Chapter 3 - The Competitor

Audry was horny.

So she gently sucked my sleeping cock into her mouth, trying to bring it to life, without waking me. Once she succeeded, she gleefully swung a leg over my hips, plugged it in, and sat on it. Then she just stayed there, manipulating me with her talented internal muscles. Soon it was too much for both of us and I started moving my hips and she started bucking against me-her orgasm caught her by surprise and she flailed out of control, screaming in joy.

The scream brought me out of the very pleasant dream I was having and into a more pleasant reality, just in time to enjoy my own orgasm, splashing my seed into Audry's greedy womb.

"Baby! You sure know how to get a guy's attention!"

Audry just smiled, a lazy, contented smile. "Of course. I'm a woman!" she murmured as she lay on me, still plugged in.

It was still a bit early to get up. And, as high as we were, it would be really cold until the sun came up.

We were camped well above 6,000 feet, in a beautiful alpine meadow, with a pretty little lake of snow-water and a carpet of wildflowers-except where the horses had eaten them. It was a spot we loved, and tried to return to at least once every summer. We could only stay one night, without risking damage to the foliage. There wasn't a lot of firewood, either. We packed ours up from lower elevations.

But the beauty of the place made it worth the effort. And it turned Audry on, which made it worth the effort...

Even the horses seemed exhilarated by the trip. They were eager to go as soon as we threw the western saddles on them, instead of the English rigs they normally wore when we worked them.

Although we live and train in Oregon, on the family ranch, Audry and I are, without false modesty, world-class riders in equestrian events. Audry is a little better at dressage and arena jumping. I'm better at the 3-day event. And I have to confess that Audry's horse, Shannon, is a bit better at the arena events than Sam, my mount. But Sam is the best horse in the world for the 3-day. Big, well-proportioned, with incredible stamina and an eager attitude, he's perfect.

So's Audry. Slim, elegant, elfin, yet generously rounded female, she's always been the only woman for me. In fact, I think I've only ever had two dates with other women before we got married.

This was an Olympic year, so nationals came early. Our horses were trained. We were trained. It was time for a break.

Just as human athletes need to take a couple days off from training once in a while, so do horses. This trip was as much for them as for us. We were riding our Olympic mounts, Samarkand and Shannon.

I finally had to relieve the bladder pressure and gently rolled Audry off me. Fumbling into a shirt and pants, I stuck my feet into my moccasins and opened the tent. A blast of frigid air blew away any sleep remaining in me.

My business done, I got the breakfast fire going and put water on to boil. Breakfast would be simple: Instant coffee and instant oatmeal. We'd have a light lunch on the trail and a big dinner back at grandma's house.

On our way back, we stopped atop a ridge overlooking the ranch in one direction, and a lovely little park, with a spring and creek running through it on the other side. It had been a year since we'd been there. I wanted to check something.

Dropping the reins-Sam knew to stay put-I walked along the ridge to the knob at the end of it. Approaching carefully, to avoid leaving tracks, I carefully looked it over. Eventually, I spied a few old bones and, caught in a juniper bush, a scrap of denim. A rusted rifle lay half under a weathered log. On the way up the ridge, I'd seen the skull of a horse and a bit of old saddle, off the trail, among the junipers. No one, it seemed, had been there since a would-be ambusher had tried his luck with me and lost the argument.

Schwartz's disappearance over a year ago hadn't even made a ripple. His family was already in disgrace and no one cared about a discredited 'champion' whose victory had been stripped from him, after Sports Illustrated exposed the corruption and bribery that had bought his first place finish.

Equestrian events aren't even a professional sport in most of the world, though competing at our level is not an inexpensive hobby. His family and two others had tried to buy respectability and enter the world of high society by taking short cuts. We were members of that world, on the rare occasions we wanted to be, through mom's relatives. What these people hadn't understood was the society they wanted to enter could easily have been theirs, had they displayed a little class and just been solid people, with integrity. Money or family doesn't matter all that much.

Nationals went about like we expected. Audry won both dressage and arena jumping events. I was third in both-I'd expected second on the hurdles, but another rider just managed to beat us out when Sam clipped a fence. If a horse can be embarrassed, Sam was. He'd been lazy on that fence.

We won the 3-day handily, literally running away from the field.

We'd be going to the Olympics.

The Games would be in Vienna. Audry and I looked forward to some quality sightseeing in the historic old city. Mom arranged for us all to fly to Austria. She had a friend in a company that leased aircraft all over the world. They also took on many contracts for flying work, from giant jets, to aerial spraying of pests using helicopters.

A 747 cargo plane was being ferried to Germany. We could move ourselves and the horses on it. The return flight was a similar arrangement, but different aircraft.

The flight was long and boring, but surprisingly comfortable. They'd put in some first class seats for us upstairs behind the cockpit, and we brought our own food and entertainment-no in-flight movies! With sandwiches and trail mix, and a cooler of soda and wine, we managed just fine. A new Dick Frances novel kept the boredom away, until I fell asleep.

Customs in Austria was a breeze. The horses behaved well-they wanted off the plane and knew they'd get off sooner if they were good about it. Before we knew it, we had them in the stables we'd arranged and we were all in a small inn, eating good Austrian food and drinking the excellent local wine and beer. The jet lag would get us soon.

We'd arrived more than three weeks before the start of the Olympics, not knowing how 'jet lag' would affect the horses. Of course, it's always better if the athlete knows the venue before he competes in it, too.

The next day, our hosts took us to the site of the equestrian events, outside of Vienna itself. The facility was lovely. The arena was large and covered. That would limit the crowds, as the stands would only hold about 4,000 people, normally. The Olympic committee had made some temporary changes, and increased the seating to 10,000. But that was still limited.

The outdoor events, especially the 3-day, would be in the immediate area. The committee was just putting the finishing touches on the cross-country course.

We were given written instructions about stabling our horses and storing our equipment. Security would be as foolproof as they could make it-a nice thing, we agreed-and would include horses and equipment.

The cross-country course would be available for practice starting the following Saturday. Sam and I would be there. Meanwhile, we could practice arena events, under mom's critical eye, at the stable we were using.

The opening ceremonies were awesome!

As athletes, herded in with the rest of the US contingent, we didn't get to see most of the panoply. But marching into the big stadium, hearing the crowd, and seeing the other athletes was a 'lifetime event'. Audry clutched my hand the whole time, like I'd be lost forever if she couldn't hang on. We waved to the crowd and to the TV cameras. And to grandma and our parents, seated in a special section of the stadium. We were both grinning like maniacs.

We'd seriously considered staying at the inn outside town. But Audry wanted to savor all she could of the Olympic experience, so we stayed in the 'village'. This was a bunch of college dormitories. Initially, they'd wanted to put Audry with 'women' and me in a 'men's' facility. We just said we'd move back to the stables first. Eventually reason prevailed and we were given a room of our own. It was just like my room in the fraternity house, only smaller. We didn't care. The interaction with other athletes, from all kinds of sports, made it fun and interesting. There were athletes competing in events we'd never even heard of! What is 'field hockey'? Or 'team handball'? By the same token, many of them had never heard of '3-day event'. 'You do it with horses? What does the horse do?' And a frequent question was, 'What in hell is dressage?'

It was fun.

The horses seemed to enjoy exploring their new surroundings as much as we did. Shannon didn't like the arena very much, but he behaved like the aristocrat he is and put it beneath him.

Sam didn't care. He used the 'bigger hammer' approach anyway. His strength and stamina were up to any challenge. He seemed to enjoy the new country, but didn't concern himself with the details. We ate up the cross-country course in practice. My only concern was to keep him in hand for the arena events.

Mom was ticked off-at the horse! She actually got eye-to-eye with him and yelled at him to pay attention to what he was doing. He'd clear all the hurdles in the practice arena-with a yard or more to spare. He seemed to be looking around while he was doing it. The damn horse was enjoying himself and not concerned about the task at hand.

Audry was just a bit discontented, herself. The beds in our room were narrow college bunks. Too narrow for us to sleep together, as we normally did. We'd pushed them together, and even borrowed a big feather comforter from the inn where the family was staying. The space between the beds was a barrier to our normal sleep pattern, snuggled together.

Our landlord and innkeeper mentioned that several of his customers often took overnight trips on horseback. Audry and I looked at each other and grinned. Mom and dad grinned too. Aunt Elin smiled serenely, until Uncle Rick caught on. Grandma just said, "I'll set it up."

Early the next morning, we were all in the saddle-western rigs, except mom, who rides English to work cows. We even had rifles in our scabbards. This was just force of habit, and we didn't expect to need them. In fact, we were amazed at how easily we got the rifles through Austrian customs. Of course they knew we were competing in the Olympics. We told them we'd been asked to bring American cowboy gear, and that was part of it.

We did attract some stares from the local people. They were used to horses and riders at all hours. But not to American cowboys riding in their country lanes. We were in western boots, jeans, flannel shirts, Levi jackets and Stetson hats. And the western saddles were unmistakable. Dad and Uncle Rick even carried lariats.

What we did not carry was saddlebags or bedrolls. Our host and his wife accompanied us and had arranged for a comfortable camp to be set up before we arrived at our overnight stop... Including food far better than I've had in many restaurants. We have a bit to learn from the Austrians about life on the trail!

That night, Audry and I made love in a tent, in a comfortable bed. Her breasts were delicious and her mouth was sweet. We joined in harmony, rose to ecstasy and down again, like gentle swells on the sea.

When we returned to the stables the next afternoon, Audry and I-and our horses-were relaxed and 'mellowed out.'

The dressage event was held on two consecutive days. The first day was qualifying for the finals. The top twenty riders would compete for the medals. Audry and I both made the cut easily.

Very elegant, Audry was easily among the favorites. If one had to choose, you might say she was a tiny bit better at jumping than dressage. But it was a tough choice.

When it was over, Audry was second and I was fourth. The winner was a captain in the Argentine army: A very correct man, who never seemed to smile-I guess he had a lot of German in his blood.