“Yeah, I am. This is what I wear most of the time during the summer.”
He looked at her legs with a crooked grin as he tossed a couple of kernels of popcorn into his mouth. “Nice legs.”
“What? These old things?” She plopped down on the couch beside him, almost spilling the popcorn.
“Easy, woman! The popcorn!”
The peal of his laughter made her smile. She loved his laugh. Hell, she loved everything about him.
“Sorry.” She grabbed a few pieces for herself as she asked, “What did you pick out?”
“Die Hard.”
“Of course.”
“Hey, it’s an action flick, but it has the mushy stuff too. I mean, you know how he hollers his wife’s name and everything.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s so not a woman’s kind of movie. Love Actually, You’ve Got Mail, those kinds of movies are chick flicks.”
“I’m the guest, so I guess that means we watch my movie.”
“First, then it’ll be my turn.”
“Deal.”
She grabbed the remote and flipped on the disc player. The movie began to play the opening scenes as she settled in next to Jeremiah on the couch. Being here with him like this was surreal. She never thought this would ever happen to her. Sitting next to the guy she’d been in love with since tenth grade didn’t happen to girls like her. Well, they do now.
“Are you enjoying the movie?” he asked as their hands brushed together in the midst of the popcorn bowl.
“Yeah. I like Bruce Willis.”
“He’s a pretty good actor.”
“I’d say so. These action flicks are exciting.”
“I thought you didn’t like action flicks?”
“I never said that. I just said I figured you’d pick one rather than a chick flick. I happen to like movies with car crashes, shootings, and explosions.” She turned to face him. “You know I almost went to school to be in stunts.”
“Really?”
“Yep. I wanted to be one of those people who flew through the air and landed on one of those big airbags. It looked so fun when I visited Los Angeles and went to Universal Studios.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Dad needed me here to take over the garage when he can’t work on cars anymore. Being the only child sucks sometimes, but I love him.”
“You have no idea how lost you get being part of a huge family like mine. Middle kid syndrome jumps on a lot of people when you have a family of nine kids.”
“I can imagine it would be hard not to get lost in the shuffle, but you seem to do pretty well for yourself.”
“It’s even worse now with the extra women in the picture. Mom and Dad are all about the daughters-in-law and the grandkids these days.”
“You make sure they’re financially secure though, right? I mean, you are the reason they stay in business out there because you keep their finances straight.”
“True, but it’s not simple to stand out in the crowd gathering out there.”
“Have you thought about getting married yourself?”
He laughed as he grabbed her hand. “Are you askin’?”
Her breath stopped in her throat. “Well no, but I wondered since you are getting close to thirty. Shouldn’t it be about time?”
“You are too, you know. Are you feeling the itch to be married?”
“A little. My dad is hinting at marriage and grandkids although without a steady guy, it seems unlikely for the time being. With no boyfriend in the mix, it’s hard to think about a future and a wedding, not to mention babies.”
“We should just get married and put them all out of their misery.”
She choked on the popcorn kernel in her mouth. “You can’t be serious?”
“Of course not, silly. I’m kidding!”
“Oh, thank God! I mean, we don’t really know each other. I could snore or something that you hate. I mean you were mad at me earlier for trying to be what you wanted, remember?” She took a breath to continue only to have him put his hand over her mouth.
“Easy girl. Lighten up, would you?” He tipped his head to the side as a grin spread across his lips. “I’m not about to get married to someone I don’t know and am not hopelessly in love with, so calm down.”
She blew out a forced exhale. “Good. Me either. I want to be madly in love with the man I marry someday.”
“I hope you find him soon. You’re a beautiful woman and being out there on the market can be hectic.”
“You’re teasing me now.”
“Yes, I am. Stop being so serious. We’re two friends having a nice evening watching a movie with popcorn.” He held up a piece to feed her. “Nothing more.”
For the next few hours, they joked, threw popcorn at each other and generally had a good time. It was something she’d needed. The stress of the garage, not having a dating life or a steady boyfriend had gotten to her.
“So what kind of girl do you like?”
“Well, let’s see. Someone who is confident, real, likes kids, is close to her family, not so much into being the eye candy on my arm, but who likes to dress up once in a while and hit the town so every man in the room can’t take his eyes off her.”
He flipped off the movie since the credits were rolling at the end of City of Angels.
She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue from the box next to her on the table. That movie always made her cry. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“For blubbering. You probably didn’t need to see me with traces of mascara running down my face.”
He took the tissue from her hand as he turned her face toward his. She sucked in a breath as he gently wiped the smudge from beneath her eye. He was so close she could feel his breath on her lips. A shiver raced down her back when he stopped and looked down into her eyes. He leaned in like he planned to kiss her, or wanted to at least, and she closed her eyes in anticipation.
A bang in the hallway startled them both into a quick separation. “Sorry, kids.”
“It’s fine, Dad. Did you need something?”
“Just getting a glass of milk. Heartburn is killing me tonight.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, honey. You two just keep doing what you were doing,” he said with a wave of his hand.
The refrigerator door opened before the sounds of something being poured into a glass reached her on the couch. She glanced at Jeremiah who seemed to be contemplating something as he studied the picture on the wall above the fireplace with a hell of an intense look in his eyes. What is he thinking? I feel really stupid now, hoping he would lean in and kiss me. It shouldn’t be like that between us. We’re friends. Nothing more, right? He doesn’t want anything but friendship from me. She wondered why he looked like he was going to kiss her then.
“I probably should get on home,” Jeremiah said, climbing to his feet. “It was a great evening. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
“How about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, are you busy?”
“No.” He shoved his hand into his front pocket to retrieve his keys. “We could go to The Dusty Boot to shoot some pool or throw darts.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up about seven unless you want to get some dinner beforehand. Maybe Aunt Anne’s diner?”
“Sure. Sounds like fun.”
“Great.” He shuffled his feet for a second. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. Since we are doing dinner, I’ll pick you up at six.”
She got to her feet to walk him to his car. Dare she hope he would try to kiss her goodnight? A girl could always dream, right? “I’ll walk you out.”
As they walked to the door, she turned to glance at her father who stood holding up the kitchen island as if his life depended on it while he sipped his glass of milk with a smirk. Jerk. He knew how she felt about Jeremiah since she never kept anything from her dad.
The cooler night air hit her in the face as they walked outside toward Jeremiah’s truck. “Thanks for tonight. It was a lot of fun even though things started rather badly.” She rubbed her arms to ward off the chill.
“We discussed that. Be yourself. I like the Callie I know from the garage.”
“Okay.”
“I like the fancy dressed Callie too, but don’t make yourself up to be something you aren’t. I think you just like dressing up sometimes to be all girly.”
“Sometimes. It’s nice to be a woman occasionally.”
“Tell you what, put on a pretty blouse or tank top tomorrow night with some jeans meant to show off your curves and you’ll be just right.”
She smiled at the thought of the perfect jeans for what she had in mind. “I can do that.”
“Good. I’ll be interested to see how your ass looks.”
“You like my ass?”
“You have a very pretty one. Mind you, I’m an ass man.”
“You don’t say?”
“Yep. I love me some pretty, curvy butt in a nice, tight pair of jeans.”
“I’ll see what I can do then.” The smile curving his lips made her want to kiss him all the more, but she figured it wasn’t the right time.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. Damn it! A little lower, please.
“Thanks, Jeremiah.”
He climbed into his truck, started the engine and pulled away from the curb.
She stood near the edge of the lawn, watching as he drove down her street. With a heavy sigh, she headed back into the house and her lonely bed.
“How’d things go?” her dad asked as she shut the front door behind her.
“Fine.”
“Did he kiss you?”
“It’s not like that between us, Daddy. He’s just a friend and I think that’s all he’ll ever be to me. I want more, but he doesn’t see me as girlfriend material.”
“Well maybe you need to make him see you as the woman of his dreams.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged before she poured herself a glass of milk from the refrigerator as well. “I don’t think we’re very compatible on the romance level though.”
“Why do you think so?”
Cold milk felt good on her throat, spreading through her chest. “I don’t know. He doesn’t act like he’s interested in me as a girlfriend.” She leaned against the counter, sipping on the white liquid in her glass as she contemplated exactly what to do about Jeremiah Young. Could she convince him she was everything he wanted and needed in a woman? She wasn’t sure. Confidence wasn’t one of her strong points, especially when she compared herself to the women in town like Lydia. “I’m not his type, Dad. He’s always been seen with girly girls, not someone who works on cars.”
Her father wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. “You have to understand one thing about men, Callie. They don’t always know what they need until it slaps them in the face. There is a reason that boy hasn’t settled down with a girly girl. Maybe he wants something different, like you.”
“One can hope.”
“Bide your time, sweetie. He’ll come around.”
Callie finished off her glass of milk, kissed her dad goodnight and headed to her room to try to sleep. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to with the way tonight went or maybe she would dream of Jeremiah kissing her. That would be cool. Not like she didn’t dream of him often anyway, at least now she knew the look in his eyes when he was about to kiss her, making the visual more potent.
Chapter Four
Jeremiah pulled up his chair in front of his desk at the ranch before he opened his desktop to his bank account. He pursed his lips as he nodded. He was almost there. Almost to the point where he could leave the ranch as a hand or financial advisor or whatever you wanted to call him. He’d made his first million two years ago. Now he was closing in on ten.
Birds chirped out the window of his office as he glanced outside. Fall in Bandera took on a burnished hue as the weather had started to turn cooler in the evenings, but the days could still be rather hot. For some reason, he felt the need to visit the barn, soak up the atmosphere, the smells, and the general cowboy way of life today. Maybe he’d talk to his brother Jeff for a bit. It seemed they hadn’t talked in forever.
Jeff had his own life going with his girlfriend, Terri, and their kids. They seemed happy although he figured Jeff would have married her by now. Poor guy was so gun-shy over marriage he wouldn’t do the deed and put a ring on the girl’s finger. Terri seemed happy with the way things were, but Jeremiah figured deep down she wanted what every woman wanted, a happy marriage.
How did he feel about matrimony? He wanted a wife someday, someone to come home to, someone to help raise their children together. The picture of Callinda Lewis popped into his head as he stared out the window. Why her? Why now? Surely he didn’t feel anything besides friendship for her, although he had been about to kiss her the night before when her dad interrupted them. What would that kiss have been like? She said she wasn’t a virgin, that kind of made him mad, but he didn’t quite understand why. Maybe it was the fact that some kid had taken advantage of her in high school. He wouldn’t have, would he?
Hard to say, he was all about getting laid back then, just like any other high schooler, but Callie was different. Good girls didn’t do those kinds of things.
Had it been at prom for her? He thought about asking her. Maybe not. It really wasn’t any of his business anyway. But who had she given her virginity to?
His had been some years before that. An older woman at the ranch had cornered him in the barn when he was sixteen. She’d been all about teaching him how to please her and boy did he ever! He used the skills she’d taught him over her two-week stay to learn all he could about making love to a woman. The women he’d been with since seemed to like his prowess. He smiled and then frowned. Could he take Callie to bed?
“What the hell? Why am I even thinking about getting her onto any old flat surface?”
Not that he didn’t want a hot partner in the sack, but Callie? Well maybe. She sure looked gorgeous in that red dress she’d worn the night before. He pulled off his hat before wiping the sweat from his forehead. His jeans felt a bit tighter when he thought about how well she’d filled out that material. She was just a friend, right? He shouldn’t be thinking about her all dirty like, but man, he’d wanted to kiss her when her dad interrupted. Her lips had looked so tempting, he’d almost lost himself in her mouth for a minute. Good thing her dad had stopped that nonsense. He couldn’t afford to get tied up with a good girl. He’d always played the field and that’s how he liked it, at least for now.
Later he would think about a wife, not now. He needed to get the family on an even keel with their money so they wouldn’t have to worry for the long haul. His parents kept a pretty good eye on the bank account so he kept a different account for what investing he’d been doing. If they ever found out about him hiding their money, they’d kill him. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard, pulling up the account information for the ranch. He’d been investing pretty heavily for them for the last year. The sum had a few more zeros than there had been when he’d started. He was proud to say the ranch now had at least enough to cover them for awhile should things go south.
His mom stopped in the doorway to his office just as he clicked off the page. “Jeremiah?”
“Hi, Mom.”
“What are you up to this morning? You don’t usually work on the weekends.”
“Not computer work anyway. I was checking on things from the stock’s closing yesterday to see where things were.”
“You’ve become quite the financial wizard, son.”
He smiled as his mom put her hand on his shoulder to peek over at the computer screen. “Yeah. Things are going well.”
“When are you going to let your dad and me in on the buying and selling of stock so we can invest for our retirement?”
“Soon.”
“Good. I’d like to sit down with you to talk numbers. You know I have a degree in mathematics.”
“I know. It’s probably where I got my love of numbers.”
She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “Probably.” She turned to go out of the office, but stopped for a second. “Oh, how was your date with Callinda Lewis last night?”
“It wasn’t really a date, Mom. We were just hanging out as friends.”
“You know you could do a lot worse than her. She’s a nice girl.”
“I know.”
“You should think about her on the girlfriend level. She’d be good for you. Nice, down-to-earth kind of girl to go with my wild son.”
“I’m not wild. I’m tame compared to some of my brothers.”
“True, but you aren’t the settling down forever kind of cowboy right now and I think you should be.”
“Why? I’m not that old yet.”
“You’re getting there, son. Just like your brothers, you don’t want to think about being with one woman. I’ve heard about your escapades with the women of Bandera and San Antonio. I think you need to find a nice girl. I think Callinda Lewis is just what you need.” She pressed her palm to his cheek before she turned back toward the door to leave. “Think about it.”
Great. That’s all I need is to have Mom on the Callie Lewis bandwagon. Once she sets her mind on someone for one of her sons, there’s no stopping her meddling.
He didn’t need to think about it since he’d already been doing a lot of it about that particular woman since last night. Damn it! He was a forever kind of guy, right?
With a flick of the switch, he turned off the monitor on his computer. He climbed to his feet as he scraped his fingers over the stubble on his chin. He’d have to shower and shave for his date with Callie.
Shit. Even he was thinking of their meeting tonight as a date when he shouldn’t be. He didn’t need the complication of a permanent woman in his life until he was ready to move on from being a cowboy. He might get there sometime, but he sure wasn’t ready yet.
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