Shelter for Elizabeth (Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Book 5) (21 page)

“What? When?”

“Before you were discharged. I wanted his approval to ask you to marry me.”

Beth’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “You asked David? Why not my dad?”

“Honestly? I knew your brother would be the harder sell. He loves you. He wants what’s best for you. Oh, I’m sure your dad does too, but you’re David’s little sister. He’s protected you his entire life and he’ll always have your back. He’s the one I wanted to make sure was okay with us getting hitched.”

Beth flopped her head back to the pillow dramatically. “I can’t believe this. How did we go from having the best sex ever, to talking about contraception, to you…wait, did you just propose?”

“What would your answer be if I said yes, that’s exactly what I just did?”

“I’d say you’re crazy.” Beth must’ve seen the focused look on his face, because she whispered, “You’re serious.”

“Don’t move.” Cade untangled his limbs from hers and scooted to the side of the bed before heading out of their room, bare-ass naked. He returned a minute later and pulled Beth to a sitting position in the middle of the bed. He lowered himself in front of her, spreading his legs, putting one on either side of her hips, ignoring the fact that he was naked and open to her in every way.

He held out a diamond ring between them, noticing vaguely how shiny it looked in the light of day.

“Elizabeth Parkins. I love you. You are the strongest, most stubborn, delicious, snarky woman I’ve ever met, and I want to spend the rest of my life making sure you’re happy, safe, comfortable, and protected. I’ll move heaven and earth to give you what you need. I’m sure we’ll fight. We’ll have to work on meshing our schedules since you like to stay up all night like a vampire and I like to actually sleep during those nighttime hours like a normal person.”

He smiled so she’d know he was kidding. The blank look on her face was freaking him out a little bit, but he hurried to complete the proposal he’d spent so much time trying to perfect.

“I’m going to make mistakes—’cause I’m a guy, and it’s what we do—but I’ll love you forever. I promise never to force you to do anything you don’t want to do, and I’ll be by your side, cheering you on when you need it and carrying you when you can’t make it on your own. Will you marry me?”

Beth looked at the man sitting before her. On the surface he looked calm, cool, and collected, but with a second glance she could see how worried he was. His jaw was clenched and when she put one hand on his knee next to her hip, she could feel his muscles jerk under her touch.

She looked down at the beautiful ring he was holding up between them. It was platinum with a large princess-cut diamond front and center. On each side of the diamond was a smaller square ruby. He hurried to explain his choice of ring.

“The diamond is because it’s traditional. The rubies are fire. One for me, and one for you. I hope to God you don’t need the flames to help you feel safe anymore, but I wanted to give you two to carry with you wherever you go, so you know I’ll fight your demons for you from here on out.”

“Yes.”

Cade didn’t say a word, simply stared at her.

Beth licked her lips. “Did you hear me?”

“You’ll marry me?”

“Of course. You’re my safe place. How can I get through my panic attacks without making you mine officially?”

Cade lunged for Beth and pulled her to him, lying back until she was straddling him. “I love you. God, you have no idea.”

“I have a little idea,” Beth said with a smile, shifting over him, feeling his hardening length under her. Feeling the evidence of their previous lovemaking smearing over his hardness as she shifted, reminded her of the other conversation they needed to continue.

“As I said, I’m on the pill, Cade. I went on it after I was abducted. I was so messed up, the last thing I wanted was to accidentally get pregnant.”

Correctly identifying the question behind Cade’s confused look, Beth quickly went on. “You’re the first person I’ve been with since it happened, but I think deep down I was afraid that if I’d been raped once, it could happen again. My paranoia and all of that. So I wanted to be sure that if it did, I wouldn’t have to worry about a child.”

“When, and if, we decide to have kids, we’ll have the discussion together, okay? When you’re ready. We’ve got time. But I have to say…I’m fucking thrilled I get to mark you as mine every time we make love now,” Cade said in a husky voice.

Beth rolled her eyes and brought a hand down between their bodies to caress him. “You’re a Neanderthal.”

“When it comes to you, yup. When I said I’d protect you, Beth. I meant in all things. Protecting your womb from being fertilized before you’re ready is just one of those things. If you want me to wear a condom, I will.”

“I like this,” Beth told him honestly, releasing him long enough to scoop up some of their come from between her legs and using it to lubricate his hard length.

“Fuck, that is so sexy.”

“Maybe not so much when we want to have a quickie though. Running down my leg or soaking my panties isn’t very comfortable.”

“I have to admit, I’ve never really thought about it before,” Cade said, arching into her touch as she continued to caress him.

“Not something many guys think about. Besides, if you have sex with a condom, it’s not an issue.”

Cade flipped Beth to her back without warning, startling a girly shriek from her mouth. “Give me your left hand.”

She did, and watched as Cade slid the beautiful ring down her finger until it rested at the base. “Fucking gorgeous. Fire and Ice.” He slid down her body, making room for himself between her legs and holding her open to his gaze.

“Cade! What are you—”

Beth didn’t finish her sentence before his mouth was on her. It was obvious he loved their combined taste, because he spent an inordinate amount of time licking, sucking, and cleaning her. When she was on the verge of another orgasm, Cade lay back. “Climb on, Beth. Fuck me.”

She immediately did as he asked, not caring that he had an unfettered view of her body as she rose over him. She took hold of him and guided him to where she needed him the most. Beth sank down to the hilt and they both groaned.

She leaned backward and arched her back, pushing her breasts up into the air, and rested her hands on his upper thighs, smiling as she rode him, knowing he could see every inch of her. She felt truly happy for the first time in a long time. Memories of Ben Hurst and what he’d done to her were fading quickly, and she had more confidence in herself after being able to go outside alone. She wasn’t going to worry about the break-in. Cade and his friends would take care of it—and her.

“Beth Turner. I like the sound of that.”

“Oh shit, sweetheart,” Cade swore, sitting up quickly, holding Beth in place as he changed position. She was now sitting on his lap, and while she didn’t have the leverage to pump up and down on him because of his tight hold, she could still squirm and pull at his cock with her inner muscles. Even though he’d recently come, Beth felt Cade jerk inside her as he exploded.

She quickly snaked a hand between them and flicked at her clit roughly, and with only a few hard passes, she joined him, moaning at how good he felt inside her as she orgasmed.

They held each other for long moments afterward, panting and replete.

“I love you, Cade. So much.”

“Back at’cha future Mrs. Beth Turner. Back at’cha.”

H
ayden closed
her apartment door behind her with a sigh. She dropped her keys on the table next to the door and headed down the hall to her room. The small two-bedroom apartment was sparse. She had some pictures of her parents in the main room, there were a few paintings on the walls, but there weren’t any of the typical girly things to be seen anywhere in the main part of her space.

No frilly pillows, no flowers on the kitchen counter. The apartment didn’t smell like any frou-frou air freshener. If someone looked in her kitchen, they’d find a lot of pre-packaged meals, canned soup, and not much in the refrigerator except condiments and maybe some string cheese.

Hayden ignored everything; her only thought was for a nice hot shower. Opening the door, she was already stripping off her uniform. The deputy sheriff’s badge she wore was taken off and dropped on her dresser; the bulletproof vest was un-Velcroed and dropped on the floor. The utility belt she wore around her waist was unbuckled and placed on the carpet by the shower, where she left it without a thought.

She unbuttoned and unzipped her brown uniform pants and leaned into the shower stall and turned it on. Hayden blinked back her tears and hurried to strip off her clothes, leaving them in a pile on the tile before stepping over the tub and into the spray of hot water.

She huddled under the water, letting it pound against her shoulders as her head drooped.

It’d been a hell of a day. As many days went, it was interspersed with bouts of extreme adrenaline-inducing fear and excitement, and hours of boredom and routine police work. But it was thinking about the love between her friends and their women that had done Hayden in.

It was an amazing thing. The love Dax and Mack, Cruz and Mickie, Quint and Corrie, Wes and Laine, and now Cade and Beth had for each other was true. If she wasn’t so cynical, she would’ve said they were all soul mates who had somehow found each other in the big bad world. Oh, she’d read about it in the romance books she secretly devoured, but hadn’t thought it actually existed. She thought it was something that dried-up, sexually frustrated, frumpy romance writers dreamed up in their lonely heads.

How wrong she’d been. Hell, the romance authors who wrote her favorite stories were most likely having sex way more than she was. They had to get their inspiration from somewhere, right?

Hayden shakily brought her hands up to her hair and smoothed it back as the hot water continued to beat down on her. That kind of love had eluded Hayden her entire life. As a kid, a teenager, a college student, and even as an adult. She’d had her fill of boyfriends, even some she could’ve loved…if they’d given her half a chance. But not once had
she
evoked that kind of emotion from another human being.

She’d eavesdropped a bit tonight on Beth and Cade and their obvious love, despite the fact the challenges they’d faced in the past, and that they’d certainly face in the future, were overwhelming. It was apparent that Cade didn’t care one whit about Beth’s illness. To him, it wasn’t a big deal. She was amazing and perfect.

Hayden thought back to when they’d found Corrie after she’d been kidnapped and everyone realized she’d climbed a huge tree to hide from the assholes after her. Quint had turned to look at Hayden as she was about to climb up that tree and said, “Be careful.” Hayden had gotten a glimpse of what it might be like to have a man worry about her.

But then Quint had continued. He’d said, “Be careful, she means the world to me.”

She should’ve known Quint wasn’t telling
her
to be careful, because he’d been worried about Corrie, and not her. She was Deputy Sheriff Hayden Yates, no one worried about her.

Hayden took a deep breath and quickly washed her hair, and then poured some body gel over her shower poof and scrubbed her body. She rinsed and turned off the water. She grabbed a towel and briskly ran it over herself, hanging it back on the rack when she was done. Standing naked at the sink, she brushed her teeth and swished some mouthwash before spitting it into the basin.

She strode out of the bathroom with large strides, which had been called manly on more than one occasion, and threw back the comforter on her bed. The main space in her apartment might not have a speck of girly in it, but her bedroom was a different story. It was the one place where she always felt as though she could be herself. The sheets were one-thousand count and luxurious against her naked body. Her comforter was pink and flowery and was almost obnoxiously feminine. Her room was her safe place, and she needed that right now.

Hayden snuggled down and held her childhood stuffed animal tight to her chest. It was a pink elephant that had seen better days. The fur had been worn off long ago and the stuffing had been replaced several times. Ellie the Elephant’s trunk had been sewed back on awkwardly more than once. Hayden had never shown anyone her prized possession, knowing it wouldn’t fit their perception of her. Tough. Competent. Tomboy.

She choked back a sob and buried her head in Ellie’s soft body, thinking back on everything that had happened over the last several months. Seeing the way Cade gazed at Beth and didn’t see someone who was afraid of walking outside, but instead saw the amazing woman she was inside. And seeing Quint and his obvious love for Corrie, his relief when she was safe and the looks on their faces as they’d held each other tight after Hayden had helped her out of the tree…

Hayden’s sad, lonely words rang out in the empty room, with no one to hear them but her.

“Just once, I’d like someone to be afraid of losing
me
.”