Double the Trouble (Texas Trouble 3) (38 page)

Karlie's eyes welled up as a swirl of emotions ran through her and lodged in her throat.  Looking deep into his blue eyes she told him, "I've been running a long time, and blaming myself for our parents dumping us.  You're right
too
, it's time I stopped that. 
They dumped us because they were bad parents, not because we were bad kids." 

When the first tear tracked down her cheek, Gabe wiped it away with his thumb, but it was no use, because it was followed by many
more that she couldn't stop
, and
then
he went on to tell her,
"You're not the 'wild child' honey, those people have it wrong.  You're a wonderful, caring person who
blames herself for other people's shortcomings, and tries to fix everything around her, so those people don't have to face that.  Let them fix their own issues, and you take care of you.
  You deserve to be happy, darlin'.
"
 

Gabe pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, while she poured out all the acid that she'd kept inside of her for all these years, acid that had almost burned up her soul, if not for this wonderful man.
In a trembling whisper, she said, "I love you, Gabe Kelly...so damned much."

He kissed the top of her hair, then replied, "And I love you, Karlie Upton...now let's go inside and let me show you how much."

They got out and grabbed their bags, then walked up on the porch in silence,
it was dark so she couldn't see much, other than a couple of canoes against the left wall of the cabin illuminated by the porch light, and the moonlight glittering off the water down the hill. 

Gabe opened the door and stepped inside then felt along the wall for the light switch.
  When she stepped in behind him, she gasped. 
The little c
ottage
was just beautiful, she thought,  cozy, comfortable and perfect.  No wonder Luke and Cassie and Cole and Sabrina loved to come here so much.
  It was like a shroud of
calmness
descended over her when she walked through the door.
  Karlie didn't think her soul had
ever
felt so...still.

"This is awesome, Gabe," she told him
and noticed
he stood quietly looking around too.
  She walked around Gabe and across the living room then down a narr
ow hall.  Opening a door at the end
, she stepped
inside,
and
felt for the light switch
on the wall.  When she turned it on, she
gasped again at the beautiful quilt on the huge
king-
size
d
bed.
  She laid her suitcase on the dresser then walked over and ran her hand over the quilt.

"Beautiful..." he said in a low sensual tone that had her turning toward him. 

From the glitter in his eyes, Karlie didn't think he was talking about the bedroom. 
Gabe
walked inside then dropped his duffle to the floor,
and
pulled her into his arms
.  Heat surged inside of her as his lips descended toward her, and she looped her arms around his neck. 
With a moan, Gabe
captured her mouth with his, tasting her, then nibbling her lips, before his tongue found hers and enticed it into an erotic dance
, as his hands moved to her ass to pull her closer, tighter against him
. 

Her breathing got shallow and her heart rate kicked up when he slid his hands inside the back of her jeans to touch her skin.  She needed to feel him too and
moved
one hand
at
the hem of the scrub shirt he was wearing
, then
pushed it up
and slid her hand over his firm abs
.
  He grabbed her hand and pulled back a little,
then with a sexy grin, invited,
"Let's go take a shower
.
"

Karlie nodded and he led her out of the bedroom and down the hall again, across the living room and toward the kitchen.  She saw a door off to the side and he went there then opened it and pulled her inside the bathroom.  Leaving her for a second, he went to the tub and turned on the water and tested it, then turned on the showerhead.  Steam filled the room, as he walked back to her and started unbuttoning her shirt.
 
Swallowing thickly, Karlie's
fingers
moved to the
button of her jeans and released it,
then she unzipped them and
shoved them over her hips
, which left her
standing in front of Gabe in only her underwear.
 

His hot gaze wandered over her chest and then down her body to her toes and he sucked in a breath, "You are so damned beautiful, sweetheart," he told her
,
then his hand followed the path
his eyes had taken
. 
Stopping at her hip, Gabe
hooked his thumb
s
in the elastic
of her panties, then
shoved them down
and
let them drop to the floor
, then he skimmed
a finger back up across her midsection
to the
front closure
on her bra
, before he
flicked it open, and pulled the straps from her shoulders.
  The slow seduction of his touch and his eyes, caused d
esire
to race
through
her.

When he li
ghtly traced his finger over the swell of her breast, then her nipple,
before his mouth descended and he tasted her, she moaned her pleasure.
Rising back up, Gabe grabbed her hand and led her to the shower, and helped her inside
.  After shucking his
own
clothes, he
stepped in behind her and closed the slider
,
encasing them in a cocoon of warm steam
.
 

P
ut
ting
his hands on her hips
, Gabe
pulled her against his body, then moved her
hair to one side,
and kissed across her shoulder to the base of her neck, then up her throat.  He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, then released it to whisper gruffly near her ear
, "I'll never get enough of you...you're like a
damned
drug...I feel drunk when I'm around you,
" then
he
put an open mouth kiss on a spot behind her ear that sent electric current through her and she shivered.
 

H
is hands
moved
up her sides to
cup the outside of her breasts
, and Karlie's nipples reacted instantly, and she moaned
and arched her back,
wanting to feel his touch there
.
  Gabe ran his fingers over her nipples and licked up the back of her neck,
causing
quick heated tendrils of
hot need
to shoot
t
hrough
her.
 

Moving o
ne
hand f
rom her breast
down her
stomach
, Gabe found her c
enter
and
dipped a finger inside of her, her knees almost gave out, and she pressed back against him.
  T
he hard ridge of his erection
press
ed
against her back
,
and
Karlie writhed against him, as his fingers massaged her
.  P
leasure
, hot and wild, buil
t swiftly inside of her, then a tidal wave of sensation crashed over her and took her riding on a sea of release that
stole her
breath
.
 

When she came back to her senses, Karlie turned in his arms and slid he
r hands up his chest, then around his neck, before she raised her knee up on his hip and ground against him, almost sending him over the edge.  Breathing short and shallow, Gabe pulled back, then changed positions with her and put her hands against the back
wall
of the shower, then
he
moved behind her and lifted her hips.
 

With one powerful thrust, he moved inside of her then stood still holding her
hips tightly
, as her body tightened against him, and he felt her intense heat surrounding him
, then
he
said in a strangled voice
,
"My god, sugar...you're so wet...feel so good
.
"
 
It was the most incredible
feeling
he'd ever felt in his life.

Karlie pushed
her hands
against the back wall and moved her hips against him, and Gabe lost all control.  Loosening his hold on her hips a little, he started a frantic rhythm with her that ratcheted up the roaring of his impending release
with each stroke. 

Karlie
wailed his name and he moved one hand to her center and massaged her,
then s
hortened his stroke to take her over the edge.  When he felt
the
tremors
in her body
and her inner muscles spasm against him,
Gabe made two full strokes
then he went sailing over the cliff
to join her
in a release that had his head buzzing, and his knees trembling
.

Gabe turned her around to face him and Karlie closed her eyes and leaned against the shower wall while he soaped her up, then he turned her around and washed her hair, and rinsed it.  After quickly cleaning up himself, Gabe shut off the spray, then got out and grabbed a towel from the cabinet, and wrapped it around her when she stepped out.  He pulled out one for him
self
and dried off then wrapped it around his hips, stopping momentarily to look down at himself stunned. 

No wonder
it
had felt so different, so wonderful...he hadn't even
thought
about a condom.  Surely, he couldn't be that lucky two times in a row, he thought
,
then
groaned and
hastily wrapped the towel around him
self
,
a
s
anger at hi
s thoughtlessness
surg
ed
up inside of him
.
  For someone who claimed not to want to get married, he sure wasn't doing anything to prevent the necessity of it.

Karlie turned sleepy eyes on him and slurred, "What's wrong, Gabe?"

"I fucked up again, honey...we didn't use a condom."

"So, what," she said then walked past him, then through the liv
ing room with him on her trail.

"What do you mean,
so what
?!?
"
Gabe said loudly in a high-pitched voice.

She shrugged then headed down the hall saying over her shoulder, "If it happens, it happens..."

Gabe got a bad feeling in his stomach, and followed her into the bedroom, where she dropped the towel and threw back the covers then slid underneath and closed her eyes.
  "Karlie why did you tell the hospital people you were my fiancé?

"I don't know, Gabe...I'm too tired to talk right now," she said then snuggled into the pillow.

Tired is something Gabe had been a few minutes ago, exhausted to the bone, but now suspicion and horror
had him awake and pacing beside the bed, as he w
ondered
if
marriage
was what Karlie
was trying to accomplish here.
  He'd told her they'd get married if she got pregnant, once before.
  It was a knee-jerk reaction to the possibility of her
accidentally
being pregnant
, because the condom broke
. 
Her intentionally getting pregnant to trap him was another story.