It Had to Be You (34 page)

“What?”

He was still smiling, looking quite sure of himself, and quite kissable, damn him. “I also saved you from the dog,” he reminded her.

She blew out a breath. “Thank you
three
times then.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“You really miss work, don’t you?”

His face closed. “This isn’t about me.”

“You know what?
Bed.
” She was
way
overdue for bed.

“An invitation?”

“In your dreams.”

“How about a hot tub trip instead?” he purred, a warm smile accompanying it, one that had a rather melting affect on her bones. “Both our sore bodies need it, want it.”

No. What her body needed and wanted were two very different things.

She needed rest.

She wanted him.

U
nder the glow of the three-quarter moon and more stars than he’d ever seen in San Diego, Jake knew Callie was going to shake her head even before she did.

“No hot tub,” she said.

That didn’t surprise him, but what did was the pang of regret. He’d watched Callie and the others kick into gear after the guests had arrived, effortlessly offering hospitality and service as a unit. A tight unit.

As for himself, he’d attempted to help. Attempted being the key word. Tucker had given him a list of stuff to do, which had included saddling up a few horses. Jake managed to feed and water the pigs—ruining his running shoes with muck that didn’t bear too close inspection. He’d not been able to get a saddle on a horse. Hell, he couldn’t have lifted his own arm above his head much less a saddle. The only reason he’d been able to hold Keito for that brief moment had been because the kid was light, and had happily crawled up Jake himself, holding mostly to his good side.

In any case, Jake had not been successful moving the few cows from one pasture to another for Tucker, but he had a feeling his brother hadn’t expected him to. He’d just watched as if Jake was the biggest disappointment on earth.

Jake had made the mistake of letting that get to him, enough so that he’d actually tried to get on a horse. Eddie had helped him. Sitting hadn’t been a problem. Even walking hadn’t been a problem. But when he’d dropped the reins, startling the big animal into a trot, it had jarred his shoulder enough that he’d nearly slid off into one miserable, whimpering heap on the ground.

Humiliating. But then again, he suspected Tucker had enjoyed that, too. Everything about being here seemed so foreign. There was just so much damn open space, all surrounded by rocky ridges, lined with overgrown brush, and miles and miles of wide horizon. No Thai food. No twenty-screen movie theater complex. No traffic unless he counted the occasional lost cow blocking the driveway.

It’d only been two days, and he was going to lose his mind, never mind what three months would do. Coming here to recoup had been the stupidest idea he’d ever had, and he was exceptionally bad off if baiting this beautiful, prickly woman in front of him had become the only entertainment available. “You afraid of a little hot tub adventure?”

“I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Except opening up to me.”

“Is this a story about the pot and the kettle, Jake?”

He sighed, and ran a finger over the black smudge of exhaustion beneath her eyes. “I watched you work your pretty ass off today. It’s late, and you’re probably aching. All I’m saying is that you deserve a little break.”

“Not with you.”

He toed the dirt at his feet. It rose up and choked him. Shit, there was a lot of dirt out here. Beyond the fire, where everyone was still gathered, having a great time, the dark night settled over him like a smothering cloak. “So who’s Michael?”

“A close friend.”

“Ah.”

“What does that mean,
“ah”
?”

“Women never use ‘close friend’ as a description for a guy they want.”

“And does it matter to you one way or another?”

“Definitely,” he said. He stood close enough to see the pulse flutter at the base of her neck. “Since you and I, whatever we are, includes a hell of a lot of wanting.”

“That whole kissing episode today was a mistake, Jake.”

“Maybe we should repeat it, just to make sure.” He laughed at the expression of annoyance on her face. “Okay, fine. You’re a workaholic who doesn’t need much wild fun. I get it.”

“I’ve done wild.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I have.” She lifted her chin defiantly. “I was once introduced to a perfect stranger in a bar, eloped with him that same night, and then left him a month later. Wild enough?”

He took her left hand in his, rubbing the pad of his thumb over her ringless ring finger.

She yanked her hand back. “It turns out, he wasn’t husband material.”

His eyes cut to hers, wondering at all she wasn’t saying. “Had a rough time of it, did you?”

“You could say that.”

“Well how about this…you try fun and wild again, this time without tying yourself down.”

“A particular talent of yours?”

“You know it.” He smiled coaxingly, because he was dying out here, and desperately, shockingly lonely. “Look, I don’t know why we’re arguing. We want the same thing, really.”

“Really? And what’s that?”

“What anyone wants.” He lifted his hand and tucked a stray strand of fiery hair behind her ear, just for the excuse of touching her. “Happiness. Contentment.”

“Well, I have them. I have it all.” She stared at him for another moment, as if wanting to make sure he believed it, before walking away.

He let out a long breath. Alone again. “Must be nice to think you have it all.”

The next day started early for Callie. Besides the unsettling fact that no one knew where the serum had gone or who’d messed with Sierra, it turned out that their guests had misunderstood their forms. They were not experienced riders, but beginners. In fact, most of them had never ridden horses before. That wasn’t a big problem, but it did mean an adjustment of the plans.

She stood in her office in the big house, looking out at the corral, trying to plan out the day in her head, when Jake appeared in the doorway holding two mugs of coffee.

“Wow,” she said. “I’m impressed.”

“Because I can pour coffee?”

“Because you’re wearing boots.”

“Yeah. Had to borrow some from Lou.” He handed her one of the mugs, blew into his own, and took a sip. “What do you say, Callie, to making a deal.” He looked right into her eyes. “We start over.”

“Start over?”

“Getting to know each other. Since I always seem to be on the wrong foot with you.”

Shame might have filled her that she’d made him feel that way but a few remembered words stopped it.

“When I sell this place…”

“Starting over isn’t going to change anything,” she said.

“We could at least try.” He started to thrust out his right hand, winced and hissed out a breath, then set down his coffee and offered her his left. “The name is Jake.”

“Jake—”

“What’s yours?”

She rolled her eyes. “Callie.”

“Lovely name.” He shook her hand, then ran his thumb over her knuckles. “How can I help you today, Callie? I’m here, at your service.”

“You don’t like anything about ranching.”

“Ah, but see you just met me. You don’t yet know that.”

“Right. So you want to move some more cows around, see how the pigs are doing, gather eggs, that sort of thing.”

“Well…”

“Yeah, thought so. If I need you, I’ll let you know.”

He waited until she brushed past him and got to the door before he said her name. She hesitated, then turned back, gasping in surprise because he’d come up right behind her and now her front bumped his.

Slowly he reached for her face, tilting it up. Smiled. And her heart took off on a race she didn’t want to be in. “Jake—”

“Shh.” He lowered his mouth to hers in one soft, melting kiss.

When he was done, it took her a moment to open her eyes. She found him focused in on her, just her.

“See how nice and simple that was without any baggage?” he asked.

“Nothing about that was simple.” She had to force her limbs to work, and turned away. “But…it was nice,” she admitted to the door.

She didn’t see his grin, but she felt it, all the way to her toes.

The sun was warm, steaming off the dew. Callie and the others spent the morning in the center horse corral leading the guests around on horseback, teaching them to ride.

Between the language barrier and their innate fear, it took the entire ranch crew. Callie even recruited Marge, Lou, and Amy to come out and lead around a guest or two. Marge had been riding horses all her fifty-some years, and loved getting back outside for a day, having fun telling stories of her wild youth, even though most of the guests didn’t have a clue as to what she was saying. Lou was quieter than usual, his smile rare, and Callie silently hoped a meteor fell on Roger’s garage.

Amy didn’t say much either, but Callie caught her smiling at little Keito a couple of times as he sat in front of his father on a horse, giggling for all he was worth.

But even with all of them outside helping, they were still short-handed for this unexpected chore of teaching every single one of their guests to ride. “Call a few friends from town?” Callie begged Tucker at one point.

“Everyone’s on a three day camping trip to the Cochise Stronghold.” He took off his hat and scratched his head. “How about Michael?”

“He’s got some big thing today. I’ll go see if Jake—”

“We can do it without him.”

“You know he’s here for a while.”

He shoved his hat further up on his head and scratched his forehead in frustration. “I’m living with him, aren’t I?”

“I think you should talk to him, try to work out what’s bugging you.”

“What’s bugging me is his presence. And why are you defending him?”

She had no idea. “We owe our jobs to him.”

“So you think he went and bought paint today out of the kindness of his heart?”

“The place needs some paint.”

“And when we’re done, he’ll sell that much easier.”

“He said we’ll keep our jobs, he’ll make sure of it.”

Tucker let out a sound of disgust. “The guy can’t milk a cow to save his life. And he went green when he fed the pigs.”

“He’s never done those things before.”

“And he won’t again, is my guess. We did get him up on a horse though, which was amusing.”

“Not Moe,” she said quickly, well aware that Moe had taken an instant dislike to Jake, one that seemed eerily personal.

“I’m not looking to kill him. He rode Molly.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Please. Molly would let a toddler ride her.”

“Still, he tried.”

“You’re the most logical, smartest woman I know,” he said, baffled. “Don’t go soft now, just because there’s a pretty face to flirt with.”

She laughed and hoped she didn’t blush with guilt. “Have you looked in a mirror? Your face is just as pretty.”

“Callie.” Suddenly he looked very young. “Listen, he walks away. That’s what he does. Know that right now.”

She remembered how angry and brooding Tucker had been when he’d first come here, a seventeen-going-on-thirty-five-year-old man, looking for a purpose. Her heart had broken for him then.

And it broke now. This land had given him his purpose. She wanted to be angry at Jake for not doing more, but truthfully, she suspected he would have done anything for Tucker, if only he’d known what.

She wished she could fix this for them, but she couldn’t. She could only try to get them back together, help them learn about each other, and hopefully, eventually trust each other, too. God, she hoped Jake was worthy of Tucker’s trust. As for herself, plenty of people had walked away from her, or proven unworthy of her heart. Her father, her mother. Matt. It no longer mattered to her. “I’m not looking for another husband here, Tuck, just a spare hand.”

“Whatever.”

Without another option looming, she went looking for Jake. She found him lounging in the hot tub, head back, body sprawled out, snoozing. She nudged his arm with the tip of her boot.

He opened his eyes and smiled. “I knew you’d come to your senses and join me.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Are you kidding?” He scooted that long, lean, hard-as-rock body over and made room. Patted the water.

She shook her head. “I meant about helping.”

“Are you asking?”

She let out a breath. “Yeah.”

He just looked at her, and she let out another huff. “Could you help us out today, please?”

“Does it involve the pigs?”

“Nope.”

“Does it involve Goose?”

“Nope.”

“How about rounding up anything with four legs?”

She lifted a brow. “No.”

His smile was slow and sexy as hell. “Well, then, I’d love to.” Good as his word, he stood up, water running down his heart-attack-inducing body. She quickly turned her back, and his soft laugh scraped at her belly.

“You’ve already seen it all,” he reminded her. “In fact, you’ve even touched or kissed most of it.”

“I’ll meet you in the corral,” she said quickly, and walked away, grinding her jaw when he laughed. She didn’t need the reminder of what she’d done to and with that body. If she didn’t know exactly what she’d missed out on that night, she’d guessed a million times since.

But the truth of the matter was that
he
hadn’t wasted time wondering, he’d simply replaced her with another woman, countless times over.
Remember that,
she told herself.

When he met her outside a few minutes later, he was dressed the part of a horse handler in jeans, a white T-shirt with a blue plaid flannel unbuttoned over the top of it, complete with boots. No hat though, and no gloves, bringing home that this was not just another Eddie or Stone, or even Tucker. This man didn’t belong here, didn’t really want to be here. “It’s simple,” she said, and handed him a spare set of gloves, along with the reins of Misty, another particularly kind, sweet mare. On her back sat one of their guests, a forty-something man named Lee who spoke little to no English.

Callie smiled up at him, then she said to Jake, “Just walk them around the corral until Lee gets used to the feel of the horse beneath him. Misty’ll be good.”

As if looking to agree, Misty lowered her head and bumped it into Jake’s chest.

He took a staggering step backward. “Jesus.”

“She’s waiting for you to take a carrot out of your pocket.”

He sent her a baleful look. “That’s not a carrot in my pocket.”

“Ha, ha.” She pulled a carrot out of hers and stepped close, slipping it into his front pocket. She hadn’t meant anything by it other than to put him more at ease, and to give him something to bond with Misty over, but when the horse started nudging him for the carrot, his eyes widened.

“Holy shit—” He hastily pulled the carrot out and practically threw it at Misty. “Now stop frisking me.”