His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series)

by Tina Bass

  Krista woke up in her bed, not remembering how she got there, how long she had been there, or what time it was. But, the one thing she did know—she was feeling great! Stretching big, she raised her hands over her head and smiled, because not hurting was the best feeling in the world. Getting up, she padded barefoot into the kitchen where she saw a note on the bar. Kade! Her heart pounded with happiness. Grabbing it, she read what he had written.

  “Baby, I had to go to work this morning, but if you need me, call. I can be there in ten minutes. If I take a cruiser, I can be there in five. Do not hesitate to call me if you need anything. Kade.”

  He had underlined the word ‘anything’ three times and she just had to smile at that. Krista considered calling him, but thought he might be busy and she didn’t want to interrupt him if he was. So, instead, she decided to cut the grass. Her yard was way past needing to be mown. She ate a little, then changed into her yoga shorts and sports bra, slipped on her old shoes—the ones she only wore to cut the grass—grabbed her mp3 player, and went out the door.

  Kade pulled into her driveway and saw immediately what was going on. Surprise did not begin to cover what he was feeling. “What the hell does she think she’s doing?” he asked aloud to no one. He parked, got out of the truck and stalked toward her. Krista was just turning the lawnmower around to make another pass when she caught sight of Kade almost on top of her. She jumped and let go of the mower, which automatically shut it off. He stood there, knowing she was wearing ear buds, with the same music blasting, so loud she wouldn’t be able to hear him. When she let go of the mower and turned more completely to face him, she smiled up at him. He reached forward and yanked the ear buds out of her ears. “What the fuck?” He simply couldn’t believe she was out here mowing the grass.

  “What? What?” Krista asked, startled. Her heart sped up and she didn’t know if it was because he startled her or if it was how he looked. Damn, he was good-looking, standing there looking all macho-like, with his hands on his hips.

  “Krista,” he growled. She stood there looking so incredibly beautiful, staring up at him all wide-eyed and innocent. His eyes took the time to scan her body. Her very sexy little body, in very little clothing. These were clothes he could have her out of in ten seconds flat. When he said nothing else, she grabbed his hand.

  “Come on.” She tugged on him to her little front stoop, where she sat down, continuing to tug on his hand so he would sit down beside her. When Kade folded his tall body to sit next to her, she looked over at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but she got there first. “Don’t start yelling at me.” She sing-songed the words so sweetly, with a smile. He shut his mouth because that’s exactly what he had planned on doing. After her words, he bent forward, laid his arms on his legs and looked down at his boots.

  “Explain.” The one word was all he said and though he was still gruff, he managed to not growl. She took a deep breath. “Oh, shit,” he mumbled under his breath and he turned his head toward her.

  Spreading her arms wide, she beamed at him. “I woke up a little while ago and I feel great! Even better than I did the day after last week’s treatment. Which surprised me. I’ve dealt with this all my life. I get it that this is all new for you, but it’s not new for me. After each treatment, as soon as I start to feel better, I go right back to doing what I normally do. It doesn’t stop me. It can’t and I can’t let it. Please try and understand. My whole life, all I’ve ever wanted was to be normal. I can’t be normal and I’ll never have that. So, I have to be as normal as I can be.”

  “Krista, you were cutting the fuckin’ grass,” Kade spoke softly to her, almost as if the words hurt him to say them. He had to speak his mind, make her understand. But, he didn’t want to take her ‘normal’ away from her either, or make her think he didn’t get it.

  She looked out at the yard toward the lawnmower and then back at him. “It needed cutting,” she stated, logically.

  Kade rubbed his face with both of his hands. “I could have cut it for you.”

  “Why? I know how and I’m capable of doing it myself.” Krista protested, looking kind of confused about the whole thing and not very happy. Kade wasn’t sure if she was unhappy at him or the fact that the grass needed cutting. “Although…” She looked at the lawnmower like she wanted to blow it up and then looked back at him. “I really don’t like cutting the grass. Still, it needs to be done and I am capable of doing it even if I don’t like it.”

  “Yesterday was bad,” Kade said in a soft voice. “Really bad.”

  “Yes, it was,” she agreed with him. “But, today, it’s not.” He looked into her eyes and what he saw surprised him. No pain and no tiredness. Just beautiful blue eyes staring back at him. When he said nothing else, she bumped his shoulder with hers. “Come on in, and I’ll get us something to drink.” She smiled at him as she got up. When he turned to watch her, all he saw was that sexy ass, in those way too short shorts she had on. He growled to himself as he followed her inside. He walked into the kitchen behind her, and she had her back turned toward him, reaching up into the cabinets for glasses. Kade all of sudden grabbed her arm, swung her around, leaned down and put his lips to hers, kissing her.

  Krista froze for a heartbeat when Kade’s mouth met hers and she felt his tongue touch her lips. She parted her lips and his tongue slipped into her mouth. Waves of pleasure made Krista’s knees weak. He was kissing her!

  Kade moved his hand to the back of her head, tilted for a better angle, and deepened the kiss. She felt his hands run from the back of her neck, down past the back of her sports bra, then they hit skin and kept moving down her back. Swear for goodness, Krista felt sparkles of electricity running through her entire body at his gentle touch, and liquid pooled between her legs. Wow, that had never happened before!

  He cupped her bottom and lifted her, turning at the same time so Krista’s butt hit the counter. Kade moved her legs apart and stepped in between them, sliding her forward until her center hit him, never breaking the kiss. He could feel the heat from between her legs where it touched his upper thighs. When he finally pulled his mouth away from hers, he laid his forehead against hers. His breath was coming in harsh pants, and her breathing sounded similar.

  “Wow.” Krista managed to breathe out. Her whole body trembled. Nothing in her life had ever prepared her for a man like Kade. It felt so incredible, she didn’t know what to do next.

  “Yeah.” He completely agreed with her before his lips captured hers again. His big hand was still cradling her butt, pushing her core into him so she could feel his erection against her. It felt…so good! Amazing! Then he lifted his mouth from hers again, ending the kiss and pulled her closer to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her close to him. “Damn, baby,” he whispered into her hair.

  “I know,” she agreed again, still breathless as he rubbed his hands up and down her bare sides, from the bottom of her sports bra to the top of her shorts. “Is it always this good?” she questioned before her brain caught up with her mouth.

  Kade froze. What? What did she mean by, ‘is it always this good?’ Did she mean kissing or just kissing him? She was twenty-five years old. She had to have been kissed before! Hadn’t she? He felt as if he had to ask, had to know. “What did you just say?” Maybe he just heard her wrong. He moved so he could look into her face.

  “Kissing. Is kissing always this good? If it is, I’ve been missing out! Big time!” There was still a dreamy quality to her tone.

  “Baby, have you never been kissed before?” Kade asked the question, even though he wasn’t sure how he felt about that fact. I mean, she kissed good. Damn good. Too damn good for it to be a first kiss. Krista dropped her head and tried to push him back as she realized what her run away mouth had said, but he wouldn’t move. “Krista?” She still didn’t answer him, but just shook her head without raising it. He bent his knees to lower his body
, placing his hand under her chin to raise her face to his. “Have you never been kissed before?” This time she shifted her eyes to look over his shoulder and her whisper was so soft he had to strain to hear her.

  “No.” Just the one word.

  How in the hell could a woman, any woman, but especially this beautiful, sexy, sweet woman, live to be twenty-five and had never been kissed?

  “Baby, have you never been with a man before?” Instantly, he felt her body freeze. Krista started trying to push him away from her. He didn’t even budge, so she started slapping at his chest.

  “Move, move, move!” She chanted the word, running it together, and when he stepped back, she jumped down off the counter and started to walk away from him. He grabbed her arm.

  “Krista,” he called her name, but she jerked out of his grasp and took off. She made it to the living room before he grabbed her from behind. Picking her up, he walked over to the loveseat, and sat down with her on his lap. “Krista, baby, look at me.” She turned her head toward him, but wouldn’t meet his eyes. And then it came to him, and he knew. Someone had hurt her. The overwhelming rage Kade felt at that realization surprised him. He wanted to hunt down whoever had hurt her and kill the bastard with his bare hands. Kade wanted to hit the son-of-a-bitch ‘til he beat every breath from his body. Instead, he gently pushed her face to his chest and placed his mouth on the top of her head. “It’s okay, baby. You’re okay. I swear, baby, I will never hurt you.”

  “I know.” He heard her quiet whisper, and he gave her a little squeeze.

  “Can you talk to me?” He had to get her to tell him. He had to be sure.

  “What do you want to know?” she mumbled, her voice flat, but she kept her head on his chest.

  “Have you ever been with a man?” Please. Please don’t say it, he repeated in his head, over and over, like a mantra. Then he heard her answer, so softly, he almost missed it.

  “Not by choice.” His arms around her, squeezed tighter, holding her to him. He wanted to scream! He wanted to beat something! Or someone! He wanted to beat the someone who had hurt her until there was nothing left! Instead, he just cradled her as close and as tightly as he dared.

  Krista sat unmoving while he held her tight. Almost too tight. Was he going to leave now? Now that he knew, he couldn’t possibly want to be with her. Or around her. Or ever want to kiss her again. That kiss was perfect. Well, ‘those kisses,’ because he’d kissed her more than once. Kade had kissed her, and it was amazing, but now…what? What was he thinking and what would he do? He only sat and continued to hold her. She didn’t want it to end, but she had to know what he was feeling.

  “Irish?” She finally managed to say, her voice breaking. What could she possibly ask? She didn’t know. She felt so unsure.

  “I’m not leaving you. I’m not letting you go.” When she didn’t say anything else, he nudged her head up. When her eyes finally met his, he felt the need to explain to her. “Do you understand? I’m not letting you go.”

  Kade wanted her to know, needed her to know and to understand. He hated, fuckin’ hated, what had happened to her. Price was the name and face that kept running through his mind—the convict, the serial rapist he’d transported to prison on the same day he had met Krista. Everything Price bragged about, what he had done to woman after woman. It all kept running through his mind. He couldn’t stand the thought of any of that happening to his Krista. His? Damn straight, she was his! She might not know it yet, but she would in time. He would make damn sure she did.

  Krista sat staring into Kade’s eyes, eyes she just wished she could get lost in. She wanted to go back to that kiss, to before she had opened her mouth and messed everything up. Why? Why did she have to be a complete dork and say something as stupid as she’d never been kissed out loud? Now it was all ruined and she had ruined it. Like she always did. Kade just sat staring back at her, not saying a word. Then he moved and reached for his phone in his pocket. “Baby, I gotta call the station,” he explained to her.

  “Why?” she asked him.

  “I need to let them know I’m not coming back in today.” She jumped up and off his lap.

  “No.” She pleaded with him. “Please. Don’t stay because of that, because of me.”

  “Krista—” Kade was going to try and make her understand why he wanted to stay, but she interrupted him before he could say two words.

  “Please, Irish. It happened a long time ago and I’m fine. I’m the same person I was a moment ago when you kissed me. I’m still me.” She stressed, needing him to understand that she didn’t want to be treated differently. Not now, and definitely not by him. He had to see her as she was. A twenty-five-year-old woman who was able to take care of herself. He couldn’t see her as the fourteen-year-old girl who’d been broken and helpless. Kade stood and walked to where she’d been pacing back and forth in her tiny living room, and stopped her. He pulled her flush to his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head right over his heart, listening to his strong heartbeat.

  “Baby, I don’t want to leave you now,” he whispered into her hair.

  “Why did you come here?” she asked as she stepped back and looked up at him.

  “Why?” He didn’t understand the question she was asking him.

  “Why did you come here? Now? I mean, when you left work today? What were you planning on doing? Were you just stopping by to check on me? Or were you planning on coming here and then calling in and making up some excuse as to why you couldn’t go back to work?” She needed to know what his plans had been before her revelation. He had to tell her the truth. He grabbed her hands, one in each of his, and watched their entwined fingers.

  “I was just coming to check on you, to make sure you were feeling okay.” He looked her in her eyes. “And I wanted to see you.”

  She smiled, because yeah, she had wanted to see him too. “Then you did just that. You checked. I’m fine and you got to see me. Now you can go back to work knowing I’m okay.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “Yes. I want you to treat me just like you did…before.”

  He looked up at the ceiling and muttered, almost to himself, “Fine.” He tugged on her hands to bring her closer to him. Kade bent his knees and cupping her butt, he picked her up. When her face was even with his, he kissed her, long and deep. Lifting his mouth from her, Kade let her body slide down his until her feet hit the floor. He looked down into her eyes and stated matter-of-factly to her. “End of shift, I’m coming here.”

  Still breathing hard from the kiss, it was her turn to whisper, “Okay.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Krista was thinking about everything that had happened with Kade, him knowing what happened to her—but, not all, not even close. What amazed her was that every time he discovered a piece of her, he didn’t turn away. Heck, he wanted to stay with her instead of going back to work. She smiled. Part of her hated that Kade knew about her past, but part of her was…relieved. Relieved that he knew and accepted her. He’d even kissed her again before he left. Her smile grew just thinking of more kisses and maybe, just maybe, even more than that. Just thinking of ‘more’ with Kade sent a little shiver through her body and her smile got even bigger. So, she and her big smile popped her ear buds back in her ears, hit play on her mp3 player, and went out to finish cutting the dang grass. She loved to look at the grass, walk barefoot through it, but really, really, did not like cutting it.

  Kade was sitting at his desk gazing at a form in front of him, doing absolutely nothing. He’d been doing nothing for the past hour and a half. He had tried to work, but reading the same line on the same form over and over was not getting him anywhere. Sitting back in his chair, he laid his head back and stared up at the ceiling. His thoughts kept taking him back to earlier in the day. Someone had hurt Krista and if he wasn’t mistaken, and he
seriously doubted he was, that had been her one and only sexual experience. Someone took that from her without her permission. Fuck, someone stole that from her. He wanted to stay with her, wanted to comfort her, wanted—hell, he just wanted her.

  His thoughts took him to when he was sitting beside her outside on her little stoop. When she’d gotten up to go into the house, he’d gotten a perfect view of that sweet ass in those way too short shorts she wore, and he’d lost it. All he could think about was having a taste of her, getting his mouth on those sexy lips of hers. Then he started thinking about how he’d treated her before the kiss. He had just walked, or more like stalked up to her, and spun her around. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d just smacked him upside the head. No wonder she’d wanted him to leave. “I’m a dick.” Kade sat and mumbled to himself, felling like a piece of shit. He still wanted her. Hell, he’d been wanting her from the minute he had laid eyes on her, wanted her so bad he could damn near taste it. And what did he do? He left her, just walked right out the door, like everything was fine and fuckin’ dandy. “I’m an asshole dick,” Kade mumbled to himself again. Krista. My sweet, sexy, beautiful Krista, he thought.

  “Fuck!” he yelled out as he sat up in his chair and slammed his fist on his desk. And, right then, his captain stepped into his office.

  “Kade?” Captain Wells narrowed his eyes at Kade. “Is there a problem, son? You’re not working on any cases, are you?” Kade knew that if he didn’t want his retirement postponed, he wasn’t supposed to get involved in any new or ongoing cases.

  “No, sir, no cases. Just paper work,” Kade answered his Captain as his eyes darted to his desk that still had uncompleted forms and files covering every available space.

  “So, it’s not a case that’s got you all riled up? And everybody hates paper work. So, it’s not that either,” Captain Wells stated flatly, and then stared at him, saying nothing more. He just stood there and waited Kade out. Kade knew he had to say something. He knew Cap would stand there all day just waiting him out.