by Susan Stoker
“Yes. I want to show you off.”
“That’s not quite what I meant.” Beth chuckled nervously. “I just thought that—”
“It’s fine. I’ll see if we can set it up this coming weekend. All right?”
“Yeah. But can I ask a favor?”
“Anything.”
“If I start to lose it, will you take me into your bedroom or something? I don’t want them seeing me that way. I mean, they probably all know about me already…” Her voice trailed off as if asking for confirmation. When Cade nodded, she continued, “But as you know, it’s one thing to know about my agoraphobia and it’s another for them to see it in person, especially the first time I meet them. Sometimes I get nervous around a lot of people, and even though I won’t be outside, every now and then I still panic.”
“Beth, they’re all medics. And the cops may not have seen a panic attack, but they’ve seen much worse in their line of work. It’s not going to faze them.”
“But they haven’t seen me have one.”
“Okay, I promise to take you into another room if it happens. But I think you’re going to be fine. Within ten minutes of them being here, you’re going to think you’ve known them forever.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so. But just remember, you’re my girl—and I’ll tell you right now, if any of those yahoos even thinks about stealing you away, they’ll have me to deal with.”
Beth giggled and rolled her eyes at Cade. It sounded as though he was completely serious, but she thought she was pretty safe from his friends hitting on her.
Cade hugged her again and leaned in so his lips were at her ear. “In case I forget to tell you later, I like having you in my space, sweetheart. I like everything about you. Knowing you want to meet my friends and get to know them? Icing on the cake.”
Beth shivered as his breath caused goosebumps to rise on her arms. Darn it, she always reacted to him that way. It was amazing and somewhat embarrassing at the same time. “If they’re your friends, I know I’ll like them.”
“As long as you like me better, I’m good with that.”
Cade kissed her again, this one inching up to and past second base before he pulled back, taking a deep breath. Beth could feel how much he liked kissing her because his erection was pressing against her stomach.
“God, you make me lose my head. Come on, let’s get you settled. Pull out your laptop and I’ll put in a movie.”
Beth smiled and did as he suggested, reaching for her bag from where she was sitting on the couch, while Cade fiddled with the TV to put in a DVD. She was still smiling thirty minutes later when she looked over and saw him fast asleep next to her. He’d put his hand on her leg as he’d settled in beside her, and it was still there, limp and heavy against her. Her smile grew bigger as she turned her attention back to her laptop and the firewall she was trying to break.
CHAPTER 12
The following weekend, Cade welcomed all of his friends from Station 7, as well as some of the law enforcement officers he’d told Beth about. Dax and Mack had been able to come, along with Hayden and Conor. After a few minutes of introductions as each arrived, his friends fell into their usual routines, teasing and joking around. It wasn’t long before Cade saw the stress lines smooth off Beth’s face and she began to relax enough to tease them back.
“I am not a circus freak to be brought out to perform tricks for your amusement,” Beth said with a completely straight face.
Driftwood looked shocked for a second, but when Beth couldn’t hold back the grin that had been threatening to appear, he sighed in relief. “Shit, woman, I thought you were serious!”
Hayden and the rest of the group howled with laughter.
Penelope smirked at Driftwood, but didn’t say a word.
Beth felt sorry for Cade’s friend now. “I could totally hack into your online dating site and get the personal email addresses of all the women you’ve flagged…but then you’d find out that half of them are at least ten years older or younger than their profiles said, a fourth are actually men, and the other fourth are already married. I don’t understand why you’re even using an online site. You’re hot. Are you really telling me that you can’t find a date?”
“He can find a date; it’s just that he’s a one-night kinda guy, and he’s already tapped most of the women he knows. So to avoid having them get the wrong idea and think he’d actually date them for more than one night, he’s trying to find a new pool of women,” Taco helpfully explained.
Driftwood did actually look a bit guilty, but he didn’t deny his friend’s justification of his need for an online dating service. “I’m not the only one who has a profile, just so you know. What’s the saying, ‘those that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’?”
Crash piped up, defending himself. “I only went on that one time because we were bored on that shift. I didn’t actually answer any of the messages I got. I like to check out my dates in person before I decide to spend the evening with them.”
“Dating? Is that what you’re calling what you do now?” Chief asked, smirking, looking relaxed with a beer in his hand, his hip leaning against the wall.
Squirrel cleared his throat, and Beth smiled at him. He didn’t look like any of the other guys on the squad. His tall, skinny frame and glasses made him seem as if he should be working alongside her on the computer rather than running into burning buildings. “Technically it is a date. He meets them at a bar, pays for their drinks, and food if they want it, then they go to her place, have intercourse, and the night ends.”
Beth suppressed a giggle at the word “intercourse.” Squirrel totally should be buried in a company working on a computer somewhere.
Moose choked back a laugh and slapped Squirrel on the back. “You’re so right, my man. That’s a date in my book.”
Cade decided to cut in. Now seemed like a good time to change the subject before his squad got into a deeper discussion about what constituted an official date. “Just because my girlfriend’s a computer genius doesn’t mean you now all have a get-out-of-jail-free card. Behave yourselves.”
Everyone laughed and went back to their individual conversations. Beth leaned into Cade and whispered, “I’m having a good time.”
Cade would’ve laughed, but he knew how hard this afternoon had been for her. He’d picked her up the day before and brought her to his house. They’d spent yesterday afternoon getting ready for the barbeque. Cade had run out to the store to get last-minute supplies and when he’d gotten home, Beth had finished cleaning the kitchen.
He could tell she was keyed up because she’d had a hard time sitting still. She’d finally settled down with her computer after her new friend Tex gave her some “homework.” As much as he’d wanted to take her up to his bed and spend the night making love to her, it still hadn’t felt like the right time, and she’d admitted she wasn’t ready. So Cade had gone to bed by himself, leaving Beth muttering to herself as she tapped away on her laptop.
It was the oddest relationship Cade had ever been in, but it seemed right to take it slow with Beth. She was very important to him and the last thing he wanted was to rush her into something she wasn’t ready for.
Although their make-out sessions were getting more and more…involved, for lack of a better word, he still held back from taking her all the way. They’d rounded second base and were well on their way to third before Cade had pulled back.
But he knew in his gut their time was coming. She’d whispered in his ear just that morning that she thought she was ready for him. But he didn’t want her to think she was ready, he wanted her to know she was—and to desire him with a passion that couldn’t be denied.
She hadn’t panicked even once since his friends had come over. She’d greeted them as if she’d known them her entire life. No one commented on the tight hold she had on his hand and they hadn’t teased him at all for being connected at the hip to his new girlfriend.
He picked up her hand to
kiss her fingers—and then froze, gripping her fingers tight so she couldn’t pull away from him. “What happened?” he asked in concern, frowning down at the obvious burn marks on her fingers.
“Oh, it’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to me if you’re hurt,” Cade retorted, then repeated, “What happened?”
Beth glanced around and bit her lip before reluctantly answering him. “I was cooking the other day and grabbed the pan, forgetting it’d be hot.”
Cade didn’t say anything for a beat, sensing that she was lying to him. “Do they hurt?” he finally asked.
She shook her head. “Not so much anymore. They blistered about a day after it happened, but they’re obviously gone now.”
Bringing her hand up to his mouth, he gently kissed each finger. They were red and if they’d blistered, they’d most likely been second degree burns. It had to have hurt like a bitch. Cade hated, absolutely hated, that she’d been hurt and he hadn’t been there to care for her.
“I take it you’re not Betty Crocker,” Moose drawled sarcastically.
It was enough to break the tension in the room.
“Uh, no.” Beth looked up at Cade.
Realizing by the furrow in her brow that she was embarrassed to talk about the burns, Cade let it drop. He smiled at her, remembering the fried chicken she’d been trying to make the day they’d met.
As if she could read his mind, Mackenzie asked, “How did you guys meet?”
The guys were mostly watching the football game, and it gave the four women, Beth, Penelope, Hayden and Mackenzie, a chance to girl-talk for a bit.
“I almost set my kitchen on fire and he showed up to put it out.”
“Seriously? Wow, that’s amazing,” Mackenzie gushed. “That’s so much cooler than how I met Daxton! I literally ran into him at a charity event I was hosting, then I got pulled over by TJ—have you met TJ yet?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, well, he’s hot too, but I got pulled over by TJ, and Daxton was in the car with him. He didn’t realize it was me until I’d already gotten my warning and left. He illegally got my phone number from TJ and called me. It’s a good thing, because I totally never would’ve had the nerve to call him if I knew he was there and I probably would’ve died of embarrassment at the same time. Seriously, it’s cliché, but it’s all good because I love him a whole lot and he saved my life.”
Beth just stared at the other woman. She was shorter and curvier than her five-eight, but she had the confidence of someone at least six feet tall. She liked her immediately. Penelope had warned her beforehand that Mackenzie had a tendency to ramble, and she certainly hadn’t lied.
“Cade said something about that. Saved your life?”
“Uh-huh.” Mackenzie nodded. “Do you remember Jordan Charles Staal?” At Beth’s blank look, Mackenzie waved her hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter. Anyway, this guy was pissed at the Rangers and stole me from work. Daxton and the rest of the guys found me before he could do any lasting harm.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t quite as easy as that,” Hayden said, exasperated. “But that’s the gist of it.”
“But you’re all right now?” Beth asked, concerned.
“Oh yeah. It sucked, but whatever. He’d dead, I’m not, and I get to have Daxton in my bed every night. What’s better than that?”
“Oh good Lord, please don’t talk about Dax and bed in front of me,” Hayden complained. “I have to see him on an almost daily basis.”
“You just need your own man,” Penelope told her friend. “It’ll be different then.”
“I’m not sure that’s in the cards,” the deputy said completely seriously.
“Uh, what?” Beth broke in, feeling comfortable with the group. “You’ve got beautiful red hair, you’re stacked and built…what are you talking about?”
“I’m one of the guys,” Hayden returned immediately. “And I wouldn’t want to date any of my fellow LEOs anyway. Too weird to see him at work and then go home to him as well. Besides, men in general don’t see me as female. I wear my uniform for most of my waking hours. I’m too busy to date. What else…?”
“Hey, you never know,” Mackenzie broke in. “One day you’ll be going about your business then BAM, there will be a guy who falls hard and fast. You’ll be in a relationship before you know it.”
Hayden rolled her eyes and took a small sip of the beer she’d been nursing. “Being around you is exhausting sometimes, Mack.”
Mackenzie beamed as if Hayden had just complimented her. “Thanks!”
They all laughed. Mackenzie was like Teflon—words just bounced right off of her and didn’t seem to faze her at all.
“Anyone want something else to drink?” Beth asked, standing up.
“I’m good.”
“No, thanks.”
“Nope.”
Beth smiled at the women and headed into the kitchen, grinning all the way. She couldn’t believe she’d been nervous about meeting Cade’s friends. So far they were great and hadn’t made her feel awkward at all. Besides some basic questions about what she did for a living and commiserating about her agoraphobia in passing, they hadn’t seemed to care she wasn’t like most people.
“You okay?”
Beth turned and grinned at Cade. “I’m great. Thank you for tonight. I love your friends.”
“I knew you would.”
Cade held his arms out and Beth snuggled into him. “This is the first time since I moved to San Antonio that I feel like I really made the right decision. I’ve missed having friends.” She looked up at Cade and repeated, “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, sweetheart. It’s my pleasure. And I have ulterior motives.”
Beth arched her eyebrows at him. “Ulterior motives?”
“Yup. I figure if you like my friends, you’ll be more likely to keep me around.”
She rolled her eyes then, and put her head back against him. “Whatever. And for the record, I’m keeping you.”
“Good.”
They stood in each other’s arms for a while, enjoying the moment. Finally, when Dax called out, “Where’s my beer, Cade?” they broke apart reluctantly.
Cade kissed Beth quickly, but with feeling. “Come on, we can’t keep the vultures waiting, they’ll be circling for blood if I don’t get back out there.”
Beth didn’t think she’d smiled so much in years. The rest of the night was just as easy and fun. Each of the women told her they couldn’t wait to hang out some more, and the men had been equally as enthusiastic when they’d left.
All in all, it was a great start to her new life. Beth didn’t know what she had to thank for it, but she would hold on to it for as long as she could.
* * *
A week after his friends and coworkers had visited and they’d stuffed their faces with as much barbeque as they could stand, Beth and Cade were getting ready to head out. Cade had a three-day shift coming up where he only got eight hours off before he had to work again. Usually when this round of shifts came, Beth went back to her apartment, since all Cade did when he got home was sleep until he had to get to the station again.
“You can stay here, I don’t mind.”
“I appreciate it, Cade, but I’d feel more comfortable at my place this time.”
“Okay, but I hope you know the day is coming when I’ll want you here all the time.”
Beth looked at Cade in shock. “It’s only been like two months since we met.”
“And?”
“And don’t you think it’s too early?”
“No.” When Beth just continued to stare at him, Cade went on. “Beth, where do you think this thing between us is going? Do you think I’m just stringing you along until we make love, then I’m going to dump you?”
She shook her head, biting her bottom lip nervously.
“Right. I’m not proposing, sweetheart. But I like waking up to you in my home. I like working alongside you in the kitchen. I like cuddling
with you and I certainly like the way you feel in my arms.”
“We haven’t had sex yet.”
“I’m well aware of that. And we will. Soon. But I don’t feel the way I do about you because of sex. It’s because of you.”
“I…I feel the same way. But I’m still having a hard time believing it.”
Cade smiled and kissed Beth’s forehead. “I’ll still be here when you do believe it, sweetheart. Let’s get you home so I can get to work on time. The guys’ll give me shit if I’m late.”
Cade loved the blush that bloomed over her cheeks. He could guess what she was thinking; that they’d think he was late because they’d been having sex.
He reached for Beth’s shoulder bag that held her laptop and cursed when the strap broke and it tumbled to the floor, spilling the contents everywhere.
“Shit! I’m sorry. Is your computer going to be okay?” Cade asked fretfully as he crouched down to help her pick up her things. Amongst the pens and the sticky pads she was forever scribbling on, there were three packs of matches and two disposable lighters. He held one up and teased, “You take up smoking and not tell me?”
He frowned when Beth didn’t answer him, but instead snatched the lighter out of his hand and stuffed it back into her bag. She stood up, holding her case in front of her defensively. “No.”
She didn’t elaborate and Cade hurried to soothe her, not wanting to piss her off. “Okay, no big deal. You ready to go? You have your overnight bag?”
Beth nodded and gestured to her small gym bag sitting at the base of the stairs. He really wanted her to unpack her things and leave some of her stuff here so she didn’t have to continue to carry it all back and forth, but that would come in time, too.
Figuring she wasn’t used to others being nosy and questioning her about her things, he merely grabbed her overnight bag and came back to her. Taking a gentle hold of her elbow, he steered her out of his house. As soon as his door was locked, he shifted so he could hold her hand, walked toward his truck, helped her into it, and headed for her place.
