Page 87 of Return of the Bad Girl (Rock Canyon, Idaho 4)

“Just think of what you’d be called if you could actually cook,” he said, kissing her before she could respond.

But it was a futile effort. The minute he broke the kiss, she muttered, “You’re gonna pay for that.”

As he pulled her down, he said, “Bring it on.”

THE NEXT MORNING, Gabe was up early and at the firehouse, fighting a brick wall.

Despite Caroline’s help moving the tables around, he’d gotten in the rest of his equipment and now needed to set that up before he officially opened for business. Not to mention all the cleaning he had to do. The place had been sitting so long, there were bionic cobwebs in every window and dust bunnies the size of wolverines. He hadn’t realized exactly how big the place was until he’d started getting rid of the junk that had been left behind. Plus, there were several posters of bikes he’d designed that weren’t going to hang themselves, and he’d had a feeling brick walls were gonna be a bitch to mess with.

He’d been right.

Why had he left the comfort of Caroline’s arms for this?

“Gabe?” Chase’s voice called from the front of the firehouse.

“Yeah, hold on,” Gabe said, gritting his teeth as he tried to get the stick-and-hang hooks to work on the brick. “Damn it.”

“Um, hey, man, I brought some help.”

Gabe looked up and saw Chase standing in the doorway with a group of guys behind him. Justin Silverton, Travis Bowers, Eric Henderson, Mike Stevens, and a couple others Gabe had seen but didn’t know sto

od holding on to a couple of ice chests, grinning.

Gabe climbed down awkwardly and said, “Hey, thanks for coming guys, but—”

“You’re feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude, you don’t know what to say?” Eric asked.

“No, I was just going to say that you don’t have to help me out with this,” Gabe said.

“We know that, but Chase said you were giving a discount to anyone who helped you set up shop,” Mike said, grinning.

Gabe glared at Chase, who shook his head. “He came up with that on his own. I said it was a party, and they had to bring their own beer.”

“Look, I left my baby-crazy wife to come help you out, but if you aren’t going to use me, then I got somewhere to be,” Travis said.

“Dude, you’re oversharing again,” Mike said, grimacing.

“I don’t mind hearing more about Bowers’s wife. She’s hot—”

“Finish that sentence, and I’ll use this saw on you,” Travis said to one of the younger guys, nodding toward the steel blade in the corner.

Gabe looked around at the group of guys he hardly knew and was at a loss.

Chase came up alongside him and patted his shoulder. “Just give us something to do, Gabe. We’re here for you.”

As Gabe started handing out assignments, he was surprised by how fast the time flew. It had been a while since he’d worked with a bunch of guys, but that had been in a mechanics shop, where he was just another grunt. Here, he was the boss, and the rush of pride he felt when they finished the setup was overwhelming.

“Thank you, guys,” Gabe said, holding out his hand to each of them. “You fucking rock.”

“Nice,” Mike said, rubbing his hands together. “Now about my discount . . .”

What the hell, right? They had sweated their asses off for him.

“Discounts all around, gentleman,” Gabe said, grabbing an order pad and tossing Chase his sketch book. “Moriarty’s Custom Bikes is open for business.”

CAROLINE WALKED INTO Hank’s Bar and shook her head at the waste. If Hank had been serious about increasing business and actually running a business, she wouldn’t feel like she was about to step on someone else’s dream. But she couldn’t put in her time and effort when the owner was just going to run the place into the ground anyway.

Waiting, as the bartender ran to grab Hank, Caroline studied a few of the pictures behind the bar. In one, a young woman leaned back against the counter, laughing. Caroline wondered if maybe she was Hank’s daughter.