Just wondering when you’ll be here at the reunion, the message said, and he’d added some party emojis, probably to make it appear like a lighthearted, jovial comment.
It wasn’t. He was likely there and had heard she’d driven off with Gabriel. In fact, Reggie probably knew she’d taken Gabriel home and that they had picked up where they’d left off. And that meant it was time to spell out something. Or rather, repeat something.
Quit texting me, she replied with no emojis whatsoever.Get a life. I have. It’s over, and I’m blocking you.
Something she should have done months ago. Tomorrow, she’d go to Petal Pushers and demand they not deliver any more flowers. That should finally make things sink in that she wasn’t going back to him. Ever. Even if things didn’t work out between Gabriel and her, and the odds were high they wouldn’t, then she wasn’t going to settle for Reggie. Or any other man, for that matter.
She went back into her room to find a naked Gabriel in her bed. That brought back her smile.
“Everything okay?” he asked, tipping his head to her phone that she was still holding.
Rosalie nodded. “Just tying up some loose ends. It won’t take me long,” she assured him.
Now he grinned and tucked his hands behind his head. “Then I’ll just sit here and admire the view.”
She had a moment of panic since—hey, body flaws galore, including the extra pounds on her thighs. But since Gabriel seemed to be smiling at those flaws, she didn’t rush to cover up. Instead, Rosalie fired off a text to her mother.
I’m sowing wild oats with Gabriel. Don’t judge or I’ll give you details you don’t want to hear.
She didn’t have to wait long for a response, but it did take her a couple of seconds to interpret her mother’s reply. Her mom had a habit of relying on autocorrect and then not checking the response before hitting Send.
Sewing goats?her mom had texted.I’m signing here. Shirley, you’ve thought this threw.
Translation:Sowing oats? I’m sighing here. Surely, you’ve thought this through.
Yep, I thought it through, Rosalie replied.It’s what I want.
Again, her mother’s reply was fast.Evan if gay be rail is going to deli?
Translation:Even if Gabriel is going to Dallas?
Now Rosalie did her own sighing.Yes, even if, she simply replied and muted her phone.
Of course, she’d need to give her mother more of an explanation, and she would. When she had an explanation, that was. For now, though, she didn’t want to think about Dallas, and the only sigh she intended to have was when she got that second climax from Gabriel.
She tossed her phone onto the nightstand and slid back into bed with him, intending to see just how long it would take to firehim back up again. Not long, she decided, when he moved right into the kiss. Rosalie would have heated up that kiss even more.
If his phone hadn’t rung.
Muttering some profanity, he pulled away from her mouth and began to riffle through his jeans that were at the foot of the bed. “It’s Carmen,” he relayed when he saw the screen.
He hit Answer, but unlike his earlier call with his cop pal in Dallas, she couldn’t hear Carmen’s end of the conversation. However, one look at Gabriel’s face when he ended the call, and she knew something was wrong.
“It’s Hamish?” she immediately guessed.
Gabriel nodded and pulled on his boxers. “He just showed up at the ranch, and Carmen wants us to go over there.”
CHAPTER SIX
THISWASNOTthe ending he’d had planned for his evening with Rosalie. Not when he had a second condom still in his wallet. Gabriel had figured once they’d gone through that, then they could continue to fool around the way they had back in high school.
But there was no way he could leave Carmen to deal with Hamish alone.
Gabriel had put back on his badge before Rosalie and he had hurried out of her house and started the drive to the Silver Springs Ranch. He wanted Hamish to see the badge and understand that he was looking for a reason to arrest him. Especially if Hamish was giving Carmen any hassles. When it came to his great-uncle, Gabriel’s tolerance meter was at zero.
“I should have known Hamish would do something like this,” Gabriel grumbled as he drove. “I should have gone ahead and moved to the ranch and put out the word I was there. That might have given Hamish some second thoughts about just showing up.”
Rosalie pulled back her shoulders.“Gone ahead and moved to the ranch?”she questioned.