Page 103 of Let Me Be the One
“I should have, I know, but your dad asked me to give Sutter a chance to convince you. He said you were strong-willed and smart, and you’d only take Sutter back if you wanted to.”
At least her dad had faith in her.
“I figured that was true…to a point. But if you’d decided to get back with Sutter, I’d have told you then.”
Feeling guilty about it, Callie said, “I’ll never take him back.” Maybe before she’d met Tanner, before she’d been intimate with him… Now she knew exactly what she would be missing in a marriage to Sutter.
“Not even to save the company?” Glory quietly asked.
The question bothered her. Was she being selfish? Probably—but Callie didn’t change her mind. “No, not even for that.”
“Good.” With a touch of pride, Glory said, “I wouldn’t want you to.”
They talked for almost an hour more, all about Glory’s trips and the guys she’d met, her hopes to be back in Hoker soon. When Callie started fading and Glory sounded half-asleep, they ended the call with a promise to be back together soon.
Callie disconnected, plugged in her phone to charge, and then snuggled into the bed. It wasn’t easy, but she accepted that the previous night might have meant a lot more to her than it had to Tanner.
That idea bothered her enough that she didn’t fall asleep for a very long time.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
FOR A WEEK, Tanner stayed so busy with jobs created from storm damage that he didn’t have time to dwell on Callie. Much, anyway.
Damn, he missed her.
A dozen times he thought about calling her, but he never did.
She hadn’t reached out either. At least, not to him.
He knew Addie had seen her a few times. And Liam told him that Callie had taken to visiting Rebel—but only when he was away. He was disappointed that she hadn’t asked him to show her the horse. It was something he’d actually anticipated after all their teasing back and forth.
After Sutter and her parents had visited her, it was as if things had changed. Right there, on the spot. They’d left the bed, hell broke loose, and everything from the night before had just evaporated. Partially his fault—but she had a hand in that, too.
And damn it, he was thinking about her again. It irritated him that his thoughts remained on a perpetual loop that sooner or later, centered back on Callie.
It was well past dinnertime when he got home. Eight days since he’d slept with Callie. It felt like a month. Or longer.
He was barely inside the house when Addie and Blujoined him in the kitchen, the first greeting him with a kiss to the cheek, and the other with an enthusiastically wagging tail.
Tanner knelt down to shower love on the dog. “Sorry I couldn’t take you with me today, bud. It was a long job and way too damn messy.”
“Go shower,” Addie suggested as she pulled containers from the refrigerator. “I’ll heat up your dinner so it’s ready when you’re done.”
As always, he said, “I could heat it up myself.”
She sent him a look. “You know I want to, so go on.”
Something in Addie’s expression warned him. “Everything okay?”
“Everything is fine, but we do have stuff to discuss, which we can do sooner if you’ll get on with it.”
He half grinned. “Yes, ma’am.” Blu followed him from the room, then stuck near the shower door while Tanner let the hot water wash away the sweat and dirt, and unkink his tired muscles. What a day it had been.
He’d talked to Liam earlier, so he knew Callie had been busy all week redecorating. It amused Liam that every single day, Callie found something new that she wanted to change. It kept Liam working and helped give odd jobs to others in the area. Tanner didn’t know all the details, and he didn’t want to grill Liam on it, but he was curious.
Maybe he’d find an excuse to check on Callie and from there he’d see how things progressed.
If they went from “how’ve you been?” to another overnighter, he’d be fine with that. Now that he’d had her once, he wanted her again. Always. Every damn night—and during the day, too.
