Except for that one little thing.
I don’t give her a climax.
I sigh.
I have to get to work. Deal with the fallout from my idiotic move, but after that?
I’m focusing on Callie. It’s Thursday. Tomorrow night is the night. I can take care of business today and tomorrow, make sure Dad and Mom are doing okay, and then…
Callie.
I’ll give her what she’s deserved all along.
A whole night—hours upon hours—of unadulterated passion and pleasure.
Fuck. My groin tightens just thinking about it.
But first…
Work.
“Tomorrow evening,” I say to Callie. “Tomorrow evening you’re all mine.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Callie
Smack!
The hand comes down on my bare ass.
Smack!
Again.
Smack!
Again.
I bite my lip against the pain until it morphs into pleasure. I bite my lip again because it’s all so beautiful it hurts.
I crave the punishment. I crave the pleasure.
I crave—
“Callie?” Something nudges me.
I jerk from my dream. Donny stands above me, gazing at me with those gorgeous hazel eyes.
“You fell back to sleep, baby. I brought you a cup of coffee.”
I sit up, my body throbbing all over. I fell back to sleep? I feel like I’ve just been fucked. Of course, I was fucked—I glance at the clock on the night table—a half hour ago.
Then it comes to me—flashes of an image.
Spanking. A spanking. From… Was it Donny?
I warm all over. The tops of my breasts are pink with a flush.
I take the mug of coffee Donny holds. “Thank you.”
“You okay? You seem a little…”
I swallow a sip of coffee and clear my throat, embarrassment flooding through me. “A little what?”
“I don’t know. Distracted. But in a good way. You look… Damn, Callie, you look like you’re ready to fuck.”
I smile what I hope to be a flirtatious smile. “Maybe I am.”
He chuckles. “God, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Tomorrow, Callie. Tomorrow night is going to be amazing.”
“I have no doubt.” I take another sip of coffee.
I wonder if Donny might be open to a little experimentation with spanking.
And then I wonder why something like spanking, which I’ve never given a second thought in my life, is plaguing my thoughts. Making me hot.
I take another sip.
And try to forget the hot dream.
At my desk in town, I continue my research while Donny shuts himself in his own office, presumably to fix things with Murphy.
“You mind going for coffee again, Callie?”
I jerk upward at Alyssa’s voice. “Oh, sure.”
“Thanks. Same order as always.”
I collect my purse and take the petty cash Alyssa hands me. Off to Rita’s.
Callie the coffee girl.
Somehow, the thought bothers me less now that I have so much more important things invading my mind.
Rory and I haven’t talked since we tried—and failed—to retrieve the key to our safe-deposit box in Denver. So much going on.
I head into Rita’s and get in the short line. Behind me, at a table near the counter, Sheriff Hardy Solomon is talking to one of his officers.
“Not sure,” he says. “Murphy couldn’t tell me anything definite. He wasn’t home at the time.”
“Wasn’t he supposed to stay out of the place?”
“Yeah, according to the papers.”
“Then we should arrest him.”
“For what? Trespassing on his own property?”
“Isn’t it an eminent domain kind of thing? The state took possession of his property for a certain length of time?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to go see Jade and get her take.”
“Jade’s still in Grand Junction with Talon. Donny Steel’s heading up the office.”
“Then I’ll go see Donny.”
Then rustling, as they presumably rise. From the corner of my eye, I see the sheriff and the officer leave the café.
“Callie?”
I jerk at the voice. Rita herself is working the register this morning.
“Sorry, what?”
“You were a million miles away,” Rita says. “What’ll it be?”
“I’m sorry. The usual. For the office.” I set the cash on the counter.
“Got it. Give me just a minute.”
“Thanks. Keep the change.”
I walk to the window. The sheriff and the officer are heading toward the courthouse. A minute passes. Another.
“Your order’s up, Callie,” Rita calls.
I grab the cupholder, neglecting to say goodbye, and walk briskly out the door. I’m tempted to run, but I don’t want to spill the coffees.
Screw it. I’m running anyway.
Until—
I jam straight into a hard body.
“I’m sorry, I—”
I freeze.
I’ve just spilled coffee all over Pat Lamone.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Donny
“Calm down, Murphy. Please.”
Brendan has been yelling at the top of his lungs since he steamrolled into my office two minutes ago. I already made the call to Lambert, and he’s filing the paperwork as soon as possible. An error was apparently made in the location of the potential gas leak.
Yeah. That’s the official party line.
“Calm down? You expect me to calm down? Someone broke into my home, Steel. Ripped everything apart and then left it in tatters.”
“You weren’t even supposed to be there, which brings me to—”
“It’s my fucking home! I needed my medication.”
“You left prescription medication? What were you thinking? You know what? It doesn’t even matter, because—”