Justice for Corrie (Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Book 3) (18 page)

“Promise?”

“Yeah. Promise.”

Corrie snuggled into Quint, grumbling about the hard bulletproof vest for the first time. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now she wanted him. Just him.

“Corrie? My friends Sledge and Crash are here. They’re firefighters and EMTs. They just want to take a quick look to make sure you’re all right.”

Corrie didn’t even move from her position curled around Quint. “I’m fine.”

“I know you are, but I’d still feel better if you’d let them check you over.”

“We’re not so bad, promise,” a deep voice said from beside her.

A second voice chimed in as well, “Yeah, although I’m the good-looking one.”

Corrie turned her head and tried to get herself back together. “Sledge and Crash?” she questioned.

“Long story. Does anything hurt?”

Ten minutes later, assured that Corrie really was okay, other than being scared and some minor scrapes and bruises that would fade and eventually heal, Quint stood up with Corrie in his arms. He nodded at Sledge and Crash, and gave a thankful chin lift to Penelope, Chief and Moose, other firefighters from Station 7 who were standing next to the trucks, in case they were needed.

“You guys ready to go?” Hayden asked as she opened the driver’s side door.

“Yeah.”

“Great, but you can’t hold her like that, Quint. You know the law. Safety first.”

Corrie laughed at the disgruntled noise that came from Quint’s throat. “We have to sit in the back, don’t we?”

Quint’s answer was to stand up without letting go of Corrie. He shut the front door with his hip and opened the back door. He sat down, still holding on to her, and hauled Corrie over his lap and placed her in the seat next to him. He pulled the seat belt over her waist and then buckled his own. Ignoring the stretch of the material over his shoulder, he pulled Corrie into the crook of his arm and relaxed as she melted against him.

“Take us home, Hayden.”

“
A
re
you sure you’re all right?” Corrie asked Bethany for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Quint had Hayden take them straight to the hospital. Corrie had tried to insist she didn’t need to see a doctor, especially since his friends had looked her over and said they thought she was fine, but Quint didn’t care. He trusted Sledge and Crash, but they weren’t doctors. He told Corrie she could have internal injuries that she simply didn’t realize because of the adrenaline coursing through her body. It wasn’t until he’d told her what had happened to Emily, Bethany, and Ethan that’d she’d agreed—hell, she insisted.

Quint had refused to let her see her friends until a doctor had checked her out. She sat still…barely…and answered the doctor’s questions with ill-concealed impatience.

“Ms. Madison, besides some scrapes and bruises, I’d say you are one very lucky woman.”

“Okay, great.” Corrie had turned to where Quint was standing. “I told you so…and so did Crash and Sledge. Will you take me to see Bethany
now
?”

Quint had resisted chuckling, knowing it would irritate Corrie and probably put him in the dog house. “Yeah, sweetheart. Thanks, Dr. Davis. I appreciate you taking a look. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

Corrie had squeezed Quint’s arm, acknowledging his sweet words, but then ruined it by huffing, “If I could find her by myself, I’d do it, but since I’d probably keep running into people and walls, I need you to show me where my friends are.”

The doctor had nodded at Quint and smirked. Quint just ignored the older man and took Corrie’s hand in his and set out to find her friends.

The second Corrie had walked into the hospital room where Bethany was recuperating, Emily, who was also visiting, burst into tears. Emily had rushed into Corrie’s arms and they spent more than a few minutes enjoying the feel of each other alive and well.

Corrie put her hands on Emily’s face and ran her fingers over it. “Does it hurt?”

Emily laughed a watery laugh. “About as much as yours does, I’d imagine.”

Corrie grimaced in commiseration.

“Hey, you two, I’m the one in the hospital bed here.”

Corrie rushed over and asked if she was okay.

“I’m good. Are you sure you don’t hate me, Cor? I didn’t want to do it…but he threatened Ethan.”

“Lord, Bethany. Of
course
I don’t hate you. God, I would’ve done the same thing. You did the right thing, and besides, it all turned out fine in the end. I’m just sorry you both got sucked into the entire thing. If it wasn’t for me—”

Both Emily and Quint spoke at once, interrupting her.

“That’s not—”

“Don’t.” Quint’s word was louder. He spoke over whatever Emily was going to say. “This is not your fault. If you want to blame someone, blame Isaac. Or Dimitri, or even Shaun, but there’s no way I’ll let you blame yourself.”

“But—”

Quint shut Corrie up the only way he knew how. He swooped down and covered her mouth with his own. He dimly heard both Emily and Bethany catcalling, but he didn’t stop. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, more relieved than he was willing to admit out loud when she returned his kiss. He’d been afraid she’d be too scared with everything that had happened to return his passion. He should’ve known better.

He finally raised his head and nuzzled against the side of Corrie’s neck as he tried to rein in the urgent need to get her alone and show her just how much she meant to him, and to relieve some of the stress he’d been feeling since finding out she’d been kidnapped.

“In case you’re wondering, Ethan is fine.”

Corrie spun at Emily’s teasing words, almost clipping Quint’s chin in the process. “Ethan! Where is he? He’s really okay? I’m a horrible aunt for not even
asking
about him!”

Quint stood behind Corrie and put his hands around her waist. He pulled her into him, loving the way she trusted him to take her weight.

“Calm down, Cor. He’s fine. He was checked out and didn’t even have a scratch on him. Thank God Quint realized something was wrong and showed up when he did. He was a little cold, but otherwise fine.” Bethany’s words were strong and sure.

Emily sat down in the chair next to Bethany and stroked her forearm above the bandages covering her hand. Quint knew Bethany had a long road to recovery ahead of her…some of the nerves in her hand had been severed and there were lots of surgeries in her future.

“My mom came and took him home with her for the night,” Emily explained.

“Your mom? But she doesn’t approve—”

“I know. But apparently a psycho beating me up and almost killing my partner and son made her think twice about everything.”

“It’s about darn time.”

Emily simply laughed. “So, now that you know we’re fine, and we can see you’re hunky-dory…go home.”

“What?”

Emily repeated herself. “Go home, Cor. You look exhausted. If I’m not mistaken, your man is foaming at the mouth to get you home and taken care of.”

Corrie tilted her head up, as if she was actually looking at him. “But…can we go home?”

Quint kissed the top of her head, knowing what she meant. “Yeah, Dax and Hayden called in reinforcements. After the crime scene techs did their thing, they managed to get us an all new bed. I didn’t want any reminders of what happened to Bethany there. It’s all good, sweetheart.”

“Promise?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t bring you back there if I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure it was safe and clean for you to go back to.”

Corrie turned to her friends. “I love you guys. So much. I’ll come back up and see you tomorrow.”

“Okay. You know we love you too. Thank God you were smarter than those assholes.”

Corrie smiled. “I don’t know about smarter, but maybe more determined.”

“Good enough.”

“Come on, sweetheart. You’re dead on your feet. Let’s go home.”

“Home. That sounds good.”

Quint smiled huge. She was right. It did sound good.

He waited patiently as Corrie hugged Emily one more time, and leaned over Bethany and gave her an abbreviated hug and kiss on the cheek. She came back to him and reached for his hand. “Love you guys. See you tomorrow.”

Quint led Corrie out of the room and down the hall to the waiting area. He gave a few chin lifts to the doctors and nurses who waved as they went by. He couldn’t wait to get Corrie home.

C
orrie was relieved
to be back in Quint’s house. They were standing in his bedroom. He’d dragged her to his room the second they’d arrived.

“You aren’t afraid to be back here?”

Corrie shook her head. “No. One, you’re here with me. And two, Isaac knocked me out as soon as I opened the door. I don’t remember anything that happened. I’m guessing Bethany isn’t going to want to come over for a very long time, but me? I’m good.”

Quint hugged Corrie to him, loving how she snuggled up against him without hesitation. He had a lot he wanted to say to her, but wanted to get her clean and comfortable first. “Good. Go ahead and shower. I want nothing more than to hold you against me as soon as I can.”

“You want to shower with me?” Corrie asked shyly.

Quint kissed her forehead. “If I get in that shower, I won’t be able to take my hands off of you.”

“And that’s bad because…”

“Because I want to hold you. To reassure myself that you’re really okay. I’ve had a shit day, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever hold you warm and breathing in my arms again. I need you in my bed, in my arms.”

“Okay, Quint. I’ll be quick. I need that too.”

“I love you, Corrie.”

“I love you too.”

“Shower, I’ll be waiting in our bed.”

Corrie nodded and Quint kissed her once more before turning her toward the bathroom.

He stripped down to his boxers and waited for Corrie to emerge from the shower, which had quickly filled with steam as she cleaned off the dirt from the events of the day.

Within ten minutes, Corrie padded out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around her body. Quint had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. And she was all his.

“Come here, sweetheart.”

Corrie walked cautiously to the bed with one arm out in front of her, making sure she didn’t run into anything. When her knees hit the mattress, she held out her hand toward where Quint’s voice had been coming from. Quint took it in his and watched as she unhooked the towel and it dropped to the floor.

“Holy shit, Corrie. You are so fucking beautiful.”

She smiled. “Scoot over.”

He did and she crawled under the sheets and into his arms.

“It doesn’t smell like you anymore.”

“What?”

“The sheets. They don’t smell like you anymore. I hate that.”

“They will soon. Don’t worry.” Quint felt his heart clench as Corrie nuzzled into him. She put her nose into his neck and inhaled deeply.

“But
you
smell like you, so it’ll have to do,” she teased.

Quint rolled Corrie under him. He put his legs on either side of hers, pushing his hips into hers, and rested his elbows next to her shoulders. He knew he was probably squishing her, but he needed to feel every part of her under every part of him.

“I know I told you this today, but I am so proud of you. I’ve seen a lot of brave things in my life. Battered women having the guts to leave abusive husbands, single parents raising handicapped kids by themselves, inner-city kids resisting the lure of gangs and drugs, firefighters rushing into burning buildings as everyone else rushes out.”

Corrie took a breath to interrupt, but Quint hurried on.

“Even Mackenzie and Mickie, Dax and Cruz’s women, continually impress the hell out of me. But when I was on my way to you, I have to tell you, I wasn’t sure what I’d find. I thought you’d be scared and, I’m ashamed to admit…broken.”

“Quint…”

Quint ignored her attempt to stop him again and forged ahead. “Hayden was the one who told me that I was underestimating you. And she was right. She was so fucking right. You didn’t need me to save you. You saved yourself. Blind, scared, hurting, and having no idea where the fuck you were…you still figured out a way to help yourself.” He shook his head in amazement. “I’ll never underestimate or doubt you again. You can do anything you want. And I love you for it.”

“Can I talk now?” Corrie’s voice was soft and serious.

Quint kissed the tip of her nose. “Yeah, you can talk.”

“The only reason I was brave is because I knew you were on your way to me.”

“Damn straight.”

“Hey, it’s my turn.” Her hands rested on Quint’s biceps, and she stroked the words inked on his arm unknowingly.

“Sorry, sweetheart. Continue.”

“Thank you. As I said. The only reason I even tried to get away was to give you time to get to me. I know what he wanted to do to me. He took great pleasure in telling me how he was going to kill me and what he was going to do to me before he blew my brains out. But I wanted to live with every fiber of my being. For the first time in my life, I loved a man, and I wanted to experience that. I got mad. I didn’t want them to take that from me. I wasn’t brave, Quint. I was scared out of my mind every second I was out there.”

“But you did it anyway.”

Corrie nodded. “I did it anyway, because I knew you were on your way. If I could find a way to stay alive, you’d take care of Isaac and Dimitri.”

“Of course. I’ll always take care of you, sweetheart. All you ever have to do is wait, and whenever you need help, I’ll be there.”

“I know.”

“When are we moving the rest of your stuff over here?”

“What?”

“The rest of your things. We need to talk to your landlord and put in your notice. You’re moving in with me as soon as you can.”

Corrie wanted to argue with him, but it was hard when there was nothing that would make her happier than living permanently with Quint. Knowing he was just as anxious for it was a heady feeling. “I’m already here. I have no desire to go anywhere.”

Quint rested his forehead against hers. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

When Quint didn’t move, Corrie ran her hand over the back of his head and leaned up to whisper where she thought his ear was. “Are you going to make love to me or what?”

Quint didn’t budge an inch, but she felt him smile against her. “Yeah, I’m going to make love to you. Then I’m going to fuck you. Then eat you out, then fuck you again. That meet with your approval?”

“Oh yeah, as long as I can return the favor.”

Quint eased off Corrie just long enough to push his boxers down and off, then he was back. “Lay back and let me show you how appreciative I am that you’re a brave, badass woman.
My
brave, badass woman.”

Corrie stretched her hands over her head and arched her back. “Have at it. I’m all yours.”