Trouble In Dixie (16 page)

"I know...I'm a fucked up mess, and you
deserve better," his voice rumbled in his chest and tickled her ear
where her cheek lay.

"I deserve someone who doesn't want me to be
their dirty little secret, someone who's not afraid to tell the
world they're mine...and someone who puts me first. I don't think
you're that man, I don't think you can be," she told him
seriously.

"I don't know either, Katie...I'm scared. If
Maggie's parents try to take Dixie from me, I'd die," he told her
with tears in his voice. "I think they would try if I got involved
with someone else."

"So, you're going to let them emotionally
blackmail you for the rest of your life? They're getting their
revenge, by making you miserable for eternity...you'll be alone,
and they'll be happy to watch you wallow in your misery."

He didn't say anything for a minute, and she
didn't either. She just ran her hand over his chest soothingly, and
rubbed her cheek there too. "You're right," was all he said and he
moved his hand to stroke her hair. "Please just lay here with
me...I need to hold you," he said in a low somber tone.

She nodded against his chest then snuggled
into his neck, and kissed him there. "I bought a ranch," she told
him after a few minutes.

His body tensed up, and then he asked,
"Yeah? Whatcha gonna to do with it?"

"Karlie and I are going to raise and train
cattle horses...I close next Friday on the property."

"Congratulations," he said in a flat
voice.

"I'm looking for a good stud...I might sell
Laramie to buy a really good one," she told him and twirled her
finger in the hair on his chest.

"You have any prospects in mind?" he looked
down at her and asked.

"I haven't started shopping yet, but I will
soon...Karlie is going to buy a few good mares. It'll be a little
bit though, the property needs a lot of work."

"How much work?" he asked her in his deep
resonant voice that soothed her and incited her at the same
time.

"Barn needs repairs and painting, the
bunkhouse needs the same, and the cabin on the property needs
tearing down and rebuilding. I'll have to build an indoor arena,
and round pen...maybe an outdoor track later, after we get
going...all the fencing is half-down and needs work too."

"So you bought bare land, basically?" he
said with a chuckle.

"Not quite that bad, but bad enough. I'm
going to stay in the bunkhouse, until I can build a little house
there."

His body tensed up again and he rubbed his
face in her hair then inhaled, and placed a kiss on her forehead.
"You smell so damn good..." he groaned in a pained voice, then said
darkly, "God, I wish things were different..."

"Wishing won't get you anywhere...just don't
let people control your life any more, it's as simple as that,"
Katie told him.

"Nothing is simple anymore..." he said
morosely.

"This is..." she said sincerely, then looked
up into his tortured eyes, and leaned forward to put a kiss on his
lips. "You say you love me...but I can't be a part of your life,
until you make room for me. If that happens, let me know," she told
him evenly, then she pushed up off the lounger to stand and held
her hand out to him. "You need some sleep, and you smell like a
brewery," she told him with a chuckle.

He sat up unsteadily, then grabbed her hand
to stand once he had his balance. "I haven't drank that much in
years," he told her and wobbled, then added with a groan, "I know
Karlie and Gabe probably think I'm an alcoholic...I emptied their
case of beer."

"Nah, they know something's going on with
us," she said with a snort.

"Yeah, Gabe told me you've been locked up in
your room crying since the rodeo," he said in a strangled voice,
then apologized again, "I'm so sorry, darlin'...I didn't mean to
hurt you."

She was going to kill her sister
and
Gabe, Katie thought. Katie could smell the matchmaking going on
here, and it didn't smell like roses. They needed to stay out of
her business. First Karlie invited Tommy and Dixie here, knowing
that she was upset with him, and now Gabe was telling him all her
secrets to make him feel guilty.

"I'm fine, Tommy, girls cry, and it wasn't
all because of you," she replied to ease his guilt a little.

He took two steps forward and pulled her
tightly against his chest. "But I don't want
my
girl to cry,
because of me at all," he said fiercely near her ear, and added, "I
should be protecting you, not hurting you."

Katie whimpered against his chest and felt
tears burning behind her eyes, as she slipped her arms around his
waist, "Am I your girl, Tommy?" she asked softly, because she
couldn't stop herself. Fear and hope warred inside of her chest,
and he'd gone still in her arms at the question.

"You've been my girl, since the first moment
I set eyes on you that day we rescued Karlie," he told her in a low
gravelly tone. "I've just been fighting it, because I'm
scared...scared of losing you, and scared of losing Dixie...I guess
I'm a coward, darlin, and I'm sorry."

"A coward doesn't make the choice you had to
make about your wife, then raise a daughter alone from birth,
manage a ranch the size of yours alone,
and
admit that he's
afraid. That takes guts, and you have plenty, Tommy Tucker...you
just need to use them to recapture your life. Make it what you want
it to be...you've paid enough of a price."

He pulled back from her a little and leaned
down to find her lips in the darkness, he kissed his way across her
cheek, then closed his mouth over hers in a gentle kiss and he
nipped her lips, licked them, worshiped them, and begged for her to
deepen it. With a soft moan, she opened for him and slid her arms
around his neck then found his tongue with hers, teasing it into a
soulful dance.

Slow languorous waves of pleasure drifted
through her, carrying love and caring through her system. Her heart
beat was slow and heavy in her chest, and mirrored the beat at her
core. She rubbed her body against his, and the friction of their
bare skin, heated up the blood in her body, and sent darts of
desire straight to her center. He was feeling it too she noticed,
as he slowly churned himself against her too, while the kiss went
on and on.

His hands slid to her lower back, and he
pulled her tighter against him, then moaned and pulled back. "Lord,
what you do to me, baby..." he said in a voice thick with desire,
then he begged, "Don't give up on me, sugar...give me time to work
this out, please...and don't be kissing anyone else, don't see that
guy anymore. I can't take it."

"Oh, Tommy..." she said battling the words
of agreement that surged to the tip of her tongue. Who knew how
long it would take him to figure things out, and decide if he could
agree to her terms, she thought. Then Katie admitted to herself,
she was already invested too much in him to say no, because kissing
Chase tonight had proven that she
was
Tommy's girl, until
her heart told her otherwise.

"Please, promise me, Kate...or I'm going to
lose my mind," he told her frantically and hugged her tighter to
him, like he was never going to let her go.

"Okay, I'll give you time, Tommy..." she
said reluctantly, because she couldn't do anything other than
agree.

"And no more kissing anyone but me?" he
growled.

"No more kissing anyone but you...
for
now
," she qualified, so he didn't think she was a total
pushover. Doormat Katie was back, but she had found a little
self-preservation, during her vacation evidently.

"No--
forever
...no more kissing
anybody, but me forever," he corrected her fiercely.

"That depends on you, sugar...you're the
only one that can decide that," Katie told him firmly.

***

Something soft brushed over her cheek, and
Katie opened her eyes with a start, then closed them, because the
bright sunlight coming through the curtains blinded her. She
groaned and tried to roll over and snuggle into her pillow, but
someone kissed her cheek and brushed her hair out of her eyes. With
another moan, she rolled onto her back and flung her arm across her
eyes to shield them from the morning sun.

"This better be important," she said in a
sleepy voice.

"It is," Tommy told her seriously, "Very
important...monumentally important."

She wiggled her nose as the aroma of fresh
coffee wafted up her nostrils, and hazarded a glance at him from
under her arm. "Is that a peace offering?"

"Damn straight, and I have more, Sleeping
Beauty, once you open your beautiful blue eyes and take this from
me," he told her and held out the yellow porcelain smiley face mug
to her. She gave up on sleeping and scooted up in the bed to lean
on the headboard, and take the cup from him. Tommy smiled at her,
then stood up and walked back out of the room, while she sipped the
rich, dark brew.

Before she knew it, he was back with a tray
in his hands filled with scrambled eggs, grits, toast and....bacon.
Her stomach lurched as the greasy smell drifted to her nostrils,
and she quickly set her coffee down on the bedside table and held
up one hand and covered her mouth with the other.

"No..." she said and flung the cover off her
bare legs then ran for the bathroom, as her stomach went on the
roller coaster ride she was getting all too familiar with.

He burst into the bathroom and stood behind
her, as she dry heaved, because there was nothing for her to lose.
When her stomach finally settled, she went to the sink and splashed
cool water on her face, then brushed her teeth. Tommy was right
behind her holding her hair, looking like a thundercloud.

"What's wrong, darlin'? Are you okay?" he
asked her worriedly.

"Nothing, my stomach has been messed up
lately...greasy food sets it off, sorry," she told him and dried
her face and mouth.

"Wait here, let me go get the bacon off of
your plate then...give me one minute," he said then practically ran
from the bathroom. He was back in a flash and put his arm around
her waist, and walked her back to the bedroom, then handed her a
piece of dry toast. "Just sit here and eat your toast, and I'll get
you some milk. That'll settle your stomach," he said then left the
room again. She nibbled on the toast, then took a big swig of milk
when he came back with a tall glass.

"Thanks, Tommy...sorry for that," she
apologized and felt blood rush to her face, as she took another
tentative nibble on her toast.

His face was as intense as his voice, when
he asked her, "How long has that been going on?"

"A couple of weeks...I'm going to the
doctor, after I close on the property next week. I think I have an
ulcer," she said with a wry grin.

"When? I want to go with you," he said in a
tone that brooked no argument.

"Next Friday...I have to schedule an
appointment. I close at nine in the morning, so sometime in the
afternoon," she informed, then finished, "But there's no need for
you to go with me, I'm a big girl."

"Big girl or not, I'm going with you, sugar.
No arguments, okay?"

"If you insist..." she said and shook her
head, then finished her toast and started on the eggs. The grits
looked like they had a lot of butter in them, so she decided to
skip those. Tommy watched her eat, as if making sure she was fed
was his top priority in life.

When she finished, he took the tray from her
and handed her the milk, and said, "Finish this, so I can have the
glass." She did as he instructed and then smiled and handed him the
glass.

"You're awfully bossy this morning," she
said with a half-grin, then tossed back the covers to stand.

"Get used to it darlin'. I'm going to make
sure you take care of yourself," he told her, then leaned in to
kiss her cheek. "You're too damned young to have an ulcer."

She smiled at him then said, "Well, if it's
okay master, I'm going take a shower now."

He cocked an eyebrow, and his eyes
glittered. "I like the sound of that, sugar," he told her in a low
sensual tone.

"Don't get too used to it, I was kidding,
boss man," she told him and leaned up to kiss his cheek.

Tommy chuckled, then walked out of the room,
and she gathered clean clothes, which consisted of a new yellow
bikini she'd bought in Dallas, and a pair of white cutoff shorts.
She trudged down the hall and to the bathroom, then went inside and
quickly showered and brushed her teeth again. She didn't blow dry
her hair, because she knew she'd be swimming today, and figured
there wasn't any use. After she slathered on moisturizer and ran a
comb through her wet hair, she went back out into the living room.
Tommy was nowhere to be seen.

Katie went and put her dirty clothes in her
backpack, then walked out onto the deck. Karlie, Gabe and Tommy
were sitting out there having another cup of coffee, and she went
and sat down at the table with them.

"Morning, Sunshine," Gabe said with a
smile.