Paralee Carlisle awoke with the first rays of sun that spread over the Platte.
Stretching out amongst the rumpled sheets of her bed, she rolled to her side
and dropped her feet to the floor. Pooled at the base of a chair was the
nightgown she’d worn the night before. Holding her hair aside, she reached for
the gown. The weight of her unbound hair was heavy against her hand and in
total contrast with the worn cotton sliding between her fingers. 

She sat back up, and winced at the tender pain between her thighs. The slight
discomfort brought a wry smile to her lips. Last night... the thoughts
rolling through her mind were too delicious to ignore, but there were other
things that needed her attention. Crossing to the wash stand against the wall
she dropped the gown over the back of a chair. She poured a measure of water
into the bowl and set the painted pitcher aside. Dipping her hands in the cool
water, she splashed it over her face and let it course down her neck in little
rivers, but it wasn't enough. The refreshing splash of water seemed to tease
her body, make it thirst for more.

She dropped a cloth into the water and took a precious few minutes to wash her
entire body. The cursory cleansing refreshed her body, yet did nothing to quiet
the vibrant memories of the previous night. With the quick swipe of a dry cloth
over her flushed skin, she pulled her gown over her head and settled its
short folds over her body before returning to bed. Pausing for a moment before
lowering herself to the mattress, Paralee took a moment to watch him. Just a
stolen moment to enjoy the site before her. 

His form was stretched out beneath her worn quilt in a languid sprawl. The
contour of shadow across his back only served to accentuate the lean muscles of his body. It might have been the morning sun spreading over his skin that
warmed her cheeks with the flush of awakened desire, or perhaps the silken
memories of the night before that entered her mind on the whisper of her sigh.
The same broad shoulders that just the night before had been glazed in the
silvery moonlight, tensing and flexing as his body rose above hers again and
again...

He stretched in his sleep, straightening his legs one after another. The
blankets tangled around his feet, his motion pulling the edge down a scant inch
or two. Just enough to reveal the little indent below his back.

The sight of his back, bronzed with the touch of the sun, was too tempting to
resist. Paralee sank down on the edge of the bed and inched closer across the
mattress, loathe to disturb his rest, but there was no mistaking the ache
growing in her middle. The deep pull of awareness that she felt anytime she was
this close to him. His deep and even breathing was hypnotic to watch. The
steady rise and fall of his back was a feast for her eyes and still it did nothing to ease the hunger that had awakened inside.

She leaned over his body. Bracing her weight on an outstretched arm, she used
the other to hold back the heavy length of auburn hair that threatened to sweep
over her shoulder and tickle him awake. Paralee wanted him awake, but not
yet... not just yet.

Her lips parted as she dipped closer to the supple expanse of his skin, her
mouth suddenly dry with the masculine scent of him. Leaning across his still
and sleep-heavy form, she pressed her lips against the smooth skin of his
shoulder. His muscles tensed in the wake of her gentle touch. Moving a few
inches closer to his spine, she drew her lips over his taught flesh again and
reveled in the spicy smell of his skin. 

He mumbled something in his sleep and she smiled against his back.  He was
tired, the poor thing, but it was time to wake up.. time...  She slanted another kiss over his spine, accompanied by the gentle brush of her teeth against his skin. Buck started awake, taking his first deep breath of the morning.  His body tensed beneath the tender teasing of her lips and a shiver passed between them.  He hissed out a breath and she released a throaty chuckle against his warm flesh.  Buck's voice was nearly swallowed up by the pillow. 

"'morning."

"Good morning."  She smoothed out the slight impressions left by her teeth.  A
soft sweep of her thumb working over the whitened lines of his sun-darkened
skin was all it took to erase the marks.  He turned his head and cushioned his
cheek on his pillow. Leaning over him on the bed, she let her gaze rest on his
handsome profile. 

His words fought through the haze of sleep. "Yer up early.."

She felt a wave of giddy laughter bubble up through the center of her chest.
"Me?" She shook her head at his grunted reply. "You're just getting up late,
Buck."

He crooked his finger and urged her to come closer. At first she resisted,
wondering if he was going to growl at her like a grizzly for lack of sleep. 
She carefully examined his expression and she saw the slight upturn of the
corner of his mouth.  Paralee leaned closer until the full body of her
nightgown brushed against his back. A muscle in his jaw flexed at the slight
contact, but she was undeterred. "What is it, sleepy-head? Tired?"

For the first time it looked like sleep had finally left his eyes and the gleam
that took its place brought memories of the night before bubbling to the
surface.  Buck tried to roll over, but her body, leaning over his, kept him in
place. His grimace made her smile widen even further. 

He lifted an accusing finger and pointed it back over his shoulder. "It's all your fault, Lee."

Her teeth nipped at his shoulder. "I recall that we both had something to do
with it." Retreating before he could retaliate, Lee slipped away from him. 
He shifted against the bed, following her with his body, and pressed his
backside against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. She had to bite back a
surprised gasp at the heat curling through her body with the simple contact.
Running a hand through his sleep tousled hair, Buck let out another long sleepy
sigh. "True... true..."

She stretched out beside him, sliding along his body until his firm behind was
cradled by the juncture of her thighs. She pretended to ignore the low groan
torn from his lips.  It was her turn to enjoy the torture again. 

Still, Buck wasn't about to let her get away with it without a fight, or at
least, he wanted to even everything out. He stretched, his back curving like a
cat warming with her heat. He kept up the pressure for a moment before relaxing against the cool sheets beneath them. It was only when he felt her body relax behind him that he tried it again, but this time she was ready.
Sliding her arm around his waist she splayed her fingers over his stomach.
"Hold it right there, Deputy."

His chuckle shook the muscles beneath her hand, but before she could move her
hand away, he covered it with his own. Pressing her hand against him, he
mumbled into the fluffy pillow beneath his cheek. "I'm holding..." He pulled
her hand along the plane of his stomach, drawing their hands up over his heart
as his voice darkened in the morning sunlight. "...holding..."

It seemed as though her heart slowed and sped up at the same time, her limbs
growing heavy with the memories of the night before. Her eyelids slid closed as
her palm slid over the gentle swell of his Adam's apple, her pleasure deepening
at the intimate touch.

He pressed on, her palm brushing against the proud point of his chin. She
followed meekly along, allowing him to guide her until she felt the tip of a
finger disappear into the warm, wet hollow of his mouth. His hand held hers
captive, while his lips slid over her quivering finger. Her lips parted as her
body blindly pressed against his back. It took just a few moments for every
nerve in her body to flare into life.

Gasping in each breath she was lost in the raw need that Buck brought out in
her. It had surprised her, how easily they found a balance... found a home in
each other. It was nothing they would admit to, or dare to say out loud, but
they felt it every time they touched. They both knew it and reveled in it in
their time together.

Her parted lips brushed against the baby-soft edge of his ear. “Buck...”
She felt him grow still against her and the press of his lips against her
finger fell away. “Lee?” 

Pulling her hand from his, she followed the same trail over his flesh. Down
over his neck and past his heart. Her fingers danced along his skin, drawing
harsh, shuddering breaths from his lungs. “Buck... let me... let me...” 

He reached his hand back and set it on her thigh, his silent agreement to her
request. Continuing on, she felt her fingers dip and slide over every rib,
every muscle adorning his body. Lower and lower she went, drawing out gasps of shock and pleasure from his mouth.

They both stilled for a moment when the tips of her fingers grazed over his
length. He seemed to stop moving, a man frozen in time.

Encouraged by his silence she slid her fingers further the and felt the surge
of blood hardening his arousal pulsing beneath her touch. She could feel the
tension building deep within him, tightening beneath his skin.

His hips pressed forward, yearning for her touch, longing for the warmth of her
hand. Buck opened his lips, meaning to ask... beg if he had to, for some relief
from this gentle torture, but the only sound that passed between his lips was a
rasping pant. A deep bass moan became a hiss of sound bleeding from his lungs,
and he seemed to chant his words into the still morning air. 

She pressed closer, flattening her body against his back. The tight hardened
peaks of her breasts tracing jagged patterns against his skin through the soft
cotton of her nightgown. His mind whirled as his body sought more earthly
pursuits. He could imagine, in precise detail, the weight of her breasts cupped
in his hands, and his lips...

A gasp was torn from Buck’s throat as her hand closed around his hardened
shaft. Her fingers formed a silken sheath over his swollen flesh while he
fought for control over his rioting senses.

The air that seared through his lungs felt like a prairie fire burning out of
control, hot and strafing through his body. His hand, hidden beneath his
pillow, fisted into the sheets as his body strained closer for her touch.
She watched the rise and fall of his shoulder as he gasped in air that filled
his lungs and gave him strength. She reveled in his power, for his pleasure
only increased hers. 

Her hand slid along his length, feeling the shift and pull of his velvet soft
skin against the hard erection just below the surface. A groan was torn from
his lips and he rocked back into the waiting embrace of her body.
“Faster.”

Her lips placed feather-light kisses on the back of his neck as she smiled to
herself. This wasn’t the first time she’d held him this way, but it was the
first time that his voice had sounded so thick with passion. There was a
desperation in his movements as he rocked on the bed before her. “Faster,” he
demanded again.

She could not disappoint him... not Buck... not the man who’d healed her heart.
Her hand quickened its movement over his shaft, her fingers closing over its
head and then returning to caress his length, slick with his own passion. An
answering rush between her thighs brought her mind plummeting back into her own body.  Pressing her legs together against the ache, she leaned forward against him, crushing her tender breasts against his back. Her body became carnal, raw, animalistic... desperate for him.

Through the rush of her blood sweeping through her ears she heard his voice,
breathy and harsh in the air around them. “Lee...”

Her lips closed over the full lobe of his ear, hiding her teeth as they worried
his flesh. She listened for the catch in his breath before she released him.
Pressing her lips to the sensitive spot below his ear she murmured her answer.
“MmmHmm?”

She heard his indrawn breath as her palm slipped over the swollen head of his
shaft. Her smile sent shivers up the side of his neck with the gentle movement
of her lips.

“Lee...” There was a pleading tone in his voice, a desperation that she felt in
her own body. She waited for him to finish, to tell her what he wanted. He left
his words for later.

Moving like a sleek mountain cat, he had her beneath him in a single movement.
Knowing the pleasure to come, she eagerly parted her legs and accepted his
sweeping thrust. A heated sigh passed her parted lips as he buried himself
within her body.

She clutched at his shoulders, begging with her wordless cries for more, ever
more of his passion. He would answer her with frenzied strokes and raw emotion.

His eyes blazed with the heat of his emotions as he searched her face for the
truth of her thoughts. As their bodies surged together, he sought that union of
spirits that she had never given him. 

Her eyes opened and she met his gaze, her lips parted in breathless passion.
Buck’s chin tilted down, but his gaze never wavered from hers. “I want more,
Lee.”

She tugged on his shoulders, seeking his lips, his caress.

He shook his head and pulled her hips closer as his fingers bit into the soft
curve of her bottom.

“I want to know...”

Her head tossed to the side, spilling her hair over the sheets beneath her
head.  “What... what to you want?” His movements had slowed and her body was eager for more of his attention.

“I want... I want-” The words refused to come. He wanted her love, he wanted
her soul, he wanted promises from her that he wasn’t sure he could offer, but
still he wanted. 

Her body writhed beneath his, her warmth burning him with her need. His
questions would have to wait until his mind was free of her dizzying influence,
her tender distractions. For now... he would lose himself in her and hope that
they would find their way.

Closing his eyes to the future he drove into her body, taking control, taking
solace... taking refuge in her heat. It was only a few moments later that he
felt an undeniable pressure building within his body. A brilliant light
building behind his eyes... he needed to bury himself within her, quench his
own desire.

She welcomed his body, taking it deep within her own as she sank into the bed.
She felt the end coming, and opened her mind to the dazzling light of his
passion, hoping to show him the silent love she held within her heart. 

He rode the crest before her, his heat pouring into her as a triumphant cry was
wrested from his lips. The explosion within her body shuddered with the force
of his release. She could still feel the coil tightening within her, it’s
demanding spiral begging for release. His name fell from her lips again and
again, like a chant in her own native tongue. He matched her words with his
lengthening strokes, pulling her along with him through the rough ride, as his
body sank deeper and deeper with each frantic thrust. Lee clutched at his
shoulders, her fingers digging into his tight muscles, as she met each surge
with her own.

She rose with the tide of passion, her hips lifting against him, searching for
that one— 

She cried out as her body clenched around him and found its release. A flash of
heat flared through her limbs with a shudder. Her joyous cry was released into
the new morning air with his final thrust. Collapsing together, they soon found
rest amidst the sun warmed sheets, their arms full of love.