by Susan Stoker
“And the freak-out?”
Cade sighed and pulled back a fraction so she was looking into his eyes. “You freaked out, but even knowing it was likely, you didn’t stop me from doing what I needed to do.”
“No one else was around to do it.”
“I get that, but you should know, if you’d told me you couldn’t handle it and asked me not to leave you…I wouldn’t have.”
“Cade!” Beth exclaimed in shock.
He shrugged. “It’s true. You don’t realize this yet, but all you have to do is crook that little finger of yours and I’ll come running.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you. That woman needed you more than me. I knew in my heart of hearts that I was safe in your truck. Even if my brain sometimes forgets and zones out on me, I know you and Pen wouldn’t let anyone get me.”
“Damn straight.”
“I still don’t like that you had to see me like that. I want you to see me as any other woman.”
“Too bad. I don’t see you as any other woman.”
Beth’s gaze dropped from his and she tried to pull away. He wouldn’t let her and tightened his hold.
“You could never be any other woman, Beth. You’ve taught yourself something that people typically take years of schooling to understand. You’ve helped Penelope deal with what happened to her and I know she’s doing as well as she is in part because of you. And now that I think about it, you’re probably doing stuff behind the scenes that neither of us know about when it comes to her, aren’t you?”
Beth didn’t respond, but she could feel the heat bloom in her cheeks.
“Yup, I knew it. I don’t want to know what it is, but thank you. She’s settled down a bit now that she doesn’t constantly have to fight off the tabloids and crazy stalker people who only want to get a glimpse of the Army Princess.”
“Stupid-ass nickname.”
“Agreed. As I was saying, yeah, you freaked out. But you reached down inside and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps. I liked that. If you haven’t noticed, I like you, Beth. Now can I kiss you? Please?”
“I don’t know much about you.”
Cade sighed in mock-exasperation. “If I tell you more about me, will you let me kiss you then?”
“Maybe.” Beth smiled to take the sting out of her words. Oh, she wanted this man’s kiss, but he was fun to tease, and she really did want to get to know him better. Locking lips with a man she’d so recently met, even if he was the brother of one of her closest friends, wasn’t something she felt comfortable with. Talking to him over the Internet was different from hearing about his life from his own two lips.
“I’m assuming you’re not working today?” Cade asked, letting go and leaning back into the corner of the couch.
“No, I have the day off,” Beth told him, and settled herself into the other corner, curling her legs up underneath her. She was still a little shaky from everything that had happened, but surprisingly she was feeling pretty good, all things considered.
“So, what do you want to know?”
“Everything,” Beth replied immediately.
“I think that’ll take too long,” Cade laughed. “Let’s see if I can’t condense it a bit. You know Penelope is my sister, she’s two years younger than me and we’ve always been close.”
“No sibling rivalry?”
“Not really. She tagged along behind me, and because she wasn’t a pain, it was cool. She was a huge tomboy and could actually outplay a lot of my friends growing up. We were both sad when I went off to high school and she was still in middle school.”
“That’s unusual. My brother is three years older than me, and while we’re close now, he didn’t want anything to do with me when we were in school,” Beth observed.
“I know. I’m not sure why, but we pushed each other to do better,” Cade told her, relaxing against the cushions, seemingly not embarrassed at all about his close relationship with his sister. “When I joined the track team, Penelope worked extra hard to make the varsity squad right along with me when she was a freshman. Instead of feeling like she was stifling me, I felt like she had my back, and I certainly had hers.”
“I sense a story there.”
“Observant little thing, aren’t you?”
“I’m not little,” Beth protested.
“No, you’re not. You’re perfect.” Not giving her a chance to disagree, Cade continued, “There was this chick I was hot for my senior year. All she had to do was smile at me and I would’ve done anything she asked. She didn’t really notice me until I became state champion at the end of my junior year. Come that August, she was all over me, and I was thrilled. I knew I was gonna get—excuse my language here—some hot pussy, and couldn’t wait to get in there.”
Beth laughed, as Cade had meant her to. Watching her relax even more made him feel like he could scale mountains. If he could make Beth forget what had happened, even for a couple of minutes, it seemed like a huge hurdle he’d climbed.
“Well, Penelope heard this chick and her buddies gossiping in the locker room one day. Apparently, they had some sort of sick bet going about who could get pregnant first. They’d decided that they wanted babies, and getting child support from the unlucky daddies was an added bonus. They had no desire to get married, but getting all the cute baby shit from family and friends and being able to tote their adorable babies around to get attention sounded like the perfect life plan to them.”
Beth made a gagging noise in the back of her throat. “Seriously? I mean, I know I’m younger than you and all, but really? Most girls I knew in high school were doing everything they could to keep from getting knocked up. That sounds completely far-fetched.”
“I agree. I didn’t believe it either. Who would? It was one of the worst fights me and Penelope ever had. She told me what she’d overheard and I didn’t want to listen to her. I was too caught up in trying to get some.”
“Darn teenage hormones.”
“Exactly.”
“So, what happened? I’m assuming there’s not a teenage Cade running around in the world?”
“Hell no. I stopped to really think about it for a second. Penelope wasn’t the sort to lie to me. I continued to flirt with this chick, but eventually the fact that I wasn’t coming to heel soon enough for her made her look elsewhere. She wanted to win the bet and be the first to get pregnant, and since I was dragging my feet, she moved on to easier prey. The quarterback ended up being the lucky father. I heard she had the baby the summer after we graduated.”
“Pen obviously forgave you.”
“She made me work for it, but yeah. She still holds it over my head. I love her though. It almost killed me when she disappeared.” Cade knew he was treading on shaky ground, he didn’t want what he was going to say to bring up her own kidnapping, but wanted to make sure Beth understood his next point. “I saw news reports about some missing soldiers before the Army contacted us to let us know Penelope was one of them. They must’ve had some sort of advance warning what ISIS was going to do, because the very next day the first video was broadcast of her reading that damn manifesto.”
“What about your parents?”
“What about them?”
“I don’t remember seeing or hearing much from them while she was gone.”
Cade sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, but they’re more the type to sit at home and wring their hands in consternation. They did everything I asked them to do, but they aren’t the take-charge types.”
“And you are.”
“I am,” Cade agreed.
Beth’s eyes were wide in her face, but she didn’t comment further.
He continued, “I would move heaven and earth to protect my sister. I emailed and called anyone and everyone in the media and government I could find contact information for, I plastered social media with her plight. She wasn’t some pretty woman on TV to me. She was my sister. My flesh and blood. My parents did what they could, but I wouldn’t stop until the P
resident himself did something to try to get her back.”
“And you did it. They went in to get her.”
“They did. It wasn’t easy. I spent a lot of sleepless nights wondering where she was and what she was going through, but honestly, I was lucky.”
“Lucky?”
“Yeah. There are so many people out there who never know what happened to their loved one. Kids disappear. Teenagers run away and are never heard from again. Adults disappear off the face of the Earth and are never found. Bones might be discovered, but never identified. I’m lucky. I got Penelope back.”
“But she’s not the same.” Beth’s words were whispered now.
“No, she’s not. But you know what? I don’t give a shit. She’s still my sister and I love her as much today as I ever have. Everything in this life changes us. Every experience we have, has the ability to fundamentally alter our path in life. It’s how you deal with those changes that’s important.”
“What if you can’t deal?”
“I sure as hell hope you aren’t talking about yourself, sweetheart. Because from where I’m sitting, you’re dealing exceptionally well.”
“I’m not.”
“You are. Shit, Beth. You’re working full time. You taught yourself some seriously tough computer code. You don’t sit in here wallowing in self-pity or huddled into a ball. Yeah, you have a hard time going outside, but you don’t hide from it. You grab hold of my sister, and now me, and do it with your teeth clenched. That takes guts. Guts a lot of people don’t have. You have no idea how strong you are. Don’t overlook how far you’ve come.”
Ignoring his words about her, Beth commented, “Pen’s lucky to have you.”
“I’m the one lucky to have her,” Cade countered. “Seriously, she’s worked her butt off. She followed me into the fire service, then wanted to make more of a difference in the world, so she joined the Army Reserves. She loved it, but in the last few years, it was getting old being sent overseas. She was already planning on leaving, but the whole ISIS thing solidified it for her.”
“I can imagine. You never wanted to do anything else?”
“No. I love what I do. No two days on the job are the same. We might have a grass fire, automobile accident and a heart attack on the same day. The next day we might have to help deliver a baby. I love helping people. It’s what I do.”
“It’s dangerous,” Beth observed.
Cade shrugged. “Not really. I mean, yeah, there are times when a building is on fire and there’s a missing person we have to go in and rescue. But for the most part it’s more about the human side of things. Holding someone’s hand as they’re lying on the ground bleeding. Comforting a husband as his wife is having a seizure. I just like feeling what I do helps others in some small way.” Realizing his words might be making Beth feel bad, he quickly tried to lighten up the conversation. “So…what’s your favorite color?”
“What?”
“Your favorite color? We’ve talked a lot about heavy shit…how about if we get to the nitty-gritty. I don’t think I can date someone who favors the color black over everything else.”
“I didn’t realize we were dating,” Beth said a bit snarkily.
“Oh, we’re dating, sweetheart. You don’t think I get to the dugout with just any girl, do you?”
“Get to the dugout? What are you talking about?”
Cade chuckled. “Holding hands…the dugout. I tried to kiss you tonight, but you weren’t having it. So we aren’t at first base yet…we’re just in the dugout.”
Beth rolled her eyes at Cade. He was hysterical, but she didn’t think egging him on was in her best interest. She steered the conversation back to her favorite color. “I’m tempted to say black just to throw you off, but I’d be lying. Blue. You?”
“Blue. And I’m not just saying that to suck up to you. Food?”
“Pasta. Preferably ramen noodles. I love those things.”
“The cheap ones in the rectangle package? You know they’re bad for you, right?”
“Don’t care. Being cheap is just an added bonus.”
“Hummm, okay, pasta. I can live with that. I like a good steak.”
“Medium rare?”
Cade smiled, loving their banter. “Is there any other way to cook it?”
“Nope. Okay, let’s see…music?”
“Country.”
“Ugh, I knew there had to be something about you I didn’t like,” Beth told him, keeping a straight face.
“Oh come on. I’d get kicked out of the state if I didn’t like country.” Cade gave her a pouty look.
Beth laughed. “Oh good Lord, don’t give me that face. That was the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. I’ll let you listen to country, but if you ever start listening to rap, I’ll have to break up with you.”
“See? Even you admit we’re dating. You can’t break up with me if we aren’t dating in the first place.”
Beth rolled her eyes at him again. “And if ‘Call Me Maybe’ comes on, it’s imperative that it gets turned up as loud as it can go so I can lip-sync to it.”
“Have you seen that video—”
“The one of the soldiers in Iraq imitating the cheerleaders who lip-synched it?”
“Yup.”
“Oh my God, yes. It’s one of my favorites. I have it bookmarked. Sometimes I slip it into code for assholes so it pops up when they least expect it on their computers.”
Cade laughed until his sides hurt. “You don’t!”
“I do. It’s either that or the song from Frozen.” She put a hand on her heart and dramatically threw her head back, singing, “Let it gooooooooooo.”
They giggled together, imagining the look on someone’s face as the song popped up on their computer in the middle of a porn video or something else, utterly unexpected.
“You crack me up, Beth.”
She smiled over at the man sitting on her couch. It was hard to believe she just met him a week ago. She’d heard Penelope talking about her brother in the past, but never expected to have this…connection with him, or any man. It was as if she’d known him for years rather than only days.
“You want to stay for dinner?” The words popped out before Beth could call them back.
“Yes.” Cade’s answer was immediate and heartfelt.
“I figure it’s the least I can do after today.”
“No. Today has nothing to do with it. You don’t owe me anything. Ask me to stay because you want to get to know me better. Ask me to stay because you want me to, not because you think you should. Ask me to stay because you want to get a good-night kiss at the end of our date, not out of any obligation you think you have to me or my sister.”
Beth bit her lip, but powered through her shyness. “Will you stay for dinner, Cade? I’d like to get to know you better.”
“I’d love to. Thank you for asking.”
CHAPTER 6
Beth clacked away on her keyboard, occasionally looking over at Cade, who was fast asleep on the couch next to her. They’d had a wonderful dinner. She’d made a bachelor casserole: pasta, cream of mushroom soup, ground buffalo, sour cream, and cheese. It was easy and relatively fast. And he’d been right; the buffalo tasted just like beef, but was healthier.
They’d talked more about their likes and dislikes, and Beth couldn’t remember laughing more since she’d left California. After a while, Cade had asked if she’d show him some of what it was she did on the web.
So she’d pulled out her laptop and proceeded to give him an introduction to the Dark Web, trying to explain a bit about how the good guys worked, and what made a bad guy a bad guy. To simplify things, she used the analogy of black-hat versus white-hat-wearing cowboys in old TV shows and movies. They both might be outlaws, but the white hat guys were actually trying to do good. Cade admitted that most of it went over his head, but he’d enjoyed watching her fingers fly over the keyboard as she worked the code scrolling down the screen.
Eventually he’d asked if s
he minded if he read while she worked. At the shake of her head, he’d pulled out his cell and opened up his reading app. He’d fallen asleep thirty minutes ago, his phone almost falling on his face as he drifted off.
Sitting next to each other, doing their own thing but enjoying spending time together, was new to Beth. She’d never had a boyfriend in high school or college who’d enjoyed hanging out and doing nothing with her. Hell, she’d never had a boyfriend content to lounge next to her and read while she worked. It was crazy, but the kind of crazy Beth could get used to.
Cade had his head resting on the back of her couch and his shoeless feet stretched out in front of him. His jeans pulled taut against his legs and crotch, allowing Beth to see the outline of his equipment with no problem. He was a big man, but for once in her life that didn’t scare her. Oh, the act of actually having sex with him made her have second thoughts, but his size didn’t.
Being six feet tall meant he was taller than her and could help protect her against someone who might want to hurt her, and Beth couldn’t help but admit that was a big part of the draw. She wasn’t so shallow before being kidnapped, but she figured that was now a part of her psyche and she wouldn’t feel bad about it.
Cade’s arms were muscular; they’d have to be in order to haul around the fire hoses he’d talked about earlier. He’d explained some of the physical things they’d had to do to pass the fitness test and what they did in order to stay fit. Being a firefighter wasn’t just about breaking down doors and hauling a hose inside a burning building. They had to lift, stretch, climb, and sometimes even run, all while wearing their safety clothes and gear.
Before she’d gotten distracted, Cade had told her about the annual charity stair climb they participated in at the beginning of September each year. To honor the firefighters and police personnel who had perished in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, firefighters around the country climbed a total of one hundred and ten flights of stairs, the exact number of flights in the World Trade Center buildings. They wore all their turnout gear, which weighed at least forty pounds, just as the firefighters on that fateful day had. Beth wanted to support the event, and if she couldn’t physically be there, at least she could donate money.
