Page 103 of Return of the Bad Girl (Rock Canyon, Idaho 4)

“Yeah, Ellie had a video of Kyle beating her,” Caroline said, standing up. “And I provoked him into admitting what he did to me, and my dad had found some of Kyle’s other victims. It’s finally over.”

All he wanted to do was take her into his arms, but he wasn’t sure what was allowed. Or if he should start something up again. Maybe he had put too much pressure on her—and what was between them—the first time around.

“What were you writing?”

She looked away. “I was actually writing you another apology letter. I didn’t get very far, though.” Caroline picked up the paper and handed it to him.

Gabe,

By now they’ve released you. I need to tell you again how sorry I am, over and over if I must. I left in a moment of sheer panic, but I knew it was a mistake the minute the plane took off.

He could understand what she meant about a moment of sheer panic. Hadn’t he been fighting his feelings for her over the last month? Telling himself he didn’t deserve her? And when she’d bailed, he’d told himself he deserved it.

“Look, maybe we just jumped into this too fast. Maybe we just need to step back and take things slowly,” he said, the words eating him up, even as he spoke them. “I can stay at the shop.”

“It’s okay,” she said, her voice sounding strained. “My sister said I could stay with her. I’ll take Possum and Googlie with me, so you don’t have to bother with them.”

“They aren’t a bother,” Gabe said.

“I know,” she said, walking toward him. She lifted her hand to stroke his cheek before walking past him.

Gabe almost reached out and hauled her into his arms—that’s what his impulsive side would’ve done. But time apart would be good for them, would help them decide if they were really right for each other. Or whether intense pasts and close quarters had brought two people closer who really didn’t belong together.

As the front door closed behind Caroline, he sank into the couch, resting his head in his hands. His cell phone rang in his pocket. When he answered it, an unfamiliar voice said, “Mr. Moriarty?”

“Yes?” he said.

“Rick Jameson for the Rock Canyon Press. I would like to interview you for the paper tomorrow.”

“Interview me? Why?”

“Why? An innocent man set up by an alleged serial rapist for protecting his girlfriend? You, sir, are big news,” Rick said. “Now, is your last name spelled M-O-R-I-A-R-T-Y?”

“Yes, but I have to ask you, who leaked the story?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Moriarty, I cannot reveal my sources.”

“That’s okay. I have an idea.”

Maybe it was too easy, but it was hard not to forgive a girl who fought to prove his innocence and save his reputation.

CAROLINE WAS MISERABLE, and she’d only been back on her sister’s couch for four days. At least no one had been keeping her up late.

Since Ellie had cut a deal with the DA in return for testifying against Kyle, she’d been on house arrest, except for her court-ordered community service. All in all, she’d gotten lucky, although she certainly didn’t seem to act like it.

Then again, Caroline hadn’t felt like the world was all sunshine and rainbows either.

“Can I ask you again why you and your devil cats aren’t sleeping at your own place?”

Caroline was lying on Val’s couch with Googs and Possum sleeping on her chest while she watched Reality Bites. Googlie lifted his head long enough to hiss at Val. Much to Caroline’s amusement, her kittens had despised Val and her dog on sight.

“I told you; it’s being fumigated.”

“Right,” Val said, whacking her with a pillow and startling the cats. “Letting off a bomb in your apartment takes one day, so explain why you’ve been a bump on my couch for four?”

“What can I say? We have big bugs,” Caroline said, reaching for her Coke and rubbing the wounds the cats’ nails had left as they’d escaped. “Now get out of my way. This is the good part.”

“No. No more romantic dramas. All this life imitating a movie imitating life is bullshit. I watch movies to be entertained. Not sob into my sister’s throw pillows and wipe my snot all over them.”