No Brand on My Pony

I turned the tube's label to the light and read aloud, "Vanilla-flavored edible body lotion," then dropped it into the sheets while Hope shooed Barfy to the foot of the bed and sat beside me. I faced her and studied the soft curves of her neatly shaved pussy. "Why do you shave?"

Hope draped her hands over my shoulders. "There's hardly anything I like more than I like oral sex. That'll make it easier for you, won't it?"

"It will." I pulled Hope still closer with my hands on her hips, and she climbed astride my lap. We were nose-to-nose and eye-to-eye.

"Watch me? Breath with me?" she asked, and brushed my lips with hers. "Let's synchronize our energy."

I was goin' to be patient. I watched Hope's eyes, inhaled when Hope inhaled, held my breath when she held hers, and exhaled when she exhaled. We repeated slowly, and her breath brushed my cheek each time until she laid her head on my shoulder and said, "I think you've done that before."

"We all try things when we're young, don't we?" I cupped both my hands behind Hope's neck and tipped her head back. She watched my face for a moment then parted her lips, and I slipped my tongue into her soft warmth.

I held her head in both hands and explored. Hope's breath warmed my cheek while I caressed her tongue with mine. Her hands traveled down my chest. She cradled my balls and wrapped my hardening cock.

Hope opened her mouth, and I held her against me. I explored deeper and gave into the sensations. The tension in my body told her how she turned me on. She released her hold on my package, and she touched herself. Quiet sounds escaped through her nose. Her shoulders sagged, and she writhed slowly and softly.

Maybe Barfy got jealous. He rubbed against Hope's side and patted her shoulder with his paw, and Hope broke our kiss with a laugh. "I'm going to have to pet him, but first," she said, and she held her fingers under my nose. "Do you like this?"

I inhaled the scent of her excitement. "Gonna be delicious." I kissed her fingers, and she smiled while I sucked the sheen of nectar off her skin.

Hope pulled her hand away and cuddled Barfy between us for a moment. She scratched his head and dumped him on the floor. "He isn't usually like this. Maybe it's because I was gone for a few days."

I surprised Hope when I wrapped her with my arm, grasped her braid, and laid her naked body down on the mattress.

It was my turn to be surprised when she lifted her legs around me, so I propped myself up with one hand on the mattress. "Good as this feels," I said, and ran my fingertips along the back of her thigh. "I didn't think we were going there yet."

Hope released her breath and let her legs down. "That was a reaction from too many times with my ex. Where are you taking me instead?"

I leaned forward and touched her nipples with my fingertips. "How sensitive are these?"

"Nipple orgasms 'R' us, but only one guy has ever gone there."

"Your ex, I bet." I dug the tube of lotion out of the sheets and squeezed lotion into my hand. "Let's make it two."

"How'd you guess that? It was before we were married. Things went down hill after that." She squirmed on the mattress while I warmed the lotion. "You're getting a good start."

I dropped the bottle beside Hope and bent to whisper in her ear. "I need you to let the sensations take over." I ran my lotion-coated fingers around her breasts and cupped her in my hands. Her breath was already coming in shallow gulps. "Shouldn't you be breathing deeply?"

I felt Hope relax and let my lips brush her ear. "I love the way you feel. Your nipples are already hard." My stiff cock rested on her belly. "I think you're as hard as I am."

"Shut up, Adam." I could already feel thrills rippling through Hope's body. She struggled to keep her breath deep and even, and I trailed my lips down her neck and her shoulder to her tit. I took her nipple between my lips and rolled it under my tongue. I was patient as could be. My hand coaxed one tit while I sucked the other, and she cradled my head in her arms.

There was no chance now that Hope could keep her breath deep and even. She gulped air and ran her fingers through my hair. I sucked her like a starving boy, and tension built in her body. She arched her back under me when she came, twisted, and groaned at the ceiling.

Hope's body went soft when her climax passed, and I released her nipple with a little "pop!" that made her laugh. I rose on my hands and knees to watch her and brushed a stray lock of hair off her forehead. For that moment, she was in never-never land, with her eyes closed and her breasts cupped in her hands.

It didn't last long before she started searching the bed and found the lotion tube next to her. "Come closer," she said and squeezed lotion into her hand. "I want your cock, and I'm pretty sure you aren't going to roll over and go to sleep when I'm done."

"Me? Never." Hope laughed at me while I climbed from between her thighs to straddle her hips. "I love your hands. Have I told you that already?"

"Those were just words," she said. "Now you can show me how much you love them." Her fingertips trailed down my chest and over my belly. Her hands were slick with lotion when she wrapped them both around my shaft. "Should I start slow? Do you like it better that way?"

"Slow—at first, anyway. I want to feel everything you do."

Hope slipped one hand down to my balls. Her other hand toyed with the sensitive head of my cock and traveled its shaft in a sensuous rhythm. Her delicate hands were soft and sensitive. I moaned in her ear, and she worked faster.

Instinct made me fuck her hands, and Hope made that part of her rhythm, too. I bent to kiss her lips. I inhaled the scent from her hair and heard her voice over the wet sounds coming from her hand on my cock. "Come on me, Cowboy? Are you ready?"

I was ready, and she knew it. "Oh, God," was all I could say, and I chanted it for her. She slipped her hand off my balls and touched a fingertip to my asshole, and she gave a gleeful little laugh when I erupted in her hand. I clenched my teeth and groaned, and my hot cream gushed across Hope's belly and her breasts.

The room came slowly into focus. I let myself enjoy all the sensations from Hope's hands, her body between my legs, and her head against my chest. I whispered in her ear, "You did that right," and slipped down her body. I kissed her throat and her shoulders. I climbed between her legs, kissed her belly below her navel, and slipped to my knees beside the bed.

"I've had practice," she said. "Where are you going?"

"Gonna figure out my way around down here." I spread Hope's legs and kissed the soft skin inside her thighs—first on one side and then on the other while she used the sheet to wipe me off her belly and her breasts. She propped herself on her elbows and pulled her braid over her shoulder while she watched.

I blew softly on her smooth mound, and Hope's breath trembled as she inhaled. I kissed it, and pulled it between my lips before I drew back to study her contours and inhale her feminine scent. "Do you have the lotion?"

"Whatever you're doing down there, keep doing it." she said, and she pushed the tube my way.

I smoothed lotion over her mound and into her deep folds and creases. I separated her thick lips, and massaged them slowly and gently until her nectar began to seep. Hope caught her breath when I slipped my thumbs up to her hood. Her firm clit glistened under a sheen of lotion.

"Are you going to come for me already?" I swirled one thumb over the opening of Hope's vagina without pressing into her, and I worked my fingers over her hood, faster as her breath came in gasps and gulps.

I felt Hope's orgasm before I heard it. Her legs tightened and her pussy pulsed in my hands. She threw her head back and groaned at the ceiling. She released her breath and fell back on the bed, and her body went soft again.

Hope's chest heaved while she caught her breath, so I waited for a moment before I lifted her knees and pushed my tongue into her. She moaned while I lapped at her savory nectar, and she knotted her fingers in my hair when I closed my mouth over her whole, vanilla-flavored mound.

Found her trigger with my tongue and explored up along its shaft and back again. Hope closed her thighs around my head, and I flicked and swirled my tongue over her. She gripped my head and rocked her hips under me. I liked the way she chanted my name, though I could hardly hear her.

Hope's orgasm came harder and faster than before. She clenched her teeth and arched her back, and she bucked in my grip. I kept her under my tongue as well as I could until her body relaxed, and she suddenly squirmed away from me.

"Sensitive! Too sensitive!" Hope said, and she rolled onto her belly with her hand between her legs.

She talked into the sheets. "Oh God, Adam. That was intense."

I enjoyed my little win while Hope calmed down, but it couldn't last long. My hard-on ached to be in her. I climbed onto the bed and over her body, and I kissed her neck until she shrugged her shoulders to push me away.

"What are you doing?" Hope asked, but she didn't need my answer. My cock rested on her ass, and she reached to touch my balls. She pushed herself up on her elbows and her knees, and the well-lubricated folds between her legs gleamed in the lamplight.

I steadied Hope with my hand on her hip, held my hard shaft in the other hand, and worked its sensitive head into her. "Oh, little pony!" I caught my breath and closed my eyes. "You feel good."

Hope's pussy stretched to take my thrust. I set a slow rhythm, but the sensations from my cock inside her forced me faster.

I bent over her, wrapped her in my arms, and held her. Her body was tense. "What's wrong?" I asked. "How can you enjoy sex like this?"

"I'm excited. That's all."

I stopped deep inside Hope and felt her move and breathe. She sighed when I slipped out of her and sat back with my shoulders against her headboard. "You shouldn't be so tight. It's like you don't trust me."

Hope climbed to her knees and followed. She straddled my hips and kissed my lips. "It's our first time," she said. "Maybe I know what you're going to do, but I don't know how you're going to do it. It's natural to be tense, isn't it?"

I stroked her arms and her shoulders and felt her body soften. "Let's do it your way." I reached for my cock and held it up between her legs. "You won't have to worry about how I do it."

Hope looked down before she realized what I meant, and her breath tickled my ear when she laughed. "The pony rides the cowboy?" She reached down to take my cock in hand. "I don't know what to do on top—you know, how to make you happy."

"Don't worry about me. I'll get mine when it's time."

Hope raised a doubtful eyebrow at me, but she bit her lip and settled on my cock. Its smooth head slipped into her, and Hope's breath burned hot on my shoulder. She laid on my chest with little more than the head of my cock inside her, and she moved her hips in a slow, undulating grind.

I tasted Hope's skin under a sheen of sweat, and inhaled her scent. Her braid fell over my shoulder. Her breath was calm and deep at first, and then it came in ragged gasps. I urged her on with my hands and my lips.

Hope went rigid for the moment at the peak of her climax. She relaxed on my chest when her spasms passed but still moved her hips as I held her. She picked her head up to ask, "Good?" and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Are you crying?" I asked and touched the tear off her cheek.

"No! It's just from the release." She watched me suck her tear off my fingertip. "You're a little oral, aren't you?"

"Gettin' to know you from the way you taste—your pussy, your sweat, your tears. It's all you, isn't it?"

A little shudder went through Hope. "Yeah, it's all me." My cock slipped out of her as she climbed my body, and she smiled at me nose-to-nose. "Open up, Cowboy, and you can get to know me better."

A stream of saliva flowed off Hope's lips and into my mouth. I pulled us together and explored her with my tongue and with my free hand—over her side and down her back. I caressed her butt, and slid my hand over her hip and between her legs.

Hope broke our kiss, reached between us to wrap my hard cock in her hand, and she laughed against my chest. "I might be able to do this all night." She guided my cock into her, and I groaned at the pure pleasure of our bodies coming together again.

Sure as hell I couldn't do that all night, but I could try. Sometimes I rode my pony, sometimes my pony rode her cowboy, and we rode into early morning.

Hope was still and soft when I laid her down for the last time. I pulled her braid to tip her head back. Her eyes were closed. Her mouth and her thighs were open, and my cock filled her. I stopped with our bodies locked together. She lifted her legs around me, and—even after all that time—I shuddered at the thrills she gave me.

We writhed together—slick skin sliding over slick skin. I could feel her excitement build just as it built in me. I whispered in her ear, "Come for me little pony. Come for me." She laughed and tightened her grip on my shoulders. Her body stiffened, and she clenched her teeth.

Hope arched her back when her climax came, and spasms wracked her body. She groaned against my throat while fireworks went off behind my eyes. I squeezed her hips against me and emptied myself into her. I rolled away when I was drained and pulled her with me.

We slept that way until nearly noon when Hope untangled herself and climbed out of bed. Kibble rattled into Barfy's bowl, and water ran in the shower. I turned off the bedside lamp and laid back to figure out the rest of my day before Hope opened the bathroom door.

"I have coffee, bacon and eggs," she said. Hope was still naked, but with a towel around her head. "How do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled." I knew parts of her inch-by-inch, and there were parts of her that I planned to get to know better. She seemed suddenly self-conscious, and closed the door to dress.

I found a chair in front of the rhodochrosite on Hope's dining table, and I noticed the small desk in the corner for the first time. The coffee was ready first, and toast came after that. Hope didn't have much to say while she worked, and I was catching up on my messages. She didn't settle down 'til the eggs and bacon were done.

"So how are the mind, body and spirit this morning?" I asked.

"They're together—they're very well pulled together." She seemed to study every detail of her breakfast without saying more.

"Is this your office?" I asked, and gestured toward the little desk. Hope answered with a glance and a nod. "You have something on your mind," I said.

Hope looked up without smiling. "The pony thing last night? That was all fun, but I'm not going to be your pony."

It seemed like a blurt, and I was surprised. "Fun's all that was."

She took a bite before she looked up at me again. "Last night was great, but I'm too busy to hammer together a relationship that I don't need."

My thoughts hadn't gone that far, so I stopped, finished my bacon, and digested what she said. "We said last night that you weren't looking for a boyfriend, and I'm not looking for a girlfriend. This morning I'm not thinking different, but you know? I don't want to be your one-night stand."

Hope smiled, and used her fingertip to wipe a little egg yolk from the corner of her mouth. "I don't want that either."

* * *

Farolitos lined the street and topped the walls of the restaurant where I waited for our table. Susan said, "It's cold tonight," and dug her hands deeper into her jacket pockets.

"Shouldn't be long now," I was speculating. I pulled her close with my arm around her waist and watched the golden light flicker in her eyes.

A woman stepped out of the restaurant hanging on a man's arm, and I barely noticed until Hope called, "Cowboy!" Her breath swirled round her. I shouldn't have been surprised. You spend time in the popular places downtown and you're bound to see the same people.

She hadn't changed her look, and her long braid swung across her shoulders when she motioned to the man she was clinging to. "This is Steve, my ex. He came in for Christmas." Steve's dark suit made him seem far out of place. Hope turned to Steve, waved toward me, and said, "Adam's a cowboy lobbyist."

I let go of Susan to shake Steve's hand and introduced her. Hope touched Susan's arm while I talked to Steve, and she asked, "Do you mind if I talk to Adam for a second?" She barely waited for Susan's nod, then leaned close to me. "Give me a call when you have time. After Christmas would be good. Next week?"

A hostess opened the door and peeked out. "Cruz, party of two?"

"That's us." I patted Steve's arm and said, "We can talk another time," and told Hope, "I'm going to Santa Rosa tomorrow. I'll call when I'm back in town."

I was on my way back to Santa Fe when I got an idea. The mountains grew bigger in my windshield while I pulled together a working group. We met at my place, worked late over pizza and drinks, and hammered together a bill that would defund any effort by the Land Office to enforce their new rules. Maybe it would be leverage, but that's all it could be.

It was the next afternoon, when I was sitting in the mess left over, before I thought to call Hope. "I'm meeting a friend at the Starbucks by the plaza," she said. "Can you meet us there? About four?" Even remembered to shave before I left.

Hope looked up from her conversation when I walked in. I tipped my hat, and she waved without getting up. She looked like the school marm from some old western movie. Her blouse was white. Her dress was long and black.

Ordered an Americano before I pulled up a chair and hooked my hat on the back. Hope gestured to the woman across from her and said, "This is DeeDee Durante. We've been talking about you."

"Oh? Good stuff, I imagine." DeeDee had a bright smile and enough cleavage to make it hard to pull my eyes up. I didn't like the feeling that I was set up to meet her. My interest was in Hope.

"All interesting," DeeDee said and looked back to Hope. "Then why Steve?" It took me a moment to realize they were talking about sex. Of course, they were talking about sex.

The barista called, "Order up for Adam," and I left to get my coffee.

I sat again with the coffee in front of me, and I listened to Hope. "There was a time when I thought Steve cared. Maybe I was inexperienced, but the sex felt good, too. Now, sex seems like the only thing we ever had in common."

Hope glanced at me and lowered her voice. "He's still familiar. There's still something attractive about him. That makes it easy for me to get back in his bed even though I know he's poison for my soul."

A little jealousy raised the hair on my neck, but it passed—mostly. Wasn't my place to be jealous of Hope's partners.

DeeDee picked her phone off the table and looked at the time. "I need to go." She set her phone down again and leaned toward Hope to whisper. "I think you're being complicated. You should just get laid and enjoy it."

Hope laughed out loud. "Maybe you're right."

DeeDee stood up from the table and smiled. "It was good meeting you, Mr. Cruz."

I did what I thought they expected. I stood and tucked my hand under DeeDee's elbow. "You could give me your number, and we can find a time to get to know each other."

We traded numbers and I watched the pleasant sway of DeeDee's hips as she left. "Is that why you wanted me here?" I sat in front of my coffee again. "To set me up with DeeDee?"

Hope peeked over her latte to answer. "No, but that isn't a bad idea is it? How was your Christmas?"

"My nieces and nephews grow like weeds, Mom and Dad are a little older, and we're selling cattle short because the range is dry. How was yours?"