AllFreeNovel
Share Us
To be young again…
“I can’t help you, Henry. Sorry.”
“There you are!” A bubbly blonde with amazing tits—Nora, I presume—latches on to Henry. “Let’s dance. This band rocks.” She drags him out into the moving people before he has a chance to turn her down.
Yeah, he’s on his own.
Normally, I’d be happy to take pretty Nora off his hands. She’s hot, she’s horny, and she’s female.
But she pales in comparison to Callie Pike.
I resume my path toward Callie and my cousins.
And—
“Donny!” Uncle Joe claps me on my back. “Melanie and I haven’t had a chance to talk to you the last couple times you were in town.”
I’m here for good now, so we have all the time in the world.
The words don’t leave my mouth, of course. Uncle Joe is Brock’s father. I’m this close to telling him to haul his son off my woman, when I realize she’s not my woman.
She’s pissed as all get-out at me.
And she has good reason to be.
“Assistant city attorney,” Uncle Joe says. “That’s great. Your mom is tickled, but you already know that.”
“I’m happy to be able to do this for her.”
“You know, I—”
Mom arrives then. “Excuse me, Joe. Can I borrow my son for a minute?”
“Sure, sure. Don, you and I need to get out on the golf course soon. Before snowfall.”
“It’s a date, Uncle Joe,” I say, as Mom drags me to yet another group of people.
Frank and Maureen Pike, Callie’s parents, and Frank’s sister, Lena Ramsey. Another woman stands with them.
“Donny,” Mom says, “I want you to meet Lena’s niece, Kaia. She just flew in from Montana to help out while the winery is rebuilt.”
I smile and hold out my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too. Thanks for inviting me tonight. Oh, and welcome home, I guess.”
“Are you a niece on Scott’s side?” I ask.
She nods. “Yeah. My dad is Uncle Scott’s brother.”
Kaia Ramsey has shoulder-length dark-blond hair, and she’s tall and beautiful. In fact, looking around, I see that everyone here is tall and beautiful.
“Kaia’s a paralegal,” Mom continues.
“Oh? Taking some time off from legal work?”
“The firm I was working for just had a breakup. Both sides courted me, and I realized I wouldn’t be happy working with either one, so I decided to come to Colorado and help with the winery and ranch. There’s a lot to do right now.”
“That’s nice of you,” I say, searching for Callie in my peripheral vision.
“I was telling Kaia if she chooses to stay on, we might have room for her at the office,” Mom says. “Though I just hired someone this morning.”
“You did?” I ask.
“Yeah. Callie Pike, actually.”
I suppress a shiver at her name. “Oh?” I say as nonchalantly as I can. Weird that Callie didn’t mention a new job. Of course, we didn’t really talk earlier…
“Yeah. Poor thing. She can’t start law school this winter like she was planning, and she wanted a job in the industry while still staying in town.”
I nod. Again trying to be nonchalant while my dick is reacting just to the word Callie.
“Don’t feel you need to make room for me,” Kaia says. “I’m here to help Uncle Scott and the others. It’ll be a nice break in routine.”
“Oh, I know that,” Mom says. “Just, if you want to get back into your chosen field, be sure to holler at me. Or at Donny here. He’s the assistant city attorney beginning on Monday.”
Kaia smiles at me, and… Yeah, I see something behind her smile. I’m an expert at reading women. She’s interested.
I’m not.
“Will you all excuse me?” I say. “Nature calls.”
Not the best excuse, but it works every time. I say goodbye and head toward the house. I have to go in to keep up my cover. I whisk past Darla and Aunt Marj in the kitchen and head to the nearest bathroom.
After two minutes, I stage a flush, wash my hands, and return to the deck.
Just in time, too. Jesse’s gearing up for a slow song. No way is one of my cousins getting Callie into a clench.
I hurry toward them, where Brock has somehow managed to edge Dave out and has his arms around Callie.
I tap his shoulder. “I’m cutting in.”
He turns around. “Hey, Don.”
He makes no move to let me have Callie, though.
“I said I’m cutting in.”
“Up to the lady, I think,” Brock says.
I meet Callie’s gaze. Man, she’s angry. Her eyes shoot darts at me. But she says, “It’s okay.”
Brock doesn’t look happy, but he has no choice but to back off after she says it.
I take Callie in my arms.
And wonder what to say to her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Callie
I hate this. I hate that I feel so at home in Donny’s arms. I hate that I want to forgive him so easily.
I hate that this is what I wanted all along.
I had the attention of the two best-looking men here—okay, second-best-looking, because no one is better looking than Donny Steel at this moment—and I gave it up for a guy who left me stranded in a closet for nearly an hour.
