What We Find (Sullivan's Crossing, #1)(27)

She was silent for a moment. “Oh, I do like you, Callum. Where are you from?”

“I’m from everywhere. If he wasn’t doing anything for you...”

“Why was I with him? After he dumped me, I asked myself that question. It was comfortable in many ways. I had someone to talk to, play with, sit next to during a bad movie. Someone to go to a restaurant with, someone to make love to. But then he left me and basically said it was my fault.”

Cal grinned. “You won’t have any trouble filling the position. Maybe around here it’ll be iffy. But when you go back to Denver...”

“Since I’ve been here, since Sully has been doing better, I’m starting to feel almost normal. I’m going to milk this for a little while. Since I don’t have a job.”

“Were you bored with surgery?”

“You don’t get bored with the kind of surgery I do. There’s no margin for boredom. The pressure is too intense and the odds against success, despite our progress, are still too high. Never bored. I think I might’ve been addicted to the rush—it’s damned exciting. I might be making a change, however. I’ll think about that for a while. I like it here. It’s pretty uncomplicated,” she said, leaning toward him for a kiss.

She tasted of Chivas and playfulness and he lapped it up. He was starting to have thoughts of going further.

“And what about you, Calico? You have no job, you’ve been here for weeks, you don’t have a woman, you don’t seem to be doing anything...”

“Shame on you, I dug your whole damn garden. I stock your shelves every day, fish off the dock, hike around the crossing and build a fire for you at night. Then I let you talk. I’ve been very busy.”

“What brought you here?”

“I was looking at the CDT trail map and from New Mexico to Salida across the Rockies it’s frozen. I hate being cold. I’m just waiting for some of that snowpack to melt and then I want to do some serious hiking. I decided when I left Walt’s World to take six months to wander, then I’ll settle somewhere and get back to work. I’m just doing what you’re doing. I’m just taking a break. Thinking.”

“Did you graduate from high school?”

“Yes,” he said, laughing.

“Did you go to college at all?”

“Yes,” he said, trying to look serious. “I studied literature. I’m a romantic.”

“And then went on to get a counseling degree...” she offered.

“I’m afraid not. You shouldn’t ever take my advice or tell me your dreams unless they’re harmless.”

“Did you want to teach?” she asked.

“I did teach for a while. A short, memorable time—six months in what was called a men’s academy, the oldest ‘man’ being seventeen. I think I’m probably better with girls. I really liked that HR job...” He put his hands on her hips and leaned toward her.

“Because it got you laid.”

“I saw that as a perk, not part of the job.”

“I’d really love to see that princess someday...”

He decided it was time to talk less and kiss more. She was every bit as excellent as he was. She was getting closer and closer, her hands caressing his shoulders, neck and head. He loved female fingers in his hair. She was breathing hard and so was he.

“I have a roomy tent,” he said against her lips.

“That probably wouldn’t be smart of me,” she said.

“You worried about Sully?”

“I’m worried about me,” she said emphatically. “You’re probably riddled with theme-park diseases.”

He laughed. “Making serious love to you will be hard if you keep making jokes. I’m not riddled with anything. Except, you know, things like lust.”

“How long has this been on your mind?” she asked.

“Specifically?” he asked.

“Just when did it first come to you?”

“I think it was...when you asked me if I was homeless,” he said. “There was a dominatrix quality about it.” Then he smiled against her lips.

“I’m not spanking you, no matter how you beg.”

“Awww...”

“Why do you want to? Besides the fact that you’re a man?”

“You’re so pretty, Maggie,” he said tenderly. He tucked her hair behind her ear. “You have such a hot body, too. And you take such good care of your dad. Okay, that last has nothing to do with sex, it just makes you so much more desirable, that you’re a caring person. Mostly? You’re pretty and clever. I’m such a sucker for looks and brains. Gives me such a hard-on.”

She sighed. “All right, Calypso. But if you leave me in the morning, I might hunt you down. And punish you.”

He put his hands on either side of her face, on her cheeks. “Listen to me, Maggie. I’m going to explore this summer. But I won’t leave you without saying goodbye. Because that would be awful and if you did that to me I would be disappointed. We’ll make love, we’ll laugh, we’ll play and when the weather is warm enough so I’m not caught in some damn avalanche, I’m going up the trail to the divide. I’ve been dying for two things. You and that trail. You most.”

“You promise?”