by SUE FINEMAN
Because she did.
Even though the two hadn’t spent much time together, Brady was crazy about Bo. Every time she spoke with her son, he asked when he’d get to see Bo again. Brady needed role models, and he couldn’t have a better one than Bo Gregory.
Greg and Bo were as close as any family she’d ever seen. Callie grew up without siblings, and she didn’t want Brady to grow up as an only child, but she wouldn’t likely marry again. Bo would be a good husband and father, but his family and business were in Tacoma, and she and Brady belonged in Caledonia, on the ranch. It was their home, their family legacy. She left the ranch because of Tommy Ray, not because she didn’t love the ranch.
She looked up to see Bo watching her. “What are you thinking about, Callie?”
For once the words wouldn’t come. How could she put all her feelings into words? Her life was in turmoil, her feelings for Bo clouded with worry about his arm and concern for her son’s future. And her own.
The skyline of the city of San Antonio appeared in the gathering dusk, and then she saw the shiny ribbon winding through it. The river.
With the grace of an eagle, the helicopter touched down on top of a building. A man in green scrubs helped Callie and Bo pull their luggage out and waved off the helicopter. The force of the wind from the whirling blades scrambled her hair and tore at her clothes as it lifted off and flew away. Callie’s ears rang with the sound of the engine for several seconds after the helicopter left. The friendly young man piled their luggage on a gurney and pushed it ahead of them.
As they walked inside the building, Callie remembered the last time she was in a hospital. It wasn’t that long ago. Her bruises had faded, and her shoulder and ribs had healed, but the fear remained. If Tommy Ray got his hands on her again, no doctor in the world would ever be able to fix her.
The admissions clerk gave Bo a list of appointment times and a form to fill out on his medical history. He glanced over his shoulder at Callie, who sat in the waiting room with two suitcases and a tote bag stacked by her feet. Sunburned and dusty, her hair a tangled mess, Callie was still the most appealing woman he’d ever met. Snow White with a sunburn.
The woman punched the keys on her computer. “You’ve been assigned the VIP suite, Mr. Gregory, but your brother said you might be more comfortable staying in the hotel until your surgery.”
“Yes, we’ll stay in the hotel, and I’d rather have a regular room.” No sense spending any more of Greg and Neen’s money than he had to.
He scanned the sheet of appointments. The CT scan was scheduled early in the morning. “What time does the radiology department open in the morning?”
“Normally at eight, but sometimes we make an exception for special patients. Your hotel is across the street, and Eddie said he’d help with your luggage.”
The bright young man who met them on the roof appeared with a wheelchair and piled their things on the seat. As they walked out through the lobby, Bo asked, “Does everyone get this kind of service around here?”
With a wry smile, Eddie said, “No, sir. I understand your brother is an old friend of Dr. Hildebrand.”
Bo stopped cold. “Gavin Hildebrand?”
“Yes, sir. He said his brother served in the DEA with your brother.”
They started walking again. “Yes, he did.” Hildebrand was one of the agents killed because someone had been feeding a drug lord inside information. Greg and his buddy in the FBI put the dirty agents out of business, including the man who killed Hildebrand.
Bo had met the doctor once before, the time Greg nearly died from a stab in the back. He didn’t realize at the time that the doctor was a bone specialist, but it wouldn’t have mattered, because he didn’t have the money to pay a civilian to work on his arm. He still didn’t, but Neen did, and this was undoubtedly coming out of her pocket. He sure as hell couldn’t afford to pay for it himself. Every penny he owned was tied up in The Brothel.
Eddie chattered away as they walked to the hotel across the street, and Bo gathered that the young med student idolized Dr. Hildebrand. He hoped the doctor was worthy of all that praise, and that this would be the last surgery on his arm. Bo didn’t want to wake up with no arm, but he couldn’t endure this pain much longer.
Despite their swim in the river that morning, Bo and Callie smelled of horse and sweat. “I’ll bet those horses smell better than we do right about now.”
The bellhop, a pretty young woman with a mop of blond curls, laughed and slapped her hand over her mouth. Bo winked at the bellhop and grinned at Callie. “I don’t think they get many cowboys here.”
Callie’s eyes sparkled. “No, I don’t ‘spose they do.”
“C’mon, Calamity Jane, let’s head on up to the bunkhouse.”
<>
Bo tried to undress for his shower and found he couldn’t use his left arm at all. He opened the bathroom door and called Callie. “Can you help me undress?”
“Sure.” She unsnapped his shirt and pulled it off him. “Oh, Bo, why didn’t you tell me it was like this? Poor baby.” The compassion in her eyes and in her voice tore at him.
His arm looked like an overstuffed sausage. No wonder it wouldn’t bend. “Will you help me shower?” He hoped she’d get in with him, but he didn’t ask.
Without another word, she unfastened his jeans and pushed them down over his hips. With a shy smile, she said, “You smell like Buttercup.”
“Imagine that.”
He stood in the bathroom in his shorts and waited while she turned on the shower, put the bathmat on the floor, and tossed a towel over the shower rod. And then she started stripping off her own clothes. “I smell worse than you do.”
So this would be a shower for two. He thought he’d have to coax her. Their clothes dropped on the floor and they stepped into the warm water together. Gentle hands shampooed his hair and washed his face and most of his body.
In spite of the swelling, the warm water felt good on his sore arm. He should be angry that Greg and Callie conspired to push him into getting more surgery, but if they hadn’t, he might not have had the courage to go through it again.
Callie washed and rinsed her hair and body and then stepped back so he could stand under the warm water again. Every now and then, she glanced down at his erection, but she didn’t touch it. He finished washing that part of his body himself, rinsed off, and turned to face Callie. “I need a kiss, honey.”
Their lips touched, electrifying his body, and he pulled her tightly against him as the warm water rained down over them. She opened her mouth under his and he deepened the kiss. Her gentle hands went around his waist and down to his behind. His right arm scooped her up so the black curls below her belly rubbed against his erection, and he wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman.
“Bo,” she whispered, and he set her down.
Minutes later, Bo lay in the bed and Callie pulled an extra pillow from the closet shelf to put under his sore arm. His erection was still long and thick and hard, and she couldn’t take her eyes off it. Bo reached for her hand and she came to him. “You can touch it, Callie.”
“You’re the first full-grown man I’ve ever seen naked. Tommy Ray never, ever undressed in front of me.”
“You grew up on a ranch. You’ve seen the animals—”
“Oh, yes, sir, but I’ve never... The only one I’ve ever touched was my son’s.” She sat beside him on the bed and ran her fingers down his penis. “It feels like velvet.”
“Honey, if I could lean on my arm—”
“I once had a collie who’d lost a leg in a trap, and she figured out how. We had some of the prettiest pups that year.”
Bo tried to bend his arm to touch her face, and he couldn’t do it. But he couldn’t wait for her any longer. If he lost his arm day after tomorrow, he might never be able to make love to her.
He retrieved a condom from his duffel bag and rolled it on. Bo wanted to make their first time together something special, a memory to cherish, but he fel
t so damn awkward in bed with a bum arm. He couldn’t lean on it, and it wouldn’t bend far enough to do him any good. It was half-numb from the swelling anyway. He should wait to make love to her until he could use both arms, but he couldn’t wait.
Gentle hands stroked his chest and lower until she wrapped her hand around his throbbing erection. He rolled toward her and explored her silky body with his right hand. She scooted up and held his head while his mouth found her breasts, and the loving way she stroked him and held him made him forget the pain. She was already wet when he touched her there, and for a second or two she held her breath. This had to scare her on some level, but this wasn’t about hurting, it was about loving. He slipped two fingers inside her and rubbed, and she moaned.
He couldn’t wait another minute. Trying to push himself up on both arms didn’t work, so he rolled on his back and pulled her on top of him. She slid down part way, and he grabbed her tush and pushed all the way in. She whispered his name as he pounded inside her, and he came in a glorious explosion that left him both satisfied and disappointed.
Caressing his face and chest, she said, “I didn’t know it could be like that, Bo. I thought it had to hurt for a man to—”
“Honey, I wish—”
“When you get your arm fixed, we’ll do it the other way if you want. It doesn’t matter to me, Bo. Just being with you like this makes me feel more alive than I’ve felt since before Chet. You’re my Prince Charming, and I’m crazy about you.” Callie kissed his chest and shoulder and then his lips before she slid off him.
He’d never had a more generous and loving partner, and he felt like screaming in frustration because he couldn’t make their first time as special as he wanted.
Bo rolled off the bed and walked into the bathroom before the first hot tears of rage hit him. Bad enough to hurt so much all the time without this stupid injury interfering with his relationship with Callie.
He felt like half a man.
Chapter Eight
Bo went to sleep with his elbow packed in ice bags, and when he woke in the night, his arm didn’t look as puffy, and his fingers no longer felt numb.
A little light shone from the bathroom where Callie left the light on and the door pulled almost closed. She didn’t like sleeping in the dark, which wasn’t surprising after what she’d been through. She slept beside him, so pretty it hurt his heart to look at her. They’d known each other only a few days, yet it was as if he’d been waiting for this woman forever, and she for him.
The anger he’d felt with her when they left Tacoma didn’t matter now. It mattered that she cared enough to talk to Greg about how much his arm hurt, enough to come with him and hold his hand through a procedure that scared him more than he wanted to admit. And she cared enough to pretend everything was all right when they made love. Everything wasn’t all right, and if this surgery didn’t fix his arm, it might never be all right again.
He’d never been with a woman who gave so much of herself. When she gazed at him, love shone in her eyes, and the tender way she touched him and cared for him made him feel like the luckiest man on earth. A man would have to be out of his mind to walk away from her, yet if he lost his arm, how could he face her again? She needed a whole man to help her on that ranch, someone she could depend on to help with the work.
He took the ice bags into the bathroom and emptied them. The ice had all melted and sweat from the plastic bags had dampened the pillow. He intended to make love to Callie at least one more time before he went under the knife, so he opened a condom and put it beside the bed.
Callie stirred and opened her eyes. “Bo, how is your arm?”
“Better.” All soft and sleepy, she looked good enough to eat. Just looking at her gave him an erection, and his arm would hold him now. Pushing her nightshirt out of his way, he brushed his hand over her warm tummy and stuck his tongue in her belly button.
“Bo,” she whispered.
He nuzzled into her breasts and pulled one nipple into his mouth as her gentle hands caressed him. Her skin felt warm and silky, and he’d never wanted a woman more than he wanted this one. He put his hand over her thatch of black hair and felt the moist heat of her sex on his palm. She writhed against his hand and he ran his finger around the edge, teasing, until she moaned and begged, “Please, Bo. Love me.”
He wanted to tell her he did love her, but if he did, Callie would want a future with him, and he couldn’t make any promises until after his surgery. And maybe not then.
After he rolled on the condom and slipped a pillow under her slender hips, Bo pushed her knees up and apart and let his fingers work their magic until she tightened around them. And then he pushed himself up on both arms and gazed into her eyes. She reached up for a kiss, and he drove himself into her. Pulling out, he felt her shudder, and then he plunged into her again.
“Oh... my...God,” she whispered, and her body shuddered.
Once more left her gasping and clutching at him, so he settled into a satisfying rhythm while she held on tightly and moved beneath him. Finally, she cried out and buried her face in his shoulder. Callie’s tears dampened his skin, and he knew she wasn’t crying because he’d hurt her. One more deep stroke and he let himself go. His arm wouldn’t hold him much longer.
“Dear God in Heaven. Now I know why adultery is such a popular sin.”
He rolled off her and chuckled softly. He’d have to find another position while his arm healed, if he still had an arm after the surgery, because he wouldn’t give her up. He couldn’t give her up. Not after this. Callie made him feel like the king of the world.
Callie snuggled with Bo in the middle of the big bed, and in the morning, they made love again. It was a sin to sleep with a man who wasn’t her husband, but she’d never felt so cherished. Now she understood the little looks lovers shared and the secret smiles. It wasn’t just sex that made them look at each other that way.
It was love.
Would everyone look at her and know? So what if they did? It wasn’t anybody else’s business but hers and Bo’s.
Bo had his tests done in the morning, and that afternoon, Callie invited herself along to Bo’s appointment with Dr. Hildebrand. The doctor was supposed to be an expert in his field. Some folks said he was the best bone doctor in Texas. Bo deserved the best.
Bo shook the doctor’s hand and introduced Callie as his wife. How she wished that were true. Being married to Bo wouldn’t be anything like being married to Tommy Ray. Bo treated her with kindness and respect, and after making love to him, she had a taste of what it would be like to sleep with him every night. Her body tingled just remembering how it felt to have him touch her and love her.
She sat quietly while the doctor examined Bo’s arm and discussed the upcoming surgery. “I’d like to replace the shattered elbow with an artificial joint,” said the doctor.
Bo nodded. “There’s so much arthritis in there it doesn’t want to move on cold mornings. Just don’t cut the damn thing off.”
“Cut it off?”
“That’s what the last doctor wanted to do. He said it was too badly damaged to save, that the shattered bones wouldn’t hold an artificial joint, and that I’d always have a lot of pain. Greg read him the riot act, said to save it or else.”
“There’s no reason you should have to lose your arm.” He pointed to a spot on Bo’s upper arm. “You have a little piece of metal in here. If it’s all right with you, I’ll remove it while we have you under.”
“There’s one in my leg, too.” Bo stood and put his hand over it. “Whatever needs to be done, do it this time, because I don’t intend to come back.”
“My patients generally don’t have to come back for a repeat performance.” Dr. Hildebrand leaned back in his chair. “You have a lot of damage in your arm, Bo. It may not ever be one hundred percent again, but we’ll do our best to get you close.”
Callie watched the lines on Bo’s face ease as they talked. This confident, compassionate doctor inspired confidence. She
liked him a lot, and from the look on Bo’s face, he did, too.
“After the surgery, you’ll need a few weeks of physical therapy and then regular exercise. I recommend swimming. It strengthens the muscles without putting too much stress on the bones.”
When they finished their discussion, Bo shook the doctor’s hand. “Thanks for getting me in so soon.”
A wry smile curled the doctor’s lips. “Greg wouldn’t take no for an answer, and I had a cancellation.”
Now more than ever, Callie wished Daddy had put that pool in he’d talked about. A swimming pool alone wouldn’t entice Bo to stay with her, of course, but it wouldn’t hurt. No, sir, it surely wouldn’t hurt. Would that money she found be enough to start her horse-breeding business and put in a pool? If she could get her divorce and get Tommy Ray off her back, maybe Bo would stay with her. Would he want to do that? He didn’t say he loved her. What if he didn’t feel the same way she did?
Callie walked back to the hotel with Bo. He stretched out on the bed while she spent nearly an hour pacing and talking with Stan Houser on the phone. She asked him to take over her divorce from the attorney in Austin, and he agreed. They talked about the ranch, about the money she found in the safe, and about her grandfather’s will. And she told him things about Tommy Ray that she’d told no one, all except what he did in the bedroom. She couldn’t speak about those things. “Now you understand why I can’t stay married to him.”
“I knew you didn’t make it to church much these days, and I knew Tommy Ray was a bully, but I had no idea he beat on you like that.”
“I don’t reckon anyone knew, Mr. Houser.” She didn’t tell anyone, and Tommy Ray wouldn’t have wanted anyone to know what really went on in their home.
“Daddy had a big life insurance policy, but I never saw a penny of it. Tommy Ray took the check and said he put it in our savings account, and he did, but he took it right back out, and I don’t know if he ever paid the overdue property taxes.” She paused for a breath. “Tommy Ray can’t take the ranch, can he? I mean, I never signed it over to him or anything. Can he claim it because he’s my husband?”
