by Barbara Gee
That made Jeremiah cackle yet again.
CHAPTER 18
At first Callie was aware of the murmur of the two male voices from the living room, but she gradually got immersed in her work. She finalized a feed order she and Quinn had gone over that morning, then she started researching a new supplement the young man was interested in trying. Callie had promised to discuss it with Jeremiah, but she wanted to learn more about it herself first.
She read several articles, then found a site that included the new supplement in a product comparison chart. She was making a note of the differences between that and what they already used when she felt big hands come down lightly on her shoulders.
“Hey. You doing okay out here?”
His sudden presence made her shiver, in a good way, and she was pretty sure he felt it.
“Yeah, I’m good. How about you two? Is Grandpa getting tired?”
“He just headed back to his bedroom. Said to send you back when you’re at a stopping point.”
She leaned back in her chair, moaning a little as his capable fingers smoothed the tense muscles that ran across the tops of her shoulders.
“I’ll give him a few minutes to get into bed. I like to fuss over him a little once he gets there. Make sure his phone charger is plugged in, and he has a glass of cold water and an extra blanket in case he needs it during the night. Sometimes I read to him for a little while, but now that he’s taking sleeping pills he hasn’t wanted that as much.”
“You’re a good granddaughter,” Vince said softly.
“Did you tell him he needs to stop worrying so much?” she asked.
“Mmm hmm. Not sure it did any good though.”
“Did he talk about whatever it is?”
“Not really. Just admitted there are things he’s stressing over.” Vince wanted to say more, but he knew Jeremiah wouldn’t want him to pass on the little bit he had said. Which meant he was already having to keep things from Callie.
She rolled her shoulders under his hands. “You’re so good at that,” she said, reluctantly getting up. “Can you stick around while I get him settled?”
“Of course. Mind if I make some coffee?”
“Sure. It’s in that cupboard,” she said, pointing.
***
Vince figured out the coffeemaker pretty easily, then sat down at the table and scrolled through emails and texts on his phone while he waited. Fifteen minutes later she returned, her smile appreciative.
“That smells great,” she said, getting out two mugs. “I have some cookies in the freezer if you want some.”
He shook his head and put a hand on his stomach. “I ate so much for supper, I probably won’t even be hungry for breakfast.”
She laughed. “You did eat a lot, but I’m sure you’ll be ready for breakfast.”
“Did Jeremiah teach you to cook?”
“Yep, as soon as I was old enough. He said he didn’t want me to not be able to cook just because there weren’t any women here to teach me.”
“Good for him.”
She set the coffee down and took a seat across the table. He curled one hand around his mug while he reached for her hand with the other. He cocked his head and gave her a mock-stern look.
“You haven’t told your friends yet,” he said leadingly.
She squirmed a little in her chair, while turning her hand over and gripping his, seeming to be as hungry for the contact as he was.
“Told them what?” she asked, looking guilty.
“You know what.”
Her eyes glinted as she fought a smile. “Oh, you mean about us?”
“Of course I mean about us.” He studied her, encouraged by that twinkle in her eyes. “And I know you didn’t, because Rose and Brittany showed up at the rink again today.”
She winced. “Were they obnoxious?”
“Not really, just flirty, and I know they wouldn’t have been if you’d told them. Brittany’s still determined to teach me how to ride.”
“I’ll tell them. I just wanted to give it a little time.”
He stroked his thumb over the soft skin of her inner wrist. “Why?”
Her beautiful eyes met his. “To be honest, I was afraid maybe you’d wake up this morning and wonder what in the world you’d gotten yourself into. I didn’t want to tell the girls we were together, then have to take it all back.”
He shook his head slowly. Decisively. “Not a chance, Callie. My first thought when I woke up this morning was counting up how many hours I’d have to get through before I could see you again.” Her lashes swept down self-consciously, but she was smiling. “It was eleven and a half,” he added. “Eleven and a half loooooong hours.”
“They were long,” she agreed. She stood, picking up her coffee but still keeping hold of his hand. “Let’s go sit in the living room. It’s more comfortable.”
He got up, but instead of following her, he tugged her to a stop. Pulling his hand from hers, he gently took her mug from her grasp and placed it on the table behind them. Then he raised his hands to the sides of her head, his eyes roaming slowly over her face. So beautiful, every part of it. The arch of her dark brows, the pale green eyes with their impossibly thick lashes. The curve of her cheekbones and the smooth, defined line of her jaw.
And those sweet curvy lips he craved. The lips that parted as she drew in a quick, trembling breath.
“Sorry, but I can’t wait any longer,” he murmured, brushing his thumb lightly across her lower lip. “Not even till we get to the living room.”
***
Callie stopped breathing. She’d hoped that settling in next to each other on the couch would prompt this very thing, and she loved that it felt even more urgent to him. She also liked the heat in his eyes as they locked on her mouth. He slowly lowered his head and she tried to wait demurely, letting him make the moves, but without conscious thought, her hands went to his chest while her feet pushed up onto her toes, and their lips collided head-on.
Sensation took over. She’d been anticipating this for almost twenty-four hours, and her body responded like he was something vital. Something she couldn’t live without. She put her arms around his neck and clung to him, loving how big he was. How powerful. Loving how it felt to be wrapped in his arms, knowing her world was changed and she was no longer alone in it.
She sighed against his lips, completely consumed by the feel and taste of him. Kissing Vince was exactly what she and the girls had giggled about and longed for since puberty. The kind of kiss that had mesmerized them from movie screens, as they got caught up in stories that were only make believe, but seemed so real.
Callie’s current reality felt as amazing as one of those movies, but there was no make believe with Vince Abbot. It was all blissfully real. The touch of his lips, the sweet slide of his tongue, the hot, firm grasp of his hands.
He raised his head briefly, his eyes heavy-lidded and dark blue. Then he tilted his head and changed the angle. Now the kiss was slower, deeper, his hands sliding down her back and urging her closer against him. When his mouth left hers and moved down her neck, pausing at the pulse-point before moving to the curve of her neck and shoulder, she sighed and let her head fall to the side, feeling as if her eyes were welded shut.
“You smell so good,” he whispered against her skin. “You feel so good.” He pressed his cheek to hers. “Maybe a little too good,” he admitted. He raised his head to look at her, and she pried her eyes open, knowing she looked as dazed as she felt.
“I need to back off, Callie,” he said gruffly. “I have to be careful with you. I don’t want to risk doing anything that’ll tarnish what we’re trying to build.”
All she could do was stare up at him and nod. Her throat wasn’t working, so words weren’t an option.
He took half a step back and his lips curved up. The man had incredible lips. Lips she could happily kiss for hours.
“If you keep looking at me like that, I might reconsider that whole backing off thing,” he wa
rned.
She exhaled slowly and let her hands fall weakly from his arms. Her attempt at clearing her throat came out as a muffled squeak.
He tilted his head and grinned. “What? I didn’t quite catch that. You trying to tell me you’re feeling it too?”
She raised a hand and pushed at his chest. “Stop it, Vince,” she managed to say. She cleared her throat again, a little more successfully. “This is all new to me. I don’t have the slightest idea how to handle it.”
He sobered, his gaze probing. “You think it isn’t new for me?” he asked, his voice low and rough.
She blinked a few times, then looked down at his chest. “I hope it is. I also hope I’m not the only one feeling like my world is being totally rocked every time we kiss.”
“You aren’t. Consider my world officially rocked.”
She looked back up at him. “Is it okay to feel like this?” She felt her cheeks get warm because the question sounded so naïve, but the desire she felt for this man truly was unprecedented. It was wonderful and heady, but also scary.
His expression grew thoughtful, and she loved that he took her concern seriously. “I think it’s exactly the way it should be when two people care a lot about each other. We just need to be careful and not get carried away.” He dipped his head for better eye contact. “And Callie, in case you’re ever tempted to wonder how you compare, please don’t. I’m not lying when I say it’s never been like this for me.”
Her heart swelled, not only because she was glad it was different with her, but also because he’d thought to tell her so. “You’re a good guy,” she said quietly. “Thank you.”
His blue eyes were warm as he took a step away and tipped his head toward the hallway. “Living room?”
“Yep. I was hoping we could snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie.”
He walked over to the table and picked up his untouched coffee mug. “I’ll let you snuggle if you let me pick the movie,” he teased.
Callie retrieved her own mug and took a sip, eyeing him over the brim. “Nah, I don’t want to snuggle that bad,” she said after she swallowed. She turned to go down the hall, shooting a wicked smile back over her shoulder.
He laughed and followed. “We’ll see about that.”
They chose the movie together. And they snuggled. But they didn’t kiss again, because a person could only handle so much world-rocking in one evening.
CHAPTER 19
Vince parked out by the Double Nickel barn, eager as always to see his girl. Callie had texted to let him know she already had the horses saddled up, and Vince suspected she wanted to surprise him by giving him a horse other than good old Edison. He’d asked last evening whether he could “graduate” to a horse that was a little more spry, and Callie had grinned and told him she’d think about it.
They’d ridden together the last two evenings after dinner, but the rides had been short. Jeremiah hadn’t been feeling good, and she didn’t like to leave him for long—not even when he was ensconced in his recliner with no intention of getting up anytime soon.
It was now Saturday evening. Vince hadn’t been able to get away from the retreat center in time to come for dinner, because he’d had to help with the end-of-the-first-week hockey tournament for the veterans. The tournament had gone a little long and it was going to be dark soon, but there was still time for a quick ride.
He got out of the car and stretched, wishing Callie had been able to come to the tournament. He and Boone had each coached a sled team, and Vince had been so proud of his players. With only one week of experience on sleds, they’d given it their all and then some. His team had come up one goal short, but the players and the crowd, aka the retreat center staff and the players’ families, had enjoyed the competition.
They’d also had a lot of fun with the standing skaters. Whereas the sled players were mostly equal once they were strapped onto the sleds, needing full use of their arms and hands to propel themselves across the ice, there were a lot more variables with the standing players. Some had full use of both legs, but were missing an arm or a hand. Some had full limbs, but due to traumatic brain injuries, there was some paralysis.
Boone wanted the vets to feel comfortable on the ice regardless of their abilities, but he’d found that having to compete in an actual game intimidated a lot of would-be players. They felt they were too slow, or too uncoordinated. So instead of games for the standing players, Boone had developed a fun skills competition that was held after the sled game at every tournament. The skills competitions included things like taking shots at various distances from the net, puck movement around obstacles, speed skates, passing, and even getting all decked out in goalie pads and seeing how many shots they could stop. The players could choose which events to compete in, so they were as comfortable out there as possible.
They weren’t matched up against other players, rather they competed for a total tally of points. Each event garnered points. Goals and accurate passes were points, while speed skates and puck movement drills accumulated points based on pre-set performance levels. A brightly lit scoreboard kept track of the point total, and at the end, the number of points determined how many free concessions the family members got. Points in the blue range meant free popcorn and drinks. The yellow level meant popcorn, drinks, and a candy of their choice. And the red level meant all of the above, plus a pizza party at the end. It was rare to get to the pizza level in the first tournament in the two-week retreat period, and just as rare not to get it at the second tournament.
Tonight had been just the first tournament, but the skills competition had come within three points of getting pizza. The rink manager, Donovan, had taken up the microphone and praised the competitors for getting such a great score with only a week of practice. Then, to cheer up the disappointed players and crowd, especially the kids, he’d proposed that Boone and Vince take on some of the skills challenges in a competition of their own.
The atmosphere in the rink had been great, and all the spectators had cheered their hearts out for both men. After finishing all the events except the speed skate, Vince had been one point behind Boone, thanks to Boone hitting some almost impossible passing targets. Naturally, that meant Vince had had to go all out in the speed skate. The slight pull he felt now in his right hamstring had been well worth it, because he’d beaten Boone by one and half seconds to win the whole thing by two points.
It had been a fun time. Lots of bonding had taken place, which Boone had told him beforehand was the most valuable part of the tournaments. Vince knew Callie would have enjoyed the evening, especially because her three girlfriends had all been there, but he decided not to talk about it too much. She was already feeling really tied down, and there was no reason to point out what she was missing outside the gates of the Double Nickel.
There was one thing they needed to discuss, however, and that was the fact that she still hadn’t told her friends about the two of them. At some point tonight, he’d have to ask her about that.
He walked through the barn and found her leading two horses around the indoor ring. There was Leo, of course, and a big, beautiful, grayish horse he remembered seeing a few stalls down from Edison.
Callie saw him and smiled. She led the horses up to him and handed him the reins of the one that wasn’t Leo.
“This is Rockford,” she announced. “You think you’re ready for him?”
“Born ready,” he said, then snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss…..because he’d gone all day without seeing her, she was beautiful, and kissing her had quickly become one of his favorite things to do. She melted into him, the horses forgotten, and what he’d intended to be a short kiss of greeting became much longer.
“Callie,” he murmured, finally breaking the kiss and looking down at her, gratified when she opened dazed green eyes and gave him a soft, satisfied smile. “It’s gonna get dark on us. Much as I like kissing you, I don’t want to miss my chance to ride Rockford.”
She sig
hed. “You make me forget everything when you do that. Okay, mount up. Let’s go see what you’ve got.”
A half hour later they were headed back at a run, with Rockford keeping pace and Vince staying on easily. They were both laughing when they reached the barn, exhilarated by what Vince considered his first “real” ride. He swung off the horse, and grabbed Callie as soon as she hit the ground.
“Now that’s riding,” he said, lifting her off the ground and kissing her hard. “Don’t tell good old Edison, but there’s no comparison between him and Rockford.”
“You’re well on your way to becoming a real summer cowboy,” Callie declared. “If you ever get a day off from the retreat center, I’ll put you with Sam and Lance for a day. Then you can see the working side of the job.”
They brushed the horses and left the barn hand in hand, ending up on the porch swing drinking iced tea. Vince asked about Jeremiah’s day and Callie sucked in her bottom lip and shook her head.
“Not so good,” she said after a moment. “I was hoping it would be one of his good days because I wanted to surprise you and show up at your tournament for a little while this evening. I went to one a few months ago and loved it. It would’ve been even better to see you on the ice.”
“Maybe next week,” he said gently.
She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. “I still need to figure out what I’m going to do about next week.” She told him she was scheduled to help three mornings at the retreat center, but since Jeremiah couldn’t stay alone for long anymore, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do.
Vince set his empty glass aside and took one of her hands between his. “This is just a suggestion,” he said carefully, not wanting her to think he was trying to make decisions for her. “You said you have hospice lined up for when you can’t do everything yourself, right?” When she nodded, he went on. “What about having someone come over on the mornings you’re going to be gone? It would solve your problem, and it might be a good way to get Jeremiah used to the idea of someone else coming in to help. Ease him into it.”