Aimée Thurlo - Restless Wind

When the heat became too intense, he gripped her hands and held them to her sides. “My turn,” he growled.

He tasted and loved the milky-white softness of her skin, then cupped her intimately, parting the velvety folds, and feeling the moist heat there. When he pressed into her, he could feel everything feminine in her welcoming the intrusion. She strained into him, moaning, and that anguished cry of pure need fueled his own.

Capturing her cries with his mouth, he caressed the center of her womanhood, slowly driving her wild in his arms.

“I can’t…”

“Yes, you can. Don’t hold back.”

His hands were rough and demanding, then tender. Waves of pleasure seared through her until her world came apart in one bright, shining moment. Then, in the safety of his arms, she rested.

Once her breathing evened, he shifted, positioning her beneath him. Passion stronger than anything he’d ever known gripped him.

“Look at me,” he demanded and when she did, he gripped her hips and pushed himself into her.

Seeing herself reflected in the black pools of his eyes, she understood the power of harmony and balance.

In a frenzy of need and heat, he drove into her. Her cries drove him crazy as did the way her fingers dug into his shoulders, almost to the point of pain. In freedom, and in love, their bodies became one, and he poured himself into her.

They lay quietly afterward, her arms and legs still entwined around him. She’d known intimacy before, but never like this. She’d felt as delicate as a flower that had come into bloom in the middle of a storm, and yet powerful, too, knowing she’d given a man like Ranger so much pleasure.

He rolled back, taking her with him, then held her. “You know what’s in my heart now,” he whispered. “At least in this, there are no secrets.”

Dana ached to hear him speak of love, but when he didn’t, she held back, too. Ranger was a free spirit, and she’d known that from the beginning. He’d given her all of himself and taken what she’d offered freely, but he would never accept being tied down.

“What I feel for you is real,” Ranger said, sensing her feelings. “But I’ve got nothing else to give you now-no promises or assurances. I haven’t got a future-not until I know what happened to my brother, and we finish what needs to be done.”

“What we’ve shared is enough,” she whispered. She’d fallen in love and had no regrets. What she’d discovered in his arms would be a part of her forever.

As they waited for the phone to ring, time passed slowly. Not knowing about his brother’s fate was eating Ranger up inside. Waiting was the worst of it, too-trying to hold on to his sanity while being torn between hope and fear.

“Let’s go to the police station in Shiprock,” she suggested, standing up and walking out toward the river’s edge. “They’ll get the news there first.”

He shook his head. “Too dangerous. There’s only one practical route there, and we could easily pick up a tail. We’ve kept ahead of them so far by going places no one expects us to be.” He stood and joined her. “But let’s hike back to the truck. This isn’t a good place to be once it’s dark. We can’t see around us beyond the cliffs, and if anyone’s tracked us, the rushing water will cover the sound of their approach.”

“Where else can we go?”

“I know of another place. We’ll be safe there, and it’ll give me a chance to figure out who I can use as our contact now.”

“Your brother was the one you were calling, and who’d been contacting you?”

“Most of the time.”

“Okay, so where’s this new place?”

“It’s not a place as much as a location up in the mountains. That’s where I was originally headed when Harris called. We’ll be able to spot any vehicle from miles away. And if they come on foot, it’ll take them hours to reach us.”

“Will you get phone service there?” she asked.

“It won’t be as reliable as it is here but, yeah, I think so.”

“Considering you’re waiting for news, are you sure that’s worth it?”

“It’s the only place I’m sure we can be safe tonight,” he answered.

They drove south from Farmington for almost an hour and a half, reaching the reservation community of Crown-point. Then they turned south down graveled roads, heading southwest into the mountains around the Continental Divide. Twice, he was sure they’d picked up a tail, but after a circuitous route along dirt roads, he couldn’t see any signs of a vehicle tailing them.

“Keep an eye out for a tail,” he said.

“I have been, but no one’s stuck with us.”

At long last, they came upon a big rockslide that covered many acres along the flank of a mountain. At first Dana thought it might have been an old mine site. But a closer look revealed no roads, buildings or machinery, and the stones all seemed to have originated from the cliffs above. Soon they topped a ridge that jutted out of the mountainside like a shoulder, and the road finally leveled off.

The ridge joined with the rocky cliff. Small caves and crevices dotted the mountain side opposite the slope, and only a few trees and shrubs were tenacious enough to hug the thin soil at this elevation.

Ranger pulled up as close to the cliff as possible, then turned the pickup sideways to the mountain, coming to rest between a grove of pines and the rock wall. They’d be hidden from anyone coming up the mountain, at least until they got very close.

“We’ll camp here for the night. It’s safer than anywhere else I can think of,” he said, “and any approaching vehicles will make quite a bit of noise coming across that rubble below.”

Dana got out of the truck and looked around, taking a deep breath. The view below them in the reddish, late-afternoon sun was beautiful, with the desert valley spread out for many miles to the north, and the Chuska Mountains to the west. It felt as if they were sitting on top of the world.

“My cell phone is operable up here, thanks to all the mining operations just to the south,” he said, after checking to verify.

As Dana drew closer to the edge of the cliff, she got a glimpse of a rare sight. “There’s an eagle’s nest up here,” she whispered quickly. “Maybe we should move back down the mountain a little. I’d hate to disturb it.”

As Ranger looked down at the eagle perched on her nest, his voice rose in a soft chant that seemed to warm the cold breeze. It was a haunting song that reverberated with power and mystery.

The eagle didn’t move, and Ranger smiled. “Her children have already left the nest and are on their own. The eagle knows it has nothing to fear from us. She’ll be our eyes, and if anyone tries to come after us, she’ll let us know.”

As Dana looked at the eagle the huge raptor stirred in her nest, but didn’t fly away. Moving back slowly, Dana gazed at Ranger. “It’s almost like you have a connection with her. I can’t believe she’s so calm.”

He reached into the jish he carried on his belt and brought out an eagle fetish carved of stone. “The eagle and I are linked spiritually.”

It fit him-that boundless love of freedom, the ability to survive despite the odds. “You’re two of a kind,” she said at last.

Dana zipped up her jacket, and rubbed her arms for warmth. The altitude, the breeze and the fact that it was November promised a cold night.

“Come here,” he whispered, opening his jacket, then pulling her against his own body. “I’ll keep you warm.”

As he held her, they watched the eagle fly off, spin and turn gracefully in the air, swoop down, then return to her old nest, her dinner clutched in powerful talons.

“Graceful, isn’t she? She can gauge the currents and soar above them effortlessly,” he said.