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In a few moments, she drifted into slumber.
* * *
She awoke again when Chad’s cell phone rang.
He disentangled himself from her and answered it. “Yeah?” Pause. “Okay, give me a few minutes.”
He hung up and flung the phone onto his dresser. “Sugar, I need to go. They need me at one of the barns. A cow’s gone into labor. Could you do me a favor and call Annie? Tell her to m
eet me at the south barn? She’s number five on my speed dial.” He pulled on a pair of jeans—no boxer briefs—and a clean pair of socks. Then he walked into the bathroom—to get his boots, she presumed.
Course he could have gotten one of the thirty-two pairs out of his closet. Catie smiled. Who’d have thought Chad McCray would have a thing for boots? Every fact she learned about him was a gift, a present she was unwrapping layer by layer. She had discovered some wonderful layers last night.
She hummed a happy tune under her breath.
As expected, he came out, boots on, and headed to the closet where he donned a denim shirt.
“Please, Catie?”
She jerked slightly. “What?”
“Call Annie? South barn?”
“Oh, yeah. Of course.” She had been listening. Hadn’t she?
“Never mind,” he said, picking up his cell. “I need my phone with me. I’ll call her on the way over. What I should do anyway. Don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I don’t mind helping.”
“I know, but I do this stuff by myself all the time.” He grabbed his cell from the dresser and rushed toward the door. “Don’t wait around. I’ll likely be a while. I… Hell, I’ll see you later, I guess.”
And he was gone.
Nothing about when they might meet again. Nothing about hey, it was great. When can I see you? Let’s go out sometime. How about a movie?
Nothing about the magic they had just shared.
And it had been magical. At least it had for her.
Catie’s heart fell. Well, what had she expected? He’d made his position clear.
She decided to take another shower since the first one had been interrupted. Her hair was tangled again, this time wet, so she went to the bathroom and borrowed a brush she found on the counter. After combing out her snarls, she started the shower and entered, letting the hot water ease her tired body.
Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything for her tired heart.
For that’s what it was. Tired. Damn tired of loving Chad McCray.
After a fifteen minute soak under the soothing showerhead, Catie dried off and found her clothes. She put on her jeans and bra, but had a quick thought. Chad wouldn’t be back for a while yet, and she had a strange urge to put on one of his shirts. Just to feel it next to her skin, as if she really belonged to him, lived in this room with him. Was his woman.
She chose a white cotton with pearl snaps. It hung on her, but when she inhaled the clean crispiness of it, she felt like she’d come home.
She walked out of the bedroom and decided to look around the house. Huge, as she’d realized last night, but in broad daylight, the Colorado sun streaming through the windows, it was gigantic. She walked through the living room, the dining room, all the time fantasizing about being mistress of this manor, showing guests in, smiling and laughing, Chad by her side, his arm draped possessively around her shoulders. She waltzed into the shiny kitchen and imagined preparing a hearty ranch breakfast for Chad and their children, shuffling them off to school, and then going about her daily chores. Chad would come home at noon for a hot lunch she’d prepare, and then, before he went back to work, he’d take her to the bedroom and love her because he couldn’t wait until the evening.
Yeah, that’s how it would be.
She shook her head. Damn, Chad was right. She was a silly little kid. Playing house like a schoolgirl.
She headed back to the bedroom and replaced Chad’s shirt in his closet.
