His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series)

by Tina Bass

  Kade looked up from her bag to Krista standing in front of her closet, her arms folded across her chest, hip cocked to the side, and he thought that was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. Walking over to her, he cupped her ass, then spun around and tossed her on the bed, but before she got out a full squeal, he came down on top of her, catching his weight on his arms, slamming his mouth down on hers.

  “Fuck, baby. Here, naked all weekend, works too,” he said against her lips. He heard her giggle and raised his head to watch a big beautiful smile spread across her face. And, he felt that grip on his heart loosen up a little. He was bringing his Krista back, or maybe his Krista had been lost since she was fourteen and he was helping her come back from that. He smiled down at her.

  “If we’re here all weekend, I won’t get to see any of your ranch,” she stated logically. “We can get naked at your ranch, can’t we?” A sexy smile played across her lips.

  “Damn straight, and I’m goin’ to have you naked every chance I get.” He took her mouth again. When he felt her hips start to move against him, he kissed a path across her cheek, along her jaw, and down her neck as his hands were busy pushing up her T-shirt. He raised his head to look at her. “But, I’m goin’ to get you naked here, now, and taste every inch of you. Then you pack whatever the fuck you want to pack.” He heard her catch her breath and then a moan of agreement. Then he did just that, along with a few other things, and after, he let her pack whatever she wanted, because he wasn’t letting her out of his sight for the whole damned weekend.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Krista sat beside Kade in his truck on the way to his ranch. She tried to talk him into letting her drive her car and following him, so he wouldn’t have to take her into the city tomorrow when she would visit with Mrs. Worley and meet with Lance and Marissa for lunch. He told her he had a few things to do in the city, so he could just take her and pick her back up when she was ready. So, she was sitting beside him, as in right beside, her leg pressed to his, her hand on his jean covered thigh, his hand on her bare thigh because she was wearing her shorts.

  His hand, which was a lot bigger, and almost wrapped around her whole leg, would glide up the leg of her shorts and his fingers would almost, but not quite, hit right there, but then he would glide his hand back down and away. “Your skin feels like fuckin’ silk, baby,” Kade said huskily on another glide up her thigh. This time the tip of his finger just barely touched her and her breath caught. He looked at her and smiled that sexy smile, and she knew he was doing it on purpose.

  “You’re a tease,” she said, smiling at him.

  “I’m not teasing, baby. I’m preppin’.” Just the tip of his finger touched her again.

  “Oh, so that’s what it’s called.” Now she was teasing him as she moved her hand to glide over him, and felt him harden against her hand.

  “Damn, baby, how the hell am I supposed to get out now?”

  “Get out?” He did a chin lift to the windshield and when she turned to look at what he was nodding to, they were coming up on a wooden arch. His last name, McKaden, was burned across the top. “Your ranch?” She squealed and sat up in the seat to try and see everything at once. It was perfect! As soon as they passed under the arch, there were trees planted on each side, spaced out so they each had room to grow, but at the same time, close enough for them to shade the entire driveway. She could just imagine big pots filled with little flowers sitting in between each tree. Or, at least that’s what she would do, to add color. At the end of the drive, there was a ranch style house sitting in the middle of a small front yard with a white picket fence around it. “That’s your house?” She didn’t turn to look at him, because she couldn’t. That house, that yard, even the white picket fence was perfect!

  “Were you expecting something bigger?” he asked tensely.

  “It’s per—” She started to say, but at the tone of his voice, she turned to look at his face. “Perfect.” She ended on a whisper when she saw the way he looked. Jaw tight. So tight, she could see the muscles in his face jumping.

  “What did you say?” As she watched his face while he asked the question, she could see his jaw start to relax.

  “I…uh…said…it was perfect.” Krista was unsure what had happened. She heard him breathe out in a rush, like he’d been holding his breath. “Irish?” She wanted to ask him what the matter was, because for a minute he’d seemed angry. But, she never got the chance, because as soon as that last word left her mouth, his was on hers. He kissed her deep and long, and when he lifted his head from hers, she saw that whatever was bothering him had passed.

  “I’m glad you like my house, baby,” he whispered to her softly.

  “Are you going to kiss me like that every time I like something of yours?” Because if that was the case, she was going to like the dirt in the driveway, along with everything else she could possibly name. Then she heard him bust out laughing.

  “Come on, baby, let me show you around, get you unpacked, then I’ll show you more for you to like.” He was smiling his beautiful smile at her.

  “Well, so far, I like your arch, and your driveway, and your yard, and your little fence, and your dirt.” She was saying all this as she was getting out of his truck. She reached for her bag, when all of sudden, she was spun around, her back against the truck. Kade’s face was right in front of hers.

  “You like my dirt?”

  “For a kiss like that last one, yeah.” She tilted her head toward the front seat of the truck. “I like your dirt and each and every pebble in your driveway,” she said, smiling up at him. He didn’t smile back at her, instead his eyes roamed her face and then came back to hers.

  “Fuck, baby, you’re amazing.” He lowered his head to hers and kissed her so sweetly, that she melted against him. Then he grabbed her hand and walked up to the house with her. When she came to the front door, she gasped—loudly—then dropped Kade’s hand and turned around in a circle, trying to take everything in. The wide open living room had a huge stone fireplace. She had to walk up to it and run her hands over the wooden mantel, touch it to make sure it was real. Then she practically ran over to the sunken dining area, with its floor to ceiling bay windows. She looked over to the left of the dining area and saw the kitchen, with new stainless steel appliances. It was a dream home. Her dream home. Looking back at Kade, she saw the look of confusion on his face, but she could only stare with her mouth slightly open in awe. She turned to look at more, and when she turned another circle, she heard Kade call her name and she looked back at him.

  “It’s a dream,” she breathed.

  “Baby,” he whispered.

  “No, Irish, you don’t understand. This!” She spun around, arms spread wide indicating the whole house. “This is a dream. My dream! I’ve looked at hundreds of houses and none, not even one, came close to what I wanted. This!” She spun again. “This is beyond a dream.” She finished on a sigh. Kade felt pride well up in his chest. Krista liked his house. No, it was a whole helluva’ lot more than like. He’d always liked this house, even when he was a little boy and would stay with the Petersons. To him, it felt just as much like home as his real home did. And, of course, he’d updated the kitchen with the newer appliances when he bought the ranch. But, damn, his Krista liked it too. He wanted to tell her, wanted her to know just how much it meant to him, but before he could open his mouth, she spoke up again.

  “Do you have blue prints?” she asked.

  “What?” Was that just a random question coming from her?

  “Blue prints?” She didn’t mind repeating herself. “Do you have them, or can you get them? I never thought about it before. Really, it never even crossed my mind, but I can build my dream home.” Krista spun around again. “I can build it so it’ll look like this.” She stopped and looked at him, trying to see his reaction. “I mean, if it’s okay with you, me building my hou
se to look like yours.” Maybe he didn’t want someone copying his house.

  Fuck, no, it was not okay that she build a house somewhere that was not here, with him. If she wanted a house like this one, she could have this one, with him, for the rest of their lives. Wait…what? Did he want to spend the rest of his life with this woman? Fuck yeah, he did. He was falling in love with her. No, forget that, he wasn’t falling in love. He fell the minute he’d first seen her. Felt it the first time he woke up with her body wrapped around his. Knew it the first time he slid inside of her. He heard her call him ‘Irish,’ and yeah, he felt that too. He looked at her, her head slightly tilted to the side, and that little unsure smile on her face. She was so fuckin’ stunning. He crossed to her, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her with every drop of love he felt for her. When he loosened his hold on her, she stumbled back, but he steadied her.

  “Wow.” He heard her breathe and offered her a smile. “Come on, baby, let me show you the rest of the house.” He grabbed her bag, and started up the stairs with her by his side, when he heard her mumble quietly.

  “Hope this tour ends in the bedroom.” Then, he couldn’t help it, he busted out laughing.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Krista was in heaven, or at least what she thought heaven should be like. She was sitting on Kade’s back deck, drink in hand, feet propped up, looking out across his back yard. It wasn’t small like the front, but wasn’t huge either. Well, the grassy yard part of it wasn’t huge, but then there were the woods—lots and lots of woods. Kade told her it was about twenty acres of wooded area, and a large creek ran through it. It was fed from the river, which was further down on his property.

  “I get it,” she said as she turned to look at Kade.

  She’d gotten to see the rest of the house and its three bedrooms. One of them was used for an office and the other for a guest room. The master bedroom, well, it was just that, a master. The walls were white, the furniture all dark wood, no curtains on the widows, only wooden blinds, but right in the middle of the room sat the biggest bed she’d ever seen—and she had a king sized bed herself—with a huge dark, wooden, bookcase head board. She’d walked over to it and sat, then looked up at Kade who was standing in the door way watching her. “Big bed,” she commented, smiling up at him.

  “I’m a big man.” Kade still didn’t move. She let her eyes travel down from his face, to his chest, to his stomach, to his…

  “Oh, yes, you are,” Krista breathed. Before she could blink, she was flat on her back, being dragged up the bed toward the pillows. Kade’s mouth hit hers and poof! Her clothes were gone, and Kade’s big body was over hers, and then he was inside her and she found out—again—just how big he could get.

  Now Kade was by the grill, had just flipped the steaks and was closing the lid, when he turned toward Krista. “You get what?”

  “How you could fall in love with this place at only four years old. Why you would want this place so much. I get it.” She smiled at him and then turned to look back over the yard. He mirrored her gesture, glancing over his land. He didn’t bring women here, mostly because the ones he hooked up with were just that, ‘hook-ups.’ Of course, there were others that were more concerned about his money and what it could do for them, and he didn’t want any of that in his home. That didn’t mean they didn’t know where he lived or all about the ‘little house’ he should tear down and add some ‘style.’ Hell, one had even gone so far as to tell him that if he wanted to keep her, he had to upgrade his surroundings. He shook his head on that thought. “Irish?” she called to him and he turned back to her, giving her his attention. “Do you believe in destiny?”

  His answer was to shrug his shoulders, then added, “Never really thought about it.” He wasn’t sure where this was going.

  “I think I do. I mean, if you really think about it, if Dr. Miller had never contacted me, would I be living where I am now?” She tilted his head as though she was thinking. “I doubt it. I know I wouldn’t be going to the hospital here for my treatments. So, I never would have been on the side of the road and met you.” She let that trail off as she was thinking things through. “No matter how we end up, I’ll never regret meeting you and being with you.” She looked back out across the yard. “You’ve changed my life, Irish,” she whispered softly and he felt himself getting some sort of lump in his throat.

  “I wasn’t supposed to be there,” he blurted. And he wouldn’t have been, if Minga hadn’t gotten sick when she did. Velgada would have taken his transport himself.

  “Be where?” she asked, looking back at him. He walked over and sat down with her, his eyes searching her face. When they settled on hers, he reached up, his thumb tracing the delicate skin of her cheek.

  “I told you I was retiring. I’m just on desk duty, finishing up paper work, closing out all my case files. My partner, well, he was my partner...his wife got sick and he asked me if I could take his transport so he could be with her that day. The Captain okayed it, but that was rare, and, baby, I mean a rare damned thing, for the Cap to do.” He watched as her eyes widened.

  “Destiny gave you to me.” She laid her head over into his hand. Then, she suddenly jumped up. “Is she okay? Is she still sick? I have to do something for her, and him. For them,” she exclaimed as she started pacing around the deck, hands moving this way and that. When he only watched her, because hell, she was too fuckin’ cute not to watch, she yelled at him, “Irish!”

  “Baby, she’s fine. Her appendix was removed and now she’s home.” He was smiling at her, and then he heard her take a deep breath. “Well, fuck,” he muttered. She stopped and stared at him.

  “What?” she asked, her hands on her hips.

  “Nothing, baby, what would you like to do?” He watched the smile come on her face, growing as she tilted her head.

  “I want to make something and take it to them. Maybe tomorrow after lunch would be a good time.” She crossed to him, sliding her arms around his waist when she dropped down into his lap. “Can we do that? Please, Irish?” she softly whispered. Like he could say no to any fuckin’ thing she asked like that, but he actually wanted to see how Minga was doing himself. He leaned forward, touched his lips to hers and whispered against them.

  “Yeah, baby, we can do that.” He kissed her deep before he got up to take the steaks and vegetables off the grill. “We eating inside or out?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  After they had eaten, Kade wanted to show her more of his ranch, or really, the ‘ranch’ part of his ranch. She thought they would be walking, but Kade walked around the side of the house to a detached garage and hopped on a 4-wheeler. “Hop on.” He coaxed when she just stood and stared at him.

  “I think…uh…maybe we could…uh…I don’t know…walk, maybe?” Krista mumbled, not sure about that thing at all. It didn’t even have a seatbelt!

  “Baby,” he said, smiling at her.

  “It doesn’t have a seatbelt. Isn’t that like against the law, Copper?” she blurted some of what was in her head, taking a few steps back.

  “Copper?” he questioned, trying not to laugh. She giggled and watched a smile spread across his face. Dang, she loved seeing him smile. He was handsome all the time, but when he smiled, he was captivating. She watched him as he got off and walked over to her, lowering his knees until his face was even with hers. He touched his lips to hers as he circled her waist, then stood with her in his arms. He carried her back to the 4-wheeler and sat her on the seat, sideways, then squatted down in front of her. “Baby, do you trust me?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She didn’t hesitate, and he leaned in and lightly kissed her lips.

  “Do you think I’d let anything happen to you?”

  “No,” she answered and got another light kiss.

  “I’ll keep you safe,” he whispered.

  “Okay,” she r
eplied, but when he lightly kissed her this time, she parted her lips and touched her tongue to his lips. She heard a low, throaty growl, right before he sucked her tongue into his mouth. When he raised his head up, they were both breathing hard.

  “Fuck, baby, I don’t know if I want to show you my ranch or take you back inside and get you naked again.” When he stated that, Krista couldn’t help but giggle.

  “You can show me your ranch and then we could get naked.” Solving his dilemma.

  “Yeah.” Made sense to him. Moving her to the side, he stood up and got back on the 4-wheeler before repeating his original request. “Hop on.” This time, she hopped on in front of him, trusting him. He showed her where to put her feet and where not to put them, then where to put her hands, which was basically the handlebars, right beside his. Before taking off, he warned her not to try and drive. It took a little time for her to relax enough to realize she was having fun, so much fun. Without thinking, she threw her hands up in the air and shouted.

  “WHOOOPEEE!!” She felt one of Kade’s arms come around her waist like a band. She felt his breath at her ear, and laid her head back on his shoulder, right before she heard him whisper.

  “Having fun, baby?” She smiled and turned her head to his ear.

  “Oh, yessss.” She sighed and then nipped his earlobe with her teeth. She felt him growl from his chest, in her back that was pressed up against him and she giggled again. Before she knew it, they were at the stables and he was showing her some of his horses.

  “You ever rode a horse?” he asked, but she only shook her head because she was too busy looking at the beautiful creature standing in front of her.