Colters' Daughter Read Online Free PDF Page A

your cell?” she suddenly asked. “Mine ran down.”
    Seth sighed and fished his phone out of his pocket. “For God’s sake, Callie. How many times have I told you to keep track of your charger and more importantly charge your damn phone? What if something happens to you on the way up the mountain? Or you get stuck somewhere and have a dead cell phone?”
    She tuned out the lecture because God did Seth love to get long-winded. It was what made him such a good cop. He could lecture anyone into submission.
    She punched in her mom’s number and shushed Seth with a finger over her lips as she waited for someone to pick up. A moment later, her father’s voice filled her ear. She smiled. She couldn’t help it. She might be twenty-three years old but she was still a total daddy’s girl.
    “Hi Dad,” she said.
    Ryan sighed. “Your phone dead again, Callie? Is that why you’re using your brother’s?”
    She rolled her eyes. “Not you too. Seth is over here lecturing in my other ear.”
    “Someone needs to.”
    “Is Mom around? I wanted to ask her if she needed me to pick up anything in town. I was on my way over. I’m taking tonight off and thought I’d come to dinner and crash there if you guys don’t mind.”
    “Of course we don’t mind, Callie. This is your home. I miss my girl. You’ve been working too damn much. It’s about time you took some time off. Hang on and let me ask your mother if she needs anything.”
    Some of the tightness in her chest eased as she waited for her dad to come back. Unconditional love was the sweetest gift anyone could offer. And in her family it abounded. Love and support were freely given. Never any strings. Unreserved. Fierce. Giving.
    She wanted to wrap herself in her family’s loving arms and never let go.
    “Callie, your mom wants to know if you can run by and grab a grocery order. She’s going to call it in so all you’ll have to do is pick it up for her. She was planning to go into town today but this will save her a trip.”
    “Of course I will. Tell her I love her and I’ll see her in an hour or so.”
    “She loves you too. I love you,” he said gruffly.
    “Love you too, Dad,” she said with a catch in her voice. “See you later.”
    She handed the phone back to Seth who was back to watching her like she was some undiscovered specimen under a microscope.
    “I’ve got to run,” she said. “Mom needs me to go by the store. I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch.”
    She slipped past him before he could start in on his interrogation again. The others were still sitting at the table, not that they weren’t done. If she had to guess, Seth had made them stay while he went in to talk to her.
    She blew kisses at Michael and Dillon, and then she leaned over and hugged Lily. “Thank you,” she whispered in Lily’s ear.
    Lily squeezed her. “You’re welcome.”
    Callie straightened, sent her brothers a smile and then headed out to her car.

Chapter Four
    Could it be called an actual coincidence if he’d spent the entire morning prowling the small town of Clyde in hopes of running into Callie then to finally spot her when she got out of her car at the local grocery store?
    Max stared down the street, drinking in the sight of the woman he’d spent so many nights aching for. She was beautiful. Spirited. She haunted his nights—and his days. His fingers tingled from the remembrance of her silky skin beneath his palm.
    He’d had her in every conceivable way there was for a man to have a woman. She’d trusted him. Wholly and irrevocably. Callie did nothing in halves. Whatever she did, she threw herself wholeheartedly into it without reserve.
    He watched as she strode from her car toward the doors of the store. At least three people stopped her, and she responded with a ready smile and patience he knew she didn’t possess. For Callie to stand still even for a moment was like trying to catch the wind. She simply had too much to do and see to be deterred from her