Page 42 of Whispers Of Horses

“What the hell did you put in there?” I glared up at him accusingly, before realizing I’d just lost the battle not to look at him.

Mathis stared back at me, into my own eyes, which I knew would be red rimmed, and teary. His face was hard, his jaw muscle tight and his eyes, those eyes. They held such an intense look of…okay. I can’t go there. They were just intense.

“Sorry, I spiked it. The whiskey will help ward off the chill, but seriously, you need to get out of those wet clothes.”

As he spoke, Mathis began stripping off his shirt. Damn, I wasn’t going to complain about seeing all those taught muscles and rippling abbs again, but I couldn’t help frowning as I wondered what the hell he was doing.

“Uh, Mathis, what the heck are you doing?” my brows were drawn so tight together it hurt. My heartbeat had hitched up another notch because seeing Mathis even half naked was too damn much, for any woman, let alone one as foolishly obsessed as I was.

“Take your clothes off and put this on. I’m gonna go get something to use to hang them in front of the fire so they can dry. We didn’t think about extra clothes when we left.”

He tossed the flannel shirt at me, and then walked briskly out into the rain storm. I let out a long unsteady breath. Gawd, it was unhealthy to see that man without a shirt on…or naked. I’d seen him naked a couple of times now, and just the awareness that I had slept with this beautiful example of a man, made be blush and feel a sense of pride at the same time. With Mathis somewhere outside, I proceeded to strip myself of the soaking clothes, and then slipped his over-large flannel on. Buttoning the shirt, I took a much more cautious sip of my spiked chocolate and wandered over to the window.

Outside, the skies were dark and unruly, rain pelted against the roof of the little cabin and thunder boomed somewhere above me. I shivered, still cold despite removing my wet clothing, and squinted into the darkness outside. It felt like Mathis had been gone a really long time, though I knew it had only been a few minutes. Thunder cracked even louder, and a flash of lighting lit up the sky, allowing me to see out to the pens. In the quick moment the sky had been illuminated, I had caught sight of a man’s silhouette.

Without taking into consideration my state of undress, or the fact that I was already freezing, I stepped onto the porch, wrapping my arms around my chest to ward off the chill as much as possible. As my eyes adjusted, I realized I hadn’t imagined what I had seen. Mathis was standing in the pen with the stallion. His body language was relaxed, inviting, but the stallion thrashed back and forth unhappily at the far end of the enclosure. My heart hitched and tears stung my eyes, but I wasn’t even sure why. Without thought, I stepped barefoot out into the storm, my hair billowing around me, and the flannel quickly becoming plastered to my body.

“Mathis!” I yelled his name with a thick, emotional voice, my body beginning to shiver violently. Water dripped down my face, and across the surface of my skin, trailing beneath the thin material of the shirt. I was freezing, but I didn’t care.

In a flash, Mathis had climbed out of the pen, and sprinted to me. He pulled up short, his eyes roving over my rain-soaked body just as another bright flash of lightning lit up the sky. There was a fire in his eyes I couldn’t begin to understand. He cursed, scooped me up as if I weighed nothing, and stalked to the cabin.

The door slammed closed behind us, and the fire flared for a moment with the added burst of oxygen carried on the breeze that followed us in. Mathis set me down in front of the fire, his features a mix of anger, worry, and desire.

“Dammit, Callie, why the hell did you go back out there? Now I have nothing to put on you, and you’re gonna get hypothermia.” His dripping fingers began unbuttoning the flannel, and I sucked in a breath as his calloused hand graced the sensitive skin of my breast. Mathis froze, his eyes flashing back to my own.

Stepping away suddenly, he turned away, ran a hand through his dark, soaked hair. I watched him sprint up the stairs and into the loft, returning quickly with a blanket. I hadn’t moved, don’t even think I’d taken a breath in the short time he’d taken to retrieve the blanket.

“Take the shirt off and wrap this around you.” he had started to turn away, his face troubled.

“Mathis, what were you doing out there, why did you go in the corral with the stallion?” I wasn’t sure why the answer to that question seemed so important, but it was, and I held my breath, waiting.

Mathis stopped halfway across the room, his bare back to me, the muscles there flexing as he seemed to fight some inner battle with himself. When he finally turned to face me, I had the suspicion that whatever the battle had been, he had lost.

“I’m sorry, Callie. I let you down. When you told me you could…well, that you had some ability, I doubted you. I didn’t know what to think. Then, when I saw you with that horse, I felt like someone was telling me I was wrong. I just had to know for myself.”

Our eyes had locked, an intense flame, my own swimming with emotion and hurt. “What did you find out there, Mathis?”

He never broke eye contact as he slowly closed the gap between us. “I found that I don’t deserve you, because I should never have doubted you. I’ve known you were different, special, since the moment you looked up at me. Ive known I wanted you, needed you, since that first night in your arms, and I decided you belonged with me the night I sat at your parents’ table. But I don’t deserve you.”

My breathing hitched, and my heart raced. “You don’t deserve me because you had the same reaction as everyone else?”

Mathis nodded. “Yes. That, and the fact that I swore I wouldn’t do what I’m about to do again until you were sure about us. But I am not strong enough, Callie.”

Now, I frowned. “About to do what…” my words cut off abruptly as Mathis pulled me roughly into his arms, crushing my cold soaked body to his own. The sensation of my already cold and taught nipples pressing into his firm cold chest was almost more than I could bear, but when those deliciously rough cowboy hands brushed the softness of my skin as he popped open each button was like an erotic sensation trailing down to my navel.

I didn’t know why he had promised himself he wouldn’t do this when he already had on more than one occasion, but I didn’t care. At that moment, I was lost in the hot sexual need and the unfathomable connection we seemed to share. My heart was already his, and I’d known it for a while now. My breathing became thickened, my voice husky when I moaned as his calloused hand slipped between my thighs. Lifting my eyes to his face, I was startled to find his fiery hot gaze plastered to my face with such heat, such pride. With the flannel no longer between our cold, wet bodies, the erotic sensations intensified, and it wasn’t long before Mathis brought me to climax. I was embarrassed how easy it was for him to get me off, but the truth was, this man made me hot and wet with just a look.

Mathis tossed the blanket on the floor in front of the fire, before yanking the wet flannel from my shoulders and flinging it across the floor. He lowered me gently, as if I was as delicate as porcelain, and the moment I was on the floor, his mouth trailed a blazing path down my throat, across the tips of my aroused breasts, down the center of my abdomen, and then over each hip, one at a time, slowly, licking, kissing and nibbling until his tongue found its way between my thighs and I moaned in ecstasy.

When Mathis finally emerged, he trailed his mouth back over my body, searing another burning path to my mouth. With all of his hard contours pressing into my softer curves, he moved up and over me, sliding into that warm soft part of me that by this point was screaming for him. My body was so set on fire by his touch, and by my need that I cried out, gasping at the shocking pleasure that rolled through me in waves of ecstasy. I couldn’t seem to get enough of this man, of his kiss, his touch, the feeling of him inside of me. Rocking my hips, I pressed back at him harder and harder, forcing him to drive deeper and deeper into me until we were both writhing and moaning in spent pleasure.

My head fell back, but my body was still arched, joined with his, as the waves of intense orgasms rocked both of us. I could feel his eyes on my face, practically cut the intensity of his stare with a knife. I kept my eyes closed tightly, despite my longing to look into those mesmerizing golden depths. I was afraid Mathis would see too much into my soul, into the truth of how I felt about him. I felt his lips trail across the exposed column of my throat, shivered at the vibration of his voice against my ear.

“Calamity, open your eyes. I want you to look at me.”

I fought him, but eventually, I gave in and opened my eyes slowly. Mathis had positioned himself slightly over me, bracing himself on one arm while the other trailed ever so softly along the side of my face. His face was a confused jumble of emotions, and it frightened me. I wanted to move away, but trapped naked beneath him, that was a little impossible.

“Callie, I’m sorry I let you down. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you at first. You just caught me off guard. I believe you, and no matter what, I plan to be right here by your side. I love you. I have loved you from the beginning, and I intend to stick around.”

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