His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Krista walked over to the kitchen counter and pulled down two mugs to fix some coffee. She left one on the counter by the coffee pot, then picked up her own and walked out on the back deck that was off from the kitchen. She sat and sipped her coffee, thinking about the day, or rather the night before. After they’d left Lank to tend to the horses, they rode the 4-wheeler back to the house. Then Kade had taken her to the master bath and explained, while running a bath—in a huge bathtub—that until she became accustomed to riding a horse, each time would make her sore, and the best thing was a hot bath and a rub down. Kade had provided both, very, very well. Too well, in fact, because evidently, it had put her to sleep.

Now, it was morning. She’d just finished preparing a batch of muffins. Well, two batches, because she couldn’t decide on banana or strawberry. She fixed them both, and now they were in Kade’s fabulous oven, baking. She knew when she went back into the kitchen the fragrance from the baking muffins would fill the room, and she loved that, but for now, she just wanted to take a minute and enjoy nature. It was so quiet, so peaceful and so beautiful, she could sit right here for hours, for days, years even, just sit right here and never tire of the view. She heard the door off from the kitchen side open, then a second later, she felt Kade’s hands on her shoulders, rubbing down her arms as his mouth hit her ear. “Mornin’, beautiful,” he said as he kissed her temple lightly. She turned her head toward him, and before she could speak, his lips were on hers.

“Hey, Irish.” She sighed when he broke the kiss. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No, baby, I was already awake when you sneaked out of bed.” He walked around to sit beside her.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I was trying to be quiet, so I wouldn’t wake you up,” she asked curiously.

“I was, but before I could, you were up moving around, mumbling shit I couldn’t catch, and you were too fuckin’ cute to interrupt.” He leaned over for a light kiss, but before he could pull back, she looped her arms around him and held him to her, deepening the kiss. “Damn, baby, now I’m thinking I should’ve done more than watching you.” She just laughed. “By the way, what smells so fuckin’ good?” he asked, nodding his head toward the kitchen.

“Oh! My muffins!!” she screeched as she jumped up and ran back into the kitchen.

Kade watched her go and got up to follow her inside. He walked to the doorway and just watched her moving around in his kitchen. He liked the sight of her there. Never thought he would want a woman in his house, not full time, and not a woman of his own. Yeah, he had Rosa, and he liked Rosa. She cooked, she cleaned, and then she left. She didn’t hang around his house. She didn’t want to change anything. She did what needed to be done, she got paid and paid well, Kade thought, and then she went home. He had his men working his ranch, and Rosa keeping him and his men fed, his house in order, and hell, she even stepped in a time or two to keep his men in order when Kade wasn’t around. He also had women, none he wanted to bring home, but he had all he wanted from them and most were good with that. The ones who weren’t, or got a little too clingy for Kade’s peace of mind, he would just drop them and move on to the next one, and there was always a next one. Then, out of the blue, on a shit day—Krista. His beautiful, sexy, sweet, funny, and downright fuckin’ cute Krista.
Maybe, just maybe, she had something with this destiny thing
, he thought, then shrugging his shoulders, he didn’t give a damn about the how or why’s or what star lined up with what. He just knew she was his and he was going to do everything to keep her. On that thought, he walked to her as she was placing muffins in a container, Taking it out of her hand, he set it on the counter, before he cupped her ass, and kissed her. Hard. He felt her wrapping her legs around his waist, her arms circling his neck, her fingers diving into his hair. He just held on a little tighter and kissed her a little longer.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Do you think they’ll like me? Maybe I should’ve fixed something else besides muffins. I don’t even know if they like muffins, and muffins are like a breakfast food, except I eat them all the time. I mean, different times of the day, not just breakfast. But still, maybe they only eat muffins for breakfast, and now it’s after lunch. Maybe we should go by a bakery and get something else,” Krista rambled and Kade could hear the worry in her voice.

“Baby, those fuckin’ muffins are incredible,” he answered her as he squeezed her hand while he drove them both to see Lee and Minga Velgada. “And, they’re going to like you. Don’t worry.” He brought her hand up to kiss her palm.

“Irish, he’s your partner, or he was, and he’s your friend, and she’s his
wife
,” she stated, stressing ‘wife’ like it meant some kind of queen or something.

“Baby, calm down. It’s going to be fine.” He tried again to reassure her with a smile. “Now, tell me about your visit with Mrs. Worley.” He watched as she perked up and with a big grin on her face, proceeded to tell him.

“Oh, Irish, she looked so good. A lot better than yesterday. I got to spend an hour with her before Lance and Marissa arrived. The doctors still want to keep her until tomorrow, just to be on the safe side.” She lowered her voice and whispered in his ear, although no one else was in the truck to hear her. “I think it’s because of her age, but the doctors didn’t say that exactly.” Kade chuckled, as she straightened back up and began again, but he heard the hint of sadness in her voice. “Then, Lance and Marissa took me to lunch.” She said nothing more for a minute, only looked down at her lap.

“Baby, what?” Kade asked, giving her hand a light squeeze.

“I’m being selfish, I know, but the thought of not having her around makes me sad,” she said as she continued to stare at her lap.

“Sweetheart, you’re about the most unselfish person I know.” He raised her hand and kissed her knuckles, wanting to comfort her. “Tell me what they wanted to talk to you about.” She took a deep breath and then she told him.

“They want to put her in a nursing home, well, an assisted living home, closer to where they live. She would have her own apartment, with her own things. Plus, she will have lots of people around her age, so she won’t be lonely, and that’s a good thing. I know. I know she’ll like it. I know she gets lonely sometimes, living where she is now, it’s just…just…” She faded off as Kade turned into a driveway, put the truck in park, and turned to her.

“They’re moving her away from you and you’re going to miss her?” he questioned. When she only nodded, he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, lifting her head. “Baby, look at me.” He waited for her eyes to meet his. “This move will be good for her. She’ll have people around her who are trained and will be there just in case something happens.”

“I know, Irish, and I’m glad she’ll have all that. I’m just going to miss her so much, and that’s just selfish. I shouldn’t be thinking of myself; I should be happy…happy for her, but…” She didn’t finish her thought aloud.

“She’ll have a phone?” Kade asked.

“Uh, yeah, I guess so. Yes, I’m sure she will,” she answered a little confused by the question.

“Then, baby, you can call her any time you like, and you can still go and visit. It’ll just be a couple of hours drive,” he told her, then watched her as she looked back at him and smiled.

“I could do that,” she whispered.

“Yeah, baby, you can do that,” he said as he touched his forehead to hers. Closing his eyes, he wondered how the fuck he’d gotten so lucky to have this woman in his life. Then he heard her ask a question that broke into his thoughts.

“Uh, Irish, why are we parked at some random house?” He raised his head from hers, and kissed her lightly on her lips.

“Not random, baby, we’re here.” He turned to get out of the truck.

“Oh my goodness! Irish, wait!” She squealed as she grabbed his arm to stop him from getting out. “Do I look okay?” she asked, but before he could open his mouth, she continued. “Maybe I should have taken the time to fix my hair. I should have added more makeup. I normally don’t wear much, if any, but I should’ve taken the time. I’m not ready!” She was babbling so much that Kade couldn’t get a word in edgewise. “They are—” He reached over and placed his hand over her mouth.

“Baby, stop!” he stated firmly. When he caught her wide eyes, he moved his hands to cup her face in both of his. “My beautiful Krista, there’s not one damn thing you need to do. You look fuckin’ great, you smell like a dream, your muffins are the best thing I’ve ever eaten, and baby…” He leaned into her, and kissed her lips. “You, just being you, you got this? They’re going to fuckin’ love you.” And he felt her take a breath, finally, and whisper to him.

“Okay.”

Krista walked up to the door with Kade while he held her hand in one of his. The other carried the container with the muffins she’d made. She felt his hand give hers a little squeeze as he hit the doorbell. “Relax, baby,” he whispered, just before the door opened and a really hot Mexican guy stood in front of them. He was tall, the same height as Kade, but not quite as big. Black hair, and just a little bit of scruff on his face that Krista always thought looked sexy on a guy. Then he smiled and sent that hotness up the scale.

“Kade…” The man started to speak and then turned to her. “And, you must be Krista.”

“Hey man, yeah, this is my Krista.” She heard Kade say and couldn’t help but smile at him calling her ‘his Krista.’ Then he turned to her. “Baby, this is Lee Velgada.”

“It’s nice to meet you, and please call me Kris,” she said as she held out her hand to Lee.

“Nice to finally meet you too,” Lee said as he took her hand for a quick shake. Then he stepped back out of the door. “Come on in, Ming’s in the den.”

Kade held out the container toward Lee. “Krista made these and they are un-fuckin-believable.” Lee took the muffins.

“Well, thank you, Kris.” He turned and they both followed him into the house.

“How’s she doing?” Kade asked.

“Good now, but gotta tell you, man, she scared the shit outta me,” Lee answered, shaking his head, like he was trying to push that memory out of his mind. They walked into the den and the first thing Krista thought was she was going to kill Kade. He didn’t bother to tell her that Minga was so beautiful and exotic, and here she was looking so plain. “Babe, Kade and his woman are here.” Lee barely got the words out before Minga yelled in greeting.

“Kade! It’s about time you bring your fine self to see me. I was beginning to wonder if you were only coming around for the cooking.” She smiled so sweetly that Krista couldn’t help but smile back at her. “Oooo, you must be Krista. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Minga finished and Krista stepped forward.

“It’s nice to meet you too, and everybody just calls me Kris,” she stated and watched Kade walk over to Minga and place a kiss on her cheek.

“How you doing, doll?” Kade asked, then stepped back and dropped his arm around Krista’s shoulder, pulling her up to his side.

“Better. Will be fine as soon as someone…” Minga started but dragged out ‘someone’ as she looking in Lee’s direction. “Let’s me walk across the floor on my own.”

“The doc said you need to take it easy, so you’re goin’ ta fuckin’ take it easy,” Lee stated in a way that there was no use arguing with. Krista watched as Minga just rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, ‘whatever,’ then she turned back to them.

“Sit, sit. Would you like something to drink, eat, or anything?” Minga invited.

“Babe, why don’t you two talk a bit? I got to talk to Kade for a few, and then I’ll fix something to go with these muffins that Kris brought.” Lee didn’t wait for a reply as he turned to walk out of the room. Kade leaned down to Krista’s ear and whispered where only she could hear him.

“That okay, baby?” Kade asked her. She nodded and felt his lips slide across her cheek before he walked out. She turned back to Minga.

“It really is nice to meet you and I’m glad you’re doing better,” Krista said.

“You too, hon, now come on and sit down beside me, so you can tell me how you and Kade met.” Minga scooted around on the sofa to make room for her. “But, first. You gotta tell me. Where did you get those fabulous shoes? I love them!”

Kade walked into the office behind Lee. “You did not get this from me. In fact, you do not have this, have never seen this,” Lee stated as Kade took the file from him, looked up at Lee and then back to the file as he opened it up.

“Fuck,” Kade mumbled.

“Yeah,” Lee responded and looked back at his face.

“This the whole file?”

“Yep, everything we know about that son-of-a-bitch is in there. But, still don’t get why you’re so interested in this one case.” Kade looked back down at the open file in his hand, at the picture of Damon Price staring back at him. The serial rapist transport that Kade had handled for Lee, the same day he’d met Krista.

“Don’t know, man, just a gut feeling.” Kade didn’t move his eyes away from that picture. He was missing something. He knew it, but he just didn’t know what the fuck it was. Hoping that going over the record would jar something loose, he closed the file and directed himself at Lee, “Thanks, man, I appreciate this.” Lee gave him a chin lift and then grinned.

“So, tell me about Kris…”

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Now, explain mudding to me,” Krista said as they were driving down to the river that bordered Kade’s ranch. They had spent most of the day with Lee and Minga. They talked, they laughed, and Krista realized Kade was right. She was just herself, and they seemed to genuinely like her. Krista knew she liked both of them very much. After they returned to the ranch, Kade told her they were going to switch trucks, and for her to put on some old jeans and tennis shoes. She changed clothes and they walked out to an old, really old, looking truck. It was about the same size as his other truck, but the tires were a lot bigger, and the truck was higher up off the ground.

The sun was beginning to set, and Kade was telling her where he was taking her and what the purpose was. “Baby, it’s muddin’, but basically you have a 4X4 with some big ass tires, a big fuckin’ mud puddle, and you see who wins.” Of course, that didn’t explain much of anything to Krista.

“Never mind,” she huffed. “I’ll figure it out when we get there. Wait, where is there?” she asked.

“It’s down by the river, still on my property, but at the edge. The river is more or less the border. At least, it is for now, until I buy the land on the other side of it.”

“What are you going to do with the land on the other side of the river?” she asked, genuinely wanting to know.

“Probably nothing, but it will be mine to do nothing with. More importantly, no one else can do anything with it,” he answered. It didn’t make much sense to her. I mean, why would he care if somebody did something with it, or not, but before she could say anything, he answered her unasked question. “It keeps it clean, baby. No one can build or cut down all the trees.” He explained to her and then she got it. If he owned it, then all of his amazing views wouldn’t change. They were riding in comfortable silence for a few minutes, when she asked him if she could turn on the radio. “Yeah, baby,” was Kade’s short answer, and she flipped on the radio to hear Luke Bryan’s
I Don’t Want This Night to End
, blasting out of the speakers. She couldn’t stop herself from seat dancing the rest of the way to the river.

Kade was damn near ready to turn the truck around and take Krista back home. The way she was moving beside him, dancing in the fuckin’ seat, was hot as hell, and she was just sitting on her ass.
I agree with Mr. Bryan
, he thought to himself, because he sure as hell didn’t want this night to fuckin’ end. Then the river and it all came in to view, and he reached out to turn the radio way down. “This is it, baby,” he said, and he watched as Krista looked around at all the other trucks parked here and there, and a big bon-fire that was already lit. She just sat and looked around and he started getting a little worried. He loved muddin’ and wanted Krista to enjoy it also, but at the moment, he wasn’t quite sure if she would or not. He couldn’t ever remember a time when he’d felt so unsure with a woman. She finally turned her head and looked at him. Then she smiled and said one simple thing that eased all of his worry.

“Let’s go muddin’.”

An hour later, she was dancing on the back of someone’s truck to music blasting from someone’s speakers. She’d met so many people, that she was having a hard time remembering everyone’s name. There had to be at least a hundred people and about half that many trucks parked every which way in a big field. But so far, she hadn’t seen any ‘muddin’,’ or trucks fighting with mud puddles, going on. Kade had been with her, holding her the whole time, and he’d just stepped away a few minutes ago. Then a girl she’d met, but couldn’t remember her name, came up to her and started gossiping to her about somebody else that she wasn’t sure she’d met. The nameless girl then pointed toward a giant puddle that looked as if it had very little water, and a whole lot of mud and told her they were getting ready to ‘hit the mud.’ Krista watched as a big truck pulled up to the mud, stopped, backed up, and then took off straight through it. She saw tires spinning and mud flying everywhere. Everybody started screaming, ‘go, go, go,’ until the truck made it to the other side. It was crazy fun to watch and Krista yelled at nobody and everybody. “I want to do that!” And everyone on the truck with her started talking all at once.

The gossiping girl from before spoke up. “Brad is going next, I think, and maybe if you’re really nice, he’ll let you ride with him.” The girl pointed at one of the guys who was sitting on the side of the truck bed. Krista turned to Brad.

“Are you going to do that next?” she said.

“Hell, yeah.” Brad stood up and walked toward her. He’d just stepped up to her and leaned down to say something, when she heard her name called.

“Krista!” Her name was shouted loudly. She turned and saw Kade walking up to the downed tailgate of the pickup truck.

“Irish!” she yelled back, and then ran and jumped off the tailgate and right into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as his hands went to her butt. “Hey,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Hey, beautiful.” His hands gave her butt a squeeze.

“Did you see that? That truck went right through all that mud!” she exclaimed to him excitedly.

“Yeah, baby, I saw it. What did you think?”

“That was awesome! And, I want to do that! I want to go through the mud!” she breathed, reverently.

“Then let’s do it.” Kade smiled at her. He moved his hands so her legs would fall to the ground, and when her feet touched, he draped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. Kade did a chin lift to some other nameless person, and then she heard him yell to everyone. “We’re next!” He started walking them both toward his old truck. Kade helped her in, then got in himself. “Having fun, baby?”

“Oh, yeah.” She smiled at him and watched as a return smile grew across his face. He started up the truck, and drove over to the puddle. He stopped and sat there, looking at her for a minute.