Fated for Love (5 page)

“Hold your horses,” Kathie interrupted. “You have a hot tub?”

“Sure. We’re not still in the eighteenth century. We just enjoy pretending like we are…most of the time.” Wes nodded to the lodge. “Out on the back patio.”

Kathie slipped an arm around Callie’s shoulders. “See, Cal? A hot tub. And I brought Skinnygirls, so we’ll be just fine.”

Skinny girls? What the hell are skinny girls?
Sweets lay down at Wes’s feet and huffed through her nose. Wes shook his head in an effort to stop himself from picturing Callie in the hot tub
.

“I’ll leave you ladies to enjoy your dinner. The saloon in the entertainment barn is a great place to get to know the other guests, and we’ve got a local guitarist playing tonight.” He patted his thigh. “Come on, Sweets.” He would have liked to give Callie a private tour of the hot tub, but she was a guest on his ranch and that made her even more off-limits—and for some strange reason, even more enticing. Since he couldn’t even begin to try to think, he forced himself to walk away.

Cutter joined him at the pit. “Need any help on the overnight with this group?” He glanced back at Callie.

Wes’s gut clenched. “Not this time. We need you here.”

“Yeah, sure. If you change your mind, I’d love a shot.”

Wes knew Cutter wanted to take over where Ray left off, but he was hesitant to shift his position. It would mean promoting someone from beneath Cutter to replace him and then retraining at a lower level. Cutter ran the barns as if they were his own. He took care of the animals, kept detailed inventory and budgetary reports, and managed the ranch hands with firm, well-respected authority. Promoting him would leave many of those duties unattended, and unfortunately, retraining another person in those areas would be more difficult than hiring a person to lead the treks. And now, as he watched Cutter stealing peeks at Callie, there was no way in hell he’d let him go overnight with her anywhere—no matter how much he trusted him.

Cutter took another long look at Callie. “Sometimes I hate your rules.”

With full plates, they headed to a picnic table. “You know it’s not an official rule. But yeah, sometimes I hate my own rules.” Like now, when his mind was playing tricks on him and making him want to coddle a woman instead of fucking her. Hell, he wanted to coddle her and be
intimate
with her. The F-word didn’t even sound right in his head where Callie was concerned.

“What’s skinny girls?” he asked Cutter.

“What do you mean what’s skinny girls? They’re girls that are skinny.”

Cutter eyed Callie, and it sent a zing of jealousy through Wes.

“She’s off-limits,” Wes said too gruffly, then tried to cover the jealousy he’d heard in his words. “I think we’re missing something with the whole skinny girls thing. Maybe it’s code for something else.”
I brought skinny girls, so we’re all set. What the hell could that mean?
Wes shoveled down his food and headed out to check on the horses with Sweets before he became too tempted to break his own not-a-rule.

KATHIE LOOPED HER arm through Callie’s as they walked back to the cabin after dinner. “You’ve been holding back on us. Maybe you don’t need this trip after all.”

Or maybe I need it more than I ever realized
. “I thought I was home free when you guys didn’t give me an inquisition during dinner. Silly me.”

“Girlfriend, we’re jonesin’ for some details. We just didn’t want to embarrass you.” Christine took Callie’s other hand, essentially trapping her in between her two most inquisitive friends. “Where have you been hiding that delicious man? And exactly why have you been hiding him?”

“He’s not mine, remember? I barely know him.”

“But you said you did at the cabin,” Bonnie reminded her.

They went into the cabin and Kathie grabbed two bottles of Skinnygirl margaritas. “Bon, can you get glasses and we’ll go out front and chill for a while?”

“Sure.” Bonnie found glasses shaped like horses’ heads in the cabinet. “Guess we’re drinking from Mr. Ed tonight.”

They settled onto rocking chairs on the front porch with their drinks. “It is pretty out here,” Callie admitted.

“I personally think the view at The Woodlands is far hotter than the view in Denver.” Christine nodded at two stocky men on horseback riding across the lawn by the lodge.

“Oh yeah.” Bonnie grabbed her camera and took a few pictures. “Much hotter.”

“Speaking of views—details, Callie. No more stalling.” Kathie kicked her feet up onto the porch railing.

Callie looked at her glass. She was a lightweight when it came to drinking, which had come in handy with her friends because they always had a designated driver. Maybe her plan to throw caution to the wind was a good one after all. She guzzled her drink, then set the glass down with a loud, “Ahh.”

“Whoa. The details are that good?” Bonnie asked.

Callie shook her head, smacking her tongue on the roof of her mouth to get rid of the sour aftertaste. “Nope. They’re that lame. Fill it up if you want me to talk.”

“Oh yeah, baby.” Kathie refilled her drink and topped off the others’.

“You’re going to be disappointed.” Callie picked up the glass, tossed back her head, and guzzled the second glass. “Ugh. It tastes so much better when I don’t gulp it down.”

Christine laughed and patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, hon. You’ll be numb in a few minutes and won’t care about the taste.”

“I like it.” Kathie refilled Callie’s glass.

“So, here goes. He comes into the library every Thursday to pick up books. Three usually, thrillers and biographies.” She sipped her drink.

Kathie leaned forward. “And?”

Callie shrugged. “That’s it. Told you it was boring. I had no idea he owned this place. I only know a handful of people in town, so it’s not like I have the dirt on anyone yet.”

“He looked at you like he knew you pretty well,” Christine said.

“He looks at all women like that.”
Sort of
. There was something very different about the way he looked at her, although in her fuzzy-minded state, she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

Kathie sat back, shaking her head. “Bull. He didn’t look at us like that. I think he looked at you like he’d like to know you better.”

“Better?
Intimately
.” Bonnie refilled her own glass and topped off the others’, then opened the second bottle.

“You guys, I think I know how well we know each other. You saw how I couldn’t even talk around him.”
Or think
.
But I can feel. Oh man, can I feel
.

“Yeah, that’s not like you, either.” Kathie rose and paced the deck. “You might not be the center of the conversation, but you aren’t usually so flustered around guys, which either means that you really want him or…” She stood in front of Callie and cocked her head one way, then the other. “Nope, it can only mean you want him.” Her mouth spread into a wide smile. “Which means we have a project for the next few days.”

“No. Oh no. I live in the same small town as him. It’s not like Denver, where you never see the same person twice unless you try to. We are so not doing this.” Callie shook her head. Even though she had yet to run into Wes outside of the library, she knew it was just a matter of time. The town was too small for them not to cross paths sooner or later. “You remember when you tried to set me up with Charlie Zucker our freshman year? He turned out to be a real jerk. No way, no how. I don’t do setups and definitely not with a guy like him.”

“I’d do him in a heartbeat,” Kathie said.

“Yeah. Me too,” Bonnie agreed.

“Sorry, Cal. I would, too.” Christine patted Callie’s leg.

“You guys are sick. You’re all spoken for, and you have great guys. I’d kill to have any one of your men as my boyfriend.” She covered her face with her hands. “Ugh!”

“We wouldn’t
really
do him; we just mean that you should,” Bonnie explained.

Callie sighed loudly.

“Jesus. Why not?” Bonnie asked. “You’re both single. He’s hot. You’re gorgeous.”

“Yeah, and you’re out here in the wilderness. You could go all Tarzan and Jane with him,” Christine said with an eager nod.

“How about…no. Every woman who sees him wants him. I see it every time he walks into the library, and you know a guy like that has been around. I mean, please, what is he? Thirty…something?”

“Oh, who cares? You’re not sixteen. He could be fifty and it would be okay,” Kathie said.

“You’re a little sick, Kath.” Bonnie raised her glass with a nod.

Kathie let out a long breath. “You know what I mean. So what if he’s a few years older? She’s fishing for reasons to stay in her shell, and we’re here to drag her out of that shell, remember?” Kathie’s gaze softened. “Fine. No setups. Just tell us why you aren’t going for him and we’ll leave you alone.”

Callie looked at their expectant faces and shook her head. “You’ve known me forever. You know I’m not the kind of girl who makes the first move. I’m barely the girl who makes the hundredth move.”
Except in my fantasies,
where I let myself go a little wild
. “If he was interested, he would have asked me out.” There it was, the truth. She’d been trying to ignore that hurtful nugget for weeks, and now that she’d said it aloud, she had to face it.

“That’s bullshit. Guys are clueless most of the time. You have to give him some indication that you like him other than going mute. Let’s go to the saloon, loosen up, and strategize.” Kathie rose, and Bonnie and Christine followed. “Come on, Cal.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll let me sit and read for tonight?”

The three of them shared another eye roll before Kathie and Christine reached for her hands.

“I think I’m already pretty loose.” She followed them across the wooden bridge feeling a little light-headed. “Do you guys hear that? It sounds like someone’s singing.”

“I hear it. That must be from the barn.” Kathie pointed to a group of horses in the distance. “I love how the animals aren’t penned up all the time. Don’t they look peaceful?”

Callie realized that her friends must have spent a fortune to rent the cabin and pay for her trip. She probably couldn’t have afforded it on her own, and they must feel very strongly about wanting her to climb out of her shell—the shell she was quite comfortable in. For her friends, she’d do just about anything, as she knew they’d do for her.

“I’m sorry for being such a dolt, you guys. I really appreciate all you’ve done. This is wonderful, and it was really sweet of you.” Callie opened her arms. “Group hug. Come on in here.”

They fell against one another.

“Is this the alcohol talking? Will you still be here when we wake up tomorrow?” Christine asked.

“I said I’d stay for a day, so let’s see how tomorrow goes. With Wes as our guide, I’m not sure I’ll be able to think, speak, or move.”

“Aw. Hon,” Bonnie said. “Like Kathie said, we’ll figure out a way to get past the stupor that hunky cowboy throws you into. Maybe we’ll give you a few shots of vodka in your orange juice each morning.” Christine draped her arm over Callie’s shoulder.

“Not a bad idea,” Kathie agreed.

They followed the sound of singing to the barn. Inside, the saloon was dimly lit and decked out in full Western fashion, with a rustic wooden bar, stools topped with saddles, and several round tables with chairs adorned with faux bullhorns. At the front of the bar, a dark-haired man wearing a cowboy hat played a guitar and sang a Blake Shelton song.

Kathie walked ahead of the others. She spun around with wide eyes and whispered, “Oh my God! Look! A mechanical bull.” She pointed to the rear of the bar, where there was a padded ring with a mechanical bull in the center. “I’m so riding that.”

“And I’m so taking pictures.” Christine held up her phone. “I think the mechanical bull was invented by someone who really wanted to be a dentist, but couldn’t make the grade, so he created a contraption that would
knock
your teeth out.”

“So I’ll wear a mouth guard,” Kathie said with a curt nod.

“Mark would love a picture of me lying on it. Wearing lingerie.” Bonnie’s husband, Mark, was an attorney. To those who didn’t know him well, he appeared to be all business with his perfectly coiffed hair and three-piece suits. But Callie and her friends knew and loved the real Mark Young. He could shift from staunch conservative to sexy frat boy in the blink of an eye, and he adored Bonnie, which in their eyes was his most important attribute.

“Smile.” Bonnie turned the camera on them.

Callie felt completely out of her element, and all the talk about Wes made her even more nervous about seeing him the next day. She turned to avoid being in the pictures.

“Come on, Callie,” Bonnie urged. “We have to do a CD of our trip. We always do.”

“Well, I hope you brought a cardboard cutout of me to carry with you, because I’m not getting on that crazy thing.” Callie pulled a chair out from a table in the middle of the room, and they settled in. “Although, I have to admit that this place is really cool. I love how everything is so rustic and ranchy.”

“Ranchy? Yeah, you totally didn’t grow up on a farm.” Bonnie leaned across the table. “What’s it like living in a farming town, having come from suburbia?”

“I’m going to order drinks so I can drool over the bartender a little.” Christine headed to the bar.

Callie shrugged. “Not much different. It’s not like I have to get my milk from the dairy farm or anything. It’s like a little piece of a larger city, that’s all.”
Except better because Wes is there
.

Christine returned with drinks, and they talked about Denver and Trusty, their jobs, and their husbands. Callie spent the time watching the door, hoping Wes would suddenly appear, then in the next breath, hoping he wouldn’t.

An hour later, Callie was still watching the door and feeling like a loser for doing it. She was enjoying being with her friends, but she needed to get her mind off of Wes or she was going to drive herself crazy.

“If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to turn in and read for a while.” Callie pushed to her feet, feeling light-headed.

“Want me to go back with you?” Bonnie asked.

“No. I’m fine. Have fun, and I’m really glad you dragged me out. This was fun.”
Even if I was distracted.