Trouble In Dixie (24 page)

"I'm going to be a big sister," she said in
awe and shook her blond curls, then Dixie got up from the sofa and
danced around the living room, yelling at the top of her lungs,
while hugging herself, "I'm going to be a big sister!"

Tommy started laughing, and Katie scooted
over beside him and put her hand on his thigh and chuckled too, as
Dixie ran to the breakfast bar and yelled, "Cookie, I'm gonna be a
big sister!" Instead of turning around with a smile, the woman
turned around to face her and frowned darkly, then stomped off.

Katie frowned and looked up at Tommy, and
asked, "What's up with Cookie?"

"What do you mean?" he asked and smiled
indulgently down at her.

"Well, either she doesn't like me, or
doesn't approve of us, because every time you kiss me or touch me,
her face looks like a thundercloud...and just now when Dixie told
her, her expression was even darker."

Tommy's eyebrows drew together and his eyes
glittered angrily, "I'll talk to her," he promised then gave her a
squeeze.

"Why would she feel like that?" Katie asked
him curiously.

He hesitated a moment, then his face flushed
as he told her, "She came to the Rockin' D with Maggie...she'd been
the cook at their house, and just followed her here when we got
married...so maybe seeing me with someone else is uncomfortable for
her."

"Oh," Katie said and an edge of uneasiness
wafted through her. She had to see this woman on a daily basis, and
if this is how their relationship was going to be, she didn't know
how she was going to handle the situation. Maybe she should bury
the hatchet with her, or reassure her she wasn't trying to take
Maggie's place in Dixie and Tommy's life, just start a new chapter
with them.

"If she makes you uncomfortable,
sugar...I'll replace her. If she can't accept us, or you, she's
gone anyway," he said seriously.

Katie felt the blood drain from her face and
she put a hand on his chest and said, "Don't you dare get rid of
her, because of me...I don't want to cause any trouble, Tommy.
She's been here a long time...a helluva lot longer than I have.
I'll work it out."

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Dixie had called Saturday morning and told
them she wouldn't be home until later that afternoon, so Tommy had
packed a picnic basket for them, and was taking her to the creek.
Katie was excited to be able to get out of the house for a change,
and also touched that he wanted to spend some alone time with her.
It was as close to a date as they had ever had.

When the first two pair of shorts she tried
on wouldn't close around her waist, she heaved a frustrated breath,
then walked to the closet and pulled out a bright yellow sundress
that was ruched at the bodice and loose and swingy below, then put
on a pair of gold sandals to go with it, instead of her cowboy
boots, then twisted her hair up into a loose pile on top of her
head securing it with a few clips.

After powdering her nose and cheeks to cover
her freckles, she slathered on some cherry lip gloss and smacked
her lips together to spread it, then put on a coat of mascara and
smiled at her reflection. It must be true that pregnant women
glowed, because her eyes were shiny and her complexion did have an
iridescence to it. With a light step, she went downstairs and found
Tommy at the breakfast bar loading more food into the wicker hamper
opened on the counter.

His eyes raised when he heard her, his mouth
fell open, and his face flushed. She smiled, and he swallowed then
walked around the bar and pulled her into his arms then his mouth
descended and he devoured her lips. Before he let her go, sucked
her bottom lip into his mouth, and murmured, "Mmm...you taste like
cherries."

"Not anymore, you kissed off all my lip
gloss," she told him running her tongue over her now bare lips.

His heated gaze followed the action and he
stepped back, then told her gruffly, "If you want to go on this
damned picnic, you better stop doing
that.
"

She gave him a sizzling look then told him,
"Be sure to pack a blanket, sugar..."

Katie sighed in contentment, as she laid
with her head in Tommy's lap under the huge oak tree down by the
creek. It was cooler today than it had been recently, and a gentle
breeze ruffled the leaves in the trees, serenading her along with
the slow moving water, into an extremely relaxed state.

Tommy was leaning back on one arm and
caressing her hair with the other. He looked down into her eyes
with a smile, and asked, "You happy, baby?"

"I'm so chilled out, I'm almost comatose,"
she told him with a lazy chuckle, and leaned her head to the side
to kiss his thigh. His muscle stiffened beneath her cheek and his
hand stilled in her hair, and Katie laughed. He'd come to like her
special kind of loving...and she enjoyed pleasing him that way.

"Keep that up, and you're not going to be
chilled out for long, cause things are definitely gonna heat up
quick," he told her gruffly, then resumed stroking her hair.

Katie sat up, then stood, and pulled her
dress over her head, before she kicked off her sandals. Tommy's
eyebrows hit his hairline as she stood naked before him. His mouth
opened and shut, but he didn't say anything. Giving him a hot look,
she turned her back to him then walked to the creek and waded in,
then turned around and crooked her finger at him. "C'mon sugar, I
bet you haven't ever skinny-dipped either," she said with a laugh
then sunk below the water and pushed off toward the middle.

"Katie Upton, you are determined to corrupt
me aren't you, darlin'?" he growled, but stood up and shrugged his
shirt over his head, then pulled off his boots, before he loosened
his belt and jeans and shucked them off. Like a sexy sculptured
Adonis, he held her gaze as he stalked into the water then shoved
off and launched himself to the middle where she was treading
water.

She squealed when he grabbed her legs and
dunked her, then she put her hands on his head and kicked his legs
from under him to return the favor. They wrestled and played in the
cool water, until he grabbed her and pulled her to him, and her
body slid down his wet skin. Tommy groaned, then captured her mouth
in a tantalizing kiss that she was sure would have steam coming off
the water soon. Wrapping her legs around his hips, Katie slid down
so his erection was pressed against her fully. She gyrated her hips
against him slowly, and he shivered then sucked in a shuddering
breath and closed his eyes.

"You ever made love in a creek, baby?" she
purred in a low breathy voice as the friction she was creating
stole her breath and heated her core.

Tommy moaned and then pushed her hips down
on him and entered her with one long stroke. She gasped then met
his eyes, as he filled her, stretched her, completed her. Katie
would never get enough of loving this wonderful, thoughtful, sexy
man. Leaning forward, she nipped his lips and teased him into
another hot kiss, then he grabbed her hips and moved her over him,
entering her time and again. The elastic band of pleasure inside of
her wound tighter and tighter then finally snapped, catapulting her
into a mind-blowing release. Her inner muscles contracted around
him with her release, and he hissed her name and plunged one final
time, then joined her in nirvana.

They clung to each other trying to regain
their equilibrium, and Katie felt his heart beating rapidly against
her breasts, hers was just as erratic. She kissed his stubbled
cheek, then the corner of his mouth, and finally his lips, as she
whispered, "I love you..."

He put his forehead against hers and said in
a choked voice, "I love you too, sugar...so damned much."

After a few minutes, they waded out of the
creek and took turns drying off with the blanket, then dressed and
loaded up the golf cart, before heading back toward the house.
Katie felt light and giddy inside with her happiness, and if the
wide grin on Tommy's face was any indication, he felt the same way.
When they pulled up behind the house, he plugged up the cart, then
grabbed their stuff, and held out his hand to her.

Together, they walked around the house, hand
in hand and he stopped short when he saw a fancy black Cadillac
parked in front. Katie looked up at him and his face had gone
white, and his jaw was clenched. He started walking again without
explaining, then stopped at the bottom of the steps, when he saw
two older people and a younger man sitting in the rocking chairs on
the front porch.

"Edith, what are ya'll doing here?" he
grated and his hand tightened on hers.

"Why we've come to see our granddaughter of
course," she told Tommy haughtily and looked down her nose at him.
"Where is Deanna?"

"You haven't been around here in ten years
to see her, why now?" he asked angrily. Katie could feel the
tension pouring off of him in waves. From what the woman said,
Katie figured out these people were Maggie's parents, and probably
her brother.

"Well, some concerning developments have
come to our attention, and we feel we needed to come and check on
the welfare of our granddaughter," she said abrasively then looked
Katie up and down with a curl of her lip.

Tommy huffed out a frustrated breath, then
raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh yeah, what developments would
those be?"

"Your association with
that
woman,"
she tilted her chin at Katie and smirked, then flicked a
non-existent piece of lint from her obviously expensive suit,
before she added, "And the fact that you've gotten her pregnant and
are living in sin with her, setting a poor example for our
grandchild. Maggie would be appalled, as are we..."

Katie felt Tommy's arm tense and his hand
gripped hers tighter, crushing the bones, almost making her want to
pull it from his grasp. Katie heard a car pull up behind them, and
looked over her shoulder to see an excited Dixie get down from an
SUV with her bag, before she shut the door and waved wildly at her
friend as they pulled off. Dixie turned and ran toward them, and
Katie groaned. She wished Dixie would have stayed away a little
longer, so she didn't have to witness the horrific scene that was
unfolding here.

Tommy clenched his jaw and grated through
his teeth, "Maggie isn't here, and she would hardly begrudge me
happiness in my life, or my daughter's life...she wasn't that kind
of person, and if you think she was, you didn't know her very
well."

"We'll never know now, will we? Since you
killed her..." she spat waspishly, then stood up and stiffened her
spine. "Come here Deanna," she ordered and held out a gnarly hand
to Dixie.

Instead of going to the scary woman, Dixie
came up to Katie's side and wrapped her arms around her hips,
looking at the woman like she was Cruella Deville or something. She
slightly resembled her with her white hair with the dark streak at
the front. Katie hugged Dixie to her side, and just gave the woman
the evil eye.

"Get away from that woman, Deanna, and come
here and give grandmother a hug," she ordered again in a louder
voice. Dixie just hugged Katie tighter and buried her face in
Katie's leg. Katie smoothed a hand soothingly over her hair, hoping
it helped calm her down. She knew Dixie had to be freaking out,
she'd never even met this woman before.

Tommy dropped Katie's hand and took a step
so he was in front of her facing the woman. His hands were fisted
at his sides and his shoulders tense as he told her, "You're not
welcome here, Edith, if you can't show some respect for my family,
and that includes my fiancé...her name is Katie and I suggest you
call her that," he said in a dangerous tone.

Katie couldn't see the woman, but she damned
well heard her gasp when he called her his fiancé. It wasn't true,
but she'd be damned if she was going to tell the bitch
that...especially if it upset her. She needed to be upset, because
that's what she was doing to her grandkid. Dixie was trembling, she
was so upset, and it pissed Katie off.

"You are not marrying that woman, if you
want to keep your daughter. I will fight you with everything I have
to keep that from happening," she told him fiercely, then added
with a waggle of her bony finger, "You had your chance at happiness
and you killed her...you made that decision, and now you're gonna
have to make another...
your
daughter, or
that
woman..."

The coolly elegant, but spiteful, woman
stomped down the steps and said over her shoulder, with intent
dripping from her voice, "Let's go, George, I need to contact my
attorney," then she pointed her finger at Katie and told Tommy, "If
you don't get her off this property and out of my grandchild's
life, I'll sue you for custody, and Deanna will be living with me,"
she threatened.

He cocked his head and glared at her
malevolently, then grated, "Give it your best shot,
lady
...I'm a good father and you are not going to blackmail
me with your threats anymore, I'm tired of it. You haven't been in
Dixie's life for ten years, by your own choice, and that's not
going to change now, unless you change your attitude. She doesn't
even know who the hell you are. Now, get yourself and your brood
off my property, and don't come back here again."