Cooper scratched his chin and thought. Rebecca smiled as she realised that every time Cooper was deep in thought he started to scratch his chin with the tips of the fingers of his left hand. She hadn't noticed when he was kissing her, but he had a short stubble on his chin, and his fingers were setting up a faint sand paper sound that seemed to tickle the sensitive nerves in the side of her neck. She all but gasped out loud and crossed her legs in an involuntary movement that surprised her, and sent a red flush washing across her lower neck. Cooper didn't notice, but went over to the window and looked out. No one about, so he stepped out through the window frame onto the wide veranda outside. Still no movement. He looked back to Rebecca.
"Honey..." He stopped in mid speech for a moment looking at Rebecca. "Sorry." He didn't even know if she liked or wanted pet names. They had exchanged some pretty hot times, but did that qualify him to start going all soft on her? "Rebecca, honey." Dam, he couldn't help it. 'Oh forget it' he thought. "Keep an eye out, and yell if you see anyone. Don't fire the rifle..." He had seen the look of awe on her face as she had looked at the rifle when he brought it back to the table. Someone in awe of a such a weapon would not be able to handle it safely. It was a tool, like a hammer or power saw. Handle with care, and respect, but don't fear it. It was the people holding the weapon that one had to fear. She would be safer - and so would he be, if she left it alone until he could train her properly in its use.
"I'll be back in a moment." With that he sprinted for the New World plane sitting on the runway, shimmering in the liquid heat. Rebecca had never seen anything like this heat. It shimmered over the plains like a vast sheet of water, seeming to float just above the ground. Objects that were embedded in it like windmills and trees, and even the New World place, seemed to be floating just above the ground, in a shimmering moving mirage. She realised that was what she was looking at. This was a true mirage. No wonder the sight of so much water had driven the explorers mad in the old days. It wasn't water, just a reflection caused by the heat. She could see that even men walking through it seemed to have a surreal quality, not really men, but shifting wriggling shapes that sometimes had legs and sometimes didn't and seemed to progress toward her like ghostly apparitions. Suddenly she was bolt upright. Men! She jumped out of the window onto the veranda and started yelling in the direction of the parked plane. She couldn't see Cooper at all. Where was he. Rebecca was normally a very calm person, but she was a long way out of her element in this place, and her comfort zone was non existent.
Suddenly Cooper was right there beside her, his arm around her waist. He was squinting into the distance, looking in the direction that Rebecca was wildly waving her arms in.
"Sure enough." He said with a final nod of his head. He helped Rebecca back through the window to the interior, and the semi darkness. All the curtains had been drawn previously, leaving just this one window free. He checked the rifles and took up a position near to, but back from the open window. Who ever that was moving about out on the sandy plains was still a long way off. The heat mirages tended to enlarge and telescope objects toward the viewer, so that a person for example may seem as though they were just over the ridge, but could be in fact miles away. Cooper studied the moving images carefully. It was nearly impossible to tell just how close the people were, or even who they were. They could be Billy's people, or they could be the New World people. He would just have to wait and see who came out of the shimmering haze. He said to Rebecca.
"Their aeroplane is locked, but it won't be any use to them anyway, as all the tyres are flat. I don't know who has done that, but they are. We still have a couple of motorbikes in the far shed, and a camel catching truck. Slow but very strong. However, we are safe enough here in the house until help arrives." Cooper couldn't figure out what the New World people were up to though. The prospecting and digging were one thing, but why take all of his people prisoner and try to keep himself and Rebecca on the station by force. It didn't make sense. They must have known that Cooper would have radio-phones and satellite internet at his disposal so their activities would soon be known. Perhaps they were surprised to find so many people out here on the property, thinking perhaps that Cooper and Rebecca were still in Brisbane. He couldn't understand what they hoped to achieve. Maybe that's how they behaved back in their own Eastern European country. Rebecca had told him that she thought they were Eastern European, perhaps Ukrainian or Uzbeks. It was just as likely that that was how they behaved in those countries. He had watched the TV news and read the papers often enough. Well, it wouldn't work out here, and they couldn't have been thinking of the future consequences at all when they started heavy handing the local people. They couldn't possibly have known about Billy's people either. The day dragged on, and Cooper and Rebecca began to doubt that the strangers would turn up. It was apparent that no one else was turning up either. Not the police from town, and not the people promised by Kali's friend from London. Although that didn't surprise Cooper. He had found that people from places like England, or Europe in general really had no idea of the vast distances and utter emptiness of the Australian outback. Cooper's homestead was probably as remote as it was possible to get in this land of remote places.
Cooper wanted to talk to Rebecca. Any reason would do! He just wanted to talk to her, to hear her voice, to feel the... well, he couldn't describe it. feeling that it gave him. He enjoyed hearing her voice. Like eating a sweet ice cream on a sunny day in the park. She gave him a sense of the joy of life. Was this what love was? Love, the one with the big L. Maybe it was.
"Rebecca." He said, almost tasting the sound of her name in his mouth. Her lips were so smooth and soft. She didn't try and force her tongue into his mouth - actually, he didn't like that at all. He did like teasing with his tongue and being teased in return, when he was kissing, he loved the feel of Rebecca against him. She had seemed quite tall when he first met her at the airport, but without her shoes on, she was actually quite a bit shorter than he was. Maybe it was just the way he felt about her.
"Yes Cooper?" Said Rebecca. "Cooper? You said my name... What are you doing, away with the pixies or something?" She was looking at Cooper like he was doing something strange. He snapped back to the moment, to the room. He had been daydreaming about Rebecca he realised.
"Uh, sorry. I was... uh, daydreaming?" He said, none too sure of himself. What was going on? Daydreaming like a love struck school boy. The last time he had done that he had been in boarding school, and Miss History - Miss Marmalade actually, had been his first true love. She hadn't known it of course, but at the time he thought he might just stay in sixth form for the rest of his life so he could be with her.
"Rebecca." He said again, and coughed. "I think I love you. No." He held up his hand to ward off her refusal, as he was sure she would. "No, don't say anything. Please. I'm not asking you to love me back. I'm just letting you know, that for the first time in my life, I am falling hopelessly in love, and falling in love with you." He paused. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you didn't reply. Not until we get out of this place. I should never have brought you out here. I'm amazed at how stupid a man can be."
He dropped his hands to his side and turned to the window again. This was crazy. They couldn't just sit here. He determined to do something about the situation.
"I'm not going to sit here and do nothing. It's time we took the action to them.
"Rebecca, I love you, and I'm going to fix this. This is not - absolutely not the way I wanted you to experience my home for the first time." He moved about the room, flinging open all the curtains and blinds, letting the light in. He picked up the rifle and headed for the door.
"Wait here for me - one more time honey." He didn't hesitate this time over the word honey. "I'm only going to scout around. You will be able to see me most times. Whoever that was in the heat haze, must have been a long way off. I just want to make sure there is no one closer." He set off toward the nearest ridge. He'd be able to see for miles from up there. Rebecca watched him walking away into the shimmering mirage. Perhaps he was a mirage she thought. Their lovemaking last night had been fantastic, he was so careful and attentive to her needs. She knew her experience was very limited. In fact, she was now forced to admit to herself, she had been hiding in her work. The heartbreak of losing her fiancé had hurt so much. The result was, that in matters of relationships with the opposite sex, she was practically virginal. What must Cooper have thought of her? Her girl friends talked openly of some of the things they did with their boyfriends, often making Rebecca blush. Something she tried to hide from them. She was going all warm and fuzzy just thinking about how Cooper had slowly moved inside her last night. She didn't think it was possible for a person to create so much pleasure in another person. She had thrilled from her toes to the top of her head, even now as she stood on the veranda watching him, she could almost feel him slowly entering her, stroking her breasts, nibbling on her ear lobes with gentle teeth bites. She was becoming very aroused, her wetness thrilling her as much as shocking her. In desperation, to break her mood of delicious introspection she started to pace up and down the boards of the veranda.
Finally, Cooper stepped back onto the veranda. He took her in his arms and tilted her chin so she was looking into the depths of his eyes. She couldn't help letting out a small sigh. Oh how she wanted him. Love, yes, she loved him.
"We are alone for now." Cooper said. His steady look changed to surprise as Rebecca started hauling at his shirt to get it out from his waist, fumbling and eventually tearing the buttons in her haste to get his shirt off. Cooper began responding, lifting her cotton dress over her head in one swift motion, her arms coming up and falling around his neck. He reached down and moved her hips away slightly, she was pressing into his hardness, whimpering in little gasps. His hand began to explore her sex, softly stroking back and forth, her wetness making his tentative entry so much easier. She started sagging at the knees, and in a single motion undoing his belt buckle and sliding his trousers and underpants down. 'Oh My God' She thought as she released him from the confines of his clothes. Cooper's breathing was like a rushing wind as he fought against the over whelming desire that was burning through him. He needed the feel of Rebecca around him, his erection was tingling as he longed for the sensation, when suddenly Rebecca crouched down and took him fully into her mouth, drawing him into a dizzying black hole of rushing sensation. He drew in a mighty rush of breath and his back arched as Rebecca held him against her, drawing him ever deeper. He couldn't stand it any longer and tried to draw Rebecca to her feet so he could make love to her, entering into her delicious sweetness. She shook her head violently in protest and he couldn't hold out any longer, his climax shuddering his body from head to toe as her sudden movement drove him over the edge. Cooper gave voice to a primal cry as the orgasm wracked his body, until eventually he came back to his senses, stroking Rebecca's head as she rested her cheek against his now spent sex. She slowly stood up, putting her arms around his waist, she said.
"Now you can call me honey." She smiled. "Now you can sample my... Honey trap." As she took his hand and guided it between her thighs. 'Oh what have I been missing' She thought to herself as Coopers fingers began to bring her alive in ways she didn't think possible.
"Cooper, my sweet love, my gorgeous man. Oh Cooper, yes, oh yes...Do it to me, don't ever stop." Rebecca heard herself, and although she couldn't believe the words were coming from her, she didn't care, Cooper was steadily bringing her to her own climax, right out here in the open air. Not a soul for perhaps a hundred miles. Suddenly Cooper reached down, cupping her bottom in his huge strong hands and lifted her up and carefully guided himself into her. He was hard and huge again, taking her breath away. Rebecca moaned aloud, matching Coopers long sigh as she slid down the length of him, her legs gripping tight around his waist. Slowly their movement built, in perfect synchronicity until Rebecca felt herself climaxing in huge waves of passion, thrashing her head from side to side, biting Coopers lips, his cheeks, his neck as though she wanted to take all of him inside her, while her pulsing contractions were bringing Cooper to a massive veranda shaking climax again. He rested his back against a veranda post and clutched Rebecca to him tightly. He never wanted to let her go. Referral wanted to stay locked to Cooper forever.
"Rebecca, honey honey honey..." Gasped Cooper, "my God. If that's making love, I am never letting you go." He slowly let Rebecca ease down and stand with him, still holding her tightly against him. "This is not just sex talking. I love you more than words can express."
Rebecca clasped him tightly. "I love you too Cooper. But..." The air rushed out of Cooper.
"But?" He croaked. "What? What is it? But what?" He moved Rebecca away slightly. Her naked beauty dazzling him like the midday sun. He was getting hard again. 'No' He shouted to himself, 'I need to find out the but.' Too late, Rebecca had taken his rigid member in her hand and was slowly stroking him back and forth, his knees almost buckling.
"But What!" He almost shouted at the roof.
Rebecca smiled with a mischievous grin, all the while drawing him toward the bedroom, and like a tiny puppy on a leash he followed. They tumbled onto the bed, and Rebecca straddled him, saying,
"But... I want lots and lots of this. It's the way you make love to me. It's in the way you hold me. It's in the way we make love. There is no one in the world but us." She gave up talking, throwing her head back and slowly rocking on him, their dark bushes merged as she rocked on the divine fulcrum, their love melting them into one person.
Rebecca wished, no less than Cooper that their peace together could go on forever. Eventually they were completely spent, and lay together for a long while, just in each other's arms.
Rebecca was first to surface, quietly heading for the bathroom and a quick shower. She finished and quickly dressed, heading for the kitchen to give Cooper some space, and her some thinking time while he showered and changed.
She smiled when she heard the washing machine chugging away. That was some man.
"I've put all our stuff in the wash, hope you don't mind." He declared as he came through barefoot into the kitchen. He headed straight for Rebecca and squeezed her in a giant bear hug.
"No more 'buts'?" He teased with a smile.
Coffee was bubbling in the pot, and Cooper poured them a cup each.
"Sugar? Milk?" He asked, realising that he not only had no idea whether she took milk or sugar, but almost everything about her. He would make it his life's mission to find out.
Starting with basic fare.
"What would you like to eat? You have everything at your fingertips here." He smiled. “Except fresh eggs. However, I have powdered eggs, that reconstitute very well?” The question in his voice alerted Rebecca that the powdered eggs might not be all that they were supposed to be.
"This is a break in my normal routines like I've never had." She said. "So I guess I can try powdered eggs as well!" She looked at Cooper and smiled. He was still unsure of her it seemed, and with good reason. She was giving no sign that she wanted to stay in this place for one minute longer than was necessary. However, Cooper thought that powdered eggs may be one step too far for her, so he quietly decided to leave the mention of eggs of any sort out of any further conversations. One look at Rebecca told him that she was not a big eater in any case, so he was at a bit of a loss as to what to prepare for a meal. Being a cattle property they had meat of all cuts in plentiful supply. There was tinned and frozen vegetables, and all sorts of spices and condiments. Cooper thought he was a passable cook but didn't know what Rebecca might be used to, although what ever it was would almost surely not be on the menu here.
He was about ready to give up the idea, and suggest that they just make some soup later on for dinner.
"There is some fresh fruit still in the cool room, if you'd like an apple or pear maybe? I know it's been a while since either of us managed to grab something to eat." Cooper took Rebecca's hand and led her through the kitchen to the cool room, it's entrance built into the kitchen wall.
The room was well stocked with fresh fruit, and to Rebecca's surprise it was actually very fresh.
"Just an apple for now thanks. Cooper." Rebecca realised that she had been about to use a term of endearment with him. She also realised that the more she watched him, the more she realised just how "at home" he was here. Of course it was his family home, and he would naturally be familiar with the place but there was something else - and it seemed to be flashing at her like a warning signal. A man so comfortable with his surroundings would not easily change them, for any reason. Rebecca had some built in insecurities that she kept hidden well. The strongest one was the feeling of fear that came to the surface at the thought of committing to a man again, and having him not come back to her. She knew it was irrational, and had even been to a therapist about it. Nothing seemed to cure it. Now it had surfaced again, hammering on her chest as though trying to escape into the open. What if she committed to be with Cooper? She couldn't survive here, in this place. She knew she'd give it a valiant try, but in the end it was too alien to her. It would fail, and once again she'd be left on her own. It would be the same for Cooper, if he threw it all in and came to London with her, for she had to go back. Her career was just starting, and she enjoyed it. What could Cooper do in London. No cattle there. No open spaces. He'd be crazy in a week, once she went back to eighteen hours plus days.
"Cooper," she suddenly blurted out "what sort of degree do you have?" She faltered a little. "I know you have done something, I saw it in your profile, but truly, I can't remember the detail."
Cooper selected a couple of nice apples from the cooler basket, and led the way back to the main room, sitting comfortably in a chair that was obviously his. It just moulded around him as he settled back into it. He was looking at her steadily. He had heard the hesitation in her voice and it shocked him, after what they had just been doing. He didn't reply immediately, he was thinking himself that he should take stock of what was happening between Rebecca and himself. She was pouring some juice into a glass, and then turned to raise it to her lips when Cooper replied.