Carrie’s voice lowered. “Your ex was here, all worked up and tossing threats around. She said she’d already picked Lynn up from school, but she wouldn’t tell me where she was and I’m scared that maybe she left her in the car. And I’m worried about her riding with her mom behind the wheel when she’s pissed off.”
“Fuck!” I shoved through the doors and ran towards my truck. “Who was with Jenna when she accosted you?”
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Nico bit out from behind me.
“Her boyfriend.” Carrie’s answer wasn’t a surprise since Jenna didn’t have many close female friends. “But how’d you know she wasn’t alone?”
“Someone already called it in. You’ve got two squad cars headed your way.”
“Crap.” Her voice dropped down to a whisper when she continued, “What do you want me to say when they get here?”
“You tell them exactly what happened and that you want to press charges against both of them.”
“Leo,” she sighed. “She’s Lynn’s mom. She might go to jail, and it’d be my fault.”
“It wouldn’t be anyone’s fault but her own.” I jerked my head towards Nico’s vehicle, parked right next to mine. “I’m sending my partner to Jenna’s house. Hopefully that’s where they’re headed so he can pick Lynn up and take her to my parents’ place. I want her somewhere safe and out of this mess Jenna’s created.”
Nico heard what I told Carrie and gave me a nod before climbing in his car and taking off. I wasn’t far behind him, but we headed in opposite directions when we pulled out of the parking lot.
“The cops just got here.” Carrie’s whisper pulled my attention back to the phone as I raced down the street with my siren blaring. “You’re absolutely, positively certain you want me to tell them the full story?”
“Give me a quick rundown of what the full story entails.”
“They stormed into my office, she made some threats, he got pissed off when I hinted that she might want to cheat on him with you if you remained single, she dragged him out of there after pushing me, and then they took off.”
“She threatened you?” I growled.
“Yeah.”
“Put her hands on you?”
“Yeah.”
My jaw clenched so tight I was surprised my teeth didn’t turn into dust. I’d been pissed at Jenna before, but never as much as this. Not even when I found out she’d been cheating on me. Hurting me was one thing; going after Carrie and putting Lynn at risk was a whole other thing. “Then it’s a credible threat. Charges can be filed. Tell the officers the truth so they can get the ball rolling before I get there. It’ll give Nico cause to get Lynn out of the house before they arrive to arrest Jenna and the douchebag.”
“Okay.” With her easy agreement once she understood how pressing charges would help protect my baby girl, I knew the boom had done me right and led me to my perfect match. If I hadn’t already known I was falling in love with Carrie, I would have realized it then.
“Hold on just a little longer, Carrie. I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
“I know you can, darlin’. You wanna keep me on the line until I get there? That way you only have to tell the story once.”
“Yes, please.” Her voice broke again, and it took all my willpower not to punch my fist through my windshield.
“I’m going to switch you to speakerphone so I can haul ass on my way to you.”
“Okay, but don’t drive too fast. Be safe.”
Fuck. Carrie was so damn sweet that even while freaked the fuck out about the shit my ex just pulled, she still worried about me getting into an accident. About my daughter being safe and happy. Come hell or high water, I was going to spend the rest of my life getting that sweetness from her. Doing whatever it took so she never had reason to regret giving it to me and my baby girl.
I kicked my speed up another five miles per hour, and it shaved another minute off the time it took me to get to her. Pulling up to the curb in front of the entrance, I threw my truck into park. As I was racing into the building, Nico called.
“Car’s in the driveway. You want me to go in now or wait ‘til I hear back from you?”
Nico knew as well as I did that I didn’t have a court order giving me the right to take Lynn out of Jenna’s house yet. Cap’ would probably tell us to wait and let CPS pull her out. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. Not after listening to Carrie talk the cops through her encounter with Jenna and Dan.
I knew Nico had my back all the way, even if it put our badges at risk. No questions asked.
“Go in now. Get Lynn out of there. Quick, before Jenna has the chance to cause more of a scene in front of her.”
“Don’t worry, man. Uncle Nico’s got your girl covered.”
“Thanks.” I gave my gratitude to a dial tone because Nico had already hung up. Three minutes later, I was giving it to the officers on the scene as I made my way into Carrie’s office and she threw herself into my arms.
“You got everything you need from her?”
“Yeah, we have enough to charge your ex and her boyfriend with misdemeanor criminal threat and assault charges. I’m sure you’ll take care of it, but I advised your girlfriend to file for a civil harassment restraining order. She shouldn’t have any problem getting one against both perps.”
“My lawyer will file the restraining order before the courts close today.”
The cop’s eyes darted to the clock on the wall. “Not much time ‘til then. Less than an hour.”
“He’s my next call. It’ll get done today.”
He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “We’re headed to your ex’s place next. If you can get the restraining order filed, it’ll help with CPS. Add in the charges against your ex, and they should be able to—”
“If they need to talk to me or my daughter, they’ll find us out at my parents’ farm.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Your girlfriend said your ex picked her up from school?”
“Yes.”
“But she’s not at your ex’s house anymore?”
“No.”
“Shit.”
Carrie stiffened in my arms as the cop bent his head and rubbed his neck with his hand. “Isn’t it good that she’s not there? So she doesn’t have to see her mom get arrested?”
He looked up and smiled at Carrie. “Yeah, sweetheart. It’s a good thing. No six-year-old needs to see that.” His attention shifted to me. “Maybe your partner could help us out? A familiar face would be a big help in a situation like this. How about you give him a call and ask him to pick her up, at my request?”
In any other situation, I’d want to give the guy hell for the nickname and the way his eyes softened when he looked at Carrie. But the officer was a stand-up guy who’d just done me a major solid, so I let it slide. “I’ll do that.”
“Can we go now?” Carrie asked.
“Yeah, darlin’. We can go.”
She was quiet as I led her out of the building and down to my truck. I let her have that, holding her hand and keeping an eye on her as much as I could while I drove us to my parents’ place. We were only a minute away from the entrance when she finally spoke up.
"Why did your ex think I was with you because of money?"
I hadn’t held much back from Carrie. I’d told her all about my football days in college. How I’d left it behind me to become a cop. What’d happened between Jenna and me. There was only one thing I hadn’t brought up yet, and it looked like it’d come back to bite me in the ass. “You know how I mentioned I grew up on a farm?”
“Yeah.”
I flipped the signal before turning into the drive. “We have three thousand acres and a long-standing contract with Tyson Foods.”
“Three thousand acres?” she gasped. “All those fields we’ve been driving past; they’re yours?”
I nodded. “The land’s been in my family for generations, and we keep on adding to it.�
�
“You’re rich? Like filthy stinking rich?”
“Between the land, earnings from the farm, and family investments, I’ll never hurt for money and neither will my children or grandchildren.”
“Or your grandchildren’s grandchildren,” she muttered.
I squeezed her hand. “You okay with that?”
“My amazing boyfriend is a former football playing, hot cop, sexy single dad, who just happens to be wealthy beyond my imagination,” she rattled off. “And I’ve got no complaints with any of that because what you give me is so good, you could be unemployed and living in a shack and I’d still want you.”
“Hopefully my parents won’t scare you off and make you rethink all of that.” I jerked my head towards the front porch where they were waiting for us.
They welcomed Carrie with open arms, excited to meet her since I’d already told them all about her. I left them chatting in the kitchen and headed up to Lynn’s bedroom to check on her. I found her spread out on her bed, playing with her stuffed animals. “Hey, baby girl. You doin’ okay?”
“I guess,” she sighed, sitting up and turning to face me as I sat down on the mattress next to her. “Momma wasn’t happy that Uncle Nico came to take me for a visit with Granny and Grandaddy, but she didn’t yell at him or anything. She let me go with him, and then Uncle Nico stayed with me until Grandaddy convinced him it was okay to go home to Aunt Sophie.”
Sending Nico had been the smart decision for a number of reasons, including the fact that ninety-nine percent of the population would be too scared of him to get in his way. My ex and her douchebag were no exception. “Your momma—” I tried to think of the right words to explain the fucked up situation to my five-year old. I hated that I hadn’t given her the mom she deserved.
“She said some mean things about you and Carrie.”
“I’m sorry. She shouldn’t have done that.”
“Do you still love me most in the whole wide world?”
“Of course I do, baby girl.”
“But what about—” Her voice trailed off, and her pretty blue eyes filled with tears.
“What, baby girl? You can ask me anything, you know that.”
“Momma said a lot of stuff, but I didn’t believe most of it ‘cause she just sounded mad.” She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “But she said you’re gonna love Carrie and your babies with her more than you love me. Is that true, Daddy?”
“Not even a little bit, Lynn. Nothing and nobody will ever change how much I love you.”
She rested her cheek against my chest. “I didn’t think it was true, but I was still scared. Just a little bit.”
“Is that why you were worried about all step-moms being mean?” I pulled her onto my lap and wrapped my arms around her. “Because your momma told you Carrie would be mean to you?”
Chapter 10
Carrie
I’d come upstairs to check to make sure Lynn was okay. When I heard them talking, I started to move back because I hadn’t wanted to interrupt. But I couldn’t walk away when that sweet little girl was crying because she was afraid I was going to hurt her, so I stepped into the room. “I could never be mean to you, Lynn.”
She peeked up at me from her father’s lap. “I know, ‘cause you’re not a mean person.”
“That’s not the only reason why.” I walked over to the bed and sat down next to them, putting my hand on her back. “It’s also because your daddy loves you a whole lot, and I—”
“And you love him so you wouldn’t want to make him mad?”
“That’s part of it, too.” My admission slipped out before I realized how true it was. I’d thought I’d been falling in love with Leo, but the truth was I’d already fallen. It’d only been ten days, but I was already in love with him. Telling him for the first time while his daughter was in his lap might not be the most romantic way to do it, but it seemed perfect for us. “I love your daddy, but I also love you too. And I would never want to do anything to hurt you.”
“Even though my momma was mean to you?”
“No matter what.”
“I’m sorry!” she cried, throwing herself into my arms. “I didn’t mean to make Momma so mad that she did something bad to you.”
Leo scooted closer and wrapped us both up in a hug. “None of this is your fault, baby girl. Your momma made her own mistakes, and nobody blames you for them. Not even your momma.”
Leo shot me a look over her head that made it clear there would be hell to pay if Jenna even thought about trying to blame Lynn for her troubles. But his assurances seemed to be what Lynn needed to settle down. She stopped crying and showed me all her stuffed animals and toys with Leo watching from the bed. When his parents called us downstairs for dinner, she sat between us. And when she went down for bed—still out at the farm—she wanted both of us to read her a story and tuck her in for the night.
“Thank you,” Leo whispered as we crept out of her room after she fell asleep.
“For what?” I didn’t put up any resistance when he tugged me into the bedroom next door, wrapping my arms around him after he pulled me close.
“For being so patient with Lynn. And with me. You probably have a ton of questions about what’s going on with Jenna down at the station and why I wanted to stay here tonight.”
“It wasn’t the right time for us to talk. Not with Lynn listening.” This time I was doing the tugging as I led him to the bed to sit down. “The extra time let me think about everything. Jenna’s in custody and they’re pressing charges, right?”
“Yes.”
I pressed my fingertips against his lips so he couldn’t continue. “Your lawyer got the restraining order?”
He nodded, and I lifted my hand away when his lips started to move. “He did. Jenna and Dan were served at the station a couple of hours ago, so it’s in full effect.”
I only had one more question for him. “And you feel like this is the safest place for Lynn to be right now?”
“I do. I’m not expecting any trouble, but it’d be near impossible for anyone to get onto the farm without being spotted. Plus, my parents are here if we need to leave, and they’ll take good care of Lynn.”
“Then that’s all I need to know.”
His blue eyes widened and his dark brows rose. “It is?”
“Yup.” I leaned closer and whispered, “I trust you. Completely.”
“Darlin’.” The two syllables rumbled up his throat like they were ripped from his body.
“I’ve always wanted to ask, but I was afraid to hear the answer...until now. Do you call lots of women darlin’?”
“Nope.” He trailed his fingers across my cheeks before he cupped them. “The only other person I have a pet name for is Lynn, and she’s baby girl. You’re my only darlin’.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “I like that. A lot.”
“That’s good ‘cause I love you. Same way you love me.”
My lips spread into a huge smile as my heart raced at his admission. Knowing he was in as deep with me as I was him, just as quickly, made me insanely happy. “You caught that, huh?”
“Fuck yeah, I did.” He flashed me a cocky grin. “I’m a cop. We’re trained to notice things.”
I undid the first few buttons on my blouse. “So if I did this, you’d spot the difference right away?”
His gaze dropped down to my cleavage. “Where your tits are concerned? It’d only take a split-second.”
He closed the little distance left between us, pressing his lips against mine in a kiss that went from sweet to blazing hot in the little time it took for my eyelids to drift shut. His tongue slid inside my mouth, tangling with mine and making me gasp. His hold on my cheeks tightened as he tilted my head upwards and deepened the kiss further.
“Takin’ down by the boom and the sweetest woman I’ve ever met,” he rasped.
“The boom?”
“I’ll explain later.” He pressed me flat on my back against the matt
ress and went to work on the rest of my blouse’s buttons. “A fuck of a lot later.”
He shoved the silky material wide, and pulled it down my shoulders. When it pooled at my waist, his fingers dipped under the cup of my bra to stroke my nipple.
“Leo,” I gasped.
“I’ve got you,” he promised before he made quick work of my bra, skirt, and panties. Then he undid his belt, lowered his zipper, shoved his pants down his legs, and kicked them off. He didn’t bother with his shirt, but I wanted to touch his skin so I ripped it over his head.
His fingers stroked up my thighs, parting them to stroke my swollen pussy lips. “Always, darlin’. You’re mine now.”
He stroked my clit, and I panted, “Yes!” I meant it two-fold—I was agreeing that I was his, and I wanted him to keep touching me. He pushed a finger inside me, making me whimper. I held my legs open with my hands at my knees, wanting more. His eyes burned with passion as he stared down at me, the blue deepening to navy as he watched his finger slip in and out of my wetness.
“All fucking mine,” he breathed against my skin, his mouth driving me crazy as it hovered over me. My hips jerked up, and his tongue swiped me from bottom to top, circling my clit at the end. His fingers kept pumping, relentlessly driving me higher until my orgasm roared through me.
“Wow.”
“That’ll never get old, hearing that come outta your mouth. All breathy and sexy.”
I slid my hand between us and wrapped it around his hard length. “How about we see if I can get you to say it the same way?”
His hips jerked forward, pressing his dick against my palm. “After what happened today, I don’t know that I can be anywhere close to gentle with you.”
“Then don’t be,” I offered.
“Carrie—”
“No, you gave me what I needed to feel safe. Now let me be the one to give you what you need.”
“Fuck,” he growled before he flipped me over and tilted my hips up, slamming into me with one powerful thrust. He bent over my body, one hand pressed into the mattress and the other arm wrapped around my chest while he powered into me. Hard, fast, and deep. Over and over again, until my pussy walls clenched around him and a scream tore from my throat. He thrust one more time, anchoring himself deep and exploding right along with me.
Until Leo Page 5
