The Virgin Next Door (Stud Ranch)

“Oh. Sorry Calla!” Reece said. He was sitting in the seat Mel had been in moments before. Calla looked down the long table and saw Mel sitting with her boys as they dug into their breakfasts.

“But you can’t really think that,” Reece continued. “It’s so cynical.”

“What is?” Calla turned to Liam.

He held up his hands. “I was just saying that I think all of life is a series of transactions. We’re all using each other. We’ll give but only if we get something back.”

Calla frowned. “How do you mean?”

“In everything. From the biggest scale to the smallest. There’s the obvious.” Liam gestured around the table. “We’re giving time and energy here on the ranch in order to get money back. We pay taxes so the government will do shite for us. But even on the smallest scale. Say one woman complements another. It’s not just to be nice.” He put the last word in air quotes. “The one doing the complementing is trying to gain favor. Increase her social standing.”

Reece shook his head, scoffing. “What if she’s already the most popular girl there?”

Liam shrugged like it was no big deal. “Maybe it’s lonely there at the top and she wants companionship. Or she has a fear of not being loved or admired. Maybe she’s trying to create a comfortable atmosphere so she can manipulate the other woman more easily. People do shite for a hundred different reasons, but always because they’ve got something to gain.”

“That’s so cynical!” Reece said, getting worked up. Calla had to agree with Reece. There was a certain kind of logic to what Liam was saying, but it was an ugly logic.

“Okay,” Reece’s eyes lit up. “What about Mother Teresa?”

Liam waved a hand. “Easy. She either liked the endorphins she got from all that do-gooding or she expected a big tiara in heaven.” He shrugged, “Sure she was delusional about the heaven gig, but hey, to each their own.”

Reece was still shaking his head. “What about couples?”

“Pffff. You kidding?” Liam leaned in and lowered his voice. “Sex is the ultimate transaction. Tit for tat, if you know what I mean.” He winked and Calla felt her cheeks warm even though he wasn’t looking her way.

“I mean people in love,” Reece insisted. “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it is not self-seeking—”

“Are you quoting the Bible at him?” his brother Jeremiah turned to him, incredulous. “Aren’t you Buddhist?”

Reece shrugged. “I don’t like labels when it comes to the mysteries of the universe.”

Jeremiah rolled his eyes but then Liam jumped back in.

“Romantic love is the most selfish of all. Think about it.” He stabbed a finger on the table top. “What’s people’s greatest fear besides death? And taxes.” A few people laughed. Liam looked around the table. “Being alone,” he answered himself.

Calla shifted on the bench, poking at her half-eaten waffle with her fork.

“Think about it—it’s nuts. When people get married, they’re trying to contractualize their way out of one of our biggest fears. To make another person legally obligated to provide companionship to you? What a fecking joke.” He shook his head. “Of course, these days, you can just split when you stop getting what you want out of the deal. Is she not the pretty young thing she once was? Call the divorce lawyer. Is he still in the same dead-end job he had when you got married and you want to trade up? Call the divorce lawyer.”

Reece dropped his elbows on the table and interlaced his fingers, propping his chin on his hands. He stared straight at Liam. “I feel sad for you.”

Liam laughed, grinning. “Don’t. I’d rather live with me eyes wide open to reality.”

But all Calla could think was: Did he get diagnosed with an untreatable condition that will ruin your life if you stay? Call the divorce lawyer. Maybe there was more to Liam’s theory than she’d like to believe.

She wasn’t hungry anymore. She stood to take her tray to the kitchen when Mack sidled up alongside her.

“You should ride with me today,” Mack said, voice only low enough for her to hear. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since last night.”

Her breath caught and she jerked her head sharply toward him. Was he making fun of her? She saw Liam still sitting at the table, frowning in their direction. Was this some sort of game between Mack and him?

She felt her blood heat. “Are you fucking with me?” She didn’t flinch from Mack’s gaze.

He glowered at her and she was almost sorry she asked. Still, she stood her ground. “What do you mean, fucking with you?”

God, was he going to make her explain? She pursed her lips and looked at her feet. “Is this just some… joke? Or prank between you and him?” She jerked her head over his shoulder in Liam’s direction.