by Codi Gary
Sliding her thumb across the talk icon, she said, “All right, what kind of trouble did you get in now?”
“You know, I resent that, especially when I’m calling to help you,” Ellie said, sounding insulted. “Why do you and Val always assume the worst of me?”
Caroline grinned. Val and she were closer, that was for sure, but Ellie was wild and funny, easy to be around. Val almost tried to mother them both, even though Caroline was older.
“Well, you know us Willis girls,” Caroline said, grabbing a simple black dress from her closet. “Even when we’re trying to be good, we seem to find trouble.”
“Don’t I know it! Did you see Miss Know It All’s blog this morning? She said if I was a super-villain, I’d be the Enthraller, because I can control the male population with a flip of my hair. I swear, that woman either hates me or loves me, but I’m not quite sure which yet.”
“I didn’t see it but sounds about right.”
“Very funny, but it’s not important. Two things. I was calling to see if you wanted to go to Buck’s with me tonight. I want to go to Travis Bowers’s performance, but all my friends are busy, and Val is going with Justin and his friends.”
“Aw, nothing like being last choice,” Caroline teased, not taking it personally. Ellie and she had been getting to know each other again as adults, but they still had their awkward moments.
“Come on, don’t give me shit. Just say you’ll go. I can’t go to Buck’s alone or guys will think I’m available.”
“And you aren’t?” Caroline asked. She hadn’t realized her little sister had a boyfriend.
“No.”
“Okay, are you going to tell me about him?”
“Nothing to tell yet,” Ellie said casually. “We’re hanging out . . . testing the waters.”
Oh well. If Ellie wasn’t ready to share, then Caroline wasn’t going to push her. “Fine, I’ll go with you.”
“Awesome. Can we take separate cars, though? I might have to cut out early.”
Even though she wouldn’t push, it didn’t stop her curiosity from almost getting the best of her. “Fine. I’ll meet you there around six thirty. I want to do a little networking before it gets crazy.”
“Great!”
“And the other thing?” Caroline prodded.
“Oh, right, I need you to handle the birthday cake for Val’s birthday. Justin and I are planning a barbecue, but if I make the cake, she’s gonna know what’s up.”
Caroline groaned. “Seriously? Can’t I just order one from Hall’s?”
“No, this is tradition! We always have homemade cakes for our birthdays!” Ellie said, adding with a giggle, “Remember that cake Val and I made for your sixteenth birthday? We tried to make it in the shape of a car.”
“But it came out looking more like a shapeless blob. Yes, I remember,” Caroline said, her heart squeezing. It was one of the last birthdays she’d celebrated at home.
“See, and you loved it. Val’s favorite is rainbow chip, in case you forgot. I’ll see you tonight!”
Her sister hung up the phone before Caroline could protest again. The fact that Ellie hadn’t wanted to share her boyfriend’s name bothered Caroline. Most women wanted to be seen with their significant others, not hide them away.
Unless there’s something wrong with him—like being married.
Which was exactly why she avoided getting involved in other people’s business. Dealing with other people’s baggage was too much for her emotionally. Her own baggage could fill up an airplane’s cargo hold.
Besides, she had been so caught up in her work and becoming successful, it hadn’t left a lot of time for relationships, except perhaps of the wham-bam, thank-you-man variety.
She heard the shower start up next to her room. Gabe was in there, lathering up all that hard muscle and delectable mocha-colored skin. It would be so easy to walk in on him and offer a little “roommate perk.”
You wanted a fresh start, to prove you aren’t the same girl making bad decisions. That means a successful business, playing nice with the rest of the townsfolk, and dating a respectable man, not the convenient bad boy you could never get serious with.
Quickly, she headed for the closet to grab her shoes. She needed to get the hell out of there before she did something she’d regret.
Chapter Nine
“For some reason, Buck’s Shot Bar is a breeding ground for drama and stupidity. Oh, wait—maybe because it’s a bar and there’s alcohol. Oh, and the Coulter brothers. Not a night goes by that they aren’t there, getting into whatever trouble they can. And yet, charges never seem to stick . . . Could they have a GET OUT OF DRUNK-TANK FREE card? Police corruption in Rock Canyon . . . Hmmm, suddenly I feel like Veronica Mars.”
—Miss Know It All
“WAIT, YOU’RE DITCHING me?” Ellie said loudly.
Caroline rolled her eyes. “No, I’m just going to talk to Eric about doing some consulting for Buck’s. I’ll be right back.”
“But the whole point of us going together was so guys wouldn’t think I was here trolling!”
“Ellie, I’ll be back before any guys notice you’re alone,” Caroline said, although her sister’s sheer top with the hot pink bra and tight jeans didn’t really give off the “not interested” vibe.
As if reading her thoughts, Ellie crossed her arms over her stomach. “Fine, but hurry up.”
Caroline pushed her way to the back of the bar where she’d seen Eric Henderson, pulling down the light fabric of her simple black dress. Her dress was conservative enough to be business casual but had an understated sexiness that hugged her curves and said, “Howdy, boys. I’m available.”
She was surveying the crowd, checking out a few men over by the pool tables, when she saw Gabe leaning over to make a shot, his muscular arms taut as he sent his stick into the ball, spinning it across the green to sink in a corner pocket. He stood up with a pleased look, and she noticed a blonde jumping up and down next to him, squealing.
Irritation shot through her as the blonde jumped on Gabe, throwing her arms around his wide shoulders. Gabe wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close, whispering something in her ear. The woman laughed, and Caroline finally got a good look at her.
Kirsten Winters. Why was she even surprised? Gabe was hot, and the one thing Kirsten was drawn to was a good-looking man. Caroline would never call another woman easy—having heard the word connected with her name way too often—but she would say that Kirsten had enjoyed plenty of guys in high school.
So why do you care if she enjoys Gabe?
She didn’t. Caroline was only irritated that Gabe seemed to be everywhere. In the apartment, here at Buck’s . . . It was too small of a town not to realize she was going to see way too much of him and his gorgeous black eyes.
Suddenly, she crashed into a hard body and opened her mouth to apologize, but Marcus Boatman spoke first. “We have to stop meeting like this.”
Yes, they certainly did. The last thing she wanted was to give Marcus any sort of encouragement, especially since he was obviously dating Shelby. She could deal with the animosity from her past deeds, but no way in hell was she going to hook up with Marcus again. He hadn’t exactly been mind-blowing in high school, and somehow she doubted he’d improved with age.
“Hey, Marcus, sorry. I’m on my way back to talk to Eric—”
“What for?” Marcus interrupted.
She caught the narrow-eyed look he was giving her. It was none of his damn business, and she was just about to tell him so when she was pushed from behind. Stumbling forward on her heels, she would have gone down hard if Marcus hadn’t caught her.
“Get your hands off her, Marcus!” Shelby squawked over the blaring of the opening band.
Caroline couldn’t believe she was getting this twice in one day and that the bitch had the audacity to push her. Twisting around to face her assailant, she resisted the urge to shove her back. She was here on business, after all, and it wouldn’t do to get
thrown out of a bar she wanted to work with. “You really should look into some anger management courses.”
Shelby’s face turned purple, and she snapped, “Stay the fuck away from my man.”
Okay, this was too Jerry Springer for her. A small crowd was already taking notice of them. “Shelby, I’m not interested in Marcus. I bumped into him; that’s it.”
She’d tried to speak slowly and calmly, but that seemed to just irritate Shelby more. Caroline realized too late that the woman had already consumed a few too many drinks. Before she could get out of the line of fire, Shelby launched herself at Caroline, and all she could do was brace herself for the first blow.
A blow that never came.
Instead, Shelby screeched with outrage, and Caroline opened her eyes to find Gabe standing next to Shelby, his hand clasping her arm in a tight grip.
“Maybe you should get her out of here before she does something stupid.”
Gabe’s suggestion was directed at Marcus, who almost looked like he was going to argue, but in the end, he took Shelby’s arm from Gabe, saying, “Come on.”
Shelby hurled insults at Gabe and tried to pull away from Marcus, who finally dumped the drunken wildcat over his shoulder and pushed through the crowd. As the crowd that had gathered dispersed, Caroline was left facing Gabe, hating the fact that he had saved her from a disastrous situation.
“Thanks, but I could have handled it.”
“I figured, but now you don’t have to.”
His cool answer pissed her off. Did he think he’d done her some huge favor? That she wouldn’t have to deal with Marcus and Shelby again?
“Do you always jump into tense situations? Is that what gets you off? Saving the poor, defenseless, wronged woman?” Caroline said, sneering. “Don’t worry about me, hero. I deserve everything they throw at me and more. If you don’t believe me, just ask around. I’m sure someone would love to give you all the sordid details.”
“Regardless of what you’ve done in the past, she was out of line. I could tell you were trying to take the high road, and I know what that’s like. You try not to fight back, ’cause you figure they’ll back off if you don’t play their game, but that’s not always true.”
His observation hit home for Caroline, and a small part of her wanted to ask him about his story, about what he was trying to atone for, but that might give the impression that she cared.
Which she didn’t. At all.
“Well, again, thanks. At least now I can do what I came to do,” she said, catching sight of Eric behind the bar.
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“I’ve come to see a man about a bar,” Caroline said, smiling at her own joke.
“Well, I’ll let you get to it,” Gabe said, leaning over to whisper close to her ear. “I’ll see you at home, princess.”
Caroline fought the shiver that the heat of his breath caused across her neck and down her back. As he went back to playing pool with Kirsten, she told herself that the irritation churning in her abdomen was because of Shelby’s causing a scene and had nothing to do with the way the stacked blonde slid her hand possessively over Gabe’s bicep.
Turning her back on them, she walked straight up to Eric and said, “Well, hey there, handsome.”
Eric looked over his shoulder from filling the beer fridge, his forehead furrowed for a minute before he recognized her with a whoop. “T-R-O-U-B-L-E!”
Caroline laughed as the big man came around the bar and wrapped her in a bear hug that lifted her up off the ground. It was good to know that not everyone in Rock Canyon thought she was scum. Being called trouble was the friendliest thing she’d heard since arriving back in town.
When Eric set her down, he gave her a smacking kiss on the mouth that startled her, considering he had never done anything like it before. Eric had worked on their yard every summer for years, and after her mom died, she had followed him around and helped out when she could. She’d always nursed a bit of a crush on Eric, but he’d never treated her like anything other than a kid sister. As she’d gotten older, he used to tease her about all the trouble she got into, but it was always playful.
When he caught her surprised look, he leaned over and said loud enough to be heard over the music, “We’re being watched.”
Caroline pulled away, her eyebrow raised as he gave a subtle nod to the left. Caroline glanced toward the end of the bar and saw a pretty blonde with shoulder-length hair glaring at them. Gemma and Callie, who were next to the woman, waved at Caroline.
Waving back, Caroline tried to place the blonde. “Are you using me to make her jealous or to make her leave you alone?”
Eric’s smile was wide and sheepish. “Jealous.”
Caroline put her hand on his chest and batted her lashes. “And what do I get out of this little scenario?”
He covered her hand with his and squeezed. “Step into my office, and we’ll discuss business.”
Caroline let Eric lead her toward the storeroom and close the door. Leaning against the shelves, she asked, “So, who is she?”
“Gracie McAllister. I think she was a year or two behind you.”
“Cradle robber,” Caroline teased.
“It doesn’t matter. She won’t give me the time of day.”
“Really? ’Cause she was glaring at me so hard, I’m surprised she didn’t burn a hole through my skull.”
“Yeah, it’s complicated,” he said, crossing his arms. “So, I hear you’ve got a business proposition for me.”
“Who told you?” Caroline asked.
“One of the bartenders at Hank’s said you stopped by.”
“I did.”
“Well, let’s hear your pitch. Lord knows Hank’s is already kicking my ass on karaoke night.”
GABE 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-k
nit 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.