Return of the Bad Girl (23 page)

He ran his thumb across the bare skin of her arm, pleased with the goosebumps that rose in response, and she sucked in a breath sharply. He tried fighting a cocky grin but failed; as much as she tried to deny it, she was just as affected by him as he was by her.

“I think we need to talk, to clear the air,” he said.

Seeming to have recovered, she said, “I’m good.”

“Apologies don’t come easy to me.”

“You call that an apology?”

“Can I finish?” he asked, exasperated.

“By all means,” she said, waving her hand in front of her like a queen.

Satisfied that she would keep quiet for a minute, he released her arm. “I’m sorry about the way I acted after we . . . well, had sex. Intimacy is not my strong suit.”

She looked away from him, brushing her hair off her forehead as she nodded. “Yeah, it’s not exactly mine either.”

“Does that mean we have something in common?” he asked playfully.

“Oh, the horror.”

He shook his head, choking on a laugh. Man, he liked this woman. She was smart and fiery, funny and so damn sexy in her simple navy dress that he had a hard time not coming over the bar and kissing her senseless.

“Yeah, well, I was hoping we could call a truce. Living together is hard enough without feeling like we have to avoid each other. I know you want me to stay out of your business, and I’ve tried, but it’s stupid to walk around pretending we hardly know each other,” he said, adding wickedly. “Especially since that couldn’t be further from the truth. Parts of you I know . . . intimately.”

“And just when I thought you had an ounce of maturity,” she said, trying to step back, but he reached out to touch her hand.

“I’m sorry; it’s a habit. I’ll try to act like a grown-ass man, if you’ll stop pretending I’m some strange acquaintance that you have to run from whenever you see me.”

A moment passed before she reached back into the fridge and pulled out a beer. “We could try that,” she said, popping the top and tapping it against his. “To behaving like adults.”

She tipped the beer back, and her dark hair fell over her shoulder, exposing the clean column of her throat. Gabe’s mind flashed back to kissing her soft skin.

“Yeah, yay for maturity.”

“What was that?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

C
AROLINE TRIED TO
ignore Gabe’s gaze on her while she danced with Gemma, Gracie, and Callie, but just knowing he was watching had her on high alert. She kept swaying her hips slowly, dipping and turning. Lifting her hair up in a move she’d used hundreds of times to get a guy’s attention, she glanced back at him to see if it worked.

Score one for Caroline. He was watching her, all right, and the expression on his face was heavy with need.

So much for being mature. You’re teasing the hell out of the man.

She couldn’t seem to help it. She was fascinated by him—and not just by his body or the things he’d done to her on Sunday. He was a conundrum, made up of a soft side he hardly ever showed and the snarky asshole that most of the world saw. Sure, most guys didn’t like to show emotion or weaknesses to others, but Gabe had built the freaking Wall of China around himself—and she really wanted to chip away at it, brick by brick.

Despite her insistence that he stay out of her business, there had been a small part of her that loved watching him beat the shit out of Kyle. Hell, who was she kidding? She’d wanted to jump in there with him and get a few kicks in herself, but she knew the score. Kyle wouldn’t hesitate to lash out at Gabe, especially if he thought Gabe meant something to her. After all, she had been the one to rock his perfect boat by coming back to Rock Canyon.

Why wouldn’t he try to take away the man she was living with? Someone she cared about?

Of course, Kyle didn’t know the truth, that Gabe and she were just roommates.

But is that really the truth? You know there’s more to it now.

It didn’t matter that she’d been trying to convince herself all week that she didn’t care. The thought of Kyle hurting him made her physically ill. In the end, she realized she’d do whatever it took to make sure Kyle didn’t go after Gabe. Even if it meant staying away from him.

The other part of her, the weak part, had been tempted too many times this week to confide in Gabe about Kyle and why he was targeting her. To lean on him and his strength, but she’d told him she didn’t need him. That she could handle her life on her own, and she could.

But sometimes, she really didn’t want to.

And for some crazy reason, she felt like Gabe could be trusted.

He had scars—just like her, that was for damn sure—but it was the sensitivity he kept under wraps that really softened her toward him. Like when she’d come home from her sister’s house yesterday and found him on the floor, playing with Googlie and Possum, rubbing their stomachs and growling, “You think you’re so tough?” It had been so damn adorable, and she’d hated that he’d stopped when he noticed her.

It had been on the tip of her tongue to tell him everything then, to sink to the floor and let him hold her as she confessed all. But then the insecurities had surfaced. Would he think less of her? He saw her as strong now, but if she admitted how vulnerable she really was, would he see her as a victim?

Or would he lose his cool and go after Kyle? He’d end up back in prison, and she’d end up exactly where she’d always been. Alone.

“Who are you making cow eyes at?” Gracie asked as she shimmied, pulling Caroline back to the present.

“Me?” Caroline said innocently. “No one.”

“I call bullshit!” Gemma said, giggling. Caroline had learned that Gemma was kind of a lightweight and tended to giggle when she got tipsy.

“Let’s see,” Gracie said, tapping a nail on her ruby red lips. “If I had to take a stab at it, I’d say it’s . . . the hot roommate?”

“Or Eric,” Callie said, a wicked grin on her face. Caroline was pretty much in love with her new friend, who had a sharp tongue and quick wit beneath her quiet exterior.

Gracie shot Callie a glare.

Caroline smothered a laugh. “It’s not Eric. Believe me, he’s all yours.”

Gracie blushed. “I don’t want him.”

“Which is why any time another woman even glances at him, you look like you’re about to Hulk out,” Gemma said, earning her own glare.

Before Gracie could open fire on her bestie, Wayne Coulter sidled up next to them.

“Good evening, ladies.”

They all made disgusted faces, and Gracie snapped, “What do you want, Wayne?”

“I was seeing if I could buy you ladies a round, and maybe my brother and I could join you,” Wayne said, ignoring Gracie’s tone and making no attempt to hide his eyeing Gemma and Caroline’s chests.

“No one wants to have a drink with you,” Gracie said. “You’re an asshole, and you smell like moldy cheese.”

Gemma smothered a giggle, while Caroline watched Wayne’s expression twist into an ugly mask of rage. “You think you’re so hot, that you’re too fucking good for us?”

“Please, a sheep is too good for you,” Gracie said, and Caroline inched closer to her, waiting for Wayne to either make a move or take off.

Wayne took a step toward Gracie, fist clenched. “Bitch, someone shoulda taught you when to shut up.”

Caroline pushed the petite blonde behind her and, closing her eyes, waited for the pain. It wasn’t the first time she’d been hit, but when the blow never came, she opened her eyes, her mouth dropping open in surprise.

Wayne was flat on his back, and Callie was standing over him, her legs bent in a fighting stance. She heard a scuffle to her right and turned in time to see Gabe put a struggling Walt on the ground, placing his knee over Walt’s throat as he shouted, “Simmer down!”

“What in the Sam Hill?” Eric yelled over the music as the crowd parted.

Caroline was sure Eric was going to kick them out, but his gaze sought Gracie, a scowl screwing up his handsome face. Then suddenly, his anger shifted to the Coulters, and he said, “This is the last time, Wayne. You and your brother get the fuck out of my bar.”

“This crazy bitch assaulted
me
, and you’re kicking
us
out?” Wayne shouted as he climbed to his feet. Caroline reached out and pulled Callie back, wrapping her arm around the woman’s shoulders. She could feel Callie’s trembles and rubbed her hand over her arm.

“It’s okay,” Caroline whispered so only she could hear.

“I’m sure you gave her a reason,” Eric said coldly. “I’ve warned you again and again—you start shit in here, you find another place to patronize. Gabe, I think you can get off him.”

Gabe stood up and stepped back toward Caroline and the rest of the women. The way Walt was rubbing his neck, she figured Gabe hadn’t been gentle, and it gave her a little thrill that he was on their side.

“Come on, Eric, we were just offering to buy them a round of drinks, and Gracie insulted us,” Walt protested.

“I don’t care what she did. Every week I’ve got to deal with some shit you start in my bar, and I’m fucking tired of it. Now get out, or I’m calling the cops.”

The two men stared Eric down before they started walking. As they passed by, Wayne shot Gracie and Callie a killer glare.

“See you around, sweethearts,” Wayne said, sneering.

“Move!” Eric’s bark propelled them a little faster.

Caroline still had ahold of Callie, and when Eric turned his attention back to them, Callie’s quaking intensified.

“Okay, Eric, tone it down a notch,” Caroline said, squeezing Callie to her side. “When we told them we weren’t interested, Wayne acted like he was going to hit Gracie, and—”

“Wait . . . Did he touch you?” Eric asked Gracie. His whole demeanor, from the clenched fists to the snarl, said he was ready to pound someone.

Oh yeah, there’s nothing going on between those two. Nope.

“No, Caroline and Callie had my back. He raised his hand up like he was going to, but Callie took him down faster than any of us could blink,” Gracie said, waving Caroline off so she could take Callie’s shoulders. “You have to teach me how to do that.”

“Are you okay?”

Gabe’s question startled Caroline. He was standing right next to her, but she had been so distracted by Callie’s distress that she hadn’t sensed him. Looking up into his concerned face now, she had the strange desire to throw herself into his arms and let him comfort her.

“I’m okay, although I think the fun’s kinda been sucked out of the evening,” Caroline said.

“Why don’t I take you home?” he suggested.

Her heart rate went from zero to sixty in two seconds flat.

“Actually, I drove Callie, so I have to take her home first.”

“I can get a ride with Gemma and Gracie,” Callie offered, and Caroline turned to look at her, relieved that she’d stopped shaking.

“Are you sure?” Caroline asked, noting the small smile Callie gave Gabe.

“Yeah, you should let him drive you.”

“I still have my car,” Caroline said, getting the feeling that Callie was setting her up.

“Then I’ll just see you there,” Gabe said, brushing against her as he passed. She turned to watch him slip through the crowd and licked her lips as those wide shoulders disappeared outside.

“He wants you bad,” Callie said, beside her.

Caroline gave her a sheepish look. “Yeah, well, the feeling is kind of mutual.”

“I knew it,” Gracie said, coming up behind them. “Let’s bail, before Eric starts yelling at me again. I don’t know why he always starts shit with me. I’m a fucking ball of sunshine.”

“I think the best way to get Eric into a good mood is for Gracie to—”

“Gemma!”

Gemma giggled and headed for the door as the three of them followed behind.

B
ACK IN THE
apartment, Gabe was on the couch, waiting for Caroline to walk through the door. When he’d seen Wayne Coulter raise his arm and Caroline step in front of Gracie, his whole body had shut down for a split second before adrenaline rushed through him, propelling him out of his seat.

By the time he’d reached them, the blonde girl—Callie—had knocked Wayne off his feet with a sweeper kick, and Walt was about to jump in. He’d caught Walt around the neck and slammed him to the floor. All he’d wanted was to keep the son of a bitch as far away from Caroline as he could.

Just then, the lock turned in the door, and Gabe got off the couch, facing Caroline as she came in.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey.”

She shut the door, turning the lock with a click and walked along the length of the couch. “So, you took down Walt pretty fast.”

“Yeah?”

“Because you were watching me?”

“Uh-huh.”

Before he could blink, she grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it up and over her head. “Do I still have your attention?”

He came around the couch in three strides, catching the back of her head in his hands. Dropping his mouth to hers, he took those soft lips in a hard, hungry kiss, pulling back just enough to whisper, “Undivided.”

Her hushed laugh was cut short as he claimed her mouth again, backing her toward the hallway. With every step, another article of clothing dropped to the floor, like a trail of bread crumbs, but when Gabe hit the wall with his elbow, he broke away to curse.

“Watch where you’re going, slick,” she said, pushing him against the wall and cupping his cock through his boxer briefs.

Sucking in air through his teeth, Gabe wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her flush against his body. All night he’d been watching her body move, and it had been impossible not to remember how it had felt to be connected to her, moving inside her body. Before the fight had ensued, he’d been tempted to get up and dance with her, if only to stop the teasing looks she’d been throwing his way.

With her hand trapped between them, teasing his length, he trailed his hand over her hip and beneath the scrap of lace covering her. She liked to be in control, to drive him to distraction, but she needed to learn that when it came to sex, he was the boss.

When his finger found her, he rubbed between her lips and circled her clit, enjoying her little gasp.

“Speaking of slick . . .”

“God,” she said hoarsely, reaching up to grab the back of his neck, trying to pull him down for a kiss. “You always have to have the last word.”