Maya Banks: Colters' Daughter

Seth frowned. “You’re working too hard, Callie girl. There’s no point. Dillon has plenty of employees.”

She ignored him. “Are you all coming to lunch tomorrow? I’d love to take Lily riding down in the meadow. It’s been a while since I was there.”

Seth’s gaze softened. He knew how special Callie’s Meadow was to her. To all of them.

“Yeah, that sounds really good. I’m sure the others would love to come. It’s been several days since I saw Mom or the dads. If we don’t go, Mom will start squawking and then the dads will be all over our asses.”

Callie chuckled. “Nice to see my big badass brothers are still cowed by a five-foot-nothing mama.”

Seth didn’t look at all embarrassed by that.

“Can I use your cell?” she suddenly asked. “Mine ran down.”

Seth sighed and fished his phone out of his pocket. “For God’s sake, Callie. How many times have I told you to keep track of your charger and more importantly charge your damn phone? What if something happens to you on the way up the mountain? Or you get stuck somewhere and have a dead cell phone?”

She tuned out the lecture because God did Seth love to get long-winded. It was what made him such a good cop. He could lecture anyone into submission.

She punched in her mom’s number and shushed Seth with a finger over her lips as she waited for someone to pick up. A moment later, her father’s voice filled her ear. She smiled. She couldn’t help it. She might be twenty-three years old but she was still a total daddy’s girl.

“Hi Dad,” she said.

Ryan sighed. “Your phone dead again, Callie? Is that why you’re using your brother’s?”

She rolled her eyes. “Not you too. Seth is over here lecturing in my other ear.”

“Someone needs to.”

“Is Mom around? I wanted to ask her if she needed me to pick up anything in town. I was on my way over. I’m taking tonight off and thought I’d come to dinner and crash there if you guys don’t mind.”

“Of course we don’t mind, Callie. This is your home. I miss my girl. You’ve been working too damn much. It’s about time you took some time off. Hang on and let me ask your mother if she needs anything.”

Some of the tightness in her chest eased as she waited for her dad to come back. Unconditional love was the sweetest gift anyone could offer. And in her family it abounded. Love and support were freely given. Never any strings. Unreserved. Fierce. Giving.

She wanted to wrap herself in her family’s loving arms and never let go.

“Callie, your mom wants to know if you can run by and grab a grocery order. She’s going to call it in so all you’ll have to do is pick it up for her. She was planning to go into town today but this will save her a trip.”

“Of course I will. Tell her I love her and I’ll see her in an hour or so.”

“She loves you too. I love you,” he said gruffly.

“Love you too, Dad,” she said with a catch in her voice. “See you later.”

She handed the phone back to Seth who was back to watching her like she was some undiscovered specimen under a microscope.

“I’ve got to run,” she said. “Mom needs me to go by the store. I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch.”

She slipped past him before he could start in on his interrogation again. The others were still sitting at the table, not that they weren’t done. If she had to guess, Seth had made them stay while he went in to talk to her.

She blew kisses at Michael and Dillon, and then she leaned over and hugged Lily. “Thank you,” she whispered in Lily’s ear.

Lily squeezed her. “You’re welcome.”

Callie straightened, sent her brothers a smile and then headed out to her car.

Could it be called an actual coincidence if he’d spent the entire morning prowling the small town of Clyde in hopes of running into Callie then to finally spot her when she got out of her car at the local grocery store?

Max stared down the street, drinking in the sight of the woman he’d spent so many nights aching for. She was beautiful. Spirited. She haunted his nights—and his days. His fingers tingled from the remembrance of her silky skin beneath his palm.

He’d had her in every conceivable way there was for a man to have a woman. She’d trusted him. Wholly and irrevocably. Callie did nothing in halves. Whatever she did, she threw herself wholeheartedly into it without reserve.

He watched as she strode from her car toward the doors of the store. At least three people stopped her, and she responded with a ready smile and patience he knew she didn’t possess. For Callie to stand still even for a moment was like trying to catch the wind. She simply had too much to do and see to be deterred from her goal.

He stood for a moment and weighed his options. He had plenty of ammunition, but the one variable was always Callie. He never knew quite what to expect. It was what he enjoyed most about her.

Finally he decided to wait by her car until she came out. She’d have her arms full—hopefully, though he’d have to be concerned with whether she threw the bags at him.

He’d never been able to punish her for her impetuousness. To do so would be to quell what made her so beautiful to him. For a little while, she’d been his. She’d submitted to him and given him the gift of her trust. Her love.

He wanted it back. He wanted her back. In his bed. In his arms. His to command. His to cherish. He simply couldn’t fathom his existence without her.

Unlike Callie, he was infinitely patient and he never conceded defeat. There was no option for him but success.

He didn’t have long to wait. He’d barely gotten over to lean against the door of her little SUV before she appeared carrying two bags of groceries.

She didn’t see him, which was just as well. The further she was from him, the more avenues she had of escape. But the fact that she was so oblivious of her surroundings, even in a town as small as Clyde and as loved as she obviously was, angered him. Anyone could target her, and it would be easy to get close enough to rob or harm her. He wanted to shield her and protect her, even when it was himself who’d caused her pain.

As she drew nearer, his breath caught in his throat. There were deep shadows under her eyes, shadows that he knew without arrogance he’d caused. There was a troubled set to her mouth, a mouth he’d tasted over and over. And her beautiful blue eyes were clouded as if she were miles away and unaware of her surroundings. Well, that much was evident because she still hadn’t seen him and it wasn’t as if he were a small man.

“Callie.”

Her name came out more gruffly than he would have liked. There was a hesitancy that irritated him, and he realized that she did that to him. She made him uncertain when he lived his life in control and with complete confidence.

She halted so abruptly one of the bags slipped from her grasp. Having anticipated just such a possibility, he was quick to catch it before it fell to the ground.

She stared unblinkingly at him, hurt crowding the depths of her blue eyes. “Move, please. I’d like to get into my truck.”

He pressed his lips together. She wasn’t going to make it easy. Okay, he knew that, but her refusal to even allow him to explain pissed him off.

“I’m not moving until you agree to hear me out.”

Her eyes flashed and he braced himself for the storm. His body leapt to hungry attention. He was starved for her, an admission that pained him to make, but he was nothing if not honest with himself.

“You talk to me as if I owe you something.” Her voice was husky and strained as if it took everything for her to maintain her composure.

“You owe me nothing, Callie. But I owe you something.”