Leaning forward in her saddle, she gave him a sideways look. “What? You don’t agree?”
“I guess I honestly don’t give a flying…I don’t care one way or the other.”
Tori snorted and pushed him away. “Okay, not a guy thing, huh?”
“No. Definitely not a guy thing.”
“Alright, but you got to admit they are cute together, and I really think she likes him.”
Jacob jumped in his saddle and lifted his hand to his lips, his voice high and squeaky, “Oh no! Say it’s not so!”
Tori’s laughter peeled once again through the early morning air. “You’re such an ass! Alright, I get it. No more relationship gossip.”
The four traveled all day without stopping. Tori handed around sandwiches, which they ate on their horses, and comfort breaks came only when necessary. Tori pulled her down jacket snug to her neck and wrapped her scarf tighter as the beginning edge of the incoming cold front brought frigid temperatures and blustering winds. Keelee led the procession of saddle-weary travelers down the desolate meadow to the line shack. Darkness settled in early. Storm clouds cloaked the winter sun making the little building and lean-to a welcome site. The promise of warmth and food energized both human and horse.
*
Jacob looked around the interior of the building and marveled at what the term shack meant in South Dakota. The building was solidly built with a generator out back. It had a full kitchen with a hand pump for spring water, propane stove, and a small refrigerator. The large limestone fireplace took up the back wall of the sitting area and three bedrooms fed off the kitchen. Each bedroom held a queen bed. The only hardship Jacob noticed was the outhouse that sat about three hundred feet behind the shack. That is if you considered having a toilet a hardship. Every member of his team would consider it a luxury.
He ducked back outside and found Tori in the entrance of the stock enclosure. When she saw him, she smiled mischievously and put her finger over her mouth silencing him before she pulled him into the corner of the stall.
Damned if the woman didn’t jump up and wrap her legs around his waist before she attacked his mouth with hers. Thank you, God, he had hit the mother lode. Sexy, smart and…oh hell yeah, almost insatiable. A very wet dream come true. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his growing erection into her. She squeezed her arms tighter around his neck and moaned.
Voices at the end of the structure echoed around them as they kissed. Keelee could be heard clearly. “It’s going to get cold tonight. Forecast for the next couple days is for freezing temps. The wind chill is projected to be well below zero. The horses will need extra food and some straw for bedding.”
Tori shivered. Could have been from the killer lip lock, but Jacob didn’t want to take a chance. He pulled away from her kiss, unzipped his down filled jacket, and pulled her into his warmth. Damn he wished Doc and Keelee would get the hell out of here.
“Explain to me how you can be so freaking strong.” Again, Keelee’s voice carried as she and Doc did the chores mere feet away.
Tori sniggered at Keelee’s comment and spread her hands over Jacob’s biceps. She whispered, “Yeah, explain it baby.”
Jacob started to answer but then Doc responded.
“Required physical training. The team depends on each other. If you can’t pull your own weight, literally, you are going to let the team down. I won’t be the weak link. Besides, Alpha team is elite. To be on the team is an honor. We usually work out four or five hours a day when we’re not on assignment.”
Jacob smiled, shrugged, and nailed his woman with a kiss that could’ve probably ignited the damn manger they were standing in.
“Now I know all that time in the gym has got to piss off your girlfriends.” Keelee’s voice seemed to be right next to them. Jacob opened his eye and surveyed the area. Still alone, thank you, little baby Jesus. He clasped his hands over Tori’s ass and pulled her in tighter, grinding his now painfully stiff cock against her. God, he wanted to be inside her now.
“Tori’s the first and the only girlfriend I’ve known about for any of us in the five years I’ve been on the team,” Doc said.
Tori pulled away from him and the shit-eating grin plastered across her face when she mouthed girlfriend earned her a swat on the ass. He covered her mouth before she had a chance to object to the spanking.
Tori’s sister sounded like she was walking away from them. Yes! Please leave, please leave now. “Wait. What? You’re telling me you and your macho men don’t have a slew of women waiting in the wings?”
Tori put both of her cold hands on his face and pushed him away. It was damn cute the way she arched her eyebrow as if she wanted him to respond. He cocked his head towards the other couple and waited to hear Doc’s response.
“I didn’t say that. I said there were no other girlfriends. I guess you could say we are high maintenance. Men who demand certain things in a woman before she can ever be considered as something more than…hell, I don’t know. Stress relief maybe? The way I figure it, for someone to be considered a girlfriend she would have to have great internal strength, have to be fun, smart, interesting, and be a dependable person. Our lifestyle doesn’t need any more drama in it. A girlfriend would have to understand what we do and be okay with being alone for extended periods of time. Finding that combination is probably why Tori’s the only one in five years.”
Jacob groaned with frustration when he heard Doc and Keelee walking back toward the entrance of the shelter. He lifted his head and tucked Tori a little closer. She laid her head down on his shoulder and snuggled against his neck. Damn, he could hold her like this forever. Fuck. Doc really needed to have better situational awareness. Where the hell was his focus? Huh, check that, Jacob knew exactly where his focus was. He ground his hips forward into the hot body clinging to him. Yeah, he knew exactly where Doc’s focus was.
Keelee appeared and grabbed the two remaining sleeping bags lying by the door “Yeah, well, that’s great. What if she has all those wonderful qualities and is unattractive? Looks matter, don’t they?” Keelee stopped abruptly and spun around. Doc stopped a fraction of an inch before he collided with her.
“Looks fade, Keelee. What is important is the person. But, I’ll admit it, looks do help.”
Jacob knew it was going to happen. Hell, any child could see the crayon writing on the wall, and sure enough Doc bent down and kissed her. One firm hard kiss that surprised the animated woman into stillness. Good man—finally got her to shut up. Doc lifted his head and locked eyes with his boss. Jacob looked at Doc over Tori’s head and winked.
The medic stared back blankly but Jacob but knew the man inside and out. Caught red handed, he stepped around Keelee and headed out the door. Tori’s sister stood staring after him for several seconds before she shook herself out of her stillness and muttered, “What the hell was that?” The woman pulled her coat closed and trudged out after Doc.
Tori’s body shook in his arms. Her laughter bubbling over, she dropped her legs from his waist and leaned into him as she succumbed to whatever the fuck was tickling her. Finally, she lifted her face to his and planted a mind-numbing kiss on him. Tongue, teeth, suction, and softness all rolled into a kiss that could have him coming in his jeans like a horny teenager. She pulled away and winked. “The difference between me and my sister is I don’t have to ask what the hell that was.” She scrunched her nose and put her ice-cold hands on his face. “That Mister Team Leader…that’s good.”
Jacob smiled wickedly. He needed to get her into the warmth of the line cabin and knew just how to do it. He leaned down and threw her over his shoulder, laughing at her surprised squeal. He slapped her ass and started walking to the house. “No darlin’ this’s better than good. This’s damn-near perfect.”
*
Jacob waited. And waited and waited. It seemed to take forever for the meal to end and the dishes to be washed and put away. Enough fucking waiting—or not fucking waiting as it happened. He unfolded from the wall he was leaning on when Tori turned away from the sink. Bending over he lifted her over his shoulder again and laughed as she shrieked. He turned and nodded to Keelee and Doc. “Goodnight.” Tori’s unabashed laughter echoed through the small building as he kicked the bedroom door shut.
He dropped her on her feet and immediately began undressing her. Their hands tangled as she tried to reach for his clothes. “Tori, you’re going to kill me. I swear I need you more than I need the air I breathe.”
Tori’s hands found his shirt and unbuttoned it. She pulled the shirttail out of his jeans and reached for his belt. “Didn’t I tell you to give me a year and I would kill you?”
Jacob lifted his head from his effort to undo her clothes and laughed heartily. “Indeed you did, honey. Indeed you did. Kick off those boots, darlin’. I need to be killed at least two or three times tonight.”
Tori chortled then snorted in a very unladylike fashion as she danced on one leg and she pulled her boot off, and in her own hurry to shed her clothes she lost her balance and nearly fell as she peeled off her jeans and underwear.