The Trouble With Love (5 page)

"I hope they're having a good time on their mystery honeymoon.  He about drove her crazy keeping it secret."

"I think that was part of the fun for him.  He likes aggravating her," Cole said with a laugh.

She heard the faint sound of a cell phone ringing in the bedroom down the hall.  "That yours?"  He must've set it in there when he'd taken his clothes off for his bath.

He closed his eyes and groaned, "Yeah...I'll be right back," he said then walked down the hall coming back a minute later with it in his hand.  "I missed it, but it's Elmer
,
so it might be important."

"Who's Elmer
?
," Sabrina asked with a little chuckle at the man's name
.

"My new Chief Deputy
..
."
Cole groaned again then added with a quirky smile that heated her insides, "He's a bit of a drama queen, but he's a
decent
cop."
  Dialing as he walked over to the table, Cole leaned down over the pan of biscuits and moaned
like he was in the throes of ecstasy
.

Sabrina swallowed thickly and tried like hell to keep her eyes off his spectacular ass, which was very visible in the tight gray sweatpants he had on.  She stifled a moan of her own and walked over to the table and sat down.

"El, I saw you called...what's up?"
he said and grabbed a biscuit from the tray and shoved half into his mouth.  His eyes rolled back in his head as he chewed and then moaned again, louder this time.

Around the mouthful he said, "No, you're not interrupting anything," the gave her a heated glance and a sexy smile.
 
He
stopped chewing
a moment
to listen intently to whatever Elmer was telling him.
  "A chicke
n truck?  Anybody hurt?"

"Well that's good then...." he said to Elmer.  She assumed that  meant nobody was hurt in the chicken accident.  Sabrina couldn't wait to hear this story.

After a minute more, he groaned and said, "I can't...
I
cracked my ribs at the reception. Call Johnson."
  Cole took another small bite and listened a second then slapped his hand with the biscuit against his forehead. "I can't, El...aw, shit,
okay.  I'll be there in a few."

"You're not going anywhere, Sheriff," she told him firmly.  "Except back to your bed after you eat."

"Elmer will be out there
un
til
midnight
trying to wrangle up those chickens
, unless I go help him
.  He said
they're all over the main road
.
  My other two deputies are off tonight,
they worked the wedding
and the rest are dayshift.
"

"Too bad
...
you are not going participate in the chicken rodeo, Cole.  You're not in any
shape.  Sit down and eat before it gets cold."  When she saw his back stiffen up and his eyes narrow, she added, "
Please
.
..
"

He sat down and popped the rest of his biscuit in his mouth and told her, "These biscuits are better than my mama's
.
"
  He looked
upward and crossed himself.
  "Lord if he she heard me say that, she'd hit me with her rolling pin
,
"
he said then chuckled.

Happiness filled her and she smiled widely, "Thanks...it's a recipe I found online."

"Damned good one--thanks for making them."

"You're welcome...glad you like them," she said beyond pleased with herself.  She picked up his plate and dished out some potatoes and green beans, then plopped the bigger of the two steaks she'd cooked on his plate then handed it to him.

He took the plate and added another biscuit, then took a sip of his tea before he told her,
"Thanks for taking care of me tonight, Bri...I really appreciate it
.
"

"Thank you for saving me from Quasimodo at the wedding.  Thought I could handle him, but he had my number
after that first kick to the balls
."

"You take a lot of chances, darlin'...it worries me
.  That guy was three times your size
, and one and half
my
size,
" he told her with a slight frown and a pinch between his eyebrows.
  He shook his head and picked up his fork and knife then cut his steak.

"Although I must say, that
kick
you gave him to the head was something,"
Cole
said with a
dmiration and a
chuckle.

Her lips quirked up smugly, "Dropped him like a rock...
I take kickboxing classes in
Phoenix
.
"

"They paid off," he told her then took another sip of his tea before he asked, "
You helping out at the Double B next week while Cassie's gone?"
The
look
on his face said
that said he wasn't really happy about
it
.

"Yeah, I'm going to make sure the horses are tended so Cassie doesn't worry, and cook
for Carl and Bud
while Imelda is gone to see her grandbaby."

Cole nodded then tucked into his food in earnest, sopping the bottom of the plate with another biscuit.  She laughed at his enthusiasm over her potluck meal, "How the hell do you eat those biscuits and stay in such great shape?"  She'd had one and felt guilty.

He wiped his mouth, and downed the rest of his tea.  "Follow me and I'll show you," he told her and slid his chair back. He put his hand out to her and she took it, then he led her out of the kitchen and down the opposite end of the hall from the bedroom and other rooms, then stopped at a door on the left.  Flinging it open, he walked inside and she
stepped in behind him on the rubber matted floor and saw a full state-of-the-art gym set up in the huge room.

"Wow, you could open a health club," she said astonished.

He laughed, "I don't have much else to do when I'm here."
He pointed at an elliptical machine and said, "That's my biscuit b
uster
," then pointed to a rowing machine and told her, "That there's my gravy getter..."

She snorted,
and asked with a grin,
"Where's your potato peeler?  You had quite a bit of those too."

He put his arm around her back and walked her over to a pin-type weight bench set and said, "Honey, meet my potato peeler."

"I didn't see a gym in
Bowie
, so I might have to come back out here and work out sometime, or I'm gonna be a slob by the time I get back to
Phoenix
."
  It was true, she was having work out withdrawals already, just being here two days.

His eyes heated up and he said in a low rumble, "You're welcome to come out here and
work out
anytime you get the urge, darlin'.
  But somehow, I think working with those horses is going to be tougher than any workout you've had lately.
"

"That's going to be fun...I'm looking forward to it," she said earnestly.

The cell phone Cole had stuffed in his pants pocket rang again and he pulled it out, looked at the caller ID, then answered. "Sheriff Jackson."

"No, El
,
I can't.
..
I'm sorry, I won't be able to help out with the chicken thing either.  Call in one of the day guys," he told Elmer then huffed out a frustrated breath.  "I don't give a damn if they'll be on overtime...just call
them...call two if you need to!"
  Cole disconnected the call and took a deep breath.

"Cows this time?" Sabrina asked him with a twist of her lips.

"Bar fight...some idiot started a near riot over a woman."

"Hot time in the old town tonight," she chuckled.
  "Let's get you back in bed, Cole," she said then grabbed his cell phone from his hand
and put it behind her back
.  "And I'm confiscating this..."

He reached around her and tried to grab it
,
but she took two steps back from him shaking her head
then
stuffed it in the pocket of her jeans
.  "You can have it back in the morning...tonight it's mine.  If one of your hot chicks calls, I'll tell them it's my night
so they can
take a number."

Taking two steps toward her that could only be described as a stalk, he
closed the space between them then took her shoulders in his hands. 
"You're the only hot chick I'm interested in, honey," he told her then pulled her into his chest and captured her mouth in a devastating kiss that sent her
heart racing.  She snaked her arms up his chest and around his neck, then pressed herself against him.
 

Breathing heavily, he dragged his lips from hers and kissed her cheek, then down her neck, stopping to lick a spot right behind her ear
, his hot breath causes shivers to dart
down her spine and she moaned and wrapped her calf around his leg, pressing her hips into him.

Cole groaned and moved his hands to her butt and pulled her tight against his steely erection, positioning himself in just the right spot to send a tidal wave of desire crashing over her.  She needed him right here, right now. "Oh, god...Cole, I need..." she panted breathlessly and circled her hips against him
throwing her head back to focus on the amazing sensations pulsing through her
.

A strange vibration in her back pocket made her think maybe Cole had some tricks that no other man had ever shown her, but then she realized it was her cell phone vibrating.

Swallowing, she dropped her leg and tried to get her breathing under control, then pulled her phone out of her pocket. 
The number on the caller ID wasn't one she recognized.  She took a deep breath then released it, before she
answered the call, "Sabrina Roberts."
 

She looked up into Cole's passion-filled eyes, noticed his
breathing was erratic as well, and his jaw was
tense
.  R
egret poured through her for answering the damned call. 
Even more regret plowed through her when she recognized the caller
's voice
.

"Gabe?" she asked incredulously, when she heard her brother's voice, but
it didn't really sound like him, he sounded really strange.
  "What's wrong?
  You get a new number?
"

"
No, look Bri--I have a problem...I'm leaving
Mesa
for a while and just wanted to let you know," he told her.

"Tell me what's wrong, Gabe," she demanded in a frustrated voice.  She hadn't talked to him in eighteen months, and he was calling her to tell her he was leaving town?

"I'm in trouble...an investigation I was working on went bad and some guys are after me."

"Where are you going?" She asked him with concern.  Not much freaked Gabe out, he was ex-military, an ex-cop and now a private investigator.  If he was freaked out, it was really bad.

"I don't know...I just have to leave quick..."

"What are you into, Gabe?  she asked, needing him to tell her what had him so scared, because he was sure scaring the shit out of her. 
Why she'd want to help him, she didn't know, but she did.  He was her brother, the only relative she had alive, and he was obviously in trouble.
What can I do to help?"