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“You never did anything wrong, I want you to stop thinking that, Rissa. You were, are, beautiful inside and out, honey. It was all me that broke us up. My doubts, my ideas of what I wanted.”
Karissa let his words sink in and it soothed her battered heart a little. They had been young back then and although she had been filled with dreams of a future with Gabe it just hadn’t been meant to be. “Thanks for that. Because of the unstable childhood me and Casey had I guess dreaming of a white picket fence and a houseful of kids is what got me through the scary times. You were my first boyfriend, my first lover, and I pinned all those dreams on you and that wasn’t fair either. I’m glad we can at least be friends now, Gabe. I want to be around for Casey and the baby and I don’t want tension between us. This town is too small for that.”
“What if I told you I wanted a second chance to prove to you that I could be the man you want,” he asked carefully. “Can we go out on a date with no pressure and just see how it goes? I won’t rush you into anything. I just can’t lie and pretend I’m not still attracted to you. You’re one of a kind, Karissa, and I’ve longed for you over the years but I knew you were living with someone and I wanted you to be happy.”
Karissa hesitated. She was tired of hoping that the next guy in her life would be different and so far she hadn’t made good choices in her love life. “I don’t know, Gabe. I’m not holding the past against you. I see your point of view now. If you had stuck around just for me, you would have always been unhappy and wondered if choosing adventure would have been better and we would have broken up anyway. It’s just that I’m tired of being hurt and putting my heart on the line only to be disappointed. Jordan was the first of my boyfriends I lived with but he couldn’t stay faithful if his life depended on it and my other two boyfriends were nothing to write home about either. I always figured fate was trying to tell me there was no one out there for me. Some people get lucky and others don’t. I’m twenty-nine and I look around at all the married couples having a life together and wonder, why not me?”
“I know you don’t have a reason to trust me, especially with our history, but I’m different now than I was eight years ago. I loved you but I was always looking over the horizon thinking adventure waited. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve also learned from them, too. Will you take the time to get to know me again and let me know you again? I can’t promise not to make more mistakes but I can promise you that I will not leave you again, Rissa,” he asked, holding his breath, waiting for an answer.
“This is such a shock. Let me think about it for a bit, okay?”
Gabe nodded quietly at her answer and drove her to Thorn’s Bar.
* * * *
Gabe sat at the long wooden bar, sipping on the same beer he had ordered when they’d first come in. Karissa was beautiful but also warm and genuine toward people and he noticed how many other men noticed her too. A tap on his shoulder surprised him since he was so lost in thought. He turned to see a petite, slim woman with short red hair smiling at him and groaned inwardly. “Emma.” He greeted her quietly with a frown.
“Want to dance with me, Gabriel?” she asked with a flirty grin, grabbing onto his arm. “I haven’t seen much of you lately.”
He shrugged. “Been busy. You know I’m not much of a dancer, Emma.” He had to get rid of her or she’d cling to him all night and he didn’t feel like avoiding her coy invitations for the rest of his time in the bar.
“Sorry, ma’am, but Gabe has promised me the next dance and they’re playing our song, right, Gabe?” Karissa said interrupting them and putting herself between the couple.
Gabe nodded gratefully taking Karissa’s hand, pulling her toward the dance floor and ignoring Emma’s scowl.
They were playing “I Melt” by Rascal Flatts. He pulled Karissa close until there was no space between their bodies. He whispered in her ear, “You just saved me from that barracuda. Thank you, honey.”
Karissa giggled and put her head on his shoulder. “An ex-girlfriend?”
“No way! Not mine anyway. Ryan’s crazy ex-girlfriend and now that he’s married she set her sights on me.” His voice was firm. “I never encourage her but she is tenacious. I will say that about her.”
Karissa leaned into his body and sighed. “I have a confession. I was feeling jealous so I asked Tom for a short break. I do love this song, though.”
Gabe sucked his breath in and then grinned like a fool. “Well I do melt every time I look at you, Karissa. You’re my flame, having you in my arms burns me up inside.”
Karissa felt overwhelmed with emotions. “How am I supposed to resist you when you tell me things like that?”
He leaned in and kissed her lips, just a feather light touch, but he still felt the tingle. “You’re not supposed to.”
They danced silently for a few minutes. Karissa pondered on what Gabe had said about second chances.
It was scary to put h
erself in a position where she had to trust someone, especially when that someone had already hurt her before. But wasn’t life all about taking chances? She would always regret not giving Gabe a second chance. All her resolve to stay distant and angry with him flew out the window. Hope was hard to kill.
“Okay, Gabe, I’d like to go out on a date. Let’s see where it leads us this time,” she whispered in a soft voice that went straight to his groin as she kissed him behind his ear and the song ended.
Chapter 8
Harrison Vaughn, Ethan’s ex-military buddy, sat at the station talking with Ryan and Ethan. He was tall and lean with brown short hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin. He smiled often but his eyes were filled with sadness.
“So far I’ve spotted three men, the one Karissa identified and two others. I followed them into the woods where they dug up a duffel bag.” He reported his findings with concern. Drugs were bad news. His younger brother had struggled for years with a drug addiction and had died of an overdose. The family had tried everything to help Jackson but he refused all help. Now Harrison worked hard to stop the drugs from destroying other families.
“Drugs?” Ryan asked with growing concern. “That is definitely bad news. This is a family oriented town and I don’t want to see drugs ruin that.”
Harrison shrugged. “That would be my guess but I didn’t see what was inside. Two of them threw it in the back of a pickup truck and left. Later that evening they were back at the campsite with a small duffel bag, maybe filled with money. One always stays behind to watch the campsite.”
“Okay, so they must be delivering the drugs to someone else. That’s what Sheriff Cole in St. Clair reported. He knew the men were burying the drugs but before they could figure out who they were delivering it to they spooked them off. That must be why they moved our way.”
