Long Time Gone

  I haven’t MOVED ON WITH SOMEONE ELSE! Although the accusation makes me wonder if I might’ve been better off if I had.

  I can’t believe you

  Okay, I had to take a break and have a smoke. During the little time I can stand to spend outside in this frigid air, in the damn dark, I realized Carolyn couldn’t tell you what happened because I haven’t told her. She worries too much and the woman has enough to worry about these days.

  First of all, I moved to Prudhoe Bay from Anchorage when oil was discovered up here. I was lucky enough to get in on the first wave of workers, which means we got a tiny house with two bedrooms for four women—sadly that’s more than the shacks most people are living in. I’ve been working in a bar/restaurant 70 hours a week. It is crazy up here. The ratio of men to women is like 200 to 1. There’s not enough housing, food is more expensive here than in New York City, vehicles have to run 24 hours a day or they’ll freeze up, and there’s no sun at all from November to mid-January. So it’s dark, crowded, and cold as a witch’s tit in a brass bra. There’s rumors of a new pipeline that’s gonna be built straight down the center of the state, which means more guys moving up here hoping to strike it rich. The money is out of this world. That’s the only reason I’m staying. But I ain’t gonna lie. I don’t know how much longer I’ll stick around.

  Just to clear things up, you haven’t heard from me because there was a screw up with the mail. I swear the Pony Express had better service! I found out nothing got transferred to my new address in Prudhoe Bay from my old address in Anchorage for the last eight months. So I didn’t even get this letter, and the three others you sent before that, until last week. So I understand why you think I was avoiding you. I wasn’t. And when I hadn’t heard from you, I thought maybe you were done with me. But I didn’t have the guts to ask my sister if you were seeing someone. Oh, and I wasn’t screwing around with Santa’s elves either, and I’m sure you’re making a crack about how I’m short enough that I’d fit right in with them.

  What happened to you saying that you’ll wait for me? And your claim that we are meant to be together? I oughta come down there and kick your butt for having so little faith in me, Cal.

  Kimi

  Two weeks later…

  Kimberly Jo,

  A little bitty thing like you kicking my butt? Not gonna happen, sweetheart.

  But you’re welcome to try.

  Cal

  One week later…

  Cal,

  I don’t wanna fight with you. I miss you too much.

  XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

  Kimi

  Five days later…a wire via Western Union…

  Kimi looked at the message from Cal.

  COME HOME NOW

  Well, he couldn’t have made it any clearer than that.

  And it was clear enough to her that it was time to go home.

  Chapter Ten

  It’d taken Kimi a month to get everything settled in Alaska and return to Wyoming.

  She hadn’t told her sister or any of her family she was coming back.

  Not even Cal knew. She wanted to surprise him.

  Her stomach had butterflies from the time she’d left Seattle heading east on I-90 until the moment she pulled into Sundance.

  She’d never been great with directions, but she managed to find his house, even in the dark.

  But there wasn’t a light on and his truck wasn’t in the drive.

  Disappointment flooded her that he wasn’t home.

  On a whim, she drove by Carolyn and Carson’s trailer. Her gut clenched at seeing her mom’s car sitting there, as well as a pickup. The absence of another pickup meant Cal wasn’t here either.

  As much as Kimi wanted to knock on the door and meet her nephews, and see her sister for the first time in years, she didn’t pull in. There’d be time for a reunion after she’d reunited with Cal. They might not come up for air for days.

  She drove back into Sundance to look for a place to eat.

  During her slow perusal of the four blocks that made up the main drag, she counted two bars and two restaurants. Both the restaurants were closed. Maybe one of the bars served food.

  She parked in the middle of town and walked to the first bar, The Golden Boot. But loud, bad country western music blared from inside and it looked like there was a cover charge to get in.

  Skip that one.

  The next bar was The Silver Spur. It looked equally busy. After spending the last year working in a bar, the last place she expected to find herself on a Saturday night was in a smoky honky-tonk. She hoped the cowboys’ manners were better than the roughnecks’ she was used to dealing with.

  Kimi ducked into the bathroom first. She took a moment to check her makeup. After living in the backwoods and dressing for warmth and comfort—in that order—she feared she looked like a lumberjack. She peeled off the flannel shirt and shoved it in her purse. That left her in a sleeveless T-shirt. At least it was low cut so she didn’t look like a guy.

  She removed the band from her hair and fluffed it up. It fell nearly to the middle of her back. Most days she just pulled it back into a ponytail to be done with it.

  As she applied another coat of mascara, she wondered if Cal would recognize her. With the longer hair and more angular lines to her face and neck. Hard physical work had melted the baby fat off her.

  Two women burst into the bathroom, laughing and drunkenly holding on to one another.

  Kimi washed her hands and would’ve tuned out their high-pitched chattering, but one word stopped her cold.

  Cal.

  “Who’s Cal here with?” the blonde asked with confusion as she puckered her lips in the mirror.

  “Oh. I don’t know. Seems like he’s with a different one every weekend.”

  She didn’t consider that it might be some other guy named Cal. She knew it was him.

  If that jerk was rotating girls every weekend after he’d sent her the edict a month ago…she’d gut him just like she threatened to do to his brother.

  After exiting the bathroom, she started her search for him down the farthest side of the bar. Her pulse pounded in her neck and her ears, giving her a slightly buzzed effect that sharpened her senses. Or maybe she was delirious from hunger.

  A guy grabbed her elbow and said “Hey, sugar, you lookin’ for someone? ’Cause I can be anyone you want.”

  His drunken friends laughed.

  Kimi smiled at him. “Yes, actually. I’m lookin’ for Calvin McKay.”

  Another guy butted in. “Afraid you’re too late, little bit. He’s already made his choice tonight.”

  “Sure wish I could cherry pick ’em like he does,” another man grumbled. “Seems all he’s gotta do is say his name and the ladies spread their legs.”

  The first guy elbowed him. “Don’t be crude.”

  “I appreciate your help, but is Cal still in here?”

  “Yep. In the middle booth.” The guy looked at her suspiciously. “You ain’t from around here. What’d you want with him?”

  “I’ve gotta give him something.”

  “What?”

  “A knuckle sandwich,” she said sweetly.

  Kimi threw her shoulders back and weaved around the bar. After she stepped around a group of women, she had a clear shot of him.

  Her heart leapt, her stomach flipped and her breath caught. The man was such a stunner. That midnight black hair. Those captivating blue eyes. The slight curve to his lips. That square jawline. That damn dimple in his chin. He wore a black cowboy hat and a white shirt that set him miles above the rest of the guys in this place. When he lifted his beer bottle and drank, she shamelessly watched the muscles in his throat move as he swallowed. She remembered the feel of those muscles beneath her lips. The taste of his skin in that spot. His fingers tapped his beer bottle with agitation—a nervous tic she hadn’t seen before. Her thoughts rolled back to how those thick, rough-skinned fingers felt trailing over her body. Then Cal smiled at something the person a
cross from him said, and Kimi went hot all over.

  Mostly under the collar.

  Tempting to buy a drink so she could toss it in his face. But she’d handle this the mature way.

  Kimi knew the instant Cal noticed her. He squinted as if he might be seeing things. Then he froze. She slowed down her walk, enjoying every moment of his confusion.

  The anger that flared in his eyes surprised her. He lowered his beer to the table.

  She managed to keep the quiver out of her voice when she said, “You didn’t really mean come home now, did you?”

  Without taking his eyes off of Kimi, he said, “Move,” to the woman sitting beside him.

  “Are you always this rude?” she complained.

  “Get out of the booth, right fuckin’ now,” he snarled at her.

  Kimi couldn’t move even if she’d wanted to.

  But the woman realized Cal wasn’t kidding and scrambled away from him.

  Cal slid across the bench seat as quickly and efficiently as a predator stalking prey. He loomed over her, his gaze locked to hers. He lifted his hand to her face. The instant his fingers touched her skin he growled. “About goddamned time, woman.” Then he captured her mouth in a kiss that started out sweetly exploring, but became desperate.

  Everything faded but the heat of Cal’s body, the hunger in his touch and in his kiss. Kimi clung to him, feeding his desire with her own.

  Finally when someone yelled, “Take it outside, McKay,” they broke the kiss. But they didn’t move very far apart.

  Cal clutched her hand tightly. “Come home with me.”

  “What about your date?”

  He frowned. “What date?”

  “The woman sitting next to you.”

  “She’s a friend of my brother Charlie. She just plopped herself down and I don’t even remember her name.”

  “Good. Because I was getting ready to launch myself into a hair-pulling fight for you.”

  Cal traced the line of her jaw with the backs of his fingers. “While the thought of you in a girl fight over me turns me on, there’s no need to get into a titty slappin’ match to prove anything. You own me.”

  She kissed the dimple in his chin. “Prove it.”

  He draped his arm over her shoulder and steered her through the crowd and out the door.

  In the middle of the parking lot, he stopped and pulled her against him, clamping one hand on her ass and the other around her jaw. “Why didn’t you tell me you were comin’?”

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “Did you really think after I sent you the wire demanding you get back here that I’d be out with another woman?”

  She twisted her head out of his hold. “You were sitting with a woman, Cal.”

  “I explained her.”

  That was all the explanation he gave—and all she really needed.

  “We’re leavin’.” Then Cal grabbed her hand and led her across the parking lot almost at a run. Her shorter legs had a hard time keeping up with his longer strides. But the man was on a mission and he didn’t stop until he reached his pickup.

  He pushed her against it and kissed her like she was everything in the world he needed to survive. When he finally released her mouth, they were both breathing hard. Kimi was surprised they weren’t already naked.

  “Get in the truck or I’m going to fuck you right here, in the parking lot, Kimi. Where anyone can see just what you do to me.” He nuzzled her ear. “And how goddamn much I missed you.”

  “That sounds like a threat, cowboy.”

  “No, sweet darlin’ mine. It’s a promise.”

  Kimi loved that Cal was so forthright in what he wanted. She knew the instant he put those big hands on her, she’d be putty. So she needed to remind him that she could make him weak-kneed too. “Cal.”

  “God, you smell so good.” He kissed the hollow below her ear. “I didn’t change the sheets on my bed for a solid month after you left until they lost the scent of you. Of us.”

  His sweet talking—how she’d missed it.

  “Over the past five years, I started a list of the things I’d do to you when I saw you again.” Cal’s lips teased hers with barely there kisses. “For the longest time the top fantasy was your legs spread, that hot pussy bared to me as you sat on the tailgate of my truck.” He moved his lips across her jawline to her other ear. “I’d be on my knees, eating my fill of your wet cunt, feeling your sweet little clit pulsing beneath my tongue as I made you come again. And again. And again.”

  Kimi trembled when his hot breath drifted across her neck.

  “The goddamn taste of you,” he growled, “was so vivid in my mind that just thinkin’ about swallowing your sweet juices made my cock so fuckin’ hard that I shot my load without even touchin’ myself.” He rested his forehead in the crook of her neck. “That’s what you do to me.”

  If she liked his sweet talking, then she flat-out loved the way the man dirty talked. Her head was awash in the sexy images he’d painted, but