Spark, page 10
I widen my eyes and meet Rory’s gaze. Her eyes dance. I had no idea she would sing tonight.
“Rory’s singing?” Dave says. “Awesome.”
More cheers for Rory and the band.
They start with some oldies that are great to dance to.
“Ready, guys?” I ask.
“Absolutely,” Brock says, taking my arm.
Dave takes the other, and we join several others on the portable dance floor. It’s a fast song, but both Dave and Brock dance close to me. I’ll give Dave the edge on dancing, but they’re both good dancers. Better than I am, to be honest.
I paste a smile on my face and pretend I’m having the time of my life.
And hope Donny’s watching.
Chapter Twenty-One
Donny
Damn her.
Okay, I did leave her in a closet, but I didn’t want to. People kept grabbing me, and it’s my party…
Yeah, I’m a dick.
A big one.
I should have made some excuse.
And now she’s the delicacy in a Brock and Dave sandwich—and I’m sure they’re thinking the same thing.
I love my cousins. Hey, I’ve partied many times with the two of them, picked up women with them. They’re many years my junior, but I taught them everything they know.
Now they’re using my moves on my woman.
Okay, not my woman. But strangely weird that I just thought of her in those terms.
That fuck in the library…
I needed it. Needed it badly, to work off the tension and anger from the talk with Dad and Dale.
But I also wanted it. Wanted Callie. I’ve been thinking about her since the last Steel party. Funny how I never noticed her before. She was so much younger. She was jailbait for a long time, so I just got used to thinking of her in those terms.
No longer.
“What do you think, Don?”
I jerk my gaze to my brother. “Sorry. What?”
“You were a million miles away.” Dale shakes his head. “I asked if you think Raine might help Willow get set up with a salon in town.”
“Oh. I don’t really know Raine that well.” True enough. I sure didn’t want to say Callie already told me Raine was worried about the competition.
“I don’t want to put her out,” Willow says.
“Mom,” Ashley adds, “there’s no hurry. You need to get settled. Deal with your loss. It’s still so new.”
“The best thing for me is work,” Willow says. “Always. I love having work to do.”
“Snow Creek’s a small town,” Ashley says. “You’re not going to be nearly as busy.”
“I understand,” she says. “But there’s only one stylist in Snow Creek. There are thousands in LA.”
“For thousands more people, Mom.”
Willow sighs. “Ash, I’m just not happy unless I’m working. You know that. All those years…”
She didn’t finish, but I know where she was going. Dale confided in me about Ashley’s and Willow’s years in the tent city in San Francisco. Of course she wants to work. She knows all too well how horrible it is to be out of work.
Willow hasn’t realized, yet, that her daughter is a Steel and she no longer has to worry about money.
Of course, that doesn’t mean she won’t want to work. None of us have to worry about money, and we all work. It’s kind of our thing.
“I can ask Raine,” I say.
Ashley’s eyes widen. “Do you know her?”
“She’s Rory’s partner. I know Rory. And Callie.”
And it’ll give me a chance to wrench Callie away from my lothario cousins.
“I haven’t seen Raine tonight,” Dale says.
“She’s in Denver visiting her parents.”
“Oh. Okay.” Ashley smiles. “See, Mom? Relax. Raine isn’t even in town. There’s plenty of time for you to set up shop.”
“Excuse me,” I say to them.
Time for me to take action.
I head toward the dancing—
When another of my cousins grabs me. This time it’s Henry.
“Don,” he says, “I need your help.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“There’s this hot waitress named Nora who’s coming on strong.”
“Really? Where’s Darlene?”
“She’s in Vegas with friends, a girls’ trip. She already had the plans in place before Aunt Jade scheduled this party. Not that she’d have stayed in town for a party, even a Steel party.”
“So flirt with the hottie. No one has to know.”
“Dude, she wants to do more than flirt.”
“Do you want to do more than flirt?”
Henry laughs. “Spoken like a guy who’s never been in a real relationship.”
He isn’t wrong.
“I was hoping you might be able to take her off my hands,” Henry continues. “She’s just your type.”
“I have a type?”
“Yeah. Double X chromosome, ready, and willing. Right?”
Again, he isn’t wrong.
Except for tonight. I have one type tonight. Her name is Callie Pike, and at the moment, she’s sandwiched between my two horny cousins who aren’t above sharing.
At least they did once.
It sounded hot when they relayed it to me, but I couldn’t get past being naked and hard in front of a family member. Brock and Dave were in college then and acted like it was no big deal. To them, it probably wasn’t. They were total frat brats.
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.
Not my finest move.
I want to say so much. Words jumble in my head in an angry black cloud.
But I refuse to speak first.
He needs to say something to me. Even if it’s not an apology, it has to be something. No way will I talk first.
Damn it! We move slowly to the music, and he still says nothing.
I should let go and move away in a huff, but I can’t.
Physically, I can’t separate myself from him. It feels so…good. So…right.
Finally, he moves his lips toward my ear. I wait for his sweet words begging my forgiveness.
Instead, he nips the outer shell of my ear.
That’s it. I yank myself out of his arms and walk away from the dance area.
Brock and Dave have moved on to someone else—the woman Donny was talking to before he cut in on my dance. I have no idea who she is, but she’s tall and beautiful, so she’s just their type.
So now I’ve got no one. I head toward the house before tears arrive. I’m so not a crier. Rory and Mads have been known to break down, but not I. Never. I steel myself against tears.
Still, my eyelids are stinging. I hate that feeling. Hate it with a burning passion.
I will not cry. I will not cry.
Is it sadness? Anger? Hopelessness? Rage?
Yeah. All of it wrapped into one.
I’m not sure where I’m going. I’ve been to the Steel house many times, but it’s so huge. Whether it’s my subconscious or something else, I end up back in the damned library, wishing I stopped for a drink at the bar first.
Even though I’m not a big drinker, that screwdriver went down pretty smoothly, and I’m wishing for another. A double, even.
I zero in on the bookshelf that dug into my back earlier—and then my socks crumpled on the floor next to it. I walk forward and stuff them in my pocket.
The door opens, and I jerk toward it.
Donny.
“Callie,” he says.
I inhale deeply, willing back those stinging tears. Never will I cry in front of this man.
Never.
I don’t respond.
“Hey.” He walks toward me. “What’s wrong?”
I can’t help it. I scoff softly. “What do you think is wrong? You left me in here for an hour!”
“I know. I didn’t realize how much time had gone by. Why didn’t you come out?”
“I didn’t know who was waiting for me in the hall, and my phone died, so I couldn’t text anyone to come get me.”
He’s only two feet away from me now, and my body is on high alert. Goose bumps erupt on my flesh. My nipples harden.
God, the memory of him inside me, burning through me.
“I’m so sorry, Callie.” His voice is deep—deep and laced with sincerity. “I tried. People kept grabbing me, wanting me to say something, wanting to welcome me back.”
“I get it. You couldn’t spare a minute and a half to come in here and get me. After I—” I shake my head. Damn, my eyelids are stinging again.
“What will it take?” he asks. “What can I do to make this up to you?”
“You can’t. I’m humiliated. Brock found me in here. Brock!”
“And he took advantage of the situation in true Brock Steel style.”
“You mean true Rake-a-teer style. Same as you would have.”
“I’m not Brock.”
“No, but you’re one of the three. I’ll bet Brock and Dave learned every move they have from you.”
He doesn’t argue the point.
Which makes me feel even worse.
“Callie, please. I’ll ask again. What can I do to make this up to you?”
“And I just said that you can’t.”
“Does that mean you’re breaking our date for tomorrow night?”
Wow. I forgot. He’s right. I accepted a dinner date with him for tomorrow. I should break it. I should tell him I never want to see him again.
Except I don’t want to break it. I want to go out with him. Even after his despicable behavior tonight.
“Yes,” I say, “I’m breaking it.”
He moves toward me, closing the gap between us. “No. You’re not breaking it.”
“I am—”
Then his lips. On mine. Prying mine open. His tongue. Finding mine and tangling with it. His groan. A sweet vibration I feel to my toes.
Push him away, Callie.
Do it.
Don’t let him get away with this.
Instead, I respond to the kiss. I kiss him back. My arms go around his neck of their own accord. He presses into me. He’s hard. Hard as a rock. And those sparks ignite again beneath my flesh.
If he wants to fuck me again, I’m going to let him. Already I know this.
The word no doesn’t seem to be in my vocabulary when it comes to Donny Steel.
I melt against him, deepening the kiss, until—
He pulls back. Him.
“Tell me you’ll go to dinner with me tomorrow evening,” he whispers against my ear, his breath igniting me.
I say nothing.
He nips my earlobe. “Please, Callie. Tell me.”
Be strong, Callie. Please, be strong.
He presses a kiss to that sensitive spot right beneath my ear. I suppress a shudder that boomerangs through me and lands between my legs.
“I’ll make this up to you,” he says softly, brushing his lips over the sensitive spot once more and then trailing downward to my neck. “Please.”
Despite myself, I moan softly.
He trails his lips over my neck and to the top of my chest. “I’ll make it up to you. We’ll go anywhere. We’ll go to Aspen if you want. I’ll take you to the best restaurant there. Or we’ll drive into the city. Drive into Denver, even. I know all the best places. We can spend the night at a hotel and drive back on Sunday. Whatever you want.”
“Donny…” I’m quivering.
He presses a kiss along the edge of my shirt, where my breasts are only an inch below. “Anything, Callie. Please. I’ll do anything to make this up to you.”
“For God’s sake, Donny.”
He lowers his head and closes his teeth around my nipple—right through my shirt and bra.
I’m going to erupt in a moment if he doesn’t stop this.
“What?” he asks.
“Just fuck me, will you? Please.”
He chuckles against my still-clad boobs that are aching to be freed. “Only if you forgive me.”
Oh. My. God.
The man is…
The man is fucking irresistible.
“Fine. Fine. I forgive you. I’ll go out with you tomorrow night. Now please. Please.”
To my utter shock, he pulls away. “Not here.”
“Why not here? It was good enough earlier.”
“Because there’s a party outside. I won’t take the chance of you having to hide in the closet again. I’m so sorry about that, baby. Please believe me.”
