STORY EXCERPT

Abby stood up directly in front of the couple crouching in the grass. She’d tried to move as quietly toward them as possible in hopes of taking them by surprise so they wouldn’t start shooting at her or just run away. The shock on the man’s face would have been funny if things hadn’t already been so dire.

“Don’t shoot! I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to talk to you, but you tried to leave.” Abby held her hands out in front of her to show them she didn’t have a weapon.

“Who are you? Are you out here by yourself?” The man’s rough voice had a Southern accent that instantly relaxed her. It shouldn’t have, but the soft twang reminded her of home.

“My name is Abby. Yes. I’m alone, although I really shouldn’t tell you that. I was hoping to meet up with someone here at the cross that was on my map, but no one has come this way in days and days. I was beginning to think no one would. Another couple of days, and I was just going to go it alone.” She stopped talking, realizing she was rambling.

The burly, handsome man slowly stood up to his full height, which had to be about six feet. While he didn’t tower over her five feet, six inches, he did make her feel much smaller than she was. The guy was built like a lumberjack or something. His rugged face, with the short, uneven cut of brown hair, had a calming effect on her. Hazel eyes stared down into hers, but she didn’t feel any hostility or danger from the man. To her, he felt like home.

That’s a dangerous thought. I need to be very careful around him. He’s obviously married or hooked up with the pretty woman behind him. I don’t need to have thoughts like this about him. I don’t chase married men.

The woman appeared to be the same age as the man, with a medium build and lighter brown hair than her companion’s. She had light-green eyes, with just a fleck of brown in each one. For a second, Abby suffered a bout of jealousy that the woman’s size was closer to what everyone usually thought was sexy, with slightly rounded hips and a bust that men would think were just right. On top of that, she had a man to take care of her.

Instantly she was reminded of her own loss. He’d been the best thing that had ever happened to her, and then he was gone.

“My name is Harry.” He pointed to the woman who’d crowded into his side. “This is my sister, Harriet. What are you doing out here by yourself?”

Sister? She had to bite back a smile. The pretty woman with the light-brown braids down her back was his sister. Relief flooded her body that she wasn’t ogling another woman’s man. Abby reminded herself that she only needed a man to keep her safe from slavers and bounty hunters. He didn’t have to be more to her than that. Really, he didn’t no matter how hot he looked.

“I’m so glad to see you two. Are you traveling in a specific direction?”

“Actually, we have a map we’re following that indicated this cross was a marker of sorts—like a landmark. We aren’t quite halfway there, but it’s definitely closer than we were,” Harry said.

“I bet we have the same map, then. I’m trying to get to a place that is on the edge of the old Yellowstone Park, nearly at the Idaho-Montana border. I was told that there’s a settlement there where I’ll be safe and be able to find plenty to eat and have a roof over my head.” Abby made up her mind about them and took a couple of steps back. “Come on. I’ll show you, and we can compare.”

Taking a huge chance, Abby turned her back on them to hike back toward the cross and her makeshift shelter. Though the covering wasn’t professional by any standard, it kept her from getting wet and even provided a little heat since the space blanket helped keep the warmth from the sun blazing down on the iron cross lasting longer into the night.

She’d thought long and hard about camping there, but in the end, logic and desperation won out. She doubted the men from where she’d come from would come after her, and since the cross was off the main road, she hoped only those actually seeking it would find it, and thus her.

“Did you make the tepee?” Harriet asked when they’d reached the sixteen-foot cross.

“Yeah. I was tired of getting wet and sleeping out in the open. This isn’t much better, but anything was a step up from how I’d been sleeping.” Abby opened the flap and gestured that they should go on inside.

“Hey. It’s kind of warm in here,” Harriet said with a soft laugh.

“It still gets pretty cold at night, but the iron pole with the silver space blanket holds in the sun’s heat most of the night.” Abby reached into her bag and pulled out her map, carefully spreading it out to show them.

“Yeah. That looks just like ours.” Harry opened the flap of his pack and pulled out theirs.

When he opened his up, Abby was hard pressed to find any differences. Really it looked like the same person had drawn them. The only variation was the direction in which it had been drawn.

“I wonder how many of these are out there,” she murmured to herself.

“Not many, or more people would be traveling in the same direction. Most of the people where we came from left the bigger cities to move out to smaller, more open places where they could have farms and grow their own food.” Harry shook his head. “They had no clue how to go about running a farm, though.”

His sister smiled at Abby. “We helped as many as we could, but more and more bullies and thugs started showing up. We didn’t want to hang around any longer.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Since we’re heading in the same direction, let’s stick together. It’s safer for all of us that way.” Harry held out his hand toward her. 

ADULT EXCERPT

Once she’d completely rolled to her belly, she waited for him to touch her. When he didn’t for several long moments, Abby looked over her shoulder, almost afraid he’d left the room, yet he stood at the side of the bed looking down at her with so much emotion in his eyes and in the expression on his face.

“You take my breath, Abby. The way your back arches, and the shape of your ass, makes me want to jump on and fuck you until I’m part of you. Right now, at this exact moment, I’m so hard for you I could easily do that and rut over you like an animal, but you deserve more than that. You should have soft kisses and a gentle hand. I’m not sure I can manage that right now, babe.” Harry’s hands were trembling out by his sides. “I thought making you keep your bra on would help me keep some control, but even that didn’t help.”

Abby turned a little bit more to be able to really look at him. At some point he’d managed to remove his shirt and had unfastened his belt and jeans but hadn’t pulled them down or released his hard shaft. She could see the massive outline of it against his jeans. It swelled up over the top of his waistline, encased in the white material of his underwear. The sight of it like that had her squeezing her thighs together with even more need.

“I don’t need soft touches or slow kisses right now, Harry. I need to be fucked by you. We can go slow next time if you want to. I want your dick inside of me. I want to feel you pounding into me so hard I feel you in the back of my throat.” Abby was surprised at her words. She’d been open and honest with her fiancé, but she’d never been that explicit before.

His groan, and the way he jerked his jeans the rest of the way down, told her that he was losing all control over his need. It thrilled her.

“Your boots,” she said as an afterthought.

“Fuck!”

He turned and sat at the foot of the bed to remove the obstructions, then kicked out of the rest of his clothes. When he stood up again, Abby gasped in approval. His ass was hard and gently rounded. She couldn’t wait to dig her fingers into the round cheeks as he pounded into her. His back broadened into wide, strong shoulders, and the muscles moving from his waist to those strong shoulders were outlined in awe-inspiring detail.

Then he turned around, and all rational thought left her brain. The man was built like an Olympic athlete. Not the strong, yet trimmed, body of a runner or maybe a swimmer, but the toned, hard physique of a boxer or weightlifter, only without the extra bulk.

The moment she focused on his cock, though, Abby’s mouth watered, and she curled her tongue over her bottom lip. Harry was gorgeous. She’d never thought of a man’s penis in such a light before, but the column of flesh jutting straight out from his body could only be described in words that appreciated its appearance.

The ruddy head seemed to mushroom out into a monster-sized hat while the stalk that would easily require both hands to encircle it bobbed in time to Harry’s heartbeat. The impressive dick would stretch her pussy to an exquisite burn that would consume her. It was going to take some preparation, but Abby was sure she could take him and couldn’t wait to get started. When her eyes returned to his face, it was obvious he’d enjoyed the way she sized him up and the extra time she’d taken to admire his cock.

“God, you’re beautiful!” burst out of her mouth before she could stop it.

He squished up his brows. “Beautiful? I’m a man, not a woman, Abby.”

“Sorry, but what I see is nothing short of amazing, and beautiful is in the eye of the beholder. I behold beautiful,” she told him with a broad smile.

Instead of letting it annoy him, Harry just shook his head with a grin and slowly climbed onto the bed to stalk her like a lion until she’d crawled as far up the bed as she could.

“Lie back down for me. I want to lick my way up your body. I know it’ll drive me mad with need, but I have to taste you.”

Abby bit into the pillow when Harry’s tongue licked beneath her ass cheeks. He nuzzled her there, then continued to the fleshy part of her butt, licking, then nipping until she was grinding her pussy into the covers. When she started to lift to her knees to get closer to his mouth, he placed one hand at the small of her back and gently pushed her back down.

“Shhhh, babe. Be still for me.”

Was he freaking kidding her? How was she supposed to be still when he was igniting her world?

He pushed her legs apart, then settled between them at the level of her knees. The roughness from his hairy thighs seemed to notch up her arousal even more.

“Please, Harry. Stop teasing me.”

“Patience, Abby. I’ll take care of you.” He punctuated the rest of his sentence with a bite to each ass cheek between each word. “Real.” Bite. “Good.” Bite. “Care.” Bite. “Of.” Bite. “You.”

She panted through the slight stings, then groaned when he licked each spot where he’d bitten her. God, he was perfect! She’d always loved the edge and thought she’d never find another man who would enjoy it as much as she and her fiancé had before he’d been killed.

Harry changed positions and spread his legs so that his knees were now on either side of her hips. Abby didn’t move her spread legs since she’d figured out that with her legs spread out so far she could get a little friction on her pussy from the quilt when she pressed her hips into the mattress.

Lips and tongue continued to tease her over her hips, then slowly, painfully slowly, up her spine. When he nipped her shoulder at the same time, a tongue swiped up her pussy slit, Abby screamed into the pillow, then jerked her head around to find that Thad had joined them. His eyes met hers, and he winked before burying his face between her spread legs once more. The dual attention of the two men sent her spiraling out of control.

Harry chuckled next to her ear. “Surprise, baby. Looks like I have help. I think it’s safe to say that you are now royally screwed.”