Page 31 of Race With The Devil

I opened my mouth to respond to the ambiguous statement, but he was off and running.

Moving perfectly like an Olympic diver, he almost seemed to be making a cannonball when he launched with precision off the edge. But just as he hung in the air, neither going up nor down, just hovering like an insanely macho ball of man, he straightened all his limbs, hands at sides. He shot down like a torpedo.

Oh who am I kidding? He was attractive as fuck.

Grabbing my backpack, I raced down the steps built into the side of the sandstone hill just in time to see him hit the water. Because he was narrow as a pipe, he plunged into the water at such a speed that he was gone from sight.

“Fuck!” I cried, and ran out onto a red peninsula. The water was frothy and white from the churning of several waterfalls, so I expected him to pop up where he’d gone down. I held my breath, ruing the day when I’d taunted him to jump. I myself had never done it, being afraid of how deep the pool was, but I’d seen people plummet in there.

“Tanner!” I cried out.

Was I afraid? Had he knocked his head on a fucking underwater rock and was now lolling about, unconscious, in the ice-blue depths of this pool? Oh, fuck!

Though it didn’t make a difference because it was so flimsy, I stripped my tank top from my torso, stepped out of my sandals, and tossed my cutoffs so they stood upright, holding my shape. All this, and no peep from Tanner! I waded in facing the spot where he’d gone under. “Tanner!” What a fucking way to go! He makes it through an abusive childhood, prison, the air force, and now years of dealing with poor homeless dogs—only to die when his head hits a rock! Nearly naked too.

“Tanner!” I bellowed at the water’s surface.

Ducking down, I went completely underwater and opened my eyes. Things were less busy down here, and it was easier to see. There was no Tanner, just some surprisingly big fish that came toward me with their sucking lips.

I quickly surfaced. “Tanner!” I was almost mad now, treading water.

“Over here, my queen!”

Oh! If one could spin about angrily in the water, that’s sure as hell what I did, creating a pissed-off whirlpool. Tanner sat casually on some warm sandstone, knees up, hands dangling over the knees. Big balls filling his sack. The melted ice water hadn’t even given him any major shrinkage. This man was appallingly fit and sensual and had obviously outsmarted me.

“Ooh!” I hit the water with my palm, but the spray didn’t assuage me in the slightest. I made a big show of breast-stroking back to shore, grabbing the backpack, and stalking the long way around over a sandstone bridge to reach his little enclave.

Before I sat, I took a towel from the backpack. I unfolded it just enough to seat one person and plunked down on it. I wasn’t an animal, getting my butt full of rusty sand like he was. To rebel, I withdrew the wine bottle from the pack, wedged it between my thighs, and opened it.

“That’s just typical,” I said, hot. “You scare me sometimes, Tanner. You knew I’d be frightened for you, but you waited ‘til the last second to call out.”

“Ah, I’m sorry, my queen,” he drawled, painting sheepishly with a stick in the sand. “I just wanted to show you I wasn’t afraid of a little tiny cliff.”

“It’s not just the cliff where you scare me! We get the picture, Tanner.” I gulped wine thirstily, as though I’d just come out of the Gobi Desert. “You’re a hardass man. You’re an air jockey, a handsome devil, an indestructible force of nature.”

“And you, my queen, are even more amazing than my wildest wet dreams. I would’ve swum out to save you, but you didn’t look like you needed saving.”

“I was trying to save you! I thought you were a fucking goner, Tanner! And what’s with all this ‘queen’ stuff?”

“Queen of Heaven.” A bit more sheepishly, he said, “It’s a position in the Kama Sutra. Seems to fit you. And now.” He stood, brushing red sand off his ass. He was a glorious sight to behold, all muscle and brawn and manliness bursting through his prime of life. Not to mention, the outline of his firm cockhead against the tight fabric of the briefs. I was practically at eye level with this stupendous prick, and I didn’t mind. I didn’t mind. Was I finally beginning to separate the activities that had occurred with Gary from sex with men who weren’t Gary?

“Where you going?” I asked the giant penis.

Tanner hitched a thumb. “The slot canyon under the waterfall, remember? Looks like one right there.” Now he hitched a chin at the other side of the water. “And looks like people are coming.”

I had to chug my wine, slam the cork back into the bottle, and gather everything to follow the muscular, striding giant.