Fated for Love (9 page)

At the creek, they dismounted and stretched from the long ride.

“I haven’t been on a trail ride for so long. I forgot how freeing it feels.” Bonnie came to Callie’s side. “What did you think?”

“Breathtaking.”

Callie flashed Wes a smile that made his stomach do something weird. He focused on filling a water bowl for Sweets, then walked the horses over to the creek while Callie’s friends
ooh
ed and
aah
ed over the views. He noticed that Callie stayed far back from where the mountain sloped. Sweets hurried over to her and rubbed against her leg. Callie held on to a tree as she crouched to pet her.

“Cal, come look at the pastures in the valley. They’re incredible.” Kathie held a hand out toward Callie.

“I can see from here.” Callie remained beside Sweets, and Sweets ate up the attention, rolling onto her back with her legs pointed up toward the sky and her tongue lolling from her droopy lips. “You like that, huh, girl?”

He knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop, but he loved hearing her with Sweets, and he wondered what she had to say about their ride up the mountain—and about him.

Kathie crouched beside Callie. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Mm-hm.”

“The creek’s beautiful. Let’s lay out in the sun.” Kathie rose and pulled Callie to her feet.

Callie’s eyes shifted toward the slope of the mountain, and Wes could tell by the way she threw her hands behind her and latched on to a tree that she’d gotten a good look at the miles of space between where they stood and the mountain range across the enormous, seemingly bottomless gap in between. She slammed her eyes shut.

He took a step toward her, then hesitated, aware of how hard she’d tried to appear brave in front of him and her friends. He reluctantly turned back to the horses. He didn’t want to overstep his bounds or smother her.

“Callie?” Kathie asked after her.

Bonnie stopped taking pictures and went to her. “Uh-oh. Cal, how did you get up here if you can’t even look out at the view?”

“I had my eyes shut,” she said in a loud whisper.

Wes fought the urge to whip his head around at that. He clenched his jaw.
Eyes shut?
Good Lord.

“The whole way?” Bonnie asked.

“Mm-hm.”

He heard twigs and leaves crunching beneath their feet as they walked deeper into the woods. He chanced a glance. They were huddled together beside a tree, with Sweets pressed against Callie’s leg.
Lucky Sweets
.

A few minutes later, he said, “Okay, ladies. Ready for lunch?” He drew everyone’s attention except Callie’s, whose eyes were riveted to the ground.

Aw, Christ.

He should have known better than to bring her on the trail.
Hell, she should have known better than to go
. He wondered why she’d agreed to come along if she had to ride up with her eyes closed.
Maybe she’s as drawn to me as I am to her
. He chewed on that for a few minutes, and it tasted damn good.

He forced himself to continue speaking. “In the leather bag on your saddle, you’ll find lunch and drinks.”

“I’m starved,” Christine said to Kathie as they headed to their horses. “Let’s eat by the water. I could use some sun.” Christine took off her tank top and draped it over the saddle, revealing a yellow bikini top that barely covered her small breasts. “Let’s give the horses an eyeful.”

“I think they’d rather have a mouthful of oats. But sitting in the sun sounds good.” Kathie and Bonnie took their tops off.

Wes purposefully kept his eyes to himself, but he couldn’t help stealing a few glances at Callie as she finally pried her hands from the tree and made her way toward the creek. She stared at the ground, he assumed to keep from looking at the edge of the mountain, and settled onto a log. A few minutes later, he brought Callie her lunch and found Sweets resting comfortably at her feet. He wondered when the pup had become so attached.
Probably the same time I did
.

“Thanks.” She squinted against the sun. “Where’s yours?”

“I forgot to grab it from the other horse, but I’m fine. Enjoy.” She was too tempting. If he sat beside her, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from putting an arm around her or reaching for her hand. “Come on, Sweets.” He slapped his thigh, and Sweets came to his side.

“Can we swim here?” Kathie asked as she shimmied out of her shorts.

“Sure, but watch for snakes.”

Kathie’s eyes widened as she pulled her shorts back on. “I think I’ll just sit on the log next to Callie.”

“Snakes?” Callie jumped up.

“They’re more afraid of you than you are of them,” he assured her.

Callie took a deep breath and nodded. She was so far out of her element that he couldn’t help but be impressed as she tried to hold her own.

“You rode up with your eyes closed, Cal?” Christine sat on a nearby rock.

Callie’s eyes shot to Wes. He turned and walked away to spare her embarrassment and found a log to sit on overlooking the mountainside. Hot from the ride—and from being so close to Callie on the horse—he took off his shirt and draped it over his shoulder, then leaned his elbows on his knees and hoped Callie would stick around for another day.

“CALLIE, YOU ARE quite possibly the luckiest girl in the world today,” Kathie said around a mouthful of turkey sandwich.

“Really? You think it was fun when I had the crap scared out of me on that horse?” Callie nibbled on the crust of her sandwich.

“No, but you just spent two hours pressed against
that
.” She nodded toward Wes’s bare, tanned, and incredibly muscled back.

“Okay, now, y’all know my hubby is hot, but damn, girl.” Christine shook her head. “I have to agree with Kathie. I’d jump on a runaway horse willingly if it earned me his attention.”

Callie gazed at the man whose image she’d conjured up during the last few weeks when ice cream didn’t satiate the desires that he stirred in her and she’d had to take things into her own hands. At those times she saw the way he looked at her in the library, with appreciation—and, she liked to think, something more. A girl had to dream, didn’t she? His muscles rippled and flexed as he stroked Sweets’s back, and she remembered the emotion in his voice when he’d realized she’d never taken a horse out alone. She felt the warmth of his arms around her, holding her tight and keeping her safe. She felt the brush of his breath against her neck as he reassured her. And then, as much as she tried to fight it, she remembered the way he looked at Tiffany, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he had ever held her close or spoken to her with the same enticing emotion.

“Callie? Callie?” Kathie poked her arm. “Cal!”

“W-what? Sorry.”

“You were practically drooling.” Kathie gathered the trash from her lunch. “Want to dip our feet in the water?”

“Snakes.” Callie looked down at her sandwich. “I’m going to give this to Wes. I’m not hungry, and he has no lunch.”

Bonnie sidled up to her. “Oh, good idea. Go. We’ll stay back here.” She gave Callie a little shove, and although Callie wasn’t watching, she would bet Bonnie was taking pictures.

“Wait.” Christine grabbed Callie and yanked her shirt over her head, revealing Callie’s bright blue bikini top.

Callie crossed her arms over her chest. “Christine!”

“Oh, please. If it were any other guy, you wouldn’t think twice about wearing your bathing suit. Get over him already. He’s hot, but you’re hotter. Know it, baby. Go.” She shoved her again.

“Good luck!” Bonnie whispered after her.

Callie felt like she was moving in slow motion as she crossed over fallen leaves and sticks that crunched beneath her boots. If she’d been in her right mind, she might worry about snakes and spiders and other creepy things that lived in the woods, but her mind was focused on Wes. Her friends were right. If Wes had been any other man, she wouldn’t care that she was wearing a bathing suit. She knew she looked good enough.
Thank you, Jillian Michaels
. It wasn’t that. It was
him
. He made her whole body hum.

Sweets lifted her head and wagged her tail.

Wes turned, and for a nervous second their eyes caught. He dropped his gaze to her bathing suit just as she shifted her eyes away and realized he was sitting close to where the trail sloped away.

Oh boy
.

She forced herself forward and sat on the log beside him, facing the opposite direction. She stared at the creek and tried to ignore the fact that just behind her the mountain dropped six thousand—or million—feet.

“Here. I’m not hungry.” She held the lunch bag behind her.

Sweets licked her legs and, with her paws on Callie’s knees, tried to reach her face. Callie leaned in for a puppy kiss, thankful for the distraction.

“You should eat it, Cal. I’m fine.”

“I’m really not hungry.”
How can I eat with a family of butterflies living in my stomach?

He straddled the log with one thigh behind her and the other so close to hers she craved the feel of it.

“Did you really have your eyes closed the whole way up the mountain?” he asked quietly.

She bit her lower lip and nodded.

He rested his forehead on her shoulder. “Callie,” he whispered.

She could barely breathe with the intimate gesture. When he lifted his head and looked at her with tenderness and compassion, she was powerless to look away.

“What am I going to do with you?” His mouth kicked up in a little smile that melted her heart.

She could think of a million things she’d like him to do. “Sorry?”

He shook his head, and the smile never left his lips. His bare chest rose and fell in an alluring stretch of lean muscle and masculinity
. Just one touch
, that’s all she wanted. One touch that she could remember for the rest of her life.

“No, not sorry, Cal.”

She shook her head to clear the salacious thoughts that were clearly clouding her hearing. It didn’t work. Sweets rested her chin on Callie’s leg, and she focused on the dark area around the pup’s muzzle, the sad circles around her eyes—anything to keep her eyes from Wes’s body.

“Callie, this whole trip is so far from what you’re used to. Are you sure you want to be here? I can drive you back to Trusty.” He lifted his hand, and she froze, anticipating the feel of it on her leg, but he petted Sweets instead.

“Do you want me to go back to Trusty?”
Why, oh why, did I ask that?
Of course he did. Then he could have fun on these outings and not have to babysit her.
Please say no. Please say no.

He touched her jaw and drew her face toward his. Her lips parted on a sigh. His dark, soulful eyes searched hers.

“What I want…”

OhGodohGodohGod
.

“Is for you to be happy and comfortable.”

Comfortable? She was anything but comfortable.

“And if that means you don’t want to be here, then that’s what it means. I’d like nothing more than to help you
become
comfortable with all of this. Horses, trail riding, the mountain itself. There’s a world of beauty out here that I think you could love if you were able to push past your fears.” His eyes dipped to her chest—stealing her breath—then lowered to her lap, where Sweets had fallen asleep. “But I won’t force it on you.”

There
was
a world of beauty out there. Callie might not be able to stare at it, but she wasn’t blind. She’d seen it when she’d peeked at him. She heard the beauty around her, as unique as the barely audible crackling sound the spine of a book made when it was opened the first time. The mountain had its own unique and refreshing sounds of animals scurrying on the forest floor, leaves rustling in the wind, and the breeze as it swept up the mountainside against the long grass. Even the sounds of the horses’ hooves on the earth were different on the mountains than in the paddock. She didn’t need to see the scarier side of it to know how beautiful it was, just as she didn’t need to be told that the look in Wes’s eyes was more than just the look of a guide talking to a guest.

“I’ve read a lot about fear of heights and deep water and all the things I’m afraid of, and I haven’t been able to conquer my fears yet.”

His hand slid from Sweets’s head to her hand. “Maybe you just need the right person to help you.”

Her breath hitched. “You’re so busy.”

“I’ll make time.”

“Why?”
Oh my gosh. Isn’t it enough that he will? Shut up!

His mouth tilted into that heart-melting smile again. “I’m not exactly sure.”

A soft laugh escaped her lips, and she bit her lower lip again to hold it in.

“But I’m pretty sure it has something to do with how damn cute you are.”

She felt her whole body flush with heat.

Wes inched closer, one thigh against her back, the other pressed against her leg, and that bulging zipper was dangerously close to her hip. He brought his cheek to hers again—God, she loved the feel of his clean-shaven cheek.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Callie. You’re fearless and fearful at the same time, and it confuses the hell out of me.”

Fearless? Me?
She held her breath.

“You make me feel things no woman ever has, and you don’t even try.”

I do?
She couldn’t move.

“I hope you’ll stay.”

Her entire body tingled. The sound of blood rushing through her ears tangled with his words and somehow—she had no idea how because her brain was not functioning—she must have nodded, because his forehead fell to her shoulder again and he whispered, “Thank you.”

“I DON’T CARE if he’s slept with the entire town of Trusty,” Kathie said as they headed for the hot tub later that afternoon, wearing their bathing suits and carrying fluffy towels. “That man is definitely looking at you differently than he would look at someone he only wants a one-night stand with.”

“I think he is, too, but what if I’m wrong?” Callie had spent the day tangled in a web of thoughts, mulling over Wes’s words. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but no matter how much she tried to force herself to believe he was looking for a quick lay—because after all, he was sexy and sweet and everything she and every other woman could ever hope for in a man—she wasn’t buying it.