softer tonight, though he did his best to disguise it. ‘I’ll let you soap my back,’ Flick said.
‘Answer my question.’
‘About getting mixed up?’
‘There’s no happy ever after. I’m not a bad guy with a good heart, this is no fantasy. If you knew who I was, the things I’ve done, you’d cry and run for your mama.’
Flick took the towel, wrapped it around her body, and left the bedroom to head for the shower. She couldn’t answer his question, because it would mean admitting to him the thing she was struggling with herself – she cared about him. Flick saw movement when she switched on the shower and she glanced back over her shoulder to see Rushe there by the door, with his back to her, on sentry duty.
Quickly washing the muck, sweat, and grime from her body, Flick finished up and wrapped herself in the towel again. Rushe ushered her out of the bathroom and she heard Skeeve yelling at the Kid about something in the kitchen but thankfully she couldn’t see either of them.
The toil of the day caught up with her and Flick cast the towel aside after a quick swipe of the droplets remaining on her skin. She crawled onto the bed and lay out flat on her belly. Something landed on her back, Flick turned over to see it was another of Rushe’s shirts, she looked at him with the question in her eyes.
‘I don’t trust those guys not to walk in here,’ he said.
Flick sat up to untangle the shirt, then put her arms in the sleeves, but she didn’t button it. Rushe pulled off his tee-shirt, and kicked off his boots, then came toward her, but Flick held up a hand.
‘Take off your jeans ,’ she said, and his brow sloped because he was the one who gave orders. ‘Please.’
‘I don’t wear underwear.’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘You have nothing to be modest about, and I promise I’ll keep him shielded from prying eyes if there are any.’
‘Him,’ Rushe muttered while complying with her request, and though Flick couldn’t be sure there seemed to be a whisper of a laugh in his voice.
When he kicked his jeans away, she prepared to be scooped up on top of him like the blanket he usually used her for. Instead, Rushe fell down on top of her, bracing his forearms at either side of her head; Flick tickled her fingertips around his chest.
‘I’m gonna fuck you again,’ he said.
‘Ok.’
‘And through the night, whenever I want it.’
‘I heard you when you said that for the first time.’ Flick planted her feet on his calves and drew them up to his thighs. ‘Ready when you are.’
‘Just like that,’ he said. ‘You’re giving me complete access.’
‘I know how important it is to you that this be consensual.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Because I do,’ Flick said. ‘I like having sex with you. I want to have sex with you.’
‘ I really thought I got rid of you today,’ he said, in a gentler tone than he’d used earlier when making the same point.
‘Rushe, fuck me,’ she said , letting a smile curl her lips. ‘Please, sir.’
And without pushing the subject he pushed into her over and over again all night long.
Chapter Four
By the time her eyes opened the next morning every single inch of her screamed with the stiffness brought on by their antics.
Flick had never had so much sex. Every encounter she’d had with Rushe so far outweighed every remotely sexual encounter she’d had previously in her life. Yet, when she awoke, with her naked skin sticking to his, the first thing she became aware of was the musky smell of man merged with the scent of their joining, and she purred while stretching out her tired muscles. The hard mass of him nudged her thigh, and she wondered if he experienced this arousal as often when she wasn’t around.
Sliding her b ody up, Flick kissed his jaw and feathered her fingers down his chest and up the muscles of his arm, learning the physique of this perfect specimen. In his slumber Rushe hadn’t responded to her exploration, so
Jason Padgett, Maureen Ann Seaberg