Trouble In Dixie (22 page)

When her sexier than hell cowboy walked back
into the bedroom in his low slung jeans with the top button undone,
and barefooted, her mouth watered for more than the food he had
heaped on the tray he carried. "Mmm...looks good," she purred as
she scooted up to sit against the headboard, and he put the try on
her lap.

He'd cooked her a fluffy omelet with ham and
cheese in it, and hash browns with a couple of slices of toast.
There was a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee too, and on
the napkin beside her plate, was her prenatal vitamin. Her heart
tweaked in her chest and she looked up at him and gave him a wobbly
smile.

"Thanks," she told him breathlessly, and
picked it up and popped it into her mouth, downing it with some
juice. Looking down at the heaping plate, she shook her head and
told him, "This is too much, get a fork and come eat with me."

"I already ate, that's yours...you're eating
for three now, so eat up," he said gently, and sat down on the side
of the bed.

"I'd be happy to keep down half of this,"
she snorted and looked back up at him.

"I went easy on the butter, and seasonings,
so you should be okay...and I didn't make you bacon," he said with
a smirk.

He cared, that's all Katie could focus
on...this gorgeous, strong and sexy man cared about her and their
babies. He was showing her, with everything he was doing. Tears
burned her eyes and her lower lip trembled, then she grabbed a
piece of toast and took a bite to hide it, but he saw.

Tommy put his hand to the side of her face
and asked with worry in his eyes, "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Nothing...everything is great," she
reassured him and gave him a forced bright smile, then took another
bite of her toast.

His eyes were still worried as he watched
her eat, but he didn't press her for an answer. That was good,
because she didn't have one...other than she was falling in love
with him, and was scared. Katie managed to tuck away three quarters
of the food, then threw her fork down in defeat and sighed. "That's
the best I can do...it was delicious, thank you," she told him.

Tommy picked up the tray from her lap then
winked and told her, "I ran a bath for you, so you should probably
go in there before it gets cold."

"You really are going to make me get up,
aren't you?" she asked him with a snort, then suggested with a
waggle of her eyebrows, "It's Saturday, we should stay right here
all day long."

Heat flared in his eyes and he leaned down
to give her a quick kiss then said, "Up woman...daylight is
wastin'."

"Geez, I would have to get involved with a
farmer who's up with the chickens," she grumbled and threw the
covers off of her legs.

He huffed indignantly, then corrected her,
"Rancher...not farmer, darlin'."

"Farmer, rancher, cotton picker, whatever
you are, it's too damned early to be up on a Saturday," she said
standing up, before she finished in a low sensual voice,
"Especially considering what we were doing, until the sun came
up."

He groaned and told her gruffly, "I've gotta
get out of here, or I
will
keep you in that bed all day
hellion," then quickly walked through the door with the tray. What
a wonderful idea, she thought, and smiled, as she went and pulled
out some clean clothes, then headed to the bathroom.

When she was bent over with her head upside
down, blow drying her hair, Tommy walked into the bathroom behind
her and grabbed her hips, then pressed himself to her and groaned.
Shutting off the dryer, she stood up and threw it on the counter,
then turned in his arms and leaned up and licked his lower lip,
before she pressed her mouth to his. He growled, and pulled her
against him and took control, kissing her senseless. Both of them
were breathing heavy by the time he took a step back.

"Jesus," he said breathlessly, "Every time I
put my hands on you, I wanna take you back to bed...you make me
feel like a horny teenager."

"So who's stopping you, sugar?" she said
cheekily, then ran her hands through her hair to smooth it into a
ponytail. She felt around behind her counter, until she found the
tie and secured it.

He swallowed twice then told her, "We need
to go out to the lake and talk to your sister and Gabe."

Katie's happy mood evaporated and she huffed
out a breath. "Yeah you're right..." she agreed, then took a step
forward and put her arms around his waist and hugged him. "Karlie
is going to kill me."

With every mile that brought them closer to
the lake house, the knot of tension in Katie's stomach grew. How
was she going to tell her sister that she was pregnant...with
twins...by a man she'd known a matter of months. Of course that
last part wouldn't matter so much, because Karlie could hardly
throw stones at her for that, after all she'd met and
married
Gabe in a matter of months. It was the other part
she would probably have a problem with.

"You nervous, baby?" Tommy asked her with a
concerned glance.

"Yeah, I am...this isn't gonna be pretty, I
don't think," she said in a wary tone.

"I'm just worried that Gabe is gonna kick
my
ass," he told her with a nervous chuckle.

"We really don't need their acceptance...and
if Gabe tries it, I'll hog-tie him better than Karlie ever did,"
she said fiercely. Gabe better not lay a finger on Tommy, or she
would
do it.

He raised an eyebrow at her and grinned.
"Now,
that
I'd like to see."

"If Gabe gets froggy, you will..." Katie
vowed then folded her arms under her breasts and looked out the
window.

They rode in silence the rest of the way to
the lake house, and Tommy parked the truck out front then came
around and helped her down. With his hand at her lower back, they
walked up to the door, then looked at each other, and knocked. When
nobody answered the door, they knocked again and waited. Katie
heard Sarge let out a low, lazy '
roomph
' then finally, a
shirtless and disheveled Gabe opened the door in his underwear,
with a dark frown on his face.

His eyebrows shot up and he growled, "What
the hell, Katie?" Just then Katie saw Karlie, stumble into the
living room wearing nothing but a sheet and a smile. Ut oh, looked
like they were interrupting something, and Gabe wasn't a happy
camper. Well too fricking bad, they were here, and they weren't
leaving, until they'd said what they'd come to say. Katie had
worked herself up too much to leave now.

She moved around a stunned Tommy, and shoved
the door open. Gabe stepped aside, then Katie told her sister, "Get
dressed, Karlie, we need to talk...ya'll can finish
whatever
after we leave. We'll be out on the back deck." Katie looked back
over her shoulder and motioned for Tommy to follow her then stomped
to the sliding glass doors.

Tommy trudged behind his warrior princess,
and followed her out on the sunlit deck, then sat beside her at the
table to wait. Katie's face was flushed and she was biting her
lower lip, and twisting her hands in her lap. He put his hand over
hers and stopped the twisting, then laced his fingers with hers and
smiled, then told her, "It's gonna be okay, darlin'..."

Katie huffed out a breath then nodded, and
he saw her shoulders relax a little. When he heard the sliders open
again, he looked up and watched the unhappy couple they'd
interrupted walk through the door then over to the empty chairs at
the table. "Okay, what the fuc--um, what's so important?" Gabe
asked grouchily, as he plopped down into a chair, and pulled Karlie
into his lap.

"I went to the doctor yesterday..." Katie
said and squeezed his hand.

Karlie sat up in the chair and her face
blanched, "Oh, god, what did he say? Are you okay, sis?"

"I'm fine...I'm pregnant," Katie blurted out
nervously, and he felt her palm sweating against his.

Karlie vaulted up off of Gabe's lap and her
face turned bright crimson, as she stomped around to face Katie.
"
What?!?
" she shouted and it echoed over the lake.

Gabe stood up and walked over behind her and
put his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him. "What
the hell, Katie?"

"With twins," Katie added, and Karlie's face
got redder as she slumped back against Gabe, her breathing
erratic.

Gabe swept her up into his arms and walked
back to the chair and sat down with her, then grated through
clenched teeth, "Think you could have eased into it, Katie? Jesus,
nothing like springing something like that on your sister." He
rocked Karlie in his arms and kissed her hair.

"You the one that knocked her up?" Gabe
asked with a distinct edge to his tone, punctuated by a murderous
look.

Tommy swallowed and nodded then said, "I'm
the father, yeah."

"So, what the hell are you going to do about
it," Gabe demanded and ran his hand over Karlie's head as she cried
into his shirt.

Katie piped up then stood and walked over to
him, "What
we
decide to do about it is none of your
business, or Karlie's. I just came over here to tell you what was
going on."

"You just bought a fucking horse farm,
Katie...how the hell are you going to run it pregnant with
twins?"

"I'll run it
after
I have the babies,
I'll
live
there until then," she told him and put her hands
on her hips.

"Oh, hell no you won't!" Tommy said and
vaulted to his feet. "You're coming back to Amarillo with me, so I
can take care of you...you don't need to be out there on that
spread by yourself," he told Katie firmly.

There was no way in hell he would let her do
that. The doctor said she was high risk, she needed to be taken
care of and pampered, not busting her ass to keep up a ranch.

Katie spun around toward him and her face
was as red as Karlie's had been. "Don't you tell me what I'm gonna
do, Tommy Tucker. I just sunk every penny I have into that place,
I'm not going to let it go to pot, while I sit on my ass at your
ranch and germinate these babies."

"You don't have to worry about money,
sugar...I'm going to take care of you, and I'll pay someone to keep
it up, while you're at the Rockin' D."

"What if I don't
want
to be taken
care of, Tommy?" she yelled at him with her fists clenched at her
side.

"Too fucking bad, Katie...you're
going
to be taken care of!" he shouted back at her, then
sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly, before adding in a
calmer tone, "The doctor said you were at risk, and you needed to
take it easy...there's no way you can do that there. You need to be
around people who can help you, darlin'."

Karlie sat up in Gabe's lap then and said
flatly, "He's right, Katie...you need to go to Amarillo with
him....Gabe and I will take care of the ranch here."

Katie turned back to her sister and said,
"But--"

"No buts, sis, he's right, and you know
it...don't be stubborn," she said sternly.

Tommy watched Katie closely, and saw her
deflate then she nodded and dropped her chin to her chest in
defeat. He walked over to her and pulled her into his arms and
kissed her hair, then said, "Thanks, sugar..."

His eyes met Karlie's angry glare and he
flinched. Her look told him this conversation was far from over, as
did the tension in Gabe's shoulders, as he held his wife. Tommy
figured the best thing they could do was get the heck out of here
for now. With a kiss to Katie's hair, he told her, "Let's go get
your stuff packed, so we can head out."

Karlie got up off of Gabe's lap and hugged
her sister, and they both cried, while he and Gabe looked on
uncomfortably. Once the tears stopped, they held each other at
arm's length and just stared for a minute, then sniffled a little
and Karlie went into Gabe's arms and Katie walked into his, but her
body was stiff and she didn't look at him. He gave her a squeeze,
then led her into the house and out the front door to the
truck.

After they were settled in the truck and he
backed out of the driveway, he said in an uncertain tone, trying to
gauge Katie's mood, "Well, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was
going to be."

She looked over at him belligerently and
said, "It was horrible...you bullied me into coming with you to
Amarillo. Was that your plan with all the '
care
' you gave me
this morning?"

"What?" Tommy asked incredulously and pulled
the truck to the side of the road, so he could face her.

"When you got up early, cooked me breakfast
and made a bath, was it your intention to come over here and corner
me into going back to Amarillo with you?"

Hot anger heated the blood in his veins to
lava, and he shouted, "Hell no! I
intended
to take care of
you and our babies this morning, and that's what I did!" then he
shoved a hand through his hair and added, "I was going to talk to
you later about Amarillo, but when you told your sister what you
planned, you forced my hand!"

Katie harrumphed, then folded her arms
across her chest and looked out the window, and told him
petulantly, "Fine, let's go get my stuff, so I can go sit on my ass
at your ranch and get fat."