Chapter 20 #2
“You need help, or are you just going to keep grumbling to yourself down there?” She takes another step.
“Hey, don’t get too close—”
Too late.
In an instant, she’s falling. I watch her arms swing erratically, hear her sharp scream, and brace myself just as she crashes on top of me with a hard thump.
The impact jolts through both of us.
My hands instinctively land on her hips, trying to steady us. I feel every curve of her against me, and warmth spreads as her chest presses into me. Her hair brushes my face, a wild tangle of strands that tickle my cheek, and her breath is against my neck, uneven as she tries to catch her own.
Twisted up in each other doesn’t give either of us much space to move.
“That’s one way to get my attention,” I say low and rough.
Her slap misses, landing just beside my chest. “Shut up.”
I’m trying to keep my cool with her body splayed on top of mine, but fuck.
Then something moves.
First, on my back. A slight, almost ticklish sensation, like a feather brushing against my skin. My mind remembers the feather tickler from The Crimson Hollow. The thought is swift when the creeping spreads along my arms and my legs, like a thousand tiny something’s make their way over my skin.
“What the hell?” I try wiggling off whatever it is, but the sensation only grows stronger.
“What the hell, what?” She presses her flat palms on my chest.
“Something is crawling on me.”
Her eyes dart like a country girl, ready to jump into action, but then her expression stiffens, frozen in pure horror.
“Are those fire ants?”
“What? No.”
She jumps back, straddling me, and my cock notices right away. But pleasure is shut down real quick when I spot the ants crawling on her arms. And sure enough, those little fuckers are fire ants. The sting of their bites sears beneath my skin
I run my hands down her arms, dragging the ants off her skin. They’re fast, though—faster than me—and every time I knock one off, it seems like two more replace it.
“Get up!” She jumps to her feet with a grunt, grabbing my arms and pulling, like she thinks she can yank me up with her.
“Alright,” I mutter, barely getting my feet under me when her hands start brushing the ants off my bare chest.
“We’ve got to remain calm.” Her fingers scrape down my side, and she’s so damn focused on me that I grab her waist and start brushing the ants off her legs. “Panicking and flailing will agitate them.”
I try to be gentle, but each movement grows more frantic than the last. She wipes my shoulder so damn gently I barely feel her fingers, but I feel the bites. I slap the back of my neck so hard I see stars.
But we’re being swarmed.
Then I look down.
“Dammit, we’re standing in the ant hill.”
I don’t waste another second. My hand locks around her wrist and under her ass. I pull her close and haul her over my shoulder.
I swallow against the sight of her ass close enough to bite. Lord, the more I’m with her, the more I discover kinks might be up my alley.
She doesn’t object to being hoisted and, instead, sweeps off the ants within her reach.
I push through the burning sensations and rush up the ditch. We reach the road, and I set her down. We separate, both of us brushing at our bodies in frantic motions. Every new bite sends a fresh wave of pain.
“Take off your boots and socks.” She yanks hers off. “They often crawl in there.”
I realize she’s no rookie at this, likely due to her experience dealing with incidents at the lodge.
I kick off my boots and rip off my socks, and when we finally knock off the last few stragglers, our breathing is rapid.
I glance at her, and for a split second, it feels like we’re both coming down from some strange, chaotic high.
Dirt smears over her flushed face, and her hands still move over her arms, as if confirming she’s rid of the ants. Her ponytail has unraveled, and strands escape everywhere.
Fuck, if the thought of grabbing the back of her head and planting my lips on hers doesn’t hit me with a force I’m not prepared for. This is why I stay away from her, and why I especially avoid situations where we might touch.
She glances at me, breathing heavily. “Well, that was something.”
I laugh.
She laughs.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at a ditch the same way again.” My stomach twists at the raised bumps on her skin.
Her gaze sweeps over my torso. “Yeah, well, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at you the same way again either.”
I look down at my torso. It’s a patchwork of red and swollen welts far worse than hers.
I smirk, ignoring the sting of the bites that still burn beneath my skin. “Fair enough.”
“We need to rinse off,” she says. “Wash the bites with soap and water to remove any dirt, bacteria, or ant venom.”
I nod, shifting my waist as an uncomfortable sensation pinches.
“Did you store any water in here?” She taps the side of the bus.
“Yeah. We have a fresh tank. Should be enough.”
“Good. Let’s get in and rinse off before it gets worse.”
Then I feel it. Not just tickling, but pinching, at my fucking waistline, and scurrying down my waistband.
“Goddammit!” My fingers fly to my zipper.
“What’s going on?”
“They’re in my pants.”
I stumble backward, my hands fumbling with the belt buckle, desperate to free myself. The zipper isn’t much better. I tear the jeans frantically down my legs, but I already feel the ants working their way under my briefs. They’re next to hit the ground, but not in time.
“They’re on my balls.”
Fuck.
And they rip into me, striking where it hurts most.
The pain blinds me.
A howl tears up my throat, and in a blur of panic, my hand slaps down with such force that the pain sends me reeling. My back hits the bus—my vision blurs.
I almost double over from it.
I see her move toward me.
“No! Back up.” I try to suck in a breath, but it feels like the air’s been sucked out of me entirely.
Every movement I make only sends another sharp bite through my body, and each bite feels like a hundred needles jabbing into me.
“Calm down and hold still.” She bends down, and I lose all my dignity.
My eyes fall closed in this bloody hell I’m thrown into. I want to scream from the pain, but I keep it together.
Barely.
It takes every last ounce of me not to fall to my knees and curl into the fetal position.
My body trembles under her touch, but I can’t move. My body is in fight-or-flight mode. I stay put, eyes still closed, jaw tight, body on fire.
Her touch is light—a brush at first. I can’t tell if she’s flicking, gathering, or plucking the ants from my delicate skin. But each touch sends warmth through my body, so much better than the biting.
I don’t know how long I stand here in silence, slowly coming down from a fear I’ve never felt in my life. The pain is still there. The pain is paralyzing. But when my breathing is steady and my heart slowing, I manage to find my voice.
“Are they off yet?” My tone strains.
“Almost done.” Her voice is surprisingly soft and reassuring.
Eyes still closed, my head leaning back against the bus, focusing on anything but how soft her touch is.
“I think you’re good,” she says.
Her last touch is light, sending a shudder through me. The pain subsides slightly, but the heat of the situation lingers in the air.
I open my eyes for the first time in what feels like an eternity. Sweat covers my body, and my breaths are deep.
She steps back, and I try to steady myself, but it’s hard. Every inch of my body feels raw, and she’s made sure to be so damn careful. I’m not sure whether to feel grateful or self-conscious.
But mostly, I’m just relieved.
My gaze drops involuntarily, and then my brain catches up to what I’m seeing—fuck.
I’m hard.
My cock is raging hard in front of her.
I mentally curse every nerve in my body.
She stepped in and handled the ants, when I’m sure she didn’t want to, and I rewarded her with a full-on erection.
“It’s my fucking nervous system.”
Was it?
Or was it her?
I’m too out of it to decide.
Something in her expression changes, flushing away the kindness of helping me, and in its place is that ice-cold wall she’s built.
What did I say?
“Your nervous system is doing a hell of a job right now.” She glances to where my hand is doing a shoddy job of covering my dick.
Would she rather I admit to being some pervert who got off from her helping me? It’s cringe all the way around.
“Or maybe mini Hart hasn’t been touched in a while.”
“It’s been fucking touched.”
“By any hand other than your own?”
“For fuck sakes.” I step out of my pants, leaving them on the side of the road, and storm away.
If you can call my hobble storming. And I don’t care that my bare ass is giving a show.
“Don’t forget to rinse your private areas really well,” she calls after me.
The bus door slams behind me, and I shove past the stacks of promotional boxes.
But the second I step under the shower, all the irritation hits again. My body stings where those damn fire ants decided to make their home. Especially south.
I’ve been violated, and my whole body is hypersensitive.
I adjust the water temperature. Hot. Cold. Anything to distract me from the feeling of fire ants crawling across my skin. I breathe through it, flinching when the water hits the tender spots.
My mind flashes back to her standing there, helpful, touching me in places I only dream about her touching me. But damn it, that hadn’t been what was going on in my head when she was saving my manhood from extinction.
Hell, no.
But there I stood, hard as a fucking rock. Mortification doesn’t begin to explain how I feel right now.
Damn, my left turn.
Damn me for getting on the bus in the first place.
The pain begins fading, but not all of it. Every inch of me feels raw. Just when I think I’m in the clear, I catch a glimpse of myself.
I’m still rock hard.
Of course.
Of course, I am.
I’m stuck here with a painfully hard dick and raw bites so tender there ain’t going to be any relieving it.
I groan, closing my eyes and leaning my hand against the shower wall.
“Think about anything else.”
The cattle.
The ranch.
The next ride.
I groan. Not that next ride.
Long rides through the dusty plains, the smell of the saddle worn over years, the soft creak of boots on a weathered floorboard.
Then there’s a knock on the door.
“Hart?” Her damn voice and my dick snaps back to attention. “There’s a truck that can’t get around us and wants you to move.”