Page 78 of Bad For Me (Rock Canyon, Idaho 5)

Raw need surged through him as he grabbed the back of her neck and brought her mouth back to his, devouring her lips. Still, he knew something wasn’t right; her motions and kisses were too desperate, too angry. Was she thinking about her mom? Whoever had hurt her in the past?

He turned Callie until he had her pressed back against the old barn and his hand inching up her thigh. Even if she was kissing him to chase the ghosts away, she was still kissing him. And he couldn’t resist the sweet call of her need.

He took her ass in both his hands and lifted her up, rubbing his cock against her until she was writhing. She moved her hips against him, thrusting against her center until she was moaning into his mouth and clawing at his shoulders. Everett felt her reach between them and jerk on his belt. She had almost gotten it undone when he pulled his mouth from hers, breathing harshly.

“Callie, baby, what are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing? I want you inside me.”

Everett groaned and lay his forehead against hers.

She stilled and her voice sounded small. “I thought . . . don’t you want me?”

He let her slide down his body, pulling her skirt back into place before he cupped her face. “Of course I do. I want you so bad I’m hurting with it.”

“Then why—”

“Because I don’t want our first time to be against the side of a barn during my brother’s wedding reception. I don’t know what kind of war you’re fighting, but I want the first time with you to be in a bed, where I can take my time making love to you.”

“I got it.” She sounded choked up and pushed at his arms and chest. “Get off me.”

He backed up and let her go, but he tried to stop her when she started back toward the barn.

“Callie, I wasn’t trying to be mean—”

“Just forget it, Everett. Leave me alone.”

Everett let her go, watching her shadow disappear around the corner as his stomach knotted up.

You did the right thing. She’ll see that.

Chapter Eighteen

BY A QUARTER to ten, the wedding was winding down, and Callie couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. She’d seen Everett a few times throughout the night, but he hadn’t looked at her once. Not that she could blame him. She’d left him standing alone after jumping him like a nymphomaniac.

She’d just wanted a distraction, something to take her mind off the pain and sorrow that came rushing back at the first few bars of “Amazed.” There was a reason that song got no play during her radio show, but it had been unavoidable tonight. She couldn’t very well tell Justin and Val, “Oh, gee, I’m sorry, but that was our song, my ex-fiancé and I, and things did not end well, so I won’t be playing that.”

When Everett had come over to her after the toast, it had been the perfect opportunity to escape. But he hadn’t taken what she’d offered, and she felt so stupid now, she couldn’t even look at him.

Callie flipped on Shania Twain’s “I Feel Like a Woman” and tried to catch Dalton’s eye as Valerie threw the bouquet. When he finally looked away from Jenny Andrews, she waved him over.

He crossed the room slowly, grating on her last nerve with every lumbering step. “Yeah?”

Callie’s patience was at an end. “Okay, look, I know you’re pissed at me for calling you a kid, and I’m sorry, but if you can’t be professional and do your job without sulking, then why don’t you just leave?”

Dalton’s eyes bugged out of his head at her words, and she stomped away to grab a soda from one of the barrels. She knew that under normal circumstances, she would have never snapped at him like that, but she was still reeling from Everett’s rejection.

This was one of those nights she craved a beer and quiet. Anything to blot out the humiliation of throwing herself at a man she was seeing, only to have him reject her because he wanted their first time to be special. If she was another girl, she might have thought it was sweet. But all it did was make her feel like a sex-crazed idiot.

Why did he have to make such a big deal about sex? She’d instigated it. She’d been ready and raring to go, so what was his problem?

Popping

the top of a soda, she took a few deep drinks.

“I don’t suppose you’re ready for that dance now.”

Everett’s deep voice was rough and so close she could almost feel him against her back. “I’m not really in the mood for dancing.”