Fated for Love Read Online Free Page A

library.”
    “I meet men.”
    Kathie rolled her eyes. “Where? Because last I heard, your daily pattern was pretty much apartment to library to apartment. Rinse, wash, repeat.” Kathie pulled her down to the bed again. “Sweetie, we love you. You’re a beautiful twenty-six-year-old woman, and we don’t want you to end up a beautiful fifty-six-year-old cat lady having fictional sex. Especially when all it takes is knowing you can handle anything so you’re confident enough to go out without us and meet real men who give real orgasms.”
    Callie felt her cheeks flush. “I’m allergic to cats, so no worries there, and you know I hate the whole idea of going out to meet men.” She couldn’t dispute the rest, and it had been way too long since she’d had an orgasm that wasn’t self-administered.
    “We do know that, Cal, but it’s not like many young, single guys hang out at the Trusty Town Library. This is all going to be fun,” Bonnie assured her. “We’re going horseback riding, fishing, shooting.”
    Callie didn’t care if many men hung out at the library. The only one she wanted did, and that was enough for her. Even if she never did more than talk to him once a week, a few minutes of Wes Braden was enough to fuel her fantasies at least seven days.
    Callie flopped back on the bed. “All of which you guys will do really well and I’ll stink at.” She threw her arm over her eyes. “Just take me home. You can enjoy your little dude vacation, and I’ll go back to work, where I should be.”
    “No way.” Kathie pulled her back up to a sitting position. “You’ve spent years hiding in your books, Cal. We love you, but just because our parents were more rural and yours were more academic doesn’t mean you’ll stink at these things. You just haven’t been exposed to them.”
    “I hate being around deep water. You know that. I’ve never even ridden a real horse. A pony on a lead years ago, but…” Callie sat up and gave Kathie a deadpan stare. “And shooting, Kathie? Just the thought of guns makes my stomach hurt.”
    Callie wondered what her parents would think about her being at a dude ranch, much less shooting a gun. They’d supported her move, but she knew they missed her. She was an only child, and they’d always treated her more like a mini adult than a child. They’d taught her to play Scrabble when she was eight, and the three of them used to read in the evenings when other kids were watching Nickelodeon. It never even would have occurred to them to vacation at a dude ranch.
    Christine went to the window. “Cal, come here.”
    Callie tried to fall back on the bed again and Kathie and Bonnie dragged her from the bed to Christine. She had to admit, the view was spectacular, and the horses were beautiful, but the serenity she’d thought about downstairs was blown apart by the image of guns and fishing and whatever other crazy things they wanted to torture her with.
    “Look how serene it is out there. You can sit on the front porch and read all evening if you want.” Christine turned to face her. “All we want is a few hours of each day to get you out of your shell. They have live music at night, campfires, beautiful horses…and every ranch has sexy cowboys.”
    “Can’t I get out of my shell at a real spa, without fish hooks and guns?” She remembered what Wes had said about spiders and snakes, and her stomach plunged again.
    “I’ll tell you what. Give us twenty-four hours. Just one day of whatever they have planned for us, and if you truly hate it, we’ll leave and you can go home and bury your nose in a book and fantasize about Mr. Darcy, Prince Charming, or that Shades of Grey guy.” Christine’s big brown eyes held the hope and love only a best friend’s could. She saw the shiny side of a rusty dime, and she brought that positivity to the group. There was no way Callie could turn her down.
    “Fine,” she relented. “One day.” She put her DVD and book back in her bag