Double the Trouble (Texas Trouble 3) (42 page)

When she saw the reflection of red and blue lights on the white seat, she turned around and groaned, "Elmer," she told him then clarified, "Barney Fife of
Bowie
..."

"Oh, wonderful," he said with a grin, then added, "My
Captain
is gonna have my ass if he gives me a ticket."

"I could always hog-tie him like I did the one that stopped me on my first day in
Bowie
," she told him with a grin.

"No, shit!" he said with an astonished smile then blushed.  "
Y
ou're not...
the
Karlie Upton, pro roper extraordinaire?
  The 'Wild Child'?
"

"Fraid so," she told him, smiling smugly
, then sobered, "That's where I met Jake...he was a bull rider
.
"

"Totally amazing, sugar," he said with awe, then pulled the car over to the shoulder and cut off the engine. 

"He's easily impressed, so use your badge, you'll make his day," she told him.

Reaching in the hip pocket of his jeans, he pulled it out and flipped it open, then stuck it out the window when Elmer walked up.  "Evening, officer..." Beau said cordially, and Karlie saw Elmer's eyes widen when he saw the badge.

"I thought it was Gabe driving your car, Karlie...he looks a lot like him.  So what are ya'll up to?" Elmer asked nervously then stepped back.  So, Karlie wasn't imagining things, Beau Bowman was the spitting image of Gabe Kelley.

Beau spoke up authoritatively, "I was
just taking my witness, Miss Upton to dinner in town.  I apologize if I was speeding officer," Beau shook his head then added, "This car seems to go fast, even if my foot is off the accelerator."

"Yeah, Karlie has that thing running like a scalded ape...she did Gabe's cruiser too, but mine sucks," he told
Beau
sulkily.

Karlie leaned over to look at Elmer then smiled broadly at him, and asked in a silky tone, "You want your car modified, Elmer?  You're the traffic control officer, your car should be able to keep up with speeders too!"

"You'd think so...but Sheriff thinks the computer system was a bigger priority."

"I tell you what...you forget you saw us tonight, then bring your car to the Double B next week, and buy the parts.  I'll have that cruiser screaming," Karlie told him then smiled again.
  "Shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred bucks, no labor."

She heard Elmer suck in an excited breath then he leaned down and said, "Oh man, you'd do that for me?"

Karlie nodded then smiled again, hoping her bribery was working.  She didn't want Beau to get into trouble with his boss.  "Yep, yours will be faster than Gabe's...I'll make sure of it.  That way next time you're in a high speed chase, nobody can outrun you."

"Ya'll have a nice night
...
I'll see you next week, Karlie...and thanks!"

"You're welcome, El...have a good one," she said then sat back on her seat and laughed.

"That was brilliant, sugar...I need some negotiation lessons."

"Okay...let's get to
Bowie
before my stomach sticks together," she told him with a chuckle.

They couldn't find a parking spot on the street in front of the Bird, so she told him to go park in the police station lot, hoping they wouldn't get towed or get a ticket.  She could do it without worrying really when she and Gabe were dating, but now...the way he probably felt about her
, all bets were off
.

Beau
got out and walked around to her door, and opened it then helped her out. 
Karlie
was surprised when he didn't let her hand go, after she was out and he shut the door. 
Instead, h
e laced his fingers through hers and walked to the curb then led her across the street to the Bird. 
When they walked in
to the cafe, she saw
people stop
their conversation to do a double take at her and Beau, wh
ile
they walked across the black and white tiled floor to a booth.
 
Beau
sat on the side facing the door, and she sat on the other side.
  The
y
both grabbed menus from the holder behind the sugar dispenser and flicked them open.

Beau looked up at her and asked, "So, what's good?"

"Everything..." she told him, then added, "Sabrina really is a fantastic cook."

"Sabrina, huh?
  Unusual name...
" he asked and his eyes sparkled curiously
.

"Yeah, Sabrina Roberts Jackson, Cole's wife, she owns the place," she said then smiled brightly at him.  "I wish you could meet her, she's a five-foot three powerhouse...she used to be a detective in
Phoenix
..." Karlie told him then swallowed hard and finished, "Her
older
brother Gabe is
Bowie
's Chief Deputy."

"He from
Phoenix
too?" Beau asked her in a strange tone.

"Originally, I think so, yeah...he was in the military, then a
Phoenix
cop, and a private detective, before he came here."

The bell above the door tinkled against the glass, and Karlie looked back over her shoulder, and wished she hadn't.  Gabe stood there in the door, his
eyes were
flat
and
lifeless
, and
set in
a
haggard and sunken face
, he
didn't even look like the man she loved.  It was like the life had been sucked right out of him. 

Gabe
looked around the diner, then his eyes settled on hers and hung there for a minute, before he looked at Beau and
then
they filled with misery then anger.  Without a word to anyone, he turned on his heel and headed back out the door.  She saw Sabrina run from the kitchen and then after him, but she stopped halfway across the diner, holding her side.

Karlie got up and told Beau, "I've gotta go, take my car back to the ranch, if I don't come back...I'm sorry," then she ran after Gabe.  When she got outside, she saw him running back to the station and took off after him, calling his name.
  He didn't stop, he
walked
to his police car
,
then he opened the door and got inside.  The engine was cranked and he had the car in motion
,
before she even got across the lot.
  Desperate, Karlie ran to the car and threw herself on the hood, spread eagle and looked up into Gabe's eyes through the windshield.  She grabbed the well under the wipers and held on.
  He hit the brakes and she almost slid off the car and he jammed the car in park then got out and pulled her off the hood.

"Are you fucking crazy?" he screamed at her, then set her to the side and went to get back in the car.

"I must be, because I still love your crazy ass!" Karlie told him with a sob, then finished with hot tears pouring down her cheeks, "That guy with me is a Texas Ranger who came to interview me, Gabe...not a date."

Gabe opened the door, but didn't get inside the car.  He rested his arm on the door, then laid his head on it, and asked miserably, "What about Wade?"

"Wade is a friend, nothing more...there's nobody for me, but you it seems.
 
I even saw you in that Texas Ranger, Gabe.  I really do think I'm losing it."

Karlie saw his shoulders shaking and he didn't lift his head.   She walked over and put her hand on the back of his head and ran her fingers through his hair, then whispered, "I've missed you so much."

"I tried to stay away from you, so you could be happy...even if that was with Wade.
..even though it was killing me to think of you with him
,
"
he mumbled into his arm then turned away and scrubbed his face with his hands.
 

Karlie walked up and put her arms around his waist and laid her head on his back, "I don't want Wade, sugar...never have.  I drew a face on his penis with a magic marker, that's not something a man is likely to forget, or forgive."

"It pisses me off that you were ever close enough to that part of his anatomy to do something like that," he said gruffly.

"I don't remember much, I was toasted, honey.  All I remember was the little face smiling up at me made me laugh hysterically," she told him with a chuckle.

Amazingly, he chuckled a little too, and she gave him a squeeze around his waist, then put a kiss in the middle of his back
, then she asked hesitantly,
"Still love me?"

Gabe sucked in a shuddering breath then nodded and put his hands over hers.  "Forever, darlin'."

"Then turn around and k
iss me, Gabe..." she said
,
then when he didn't move to face her
,
she walked around him and put her arms around his neck and tiptoed to press her lip
s to his.  "I love you forever too
," she told him then nibbled his lip, before running her tongue along the seam of his lips.  "Love me, Gabe," she be
gged in a whisper over his lips, then said, "C'mon, baby, please kiss me back."

Karlie felt his shoulders stiffen, then he said in a low gravelly voice,
"I was an asshole
to you
, Karlie...what I said to you was not only untrue, it was unforgivable.  I don't deserve your forgiveness,"
then
he
added,
"You're right, I
'm
no better than Jake Johnson."

"But I do forgive you, Gabe...and you are not anything like Jake Johnson...that isn't exactly what I said to you, either," she corrected him.

"It's what you meant right?" he looked down into eyes and his were still filled with pain and regret.

"Don't put words in my mouth, sugar...if that's what I meant, that's what I would have said.  What you did was demeaning to me, what Jake said to me all the time was demeaning, what my father said when he dumped us on Uncle Jerry was demeaning...that's what I meant.  I'm not taking that anymore...but I'm done running.  I'll call you on it if it happens again."

"I'd say you called me on it at the lake house, wouldn't you?  Jesus, that was a grand exit for sure...you were fucking
incredible
."

She grinned up at Gabe then said cheekily, "You liked that huh?"

"I was
dumbstruck
...I've been thinking of the sight of you in that morning light with the lake reflecting up on you for weeks.
  I'm sure the neighbor who was putting his stuff in the boat next door to go out fishing was astounded too.
"

Karlie's hand flew up to her mouth and she felt her cheeks heat up.  "Oh, Lord, say it ain't so," she begged.

"I'm afraid so, darlin'.  I could hear his pacemaker ticking all the way over
on
our dock, after you took off.  Thought I was going to have to give him CPR."

She slapped his shoulder then chuckled, "Oh, quit it..."

He put his hand over his heart then finally smiled that beautiful smile at her and said, "It's the truth!"

She put her hand to his cheek, "Kiss me, Gabe."

Finally, he lowered his mouth to hers and took her lips in a soft, gentle kiss that related how much he loved her and had missed her, then she took it up a notch by finding his tongue with hers and inviting him to play.  With a groan his hands went to her ass and he pulled her tightly against him, then shoved her against the car and lifted her up so they fit together perfectly.