“This has got to be the most clinical sexual encounter—excuse me, date—I’ve ever experienced… Let me guess. It’s a safety issue.” Humor rolled across the water’s surface toward her.
“It definitely is.” He was making fun of her, but she didn’t care. She trusted him, but only up to a point. If Andy suddenly came back to town, she wanted to know.
“I’m good with that,” he said.
He flipped to his stomach and surged to a stand. Water streamed from his hair and he wiped it away from his face. Moonlight turned his tanned upper torso to dark gold. He waded the short distance between them, reaching for her, bringing her close. Hands stroked her bare shoulders and glided up and down her arms, trailing flames. The sensations he stirred with the lightest of touches were wildly, frenetically, sexy. He nuzzled her throat and pure, greedy lust scattered her thoughts. Flames shot up the insides of her thighs.
“You are so beautiful…” he whispered. “Tell me what you like. Do you like it when I do this?” He slid one hand over her breast, gently toying with the nipple.
She palmed his buttocks and brought her belly to his, capturing the full, hard length of his erection between them. She lifted her face, inviting one of his kisses. “I do. Very much.”
“How about this?” He replaced his hand with his mouth and his tongue, sucking and teasing.
She panted a little at the slow glide of his tongue and the light nip of his teeth, rising on her toes and arching her back to grant him better access as water swirled around them. She clutched at his hips to keep the insistent tug of the current from prying them apart. “A definite yes.”
“This is where things can get tricky. But in case you’re at all worried, I’ve never drowned a woman during sex before. I don’t plan on you being the first.”
That made her laugh. “Maybe I’ll take the top position. Just to be safe.”
“I have a better idea.” He scooped her up, positioning her legs around his hips, and braced his back against the current so he could lean against it with his knees slightly bent. He supported her upper body with his elbows and the flats of his palms. “You’re going to have to help me fit the pieces together if we want this to work.”
“You mean like this?” She slid one hand between their slick bodies and found his erection, taking a moment to explore its magnificence with the tips of her fingers.
“God, that feels good.” He groaned, closing his eyes as she stroked him. His breath came in short pants. He made a growling sound, more like a purr, deep in his throat, to signal his pleasure.
That half growl, combined with the way his fingers bit into the undersides of her thighs as he held her, left Jazz more than ready for him. She guided his erection into position, then slowly, carefully, eased it inside her, letting out a soft, eager cry of her own as it filled her. She didn’t, however, close her eyes. The night was dark, but not so dark that she couldn’t read the enjoyment playing out on Dan’s face. She liked that he wasn’t afraid to show how he felt. It made sex with him that much more exciting.
Carefully, so as not to tip them both into the river as water lapped at her hips, she set a rhythm. Taking things slow was a new experience for her, and she found she liked it, too. She kept one hand where their bodies joined, cradling the soft sac containing his boys in her palm, and her other arm crooked around his neck. Anticipation built in her belly. Tight inner muscles began to convulse. She clenched him hard with her legs and the arm strangling his neck. Her free hand skimmed to his buttocks, pulling him deeper inside her, trying to make it as good for him as it was for her.
Pressure mounted until she couldn’t hold back any longer. Low, eager groans and words of encouragement said he, too, was close. She gasped as the sky spun out of control and stars cascaded around them. He stiffened. His fingers dug into her thighs. He let out that half growl, half purr as he came, and she slumped against him, too dazed to move.
The stars blinked and it occurred to her that this could hardly be comfortable for him. She tried to free her legs from his grasp so she could stand. He pretended to stagger, and her arms flailed to the sides, splashing water.
“Kidding. I’ve got you,” he said, before lowering her to her feet.
They stood waist deep in the water together, limbs tangled up in each other, catching their breaths. Jazz felt the rapid drumbeat of his heart under her cheek. A light gust of wind rustled the cottonwood leaves.
His fingers tickled the length of her spine. “I’d say you did most of the work, except all of that muscle makes you pretty heavy,” he said. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you. But you have no idea how hard it was to keep us both from floating away.”
“Your personal sacrifice is duly noted, Sheriff. You’re a real team player. But I’m getting cold.”
Finding their clothes in the dark was another adventure. The light wind had lifted her panties from the branch where they’d snagged. Dan spotted a pale shadow under a bush. He scooped them up, triumphant.
“This is the best treasure hunt ever,” he announced, then stuffed them into his pocket.
Jazz held up his wallet. “You’re right. I found this on the ground. I don’t suppose you’d consider a trade?”
“You mean these for a driver’s license, a credit card, and a few condoms it turns out I don’t need? I don’t think so,” he said.
He finally agreed to the exchange only after she pointed out that sitting in a saddle was going to prove exceedingly uncomfortable without panties.
“But you owe me,” he said.
They began the ride back to the ranch. A blaze of light against the night sky marked its location. The rumble of music meant the blind could find it easily, too. She darted sideways glances at Dan.
She’d been wrong. Sex with him was nothing like anything she’d had before. It was intimate, and fun, and required a decent amount of skill with calisthenics. Communication skills were another requirement, because without them, someone would drown. Definitely not a one-off, at least as far as she was concerned.
But it was still sex.