“Even so, if this is going to work out, we need to set some ground rules and abide by them.”
“Should I show you the rest?” she asked, ignoring his remark. “The bedroom used to have two sets of oversized bunks,” she said. “We’ve replaced those with a full-size bed. I think you’ll find it quite comfortable.” She licked her lips. “Do you want to see it?”
He hesitated. The last thing he needed was to be alone with her in a bedroom. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her. He did, maybe too much, and that was the root of the problem.
“I’m not so sure we should go in there. If we do, there’s no turning back again.” If they continued down this path, all his good intentions would soon be nothing more than the paving stones to hell.
She tipped her chin to meet his eyes. “But I don’t want to turn back. We’ve had too much of that already. I want us to move forward again. The real question is, do you?”
“I’ve already told you I can’t make any promises. I don’t know what my future holds.”
“I don’t care about the future,” she said. “Why not concentrate on the present and hold me?”
He dropped his bags with a thump, freeing his hands to clasp her waist. Hers crept up his chest to loop around his neck. They stood like that, body to body, heartbeat to heartbeat for long, silent seconds.
“Keith? When the time is right, how do they go about it?”
He shook his head with a look of confusion. “How does who go about what?”
“The stallion and mare,” she said. “How does she let him know that she’s receptive?”
“If she’s not in season, she’ll either show no interest in him at all or try to kick his teeth out. If he knows what’s good for him, he behaves like a gentleman until he’s clearly invited.”
She took his hand, leading him toward the next room. “What happens once he knows she’s interested?” she asked. “Does he just climb on top of her and go at it, or is there some kind of mating ritual?”
Her question took him off balance, but the glimmer in her eye brought instant understanding. Hell yeah. He could certainly get into this game. “A good stallion woos his mare.”
“He woos her?” Her brows rose. “How?”
“It’s really not so different from our foreplay.” He dipped his head close to her ear. “He begins by seducing her with sounds.”
“He whispers sweet nothings?”
“More like murmurs nasty somethings,” he replied darkly. “Mares like trashy talk. It excites them.”
Her pupils flared. “What kinds of things does he say?”
“I suppose he tells her how excited he is, how much she turns him on. He probably doesn’t have to say much more than that. Being well hung and turned on probably works in his favor,” he added with a teasing smile.
He slid his hands from her waist and over her hips to cup her ass. He was already hard as a post. He rocked his pelvis into hers. The surprise in her eyes said she knew it.
“Does she get more turned on knowing he’s big enough to satisfy her, or just knowing how much he wants her?” she asked, her breaths coming shorter.
“Both.”
“Wh-what about him? What gets him excited?”
“Mainly her scent. When he senses her receptiveness, the courtship moves on to smelling.” He dipped his head to hers, breathing in a teasing hint of her. “The most powerful aphrodisiac to a stallion is the smell of an aroused mare. It’s almost a drug.”
He then nuzzled her throat and hair, filling his lungs with her. Miranda arched her neck with a little sigh, giving him better access. She shivered lightly as he moved up her neck to her ear.
“What’s next?” she asked. Her pale face was tinted a rosy shade, and her eyes had darkened to slate.
“The stallion and mare begin touching noses and sniffing each other. They then progress to nibbling and licking,” he murmured into her honeysuckle-scented hair.
“Are you saying that horses kiss each another?”
“Yes.” He skimmed his mouth over her face and hovered inches from her lips. “I guess you could call it that, although he does most of it.”
“Are there certain places the mare likes him to kiss her?”
“Yes, Aiwattsi,” he replied. “He begins with her face.” He cupped hers, brushing his lips softly from cheekbone to cheekbone, across her nose, and then back to her lips. “He licks and nibbles until he senses that she wants more.”