His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) (26 page)

“All right, ma’am, you have two choices. I can either handcuff you to my bed for an undefined amount of time or you can promise to spend the rest of your life as a McKaden.” His smirk faded as he moved her. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a ring. Kade picked up her hand in his, then looked into her eyes. “My beautiful Krista, I love you so much. I could never imagine my life without you. Will you marry me?” he asked her solemnly as he slid the ring on her finger.

“Yes,” she whispered with excitement in her voice, then his lips met hers. When they pulled apart she looked down at the ring he had placed on her finger. “Beautiful.” She looked back at him. “Now, about those choices…” She dragged out, then smiled a sexy half smile of her own. “Do I really have to pick just one?”

Three Months Later…

He’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen
, Krista thought as she looked out across the yard at her Irish, standing by the makeshift bar, talking to Lank.

“Will the bride and groom please take the floor for their first dance as husband and wife?” the DJ asked. She watched Kade come to meet her in the dance floor he had built just for this reason. When they reached the middle together, he cupped her face, thumb rubbing her cheek.

“My beautiful wife.” He leaned in and kissed her lips lightly. “Dance with me, baby?” he asked softly just as the music started. Wrapping his arms around her and holding her close to him, they started to dance. She was so into her husband that at first she didn’t even hear what song they were dancing to, then the music penetrated and she held her husband just a little bit tighter as they danced to John Michael Montgomery’s
I Love the Way You Love Me
. And just like the day in the parking lot of the mall, in the rain, when the song ended, he dipped her over his arm and kissed her. When they straightened she looked into his eyes.

“I have a wedding present for you,” she whispered where only he could hear.

“And I got one for you too, baby.” Kade winked at her. She smiled at him, then moved back just a little and grabbed his hands.

“Well, I can’t give you your present just yet, but I can give you a hint.” She placed his hands on her stomach. “It’s a boy or a girl,” she said and watched that sexy smirk on his face fall. For a beat he just stared at her.

“A-a-a b-baby?” he stuttered hoarsely, then cleared his throat. “You’re going to have a baby?” Kade whispered reverently.

“
We’re
going to have a baby,” she whispered back with affection. Then she was yanked off her feet and spun around, pressed tightly to his chest.

“Oh, fuck!” He stopped abruptly and sat her gently on her feet. “Sorry, baby.” He placed his hands back on her stomach, then looked at her with the biggest grin she’d ever seen on his face right before he spoke with his heart shining from his eyes. “I love you so fuckin’ much!”

Epilogue

A glimpse into the future…

Krista stopped the car, as she had so many times, at the top of the driveway of her home. The day they were married, Kade had the wooden arch taken down and commissioned another one to be built and put in its place. And just like countless other days for the past almost five years, when she saw it, she had to stop for a moment. And just like countless other times she could still remember the day that Kade had shown it to her, just like it was yesterday. It was made completely out of stone. On the left side of the arch, it said ‘Kade’ and on the right side, it said ‘Krista.’ But, in the middle across the top, between the two names was ‘A ghra’—which in Gaelic, an old Irish language, meant love. She smiled, thinking of Kade holding her to him while he explained that to her and her summing it up to him.

“So, basically, you’re saying it says ‘Irish loves Krista?’” She teased him and his response was immediate.

“It’s set in stone, baby.”

She continued down the driveway and couldn’t help but smile at the huge multi-colored flower pots. When she’d mentioned her idea about planting flowers in between the trees to add some color, the very next day Kade had a truck load of flower pots delivered along with paint in every color of the rainbow. He’d explained to Krista the reason he bought this for her. “You paint the pots, baby. You’ll have your color in the winter months when the flowers don’t bloom.” So now all year long, in between each tree, was color. As she reached the house, which wasn’t quite as small as it had started out to be, what with the addition Kade had added, after the ‘addition’ to their family had arrived. She looked at her house, hers, this was Kade’s wedding gift to Krista. He had the deed to the house and land put in her name, just hers, explaining in Kade fashion. “It’s yours, baby, no one can make you move ever again.”

Krista looked over to the small barn that had also been added. It housed only four horses, ‘for the family horses,’ Kade had said. As she got out of her car, her wedding gift to Kade was running out of the barn. She smiled and thought she was wrong about that ‘hint’ she had given him. His gift wasn’t a boy or a girl, but turned out to be two boys, and as she watched them running toward her—two black haired green-eyed boys who looked exactly like their daddy—she couldn’t be happier. Followed closely on their heels were Romeo and Juliet. Ever since the day her and Kade brought the boys home, those dogs hadn’t left their sides. Then a second later their daddy came stalking out of the barn, right to her.

“Where the fuck you been?” Kade asked as he got close and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Irish. Language!” She huffed as she cut her eyes to their boys, then back to their daddy. He looked down at them.

“Boys, what I say about saying fuck?” he asked them both.

They both looked up at him and spoke in unison. “Don’t say fuck, it’s a bad word.”

She jerked her head back to Kade.

“Irish!” She fussed as Kade stood there, trying to hide the smirk on his face as he looked back to the boys.

“Go help Uncle Lank with the saddles if you want to go riding,” he told the boys and then looked back at her. He leaned in and kissed her softly. “Sorry, baby, I’ll talk to them,” he whispered against her lips.

“Mommy?” the boys called to her and she looked to see her boys staring up at them both. “Daddy said we can go riding. Are you going too?”

Krista smiled down at them. “If Daddy will let me ride with him,” she told her boys and then added a wink to Daddy.

“Daddy said you don’t know how to ride a horse. Cuz you was too stubborn to be teached.”

“To learn.” She automatically corrected. “But, no, I was not too stubborn to learn.” She then squatted down in front of them. “Want to know a little secret?” she whispered loudly and watched as both boys nodded repeatedly. She leaned closer to them. “The very first time Daddy took me riding, I was with him on his horse and it was so perfect that I decided then and there that I never wanted to ride a horse by myself and miss even one time of Daddy holding me close to him.” She watched as both boys looked at each other, then back to her, then back to each other and then they made little identical faces.

“Ewwww,” they yelled, then turned and ran back to the barn to find Uncle Lank and help with the saddles. She stood back up laughing and looked at Kade who wasn’t laughing, not even smiling. She turned to fully face him just as he reached out and yanked her to him, holding her tight to his chest.

“Baby,” he breathed before he stepped back, cupping her face. “Every fuckin’ day I think there is no way I could possibly love you any more than I already do, then I find out something else about you that makes me love you even fuckin’ more.” He leaned in and kissed her long and deep. When he pulled back, he asked his original question again. “Now, where the fuck you been?”

“I had a doctor’s appointment…” She started to explain, but he quickly interrupted.

“Doctor? Baby, are you sick? Is it your blood? Do you need another round of treatments?” he asked, shooting one question after another, never giving her time to answer.

“Irish, stop, and no, I’m not sick. My blood is good. And so far, I still don’t need more treatments since the blood I received from Destiny, and it wasn’t that kind of doctor.” She reached out and grabbed his hands. “You know tomorrow is our anniversary and we’ll have been married five years?” She watched as his eyes went soft. “Well, I have an anniversary present for you. You can’t hold it just yet, but I can give you a hint.” She moved his hands to her stomach. “It’s a boy or a girl. And this time I know it’s only one. That was the doctor’s appointment.”

“She’s a girl,” he stated as he watched his hands moving around on her stomach. “A girl who will be as beautiful as her mama,” he whispered and then he looked at her face. With one hand resting on her stomach, he raised the other to cup her face, his thumbs stroking back and forth across her cheek as he spoke softly to the love of his life. “I love you, my beautiful Krista. I love you so fuckin’ much.”

THE END

For now…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tina Bass is a light erotic romance writer, who loves a happily ever after.  She lives in a small town in Virginia with her three children. She is a normal everyday mom of one grown and two almost grown teenagers who has recently discovered the joys of writing.

When not busy writing, Tina enjoys reading and shopping for vintage items.  She came into writing later in life, after her characters decided to take over and she could hear the stories in her head. 

Just like the characters that she writes about, Tina likes to ride 4-wheelers and going muddin’ in old pickup trucks.

Published by Beau Coup Publishing
http://beaucoupllc.com

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