It Had to Be You (44 page)

“If that means that I look like I’ve been in the saddle for days, I have, thank you. I think I broke my ass, if you’re concerned. Now listen up, Callie, for thing number two, and this probably should have been first. Hell, this should have been said days ago, but we’re both pretty damn bull-headed.”

“Jake—”

“I didn’t sleep with Cici.”

“Yes, you did.”

“She slept in my bed, I slept in Tucker’s. And I would have put her in another room, as far away from me as I could get her, but the ranch manager wasn’t very accommodating.”

She bit her lower lip. “Is that right?”

“Extremely right. In fact, she was mean and rude, and jumped to conclusions. Wrong conclusions.” He took her hand. “Callie, I had just been trying to get into
your
bed. How could you think I would—”

“I don’t know.” She shoved her fingers through her hair. “You drive me crazy.”

“Ditto. But no matter what you think of me, say that deep down you know that. I wouldn’t sleep with another woman, not when I want you.”

She stared at him. “You’re telling me the truth.”

“Hell, yeah, I’m telling you the truth.”

He saw acceptance of that truth dawn in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I know you better than that.”

“That’s all right, I just figured out how you can repay me.” He tugged her close and kissed her. He had no idea why exactly, other than he’d felt like an outsider for so long, and that hadn’t changed much, but she was the one person out here who seemed to let him be whatever he needed to be, idiot or not.

She hesitated, her hands in the air, hovering above his shoulders. He lifted his face a fraction, staring into her eyes, and then changing the angle of his head, kissed her again. He’d meant only for a quick, hot connection but God, the taste and feel of her filled his head. He’d missed her so much, and hadn’t even realized it until now. In fact, he was so blown over by the realization, he nearly pulled back again, but she startled him by pressing closer and touching her tongue to his.

It made no sense, but the odd sense of loneliness he’d experienced since he’d been there dissipated. It always did when he was with her. Maybe that was because of all the blood draining from his head for parts further south, but he had enough sense left to know it was more than physical. With a low, wordless murmur of need, he slid his hand down her slim back, fingers spread wide to touch all of her that he could, then fisted his fingers in the material of her shirt, anchoring her to him.

When he finally pulled back, she blinked up at him, looking a little surprised that they were still on the steps out in broad daylight. She looked over at Eddie and Tucker still removing saddles and brushing down horses, neither of them paying them any attention. “What was that?” she whispered.

“I was trying to get you to look at me like you’re looking at me right now.”

“Which is how, exactly?”

He stared into her eyes, absorbing the heat, the reluctant affection. “Like I’m not such a bad guy. Like maybe you missed me, too. Like maybe you even want me half as much as I want you.”

“Those things are all true,” she admitted. “But it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Jake, you don’t even want to be here.”

“Right now I do.” To avoid argument, he kissed her again. Her mouth was open a little, in surprise no doubt, and he took full advantage of that, sweeping his tongue in, dancing it to hers.

An “mmmm” rumbled in her throat, and when they came up for air this time, her eyes were slumberous and just a bit wary. “What are we doing?”

“I haven’t a clue. But I’m game. Say you are, too.”

“For that spring fling?”

Was she offering? Before he could ask, Stone came out of the barn, and joined Eddie and Tucker in removing saddles.

“He’s back,” Jake said, glad to see him.

“He’s back. I need to go help.”

“Yeah, in a second.” He turned her chin back to face him. Her lips were still wet and he wanted to kiss her again. “Nothing out of the ordinary happened while we were gone?”

“Other than I relaxed for the first time in nearly a month?”

“Because I was out of here?”

She smiled, touched her nose, then moved down the steps. Crossing the driveway, she entered the corral and walked up to a dark mare whose name he couldn’t remember. He followed, knowing enough of the routine now to automatically help. Coming back after a trip, there was always a lot to do. Eyeing the mare with caution, he moved around it to stand next to Callie, then reached for the saddle.

She brushed him away. “Too heavy for you.”

“I can take them off, I just can’t put them on.” He stepped in front of her and this time she let him. “You’re getting so much better,” she said, and he heard the rest of the unspoken sentence.

You’ll be leaving soon.

“How was camping?” she asked. “Tucker told me you complained about everything.”

So she didn’t want to talk about his leaving. That made two of them, since he’d have to face the fact that when he left, he had nothing to go back to. “I did
not
complain about everything.”

She lifted a brow.

“Okay, I might have said we should have thicker pads to sleep on, ones that actually work. For the guests’ comfort.”

“How are you and Tucker doing?”

“Well, there was no bloodshed.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled a few pink phone messages out of her pocket, slapping them in his hand. “Your cell phone wasn’t working out there. You got some calls at the house.”

The first was from his real estate agent.
Got a preliminary report for you on selling. Call me when you’re ready and we’ll set it in gear.

Callie watched him read it, then without waiting for him to look at the two other messages, picked up the saddle and walked away.

Jake finished his phone call and sat back in Callie’s office chair. His lawyer had been message number two. Billy’s mother was looking for them to offer her some sort of settlement, a huge monetary one, which they wouldn’t do. He couldn’t.

And even though he knew Joe would already know, Jake picked the phone back up and returned his third message.

“Sucks,” Joe said.

“Yeah.”

“You’ll beat it.”

Maybe. But it was going to break him first.

“Just got back from an industrial fire in Del Mar,” Joe said. “Three warehouses down to the ground, no fatalities. They could have used you there today. Half the station’s out with the flu. How’s the shoulder?”

Jake rolled first his left shoulder—no problem—and then his right. Problem. He could toss down a saddle, he could ride for days, but he had no lifting strength and little finesse or arm control. “Much better,” he lied.

“Define better.”

Well, he didn’t want to cry at every little movement. “Good enough to come back.” At least in his dreams.

“Thank God. I thought maybe you were enjoying yourself a little too much out there.”

Jake pictured Callie’s smile, could still taste it on his lips. He
was
enjoying himself too much. In fact, he was just a little afraid of how much.

“Jake? Call your doctor, get approval. I know it’s only been two months since surgery, but if you’re better, you’re better, right?”

There was no chance in hell he could fool his doctor. But the thought of staying here, of never going back, of never getting into his gear and back in his life made his heart kick painfully. “I won’t be shimmying up any ladders or hanging off any ledges,” he admitted. “But there’s other things I could do.”

“Jake—”

“I could train.” He’d never really thought about it before, never had to. But he had to get out of here before he fell for that cowgirl Joe had asked about. Before he convinced himself his life was over if he couldn’t get back to work. And actually, now that the impromptu idea had blossomed, why not train? If he couldn’t actually fight fires, why not teach others to do it?

“Yeah, training. That could work. There’s an entire new class of recruits coming through in three weeks, and you’re qualified for it. Certainly no doctor could object to a little teaching, right? Are you really up for it?”

Jake tried rolling his shoulder again, and felt the color drain from his face. “Three weeks, I’ll be good as gold.” He disconnected, then looked out the window into the day that had glorious written all over it. Wide blue sky with only the occasional white puff of cloud. Rocky, jagged mountains in the distance, standing as tall and proud as the people here at the Blue Flame. Callie was still out there working with the guys, giving her usual one hundred and ten percent, the way she always did, the way he suspected she always would, in every single aspect of her life.

A life he didn’t belong in anymore than Cici did. Granted, he’d miss the people; he’d miss Callie. More than he wanted to. But it was time to concentrate on his own life, not his father’s and what he’d left behind.

He thought about that as he fingered the message from the real estate agent. He returned her call. “I’m ready.”

T
he sisters left, and their next group came in, eight college students on spring break. Callie looked at the young guys, all of whom had lugged in their own stash of beer, and shook her head. Nowhere in their brochure or on their website did it promote college break, wild parties, or anything to remotely attract such a crowd. But they’d paid good money to work the ranch for three days, and here they were.

They wanted to take an overnight trip into the hills to see ancient Indian grounds and anything else spooky, so that’s what the Blue Flame would provide.

She was going to lead them, with Tucker and Eddie. She didn’t often go out on the overnights, preferring to stay with the ranch and watch over the animals and land, but she had a very good reason for replacing Stone on this trip.

He’d just taken three days of personal leave to go home to his father, an alcoholic who’d been dry ten years now. Stone wanted to know how his father had given up drinking. Callie had spent some time with Stone since he’d come back. He appeared to have a handle on things, but she knew appearances could be deceiving, and she couldn’t in good conscience send him out into the wilderness for two days with a bunch of party-hardy guests his own age. So now she stood in the barn with Stone, delicately trying to get around this without hurting his feelings. “I was thinking you could stay here,” she said casually. “I’ll take this one. I haven’t been out in a long time.”

He looked at her doubtfully. “You want to go out with a bunch of drunk college punks?”

“They’re not drunk.”

“Not yet, but it’s only six in the morning.”

“We’ll go around the high canyons instead of through them.” She smiled. “They’ll definitely be drinking by then, and I don’t want to lose anyone over the edge.”

He shook his head and took her hand. “I can handle this, Cal.”

“Of course you can. I just need to get outside, that’s all.”

“We both know why you’re offering, and it’s not for you to get outside.”

“Does it really matter, Stone?”

He stared at her hand in his for a long moment. She expected an argument. Instead he sighed and pulled her close in a tight hug.

She hugged him back, and closed her eyes. God, she loved these guys, every last one of them. If Jake sold to someone who didn’t want to keep them all on—

Footsteps and voices sounded just outside, and Stone pulled back to look into her eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered, and kissed her, right on the mouth. He grinned just as Eddie and Tucker entered the barn. “And that’s how you revive the cow if she stops breathing.”

Eddie and Tucker stood there gaping. “Why are you kissing Cal?” Eddie demanded.

Stone smiled at Callie. “Because she’s pretty damn cool.”

“Oh.” Eddie blinked. “Well, I want to kiss her, too.”

Tucker shoved him, then came closer. “What’s going on?”

Stone looked at Callie, his heart in his eyes. He didn’t want them to know, and she wouldn’t be the one to tell them. “He was showing me cow resuscitation techniques,” she said primly. “And he’ll be happy to show either of you, as well. But hurry, because we’ve got to get these college studs out on the trail if we want to get there before dark.”

Tucker stared at her for a long moment, then at Stone, but he didn’t say another word while they saddled up the horses. A little bit later, Jake met them outside, his hands shoved in his jeans pockets. “You’re going?” he asked, reaching out to help her lift a saddle.

“Don’t.” She shouldered him away. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

He pulled back with the irritated look of a man used to taking over, used to being in charge, a man who kept forgetting he no longer could do that. “The weather is going to turn bad.”

She glanced at the admittedly cloudy sky and shrugged. “That’s part of the life out here.”

“No, I mean really bad.”

She strapped on the saddle. “How do you know?”

“My ribs hurt.”

Her fingers went still on the horse. “I didn’t know you’d hurt your ribs in your fall.”

“Not that fall. I broke four of them in another fire, several years ago.”

“Rescuing someone?”

“A staircase gave way while I was trying to get to a woman on the floor beneath me.”

“What happened to her?”

“I got her out.”

“With four broken ribs?”

“And a gash on my head.” He put his finger on the inch long scar above his left eye. “There’s a storm coming, and it’s going to be a wet one. Trust me.”

“We can’t cancel, the guys are too excited. And anyway, a little rain never bothered me.”

“Thought you’d say that.” He squinted at the sky, then sighed grimly. “I’m coming, too.”

“Fond of getting rained on, are you?”

“No. I’m fond of you.” And upon delivering that shocking statement, he walked away, calling out to Eddie to say they needed one more horse.

Fine. Who was she to argue with the man? But she stepped close to Sierra and hugged her, needing the contact. “He’s fond of me, damn it.”

Tucker had just finished packing up the horses when he saw Amy walking toward him with a bag in her arms. Her dark hair glinted in the sun. She wasn’t smiling, but he found himself wanting to at just the sight of her.

He’d never had much of a problem in the female department, but this woman was different, and though extremely resistant, he couldn’t seem to help himself. He wanted to know her more.

“Here’s the last bag. I added some popcorn for the bonfire tonight,” she said.

“Thanks.” He took the bag, touching her fingers with his as he did. He took it as a good sign when she didn’t jerk away or slam him to the ground. “I’ve got all your directions.” He patted his pocket. “You didn’t ask me to make the carrots pretty or anything, right?”

“Not this time. But you do have to be careful with the chili—”

“I can handle it.” Probably. “Trust me.”

She just looked at him, and it was the oddest thing, but just looking right back at her somehow broke his heart. There was just something about her, something about her eyes, her tough attitude and soft center. He really did want to know her, and he had to say, it was unusual not to have that feeling returned.

She wore her black jeans and boots again. When she’d first come to the ranch, he’d figured they were all she owned, since she’d had only a small duffel bag. But she’d had a few paychecks now, and could have bought herself something else if she’d wanted. Maybe she was saving for a rainy day.

She leaned in past him and inspected the way he’d packed everything. Her hair fell forward, revealing the sweet spot on the back of her neck. She had a small tattoo of the sun there, and he winced as he reached out and touched it.

She jerked as if she’d been shot, and whipped around.

“Sorry.” He lifted his hand in the air. “I was just thinking how that must have hurt on such a tender spot.”

She put her hand to the back of her neck. “It was a long time ago.”

“It’s pretty. It is,” he said when she arched a brow. “You are.”

Now she let out one bark of a laugh and turned to leave.

He moved in front of her. “So how long ago could it have been? You’re only…what, eighteen?”

“Six years.”

“Jesus.” He whistled softly. “What kind of a mother let her daughter get a tattoo at twelve?”

“The dead kind.”

Ah, man. He was an idiot. An idiot with a big old boot in his mouth.

She started adjusting the pack on the horse, even though they both knew he’d done a fine job. “Don’t say you’re sorry,” she said when he opened his mouth. “I was just a baby when she died. I never knew her.”

“Who raised you?”

“My dad.” She shrugged and shifted some of the food around. “Sort of.”

He put a hand over hers. “Sort of?”

“He wasn’t around all that much.”

“And now?”

“And now…he’s still not around that much.” She pulled her hand from his and put the horse between them. “He’s a trucker.”

An angry one, Tucker guessed, and very carefully he stepped around the horse and closer to Amy. “It must have been rough for you without a mom.”

“Stop it.” She moved back a step, her breathing coming out a little too quick. “I don’t want your pity.”

“It’s not pity I’m feeling.”

She searched his expression with a scowl, and he purposely put an easy smile on his face when what he really wanted to do was touch her. Hug her. But she was on the edge of panic over revealing too much, over his nearness, pick one. “Going to miss me while I’m gone?”

She gaped at him as if he were crazy.

He offered her a hopeful smile.

She shook her head, but if he wasn’t mistaken, suddenly there was a small little sparkle of good humor lurking in her dark eyes.

“I’m not that bad of a guy, Amy. Maybe you could even give me a try sometime.”

She looked at him for a long, long moment. “Maybe.” And with that shocking word, she turned and walked away, leaving him staring after her.

“See you when I get back!” he called out.

Without looking back, she lifted a hand as if to say
yeah, yeah, whatever,
but still, a hopeful grin split his face.

They rode all day. The Dragoons were a maze of yawning crevices, abrupt precipices, and granite spires. Boulders the size of the ranch’s barn were balanced with smaller rocks, sprinkled across steep hillsides from which deer, raptors, snakes, and coyotes made their home. On the valley floor lay wheaten grasslands, dotted with bush and huge oaks wide enough to conceal whole packs of coyotes.

Above them the skies churned and burned, going from blue to slate, and then nearly black, but not a drop fell. If it had started to rain, Callie might have been able to turn them back, but the guys were into it, and she had to admit, it felt good to ride.

By noon, seven of the eight Washington State students had hit on her.

She took each come-on in the same manner, that is, with great amusement. Smithy was the most aggressive one, the twenty-one-year-old basketball star and all-around God’s gift to women—just ask him. He didn’t like being turned down, and afterward, when Callie had said no to him—twice—he made a point of riding the fastest and being the most outrageous. He pretty much toed the line on everything they did, leaving her with the urge to throttle him.

“There’s one in every group,” Eddie said in disgust after lunch, when Smithy had tried jumping his horse, Tongue, over a small creek. Tongue—named for his love of licking everything—ran along with Smithy as asked, until his hooves got wet. Then he stopped so short that Smithy sailed over the top of him, landing in the water.

He’d been furious, made all the madder when his buddies howled with laughter. But his fury hadn’t matched Callie’s. With steam coming out her ears, she’d started forward but Eddie and Tucker had each put a hand on either of her shoulders, holding her back until she calmed down. When she’d swallowed most of her anger, she had a long talk with Smithy, and only after threatening to send him back with Eddie, did he apologize and promise to be good.

“You always have this problem?” Jake asked after they’d continued on the trail.

“Which? Leading idiots, or dealing with the ridiculous come-ons?”

“The come-ons, mostly.”

“No,” she admitted. “Never.”

“Please.”

“Seriously, I don’t. It’s not that often we get a group of single males like this.” She shot him a wry glance. “They usually bring their own women.”

He frowned. “Funny.”

“I thought so.”

“So tell me why I feel like smashing some heads.”

She studied the darkening sky. Jake had been right, they were in for a doozy of a storm. “They’re just stupid kids.”

“They’re not much younger than you, and I can’t see you ever acting like this.”

“You know me well enough to make a statement like that?”

“Yes,” he said boldly. “Just like you know me. Whether we like it or not.”

They rode in silence for a while along the valley floor, surrounded on either side by towering canyon walls and wild, spinning clouds. They began to hear thunder in the distance, but still no rain. “I didn’t want to know you,” she finally said. “That way, when you left, I wouldn’t care.”

“Every day I think about leaving.”

“You can’t wait to go.”

He looked at her. “Most of the time. But once in a while like now…I don’t want to ever go.”

She didn’t know what to make of that, so she said nothing. They descended down to the valley floor, moving along on the dry riverbed.

Ahead of her now, Jake handled his horse well. He’d gotten quite proficient for a man who’d rather be moving of his own accord. He held his reins with authority, his body at ease in the saddle. He was definitely a chameleon, whatever he thought of himself, fitting into any different arena, no matter how foreign.

Eventually the last of the eight students, the only one who hadn’t yet hit on her, fell in line beside her.

“Problem?” she asked him.

“Oh no.” Wes grinned the grin of the wild and crazy youth. “This is great.”

“Uh-huh.” She lifted a brow. “Want to just cut to the chase?”

“Which is?”

“You have to come on to me. The others expect it. I know it, and you know it. You also know there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell you’re getting anything the others didn’t. So whatever line you’ve come up with, how about you just save it for another woman?”

“But now see, that’s the problem. There are no other women out here.”

“But you had to know there wouldn’t be. You guys came out here for fun, then you saw me and thought I’d be an easy mark, so—”

“None of us thought that,” he rushed to assure her. “We just had to try.”

“And it’s out of your system now, right? Good,” she said when he nodded. “Then go have the fun you came for.” She sighed in relief when he rode off, but the relief was short-lived when a resounding crack of thunder split the air above them, accompanied only a few seconds later by a blinding flash of lightning.

One big fat rain drop landed on Callie’s nose. It was only the very beginning, she thought, and glanced back at Eddie who was looking straight up into the sky.