by Susan Stoker
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.”
Epilogue
“What I did is no more amazing than what you went through, Mackenzie,” Corrie insisted. A couple of weeks had passed since Dimitri and Isaac had kidnapped her, and Quint had introduced her to Mackenzie and Mickie, Dax and Cruz’s girlfriends. She’d gotten to know both men fairly well, since they’d made a point to come over to Quint’s house to check on her when he was on shift and couldn’t be home with her. Today they were all hanging out at a bar and reminiscing about the crappy things that happened to them, much to the chagrin of their men.
“That’s not true. I can’t believe you had the guts to wander outside of a house when you had no idea where you were and not only that, but you actually evaded tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum,” Mackenzie enthused. “All I did was lie there and cry, hoping Dax would find me.”
“You’re both super women, all right?” Mickie said in exasperation.
Mackenzie turned to the other woman and teased, “You are the crazy one in the group though, Mickie. Getting all slutted up and marching into a motorcycle club as if you were the bionic woman or something. I swear I’ll see you in that outfit I’ve heard so much about one of these days.”
Mickie chuckled. “Yeah, not my finest moment for sure.”
Corrie knew that Mickie’s sister had been killed in the raid that had happened during the party Mickie had crashed. “I’m sorry about your sister, Mickie. Seriously.”
“Thanks, Corrie. Me too. But looking back, I don’t think she would’ve changed. I’m not saying I’m glad that she was killed, but I think her life would’ve continued to spiral downward if it didn’t happen.”
Because Corrie’s hearing was so much better than everyone else’s due to her blindness, she heard Cruz say to Mickie in a soft voice, trying to soothe her, “I love you, Mickie.”
She turned to Quint before she heard Mickie’s response, “Thank you for introducing me to your friends.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I thought Penelope was going to be here tonight?” Corrie was intrigued with the petite firefighter. Quint had told her she was The Army Princess, the soldier who had been kidnapped while on a mission in Turkey. She remembered hearing the news stories about her, but hadn’t realized Sledge was her brother, and the man behind all the intense media attention the case had gotten. It was almost unreal.
“She had planned on it, but she took a trip up to Fort Hood for something or other,” Quint told her. “It’s kinda crazy that this Tex character who TJ knows and who figured out where you had been taken, is the same person who helped coordinate her rescue, not once but twice.” He shook his head, amazed at how things seemed to work out. “I’m sure you’ll meet her soon. She’s been dying to sit down with you too. She told me that if I was this head over heels in love, then you had to be amazing.”
Corrie blushed. She didn’t even know the woman, but she seemed like someone she’d get along with really well. Corrie leaned against Quint and listened to the conversation going on around her.
“Can you believe the calendar is actually going to happen?” Mackenzie asked her friend Laine, who had joined them at the bar.
“No. Actually I’m shocked you convinced your new boss to go ahead with it,” Laine told her best friend, taking a drink.
“Calendar?” Corrie asked with a tilt of her head.
“Yeah, a charity thing. Every year my company does something to raise money for the community, and now that we have all these hotties at our beck and call, we decided a calendar was a great idea! This year we’re going to do law enforcement, and hopefully next year we’ll do the firefigh
ter thing. Of course we don’t have all of the models yet.” Mack looked up at Dax with big doe eyes, then continued, “But we’re working on it. Even Hayden has agreed to pose for us.”
“So it’s not just men?” Corrie queried.
“Nope…well, mostly. Most of the women don’t want to have anything to do with being in it, but we convinced Hayden.”
Hayden rolled her eyes at Mackenzie. “You didn’t ‘convince’ me, Mack. You threatened and blackmailed me.”
Everyone laughed.
“What’s she holding over your head?”
“Mack, if you answer Corrie, you’ll die,” Hayden threatened.
Mackenzie held up her hands in capitulation. “My lips are sealed, but we do need at least one other guy. I’m pretty sure I’ve got all the others lined up.”
“I might know someone,” Daxton told Mack.
Her head whipped around so quickly it was comical. “Really? Who?”
“There’s a guy at work. His name is Wes and he works with me.”
“A Texas Ranger?” Corrie asked.
“Yeah. And a cowboy.”
“I vote yes,” Laine chimed in.
“You don’t even know what he looks like!” Mack exclaimed.
“I bet he’s hot. Is he hot, Dax?”
“I’m not sure about that. I’m not an expert of what’s hot and what’s not as far as you ladies go, but he is always getting hit on when we go to calls.”
“Oh yeah, he’s hot,” Corrie said decisively. “Hayden? Do you know him? Is he hot?”
“On a scale of one to ten? I’d say he’s at least a twelve,” the law enforcement officer sighed in a breathy voice.
Everyone laughed.
“Great, it’s a done deal. Daxton, get me his number and I’ll somehow get him on board. Laine, you’ll go with me for the shoot right? We can totally use the cowboy angle because none of the other guys are into that. Does he have a ranch? Yeah, I bet he does. Laine, we can go together and scope him out and see if he’s got any hot ranch hands. We need more eye candy in our life. I need to get with the photographer and set everyone’s sessions up, then talk to the printer and find out what the final schedule is going to be, and—”
Dax put his hand over Mack’s mouth and held up his glass. “Since we’re here to celebrate Corrie’s awesomeness and climbing-a-tree-like-a-monkey ability, I would like to propose a toast…to Corrie. You are an amazing woman who doesn’t let anything get her down. I admire your stubbornness and resilience. You are one tough chick and a perfect match for Quint. Welcome to our family.”
Corrie couldn’t see the men and women sitting around the table, but she knew they were all looking at her and Quint and smiling. She’d surprised herself in the forest, but she supposed the motivation to stay alive for Quint had been strong. She raised her glass and said in return, “I didn’t do it myself. I knew Quint…and you guys…were on your way. That you’d find me. That’s what let me keep going even when I was scared.” She took a breath and turned to where she knew Laine, Hayden, TJ, Conor, and Calder were sitting.
“I hope you guys find the person out there who was made just for you. Don’t give up, he or she is out there somewhere, and you’ll never know when you’ll meet them.”
“Lord is this getting mushy,” Hayden complained good naturedly.
“Thank you for being brave. For not letting those assholes get you down,” Quint said and leaned over and kissed Corrie on the side of the head. “I love you. You mean the world to me.”
Everyone sighed in contentment at witnessing the love between Quint and Corrie. She’d shown them all that just because a person had a disability, it didn’t mean they were helpless.
After clinking glasses and drinking their toast, talk turned back to the calendar, and other work related incidents.
Corrie snuggled into Quint and let the conversation roll over her head. She was content to sit with her new friends, and boyfriend, and soak in the goodness that surrounded them all. Life was good, and she was very very lucky.
* * *
Look for the next book in the Badge of Honor Series: Justice for Laine. Scheduled to be released in April 2016. This is a novella length story that will be included in the “Cowboy Justice” anthology…but will be available as a stand-alone story in May.
Shelter for Elizabeth is up in the Badge of Honor Series after Laine’s story…you met Elizabeth in Protecting Summer in the SEAL of Protection Series. She has since moved to Texas to get away from her horrible experience she can’t forget…and happens to run into a sexy firefighter who would never approve of the way she’s been fighting her demons…to be released in May 2016.
* * *
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Also by Susan Stoker
Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Series
Justice for Mackenzie
Justice for Mickie
Justice for Corrie (Mar 2016)
Justice for Laine (novella) (Apr 2016)
Shelter for Elizabeth
Justice for Boone (TBA)
Shelter for Adeline (TBA)
Justice for Sidney (TBA)
Shelter for Blythe (TBA)
Justice for Milena (TBA)
Shelter for Sophie (TBA)
Justice for Kinley (TBA)
Shelter for Promise (TBA)
Shelter for Koren (TBA)
Shelter for Penelope (TBA)
Delta Force Heroes Series
Rescuing Rayne (Feb 2016)
Assisting Aimee - Loosely related to DF
Rescuing Emily (July 2016)
Rescuing Harley (Nov 2016)
Rescuing Kassie (TBA)
Rescuing Casey (TBA)
Rescuing Wendy (TBA)
Rescuing Mary (TBA)
SEAL of Protection Series
Protecting Caroline
Protecting Alabama
Protecting Fiona
Marrying Caroline (novella)
Protecting Summer
Protecting Cheyenne
Protecting Jessyka
Protecting Julie (novella)
Protecting Melody
Protecting the Future
Beyond Reality Series
Outback Hearts
Flaming Hearts
Frozen Hearts
Writing as Annie George:
Stepbrother Virgin (erotic novella)
About the Author
New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Susan Stoker has a heart as big as the state of Texas where she lives, but this all American girl has also spent the last fourteen years living in Missouri, California, Colorado, and Indiana. She’s married to a retired Army man who now gets to follow her around the country.
She debuted her first series in 2014 and quickly followed that up with the SEAL of Protection Series, which solidified her love of writing and creating stories readers can get lost in.
If you enjoyed this book, or any book, please consider leaving a review. It’s appreciated by authors more than you’ll know.
For more information:
@Susan_Stoker
authorsusanstoker
www.StokerAces.com
[email protected]
