Eagle's Refuge (5 page)

pleasure poured over her. Mac groaned and went still. She felt his cock pulse deep inside her as he too tumbled from the mountain’s crest.

Hours later Mac pressed her against the frame of her front door. It had to be at least three in the morning.

“Wish you could come in,” she whispered between kisses.

“No can do. I have to be at the ranch in a few hours and you said you have to open the store early. I’m trying to be strong here. If I come in, I’ll go hunting for your bed and that’ll be it. No sleep for either of us.”

Callie pressed her lips to the strong column of his throat. “Mmm. So worth it. It has been a long, long time since I’ve been with a man. I’m glad it was you, cowboy.”

“Yeah?”

She’d tried to keep her tone light and knew she’d succeeded when Mac grinned.

“Would you care to explain that, darlin’? You are a damn beautiful woman.”

Callie sighed. “Want to sit for a minute?”

When she’d first moved into her little rental, she’d picked up a cool-looking bench for her front porch. A giant whiskey barrel full of petunias sat next to it. It was the first time she’d actually used it but she followed Mac over and took a seat next to him.

Immediately, his arm went around her shoulder and she got the feeling Mac was the kind of man who made women feel safe.

“I got a divorce when I was twenty-five,” she began as Mac’s hand moved comfortingly over her arm. “I don’t want to get into details too much but I knew pretty quickly the marriage wasn’t going to work. Doug fought the divorce at every turn and even after it was finalized.”

“After? I don’t get it.”

Callie looked at Mac and blew out a breath. “Long story short, he has been stalking me for years. I’ve moved to four different cities and towns, not counting this one, since our divorce.”

She felt Mac stiffened. “Did you talk to the police?”

“Many times over the years. But Doug is smart. By the time the cops arrived, he was always gone. He’s obsessed though I have no clue why. Guess he always saw me as a possession and a little piece of paper stating we were divorced didn’t mean a thing to him.” A shudder swept her and she felt Mac’s arm tighten around her.

“Has he ever hurt you, Callie? Touched you?”

She heard the slowly simmering rage in his voice and shook her head. “No. He did nasty little things like park across from my house and sit there for hours. Or he’d follow me to wherever I happened to be working and watch me from a distance. Creepy stuff.

He’s one of the reasons I’ll never own another pet.”

“Fuck!”

“I’m tired of running, Mac. A woman has to take a stand and I guess I’m going to take it here, assuming he shows up. What else can I do? I’m tired to death of not having a life. Of not feeling safe. It sucks and I’m not doing it anymore.”

Mac looked worried by the time she’d finished. After she walked inside and watched him get in his truck and drive away, she wondered why she’d bothered telling him. Well, he’d kind of asked so, yeah, she’d finally unburdened herself without going into too much detail about just how crazy Doug Hill really was.

She closed the plantation shutter at her front window and made her way through the quiet house and into her bedroom

Odd.

The small lamp on her bedside table was on. She hadn’t done that. At least she hadn’t thought so. Frowning, she looked around the small room as a shudder of foreboding swept her body and then she went completely still. Terror dug through her

belly with steely claws when she looked at her bed. There was the imprint of a body in the middle of her bedspread along with an indentation in her pillow. She wasn’t losing her mind. Her bed was always neatly made. She had a thing about that after all. Callie slowly let out a breath in a feeble attempt to fight panic. This could only mean one thing.

Doug was here in Morgan’s Creek and he’d been in her house.

A few days later Mac walked into the main area of the bar and watched as wait staff worked at setting up the small buffet they rolled out for happy hour every day. Bowls of tortilla chips, along with a heating pot full of melted cheese for nachos and other snack things were placed on the big cart from four to six daily. If he was lucky, most of the customers would have enough free food and cheap beer to encourage them to stay a little longer when full price went into effect.

The place was fairly empty at the moment with roughly twenty locals hanging out, some playing pool in the game room and others having a beer or two at the tables scattered through the cavernous club. A lone man sat at the bar. Mac didn’t recognize him but noticed he didn’t have a drink. He walked up and leaned his elbows on the bar.

“Could I get you a drink?”

The man nodded. “Yeah, I’ll have a beer.”

Mac grabbed a glass, drew a beer and set it down in front of him. “Would you like to run a tab?”

“Nah, that won’t be necessary.” He put a ten on the bar and Mac gave him change just as the cell phone in his back pocket rang.

Turning away from the customer slightly, Mac dug out his phone and smiled when he saw Callie’s number on the display screen. “Hey, sweetheart. I was just thinking about you.”

“Oh yeah? That sounds interesting. What were you thinking?”

“I’ve been thinking that I can’t get you out of my head. Between your work and mine, I’ve been wondering if we’d ever see each other again. Been bothering me some,”

he confessed. “I’m determined to make some time for you.”

Mac heard her sigh on the other end and his belly tightened. Man, he had it bad. “Is this just the curse of hard workers or something? What? We get to have no life?” she asked wearily. “I had that big engagement party last night at the Caldwells’ place and then another funeral. Jeez! I’ve been swamped.”

Leaning against the bar, he watched the swirling lights over the dance floor come on. Somebody turned the music up until it practically shook the walls. “Listen, Callie, I’ve been thinking about that. How about we go out and grab a bite to eat?”

“Tonight? Don’t you have to work?”

He laughed. “No, I have to get out of here for a while. My manager is back from a trip out of town so I’m good. How about it?”

“I have a better idea.”

“All ears here.”

She paused for a second. “I hate to ask this but I’m up to my neck in unpacking stuff. My boxes arrived from Oklahoma City late this afternoon and I dug right in. In no way am I presentable.”

Mac laughed. “I actually prefer you when you aren’t presentable.”

“Bad man.”

“Just a man who knows what he likes. Listen, why don’t I pick up something and bring it over. Bet you’re due a break.”

“Wow, what a guy! I could use one of those.”

“Okay. See you in about an hour or so.”

Mac tucked the phone back into his pocket and felt his heart speed up. He’d never met a woman who’d so instantly hooked him. Like a damn trout. He didn’t know what it was about her that touched him. She was as sexy as hell but funny with an ingrained honesty that was so appealing to him. Sure he’d had relationships. What thirty-four-year-old man hadn’t? He’d come close to getting serious with a couple of women but in

the end things hadn’t worked out. Mac had never taken the whys and wherefores out and examined them because, to his way of thinking, the spark was either there or not.

There was definitely a spark with Callie.

Hell, more like an inferno.

“Well now, doesn’t Mac look like a man with things on his mind?”

Mac looked up at sound of the familiar drawl and saw Shane Duffy, Leah’s husband and a first-class vet, grinning at him. Mac’s brother Dash was with him, smiling slightly, as he took off his straw cowboy hat and took a seat at the bar next to Shane.

“You’re just in time,” Mac said as he reached for a couple of long necks from the cooler and passed them across the counter. “The beer is cold and the company is fine.

What brings you by?”

Dash took a swig of his beer and sighed. “Damn that’s good. You might call it an intervention.”

“That’s right,” Shane said. “You need one.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah, you aren’t sleeping enough and you look like hell. When are you going to take some time off and get your shit together?” Dash, a former cop, gave him a hard look.

“Well—”

Shane piped up. “And Leah is bugging the hell out of me about you moving into that damn house, Mac. You already have the place furnished and some clothes there.

Move into it. You know how she feels about family and hell, man, you’re her brother.”

“I’m thinking about it. Spent a little time out there the other night.”

“Yeah, with a woman,” Dash said with a grin. “Carmen and I drove by your place and saw your truck. We heard a woman laughing from the backyard.”

Mac shook his head. “Now that’s exactly why I shouldn’t completely move in. Spies are everywhere. Seriously, I am thinking about it. Joe Morgan was never my biggest fan and it rankles like hell to take a damn thing from him.”

Shane leaned back on his bar stool and gave him a steady look. “Yeah, well he’s dead and buried. There comes a point when a man has to put the bad stuff behind him, get on with things.”

Mac knew they both meant well and they were right. He reached into the cooler and popped the top on a long neck for himself. “Been thinkin’ on it some.”

Both men looked at him and finally Dash spoke up. “About damn time.”

“You’re both right. Leah called this afternoon to nag at me too,” Mac said, smiling a little as he recalled the conversation. Had to love a feisty woman. “I’m going to take a week off starting now.”

“That’s good, Mac,” Shane said.

“Yeah, I figure you two are right and I thank you for worrying about me. I’ve just come to the realization that I’m due a great big break. Are you sure you can handle things at the ranch? I’ll only be a phone call away.”

“Been wondering something,” Dash murmured, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Does this little vacation have anything to do with the woman who was over at your place the other night?”

Mac smiled. “It might.” He tipped back his beer and took a drink. “But you know a real gentleman never tells.”

Less than an hour later, Mac went up Callie’s front steps carrying a couple of white sacks. He’d stopped at the Burger Barn and picked up some burgers and fries but food was the farthest thing from his mind. Desire burned through his belly as he remembered the ways they’d touched each other that night at his place and he hadn’t had enough of it. Not even close.

Callie opened the door the instant he knocked. Her smile was broad and friendly and she looked as cute as hell with her hair in a high ponytail, wearing skimpy shorts and a tiny tank that featured little bitty straps. Mac didn’t know how she managed to look cute but smokin’ hot all at once, but he wasn’t complaining. Her gaze took him in, going from happy to horny in three seconds flat.

Mac was no fool. Moving past her into the house, he shut the front door and pressed her against it to take her mouth with a hunger that had nothing to do with the burgers he’d brought and everything to do with his need to fuck her hot and fast.

“Mac,” she whispered against his lips. “Um. Wow.”

“To hell with the food.”

“Yeah, to hell with it. Kiss me, Mac.”

Mac dropped the sacks on the floor.

He didn’t think twice. On her in an instant, he took the kiss deep, plunging his tongue into the warmth of her mouth, tasting her sweet, wild response on his tongue.

His hands reached for the hem of her skimpy little top.

“Fuck it,” he said, practically growling the phrase. “Not waiting.”

“No. No waiting.” Callie swept her hands over the front of his tee shirt, down his sides and dug her fingers in. Her breath rushed out in sexy little pants. Mac’s libido sat up and howled as he gently brushed her hands out of the way and whipped Callie’s top over her head to bare her breasts.

He latched onto one nipple. It hardened against his tongue as he sucked it, rubbing his tongue around the areola and nipping the stiff bud with his teeth. Callie’s fingers went into his hair to bring him closer and he happily obliged, rubbing his hard cock against her pussy. Eagerly stroking her, feeling her heat seep through their layers of clothing, he dry fucked her and didn’t stop until Callie was writhing against the door.

Mac kissed his way down the center of her body, pausing at her ribs, her belly.

“Been thinking about this for days.”

Callie whimpered. “Me too. I’m such a slut.”

“Never, honey. Never.” Mac went to his knees and filled his palms with her ass as his teeth snagged the front of her stretchy pink shorts. Tugging until her pussy was exposed, he breathed against her hot flesh and finally gave up the game to push her shorts and panties down the length of her legs until they lay in a puddle around her bare feet. Her scent curled around him, filling his head and ratcheting up his desire.

“Step out of them.”

Callie obeyed.

“Spread your legs.”

Another whimper.

Mac smiled against the soft curls covering her pussy, gripped her bare ass cheeks and yanked her close. He opened his mouth over her pink wet flesh and sent his tongue on a slow foray over her slit. Above him, Callie gasped and went still. Her legs trembled. Mac sent one hand lower, releasing his grip on her butt to slide his fingers through the shadowy crevice of her ass until he reached the opening of her pussy.

Sliding two deep inside, loving the feel of her drenched heat against his fingers, he slowly circled her clit with his tongue. It was swollen but not as much as he wanted it to be. Lightly sucking the hard morsel, he finally brought both hands around to spread her labia. Mac released her clit only long enough to drag his tongue through the drenched, creamy layers of flesh. He prodded her opening several times before returning to her clit again.

Callie cried out.

Mac increased the pressure on her clit as he plunged his fingers deep into her pussy. Vaginal walls squeezed and released against them as she writhed against his mouth. Mac drank her down, ate her up, loving the soft sounds of pleasure she made until finally she’d had enough and flew apart with a little shriek. Bringing her down gently, he surged to his feet and lifted her beautifully naked body into his arms. Callie