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A bubble of emotion caught in my throat, just as a lump of uncertainty settled in my chest. I tried to pull my gaze away as my eyes swelled with tears, but Mathis’s strong hand kept my face still.
“Don’t, Callie. You don’t have to say anything. Just know that I love you, and I will never let you down again.” Mathis leaned down and claimed my mouth in a rough, passionate kiss that curled my toes, before he skillfully claimed my body all over again.
23
Tunnels of sun shone down through the upper windows in the small cabin, raining warmth and light down on me where I lay in front of a still warm fire. My body felt worn out, as if I had run a marathon, and my head was fuzzy. Blinking, I tried to focus my thoughts as I watched the tiny molecules dance around in the shafts of light. Slowly, everything began to come back to me as my sleep drugged mind roused. I became aware of a heaviness across my breasts, and I glanced down to see a long, muscular arm draped over me, cupping one of my breasts. Moving my gaze to the rest of the man, I studies Mathis’s sleepy face, so relaxed and youthful in rest. His dark waves were unruly, falling around his face, and his breathing was heavy.
As my eyes moved over the rest of his body, I blushed at his bare ass, but my modesty sure didn’t keep me from taking a good long look at the length of his handsome body. When I looked back at his face, Mathis was watching me through narrowed, sleepy eyes, but his lips pulled into a knowing grin.
“Like what you see, beautiful?”
I blushed deeply, chagrined to have been caught taking a good long look at his nude body, but I knew there was nothing to be embarrassed about. After the night of sex, he and I had shared, I wasn’t sure there were any parts of me he hadn’t seen. Puling myself up, I cleared my throat.
“Uh...I better get outside. It looks like the storm has broken, and I have a lot of work to do.”
Mathis watched me dress with a devilish look in his eyes that I had to avoid. I knew exactly what that look meant, and exactly what he was thinking as I avoided glancing at the swollen evidence of it. If I didn’t stay focused, I wouldn’t get any work done with the stallion, and after the first step to form our bond had been accomplished the previous night, I didn’t want to lose any time. Not to mention my hurry to distract myself from thinking about the things Mathis had said last night. I wasn’t ready to deal with those feelings yet, so I ran for the first distraction I could.
Stepping outside, I was fortified with the coffee Mathis had supplied me, and I took a good long whiff of the chilly air, my eyes closed as I pulled the door shut, my heart thrumming, and for more reasons than just the exhilaration of knowing I was about to work with the stallion. I felt peaceful and filled to the brim with hope for every part of my life. And then I opened my eyes. A yelp pf surprise escaped my mouth, followed by a soft laugh of astonishment and I yelled for Mathis. He barreled out of the cabin as if I were being murdered, managing to crash right into me, where I pointed and said, “Loook!”
Mathis’s gold eyes left my face and together, we looked out over the meadow surrounding the cabin and surveyed the blanket of glistening white that fell over everything.
“Mathis, it snowed! How is this possible? It’s not even November yet!” I sounded like a gleeful child, but I didn’t care.
Mathis grinned down at me. “Huh. We are at a really high elevation up here, so I doubt it snowed back down at the house.”
Stepping off the porch in jeans which were dry, but somewhat stiff, I pulled my coat tighter around me, listening to the snow crunch as I stepped into it. It didn’t remain once I had stepped on it, proving how thin and deceiving the layer really was. I was enchanted by it never the less, and I turned my gaze onto the horses, loving the way Dark Temptation stood out in the glistening white with his deep black coat. Across the way, Pizazz whinnied at me loudly, making certain she got my attention before anyone else.
Chuckling, I made my way toward her, feeling her emotions surround me with warmth and affection. I allowed my own feelings of love to float out to her, embracing her face as she stuck it over the rail. In the corral, Mathis’s gelding lifted his head from foraging, flicked his ears a couple times and then trotted over, sniffing me inquisitively. I knew he could feel the emotions I projected as well, and it was what had brought him over. I stroked his long face, loving the feelings of contentedness and trust he blasted me with. He hadn’t ever been mistreated, and as he turned his gaze toward the man still standing on the porch, I knew the gelding was attached to Mathis and it warmed my heart.
Not only did it warm my heart, but it brought to mind a dilemma Mathis himself had mentioned. Spinning about, I said, “Mathis, I think you need to be involved in helping me with the stallion. You were right when you said he would need to trust both of us if we’d be able to bring him back and prove everyone wrong.”
Mathis smiled as he headed my way. “I’m all yours, whatever you need from me.”
When I entered the pen with the big stallion, I felt fear simmer to the surface, and I wasn’t at first sure if it was his or mine. He began to paw and pin his ears, and Mathis told me to be careful from his spot by the fence. I focused my attention deep down inside of myself, and I realized that it was coming from me. I was afraid I had only imagined that moment with this stallion during the storm, that my gift wouldn’t really work and every time I faced him would be like starting over again. Turning toward Mathis, I felt my chin wobble just a little.
“I don’t know if I can do this, Mathis.”
Mathis walked slowly forward, careful not to move too quickly and set the stallion off. Wrapping his arms around me, he looked deep into my eyes. “Callie, if anyone can do this, it’s you.”
I sighed heavily, my body beginning to relax in the warm embrace of the man I was falling in love with, and I sent up a prayer for courage. Silence reached my ears, where moments ago, I had listened to the stomping snorting stallion. Turning away from Mathis, I looked at the stallion, surprised to find him standing quietly, tail swishing, ears erect and both eyes on us. I blinked in surprise. He was displaying all the signs that he would accept a join-up, a connection if I approached him, and I realized that my feelings toward Mathis must have made him calm.
Mathis moved slowly back to the fence rail, giving the stallion and me our space, but still being present. I felt that if the stallion could learn to focus on me and trust me in the presence of Mathis, he might eventually allow another to approach him as well. The stallion remained calm as I took small slow steps toward him. His ears remained forward as he watched me. His eyes no longer held that wild look, but there was still a look of uncertainty there, in his tight lips and watchful stare.
I stopped a few feet from him, allowing him to adjust to my presence and to my feelings before asking for too much. After a moment, when the stallion hadn’t blown up or pinned his ears, I stepped to the left a few feet, smiling in triumph as the stallion rotated his body to follow me, both eyes remaining on me. For several minutes, we repeated this exercise, me allowing him his space, him giving me his undivided attention. Once I felt sure he wouldn’t blow a gasket, I took one step closer to him, relaxing my posture, dropping a hip and a shoulder, and I extended my hand, palm down, giving him the choice of what would happen next.
Feelings bounced off of me. Partially of fear, but mostly of interest. He still harbored his fear of people, of being hurt, but that door that had been opened the night we had created a bond, it had changed things. He’d had contact with a human that had brought him comfort, not pain, and now, he desired more of that comfort, despite his misgivings.
Speaking softly to him, I said, “Hey big guy, it’s okay. I won’t hurt you, no one’s ever going to hurt you again.” I continued talking to him in soothing tones, watching in hope as he shuffled forward, extended his neck and sniffed my hand.
It wasn’t as much as I was hoping for, but I kept up with it, knowing it would take time and patience. Behind me, Mathis called out, “Don’t be afraid to do some of the exercises you would do with any colt, Callie. He needs to know that you won’t hurt him during any situation, not just when your still. I will hop out, and you should move him around the round corral with your body, allowing the bond between you to strengthen.”
I nodded, fully agreeing with his suggestion, and once he had climbed over the fence, I walked toward the stallion in a less relaxed, more firm way. At first, the stallion was startled. He spun his body around, blowing air from his nostrils. I raised my right arm, not in a threatening way, but in a gesture meant only to drive him forward. The stallion responded, taking a few steps to the left but keeping his eyes on me. For another hour, I used my body to form a physical bond with the horse, driving him forward, making him change directions, stopping and relaxing, allowing him to move back to my side and just stand there. I was pleased with the progress we had made already, so when the stallion remained while I moved to him, I gave his nose a soft pat, and then proceeded out of the pen. Surprisingly, the stallion following me all the way to the fence, and even watched as Mathis and I walked away. I knew my face probably glowed, because I felt like finally, I was beginning to get somewhere with this gift of mine.
With my legs around the stout sides of my little buckskin mare, my body responding to her movements my favorite way, without a saddle to hinder us, I smiled at Mathis through the morning haze. The snow had melted away within hours and the chill in the air had been chased off by another warm front. The fluctuation in the weather was driving me insane, because I couldn’t decide if I was too warm for my coat, or chilled enough to need it. The difference in the temperature when standing in the shade of the forest compared to the sun of the open meadows was fully noticeable. A few feet from me, where we rode bareback beneath the canopy of the evergreens, Mathis grinned over at me.
“Your making great progress with that stallion. In only a few short days he’s come so far.” Mathis trailed off, a look of deep thought on his face.
Studying him, I thought back over the last few days since that wild storm, and I sighed. He had been the most amazing person. A friend who encouraged me, a lover who was kind and compassionate. He left little doubt in my mind that he was the kind of man I could count on, and no, he wasn’t as perfect as he seemed, none of us were, but he had shown me he was worth a try.
