Page 5 of Whispers Of Horses

I let out a small laugh. “Geeze, you really want to know my whole story, huh?” when his only reply was a nod, I sighed. “All right. Well, I was born and raised in Durango. I’m the youngest of three kids, I have an older sister and a brother. Elaine and Cody. I grew up riding horses, and I…”

Mathis interrupted me, leaning slightly forward, a surprised look on his face. “You ride? Are you serious?”

I stared at him for a moment. “I used to ride, yes. I don’t anymore. Anyway, it’s kind of hard not to with a dad like mine.”

He was grinning widely, and I had the distinct feeling I had just gained even more of his interest. “What do you mean, with a dad like yours?”

I was spared a moments reprieve from answering when the waitress brought our food. Mathis dug into his steak, cooked rare, and I looked down at my delicious salmon smothered in lemon horseradish sauce.

“My dad is something of a celebrity in Durango. He was the bull riding champion there for like…I dunno, a decade or something. Plus, my mom was the rodeo queen, so yeah, riding is kind of a thing in my family.”

He stopped chewing his steak, staring at me. For a second, he narrowed his eyes, and I could imagine the internal screws and mechanisms of his mind ticking and turning. “Wait, wait, wait…your dad, he wasn’t…Hamlyn…that doesn’t ring a bell, but I remember going to a rodeo there with my uncle when I was younger, and he was going on and on about your towns champ, and then I watched this guy come out and ride and I was like….holy cow! I think his name was Bill…yeah that’s it, Bill the Bull-tamer!”

His face lit up with the memory, and I couldn’t help the smile that graced my face at his boyish enthusiasm. God this was a little embarrassing. Shrugging, I answered, “Yep, that’s my dad. Bill the Bull-tamer. Wow, you must’ve seen him in one of his last years. He retired when I was a girl. My mom couldn’t handle the thought that something might happen to him.”

Shaking his head, he seemed to be in shock. “I cannot believe I’m sitting in New York, having dinner with the daughter of my boyhood hero. Come on, Callie, now you’ve gotta tell me what the hell you’re doing in this stuffy city when you’ve got roots like that.”

I frowned. I couldn’t exactly tell him the truth. “I guess I just needed a change of scenery for a while, you know.” I could see from his expression that he didn’t know. “I guess you don’t like the city much then?”

He sighed. Reaching across the table, he laid his big, work roughened hand atop mine. “I’m sorry, Callie, I got so caught up I didn’t realize how much I was intruding into your privacy or what a jerk I must’ve sounded like. I guess at heart I’m a country boy and it’s hard for me to imagine not living in the beauty and peace of a farm.”

I smiled. The feeling of his hand on mine was doing things to me that were all too distracting. I had no idea why he brought out such an intense sexual awareness in me, but it was difficult for me to ignore it.

“That’s all right. I do understand. I loved Durango. It was my home, and in all honesty, I never thought I’d leave it, but sometimes, things happen. My whole life I was on horses, it was pretty much an unspoken rule in our family that if you were a boy, you’d be a bull rider, and if you were a girl, you’d be rodeo queen, and then marry a cowboy or farmer. Like I said, things don’t always go as planned.”

Mathis grinned. Swallowing a bite of his steak, he asked, “Were you rodeo queen, Callie?”

I shook my head sadly. “Nope. My older sister was, and I would’ve been, but that summer things…well, things happened. My sister was rodeo queen, but she didn’t marry the cowboy. She got knocked up by the cowboy, but then, she married an accountant. Then, I let my parents down by not being rodeo queen at all, and eventually running away to the big apple.”

His eyes shone with interest and curiosity, and a hint of sympathy. “So, did your brother at least become a bull rider?”

I grinned. “Yeah, they got one good kid out of the bunch. He was just like my dad. Rode bulls till he couldn’t, now, he runs a bull riding school right there in Durango, and last I heard, his wife was pregnant with their third son.”

“Wow, well, I guess it’s like you said, not everything goes as planned. So, do you plan to stay here, forever?”

There was more to the question than what he’d said. I could read between the lines. I shrugged. “I don’t really know. I love the hustle and bustle of this city, the seasons, the lights, the activity, but sometimes I get homesick. Sometimes I long for the rolling green hills, the mountains, and the smell of leather, hay, and horses.”

4

The date had been a lot of fun, and I found the easy camaraderie between us refreshing. Mathis was open and talkative, and I found myself opening up to him in ways I’d never done before, especially on a first date. Unfortunately, the sexual static between us only seemed to grow as the night wore on. After dinner, we moved to the bar, him ordering another beer, and me a Mai Tai. I wasn’t a big drinker, so the drink hit me harder and faster than I’d have liked. I was loosening up, laughing freely, and even flirting.

Mathis smiled at me, glancing around at the more or less empty pub. “It’s getting pretty late. We should probably get going.”

I didn’t want the night to end, but I nodded my head in agreement. He walked me outside, where he glanced left and right. “Let me pay for a cab to drive you home, I don’t want you walking when you’ve been drinking.”

I turned just enough to be facing him, and I smiled. “I had a really good time tonight, Mat…” my words were abruptly cut short when he stepped up, one hand going around my waist, and applying pressure. When my chest came into contact with his, I let out a long breath.

“I had an amazing time too, Callie.” With that, his mouth descended on mine, and I held my breath, our eyes locked throughout the achingly slow journey. The moment they made contact against the sensitive skin of my own lips, my eyes fluttered closed, and electricity sizzled through me. My body flared with heat, as though I’d been doused in kerosene and lit with a match. Every synapse was firing, every nerve was on overdrive, and my brain had shut down, leaving me with a chaotic mess of sexual sensations and no motor to control them all.

I had expected a chaste kiss, a thank you for dinner, now goodnight kind of kiss. This was nothing like that at all. This was I want to rip your clothes off and take you right here, at least, that’s what I thought it was. I hadn’t ever actually experienced that before. When the kiss didn’t end, but deepened, I heard myself moan, I felt his hand tighten and his other hand join it on my lower back, and then I felt the sensation of him pressing himself even more firmly against me. All thoughts left me, all control snapped, and only desire was left.

When Mathis did lift his head, I sucked in a deep breath, trying to regain my control, but whether it was Mathis or the Mai Tai clouding my ability to think, I didn’t know, and didn’t care. I wanted this man, that was the only thing I knew. His golden eyes peered down into mine, and I marveled at their intense deep amber color, they had darkened with desire. My breathing was ragged. “I should go…”

He nodded, his thumbs stroking softly back and forth against the exposed skin of my back, sending tiny trills of desire coursing through me. “Yeah, I know…”

Still, neither of us made a move to leave, we just stood there looking at one another. It didn’t last more than a few moments, however, as his mouth found mine again and the heat and sizzle of fire started all over again.

We were at his hotel room, and I didn’t even remember how we’d gotten there. I did remember him hailing a cab…and kissing, a lot of kissing, possibly some groping…but not a cab ride. Now, he had me pressed up against the door of his room-the door he’d just locked-and I was moaning like a hussy as his hands traveled my body, and his mouth branded itself to my own. I was wild with need, and all I could think was; I don’t do this. I don’t have one night stands! My thoughts said one thing, but my body said a whole different thing. When I felt the roughness of his calloused palm slide beneath the hem of my dress and travel up my thigh, my head fell back a little, and I closed my eyes.

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