“No. Callie is fine. Does water break?”
Zane shook his head. “No. She’s not in labor.”
“Good. Then have your partner go home and rub her feet. Make her feel sexy and beautiful. We will do same for our woman.” He stood up.
Caleb seemed to take it as his cue. “Zane, Callie’s fine. She needs affection more than she needs a doctor. And gossip. She lives on gossip. If she goes into labor, I’ll be at Holly’s house. But, man, she better be in labor, if you know what I mean.”
Zane nodded and got back on the phone with his wife.
“Caleb, I am going to get our woman and make a few things very clear to her.” He felt a little rage pounding through him. It was controllable, but a possessive anger was tearing at him. She thought she could run to her friend instead of talking it out with him? She was angry at him for attempting to provide her with exactly what she wanted? “Women. I do not understand them.”
“Don’t look at me, man. I would have thought she would be happy we were talking about it.” Caleb stared at her, too.
If she was already angry, then Alexei had nothing to lose. “Let me show you how it is done in Russia.”
He turned and stared across the room. Holly’s eyes widened as though she finally understood he wouldn’t be put off. A deep sense of satisfaction flooded his system. She was aware of him. She was the tiniest bit scared of him. He watched as Laura’s arm went around her friend’s shoulder, a protective wing for Holly to hide under. They slid into a booth and began talking.
That was unacceptable.
And Alexei finally noticed that every man in the bar seemed to be staring at the gorgeous redhead and her beautiful breasts. “You are right. Dress needs more material.”
Yes. They would talk about that, too.
“Maybe we should talk about this. She looks pissed,” Caleb said.
Alexei ignored him as he started across the room. Caleb would follow or he wouldn’t. Alexei had done everything he could to make Caleb welcome. It was up to him now. He wasn’t waiting another night to get inside the woman who had turned his world around.
Chapter Seven
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Laura asked, opening her arms wide and wrapping them around Holly.
Holly sniffled, well aware that she was now the focus of everyone’s eyes in Trio. Sure the tourists would mostly ignore her, but not the locals. She counted them. Rafe and Cam had taken the adjoining booth, their backs to Laura and Holly. In true male fashion, they left plenty of space between themselves and the crying woman. James Glen sat at the back of the tavern with his girl of the moment. It looked like he’d finally convinced Serena Hall to give him a shot. Serena was a lovely brunette who acted with the rep theater in Creede. Just across the bar, Hope, the secretary at the sheriff’s office, sat with a half-eaten sandwich in front of her, staring longingly at James. Poor thing. At least Holly’s little scene would give Hope something else to think about because James Glen was one man who wasn’t about to be tamed.
“Tell me,” Laura urged. “And tell me fast because I think those men are getting ready to come over here. Wow. Is that Caleb with Alexei? Should we call Nate?”
Holly shook her head. “No. They’re not fighting. It’s worse. They’re negotiating.”
Laura’s head straightened up. “Negotiating? What on earth are they negotiating?”
Holly took a deep breath, sniffling again. “How to share me.”
“Are you serious? That is the most unromantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
Thank god Laura understood. “I know. I walked away for a couple of minutes, and Caleb told Alexei that he just wanted sex, and Alexei was okay with that. But they don’t like my dress. It’s my only good dress. I don’t have another one.”
Laura patted her back. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry. You look beautiful. I think what they don’t like about the dress is the fact that your boobs are hanging out.”
“They are not.”
Laura looked back at Cam and Rafe. “Boys, what do you see when you look at Holly right this second.”
“I see you, bella. Only you,” Rafe said with a smooth smile.
“Boobs. Lots of boobs,” Cam replied at the same time. His face reddened. “And you, babe. Yeah, I was talking about your boobs.”
Laura rolled her eyes. “I can always count on you, Cam.” She winked at them both and then turned back to Holly. “See. They’re not being assholes. They’re being possessive assholes. There’s a huge difference. And you really need to think about this. Caleb Burke, isolated freak, is sitting over there talking to a former mobster about how to make love to you. If you think about it, it’s kind of sweet.”
“Caleb really doesn’t like to talk to people.” What was wrong with her? This was everything she wanted. Sure, it wasn’t exactly how she’d pictured it happening, but they were talking. Why had she walked away? Why hadn’t she just given them both a sexy smile and invited them back to her place?
“You’re scared, honey,” Laura said.
Yep. She was suddenly terrified. “It’s just sex.”
Laura’s head touched hers. “Not for you it isn’t. You need to decide if you can handle this.”
“Caleb just wants sex.” She’d heard him say it. She’d hoped when he’d walked up that he’d come to his senses. She’d walked into the bathroom and reapplied her makeup with a sense of hope. She’d fantasized about sitting in the tavern and having a nice dinner, the three of them together.
Then she’d walked out to Caleb saying he just wanted sex and Alexei agreeing to it. Was that really what she’d wanted?
“Caleb lies to himself a lot, I think,” Laura said. “He says he wants sex, but he never goes after it. That man is so stinking hot he could have had sex with just about anyone he wanted, yet he lives like a monk. Did you know that Lisa Alvarado, the ski instructor at Elk Creek Lodge, came in for three gyno visits this winter? Seriously? Caleb finally had to tell her that her vagina didn’t need more prodding.”
Holly felt her fists clench. Lisa Alvarado was a pretty twenty-five-year-old with a perfect body and a quick wit. Holly had liked her right up until five seconds ago.
Laura continued, every word firing Holly’s jealousy. “And I heard that he gets hit on by ski bunnies all the time. They call him Doc Hottie up at the Lodge. Of course they run the minute he opens his mouth, but let’s face facts—the man is hot.”
“Could we move this conversation along?” Cam asked, poking his head around the booth where he sat with Rafe behind them. His eyes were narrowed with irritation.
“Fine,” Laura said with sarcastic glee. “Let’s talk about how sexy Alexei is.”
Both of Laura’s men groaned and yelled to Zane to bring them a round of beers.
“He is a beautiful man.” She looked back where Alexei had a ferocious look on his face. She’d seen that look on his face before. It was the look he’d had right before the bullets had started to fly on the day he’d saved her life. Whatever he was about to do, he was serious about it.
“He’s gorgeous,” Laura agreed. “He’s the type of man who could have just about any woman he wanted.”
Yes, Alexei had probably had many beautiful women. He was a gorgeous monster. And she hadn’t even seen him without his clothes off. In clothes he was devastating. What would he look like when he stripped down and wore nothing but smooth skin and hard muscle? And Caleb? Caleb was no slouch in the muscle department. Both of the men were beautiful and ridiculously masculine.
What the hell was she doing? She wasn’t in their league.
Laura reached out and touched her hair, commanding her attention. “Calm down. I can feel your anxiety from here, and if Scott Lang was in this bar right now, I would beat him to death with my shoe. Look at me. You’re beautiful. So beautiful. Did you know that Wolf Meyer told me he wanted to ask you out, but he cared too much about Caleb to hurt him that way? That’s three ungodly gorgeous men who want you.”