by Susan Stoker
“How far along is she?” Casey asked Fletch
“Only about six weeks. I know people say you aren’t supposed to announce anything until around three months, but we’re both so excited we can’t keep it to ourselves anymore. Besides, if something were to happen to our baby, I’d want our best friends to be there to support us both. I can’t figure that telling everyone is a bad thing in any way.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t announce it from the rooftops when she was two days preggo,” Beatle teased.
Fletch winked at Casey in the mirror and she stifled a giggle. “Yeah, well, I can’t help it if she’s so irresistible I can’t keep my hands off her. We haven’t told anyone else yet, though, and no one other than me and her are supposed to know. I’d appreciate it if you kept the secret for a little longer. We’re going to have a pregnancy reveal party next week. At least that’s what she’s calling it. I don’t know why she doesn’t just call everyone and tell them, but she insists this is the way it’s done now.”
Casey eyed Fletch. His eyes were on the road again, but the smile on his face contradicted his grumpy words. “You love it.”
“I do, but if you tell her, I’ll deny it,” he told her.
Casey mimicked zipping her lips shut. “My lips are sealed.”
“You get that present done for Annie?” Beatle asked.
“Yup. Emily is gonna kill me, but I can’t frickin’ wait to give it to her,” Fletch said.
“What present?” Casey asked.
“Now that is a secret,” Fletch told her.
“Awwwww, not fair,” Casey grumbled. “I’m the one who’s being hunted. I think I should know.”
Casey felt a finger on her cheek and allowed Beatle to turn her to face him. His expression had lost all its good humor and he was serious as he said, “Don’t, Case.”
“Don’t what?” she asked.
“Don’t kid about what’s happening to you. It’s not funny.”
He was right. It wasn’t. Casey immediately felt bad. “I’m sorry. But you should know, this is the real me. I tend to joke a lot to try to diffuse a situation. Especially when it’s something happening to me. It makes me feel…I don’t know…less stressed about it. Like, when our plane was delayed on the way to Central America, I joked that with our luck it was because we were being hijacked. Again, not funny, but sometimes by comparing what’s currently happening to something more awful, my situation doesn’t seem as bad.”
“I can’t stand the thought of something bad happening to you again, sweetheart. Even if you’re just kidding.”
“I’ll try to curb it. But again, Beatle, it’s just me.”
He nodded and moved his hand to the back of her neck. Casey knew what was coming, and allowed him to pull her toward him. She braced herself with her palms on the seat between them.
Beatle touched his lips to hers and whispered, “I like ‘just you,’ Case. The more I learn, the more I like.”
He let go of her neck and Casey stayed where she was for a beat before sitting back on her side of the seat.
“I called Emily and let her know when we were going to arrive,” Fletch said from the front seat. “Annie was pretty excited to have another guest staying in ‘her old house.’”
Casey looked at Beatle in confusion.
“She and Emily rented the apartment from Fletch. It’s how they met,” he explained.
“Ah. I’m looking forward to meeting your daughter,” Casey told Fletch.
“And she’s looking forward to meeting you,” Fletch returned. “For the record, she’s smart. Really smart. And being as smart as she is sometimes isn’t conducive to being polite. She tends to say inappropriate stuff. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call her out on it. She doesn’t mean to be rude, it’s just how she is.”
Casey blinked. “You think I’d be rude to your little girl?”
“No, but I didn’t want you to take anything she might say too personally.” His voice gentled. “She’s my daughter, and I’ll move heaven and earth to make sure she gets what she needs to grow up to be a confident woman who loves herself exactly how she is, no matter what society tries to tell her is appropriate, beautiful, or any other warped bullshit they try to shove down the public’s throat.”
“I understand,” Casey told him. And she did. Her own father was pretty great, but she had a feeling Fletch would blow him out of the water. The little girl would have a hard time when she wanted to start dating. No one would be good enough for her in her daddy’s eyes…as it should be.
“It’s fine, Fletch,” she told him. “I’m sure she’ll be delightful.”
“Delightful,” Beatle snorted. “I’m not sure that’s the right adjective.”
Casey glared at him, which only made him chuckle. “You’ll see,” he said sagely. “You’ll see.”
Before too long, they’d pulled down a lengthy driveway. Casey saw a garage with a stairway along the side of it, then her attention was captured by the beautiful main house.
It was two stories and had a large wraparound porch, though what really caught her attention were the two people standing on the steps. The tall woman with brown hair had to be Emily, and the little dark-blonde-haired girl had to be Annie. But it was the sign the little girl was holding that made her eyes fill with tears.
Casey had been proud of how she’d been holding herself together recently. She’d never been a crier, but had felt like all she’d done was leak tears since she’d been rescued.
But seeing the bright pink sign with childish letters that had been painstakingly written by Annie almost did her in.
Welcome Home Casey
You’ll be Safe Here
Casey had no idea what Fletch had told his wife, or what she in turn had told Annie, but leave it to a kid to get right to the heart of the matter.
She felt Beatle take hold of her hand and squeeze lightly. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at the man next to her and gave him a small smile.
Fletch pulled right up to the house and stopped. He threw the vehicle in park and was out of the car before Casey could blink. He picked up his daughter and threw her over his shoulder, her sign falling harmlessly to the ground with his actions. She squealed in delight and laughed uproariously. He then leaned forward and tugged his wife around the back of her neck, much like Beatle always did to Casey, and pulled her to him, kissing her passionately and unapologetically.
“Let me down, Daddy!” Annie yelled.
Fletch pulled away from his wife and put his hand on her belly while he said something Casey couldn’t hear.
“Ready?” Beatle asked quietly.
“Ready,” Casey affirmed.
Beatle opened the door on his side of the car and tugged for her to follow. She scooted over the leather seat, all the while holding his hand. He helped her stand upright, and Casey was glad for his support when Annie careened into her. Her little arms went around her waist and squeezed.
Casey looked down in surprise at the affectionate child. Some of her friends from work had kids, but none had ever greeted her like this, and she’d known some of them since they were infants.
“Oh. Hi, Annie,” Casey said quietly.
The little girl looked up, her long hair brushing her butt. She had streaks of dirt on her face and her clothes were dusty, as if she’d been rolling around on the ground. But she didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Hi! I’m so glad you’re here. You’re gonna be living in my old apartment. But there’s more food there now than when I was there, so it’s okay. You wanna play Army with me? You can be the damsel in distress and I’ll be the soldier who saves you, just like my daddy did with you. Okay?”
Casey was taken aback by Annie’s words. First, she hadn’t ever met a girl who wanted to play “Army.” She definitely didn’t know the rules. But the fact that Annie wanted to be the one who saved the damsel was a little surprising.
On second thought, maybe it wasn’t. Being the damsel in distress wasn’t al
l that fun. Casey should know. So yeah, being the one with the gun and saving others sounded pretty darn good.
“I see how you are, squirt. Now that you have a new playmate, you don’t even want to say hi to me.”
Annie grinned, let go of Casey, and threw herself at Beatle. “Bug Man!! I missed you!”
Beatle picked Annie up and threw her high in the air. She shrieked in delight and when he caught her, demanded, “Do it again!”
So he did. Then he kissed her forehead and placed her feet back on the ground. “Why don’t you let Casey get settled before you start bugging her to play with you?”
Annie pouted a little. “But I wanted to play with her now!”
Casey couldn’t resist her cute little face. She squatted down, thankful for Beatle’s steadying hand as she almost lost her balance. “I’d be happy to play with you later, Annie. But maybe not captive and savior, okay? That’s a little too close to home for me right now.”
“Close to home? But everything in my yard is close to the house.”
Casey grinned, she couldn’t help it. “Sorry, I meant, since it really happened to me, recently, it kinda hurts to think about it. I’m happy to play something else though.”
The expression on Annie’s face was a mixture of sorrow and sympathy. Casey had never seen such an empathetic child before. The little girl stepped forward and carefully wrapped her arms around Casey’s neck. Surprised, Casey looked up at Beatle.
He simply nodded at her and held her steady with his hand on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry you were taken by bad guys,” Annie said into Casey’s ear. “I was stolded too and I was scared. But Daddy Fletch came and got me and Mommy, just like he did you.” She pulled back and patted Casey’s cheeks softly with her little hands. “Bug Man likes you. Mommy said Daddy told her. So at night, when you get scared, just crawl into his bed and he’ll hold you tight and make the bad dreams go away.”
Casey stared at the solemn little girl. “Is that what happened to you?”
Annie nodded. “I don’t dream about the bad guy so much anymore, but Daddy says anytime I need him, he’ll be there to protect me and hold me so the bad guy can’t get me. I bet Bug Man will do the same for you.”
Casey didn’t take her gaze away from Annie’s, but she felt Beatle crouch down next to them. “Of course I will,” he said softly. “Just like your daddy did for you, Annie, I’ll be there for Casey. Want to hear something cool?”
“What?” Annie asked, looking at Beatle but keeping her hands on Casey’s face.
Casey tried to keep her cool, but Annie’s innocent words struck her to her core. Beatle had done that for her. In the jungle, and in the hotel room the night before. When she’d had bad dreams, he was there to chase them away.
“Casey is a bug lady for real. She studies them. She knows everything there is to know about bugs. Ants, ladybugs, fireflies, dragonflies…you name it, she can tell you about them. She even has five huge cockroaches as pets!”
This time when Annie looked at her, her eyes were wide with excitement instead of empathy. “Really?” she breathed.
“Really,” Casey assured her.
“Cool!” Then she turned and ran back to her mom. “Mommy! Casey is a bug lady! She knows everything about them! I want a cockroach! I have to go catch some bugs so she can teach me!” And with that, Annie ran toward the side of the house and a large empty field, presumably to get some bugs.
Beatle helped Casey stand and smiled down at her. “You’re going to have a class of one in a bit, sweetheart.”
“Thank you,” Casey told him.
“For what?”
“For bringing me here. For distracting her so I didn’t have to be her damsel in distress. For doing what you do, keeping the world safe so children like her can be kids as long as possible.”
“You’re welcome,” Beatle said. Then he brought his hands to her face and used his thumbs to brush against her cheeks. “She got you dirty,” he told her as he concentrated on cleaning her face.
Casey smiled. “She was kinda dirty, huh?”
“I apologize for my daughter,” Emily said from behind them.
Casey turned from Beatle and ran an arm over her face quickly then looked at the other woman. “It’s okay, I wasn’t complaining.”
“She loves to play in the dirt. Lord knows I have no idea where that came from, as I can’t stand dirt, but,” Emily shrugged, “it makes her happy, so I won’t stop her from doing it. Welcome home, Casey. I’m so glad you’re all right and here with us.”
“Me too,” Casey said softly. Then Emily reached out, just like her daughter had, and gave her a genuine and heartfelt hug.
Casey smiled as she realized she’d been hugged more in the last week than she had in the last five years.
“Right,” Emily said as she pulled back. “Fletch said that you didn’t really have any clothes other than what you’re wearing, so I called Kassie and she said she could pick up some stuff for you. She works at JCPenney and gets a wicked discount, and you know, their clothes are already always discounted, so they’re super affordable. I just need to get back to her with your sizes and what you might like to wear. You know, if you’re a jeans-and-T-shirt kinda gal, or if you like more formal stuff. Oh, and of course, what kinds of bras and panties you like. Lacey or cotton, thongs or granny panties. She can get whatever.”
Casey’s eyes about bugged out of her head. First, she was surprised someone she’d never met would offer to get her clothes, but second, there was no way she was going to talk about what kind of underwear she liked to wear in front of Beatle and Fletch.
“Thongs, definitely,” Beatle commented from behind her.
Casey whipped her head around and, without thought, balled up a fist and hit him on the arm. “Not your decision,” she huffed.
He froze for a moment and they stared at each other. Just when Casey was getting mortified that she’d hit Beatle, he threw back his head and laughed.
She heard Emily chuckling next to her. “Sorry,” she said as she hooked her arm with Casey’s. “I wasn’t thinking. Shut up, Beatle, it wasn’t that funny,” she admonished. “Come on, we’ll go inside and you can tell me, in private, what you want.”
Before Emily dragged her off, Beatle said, “I’ll be out here. I’ll make sure the apartment has everything we need.”
With one word, Beatle was able to calm the nerves Casey didn’t even realize were still swimming in her belly.
Everything we need.
He wasn’t going to leave her here by herself.
He was going to stay with her.
She smiled shyly at him and nodded.
As if they’d been together for years instead of mere days, Beatle read the relief in her eyes. Ignoring the fact that Emily was standing right there, he leaned in and kissed Casey on the lips. It was a short yet intimate caress.
“Let me know if you need me.”
“I will.”
And with one last touch of his hand on her biceps, Beatle turned and walked toward the garage with Fletch.
“Girrrrrl,” Emily breathed, “I can’t wait to introduce you to the others. We have so much to talk about, but I promised not to pick at you for details until they could be here too.”
Casey smiled at Emily. “I’m not sure I have a lot of details, but I’m thinking I could use some advice. I’m not sure I know what to do with a Delta Force soldier.”
“Now that we can do,” Emily told her with a broad grin. “Come on. Let’s go find you something to eat. I’m sure you’re tired too. You can rest while I write down your sizes and everything you need. You’re in good hands with us, Casey.”
Casey let herself be towed inside the big house and found that she couldn’t stop smiling. She’d made the right decision to come to Texas. Absolutely.
Chapter Sixteen
Beatle looked over at Casey for what seemed like the hundredth time. She seemed to be holding up extremely well. She hadn’t hesitated to go with
Emily while he and Fletch had checked out the apartment over the garage to make sure it was ready for her.
By the time they’d gotten back to the house, Casey had given Emily her preferences and sizes for clothes and was taking a nap. He’d peeked in on her to make sure she was good, and found her sound asleep in one of the guest rooms. It had taken everything in him to shut the door and leave her alone.
Later, Kassie had arrived with the clothes and had blown off Casey’s thanks. She was the proud new owner of three pairs of jeans, two long-sleeve T-shirts, two short-sleeve tees, four fancier blouses, two pairs of slacks, two pajama sets, and two pairs of black leggings. He’d caught sight of several pairs of lace undies and bras to match.
Seeing the underwear made him think back to the jungle, when he’d doctored the scratches on her chest. And thinking about her tits made his dick lengthen in his jeans. He’d put on the performance of a lifetime and had pretended not to be at all interested in the clothes Kassie had brought, when in reality all he could think about was Casey standing in front of him wearing nothing but the bits of lace.
Casey had called her parents and talked them out of visiting, telling them Aspen was keeping his eye on her and that she was fine. She’d called Kristina, one of her students, and learned that Astrid had gone back to Denmark, but she and Jaylyn had appointments to talk to Doctor Santos, the psychology teacher Casey knew. She was currently on vacation, but was expected back the following week.
The haunted look in Casey’s eyes had returned after talking to her student, and Beatle had wanted her to take a break from her calls, but she’d refused. She’d talked to her landlord, the dean from her university, her bank to cancel her old credit card and get a new one sent to her in Texas, and finally a neighbor, who promised to check in on her cockroaches.
Beatle had known Casey was at her breaking point. Dealing with the realities of her life and trying to get it put back together from hundreds of miles away was tough. Hearing time and time again that people hadn’t thought she’d make it back alive after being kidnapped wasn’t helping.