Page 53 of Return of the Bad Girl (Rock Canyon, Idaho 4)

Maybe he sensed your lack of interest? Or maybe he realized he was actually not that into you.

Unlocking the apartment door, she decided she was relieved. At least she wouldn’t have to let him down easy now. She stepped inside and closed the door, clicking the lock into place. As she tiptoed behind the couch, she noticed Gabe stretched out, asleep, while The Scorpion King played low on the TV. In the dim light, she could see Googlie and Possum’s fuzzy bodies curled into Gabe’s neck.

If she was one of those girls who melted and sighed at adorable sights, she’d be goo.

His face seemed darker, cast in the shadows and light from the TV, and more inno

cent in sleep. Well, except for the piercing and black ink on the side of his neck, but still, he was gorgeous to look at.

Leaning over the couch, she touched his chest softly. “Gabe.”

He startled awake, making her jump, he moved so fast. The kittens didn’t seem too bothered by it, but Gabe’s dark eyes were wide as he looked around the room before finally focusing on her.

“Damn it; you scared me.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I tried to be gentle, but I was afraid if I left you there, you’d end up with a kink in your neck.”

Gabe nodded before stretching his arms behind his head. “Appreciate it.”

Caroline’s gaze hooked on those sinewy muscles coiling under his darkened skin, and suddenly she wanted to get away from him as fast as she could. “Okay, well, I’ll take the kittens for now, and you can go to sleep or finish your movie.”

“I’ll probably just turn in,” he said, handing the protesting kittens off to her as he stood up. “So, Mike didn’t want to come in for another drink?”

“Some men are gentleman,” she said, cuddling the fuzzy bodies against her.

Gabe stared at her hard, and when he spoke, his dark, husky words shot pure desire though her body.

“Princess, if I had come to pick you up and seen you in that dress, we wouldn’t even have made it to the restaurant.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Has anyone noticed that the upcoming weather calls for two days of severe thunderstorms and right smack in the middle of that, a night of clear skies and a full moon? Crazy weather + a full moon = gossip-palooza. So what will this wild weather bring us this time? Stay tuned.”

—Miss Know It All

“HOW THE HELL did Ellie find this out? I thought she was living with you,” Caroline asked Valerie as the two of them sat in her apartment on Sunday morning. Caroline had wanted to get the scoop on their father—and to keep from being alone with Gabe.

After his parting comment, he had gone into his room, all dramatic and confusing, and it had just pissed her off. Two-plus weeks of living together, and he was still a mystery of freaking epic proportions.

“She’s trying to find an apartment, maybe a roommate. But she went back to Dad’s house to pack up some of her stuff and heard Dad talking on the phone about dredging up any past criminal behavior that the Jenners might have buried on Kyle. Either way, it looks like Dad may finally be shedding some light on Kyle’s bastardly deeds.”

And she doesn’t even know about what he did to you.

“So, will your hot-and-spicy roommate be gracing us with his presence?” Val asked abruptly.

“What? No, I mean . . . I don’t know,” Caroline said, jarred from her deep thoughts.

“Well, I doubt he’s at church. He doesn’t seem like the seeking-redemption type.”

“Honestly, I don’t know what “type he is,” Caroline said grouchily.

Val’s face lit up. “I’m sensing a tone. What did he do now? Tell me everything.”

“Nothing, he’s just . . .” How could she explain that, with a single sentence, Gabe could send her into a lust-filled state for which there was only one cure, and she was all too aware that he was just down the hall, able to take care of it?

“We wouldn’t even have made it to the restaurant.”

Why did he have to say things like that? For hours afterward, she had tossed and turned, imagining all the things they would have done, ready to scream in frustration. If things had gone better with Mike, Gabe wouldn’t have been able to creep into her mind and make her think all kinds of naughty thoughts.