Page 74 of Return of the Bad Girl (Rock Canyon, Idaho 4)

“There are some people who can forgive and forget . . . and then there’s the rest of us.”

—Miss Know It All

“SON OF A bitch!”

Gabe woke up to the sound of Caroline’s cursing in the kitchen and the smell of burning food. Groggily, he pushed himself up onto his arms and yelped as tiny claws dug into his back.

He’d slept the whole night in her bed.

A warmth of satisfaction spread through him as he remembered the aftermath of their lovemaking,

“Stay.”

Just like the night of her bad dream, he hadn’t been able to resist her request. He’d lain back down after he’d cleaned up and wrapped his arms around her waist. It wasn’t that he’d never slept with a woman before, but last night with Caroline had felt different.

Because you’ve never felt this way about a woman before?

He didn’t want to examine that possibility; it was too soon. Just being with her and sharing that level of intimacy had allowed him to experience another emotion he’d thought lost to him.

Hope.

Hope for a future with a woman who made him feel good about who he was. Who knew about his past and accepted him, not because she wanted to fix him, but because she saw something more.

Turning slowly, he felt the kittens slide farther beneath him, and he sat up, twisting to look at the two furballs blinking up at him grumpily.

“Little shits, what’s your problem? You clawed the hell out of my back.”

Googlie was the first one to stretch and pad toward him, rubbing against his arm. Gabe had never been much of a cat person, but damn if these ones hadn’t gotten him, hook, line, and sinker.

Kind of like their mama.

“Damn, damn, double damn!” Caroline shouted beyond the closed door.

Grabbing his boxer briefs, he pulled them into place and walked into the kitchen. Caroline was standing in her robe with her back to him, in front of the stove, her long hair on top of her head in a messy bun. He came up behind her and looked down at a charred, smoking rectangle on the counter.

“If you were making me breakfast, I guess it’s the thought that counts.”

She jumped and turned so that their bodies were mere inches apart.

Gabe loved that she seemed nervous.

“It’s Valerie’s birthday, and I’m in charge of the cake. But it seems like my culinary skills come only in the form of microwavable dinners and boiled pasta.”

“Why don’t you pick one up at Hall’s?” he asked.

She threw her hands up. “Exactly, right? But no, Ellie said it had to be this rainbow chip crap, and Val’s party is tonight, and—”

“And it only takes about an hour to bake, two to cool, and fifteen minutes to ice it,” he said and then shrugged at her shocked expression. “What? My mom worked a lot, and when she wasn’t working, she was gambling.”

“What about you and your sister?” Caroline asked, her dark eyes shining with sympathy, but he didn’t want her to feel sorry for him. He understood why she would, but there was nothing that pity could change about his past. So he’d had a shitty parent—a lot of people did. Those were just the cards he’d been dealt.

Still, he could remember his public defender planning his defense and telling him that it wasn’t his fault. A lot of kids who got into drugs and alcohol were raised by abusive, single parents. If his arm hadn’t been broken in the accident, he probably would have decked the guy for assuming shit. It didn’t matter that his mother had been abusive as hell and just plain mean.

It had been on him to protect Honey, and he’d failed her, time and again.

“Honey and I were usually on our own unless Mom had enough for a sitter, which wasn’t often. We were usually the last on her priority list, so I learned to cook dinners and make birthday cakes for my sister and me. We never really had parties, but at least we had cake.”

She took his hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry.”