“Wes.” The whisper came without thought.
Palm on her ass, his fingertips pressed against her center, stealing any chance she had at coherent thoughts, he caressed her through the thin material. She was wet, swollen. Needful. Callie had never felt so needy, so filled with desire and white-hot lust. She pressed her hands to his cheeks and took him in a deep, greedy kiss. Sexy, aggressive, wanton noises filled the air around them. It took a moment for her to realize they were coming from her. When Wes’s finger slid beneath her bathing suit bottom, the first touch of his fingers nearly did her in. Her tongue, her lips, everything stilled for a breath from the sheer pleasure of it. She didn’t stop him—she didn’t want to—and in the next breath she kissed him again, harder, deeper, as he slid his long fingers inside her, in perfect rhythm to every stroke of his tongue. He took over. He had to. She was having trouble breathing, much less leading their passionate kiss. One hand pressed to the middle of her back, the other working its magic down below, and his mouth, that magnificent, luscious mouth of his drove her right up and over the edge. Her body flashed hot, every muscle flexed, as her head fell back and her eyes slammed shut. She clung to him for dear life as he held her at the peak until she thought she might faint from the force of the explosions inside her. He drew her close, held her against him, his fingers still buried deep inside her, as she came down, her body shuddering against him.
Holy cripes. She rested her head on his shoulder, panting—and desperately wanting more.
He kissed her softly, and when he withdrew his fingers, she gasped a breath and held it as her insides ached for his return. Without severing their connection, he shifted them both to their sides, legs stretched along the towel. He slid one thick thigh between her legs and pressed his body to hers. She closed her eyes and buried her face in his warm, broad chest, feeling safe and probably far too comfortable after all the things he’d heard her say. He ran his fingers along her back, and they stayed like that for a long time, until he pulled back and kissed her forehead, then shifted her hips so she was partially beneath him.
His gaze was soft, his body a warm blanket above her. He was propped up on his elbow, fully dressed, and, Callie realized, she was bare-chested and wearing a damp bikini bottom. She felt her cheeks flush again.
“Callie.” His brows knitted together. “Stopping was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”
She wasn’t sure if she was thankful he stopped or disappointed. Her brain was still reeling from the intensity of the orgasm he’d given her using nothing but his fingers. That was definitely a first. She pushed away the shy girl who was coming back to the surface and forced her shaky voice from her lungs.
“Why did you?” She slipped her finger beneath the edge of his T-shirt.
His eyelids were heavy, and when the edge of his lips curled up into a sweet smile and he ran his index finger down her cheek, she wondered if she’d actually said anything at all.
“Because I’m not who you think I am. I have been with a lot of women, and if we ever decide to go that far, I want you to know that I’m clean. I’ve been tested. I’m not stupid enough to try to lie to you, but I wanted you to know that I haven’t been with women here, Cal. Not at my ranch. I steer clear of mixing business with pleasure.”
“Then why…?” Okay, so he’d been with a lot of women. She knew that without having been told. A man couldn’t look like him and flirt the way he did without having followed up on it a few hundred times. She silently cringed at the number, so she modified the thought. A handful of times. That was better, even if it might not be true.
He sighed loudly and ran his hand along her arm. “I’ve been asking myself that since I offered to ride up the mountain with you.”
Oh, great.
“Hey, look at me.” He lifted her chin so she had to look at him.
He did that a lot, and Callie was beginning to like the silent demand that she allow him to look into her eyes, as if it would make her hear him more clearly. Maybe he put as much value in words as she did.
“I don’t have all the answers, but I’m going with it. You’re unlike anyone I know, Callie. In a good way. And I’m drawn to you. So drawn to you.” He rubbed her arm again. “I love your femininity and your strength.”
“That would be a great line if it were true, but I’m not strong.” She stared at his chest again to keep from falling into his eyes.
“Not many women would move away from everything they knew to follow their dream. Maybe strong is the wrong word. Brave. Courageous. Moving to a small town where you know nobody? That takes a hell of a lot of courage.”
Courageous? Brave? She’d never thought of herself as courageous. Even her friends didn’t think she was courageous. Did they? Or did they think she was weak for not being aggressive with guys and for being careful with her heart and her body, but maybe brave in other ways? The power of the words he chose intrigued her.
He placed his hand on her hip and ran it down the length of her thigh. “And I’m not sure if there’s a gym in your library that I’ve missed the last few weeks, but your body is strong, Cal.”
“Um…I have Jillian Michaels to thank for that, actually.”
“Jillian Michaels? Like The Biggest Loser Jillian?”
She nodded. He smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
“Okay, that just makes you so much cuter.”
She rolled her eyes. “Loserish, I know.”
“What? No way. Those DVDs are hard as hell. My sister, Emily, tried them for a few days and was so sore that she quit doing them.” His eyes slid down her body. “Jillian must know her stuff, because you are the perfect combination of femininity and strength. But I have a feeling it has less to do with Jillian and more to do with who you are.”
She turned her head from side to side, shielding her eyes as if peering into the distance.
“What’s the matter?” His hand gripped her hip protectively.
“I was just checking to see if I’d died and gone to heaven.”
Chapter Seven
CALLIE CLOSED THE cabin door behind her and leaned against it, finally free to let out the dreamy sigh she’d been holding in.
Kathie stood at the top of the stairs and hollered into the bedroom, “Flushed and sighing.”
Christine and Bonnie followed her down the stairs.
“We thought he’d abducted you for the night,” Bonnie said. They’d changed their clothes, but Callie was still wearing her bathing suit and Wes’s button-down shirt, which he’d insisted upon her keeping.
Kathie grabbed her hand and dragged her to the couch. “So? Spill. He heard it all, so…”
Christine snagged a bottle of Skinnygirl piña coladas and filled a glass for each of them. All three of them stared at Callie with wide, expectant eyes. She traced a distressed vein in the leather couch.
“Yeah, he heard all of it. Maybe next time you could, I don’t know, jump up and down and tell me to shut up?”
“In all fairness, we tried to give you hints, but, girlfriend, you were on a roll.” Christine took a drink. “Wow. That’s good.”
“Yeah, well.” Callie had been on a roll, and she knew it would have taken exactly what Bonnie had done to shut her up.
“Well?” Kathie straightened her glasses and tucked her dark hair behind her ear and leaned in close.
“We rode off into the sunset, sat on the crest of a beautiful flowery meadow for a while, then made out like horny teenagers.”
Kathie hugged her. “I knew it! You guys owe me so big-time.”
“You bet on it?” Callie smiled at the thought. They would bet on her sex life. In fact, they’d done it in college a handful of times, until they realized that she’d meant it when she said she wasn’t going to sleep with her dates.
“Nah. Bon wouldn’t let us.” Kathie rolled her eyes in Bonnie’s direction. “But I would have won.”
“See? I have your back.” Bonnie patted Callie’s leg. “So? Did you lick every inch of him?
”
Callie felt her cheeks flush. “No.”
“Oh, stop it. It’s us, Cal.” Kathie moved closer and draped an arm over her shoulder. “You’re wearing his shirt. That’s got to mean something.”
“Yeah. It means it’s cold on the mountain when the sun goes down.”
Christine and Bonnie nodded at that.
“And?” Kathie narrowed her eyes.
“And let’s just say the man knows his way around a woman’s body.” Did he ever. Surprisingly, she didn’t blush this time. “But we didn’t. You know.”
“Hm.” Kathie sat back and pressed her lips together.
“Your choice or his?” Christine asked.
Callie shrugged. “Both, I guess. Gosh, you guys. We don’t have to cram everything into one perfect night.” It was a perfect night, at least once she was in his arms.
“True.” Kathie finished her drink. “So what’s your plan?”
“I didn’t think we needed one, but apparently he did. He asked me again to stay. Did you guys know we’re supposed to learn to shoot skeet tomorrow and go on an overnight camping trip?”
“Yeah. It’s on the itinerary,” Kathie reminded her.
“Right. I didn’t read that far. I was leaving, remember?”
“But now you’re not. Right?” Bonnie asked.
Callie took a drink. “There is no way I’m leaving now.”
Christine squealed and pulled her into a hug. “I’m so glad. This is so good for you. All of it.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
Callie ran her finger along the couch again, following the path with her eyes. “I might just break my heart-and-you-know-what rule.” As the words left her lips, she wondered if she’d need to break that rule. She’d felt something for Wes for weeks, and it was way more than lust.
Christine gripped Callie’s knees. “Callie.”
Kathie scooted up against her. “Really?”
“Babe, don’t do anything because of us. We’re idiots.” Bonnie sat beside her on the couch. “You need to do what you feel is right.”
“She’s right, Cal. We’ll all go back to our husbands, and you have to go back to the library, where you’ll see Wes every week.” Kathie finished her drink and then continued. “Unless you guys decide to see each other after you go back home. Is that a possibility?”
“We didn’t talk about that, so I don’t know. I mean, I hope so. I don’t even know if we’ll do anything more than we’ve done, but kissing him was like…” She looked up at the ceiling, remembering the way her body tingled with desire, the way his tongue made her body melt and her brain numb, and she hoped—damn, did she ever hope—that they’d come together again.
“You know that feeling when you’ve been thinking about kissing someone forever, and the anticipation alone is enough to steal your breath? And your heart beats so hard that you’re sure the minute your lips touch, you’ll die, right there on the spot? And when your lips finally do come together, and he breathes air into your lungs, you wonder if you’ll ever want to breathe on your own again?” She sighed just thinking about it.
“Wow,” Kathie whispered.
“I’m sure it was like that with Mark at some point, but I can’t remember it as clearly as you described.” Bonnie patted her hand over her heart. “Wow is right.”
“I know what she means. Billy still takes my breath away,” Christine said. “Of course, maybe that’s because when we’re kissing I sometimes pretend he’s Chris Pine or Josh Holloway.”
Bonnie rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t count.”
“Cal, maybe there’s more here than just, you know, a good time,” Kathie said hopefully. “I mean, you rode off on his horse. If Wes was just looking for a good time, he’d have probably tried to do the deed tonight.” She looked at Bonnie and Christine. “Right?”
“Good point,” Bonnie said. “So?”
“I hope you’re right. I don’t want to think right now. I just want to wallow in the memory of being with him and take a nice warm bath. I’ve got to get up in the morning to do my DVD.” She headed for the stairs, stopping when she came to the bottom step. “Do you guys think I’m brave?”
They exchanged a glance.
“What do you mean?” Kathie asked.
“Never mind.” She headed up the stairs, wondering if Wes saw something in her that even her closest friends didn’t.
WES’S CABIN WAS built up the hill from the guest quarters with views of the mountains, the forest, and the lodge. Tonight he sat out on the covered deck with a fire in the stone fireplace, thinking about Callie. Was she thinking of him the way his every thought was consumed by her? Would she tell her friends what they’d done tonight? He took a sip of his beer and reached down to pet Sweets, who was gnawing on one of her toys.
Wes had no cell service at his cabin, which normally was fine, as he’d never loved the idea of being that accessible twenty-four seven. But on a night like tonight, when he couldn’t take his mind off the woman he was just with—and hadn’t wanted to part from—talking to one of his brothers would have been a nice distraction. There were landlines down at the lodge, but he didn’t trust himself enough to make the effort. If he headed down that hill, he knew his legs would carry him directly toward cabin two.
Sweets lifted her head and barked, a single low woof.
The land in front of the cabin was level for about twenty feet before it sloped toward the guest cabins and the lodge. In the moonlight, his visibility was limited to that short distance.
Sweets ran down the steps and into the darkness.
“Hey, girl.” Chip came into view and crouched to pet Sweets. Sweets may not have been able to smell, but her hearing was damn sharp.
“Beer’s in the fridge.” Wes held up his beer bottle.
Chip grabbed a beer and then sat beside him.
“How’d the day trip go?” Wes asked.
“Fine, you know. Normal day on the trails. Did you look at the new applications for Ray’s position yet?” Chip took a pull on his beer and crossed his legs at the ankle.
“No time yet. I’ll check them out tomorrow.”
Sweets went back to chewing her toy.
“Sure you don’t want to reconsider Cutter? He has the skills. He’s willing and able.”
Wes thought about the way Cutter had looked at Callie. “Positive.”
“I think it’s a mistake. You should think about it. Anyway, I heard you took off on Willy with a chick.” Chip shook his head, and his wet hair stuck to his forehead.
Wes took a long drink. “You go to the hot tub?”
“You can’t avoid the question. Yes, I was at the hot tub. How do you think I knew about you and the girl? Her very attractive bikini-clad friends were there.”
Wes could still feel Callie’s fingers pressing on the back of his arm, urging him to untie her bikini top. He could still feel the weight of her breasts in his palms, her nipples hardening beneath his thumbs. Christ. He was getting hard again. He shifted in his chair.
“Why ask if you already know?”
“They said it was Callie, the girl from the library.”
“Yeah. So?” He met Chip’s gaze. “You got something to say? Go ahead.”
“Cutter said she rode the trail on your horse.” Chip leaned forward, knees on his elbows.
“She’s afraid of heights. I didn’t want to make her sit it out.” Wes knew from the way Chip met his stare that he saw right through the bullshit. “Okay, whatever. Yeah, I’m attracted to her. What do you want me to do? Walk away?”
“Yes,” Chip said in a flat, serious tone.
After those intoxicatingly sweet kisses and the memory of her luscious curves against him? Jesus, after the way she’d opened up to him and the way she’d looked as she came apart from his touch? There was no way in hell he was walking away. He couldn’t wait to learn more about her, to teach her the things he’d promised, so she could enjoy the rest of the trip without fear. Hell, he could barely get from one minute to the ne
xt, waiting to hold her in his arms again.
“Why the hell should I?”
“How about you tell me? In eight years, you’ve never ridden the trail with a woman on your horse.” He took another drink of his beer. “Remind me again why you never have.”
“You know damn well why.”
Chip shrugged. “I rest my case. Plus, she’s from Trusty. Dangerous, Wes.”
“You think I don’t know that?” He’d been over it in his head a hundred times. Was he just fucking around with her? Hell if he knew for sure, but it certainly didn’t feel like it.
“Then what gives? First you have her pull books for you that you never read; now you ride off into the sunset like you’re goddamn Clint Eastwood?”
Wes stood and paced with Sweets on his heel. “I read the books she gives me.”
“Right.”
“Most of them, anyway.” He usually made it through at least one each week. “Shit, Chip. Don’t you think I would walk away if I could? You said it yourself. Eight years and I’ve never ridden up the trail with a woman. I have no idea what the hell’s going on, but…” I don’t want to walk away.
“You know Clarissa will have a field day with this if she finds out. She’ll have you married off by next week.” Chip laughed.
“Then keep your mouth shut.” Wes sat back down and petted Sweets. “What’s with her, anyway? Why does she want me to get tied down so badly?”
“Aw, come on. You know why.”
“No, dude. Seriously, I have no clue.” Wes finished his beer and set the bottle on the deck. “Enlighten me.”
Fated for Love Page 9