Return of the Bad Girl (11 page)

G
ABE KEPT GLANCING
toward where Caroline had disappeared, wondering how long she’d been dating the big bartender. When the guy had kissed her, Gabe had barely resisted the urge to snap his pool cue in half.

Is this what gets you off?

Her words had slammed him in the gut and brought to mind all kinds of images that would definitely do it for him. Most of them featured that little black dress on the floor of his bedroom and her sprawled across his bed. He’d start at the top of her head and work his way down, pausing at all the interesting spots until he reached the juncture between her legs. He’d pull her legs over his shoulders and dip his head down to kiss her p—

“It’s your shot, Gabe,” Kirsten said sweetly, tossing her thick blonde curls over her shoulder and reminding him that he had no business lusting after Caroline.

Kirsten, on the other hand, was
exactly
the type of woman he should be lusting after—casual, sexy, and knew exactly what the score was. She was looking for a good time, just like he was.

He was leaning over the table, lining up his shot, when Caroline came out of the storeroom, her hair tousled. She threw her head back and laughed at something the big guy said.

“Are you going to take your shot or what, man?” one of the cowboys he was playing with asked impatiently. Gabe pulled back, aimed . . .

And blew his shot to hell.

“Shit,” he said, ignoring the laughter from the other man.

Gabe scowled at the two men. He’d been fine playing with Kirsten, taking it slow and just having fun, but when the cowboys had approached him with two hundred on the winner, he couldn’t resist. He assumed the two of them were related; not only did they have the same coloring, but even their high-pitched hyena laughs were almost identical.

“Better luck next time,” the shorter one said, snickering as he lined up his own shot.

Gabe wasn’t happy about missing the shot, but he was too distracted by watching Caroline maneuver through the crowd to dwell on it. He couldn’t miss the way men checked her out and a few even tried to engage her in conversation. The smile she gave them was polite, but she kept moving on.

Was she here alone? Despite the fact that she’d grown up here and that Rock Canyon was a small, tight-knit community, he couldn’t believe she’d be stupid enough to go to a bar alone. Someone could spike her drink or attack her as she walked to her car.

It was none of his business what she did or what stupid mistakes she made. That’s what he kept telling himself as his irritation rose.

“I’m out,” Gabe said suddenly, dropping his money onto the table.

One of the men stepped into his path. “Let’s finish the game.”

Gabe looked into the smaller man’s scowling face and said, “You got my money, cowboy. We’re square.”

Turning away, he heard the other man mutter something that sounded a lot like “pussy.”

Gabe swung back around before he could rein in his temper. “What was that?”

“Come on, Walt, he’s right,” the other man said, wrapping his arm around Walt’s shoulders. “We’re square. Let’s get another round and see if we can’t talk to a couple of pretty girls.”

Walt followed his brother to the bar, giving Gabe a wide berth. Gabe watched them until a soft hand stroked his arm.

“Don’t mind Wayne and Walt,” Kirsten said, bending over the table to rerack the balls. “If they aren’t starting something, I think they’ll wither up and die.”

Before he could say anything, Travis Bowers took the stage, and the whole bar exploded into whistles, cheers, and applause. When the crowd calmed down, and Travis started his first song, Gabe spotted Caroline talking to another dark-haired woman, who kept checking her phone.

Wonder if that’s the other sister she warned you away from.

Remembering the way Caroline’s face had flushed when Valerie had called her out on her rudeness still left him smiling. He hadn’t thought much of anything frazzled her, but apparently being called out on her misbehavior could.

“So, do you want to get out of here?” Kirsten asked.

Gabe looked down at the woman with the open invitation and was surprised that he didn’t find her nearly as appealing as he had earlier. Maybe it was that she was too available and suddenly, he wasn’t interested in the easy conquest.

What’s the matter with you? This is exactly what you came out looking for. Someone to have fun with, ease a little tension.

But that was before a vixen in a black dress had walked in and wrecked his night.

Okay, so she hadn’t really done anything on purpose. She hadn’t even seen him before he’d stepped up and grabbed that drunk woman’s arm, but he had noticed her the minute she walked in. While every other woman around wore hip-hugger jeans and flashy tops, she looked classy as hell.

And sexy. He couldn’t forget sexy.

It seemed like no matter how many times he told himself he wanted nothing to do with Caroline, he sought her out.

“I was actually going to stick around and grab another drink,” he said, realizing that Kirsten was standing there waiting for his answer.

She shrugged. “Maybe another time.” Pulling a pen out of her purse, she scrawled her number down on a bar napkin and handed to him. “Call me.”

Gabe put the number in his pocket as she got lost in the crowd. He was a little surprised she hadn’t tried harder to get him home. She’d seemed like the aggressive type.

His gaze strayed again to Caroline as she talked to her sister. At least she wasn’t there alone. Both women were drinking brightly colored cocktails, and he wondered if he should offer to drive them home. She’d probably tell him to fuck off, but at least then his conscience would be clear. If he checked in on her and she didn’t take his help, it was on her.

Gabe took a few steps toward them but paused when another man with sandy hair stopped to talk to Caroline.

You should still go by and just offer to walk her out. It would be the gentlemanly thing to do.

Then he caught the expression on Caroline’s face: pure joy and excitement as she reached up to hug the blond man. Obviously, the guy was someone she was happy to see.

That was good. Someone she knew well and would look out for her. It took the responsibility off Gabe’s shoulders, and his momentary concern could be chalked up to just wanting to be a good roommate.

And the fact that you’re attracted to her and don’t want anyone else to have her.

That was crazy. He knew the score. No decent woman wanted an ex-con, especially one with as much baggage as Gabe. Even with Caroline’s past reputation, he knew quality when he saw it. Besides, he had Honey and his dream shop. There just wasn’t room for anything else.

Pushing the opposite way through the crowd, he went in search of Kirsten, to see if her offer was still on the table.

Chapter Ten

“I’ve been told you reap what you sow . . . Ominous sounding, isn’t it?”

—Miss Know It All

“W
ILL YOU STOP
checking your phone every five minutes?” Caroline snapped. Since she’d returned from talking to Eric, Ellie had looked at her phone at least a dozen times, even when she’d tried to introduce Ellie to Gregg Phillips and his wife, Ryan. Gregg and Caroline had been boyfriend and girlfriend in eighth grade, and he’d been her first kiss. They’d drifted apart during their freshman year of high school, but Gregg was a good guy. She was glad he was happy now.

“What? I told you I have plans tonight, and I don’t want to miss his call,” Ellie said.

Caroline itched to question her about this mystery man and why he couldn’t just come out and meet them, but it wasn’t her place. Ellie was a grown woman who could see whomever she wanted. Even if her sister’s secretive behavior was making Caroline’s dirt-bag radar go haywire. The only guys who liked secret relationships were already attached. Whether they were married or just dating another woman, it never boded well. Caroline had been the other woman before, mostly unknowingly, and the aftermath was always bad.

“Ellie, it’s past nine. I think if he was going to call, he’d have done it by now,” Caroline said as gently as she could over the music. “Besides, if he calls you after midnight, he’s just looking for a little play, and you deserve better than that.”

“Please don’t give me the spiel about how I need to ‘respect’ myself, and men will respect me for it. I get enough of that crap from Val and the biddies of the Morality Squad.”

Caroline finished her drink and set it on the bar behind her. Putting her hands up as if surrendering, she said, “Hey now, I have no right throwing stones or advice at anyone. And I’m the last one to lecture you on moral code. I just wanted to caution you, as your older sister who has made plenty of mistakes involving men, that the good guys—the ones you want to marry and have kids with—don’t usually make booty calls.”

“Who says I want to get married?” Ellie said flippantly. “I haven’t seen one instance where marriage did anyone any good in the long-term. I mean, every week it seems like Miss Know It All is writing about some other couple breaking up or having an affair. I’m just wondering, what is the damn point?”

“Okay, hey, I don’t want to fight,” Caroline said.

“I’m not fighting; I’m expressing a valid opinion,” Ellie said.

Caroline understood now why Val constantly wanted to strangle Ellie. She just couldn’t take advice with grace. Couldn’t accept the fact that someone older and with more life experience might know what she was talking about. Val had been griping for weeks that Ellie continued to make the same mistakes over and over and never seemed to learn her lesson. But someday she’d learn the hard way what rash decisions and bad choices could get you: a whole lot of heartache.

Bad decisions, like moving in with a guy you hardly know?

Caroline was still trying to wrap her head around
that
decision. Okay, yeah, things had been uncomfortable at Val’s, and she hadn’t been sleeping well, but she could have toughed it out. She’d slept in her car for months at a time; she could have handled a lumpy couch. But in a moment of weakness and frustration, she had said yes to living with a man she didn’t know. Who was even now chatting up a woman, probably to bring her back to the apartment they shared. Just the thought that she might have traded her sister’s sex noises for Gabe’s made her want to hit someone.

“Well, Ellie, ain’t you just as pretty as a picture,” Wayne Coulter said as he sidled up to her.

“Fuck off, Wayne,” Ellie said, checking her phone again.

“Now, that’s not very nice,” his brother, Walt, said, his gaze traveling slowly over Caroline.

Caroline remembered the Coulter brothers, although they were even older than she was and had continued to hang out at high school parties after they graduated. Even at her worst, she’d avoided them like the plague, trusting the instincts that told her they were bad news.

“Finally,” Ellie said, putting the phone to her ear and heading toward the door.

Was she going to take the call and leave, or would she be back? Caroline wasn’t sure, but having the Coulter brothers’ full attention was enough to tell her it was time to go, either way.

“Gentlemen,” Caroline said, starting to walk past them, only to be stopped by Wayne’s hand wrapped around her bicep.

“What’s your hurry?”

Caroline tried to shake off his arm, but he didn’t let go. “You have about two seconds to get your hands off me before I scream for Eric.”

Wayne dropped her arm. “Now, come on, I was just trying to be friendly.”

“Maybe you should try not being an asshole. I hear that works sometimes.”

Wayne’s face flushed. “You bitches think the sun rises and sets on your ass. Acting like a man oughta lick the mud from your boots before he even speaks to ya.”

“Not every man. Just you.”

“You’re gonna regret talking to me like that. You just wait.”

“Wayne, are you bothering this lady?” a friendly voice said at her elbow. “ ’Cause if I remember correctly, Eric told you if he caught you bothering any more of his patrons, you were going to have to find another place to drink.” Caroline turned to look up at her would-be savior, unable to place him.

“Fuck you, Stevens,” Wayne said before turning away from them and heading toward the door, with Walt close behind.

Caroline shook her head. “I can’t understand how women aren’t falling all over themselves to get with them.”

“Maybe because they have taste?” the man said, his brown eyes shining as he grinned down at her. “Not sure if you remember me, but I’m Mike Stevens. We had English junior year with Mrs. Selk.”

Caroline remembered a skinny kid with Coke-bottle glasses and long hair who’d sat behind her named Mike, but this guy looked nothing like him. He was clean-cut, from the almost shaved head to the collared shirt and khakis.

“Mike. Right. You look good,” she said.

“You too.”

And he did look good. Taller than her with lean muscle and a nice smile. No tattoos or piercings in sight.

“So, what do you do for a living?” she asked.

“I own a computer repair shop on Oak Avenue.”

Self-employed and tech-savvy. A nice, stable guy.

“What about you?” he asked.

“I’m starting a consulting business. I’ve spent the last eleven years managing and flipping bars, but I wanted to come home. Instead of trying to buy and flip another bar here, I figured I could travel for work but still be home to spend time with my sisters.”

“Yeah, I saw Ellie hanging around.”

“Yeah, well, she sort of bailed without telling me. Hot date.”

“If you want, you can join me and a few of my friends,” he said.

Caroline wasn’t in the mood to socialize with a bunch of strangers, no matter how nice Mike seemed.

“Thanks, but I think I’m going to just take off,” she said, holding out her business card to him. “But maybe another time? My cell is on there, if you want to get dinner some time.”

Mike took the card and slipped it into his wallet. “I’ll give you a call, then.”

“Oh, and thanks for helping me out with the Coulter brothers.”