Chapter Ten
By the Hair
Colt stared moodily across the fire at Kim.
Darn female!
Why did she have to look so cute slumped over against a tree fast asleep?
Her slight snoring did nothing to diminish her desirability. He looked away.
In a way he couldn’t believe that he’d gone back for her after what she’d done to him. The memory of that caused his temper to burn again, but there was nothing he could do about it.
He didn’t hit women. In fact he’d beaten up men for doing just that. You just didn’t hit a woman.
Spitefully he’d tried to get back at her at first by keeping her glasses from her. All that had accomplished was to make him feel extremely childish and he’d soon given up on that.
He didn’t need her breaking a leg or something. She had such nice legs at that.
Grimly he looked back away from her and up into the glowing sky overhead. What had that look of surrender that she’d given him been all about?
Beyond that strange look that she’d given him she’d also surprised him by keeping her mouth shut. She hadn’t complained about anything even though he’d pushed her unmercifully to make up for lost time.
Introspectively he wondered as to what lost time was down here. This had been a one-way destination of that he was sure and as of yet he had no way of even understanding the measurement of time in this sunken world.
Colt looked back to the gently snoring form of Kim. He might as well make the best of what time there was.
Who was he kidding? ‘Make the best of’, yeah right, Kim was a fantasy come to life for him.
A woman like her would never have given so much as a passing look at him in polite society, but out here things were different. She hadn’t liked being dependent on him at first, but something had changed in her.
He had been poised to throw his makeshift spear at one of the big overgrown mutts, when she’d shocked him by calling out his name. Her doing that had touched him deeply and diffused a lot of his anger.
He glanced down at his singed hand. It didn’t burn so much now thanks in large part to Kim. She had come up beside him at one point today and smeared some gummy mushed up plant onto it.
She was definitely different somehow since he’d gone back for her.
When he’d stopped to make camp she’d given him that distrustful look that said, ‘Now you’re going to take advantage of me aren’t you heartless barbarian’.
He hated that look!
Call it what you will, but people always seemed to think the absolute worst of him and had been prescribing a beastly nature to him for years. Self admittedly he had played the part of their low expectations of him to a degree.
Those naysayers weren’t here though. It was just him and her.
He wanted her. What man didn’t want his ideal fantasy girl?
Fantasy girl or not he would never have gone back for her if that was all she was to him.
What was she to him?
He wasn’t sure, but he wanted to find out.
He had already let her sleep over an hour past when he had wanted to leave camp. He was getting soft.
He let his hand fall to touch her one and only change of clothing. Idly his thumb and pointer finger felt the soft material of her bra. He’d completely freaked her out when he’d gone through her pack.
Colt’s eyes closed as he admitted that in some small degree he had deserved to have been fed hallucinogenic fruit for terrorizing her so. He could be hard on himself, but the truth was that he really wasn’t joking about what he wanted. It had been a long time since he’d wanted something with such a passion and he had never experienced such passion for another individual as he did for Kim.
In this sunken realm of the world separated from the world above he had decided that she was his. That was why he had rescued her. All that remained was to claim her, but he wasn’t a beast. He wanted it to be a mutually shared experience.
There was a problem with that though. Her.
Something was a bit messed up with her and he had a good idea as to what it was. Apparently even fantasy girls come with a dark side to them.
He could deal with it though, if she was done with it, otherwise it was a no go. He’d drop her off in the first safe spot, if such a spot existed, that he came across if the kind of relationship that he wanted wasn’t possible for her.
Some men wouldn’t have cared just so long as they’d gotten to enjoy what she had to offer, but he cared. He wanted something more than just the physical.
He hadn’t gotten much out of life the way that he’d wanted though. Maybe this time would be different he thought idly as he felt the soft fabric between his fingers.
Would her skin be this soft?
“I could wear that one today if you’d like.”
Blinking Colt looked up in surprise his fingers leaving the fabric of the bra guiltily.
*****
I swallowed and then watched a little nervously as he got up and came toward me. Why had I offered that?
Somehow I couldn’t get over the thrill I’d experienced yesterday when he’d had me up on tiptoe pressed up against him. The sight of him touching the bra idly just seemed to have brought the moment to mind and I’d said something I wish that I could take back now.
He stopped beside of me and dropped the clothes to the ground.
I looked up and he said, “I’d like that.”
That was all he said before he made his way out of the campsite. Was he really giving me privacy or was even now circling back to peak at me?
I immediately rejected that thought. Colt wasn’t the peeping tom sort. No he was the kind that would walk up and grasp a shirt and send buttons flying.
Another thrill coursed through me at the image of that becoming a full-fledged fantasy suddenly entered my mind.
I held a hand to my forehead as I tried to mentally rein in my errant fantasy minded thoughts. What was wrong with me? Or was the better question, what was finally going right with me?
I swallowed at the thought of that and hurriedly got changed. He was back before long with some fruit and a very ordinary looking rabbit.
*****
“So what do you think about all this?” I asked abstractly.
Colt glanced back at me and gave me a measured look, “About what?”
I swallowed and gestured around me not liking how my innocent question had been turned around on me.
His eyes after lingering on me a moment longer strayed a way to look up at the cloudy orange sky overhead.
“Falling through the world, glowing clouds, dinosaurs and blood thirsty pirates. Is that what you’re referring to Kim?”
I nodded.
“I think…… I think we’d better find shelter ASAP!!!” He exclaimed, as he gazed over my shoulder at something behind me.
I turned quickly to see what could possibly put such a look of alarm on Colt’s face. Part of me expected to see an onrushing dinosaur, but what I found was a storm. A storm like no other.
The entire sky lit up and fractured as lightning streak after streak fractured out over it into a thousand fingers of blazing color.
“Oh God!” Was all I had time for before I was jerked around roughly by Colt’s grasp on my hand. He was tugging me on at breakneck speed through the jungle as he left the exposed ridge in favor of the lower jungle and the shelter that it offered from the storm.
I couldn’t resist looking back for a moment as he drug me on. The fast approaching storm was so beautiful in a way, but then I saw the winds slam into the forest in the distance. As trees fell and the howl of the storm sounded loud in my ears I turned around and focused on escaping.
The storm hit. The rain and wind was so hard both of us were beaten to the ground instantly. I’d never felt any raging of the elements with the severity of this storm before.
The pain of being repetitively slammed into the ground by wind and rain alike abruptly ended. In my disorientation I glanced around to see that it was still raining and trees were falling all around us. Why didn’t I feel the rage of the elements anymore?
Then I felt his weight on me and saw his hands on the muddy ground to either side of my head. I stayed where I was oddly humbled by his action of providing shelter at his own expense.
It was different having a man do something like this for me. Koke would’ve done something like this, but he wasn’t here and Colt was.
The rain died off, but the wind did not.
Colt had to shout to be heard, “We’ve got to get away from these falling trees!”
I couldn’t agree more! It was terrifying to see so many trees falling everywhere. The jungle was literally being torn apart.
My shelter was gone and suddenly I was re-exposed back to the elements in a rude awakening to reality. I gripped a hold of Colt’s hand tightly as we ran pushed on by the wind.
There were rocks up ahead and then I saw the dark mouth of a cave opening. I wanted to pull back on Colt’s hand, but I didn’t. Trepidatiously I viewed the cave entrance wondering if there was a dinosaur or more of those mongrel hounds waiting for us inside.
A tree fell down with a whoosh behind me and with a shriek I dove into the cave with Colt. There were no monsters that greeted us, none at least that had made their presence known anyway.
The storm continued to rage outside, but for the moment we’d found a shelter of sorts. I was drenched and the cave was cold.
Slowly I approached the stationary figure of Colt where he stood just within the cave staring out at the storm. I touched his arm and he jerked hard and I flinched back as he gave me a hard look.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!” I said quickly.
The hard look that had scared me with its intensity fell away abruptly and he reached out and caught my hand, “No, no it wasn’t you. Memories, bad memories is all. What did you need?”
Those must’ve been quite some bad memories that he’d just been having to invoke such a haunted look of extreme angst.
I stepped closer to him out of my sense of need, “I’m cold.”
His arms encircled me and pulled me forward against him and my face pressed into the black curly hairs of his exposed chest. I could’ve stayed off to myself shivering and survived, but I had wanted to feel this. Feel him. I wanted to know if it was different.
It was.
It wasn’t sexual, well maybe a little, but primarily it was something else. Something deeper and more personal.
It was security and yet it was more. I was defenseless in his arms, but I didn’t feel like a victim. I felt special. Cared for.
Suddenly everything coalesced into a shocking realization that resounded throughout me in a way that left no corner untouched. I wanted him.
I swallowed reflexively as I experienced this awareness for one of the opposite sex for the first time in my life. Instead of drawing away I felt myself pressing my face harder against his chest.
He had a musky almost sweet smell to him. I liked it.
How did he smell so good after days of sweating?
Suddenly I felt his one hand leave my back and drift upward. His fingers speared through my wet hair to grasp my skull at the nape of my neck.
This man’s power was a tangible quality. His light grip on my head pulled my head back from his chest and my gaze met his. His eyes were passioned and curious. Why curious, I asked myself?
“Kim I’m going to kiss you.”
I swallowed, but didn’t move as he kept my head still and captive to receive his kiss. His approach was slow and cautious and I got the impression that all I had to do was speak up and he’d stop. I didn’t though and I held still as his lips joined fully with mine.
I opened my eyes and met his gaze point blank. After a long moment our lips parted. I’d liked it.
Some part of me was shouting for joy, while some part of me was shivering in deep fear of the unknown.
His lips quirked slightly upward in a smile as he said, “You liked that didn’t you?”
I was saved from an answer as his lips found mine once more in a kiss that he deepened and held for a long moment of intensity.
Breaking apart slightly I tried to catch my breath and gather my thoughts, but his words had me focusing suddenly only on him. “How does it feel for you?” He’d asked softly.
Things started to add up in my head and I met his knowing gaze and said, “You know about me don’t you?”
His look was thoughtfully contemplative as he responded, “There are some giveaways.”
My gaze lowered from his and I pressed back enough to turnaround, but his arms wouldn’t release me.
His words sounded loud next to my ear even though he spoke no louder than a whisper, “Did you like it?”
I bit my lip hard. I had!
Still pressing against his arms to be free I asked, “Don’t you mind about what you’ve guessed at?”
His words came slow and steady, “Did you like our kiss Kim? Yes or no.”
“Yes!” I admitted.
His hands turned me about before I knew it and my head was pulled back so that my eyes met his probing gaze again even as his free hand possessively pressed against the small of my back and drew me into him. I swallowed at the sight of the smoky passion that burned brightly in his eyes for me.
He spoke, “Yes, I do mind Kim. I mind very much actually, but………”
I waited breathlessly for him to continue.
“But I can overlook the past, if from now on no one else is involved. Sound good?”
I don’t know what kind of spell this man had me under, but I nodded my head.
“Good! But I need something more from you than just that commitment. Your mine Kim. Say it.”
His words weren’t threatening, but they were infused with confidence and the knowledge of his eminent dominance. My mind raced over everything and came up with a startling discovery, which I meekly gave voice to, “I’m yours.”
“You won’t run away from me again right?”
“I…… I……” I stuttered, as I tried to frame words.
His voice broke in and his words reflected a revealing honesty, “I say the wrong things at times and I can be a real jerk, but I’ll never hurt you Kim. You can trust me.”
“I don’t even know you.” I said softly.
He smiled as his head lowered again to mine, “Let’s fix that then.”
I pulled back breathlessly from another drawn out kiss and surprisingly he let me go. That helped knowing that he could pull back like that and let me have a little space.
Things were happening way too fast!
One day I was getting thrills, the next day I was being kissed out of my senses. I’d be his Eve before I knew it and helping him keep the species alive from extinction if I didn’t watch it and yet I’d already told him that I was his.
That sounded positively primeval. This place was primeval though and the man I had been paired up with was fully primal. My own reactions to everything seemed primal.
I’d turned my back to him and now I turned back as I heard him doing something. He was making a fire. He quickly added wood to the blaze that had already started up and we both turned with a gasp at the sight of the twinkling gleam of the fire’s light off of the heaped up mounds of trunks overflowing with treasure. A King’s ransom lay sprawled out before us.
As if I was asleep and distant from reality I approached the glittering treasure.
“Don’t! It’s probably……”
I screamed as I fell through space. I came to an abrupt jerking stop that caused me to scream out again, only this time in pain.
Colt had caught me, but he’d done so by grabbing my hair. I cried out again as I was moved upward. A hand grabbed my arm and I was hauled up the rest of the way far less painfully.
“I’m sorry!!! I …. Oh God that had to hurt, but I had to! You were gone so fast and it was all that I had to grab a hold of. Oh darn it your scalp is bleeding! I love your hair, I’m so……”
My head hurt, but I blinked past the tears of pain in order to grasp his forearm lightly and say, “It hurts, but I’m alive. Thank you!”
We sat on the ground several feet back from the unseen abyss that lay just before the glittering pile of jewels. His arms about me were secure and I sat in a dazed shock as I contemplated my newest encounter with death.
Once again I’d been snatched out of the jaws of the grave by Colt. It was becoming a habit.
“I’m still sorry.” Colt said softly as he continued to hold me.
He cared of all things about my hair? It wasn’t an act he was putting on either.
So many thoughts and scenarios were coming out of nowhere all of a sudden and it was giving birth to a whole new range of emotion and desire that I’d never before imagined had even existed within me.
“Is your hair going to fall out now?” He asked in a mournful tone.
Despite the stinging pain I smiled slightly and said, “Probably not, but if it does it’ll grow back I promise.”
Suddenly awkward by it all I quickly withdrew myself and stood up. Colt got up and went back to the fire. He was back with a burning branch within a moment.
He held it over the abyss I had fallen part way into and its light revealed a grim site. The drop-off was a sheer forty feet or so down and there were quite a few skeletons at the bottom both of man and beast alike. I could’ve been one of those.
“Do you think whoever stashed this treasure intended all this?” I asked gesturing to the hole.
Colt cocked his head to the side and regarded me with a wry smile.
Okay that had been a dumb question.
Colt chuckled then and I couldn’t help but notice how nice it sounded. What did his laughs sound like?
“Look.” He said pointing.
I followed his finger and saw a narrow ledge along the one side of the abyss that led off into a darker passageway. Colt without saying another word headed for the narrow ledge.
“You’re not going back there are you?” I stammered out in sudden concern.
He glanced at me and shrugged, “Why not?”
“Why do we need treasure? It’s too risky Colt. Please don’t go!”
“You sound concerned, how touching. Call me curious, but I want to see what the real treasure is.”
“What are you talking about? The treasure’s right there before us you can see what’s there.” I said puzzled.
“Correction, that’s the lure if you will, intended to protect something much more important.”
“And you know this how?”
“Gut instinct. Wait here, I’ll be back.”
I shook my head vehemently as I gave the mouth of the cave a quick look.
“Nothing doing! I’m coming with you.”
He shrugged and moved on.
I approached the narrow ledge and after a moment I stepped out onto it. Colt’s hand came out to press reassuringly against my back and it helped to relax me. Before long we were past the ledge and together we started into the dark passageway.