A Trooper to Love: Steamy Small Town Romance (Officers to Love Book 1)

by Marie Carnay

  “You did today.”

  “I might not be so lucky next time.”

  “I can handle myself.”

  Jake couldn’t help but smile. “I know.” He pulled back as the sound of sirens broke through the silence.

  A few minutes later, the forest teemed with troopers.

  Gabe hustled up. “Are you two all right?”

  “Fine.”

  “What about him?”

  Jake shrugged. “He’ll live.”

  “We’ll get him onto the ambulance, then you’ll both have to make statements. We’ll need to do an official investigation. But from the looks of it, I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”

  Tabitha smiled. “Jake saved my life.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” With a nod, Gabe hustled away.

  Jake had so many things he wanted to tell Tabitha. About his family, his job, growing up in Pinetree. But more than all of that, he wanted to show her how much he loved her. Preferably in the comfort of his bedroom.

  He wrapped his arm around her and tugged her close. “Let’s get this over with so we can go home.”

  10

  JAKE RAN HIS fingers through Tabitha’s hair before bending to kiss her forehead.

  “You didn’t have to wash my hair for me. I could have managed.”

  “I wanted to. Besides, it would have taken you hours to get all the twigs out.”

  He held up a fluffy white towel and Tabitha stepped into it with a smile. Sometimes being taken care of was nice.

  Jake perched on the edge of the bathroom counter and pulled her close. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

  She bit her lip and looked up at him. “Is this the part where you tell me to never, ever do something so foolish again?”

  He smoothed her hair off her face and shook his head. “No. This is the part where I tell you to keep it up and be who you are. I don’t want you to change.” He pressed a hand on her chest. “This woman right here is the one I fell in love with. No one else.”

  Tabitha swallowed. “Could you say that again?”

  Jake beamed. “I love you, Tabitha.”

  “I love you, too.”

  He leaned in and her eyes fluttered shut and Tabitha’s heart swelled. She’d moved to Alaska to be on her own and she’d found a man she couldn’t live without.

  This time, it would be forever.

  With his lips pressed against hers, Jake scooped her up in his arms. He carried her through the bathroom and set her softly on the bed.

  She tugged him down with her. “I’m not a china doll. You don’t have to hold back with me. Nothing you do will scare me away.”

  He kissed her lips and climbed over her. His towel fell open and Tabitha reached for his damp skin.

  “I won’t. But tonight is all about you. Us.” He kissed her again and Tabitha arched off the mattress. Nothing would ever be better than this.

  Jake reached up and tugged the white cotton of Tabitha’s towel. It fell away and he groaned in appreciation. “I never thought I’d have something like this.”

  “A naked woman in your bed?”

  Jake smiled. “One who fits me so well.” He ran his hands up her sides to cup her breasts, circling her nipples with his thumbs. “I touch you and you come alive, Tabitha.”

  “I know.”

  With a groan, Jake grabbed her by the waist and slid her higher up the mattress. “You take all I can give and still want more.”

  Tabitha reached up and palmed Jake’s face, running her fingers across the smooth planes of his cheeks and the angle of his jaw. “Always.”

  He leaned forward, planting his lips on her cheek and trailing kisses to her ear. “Part of me wants to be gentle and soft. To go slow tonight.” His tongue flicked against her earlobe and Tabitha moaned. “But I can’t. I love you too much.”

  Joy and excitement and hope hit Tabitha with his words and everything else disappeared. Jake trailed kisses down her neck and across her chest, pausing to flick her nipple. She gasped and he latched on, sucking the tightening bud until her muscles clenched in anticipation. She raked her fingers down his back and spread her legs.

  “Show me how much you love me.”

  Jake chuckled against her ear and slid off the mattress to his knees. “My pleasure.” His breath fanned hot across her folds and Tabitha moaned. Mmm. Reaching out, he pushed her wider, his fingers digging into her thighs as he stretched her legs. Her legs brushed her breasts and Jake reached for her hands. He wrapped her fingers around the backs of her thighs and leaned back. Vulnerable and exposed, Tabitha hummed with need, biting her lip to keep from begging.

  Jake trailed his lips up her inner thighs, drawing out quivers and twitches and pulses from deep inside her core. He hadn’t even touched her sex and she was halfway home. His lips grazed her tendons and raised goose bumps across her flesh. She couldn’t bear it.

  “Please. I need you to touch me.”

  Jake looked up and smiled. “I am.”

  “Please, Jake.” Her own hands dug into the soft backs of her thighs and she whimpered. Never in her wildest dreams did she think a man could render her helpless with a look. But she’d crawl across the room on her hands and knees if Jake asked her to. It didn’t make her weak. Together they could do anything.

  “You make me want to pin you to the mattress and fuck you like an animal, Tabitha.”

  She gasped. “Do it. Take me.”

  “Not yet.” He leaned forward and parted her folds with his hand, running the pad of his finger through her swollen lips until he found her empty channel. Thrusting inside, he curled and stroked at the same time, hitting the spot that made Tabitha soar.

  She closed her eyes and moaned as Jake coaxed her to life with a finger and her g-spot. Yes! Thank God, yes! He stroked and rubbed and pumped his finger like a cock before leaning over to add his tongue. Lapping at her clit with broad, flat strokes, Jake worked into a pattern, thrusting hard and licking soft until Tabitha bucked against his hand and cried out.

  Jake was the only lover she’d ever need. He circled her clit with his tongue and Tabitha whimpered. Her breath came out in tiny pants as he picked up speed, working her harder, shoving her into pleasure. An orgasm crashed into her and she fell apart.

  Delight and desire and bliss flooded her senses, obliterating everything but him. Every time he touched her, she fell harder. Wanted him that much more. They’d wring every last drop of ecstasy from each other’s bodies all night. And every night after.

  Jake’s dick throbbed as Tabitha quivered beneath his tongue. He loved watching her lose control because of him. Almost as much as he loved sliding inside her. He didn’t know how it happened, but she’d changed him. Gone was the rule-following, straight and narrow state trooper.

  In his place was a man who lost control as he bottomed out inside her. A man who let pleasure and bliss and pure fucking love take over when he touched her skin.

  How did that story go? Wasn’t it the bad boy who turned good thanks to a girl? Tabitha had done the reverse. She’d taken a man living a shell of a life and turned him into a beast. One who’d never get sick of making her come.

  He stood up and wiped his face with his hand, smearing her juices all over his cheeks and chin. Tabitha reached out and pulled him towards her for a kiss. He dove in gladly, rubbing his face against hers, diving inside her mouth like he’d just dove inside her needy channel. He knew she could taste herself as they kissed and it made him proud. Hungry.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered against his lips. “Roll over. It’s your turn.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  She pinned him with a look. “You’re damn right I don’t. On your back. Now.”

  Jake fell back on the mattress and Tabitha rose up to straddle his legs. She trailed her fingers over his chest and down his stomach, lingering at the base of his shaft.

  Turn about was fair play, but damn he needed her. His cock jumped as she touched it, throbbing and pulsing as her fi
ngers grazed the swollen head.

  Tabitha stroked him harder and he groaned.

  “I want you to want me. I’m yours, Jake, anytime, anywhere.”

  A tiny part of him still couldn’t believe it. He reached up and slipped his fingers through her hair, gripping the back of her head and pulling her up to look him in the eye. “You mean it?”

  She nodded. “The vet clinic? I orgasmed so hard I almost passed out. I’ve never had a man take over like that. Never had someone give me what I needed.” She palmed his chest. “You showed me a part of your soul, Jake.”

  She slid down his legs to the edge of the mattress and smiled before wrapping her hands back around his cock. “In a minute, you’re going to be so happy, you’ll forget all those doubts you can’t let go.”

  Jake put his hands behind his head and raised an eyebrow. “Am I now?”

  “Just you watch.”

  “Gladly.”

  Tabitha flipped her hair to the side and bent down, taking Jake’s cock into her mouth. Fuuuuck. The woman would be his undoing. He knew his life needed to change—he’d been stuck in a lonely rut for far too long. But Tabitha? The way her eyes shone with love and need as she lapped at his shaft? He’d move heaven and earth for her.

  She gripped him tight, lips pursed around his head as she rimmed it, and he pushed the last bit of doubts aside. If she wanted him open and raw when they fucked, he’d do it. He’d let go. Every time.

  Tabitha slid up and down his shaft, adding a lap of tongue on the underside, and he groaned. Damn. Her head bobbed up and down, her hair brushed across his thigh, and her cheeks hollowed out with each pass. She was beautiful and independent and strong. And she loved him. What more could he want out of life?

  Jake groaned again and Tabitha smiled around his shaft, slipping her hand between his legs to fondle his balls. She squeezed and tugged and he almost growled. “I’ll come if you keep doing that.”

  She slipped off him, using her hand to stroke his slick shaft as she smiled. “Isn’t that the point?”

  “Not if you want me to come inside you.”

  Tabitha paused. That was exactly what she wanted. Jake reached down and slipped his hand through her hair, pulling her up to kiss him. He licked a trail across her lips and she opened for him, tasting the remnants of her desire on his tongue as he lapped across her own.

  She rose up and gripped his cock with her hand as she scooted up the mattress. As their tongues danced, Tabitha lowered herself down, impaling her body on Jake’s thick, rigid shaft. Yes.

  Breaking their kiss, she rocked down, palming his chest to force his cock deeper inside. She ground against him, mashing her clit into his pelvis with each pump of her hips, bringing herself closer to orgasm with each thrust.

  As her head fell back, Jake grabbed her by the ass, plumping her soft cheeks between his fingers. He rose up and wrapped his arms around her back. “I thought you wanted me to take charge.”

  Tabitha moaned. “Desperately.”

  Jake flipped her onto her back in an instant, crushing her beneath him. He grabbed her hands and dragged them over her head. In one fluid jerk, he’d pinned her, arms crossed at the wrists and gripped tight beneath his hand. She thrashed beneath him, but she couldn’t budge. He had her.

  Need pulsed through her and she bucked her pelvis, straining to feel an inch of his cock against her folds. Jake rocked into her, grinding his dick into her stomach until she groaned. Oh, God.

  She couldn’t bear it anymore. Just as she opened her mouth to beg, he moved, releasing her wrists and wrapping an arm around her middle. He dragged her down the mattress, pulled her off the bed and flipped her around before she could take a breath.

  He kicked her legs wider and Tabitha cried out.

  “You want me to show you how much I want you?” His hands tore up her sides to cup her breasts. He stroked her nipples, squeezing and twisting until Tabitha confessed. “Yes. Please, Jake. I need it.” She quivered in excitement. The promise of his body all over her made her sex clench and throb.

  His lips grazed her ear. “Then hold on.”

  In a single thrust, he entered her, slicing through her heat and rocking her forward on the bed. Her face and chest skidded across the mattress, but he kept going, pumping into her until her thighs hit the edge of the bed and he’d buried himself deeper than ever before. Stretched and filled and consumed by Jake, Tabitha rejoiced.

  That was the man she’d fallen in love with. The man who couldn’t help himself when he saw her naked body. The man who’d saved her out in the forest and cooked her dinner at his place and fucked her so hard she’d seen stars. The one she’d never stop loving.

  He grabbed her by the hips, digging his fingers into her ample flesh as he pounded her from behind. She reached for something, anything, to hold on to but all she could find was sheet. So she twisted the cotton around and around in her hands, digging in and holding on as he claimed her as his own.

  Her legs wobbled and shook and she could barely stand against the force of him. Jake was everywhere—on top of her, inside her, all around her. Every time he bottomed out, a slash of pain and pleasure echoed through her body. The bed squeaked, the mattress bounced against the frame, and Tabitha’s nipples burned from rubbing against the sheets. But she’d never been so high.

  “Harder, Jake. I need it harder.”

  He groaned his answer, pulling back and slamming into her again. Sweat coated both their bodies and the slap of slick flesh-on-flesh filled the room. Every rock of his hips sent her higher. Tabitha moaned and thrashed in need. So close. So close.

  As his movements grew erratic, he reached between her legs and rubbed. “Come for me Tabitha. Come all over me.” Flicking her nub again and again, he pushed her over the edge. Oh yes! The hot release of her orgasm exploded through her body and Tabitha reeled. Her body twitched and jumped and her muscles clamped around Jake’s cock.

  With a final thrust, he roared behind her, his shaft thickening with release. Every burst sent aftershocks of pleasure through her. He collapsed on top of her and she exhaled in a rush. She’d never get tired of this.

  Jake scooped her jellied body up in his arms and nestled her against his chest in the center of the mattress. His fingers stroked her skin and Tabitha almost mewled in pleasure.

  “You make me come apart, Tabitha Boone.”

  “That’s a good thing.”

  Jake ran his fingers up and down her side until she shivered. “A few weeks ago I’d have said you were crazy.”

  “Now?”

  “I’m the luckiest guy in the whole world.”

  Tabitha closed her eyes and nuzzled Jake’s shoulder. Nothing would ever be better than this.

  Epilogue

  SIX MONTHS LATER

  Tabitha taped the last box shut and stood up to stretch her back. The last six months had flown by. Between the vet clinic and Jake’s job and their late nights, the pair had burned the candle at both ends. Now they’d have more time with each other.

  “You’re sure you want to move in with him?” Becky carried a box from the kitchen to the front door and set it on the ground.

  “Of course, I’m sure.”

  “And I can really move in here? You don’t mind?”

  Tabitha smiled. She’d made so many new friends in Pinetree, but Becky had by far become the closest. When she’d finally agreed to move in with Jake, she knew exactly who she’d ask to take over the apartment upstairs from the clinic.

  “I’m thrilled. You can get out of that tiny studio space above the grocery store and I don’t have to find someone new to move in. Besides, I’ll always know where to find you if you’re late to work.”

  “Funny.”

  “I try.” Tabitha checked her watch and frowned. “Jake should have been here by now. I wonder if he got hung up at work.”

  Becky focused on the floor.

  Tabitha knew that look. “What is it? What’s going on?”

  Her new best friend glanced up with
a shrug. “How about you go check on the clinic? I think you might have a patient in need.”

  Tabitha frowned. A patient? On Sunday?

  “There’s only a few boxes left. I can carry them to the car.”

  “O…kay.” Tabitha made her way down the steps and pushed open the door to the clinic. A man in a suit stood inside with his back to her. She’d recognize the buzz cut anywhere. “Jake. What are you doing in here?”

  He turned around and her mouth fell open. She’d never seen him dressed up. The gray wool jacket fit his frame so well and the blue silk tie matched his eyes. He held up his hand and sitting on his palm was a ring that captured the overhead lights, sparkling like a firecracker on the Fourth of July. Oh my God.

  “I have a question to ask you.” He dropped on one knee and Tabitha’s hand flew to her mouth.

  “Are you serious?”

  “A trooper never lies, Tabitha.”

  He reached for her and she stepped forward and slipped her fingers over his.

  “Ever since I walked in the front door of this clinic, my life’s turned upside down. You saved that baby moose and took my heart as payment.”

  He swallowed and Tabitha squeezed his hand. She couldn’t believe it was real.

  “You give me the confidence to be the man I never knew I could be.” He held the ring higher. “Tabitha, will you marry me?”

  She blinked back a wave of tears and nodded. “Yes.”

  Jake slipped the ring on her finger and she pulled him up to stand. His lips landed on hers and Tabitha choked back a sob. Never in her life did she think she’d find her husband in a tiny town in rural Alaska.

  She’d come there to run away from heartache and hurt and she’d found happiness. Security. She broke their kiss and laughed. The best sex of her life was a nice bonus, too.

  Jake’s blue eyes burned as he looked down at her. “What do you say we take a break from moving and celebrate?”

  Tabitha reached out and ran her fingers down his tie. “Any chance it could involve this?”