Then he lifted his head, “Enjoying yourself?”
Her paralysis was broken, but she could barely speak. “Uhhh huhh…” She grabbed his shoulders, pulling him up and dragged his shirt off over his head, then unbuckled his belt. He sat up and kicked off his boots as she kissed his scarred chest and worked to open his pants. As soon as they were down, she pulled him on top of her. He kissed her hard, running the tip of his phallus along her outer lips, then pushed inside.
She froze again for a moment. She couldn’t even moan, all of her attention stolen by the feeling of him entering her again and his mouth on hers. He pushed into her, but only a little at a time, teasing her. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled herself onto him.
She’d never been penetrated so deeply. The feeling of him stretching everything inside her was… maddening, piercing, agonizing – wonderful. And he still wasn’t all the way in. She pulled him against her, pressing her bare breasts to his chest.
She took a catching breath as her vagina relaxed around his cock. “You’re so… big,” she whispered in his ear breathlessly.
“Are you alright?”
She nodded, kissing his neck fiercely. “Yes…” She put her lips to his mouth. “Yes. I want to feel all of you.” She clamped her legs around him for emphasis.
He slowly and rhythmically slid in and out of her, not penetrating any deeper for what felt like a long time. She had no idea how long it might have been; she was lost in the feeling of him inside her. She was shuddering again, sweating, her whole body a tight spring ready to break free.
“Oh yes… Yes… I’m going to…” He kissed her nipples lightly and her voice failed, the muscles of her abdomen contracting ecstatically. She arched her back, pushing her breasts up to meet his lips. He pulled her nipple into his mouth; his tongue playing over it. Then he pushed himself all the way into her.
She yelped, a surprised, ecstatic cry as his pelvis met hers. The feeling of him so deep inside her shocked her pending orgasm to a pause. She couldn’t move or breathe. Then he pulled back.
The next few minutes were a blur. The sound of their sweaty bodies slapping together mixed with her cries as he drove into places she’d never imagined being touched.
But there was nothing blurry about her orgasm. She grabbed at him and the tarp as her body shook, the orgasm roaring through her like a tempest. She heard her voice echo off the nearby canyon walls as she screamed with release. It was overwhelming. Her whole body felt like it had been clamped in a vise, then exploded out of it, leaving everything spinning.
But he was still filling her, his strong body against hers, his hard cock driving into her.
In the aftermath, her body relaxed and as her spasms subsided, she was able to luxuriate in the feeling of him inside her. She joined his rhythm instead of being tensed and paralyzed by the intensity of the sensation.
Asher pushed hair out of her face, watching her expression as it relaxed. “You’re beautiful.” He smiled and kissed her, his rhythm slow and certain. His expression turned playful. “This is a good look for you.”
She let the feeling of him inside her and his hands on her just run over her body like hot water. She ran her fingertips over his scarred chest and let her eyes travel brazenly over him between her legs. “I like the way you look there too.”
His thrusts turned faster and harder along with his breath. She curled up, holding his face and kissing him. “Yes… I want you to cum so hard in me.”
“You feel so good, Adina,” he told her breathlessly, his eyes closed with pleasure.
She laid back watching his expression. “Yes… I want you so bad, Asher!” Her body suddenly arched hard, another orgasm roaring up. Her hips thrust to meet his as he slammed against her. Her moan was all but a scream. “Yesss! Your gonna make me cum again!”
He grimaced ecstatically and tensed, his body coiling as he growled animalistically. His pelvis crashed against hers in hard spasms, her abdominal muscles clenching as he drove her into the tarp and ground. He groaned loudly and she felt the heat of his ejaculation.
Her responding orgasm blasted through her. She pressed her face against his hard chest, kissing his scars frantically as she rode the ecstatic spasms of their fiery mutual release, his fierce passion transmitted to her through his pelvis crushed against hers.
Adina finally collapsed back onto the ground, the hard contractions in her belly becoming sensual twitches. Asher’s weight was on her a moment later. She ran her fingers through his hair and down onto his neck, just relishing the feeling of him on her and his sweaty skin under her hands as they lay panting together.
After several minutes of just lying together, he slid an arm under her, holding her firmly against him, still inside her, and rolled over pulling her on top of him.
She smiled as she came up on top, surprised that he was still semi-erect inside her. She watched his expression as she pushed back, taking a sighing breath as she slid as much of him into her as possible.
He pushed his hips to meet hers, his expression momentarily fierce, then returned her smile as she relaxed down onto him. He kissed her gently. “I didn’t want to smash you,” he told her breathlessly.
“I liked it.” She lay her sweaty cheek on his equally sweaty shoulder, her long hair streaming across him. She traced the curving line of one of his tattoos with a finger, running it over the raised skin of a scar and closed her eyes feeling like her whole body was melting down onto him.
He strained, reaching for the blanket on the cot, but she laid her hand on his arm and shaking her head against his shoulder. “It’s too hot.”
Adina woke her head still cradled against Asher’s shoulder. He was watching her with his intensely blue eyes, a finger brushing strands of hair out of her face, lightly running over the skin of her brow.
She smiled and pulled against him, loving the feeling of her naked skin against his. She turned and kissed his arm. He strained to reach for something.
“We don’t need the blanket.” She rolled on her back and looked up; it was late afternoon as far as she could tell from the way the shadows were being cast by the buildings surrounding the canyon.
When he turned back, he had his pistol in his hand. He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I wasn’t reaching for that.” Her head still on his arm, he slid the magazine out of the pistol. “This is a very good friend of mine.” He watched her eyes as he carefully placed the magazine on her naked belly. It was a little cold, but she didn’t move, returning his playful smile. He pulled the pistol’s slide back and let the bullet that ejected from the chamber fall into his palm. He placed it next to the magazine, trying to get it to stand upright on her rising and falling stomach. It tickled. She laughed, toppling it.
He raised an eyebrow. “I guess that won’t work.” He poked the base of the bullet lightly into her belly button. She laughed and wiggled, but he held it in place until she stopped. “Don’t move.”
She couldn’t help the grin the pulled her cheeks up at his playfulness. She stayed still, concentrating on keeping the bullet from toppling again. He finished checking the weapon and then held it up for her. “You’re going to need to get familiar with it.”
Adina freed her arm from against his body, careful of the bullet and took the pistol, hefting it. “I know how to shoot.”
He picked up the magazine and held it up. “Show me.” As she took the magazine, he plucked the bullet from her belly button and played it around the sensitive perimeter. She bit her lip and squinted an eye.
“I can’t concentrate when you do that.”
He sat up and kissed her tummy, then her belly button. “Good. That was the point.”
After a moment to focus, she slid the magazine into the pistol. It was different than any pistol she’d ever handled, bigger, but the but theory was the same. He kissed her belly again.
“That’s not fair.” She pulled the slide back, chambering a round.
“Good.” He leaned on an elbow. “Take the magazine out.” He held up the bullet. “And put this in the magazine. Then load the pistol again.” She took the magazine out again and set it on her tummy, then pulled the slide back, ejecting the round. It hit the dirt. She picked it up, sitting the big pistol next to the magazine and blew most of the dust off the round, wiping it clean and inspecting it before pushing it into the magazine. She took the bullet from his hand, quickly inspected it and shoved it into the magazine.
“You’ve got strong hands. That’s good.”
Holding the pistol and magazine she sat up enough to give him a kiss. “We weren’t called ‘Shoemaker’ for no reason. I used to make shoes.” She shook the hair out of her face and slid the magazine into the pistol and pulled the slide back. It was much easier this time, the pistol didn’t feel as foreign in her hands.
“Safety?”
She looked at the side of the weapon and flicked the safety on then held it up to him. “There.”
He took it from her and gave her a long kiss. His kiss was like a wrench that tumbled, clanging through every part of her, turning her organized internal workings to chaos. She was once again still leaning forward wanting more when he pulled back. “You know how to handle a pistol. That’s good.” His playful eyes watched hers. “Let’s see if you’re as good at shooting as you are at other things.” He bent and kissed her tummy again, then pushed up to his feet.
She watched him, confused, her spinning insides thrown completely out of whack by their intimate luxury being so suddenly interrupted. Her eyes lingered on his naked, muscular legs and backside as he turned to where his clothes were.
“Wait… What? You mean now?”
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