His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) (4 page)

“Hey, Velgada, yeah, done for today. How’s your wife doing?” Velgada’s wife had been sick and that was the reason Kade had taken the transport yesterday as a favor, so he could be with his wife.

“She’s doing much better, thanks. It turned out to be her damn appendix. I got her to the hospital and they removed it before it burst. Really, man, thanks again for taking my transport. Did everything go okay? I mean, I know who was being transported and I would have never asked, but—”

Kade interrupted him. “It went fine.” Thinking of Krista, he knew he might never have met her if not for taking Velgada’s transport. “Good, really.”

Velgada just looked at Kade. “Good?” he asked with wonder in his voice.

“Yeah.” Kade was thinking of Krista again, and he couldn’t seem to hide his smile.

“Okay, man, there has got to be a story here that has nothing to do with that shithead you escorted to his new and permanent home.” Velgada was fishing for information.

“Probably, but seeing as I’m out the door, you won’t be hearing it today.” Kade grinned as he headed for the door. Velgada stepped back into the hall as Kade walked past. “Glad to hear your wife is doing good, man. See you later.” Kade stepped past Velgada and kept on walking until he reached his truck. Now he was on his way to Krista. Today he was going to talk, really talk, to her about those damn treatments. Was she done? Would she have to have another one? If so, when? He would take her. Just the thought of her on the side of the road, sick, in tears and alone, felt like a punch to his gut. Yeah, he had a lot of questions, and he damn well was going to get some straight answers.

He relaxed now as he drove, with random thoughts popping in and out of his head, and was glad he didn’t have to change clothes. He was tired, past tired, of wearing a damn uniform at this point. Between the military and law enforcement, he felt like he’d spent most of his life in one type of uniform or another. Now he was done. Unless something came up, like an unexpected transport, he’d never have to wear a uniform again. Jeans and T-shirts would be his new uniform and neither one required ironing. He relaxed even more as he turned onto Krista’s road, ready to see her, spend time with her, talk with her, and maybe more if she was feeling up to it.

Just thinking about those full sexy lips, which damned near begged to be kissed, oh hell, just thinking about kissing her was making him hard. He felt like a horny teenager all of a sudden, getting an erection just from thinking about kissing a girl.
But this is not just a girl, this is Krista
, he thought as he pulled up to her house, parked behind her car and got out with a smile on his face. Walking up to her door, he knocked. She’d like the idea of him knocking, rather than using the key he now had to her place—
for emergencies,
he told himself. Kade had taken one of the four sets of keys from her new locks. He waited, then knocked again and waited some more. Listening, he heard no music, no movement. Nothing.

He tried the door. “Fuck,” he muttered as the door knob turned in his hand and the door opened. He stepped inside. Silence. “Krista?” he called out her name. There was no answer so he walked into the house and called out again. “Krista?” Still nothing. Picking up his pace, he quickly checked the bedroom and bathroom. Empty. Walking back outside and around the house to the back yard, he called her name, louder this time. “Krista?” Where the hell was she? Had something happened to her? Did she have to go back for another of those mystery treatments? “Krista!” he boomed. Walking back to his truck he looked more closely at her car. It hadn’t moved from where it was put by the tow truck yesterday. So, if she wasn’t home she had to have gone somewhere with someone. So, at least she wasn’t alone. “Who the hell is she with?” Kade asked the question aloud, to no one. Should he go looking for her? Hell, he didn’t even know where to start! He didn’t know much of anything about her. “Well, that sure as hell is about to change.” Still muttering to himself. “Just as soon as I find her I’m going to sit her down and find out everything.”

Kade walked around his truck because he didn’t know what else to do and continued thinking out loud. “I could put out an APB, have her picture out in less than an hour.” Wait, he didn’t have any pictures of her. Damn! He should’ve taken at least one picture with his phone yesterday. Phone!
Yeah, I could call her,
he thought, as he reached for his phone. Well, hell. He didn’t know her number. Didn’t get that yesterday either. “Good thing you’re retiring, Kade, you’re shit for a cop.” He berated himself. Pacing in a circle around his truck, he looked back up her driveway, which cut through the woods and he saw her…dancing? What the hell? Dancing? As she drew closer, he could tell. Yea, she was fuckin’ dancing around, not paying any attention to her surroundings, in her own little world. “She’s going to be the death of me, I swear for Christ!” Kade started stalking toward her.

Chapter Five

Krista was…happy! She was walking back home, okay, half dancing, to the music blasting through her ear buds. After her visit, which had gone on longer than she’d planned, but whatever. She loved spending time with Mrs. Worley, but today when she was talking about her late husband and how overprotective he was, how bossy, and how he would yell at her when he feared for her safety, Krista couldn’t help but think of Kade. How he was so set on her having better locks and yelling at her for not locking her doors. Did she lock her door when she left? Shrugging her shoulders, she let that thought pass since she would much rather think about Kade. She wondered if he would still be at the station, because she still wanted to take him the brownies she’d baked. Maybe he would kiss her. She paused in mid-step. Kiss Kade? Oh wow, she’d never thought about kissing a man before, and Kade was most definitely all male. And yeah, she thought maybe she would like to kiss him. But, did he even think like that about her? She doubted it. Really, what would a man like Kade ever see in a girl like her? Although he did say she was beautiful. She smiled at that thought. Lieutenant Lawson McKaden thought she was beautiful.

Doing a little jig, she threw her hands in the air, spinning around, a big smile plastered on her face. Head tossed back, Krista continued on her way, only to all of a sudden smash into something hard. She would’ve fallen back if not for two strong arms wrapping around her waist. Krista looked up and right into the face of a very pissed off Kade. His mouth was moving, but she couldn’t hear anything he was saying. She tried to reach up and pull out the ear buds, but when she tried to move her arms, he slammed her whole body up against his. Wrapping her in his arms, holding her to his chest, she could hardly breathe.

“Irish, I can’t breathe.” Krista wheezed, maybe a little too loudly, over the music. He loosened his embrace but took ahold of both of her arms with his hands as he took a step back. Looking down at her, he started talking again, or at least his lips were moving, those lips that she now knew she wanted to kiss. She stood, shaking her head and the thoughts of kissing him away. “Stop talking, I can’t hear you,” she yelled as she once again tried to reach for her ear buds. But this time his hands got there first, and yanked both out at the same time.

“What the hell is the matter with you? Where have you been? Didn’t I tell you…” He paused, leaned into her and finished, “To lock the fuckin’ door?” He roared the last in her face and for a moment, she was speechless. She
was
feeling good, she
was
happy. Heck, she’d been thinking about kissing him and giving him brownies. Now, not so much!

She took a step back, then a deep breath. Looking up to the sky, then down at the ground, she slowly let her breath out. Staring back at him she stated what she wanted to say to him calmly. “I woke up today feeling good, in fact very good, better than I’ve felt in a very long time. So, I thought I’d make some brownies and take some to Mrs. Worley, which I did. I do admit I stayed longer than what I’d planned. But, then again, I do tend to lose track of time when she’s telling me one of her stories. As for the door, I forgot to lock it, which turns out to be a good thing since I didn’t bring a key, and, therefore, would have been locked out of my house.” Krista paused in her speech, but before he could say anything, she continued. “Although…she tilted her head to the side and looked up at him. “I do know a cop who apparently has skills and a reputation for breaking into women’s houses.” She ended there with a big smile on her face.

“Fuck me,” Kade mumbled. He looked down at the ground, then back at her. Shaking his head, he started striding back to Krista’s house. He had only taken a few steps when he stopped. Going back, he grabbed her arm, then started walking again.

Krista dug in her heels to stop him, making him look over at her. “Are you going to yell at me again?” She felt like she had to ask the question.

“No!” he yelled.

“You’re not?” Krista asked in a shocked voice.

“Probably.” He tugged on her arm to get her moving. They’d only taken a few steps. Well, Kade had taken a few steps, and she’d taken more than just a few.

“Stop,” she announced. When Kade turned back to look at her again, Krista had things to say. “You…” She started nodding her head up and down his body. “Me…” she said, now waving her free hand up and down her own body. “Notice a difference?” she asked him. When he just looked at her, she continued, “Your legs are like this tall.” She stretched her hand up above her head as far as she could. “My legs are this tall.” She placed her hand, palm pointed to the ground, at her waist. He dropped her hand and placed both of his on his hips and just stared at her, without saying a word. She started again. “Your legs step like this.” She indicated this to him by holding her arms out as far as they would reach. “My legs step like this.” Krista moved her arms in to just one on each side of her. When he still did not say a word or make a move, she placed her hands on her hips, copying his pose. “You need to walk slower with me, or walk without me.” She tried one more time. This time, without saying anything, Kade took a step toward her and bent over. When his shoulder hit her stomach, he scooped her up and took off toward Krista’s house again.

“Irish!” She yelped.

“Now.” Kade had things to say. “I’ll be the only one walking, and you can continue telling me about legs, steps, and any other bullshit filling that pretty little head of yours until we get inside your place.”

Placing her hands on his back, just above his butt—his very fine butt—and pushing herself up while moving her hands up his back, she worked her body until she was almost straight up. “You can put me down. I do know how to walk, you know,” she grumbled as she moved her hands to his shoulders.

“Not happening, baby,” Kade answered her, speaking softly.

Well
, she thought,
this is one opportunity I can’t let pass me by.
Krista moved her hands from his shoulders to his head and ran her fingers through all that black, silky hair.

“Aw, hell.” Kade fussed as he stopped walking and loosened his hold on her so her body slowly slid down his until her feet hit the ground. He looked down at her upturned face.
Damn! She’s amazingly beautiful
, he thought. Lifting a hand to the back of her head, he reached for her clip and pulled it out, running both hands through her hair, bringing some forward to fall across her chest.

“Irish?” He heard her question, but didn’t even know what to say, or how to explain how she made him feel. He knew he wanted her, wanted to sink inside of her more than he wanted to breathe, but it felt like more than that—so much more.

He reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers. “Let’s go.” He started walking again, but this time at a much slower pace.

When they arrived at her house, he led Krista to the door, into the living room and moved her around so she could sit on the loveseat. Kade paced back and forth in her tiny living room. He wanted—no, needed to know everything about her. He didn’t know where to start. Wait, yes he did, so he turned to her and spoke more sharply than he had intended. “Explain the treatments.”

“What do you want to know?” Krista asked the question, not sure if this was something she wanted to talk about right then. Most people, when they found out about her blood type, would treat her like she was contagious or something. Like you could catch a blood type. But they didn’t want to hear about that or much of anything else. They just knew she was different and wanted no part of her. Would Kade feel the same? Would he treat her just like everyone else had when he found out? Then again, if he ever found out everything, she knew he would.

“I want to know what they are for. Why do you need them? Are you done, or will you have to have more?” he asked, staring down at her.

Taking a deep breath and saying a little prayer, she started gathering her thoughts to explain, hoping for the best. “Okay, but can you sit down? I’ll break my neck trying to look up at you.” After he sat beside her—but not too close, she noticed—she turned sideways toward him and tucked one leg under her. Then, taking another deep breath she began in earnest. “First off, you have to know, I’m not contagious. You can’t catch it in any way.” When he made no comment at that, she continued. “I have a very rare blood type.” She just sat there, looking down at her hands.

“And?” Kade prompted.

“And, I’m not contagious. I’m not that much different for anybody else. I mean, I’m safe to be around.”

“Your blood type is rare?” he asked. She didn’t say anything aloud, just nodded. She wouldn’t—no, couldn’t look at him. “Krista,” he spoke, but she jumped up, knowing what was coming. She’d already heard every line, every excuse, before. She just couldn’t hear those same words from him.

“Look.” She rubbed her forehead as she started pacing back and forth in the living room. “It’s okay, really. I get it. You don’t have to stay and pretend everything is all right while you’re trying to think up a believable excuse for you to go. I get it. You’re a good guy. But nobody wants to take that kind of chance. You can just go, and I’ll think of you as a very nice man.” Her pacing had taken her to the door and this time she didn’t turn around and pace back, but walked right out the door, and took off running around the house, across the back yard, and into the woods. When she hit the trail she’d made simply by taking the same path daily to Mrs. Worley’s, Krista picked up speed. She ran as fast and as hard as she could. She just wanted to outrun…everything. The problems with her blood, the stupid treatments, the past and the nightmare. God! She just wanted to be…normal.