“What for? There’s stuff all over the floor and we’d likely bust a leg finding our way.”
“Suits me. Most gals like to undress in the dark.”
Roping Sally looked puzzled and said, “You reckon we ought to take our clothes off just to sleep two or three hours? It’s going on four, and my old Shanghai rooster starts crowing any minute now.”
“Well,” Longarm said, “you’re right about it being late, but I sleep better raw, so I’d best blow out the lights.”
“I’ll do it. You just climb over those boxes and I’ll join you.”
He did as she told him and had his boots off about the time Roping Sally doused the last lamp. He undressed, frowning and puzzled, then got under the covers as Sally climbed in on the other side, saying, “I took my britches and boots off, but I don’t like the way these old blankets scratch when I don’t wear my shirt.”
Longarm reached for her and snuggled her head against his shoulder as he asked mildly, “You ever think of using sheets?”
“They just get dirty and torn up when I’m too tired to shuck my boots after a hard day’s ride. What are you hauling on me like that for?”
“Don’t you want me to cuddle you some, first?”
She moved closer and nestled her body into the curve of his as she said, “It sure feels nice. I like the way you run that hand up and down me, too. Feels like you’re petting me right friendly.”
Longarm slid his hand to her face in the dark, turned her chin up, and kissed her lips. Roping Sally’s lips were a mite wind-chapped and her breath smelled like a tobacco shop, but she responded after a moment of hesitation. Longarm wondered why women always seemed to want to back off at the last minute after damned near running a man all around the corral to rope and saddle him. He kept his lips against hers as he moved the hand downward. Sally stiffened as he cupped her mons in his palm and rubbed her lightly through her shirttail. She rolled her mouth aside and whispered, “Are you getting dirty with me?”
Longarm was finding it difficult to keep his amazement concealed. He said levelly, “Honey, there ain’t anything dirty about this. It’s why the Lord made men and women different, is all.”
“I don’t know if you ought to do that, though. You’re getting me all mushy and funny-like.”
But she had her own free hand on the back of Longarm’s, now, and when he asked if she wanted him to stop, she pressed it closer and murmured, “Don’t know what I want. It feels nice as anything, but I ain’t sure I ought to let you keep going.”
“Sally, it’s going on four, I got a long day ahead of me, and this palaver must cease. We’ve got no time for any more games!”
Suiting his actions to his words, Longarm cocked a leg over her, parted her ample thighs with his knee, and climbed aboard, moving her damp shirttail above her navel as he guided himself into her. Her matted pubic hair was wet with her own desire and though she was tighter than he’d expected, he sank full-depth into her on the first thrust.
Sally gasped, “My God! What are you doing to me?”
He tactfully avoided a direct answer. “Could you maybe move your knees up some? You’re tighter than a drum, and-“
“Oh, Lord, I’m ruined! I swear I think you’re screwing me!”
Longarm frowned in the darkness, but this was no time to discuss the details. She began to respond with hard, rocking thrusts of her own, even as she sobbed, “You never told me you wanted to get dirty! This is terrible! How will we ever be able to look one another in the eye again, come daylight?”
“I’ll stop if you’ve a mind to,” Longarm lied considerately. But Roping Sally dug her nails into his bouncing buttocks, spread her legs wider, and moaned.
Longarm figured she was one orgasm ahead of him by the time he stopped to get his breath back, still in the saddle. Roping Sally was breathing hard, too, but she sighed, “Oh, my, that was more fun than Saturday night after roundup! Can we do it again? I know you’ve ruined me forever, but now that I know what all the fuss is about I’m sort of getting the hang of it.”
Longarm thought of himself as a patient man, but this was too much.
“Sally, what in thunder are you talking about? You’re not going to tell me that old sad tale about being a virgin, are you?”
“I don’t know what tale you’re talking about, but if you mean to ask have I done it before, I ain’t. You won’t tell anybody, will you?”
“Honey, you told me you lost your cherry years ago and that your pa was pissed at the jasper who did it!”
“Oh, that was when our wrangler put me aboard a spooky bronc when I was maybe thirteen. I rode the bronc, but when I got off, my crotch was all bloody and Daddy was sore as hell. He said the ride had busted my cherry, and-“
Longarm’s eyes rolled upward and he slapped his forehead with the heel of his hand. “Oh, Jesus! I see the light and I’m purely sorry, ma’am!”
“You ought to be sorry, you dirty old thing. You just screwed me and I’m a ruined woman, but to tell you the truth, I ain’t all that riled. You want to do it some more?”
He stayed inside her, but didn’t move, as he cleared his throat and said, “Sally, we’ve got to talk about this. I know a gent’s supposed to do right by a lady and all, but I ain’t the marrying kind … damn it! I had you down as a tough old cowgal!”
“I’m tough enough, I reckon. You don’t think getting screwed is likely to turn me sissy, do you?”
“Not hardly, but … shit, I just don’t know what to say.”
“Are you sore at me? I know folks are supposed to be ashamed to see each other after they’ve been ruined, but
