Adam sat down beside Eugenia and plucked a stem of grass. He put it in a corner of his mouth and began to suck on it.
"See that creek there, hon?" he said.
"Yes. Peaceful, isn't it?" she said, feeling calm, but not sure if it was the area around her causing this sense of tranquility, or the man at her side. She wanted him to pull her into his arms, now.
"It's a funny story about that creek," he said, stretching out, leaning back on one elbow.
"What kind of story?" she asked, leaning back on an elbow of her own beside him.
"The name Cripple Creek? It was named after that particular creek that you're now lookin' at."
"Really?" She wanted to act interested, but she was ready to rekindle their passions of the day before.
"A rancher named the town after his cow fell and crippled herself in the creek," he answered. "Now how's that for a bit of history?"
Eugenia laughed softly. "And, Adam, where did you hear such a ridiculous story?"
"It's true," he argued. "Honest. Everybody in Cripple Creek knows that." He spat the grass from his mouth, eyeing her in silent amusement.
"I live in Cripple Creek," she said stubbornly. "I never heard that before."
"Hon, I'm sure you don't hear much history bein' discussed in your establishment."
Eugenia eyed him darkly, wondering what he truly did think of her for being a madam.
He sat up and began to yank at his boots and struggled at getting them off.
"I've been wanting to ask, Eugenia," he said, still struggling. "How'd you get in such a profession? You don't act as any other madam I've ever met."
"And you've met many, huh?"
"Now, I didn't say that."
"But, it's true, isn't it?"
"Yep. A few," he admitted. "But you're the only one I ever stubbornly pursued. I knew you were different the first time I saw you. Then when I heard that you were untouchable, I could believe it. Your appearance only radiates your inner shyness."
"Was that why you decided to pursue me? As a conquest you could brag about?" she asked, feeling a numbness seize her. Would he now leave her as Drew had done?
"No, my love. Never," he answered, finally succeeding at making himself bootless. He reached over and grabbed her by the shoulders and gently lowered her onto the blanket. "I would never be so foolish to tell other men how your lovemaking can make me lose my mind. Why would I? They would only want a taste of your nectar also."
"I'm so glad you'd not tell," Eugenia whispered, her fingers already unbuttoning his plaid shirt. He continued to lie in silence beside her, letting her fingers light small fires on his skin as she pulled the shirt from around his shoulders and down his arms.
"I so love the curls of your chest hair," she said further, now kissing one of his nipples, then another as her fingers ran through the coarseness of the rust-colored hair of his chest.
"Tell me more, Eugenia," he said hoarsely, his fingers now working at the buttons of her blouse, then pulling her underthings downward to rest around her waist. She closed her eyes and gasped as his fingers creeped around a now bare breast.
"Such large breasts for such a small woman," he murmured, lowering his mouth over one, pulling the stiffness of its nipple between his teeth, nipping at it, teasing it.
It sounded so good to Eugenia, hearing Adam say that she was small. She quickly forgot that it was broad daylight on this mountain side, not caring who might venture by. All that she cared about, was aware of, was this man who was capable, of fulfilling her needs to such an extent that she would willingly beg for more from him if it became necessary.
Then, feeling the mouth move from her breast, Eugenia opened her eyes and watched him in anxious silence, in anxious admiration, as he unfastened his belt buckle and began to undo the front of his breeches. She lifted her skirt and removed the rest of her underthings, still watching him as he pulled the erectness of his manhood from its tight confine. The pearling of sweat on his brow glistened like diamonds in the brightness of the day, as did the dewdrops of whiteness bubbling from the tip of his manhood, and the smell of him even overpowered the aroma of flowers that lay on the blanket's edge beside her. She reached her arms upward and welcomed the full weight of his body as it stretched out above her. His fingers tangled hold of her hair as he thrust himself inward.
"My Eugenia," he said thickly, then found her mouth with his, but was unable to quell the moans surfacing from deep down in her chest. She arched her body upward and rode with him with each stroke, feeling the tides of warmth sweeping through her brain, leaving her senseless once again. She hated for his lips to leave hers but could hear his deep pants of breath in her ear as he buried his face in her hair, stiffening his body for only a moment. Then he began to tremble with intense release at the same moment she did.
Only moments afterward, opening her eyes slowly, Eugenia was again aware of the ripples of the water close to where they lay, and the movement of a family of quail skipping along the mountain path so close she could have touched the brown smoothness of one.
"Adam?" she whispered, combing his red hair with her fingers.