My Kind of Trouble

by Becky McGraw

  She screamed at his back anyway, "I didn't want to cause you to lose your job or your best friend!" With a sob, she took off toward the steps after him. A loose board caught on the ball of her cast and sent her rolling across the porch until she finally came to a stop at the top of the steps dazed.

  She heard Luke yell "Fuck!" and tried to get up and go after him again. She'd managed to shove to her knees, before he came stomping up the steps and jerked her up to stand. "You're going to kill yourself! What the fuck are you doing?"

  Cassie took two steps forward and put her arms around his waist. "I d-don't want to be your k-kryptonite...or the cause of you losing your job. Cole is right, I'm nothing but trouble for you," she whimpered and then the tears fell down her cheeks unchecked. She sobbed and then hugged him tightly, and she wasn't going to let go, until he listened to her.

  "Cole is a fucking idiot. I was over at the station chewing him a new one when you called me. He was way out of line," he told her brusquely then skimmed his eyes over her body seeming to assess her, "Are you hurt?"

  Just her pride...and her heart. "No, I'm fine."

  She lifted her head from his chest and put her hand on his cheek. "I don't want you two to be fighting over me, Luke. I don't want to cost you your job or your best friend trying to protect me. That's why I was thinking of going back to Phoenix..." Her lip trembled again and she bit it then finished, "Even though it was gonna kill me to leave you again."

  "Fuck the job. I was going to resign anyway. I want to raise cattle, and be able to give you a good life."

  He walked her back over to the swing and made her sit down.

  "But you can't quit your job, you're Sheriff! People depend on you...respect you. You don't even like cattle ranching," she yelled desperate talk some sense into him.

  "What the hell do you know about what I like?" he asked with glittering eyes, then sat down beside her and rubbed his palm on his thigh. "You've been gone ten years! I like it well enough and it sure pays a helluva lot more than being Sheriff."

  "I don't give a damn about money, Luke," she said and put her hand on his arm, "I give a damn about you. You should be able to do what makes you happy, not have to settle for something because of a paycheck. You're fucking brilliant, and have more determination than anyone I know, you could do anything you set your mind to."

  He looked over at her. "That's what I always loved about you...you believed in me...made me believe in myself," he said and then turned to look out over the porch rail. "But when you left me, I thought you'd figured out I was just the town drunk's son and not worth a plug nickel. Figured you ran off because you finally realized I wasn't good enough for you."

  She gasped, shocked that he would feel that way, have so little confidence in himself. Then anger filled her that he thought so little of her. "I'm not like that, Luke and it pisses me off that you ever thought I was. If all we had was a one bedroom shack with no running water, I'd still have been happy as a clam as long as you were with me."

  He looked back at her and gave her a small grin. "I felt a little better once I figured out why you really left. But then that pissed me off too."

  "When was that?"

  "That night I was drunk and saw you at the restaurant..." His grin turned sheepish.

  She felt blood rush to her face and anger coursed through her. "The night you and Candy and Cole had your threesome?" she asked in a hurt tone spiked with anger. "That give you your insight?"

  He groaned, then admitted. "That didn't happen honey...I only did all that to make you as crazy as you were making me. Candy went to the bathroom after she ordered dinner and didn't come back. I was pretty obnoxious."

  "You were more than obnoxious, you were...an obnoxious asshole."

  "I apologize...I was a jealous obnoxious asshole, I agree."

  "Okay then, if Candy was off the menu that night, when did you have your revelation?"

  "After I heard about you throwing that city boy to the coyotes."

  She shook her head and laughed. "That was an eventful night for sure. But how did that help?"

  "After Cole and I finished laughing our asses off on the side of the road, he asked me about something you'd said to him and it got me to thinking."

  "Something I said?" she asked curiously.

  "Cole told me you said I proved I didn't love you that night you left. For a second, I thought you were just trying to shove the blame off on me. Then he said you seemed pretty convinced, and I ran back over that night in my head and figured out what you must have thought you'd seen."

  "Very astute of you, Sherlock. I was damned and determined you weren't hearing it from my lips."

  "How the fuck could you think I'd do that to you, Cassie?" he said in a hiss. "I told you I loved you...proved it. There was nobody for me but you."

  "I left because I couldn't confront you and hear you tell me you'd been seeing Becca all along, and laugh in my face. It would have killed me," her voice trembled over the words.

  Luke ran a frustrated hand over his face then told her, "You need to communicate instead of running scared, darlin'. It cost us ten years that we could have been together...and here you were about to do it to me again..." His whiskey-brown eyes were filled with emotion, then he finished with, "I can't trust you not to run out on me again the next time you get a wild hair or crazy notion."

  She slid her hand over his and uncurled his fist to lace her fingers with his. "Please don't give up on me, Luke. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness...or trust...but I'll work on talking instead of turning tail. I promise."

  The woman sitting beside him with so much sincerity in her eyes and pleading in her tone tied him up in knots so tight he couldn't get them out with a fork. She always had. But she was also the only woman for him...he loved her. That wasn't going to change even if she did go back to Phoenix and leave him. Ten years had proven that. And Even if he cut her out of his life himself, he knew he'd never be able to cut her out of his heart.

  Luke studied her a minute or two more and then said, "Promise me that no matter how mad you get, or hurt and confused, you'll yell at me instead of running off. I can handle anything but that."

  "I promise, Luke. I'm done running," she vowed and squeezed his hand.

  He squeezed hers back then pulled her up into his lap to give her a hug. "Don't make me regret this, darlin'," he murmured against her hair.

  "You won't regret it," she told him then leaned back in his arms to look up at him. "Luke, will you come with me to Phoenix, so I can tie up things? It shouldn't take more than a few days."

  He smiled down at her. "That's more like it...I'd love to," he said and hugged her closer then dropped his lips to hers.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Luke walked into the station, breezing right past Julie Beth's desk, heading down the hall to Cole's office. When he walked inside, Cole was leaned back in his chair on the phone with his feet propped on the desk. Wariness entered Cole's eyes and Luke knew the reason for it. Their last conversation when he'd threatened to beat his ass if he didn't apologize to Cassie, and make things right.

  He sat down in the chair across from Cole's desk and waited for him to finish his conversation. After a minute or two, Cole dropped his feet to the floor, and put the phone down, leaned forward and folded his arms on the desk. "What do you want now?"

  "I'm sorry...I was out of control yesterday."

  "You've been out of control a lot lately," Cole told him, his green eyes glittering angrily.

  Luke huffed out a breath. He knew Cole was right. "Yeah...I know."

  "So, whatcha going to do about it?"

  Luke knew that he meant 'what are you going to do about Cassie.' "I'm going to ask her to marry me."

  "Oh, that should solve things....are you fucking crazy?"

  "We talked and things are okay now. I'm going to Phoenix with her," Luke told him and shoved a hand through his hair.

  "Wow, you really are being led around by your dick.. You're throwing away your c
areer and life to follow her to Phoenix?" Cole launched the wheeled chair back and stood to slam his hands on the desk and lean over it. "I thought you had more sense than that, man!"

  Luke raised a palm and said calmly, "I'm going to help her pack up and then we're coming back. We'll only be gone a week at the most."

  "You're vacation will be up in four days," Cole reminded him then sat back down in the chair.

  "I know that...I quit. You should've been Sheriff anyway...I was never cut out for it."

  "The people elected you, Luke, not me. You are the Sheriff...but damned if you've been acting like it since Cassie came back. And I feel like shit now for encouraging you to go after her again."

  "I'm glad you did. I think I'm finally getting handle on what I want out of life."

  "What? An unemployment check and all the heartache you can handle?" Cole snorted derisively then drummed his fingers on the desk.

  Luke was the one to vault out of his chair this time and slam his hands down on the desk putting him almost nose to nose with his best friend. He leaned into Cole's face and said forcefully, "Butt out, Cole. This is my life, and I'm going to live it, my way."

  They stayed that way for a minute, then Luke told him as he stood back up, "I'm headed to the mayor's office to turn in my resignation...I just wanted to tell you first. They'll probably name you interim for the rest of my term."

  He pulled his service weapon from his belt, made sure it was on safety, then put it on the desk, then unbuckled his service belt and put that down too, before he reached into his pocket and handed over his badge.

  "Good luck, buddy. You'll be great, just like your dad was," Luke told Cole then stuck his hand out, but he didn't move to take it. It hung between them, like the bad blood he'd stirred up with his threats yesterday.

  Luke dropped it to his side and put his hands on his hips. "We're still friends, Cole. Even though I'm not Sheriff anymore. Nothing is going to change that. You still in with me on the cattle herd?"

  Cole hesitated a long time...long enough that Luke started grasping for alternate plans to accomplish his goal of buying the herd. "Yeah, I'm in. Just let me know when the details are worked out."

  Luke nodded and then walked out of the office and breathed a sigh of relief. It was like a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and his step was lighter than it had been in a long time as he headed for the elevator to go talk to the mayor.

  ***

  Imelda had helped her get a shower earlier, and Cassie was sitting at the vanity in her room putting the final touches on her makeup when Luke walked through the door. She felt like a million bucks this morning. Luke had stayed with her last night, and although he'd forbidden James to share her bed under his roof, her daddy hadn't said a word about Luke staying.

  Last night, they'd eaten the supper Imelda had fixed for them, and her daddy seemed to be in a great mood. He was getting better and it did Cassie's heart good to see it. When they finished supper, her daddy had gone to bed, and she and Luke had gone back out to the swing with a bottle of wine, where they'd talked half the night. What they'd done the other half of the night was what had put a smile on her face this morning.

  Catching his eyes in the mirror, Cassie smiled at the handsome cowboy she loved, then turned around to face him. An answering smile spread across his face from ear to ear. There was a lightness to his mood she hadn't seen in a very long time. It was almost like ten years had melted away in the last few hours he'd been gone. "You look happy."

  "I am, cupcake...very happy." He said seriously then stopped beside her and leaned down to give her a kiss that curled her toes.

  "Mmm..." she murmured and reached up to put her hands at the side of his face to deepen the kiss.

  He grabbed her hands then stood holding them. "We need to get on the road, sugar."

  "A few hours won't matter," she said suggestively looking up at him with desire making her eyes sparkle like jewels.

  He'd never get tired of her wanting him...or wanting her. But they had things to do, and he had plans. "Yes it will, darlin'. You packed?"

  "I never unpacked," she laughed. "That suitcase I packed for the cabin has all my stuff in it...and I have all my other clothes in Phoenix." They were going to drive his truck to Phoenix, so she could load her necessities to haul back. The movers would carry the rest to Bowie. Happiness bubbled up inside of her at the thought of actually leaving Phoenix behind for the last time. She knew now this was what she wanted for certain, her horse farm and Luke.

  Tilting her head to the side, Cassie told Luke something she'd meant to tell him when he first walked in. "Cole called me a while ago and said that James had offered to drop the charges against you if we agreed to drop the ones against him. He also said that James was going to leave town and not come back. I agreed...you okay with that?"

  He grinned, "Hell, yeah!" he hooted then his smile dropped. "I resigned as Sheriff. I hope you're okay with that."

  She swallowed down the lump that formed in her throat as momentary panic surged through her. "I'm happy, if you're happy, Luke. Whatever you want to do with your life, I'm with you."

  "I want to be a cattle rancher. Although Cole is pissed off at me, he's still going to be my partner."

  She sucked in a breath. Dreading his answer, she asked, "Because of me?"

  "Yeah, but my decisions in life aren't dependent on Cole liking them, darlin'. He's my friend, but my life is my own. He doesn't realize it now, but he's going to be a helluva lot better Sheriff than I've ever been."

  "I don't believe that could be true, but I'll take your word for it. I just hope that I don't come between you two."

  "We'll be fine...he'll get over it when he sees how happy I am," he said and brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. "Now let's get this show on the road." Luke loaded up the truck, and she kissed Imelda and her daddy goodbye, then he carried her to the truck even though she told him she could walk just fine in the cast.

  After they'd been driving about four hours, and they'd covered about all the conversation topics at their disposal, Cassie's eyes got scratchy and started to drift shut. The sudden sound of Luke's voice made them come back open. "Ut uh, sleepyhead, we have a stop to make soon, and you need awake for it."

  She sat up straighter in the seat and gave him a curious look. "Oh yeah, where are we stopping?"

  "It's a surprise," he said with a mysterious grin.

  Cassie harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. Patience was not a virtue the good Lord had seen fit to bless her with. "Luke Matthews, you know I don't like surprises. Tell me."

  He just shook his head and pinched his lips tighter. Cassie sat on the edge of the seat trying to gauge where they were. Probably near Amarillo by now, but the signs weren't a big help. They were on a long stretch of highway with no exits nearby, only long stretches of fence, scrub brush and fields sparsely dotted with either cattle or horses.

  He drove another twenty minutes or so, and she saw a green and white sign saying 'Amarillo 95 miles' right past an unmarked exit. He took the exit and then turned off on a one lane road with lots of pot holes. She sat back in the seat so she wouldn't be bounced off, and glared over at him.

  Fifteen miles or so down the rutted road, he turned onto a road covered in loose pea gravel and the back of the truck fishtailed sending her sliding across the seat to his side, before he smoothed it out. She put a hand on his thigh to steady herself and felt him harden against her wrist. There was more than one way to get the information she wanted, Cassie thought smiling. Watching his face for a reaction, she stroked his thigh then slid her hand to his fly and pulled the zipper tab down a few inches.