Dawn over Sun Valley Ch. 03

The drive back to the farm was uncomfortably quiet. Joe mused about how naturally they found intimacy out there by the pond, while the forced proximity of the truck seemed to only foster unease. Still, he wasn't sorry for any of it. He wouldn't break his damned self-imposed rules, but maybe he could stretch them a little...?

I'll just have to wait for her make the next move, he decided. Just to be on the safe side.

*

Leanne wanted to go hiking with him again.

Okay, if she were being honest with herself what she really wanted was to kiss him again, but as that wasn't going to happen - certainly not on the farm, that was very clear - she wanted to go on another hike.

At first she'd hoped he'd come by and ask her. But Joe kept his distance, wearing his detached-if-friendly attitude around him like an invisible cloth. Only once she caught him staring at her from way across the dining room. He'd looked startled when their eyes collided, and then gave her a little grin and an even smaller wink.

It was enough of an opening to give her courage.

*

On Sunday evening, when everyone had retired to their rooms to wash up before dinner at the end of their first high-season weekend, Leanne decided to make her move. Giving herself a little pep-talk about 'living the moment' and 'seizing the day', she crossed the large graveled yard in decisive strides towards his wide-open office door.

Joe lifted his head from his laptop screen at her light knock, and breathed deep when he saw her.

"You came."

Leanne closed the door behind her, and the soft click seemed to charge the atmosphere between. Leanne breathed it in, excitement bubbling in her belly. Joe stood up slowly and walked around his small desk, but then stopped and leaned back against it, as if belatedly reminding himself to keep his cool.

"You were expecting me?" she asked with a tentative smile, and his answering grin was crooked, suggesting the joke was on him.

"Not quite expecting... hoping, is more like it."

Leanne cocked her head. "So..."

"So...?"

He was going to make her say it, then. Leanne raised her chin.

"Will you come hiking with me again tomorrow afternoon?"

He hesitated. Leanne pushed. "As you said, I can't work 24/7. And after this weekend, I sure need some R&R."

Joe was silent for another moment, and then asked quietly -

"Just a hike, then?"

A pang of disappointment stabbed her, but then she realized how carefully he'd asked his question. She met his eyes boldly.

"I was hoping to pick up where we left off, actually."

His eyes darkened, even as his face registered his surprise. After a heartbeat of silence, he finally replied.

"I would very much like that, too."

His gruff tone felt like a caress. She nodded, heart pounding, unsure what to do or say next, and Joe gently turned her away from him by her shoulders, but then leaned close to add quietly -

"Now you should go, princess, because while I may be reconsidering some of the 'no mixing business and pleasure' rule, I am still 100% adamant about it on-site."

He gave her a little shove and she stepped forward, only to stop at the closed door and look back at him.

"When and where, then?"

Joe considered her for a moment. "I'll pick you up after lunch. Wait for me by the Western gate at two. With sundown being so late this time of the year we'll have time for another one of my favorite trails. It actually ends in the exact same spot by the pond."

Leanne's heart was already beating faster. It ends in the exact same spot... her mind was quick to conjure up images of their last time under the old willow tree. "Okay, see you then!" she breathed and hastened out the door, almost skipping her way back to her room.

She'd just asked Joe out, and all but begged him to kiss her again.

And he'd said yes!

*

Indeed, Monday afternoon found Leanne and Joe on the old blanket under the weeping willow. But the still-full coffee thermos was lying in the grass next to the tightly-closed box of homemade cookies, pushed aside by their urgent bodies, rolling back and forth.

They'd held back when she stepped up into his truck, when he parked and helped her out, and all through the hike. They didn't speak much except for ooh's and aah's over the scenery and the occasional wildlife that crossed their path, both too wound up for idle chat, both eager to reach the end of the trail.

To pick up where they'd left off.

When they finally got to that spot - their spot, or so Joe had started referring to it in his mind - he had every intention to take his time, to wine and dine Leanne - or in their case, serve her coffee and cookies - before he took her in his arms. But she wouldn't have it. As soon as he'd placed the food down she stepped forward and reached a tentative palm to his shirt, just over his thudding heart.

She didn't say anything, just looked at him expectantly. Slowly, savoring the breathless tension, he lowered his head and took her mouth in his.

She tasted infinitely sweeter than those chocolate-chip cookies he'd made the night before, and the kick in his gut was way more potent than any caffeine rush. He wondered, even as his lips and tongue and hands explored her, even as hers returned the favor, at the overwhelming effect she had on him.

Was it that she was a forbidden fruit? An employee? He didn't think so; it was the same that night in town, before he knew she'd be working for him.

Was it her innocence, then? He couldn't dismiss that one as easily; it was, undoubtedly, part of her charm from the get-go. But he'd never before been drawn to the virginal type; in fact, he'd made a point to stay clear away from them, had always preferred experience and a straightforward approach towards mutual pleasure in the women he'd bedded.

But Leanne was different, and he was different with her. To his own amazement, he'd actually liked knowing that she was innocent, that she'd never kissed another man like she did him, now. That he was the first to experience her passion, her responsive body, her surprising boldness. He wanted her more than he could remember ever wanting another woman.

With a low groan he hugged her closer, and tasted her more deeply. She opened her mouth for him with a whimper that spiked his hunger as her hands came up into his hair, fisting as she clung tight. He felt as if he'd burst up in flames.

In some distant part of his mind he remembered he'd need to stop, eventually - he didn't go around picking girls' cherries, and if and when the time ever came, he'd do it in a nice bed, with the door locked behind them - but he desperately wanted more than those sweet, sweet kisses.

Joe kneeled and then pulled Leanne to lie down on the blanket with him, and drew her close until not an inch of distance remained between them. He pressed his thigh between hers, and she hooked her knee up over his hip, while their hands were stroking, squeezing, hurried and greedy.

In the next moment Leanne tugged his shirt up and ran her palm along his side and then across his back, the sweet touch going straight to his throbbing dick, making it jump inside the farm's uniform cargo pants. He reciprocated, pushed both her shirt and bra up so that the small mounds of her breasts were bared before him. and in the next heartbeat he bent for a taste.

Leanne arched her back as if trying to push her breast deeper into his mouth. Joe's tongue rasped over her taut nipple and she shuddered, and then pulled his head with both her hands to the pebbled, cherry-red tip.

"Oh my God that felt so good... do it again, please!"

He did it again, and again, and again, licking and suckling, going back and forth between her two beautiful tits. Pulling back occasionally simply to admire the magnificence of this woman, flushed and sweaty and completely uninhibited in her passion, begging him for more.

Finally, the insistent pain in his balls and his too-hard dick made its way to the forefront of his mind and he drew back, reluctantly putting a few inches of necessary space between them.

"No -!" She looked as pained as he was, reaching her hands out to him. "Please, please, I need - I don't know what I need, I just feel like I'm going to explode any second!"

Joe just looked at her, still breathing hard, unsure if he'd understood what she just said. Shaking his head, he asked carefully - "You don't know what you need? I'd say that one is pretty damn obvious, princess."

The look she gave him - a desperate mix of confusion and frustration - was almost his undoing. Could she really not know? Could she actually be THAT innocent?

"What?!" she growled up at him, oblivious to the way her hips humped his thigh. Despite his own acute need, Joe felt the hard set of his jaw soften, and he gentled his voice as he answered.

"Sweetheart, that sensation that you feel inside - that pressure low in your belly?" At her impercible nod he smiled and continued. "There's only one way to release it, and that is a good, hard orgasm. Have you never had one of those?"

He found himself holding his breath as she just stared at him, wide-eyed, and finally gulped and stammered - "N-no, I - I don't think I have."

Joe closed his eyes, exhaled loudly as he tried to control his galloping heart before returning his knowing gaze to her troubled one.

"Now that's just criminal, princess."

Her eyes widened, and he chuckled. "How old are you? Twenty three? How long since you hit puberty? Ten, eleven years? And you've never masturbated? Never made yourself come? Not even once?"

Leanne shook her head jerkily, and he could see the color in her cheeks - already flushed with her lust - had just deepened to a glowing red. Belatedly he realized she may be uncomfortable, even humiliated by his questions, and now his words stumbled on top of each other to try and fix that.

"Hey - I'm not judging or anything, honest. All I'm saying is -" Joe shoved a frustrated, unsteady hand through his already-mussed hair. "Look, Leanne - it's your body, you know? You should learn what makes you feel good. You deserve that. Giving yourself pleasure - that's one of the basic rules of self care. Just like eating right and exercising."

Leanne just stared at him, her mouth partly open as if a question was stuck there, unvoiced. When it occurred to him what that question probably was he flushed self-consciously, but then met her eyes and answered it anyways.

"Of course, I am speaking from vast personal experience here. I make it a priority to take care of myself, well and often."

Watching her face as she processed his words, clearly picturing them in her mind, was a unique kind of torture. But it was worth it when the tension in her shoulders ebbed, and she actually giggled.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying, Joe?"

He grinned, profoundly relieved to hear her laugh, and then, unable to stop himself, leaned in to catch her smiling lips in his for another deep, hot kiss. When they finally came up for air they were once more intimately intertwined, his raging hard-on pressed against her tummy and his thigh between hers, feeling her heat through both their pants. He held her face in his hands, looking straight into her eyes, and his voice, when he finally answered her, was low and urgent.

"Yes. I'm saying that like any red-blooded male - heck, like any healthy human being - I masturbate. And I'm saying that you should, too. You should start giving this beautiful body of yours the tender loving care that it deserves."

His heart was beating like crazy. He liked talking dirty in bed, but this - this kind of talk was a level of intimacy he'd never imagined existed. But he was on a roll now, and she looked like his words struck a chord; he threw caution to the wind, and continued.

"I am saying there is a decade of missed orgasms you should catch up on, so you'd better start soon, and do it often, to make up for all that lost time." He gave her a pointed look. "So, will you promise me you'll start taking care of your own needs, princess?"

Leanne hesitated, and then answered so quietly he had to look at her lips to understand her whispered response.

"I - I want to say 'yes' but the truth is - I don't know how."

She worried her lower lip with her sharp front teeth, and her eyes seemed to plea with him.

Oh, no. She couldn't possibly be asking him to -

"Will you - will you teach me how to do that?"

Joe's heart was going to explode. His balls were in similar danger. And yet, if she'd just asked him what he thought he heard, he figured he'd at least die a happy man. Just to be on the safe side, though, he asked carefully -

"Leanne, that's something - well, private. Most people learn how to do it on their own..."

"Well, I'm not 'most people!" she sounded almost pissed, but then her tone turned begging, and she pressed closer to him. "Joe, please. Please, show me..."

What was a gentleman supposed to do, when the damsel in his arms was in such obvious distress?

With a moan that came from somewhere deep in his chest, he kissed her again, harder and deeper than before, and she breathed a high-pitched 'ohh - thank you!' as she realized her little victory. Joe's hands returned to her midriff and glided up to cup her breasts, circling her puckered nipples with his thumbs, and then gently rolled them in his fingers. Leanne shuddered, and then her hands were pushing his own shirt up, her intent clear.

Joe sat up and raise his arms, and Leanne followed, kneeling before him and tugging his shirt off completely, smiling as she discarded it behind her back. They paused there for a moment, kneeling and facing each other, Joe naked from the waist up, Leanne's shirt and bra still bunched above her pretty breasts, tucked under her armpits. She moved to take them off, but Joe stopped her.

"Please, allow me." When she paused, he added - "Raise your arms for me, princess."

Passion darkened her sky-blue eyes as she did as asked, and Joe leaned closer to slowly pull the garments up and off of her, and then trailed his hands down her arms to her back, coming to rest at her sides as she laid her own hands on his shoulders. Her breathing was harder now; Joe could feel her ribs expand and contract quickly in her growing excitement. He caressed the soft side curves of her breasts with his thumbs as their eyes locked.

Slowly, he hands moved to her belly where he found the top button of her cargo pants. Her mouth dropped in a soft exhale, and then, at his unspoken question, she nodded. Joe undid the button and the short zip, and with another deep breath Leanne slipped her own hands into the loosened waistband to push her pants down until they bunched around mid-thigh. Then she stood up to let them fall to her feet. Holding onto Joe's shoulders, Leanne stepped out of her pants, and kicked them aside.

Joe's hands tightened around her panty-clad hips and she stood still over him while he stared at her body, naked save for a pair of simple bikini-style briefs. The simple white cotton was adorned with soft pink polka-dots and a tiny pink ribbon on top, and Joe thought he'd never seen sexier underwear in his life. His hands moved to caress lightly along the pink trim at her panty line, until finally he raised his head to meet her hooded eyes.

"You're beautiful."

Her lower lip quivered. She bit it and then smiled tentatively. "Thanks."

He had a feeling she didn't quite believe him, and was determined to change that. He shifted so that his bare back was against the tree trunk; the bark was thick and cracked and poked at his skin, and he couldn't care less. Maybe it'll help me keep my head for this, he thought briefly as he settled back and opened his legs to make room for her in between them.

"Come here, princess. Sit on the blanket with your back to me."

Leanne took his outstretched hand and came down to sit as instructed, leaning back until she pressed warmly against his torso. Her skin was pale, soft and smooth against his harder, coarser chest, and Joe had to fight his urge to rub against her. Instead, he gently guided her head to rest on his shoulder.

"Still good?" he asked, caressing her arms as she placed her hands lightly on his thighs. Leanne nodded and her fingers twitched, and Joe could feel that slight movement all the way to his dick. He let his hands glide down towards her thighs, grazing the delicate skin along the creases of her legs.

"Open your thighs for me then, princess, and give me your hand".

Leanne sucked her breath, and did as he asked, opening herself to his touch, pillowing her head on her own left arm, folded over his chest, while putting her right in his hand. Joe's heart slammed against his ribcage, so hard he was sure she could feel it. He kept caressing the tops of her left thigh lightly and encouraged her to do the same with her own hand, guiding her movements, then slowly increasing their range to include the soft, smooth insides of her thighs.

Leanne moaned and opened her legs even wider, tilting her pelvis up, watching - and matching - his every move.

"Oh my gosh, Joe, that feels so freakin' good... please..."

Joe hummed in agreement, and inched their joint hands closer to her mound. When her response was to arch in anticipation he smiled and moved her hand so that she cupped herself gently, then gave her the barest of squeezes, his hand pressing hers over her folds.

"Oh...!" Leanne cried out, pushing herself against her own hand, and Joe chuckled in delight.

"Feels good, does it?"

"Ohhh yesss..." She hissed as he squeezed again, a little firmer this time, and then moved to rub in small circles over the crotch of her panties. The dampness beneath made the thin fabric first cling to her folds, and then glide more easily over them.

"You see, princess..." he murmured close to her ear while his fingers kept guiding hers in light, teasing circles at the apex of her thighs - "you should try this for yourself, learn what kind of touch brings you most pleasure... try lighter caress, or firmer strokes..." he demonstrated as he spoke, trying to gauge her preference from her responses. "Try a quicker pace, or go slow and easy... little circles, or side-to-side, or all along your pussy, top to bottom and back..."

Leanne writhed and arched in his arms, her breathy sighs and low moans resonating in his mind. But then her other arm came down from behind her head, her free hand capturing his and then pressing hard, making their laced fingers sink between her cotton-covered folds.

"Please, please, Joe, I can't... I need... please!"

Joe inhaled sharply, taking in the sweet smell of her sex that wafted in the air around them. He was getting high on lust, and finding it harder and harder to remember there was a line he shouldn't - couldn't - cross with her - even if he'd already blown way past every other limit he'd ever told himself to keep. He drew their hands up to her belly, and then edged his fingers under the waistband of her panties, until the soft curls underneath tickled his sensitive pads.

Leanne sucked her breath and froze, her whole body suddenly tense. Sensing the change, Joe stopped his exploration. Her sudden distress was like a bucket of cold water dumped over his head, shocking and effective, clearing it from its passion-filled haze. Refocusing on the young woman in his arms, he slowly withdrew his hand until it rested safely on her abdomen once more.

"Enough, princess?" he asked gently.

Leanne swallowed hard, but then shook her head resolutely, half-turning in his arms to try and look him in the eye. "No, not even close! Please, I - I want to feel you touch me like that. Here -" and before he could quite grasp her intention she tugged her panties down and off her legs, throwing them all the way to the far edge of the blanket. Stealing another look at him over her shoulder she suddenly grinned, as if surprised and pleased with her own brevity, while he stared, speechless.