Unbridled and Unbranded (3 page)

She’d had to play along with the auction for charity. Rafe won the high bid on her, beating out Kincaid and two others. That act alone made her love him. They’d spent the rest of the evening together until the band stopped playing. By the end of the night, Rafe told her he wasn’t ready to say good-bye. He’d purchased two bottles of sangria and invited her to his hotel room to drink the night away.

What she remembered most about the incredibly tall, dark, and gorgeous Rafe was that she was so comfortable with him immediately. Rafe took her to heights she hadn’t been to in years. But more than that, he was so easy to be with.

He made love to her with his mouth after they’d finished the first bottle of wine. Like Bo, but unlike the other couple of forgettable men she’d been with in between, he took care to ensure she was satisfied before taking his own pleasure. He’d buried his face in her pussy and licked her until she shrieked for the first round of pleasure that evening.

Bo had spoiled her. Rafe let her know there were other men in the world like Bo. They drank the second bottle of wine which led to another long and very enjoyable romp in bed. After round two, they’d fallen asleep snuggled up together, which undoubtedly also led to round three. Woman-on-top sex became a new favorite for her.

As they’d snuggled in bed for a second time, she’d worried that he might want to make things serious. She wasn’t in that place back then, either. He’d mentioned sleepily that he was the manager of the Double R Ranch. A place that held too many memories for her. Callie had left before he woke back up.

She left him a note and told him that she’d had a lovely time, but that she wasn’t looking for anything permanent. Have a nice life. The next week he’d sent her flowers and a note that he also wasn’t looking for permanence and also for her to have a nice life.

One of the best breakups she’d ever had. Another good breakup had been with Bo.

When the flowers came from Rafe, her father had high hopes that she was about to settle down and get married. He’d been bitterly disappointed by the breakup and he hadn’t even known who Rafe was, nor had he cared. He just wanted her hitched.

By that time, she’d come up with a determined plan to follow her own dream as much as possible on the edges of her ranch responsibilities.

Since her father had still been alive and running things, her chores weren’t as crushing as they’d come to be once he was gone.

After a very, very long pause, Callie finally turned to Clay and said, “Yes. I know about the Double R Ranch. Are we meeting Rafe?”

“Yes. Is that okay?”

She pushed out a sigh of relief. “Absolutely. Thank you.”

“Where were you afraid I was taking you?”

“Kincaid’s.”

Clay shook his head. “That guy is trouble. I don’t know him very well, but what I do know is that I don’t like him.”

“Me either. He’s the reason I’m in the spot I am. He lured away the guy I put through insemination school right in the middle of the process. Seriously, if I can’t work something out with Rafe, I’m done.”

“I know Rafe will help, if he can. And if he can’t, then I’ll help you.” Clay sent her an encouraging glance.

She grinned. “You’ll help me inseminate a herd of cows? Really? ’Cause it’s kind of messy.”

“No, but I’ll stand by and give you lots encouragement while
you
do it.”

She laughed out loud for the first time all day. “Thanks, Clay. You’re just what I need, a one-man cheer squad.”

“I’m always here for you.”

“And Rafe knew it was me, right?”

“Yep. He sounded happy to hear from you if that helps you any.”

“It does, thanks.”

Callie relaxed back into the leather bucket seat and thought about her biggest reason for leaving a note for Rafe five years ago. The Double R Ranch was the place where Bo had grown up. He was still overseas living the life he’d always planned on living. She knew he didn’t run the family ranch, but also hadn’t sold it. She assumed there was a connection between the two men. She hadn’t wanted to start something with Rafe when she knew she still harbored lingering feelings for Bo.

She never wanted to end up in the same room with the two of them. Because how on earth could she ever choose between them?

* * * *

Bo picked up the brush he’d dropped upon hearing Calista’s name. “Yes. I know her. I mean, I knew her.”
Intimately.
Bo Parker felt a ripple of long-overlooked regret brush down his entire body when Rafe said the name
Calista.

Oh yeah, I know her all right. Biblically.

They’d been young lovers during the last year of high school. Later they’d continued a hot and passionate relationship during college. They’d been close and each had wanted to leave the area to pursue other interests beyond the hard ranch life of their respective upbringings.

He’d gotten out by way of the military after college. Three years younger than his thirty-four, Callie had been his friend and lover for many years. And when he left town, she’d let him go. Hadn’t even batted an eye about forcing him to stay. Had understood better than anyone else why he needed to leave.

And now she needed a cow inseminator? Half a life’s worth of anguish for her slid through his limbs. Obviously, she hadn’t escaped. She’d been caught behind, unable to live the life she’d dreamed of. Likely, she’d been trapped by circumstance and her strict father.

They’d kept in touch for awhile when she was in college and he was in military training school, but their big plans to meet one last time had ultimately fallen through.

That long-ago phone call, of having to tell her he wasn’t going to make it, along with all the regret and dread, came into his belly as if he were experiencing it fresh and in the moment. A vivid flash from his past instantly refreshed as poignant as if he’d just called her five minutes ago.

Rafe snapped his fingers in Bo’s face.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Bo came back to the present and faced an agitated Rafe. “I was having a memory.”

“About Calista? So you know her, too?” The brief smile and question in his best friend’s eyes made Bo feel better.

He nodded. “Intimately. At least I did a long time ago.”

“How long ago?”

“Twelve years.”

“Bad feelings over her at the end?”

“No. But I had regrets about not seeing her again. There was supposed to be a final farewell date and instead I got called up for service at the last minute and couldn’t meet her. I phoned her and she was a good sport about it as I recall, but I still felt like a shit. I hope she isn’t upset after all this time.”

“Guess you’re about to get your second chance to discover.”

“I didn’t even know she was still in town. I’d hoped she would have gone on to study art someplace like Paris or Italy.”

“Not only is she still here, Calista needs a cow inseminator.”

“How long ago since
you’ve
seen her? I wasn’t really paying attention when I thought it was someone I didn’t know.”

“We were together five years ago. It was a single night. We’d been drinking lots of wine after a charity event. I’d secured a hotel room since I knew I’d be drinking. She shared it with me that night. Early the next morning, she was gone. She left me a note, and I sent her flowers. We both agreed it was a bad idea to continue.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah. Huh.”

“Thoughts?”

“Initially. That I really want to see her again. You?”

He smiled. “That I really want to see her again, too.”

They both laughed.

Rafe said, “Guess we’re both about to get our second chance.”

“Yep.”

“Just a thought. Perhaps we both shouldn’t gang up on her all at once.”

Bo shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps it’s better to rip the Band-Aid off quickly.”

“Yeah, and Clay might have already told her anyway. Plus, she knows this ranch, right?”

“She knows of it. We didn’t spend a lot of time at our ranches, as I recall. Both of us were trying to escape life on the ranch back then.”

“And yet now we’re about to help her with a cow inseminator.”

“How many more times are you going to say that word?”

He shrugged. “Not sure. Now that I know it bothers you, I may repeat it quite a few more times,” he said, and a wide grin promptly formed.

Bo rolled his eyes. “I know, how about you say, ‘Our cowhand Delbert can help you, Callie.’ Then you can stop saying
inseminator
, for God’s sake.”

Rafe laughed out loud. “Okay. I hadn’t realized how sensitive you are about cow insemination.”

“I’m not sensitive. I guess I still wish cows got pregnant the old-fashioned way.”

“They still do, but not exclusively. Things change. That’s why we’re rich now. Although, they’ve been using variations of this process since well before you were ever born.”

“Whatever. One of the many varied reasons I didn’t want to run a ranch long ago.”

“I’m going to call Delbert and give him a heads-up.”

“Good.” Bo finished up with his horse. “I’m going to get cleaned up. Why don’t you meet with her first?”

“Oh sure, make me fidget by myself after five years.”

“Well, my shocking appearance is twelve years overdue. She’s not expecting me. Let’s not send her into the bigger shock first.”

“Fine.”

Bo took a longer shower than intended as he ended up daydreaming about his long-lost love. He’d never really found anyone that measured up to her in all the time he’d been away. He wasn’t a man whore, but he’d been with a number of women over the years. As memory served, none of them had ever been as vivid or as memorable as Callie.

He and Rafe had been sharing women as they were able and as their busy life choices would allow over the past decade. The whole point of him selling his business and coming back home was so they could finally settle down and find a woman willing to join their unbridled lifestyle.

A sudden pang made him realize he wanted it to be Calista. He hoped he wasn’t about to get his heart or head handed back to him after deserting her long ago.

He didn’t think so. She’d been adamant that he not worry during the last phone call. And had he known it would be the final time they spoke, he might have said a few things differently. He might have made plans to see her again. But then he shook his head. Water sluiced over his body and he realized he needed to get out of the shower. She was the one who hadn’t wanted to continue. She’d been very clear over the phone and even before that planned date.

“This is it, Bo. We have a nice time and then we move on to the lives we want. If we ever cross paths again, there will be absolutely no hard feelings. You understand me?” He smiled at the memory of her passionate question. He’d pictured her bright blue eyes and loved her so much for letting him go.

Bo shut off the water, dried off, and dressed quickly. He headed downstairs to the living room to peek out. Where were they?

He rounded the landing on the stairs and took the final flight two at a time, his boots clomping loudly on the shiny, polished wooden planks.

Hair still damp from his shower, he turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and ran straight into Calista. He nearly plowed her over and put her on the ground. His arms came around her and he scooped her against his chest to keep her upright.