Page 40 of Return of the Bad Girl (Rock Canyon, Idaho 4)

When Zoe tried to hand the kitten back to him, he backed away, glancing toward the door, toward escape. “If you’ve got this under control, I’ve got things to do.”

He hadn’t meant to sound so sharp, but he was still surprised when Caroline said, “Then go.”

“See you at home, princess.”

As he left the room, he heard Zoe ask, “Are you together?”

“No, just roommates. Thankfully,” Caroline replied.

He gritted his teeth, irritation flashing through him.

What do you expect? Instead of trying to keep a casual, comfortable living arrangement with the woman, you barge in on her showers, fight with her at every turn, and can’t stop thinking about what she looks like naked.

After exiting the vet’s office, Gabe jogged back to the apartment, hoping to blow of some steam, but it just left him more keyed up. A cold shower didn’t help either, and by the time he climbed down the stairs to his bike, he wished for a pair of gloves and a sparring partner to unleash his demons on.

After he found the perfect spot for his shop, he was going to have to look for a boxing gym or something close to it. Living with Caroline wasn’t going to be easy, especially when he kept pissing her off at every turn.

In fact, this morning she’d seemed downright hostile about finding Kirsten in their apartment, but what was he supposed to do? He’d brought Kirsten back to have some fun, but when he’d had to help her up the stairs, he’d realized exactly how drunk she was. He’d tried making them coffee in the hopes of sobering her up, but she’d lain down on the living room floor after Caroline went to bed and wouldn’t get up. So, he’d done the right thing and picked her up, carrying her back to his bedroom. He wasn’t going to kick a woman out in the middle of the night, especially one who could barely stand, so he’d put her to bed and spent the rest of the night trying to sleep on top of the covers while the tiny blonde had snored like a trucker.

He would have probably headed back to bed after seeing her out this morning if he hadn’t bumped into Caroline. But after she stormed out, he’d followed her, intending to apologize and explain, only to find her crying in a Dumpster. The sight had left him nearly breathless. It had been the first time in his life he’d ever wanted to pull a woman other than his sister into his arms and comfort her. He had wanted to see her smile, her beautiful eyes twinkling . . .

Pulling the bike to a stop in front of the Realtor’s office, Gabe cursed the crazy turn his mind had taken. Since when did he get poetic about women?

Maybe he’d try to find a shop with an apartment above or in the back. It was obvious he had made a mistake, trying to be a good guy. It just wasn’t in his nature. He liked things his way, and he didn’t want to answer to any woman. Especially not a sharp-tongued beauty who only seemed to add to the regrets he carried.

Chapter Twelve

“As Cher once sang, ‘It’s in his kiss.’ The first kiss can tell you whether there’s a spark or the relationship’s doomed. Either way, the first kiss is my favorite.”

—Miss Know It All

CAROLINE TOOK A deep breath as she knocked on her father’s door and waited for Teresa to answer. She looked up and down the street, but there was no sign of Kyle’s car this time, thank God.

It had been four days since her encounter with him, and she still hadn’t gotten up the nerve to swing by and see her father. Finally, she’d called this morning and asked Teresa if her father was expecting company today. Teresa had said no, and Caroline had begged her not to say anything to her dad; she’d wanted to surprise him. Though it would probably seem more like an ambush to him.

Still, if she was going to help bygones be bygones, she needed to get her dad alone. Even alone, he was a bastard, but with an audience, he was completely unreasonable. It shouldn’t be this hard to put this one disagreement in the past, especially when she’d done so well for herself, but she still expected him to drag it out, if only for the theatrics.

Her father, the drama king. Must be where his youngest daughter got it from.

In fact, Val had called Caroline in the middle of the night, asking if Ellie was with her. While they were on the phone, Ellie had come home, and Val had hung up, yelling, blowing out Caroline’s eardrum.

Whatever was going on with Ellie was going to come to a boiling point, and Caroline had a feeling it was going to be bad. But as she’d told Val, Ellie was an adult. She had to make her own mistakes and learn from them.

She heard a slight mewl and looked down at the animal carrier she’d bought in Twin Falls after leaving the vet’s. She’d picked up this little carrier—a black tote with breathable mesh sides—along with bottles, formula, and some fleece material for the kittens to cuddle into, figuring it would be easy to wash.

Zoe had offered to find them a foster home, and Caroline had almost agreed . . . until her little cream-colored buddy had curled up against her neck and fallen asleep. She couldn’t give up him—or his brother—after that. Zoe had given her instructions, and they were lengthy. At first, the little babies would want to eat almost every one to two hours, but eventually, she would be able to get them onto some kind of feeding schedule. Until then, it was best to treat them like newborns. True to what Zoe had said, the little vermin had already devoured three bottles of formula today.

Teresa pulled the door open, her dark eyes widening before she shrieked. “Ah, niña, you are home.” The short round woman grabbed Caroline’s arm and pulled her inside, squeezing her so tightly that Caroline could hardly breathe. Wrapping her arms around Teresa’s shoulders in return, she realized Teresa was crying.

“Don’t cry, Resa, I’m okay,” Caroline murmured, awed by the woman’s emotions. Teresa had been with them since Caroline was five, and she had always felt more like an aunt than their housekeeper. After her mother’s death, she had even snuck out to Teresa’s home to cry on the older woman’s lap while she’d stroked her hair.

But now, to her shock, Teresa pulled away and smacked her arm. “You. Not a word in twelve years. If it wasn’t for Valerie, I’d have thought you were dead in a ditch!”

Caroline bit her lip to keep from laughing. Teresa’s accent always thickened when she was angry. She could still remember Teresa shouting at them when they’d eaten half the cake Teresa had made their parents as an anniversary gift. She’d chased them out of the kitchen, slipping into rapid Spanish, and made them scrub the kitchen and take another bath before their parents returned.

“I called you.”

“Only after I told Valerie that I would hunt you down!” Teresa reached out and cupped Caroline’s cheek, shaking her head. “You have grown more beautiful than when you left us.”

---