"'Let's go for a ride, Chris. It'll be fun, Chris. You
gotta get out of town, Chris.'" Shooting yet another
evil glare at his companion, Chris Larabee grabbed the
soap from where he'd deposited it on the nearest rock
and rubbed vigorously at the dark piece of clothing in
his hand. "I should know better than to listen to you.
I should've known this would end in disaster! I
should've stayed in town and helped Vin spring-clean
his goddamn wagon!"
"Yeah, like you didn't almost run screaming the moment
Vin got that mad li'l gleam in his eyes. We both know
th' dust bunnies in that cave on wheels gotta be big
as cougars by now and twice as mean." Completely
unimpressed by Chris' scowl at the reminder of his
panicked flight at the sight of Vin Tanner brandishing
broom and dust-rag, Buck dunked his already soaked
pants into the river again. "Anyway, it wasn't my
fault your horse spooked."
Chris huffed an indignant breath. "You suggested the
route. Remember? 'Let's check out that clearing south
of Baker Pass. It's mighty purty this time of th'
year.' NOW LOOK AT ME!!"
"Oh, I am." Buck smirked. He paused to take in the
view yet again. "Wet, naked Chris Larabee. I'm not
complainin'." He grinned disarmingly. "C'mon, Chris.
It ain't that bad. Try t' see it this way: It's a
beautiful day, the sun's shinin', th' birds are
caterwaulin', and we're both healthy and alive and,
well, naked! Let's make th' best of it!"
"I'm covered head to toes in goddamn yellow pollen!"
howled the fierce gunslinger, still reeling from the
indignity. He sneezed. "Damn you!"
Buck only laughed and bent over to dunk his head in
the river again to rinse out the last of the mess from
his hair. Loyal to the end, he'd followed his friend
right into the cloud of pollen to make sure Pony
didn't run smack into a tree in all the confusion. He
came up again now, in a glistening cascade of water as
he threw his head back and used both hands to slick
his dark hair back from his face. It was cold, but,
damn it, it still felt sooo good!
When he opened his eyes, Chris stood staring at him
with a familiar look of mingled desire and
exasperation on his face. "You're a bastard," he said,
shaking his head and throwing his shirt into the
general direction of the shore. "You're a goddamn
stubborn, annoying, pain-in-the-ass, irresistible,
beautiful bastard, y'know that? And God help me,
sometimes I love you so much it hurts."
"Does that mean you'll stop pouting now and we can
finally have sex?" Buck asked hopefully.
"Then again," Chris muttered as he made his way
towards his lover, "sometimes I just wanna shoot
ya..."
The End
