The Studhorse Man

She stuffed her hands into her pockets and shook her head, trying not to stare at his lean, well-muscled torso. "You were right, flannel was a bad idea."

He shut the door as she stepped into the room. "I showered about a half hour ago, but I can take another if you want me to."

"It's fine," she said. The blankets were already pulled back, the bed was ready. She moved to the far side and swept her hair back as she stared down at it, memories of the night before still vivid. Chance was on the opposite side, watching her, his thumb hooked in his jeans like he just needed a signal from her so he could take them off.

Rebecca licked her dry lips, not sure why he still made her so nervous. She'd thought once the first session was out of the way the next two would be easier. Instead, she'd tossed and turned all night. The memory of lying with him filled her thoughts and made sleep impossible.

She'd tried to talk to Archie. He'd been in the office, arguing with her mother. But just like always, he didn't want to talk. He said he had work to do.

Rebecca had work to do, too: three nights of it, with tonight only being the second. Chance was going to be just as busy. It was time to get at it.

She said, "Can you turn the light off?"

He did, but the twilight filtering through the curtains kept the room from complete darkness. She could still see him in the dusk. He unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down. She looked away when she realized he wasn't wearing anything underneath.

He slid beneath the blankets. She removed her bra without taking her top off and shimmied out of her jeans. When she crawled in beside him she was only wearing panties and a t-shirt. He was completely naked.

He turned toward her and touched her thigh. She stiffened. "Is -- is it okay if tonight we just talk or something first?" she asked.

"That ain't a problem." He pulled his hand away and leaned back on his pillow. "What did you wanna talk about?"

"I don't know." She turned toward him, letting her gaze linger on his torso as her eyes adjusted to the weak light. "How did you get those scars?"

"I used to do rodeo."

"Bull riding?"

"Nope, broncs."

"I didn't know you liked horses."

"I actually don't, and they don't like me much either. I guess that's why I used to get such high scores. They couldn't wait to throw me."

She laughed. "I've never heard of a studhorse man who doesn't get along with horses. If you don't like them, why join a rodeo?"

"I don't know, I guess it was a way out, a chance to go places I might never get to go otherwise."

Rebecca eyed him thoughtfully. "Were you any good at it?"

"I made a livin for a few years, that's all."

He lay back with his hands behind his head, staring at the fan circling above them. Rebecca stretched out a finger and traced it along a faint scar that circled from beneath his arm and across his chest, trying to read the story it told, and as the scar faded she continued, sliding her hand across his smooth torso, feeling the hard muscle packed beneath.

"I bet you collected a lot of championship buckles," she whispered.

"A few."

"And buckle bunnies?"

He grinned. "A few."

He turned toward her. She went to pull her hand away but he stopped her, keeping her palm pressed against his chest as he slid his own hand beneath the blanket. "We should get started," he whispered.

She trembled at his touch as he brushed his fingers across her thigh. "Wait, I'm still kind of sore from last night," she said. "You're a little bigger than I'm used to and it, umm, took you a really long time to finish."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, I was just thinking that tonight it might be better if you, uh, got yourself a little closer to the finish line first. Do you mind?"

If Chance was surprised by her request it didn't show. He rolled onto his back and the room was soon filled with a soft fap fap fap sound as he masturbated beside her.

Rebecca shyly turned onto her side, watching the blanket bounce. His eyes were closed. He breathed through his nose, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm as he jerked himself off.

She slid closer, not sure why she was still so nervous. He'd already come inside her once and she knew before she left his room he'd be coming inside her again. She licked her dry lips and pressed her thigh against him as she slid her fingers across his taut abdomen, tracing the lines of muscle and tendon.

Chance slid his free arm behind her, pulling her close while still stroking his cock. Rebecca knew he was doing it for her. She wanted to help. She grazed her fingernails across his flesh as she rested her head on his chest and flicked her tongue lightly against his nipple. Chance groaned and the blanket started to bounce even higher.

Rebecca's pulse quickened as she kept teasing his nipple with the tip of her tongue. He slid his hand down the back of her panties and squeezed her ass. She slid her hand down his abdomen, and when she reached the edge of the blanket she lifted it to peek underneath.

Chance's hand bounced up and down, working his big cock. He was so stiff, so erect. Rebecca pushed the blanket lower, down around his thighs. He was completely exposed now. Her head was on his chest, listening to his heart pound as she watched him masturbate.

He pulled his hand out of her panties and slid it up her side, pushing her t-shirt up above her breasts. Rebecca sighed as he caressed her, cupping her soft flesh against his hand as he tweaked her rock-hard nipple.

He slid his arm back down around her waist and she gasped as he pulled her up the bed so her head was higher than his. Then he twisted on his side and nudged her t-shirt out of the way as he pressed his mouth against her breast.

Rebecca moaned as he gently sucked on her erect nipple and teased it with his tongue. He jerked off even faster. His balls were bouncing. Rebecca couldn't resist reaching down to feel how full they were and the instant she touched them Chance groaned.

She gently rubbed and massaged them. He removed his hand from his erection and her hand quickly took its place. She tugged on his cock, giving him long, full strokes. He was so thick she could barely get her fingers around him, and when she felt his hand sliding back into her panties she jerked him off even faster.

The room spun around Rebecca. She was on her knees now, her legs spread as Chance's eager fingers played with her pussy. She stroked his cock with both hands. His thick pole was at least eight inches long and she licked her lips when she saw how purple his knob was getting. However, he still wasn't anywhere close to coming. At least, that was the excuse she told herself as she bent forward and took his cock between her lips.

If Rebecca had been surprised earlier when she'd wrapped her hand around his shaft it was nothing compared to the shock she felt now that he was inside her mouth. It was like her body was on autopilot. She moaned as she sucked him, one hand still pumping up and down his stiff length.

Chance's fingers were in her hair now as he slowly worked more and more of his thick pole between her lips. Rebecca struggled to breathe through her nose. She'd never sucked a cock this big before. She could barely get her mouth around it.

She circled her tongue around his sensitive flesh, gliding her wet lips up and down his erect shaft. Suddenly, he groaned as he yanked his stiff cock out of her mouth with a wet pop.

"What's wrong?" Rebecca asked.

Chance's chest was heaving as if he'd just run a marathon. "Nothin, I just figured I better stop before I went off in your mouth. That's what you wanted, right? Just to get me close to the finish line?"

Rebecca blushed as she stared at his heavy cock, swaying hypnotically back and forth in front of her face, still slick from her oral ministrations. She'd been so intent on sucking him off she'd almost forgot the real reason the two of them were there.

She yanked off her panties and quickly got on her back. Chance moved between her legs as she spread them and her hand automatically went to his cock, stroking him a few more times as she lined him up with her pussy.

She licked her lips and said, "Uh huh, this is what I wanted."

* * *

Ada, the cook, was American Indian. She'd left the reservation ten years earlier. English was her second language. Crow was her first. She also made a hell of a cup of coffee.

It was dark and bitter, just the way Chance liked it. He wandered out of the kitchen with his second cup in his hand, black. The summer sun was still low in the eastern sky and he squinted toward it, staring at the distant mountains as he took a sip.

He heard a snort and a jangle of harness from the stables. He peered inside the entrance, but from his angle all he could see was a pair of legs. They were in worn leather cowboy boots and a pair of jeans tight enough to show off every inch of the curvy ass inside. She sauntered out of the stable, leading her horse, and when her eyes fell on Chance her face lit up with a smile brighter than the dawning sun.

"Morning, cowboy," Rebecca said.

Chance nodded. "Mornin, I thought you were your sister."

"Oh, disappointed?"

"Not at all." He sipped at his coffee and lowered his eyes, openly admiring her ass as she raised herself on the toes of her boots to adjust Athair's saddle.

She saw him looking and her cheeks colored. "Don't know what you're staring at, didn't you get a good enough look last night?"

Chance hid his grin behind his coffee cup. She'd definitely given him an eyeful the night before. Their foreplay hadn't seemed to have made a difference. After climbing on top of her he'd rode her hard for almost ten minutes, only stopping when she begged him to change positions.

She'd ended up on her hands and knees, all of the blankets on the floor, the two of them completely naked in the middle of the bed. He fucked her from behind for at least five more minutes -- his thick cock filling her pussy, his hips smacking against her ass -- before he finally came.

Rebecca barely said a word the entire time. She just moaned; her face pressed into the mattress as her fingers clenched and unclenched at the sheet beneath them. He wasn't sure how many times she came.

Chance took another sip, his eyes still on Rebecca as she readied Athair. "Headed for a ride?"

"I am. I was supposed to meet Archie and Alexa, but I guess they decided to start without me. You want to come and keep me company? We've got lots of good horses. I can have one saddled and ready in just a few minutes."

"I'll pass thanks. Like I said, horses and I don't get along too well."

She laughed. "You also said you were a champion rodeo rider."

"Yep, but that's only because of how bad them broncs wanted to kick me off."

She led Athair out into the sun, toward Chance. The tall gelding seemed to nod at him and then nuzzled close to Rebecca's ear as he whickered softly.

She said, "See, he likes you."

"Not like he loves you."

Rebecca smiled and turned toward Athair, caressing his face as she blew softly in his nose. He whinnied in pleasure. She showed Chance the hard candy between her teeth. "He loves mint. Do you want one?"

"I'll stick to coffee, thanks."

She effortlessly mounted Athair. "You sure you don't want to come? On hot summer days like this, morning's the best time to ride."

"I prefer the nights," he said, with a knowing smile.

Rebecca blushed. "That's not the kind of ride I meant. See you later?"

He nodded, watching her ass bounce lightly in the saddle as she trotted away. As soon as she and Athair were clear of the main buildings, she squeezed her legs together and took him into a canter; one with her horse as they rode together toward the east.

"Sometimes I think that old buckskin is the only thing keeping her here," a voice beside him said.

Chance glanced to his right. He'd been so intent on Rebecca he hadn't heard her mother come up beside him.

"Morning," Alma said, as she watched her daughter disappear into the distance. "I bought Athair for her when she was thirteen, right after her daddy died. I hadn't planned on it. But when the man selling him told me his name meant father, well, sometimes it seems like some things are just meant to be.

"He was a good man, my husband, and a dreamer, just like Rebecca. You know what he wanted to raise when we bought this place? Alpacas. Can you believe that? Alpacas!" She shook her head. "Me, I can't tell an alpaca from a llama. I was raised on a horse from breakfast to bed, raised my girls the same way. When my husband died that's what I stuck to and it seems to have worked out okay. You ride?"

"Not anymore," Chance said. "Horses and me, we don't get along."

"Yeah, my husband had the same problem. He's buried out there right beside our son. We lost him when he was only three, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you that no parent ever wants to outlive their child. When they lowered that little box into the ground I tried to stay strong, I still had two daughters to take care of. But my husband, well, it damn near broke him.

"We had a stallion, same one that sired Ajax, and that horse was wild. He wouldn't let anyone ride him. As soon as we got back from the funeral my husband went straight to the stables and wouldn't you know it but that goddamned hell-born bastard decided to let him on.

"I can still see them racing breakneck across the fields, still hear my husband screaming at that horse to go faster. It was like he figured if he rode him hard enough he might find our little boy and bring him back.

"The two of them went on like that for about a month. Then one evening when they were out in the north quarter a storm blew up, biblical with lightning strokes. And a little after dark that stallion came back wild-eyed and smelling like brimstone, his rider gone.

"We found my husband the next morning, dead. Lightning had hit him. How that horse found his way back, I'll never know. We found out later he was blind. The same bolt that killed my man took his sight. Guess they found our little boy after all."

Alma stared in the direction her daughter had ridden, lost in memory. "There's still too many ghosts for her here, makes me wonder what's going to happen the day that buckskin's gone. May sound selfish in a way, but I sent that letter knowing a child might be the only thing that will keep my daughter here."

Chance stared at her. "What about her fiancé?"

She rolled her eyes. "Archie? I can't tell you how many times I've suspected that bastard of sticking his pecker in the wrong cookie jar. If he were mine, I would have sent him packing a long time ago. Unfortunately, my daughter's the loyal type. A little too loyal, if you ask me. And they ain't engaged."

"How's that?"

"Rebecca wanted to get married. In fact, she was the one that asked him. Archie said he didn't need a preacher or piece of paper to tell him he loved her. She took that to mean their love was stronger than some words in a book. I think he just didn't want to be nailed down.

"He didn't want a baby either, that was another one of her ideas. I think she figured it might convince him they ought to be husband and wife. He went along with it, but then she didn't get pregnant and he blamed her.

"I told them I'd pay for a clinic to find out what was wrong but he said he didn't need no doctor. He knew Rebecca was the problem and that was that. I tried to get her to go on her own but she wouldn't. She was too worried about hurting Archie's pride, too loyal.

"When I told him I wanted to send for a studhorse man I think he thought I was joking. But when I asked my daughter she was dead set against it. She said, 'Archie won't want him here, so I don't either.'

"Like I said, sometimes my daughter is loyal to a fault. I knew it wasn't her I had to convince. I brought Archie to my office. He swore up and down that there was no way he was letting a stranger mount his woman like some broodmare. He said it was a waste of money. He said if he couldn't get Rebecca pregnant, no one could. He told me right to my face my daughter was never meant to be a mother."

Alma turned toward Chance, her eyes hard. "I told that bastard I'd make him a deal. I told him what I was paying you and said if you didn't get the job done I'd pay him the same amount, ten thousand dollars.

"Boy, that sure changed his tune. His eyes lit up like the Fourth of July. He asked me if I'd double it. Hell, I would have quadrupled it. I agreed, and asked if I could send for you.

"You know what that bastard said? He told me for that much money, you can bring in a whole damn football team.

"Archie told Rebecca he'd changed his mind and wanted to send for you. I think it kind of caught her off guard. I think she hoped he'd finally come around to the notion of being a father. She has no idea how hard he's cheering for you to fail.

"I think that's why he got his back up when he first met you. He thought it was some old man firing blanks coming down. When he walked in the office and saw you standing there all full of juice he looked like a rattler had bit him.

"But I'll be honest," Alma said, "now that you're here I've actually had some second thoughts of my own. I know my daughter will be a good mother, but I pity the child that ends up with that man for a parent. I bet you'd be a good father."

Chance nearly spit out his coffee. "Me? I wouldn't know the first thing about that."

"But you're a studhorse man. I heard your daddy helped father hundreds of kids in his time. You must already have a few dozen of your own scattered across the plains."

"Takes more than that to be a father."

"Never wanted to claim one of those children as your own?"

"That ain't how this job works."

"But your daddy claimed you as his own, right?"

Chance laughed. "Not my father. He never wanted anyone callin him daddy, especially not me. You see, my father loved plantin seeds. He just didn't like bein around when it was time to bring in the crop. And he was never too choosy about whose field he decided to plant in, either.

"If a girl was pretty enough, he didn't bother waitin around for anyone's permission. That's how it was with my mother. She never planned to get pregnant. She just had no idea a night with my father basically guaranteed it.

"She couldn't keep me so she brought me to my family's home to let my father know she was givin me up for adoption. Of course, he wasn't there, he rarely was.

"My aunt answered the door. She was a widow by that time, childless. She and my uncle had tried for years to conceive with no luck. Imagine what that must have been like for her, knowin your brother has the power to make any female pregnant and you're the only woman in the world he's forbidden to touch.

"Now, she had this girl on her porch tellin her she wanted to give me away. My aunt wouldn't have it. She took me to raise as her own, but when my father found out he wasn't none too happy.

"He told her he'd never call me son. That was fine with my aunt. She was a hell of a better father than he ever would've been. She was also the only mother I ever knew. She raised me, not him."

"But you became a studhorse man too?"

He sighed and nodded his head. "Yep."

"You and my daughter, it will work won't it?"

"Ain't failed yet."

* * *

Rebecca knocked lightly on the door, hoping Chance wouldn't mind her being fifteen minutes early. Across the way, his black motorcycle waited in the shadows of the barn. He'd been working on it when she'd returned from her ride, getting it ready to take him away.

Chance opened the door. He'd been in the shower and had a towel wrapped around his waist. She was wearing her favorite pair of cowboy boots and a short summer dress that was almost see-through when the sun hit it at the right angle.