by Susan Stoker
“You didn’t kill Angel. Ransom killed Angel.”
“But if I—”
“No. Ransom killed her. There’s enough blame to go around to everyone. Ransom, Angel herself, me, you, her friends, my parents…I could go on and on, but the bottom line is, the only person responsible for taking her life is Ransom.”
They were both quiet for a heartbeat. “The service was beautiful, hon.”
Mickie lifted her head. “You were there?”
“Yeah, I was there.”
“Mack said you sent her to make sure I was all right.”
“I did. But I was there too. I hung out at the back of the church and I was there at the cemetery until you left that evening.”
“I didn’t see you.”
“I know. I want us to work. I want to get back to where we were, but this time, I want you to hang out with me and my friends. I want to be able to talk to you about my job, at least what I can. I know it’s going to take some work, on both our parts, to get completely past what happened. But I’m willing to try. I’m hoping you are too.”
“I am,” she replied immediately. “I was thinking the same thing. I’m sorry for what happened, I’m sorry you had to worry about me and Angel in the middle of having to worry about keeping your cover and staying safe while everything was happening. I’m happier than I can say to be here with you.” Mickie put her head back down and buried it in Cruz’s neck. She inhaled deeply. “I’ve missed you, Cruz. So much.”
“I’ve missed you too. Are we good?”
“Yeah, I think so, why?”
“Because I’ve spent the last few weeks missing you more than I thought I’d ever miss anyone in my entire life. I’ve thought of nothing but you. My friends are ready to disown me and I’m completely useless at work.”
Cruz disengaged himself from Mickie and stood up. He held his hand out to her. “Let me show you how much I’ve missed you. I’m in love with you, Mickie. I want to take you to my bed and not get up for days. I need you. Will you come with me?”
Mickie didn’t hesitate. She put her hand in his and squealed when he pulled her upright forcefully and bent so she was sailing over his shoulder. He caught her and wrapped his arm around the back of her legs. He turned and headed down the hall to his bedroom.
He dumped her on the mattress and she laughed as she bounced.
“I think we’ve done this before,” Mickie exclaimed, referring to the last time he’d dropped her on his bed.
“No, this is gonna be something completely different. I know we went slow before, but I can’t this time. I came too close to losing you and it’s been too long since I’ve held you in my arms. Tonight will be fast, at least the first time, but I promise to make it good for you.”
“Cruz…God.”
“I love you, Mickie. It has to be love. I’ve spent my whole life waiting for you. I might not be able to take it slow this time, but you’ll love everything I do, I promise.”
Mickie sat up, propping herself up with one hand and reaching for Cruz’s face with the other. “I will, because it’s you doing it to me.” She fell back and arched, anticipating his touch. “Do your worst.”
“One question before we get started and I can’t think about anything but your scent and your body…”
“Yes?”
“Will you wear that outfit for me sometime? Just for me?”
Mickie smiled up at the man she loved, knowing exactly what outfit he was talking about. “I did enjoy the way you got creative with your teeth when you covered me back up…”
“I’ll take it that’s a yes?”
“It’s a yes.”
Cruz looked into her eyes. “I promise to show you every day how much you mean to me. I won’t lie to you again. We’ll work through any issues that come up.”
“I’ll do the same, Cruz. The thought of losing you was eating me alive.”
“I’m here now. Let me show you how much you mean to me. Take off your shirt. I’ve got to see you.”
Mickie eased her shirt over her head and gazed at Cruz. She loved the look of adoration in his eyes. “Yours too?”
“Of course. I’ve got to feel you against me.”
Mickie quickly stripped off her pants and shed her bra and panties and scooted up on the bed as Cruz took off his clothes. Before even a minute had passed, she felt Cruz’s heart thumping against her chest. She figured he could feel hers too, as it felt like it was beating out of her chest.
“You’re beautiful, and I swear I feel like the luckiest guy in all the world that you’re here with me.”
“I think I’m the luckiest girl for being here with you,” Mickie countered, smiling.
Cruz didn’t bother to argue with her, he simply dropped his head and covered her lips with his. His hands moved over her body as he devoured her mouth, relearning her taste. He flipped them over and held onto Mickie’s hips as she got her balance on top of him.
“Take me, Mickie. I’m yours. As fast or as slow as you want.”
Mickie looked down and saw that he’d put on a condom before coming to her on the bed. She’d been worrying about her own clothes so much she’d missed it. “Are you ready?”
He laughed as if she’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “Sweetheart, I took one look at those nipples of yours and I was ready.”
Mickie smiled shyly down at him and rose up on her knees. Her smile grew as he groaned at the first touch of her hand on his cock. She stroked him once before fitting him to her, then sank down on him inch by inch, groaning along with him as her hot, wet body engulfed his hard length.
She stayed motionless when he was inside her as deep as he could go. She felt his thumbs caressing her hips, but otherwise neither of them moved.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“Never better.” Mickie lifted up an inch, then dropped back onto Cruz. His hands tightened on her hips, letting her set the pace.
“That’s it. Move on me. Do what feels good.”
“Everything feels good.”
They looked into each other’s eyes as she continued riding him. Mickie braced her hands on his chest as she increased her thrusts against him. She knew when Cruz lost his battle to let her have control when he held her in place above him and rocked his hips up and into her.
Sensing he was close, Mickie quickly moved one hand from his chest down to her clit and frantically rubbed herself as Cruz fucked her. She threw her head back and shuddered over him, in the midst of a monster orgasm when Cruz pumped into her one more time and held her on top of him as he exploded.
Several moments later, when Mickie’s muscles felt like Jell-O and she lay on top of Cruz, just as they had after the first time they’d made love, connected in the most intimate way two people could be connected, Cruz cleared his throat and Mickie expected to hear something romantic or sexy come out of his mouth.
“By the time the average American is fifty years old, he has five pounds of undigested red meat in his bowels.”
Mickie had watched Beverly Hills Cop five times in the last couple of weeks, simply trying to be closer to Cruz. She giggled as she responded appropriately, “And why are you telling me that, Cruz? What makes you think I have any interest in it at all?”
Cruz nuzzled the top of Mickie’s hair and whispered, “Well, you eat a lot of red meat.”
“I love you, Cruz Livingston.”
“And I love you, Michelle Kaiser.”
Epilogue
Mickie grinned at the group around the table. They were having lunch on a Saturday, almost three months after Cruz’s undercover mission had come to a screeching halt. All of his friends were there, and Mack was trying to convince the guys and Hayden that they needed to do a sexy calendar photo shoot to raise money for her nonprofit group.
Not surprisingly, no one was very keen on the idea.
“Come on, you guys. It’ll be awesome. It’s not like you have to get naked or anything. And we can even invite your firefig
hter friends. Think you can get Squirrel or Chief…hell, any of them to say yes? It’ll be epic if you can get everyone to agree!” Mack tried pouting, hoping it’d get her what she wanted, but everyone just laughed at her.
Mickie put her hand on Cruz’s knee and smiled when he immediately covered it with his own.
The last three months had been wonderful. She and Cruz had moved into a new condo together last month. They both knew they were moving their relationship along very quickly, but it felt right. Marriage wasn’t in the plans yet, but it was definitely a possibility in the future.
Mickie thought back to this morning. She’d been dreaming the most wonderful dream, that Cruz was making slow, sweet love to her, and had woken up to the reality of Cruz running his fingers up and down her chest and nuzzling against her neck.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“I want you.”
Mickie had smiled and her nipples tightened in his grasp. “Then take me.” She’d thought he’d pounce on her, but instead he took his time. He worked his way from her chest, down her belly, until he’d made himself comfortable between her legs. He’d grabbed a pillow and shoved it under her butt until she was just where he wanted her. He’d feasted on her folds until she was begging for mercy. Then, and only then, had he crawled up her body and entered her slowly. As much as Mickie had begged, he’d taken her at his own pace, whispering words of love and adoration the entire time.
Finally, when Mickie had exploded again, he put both hands on the mattress at her shoulders and lost control. He’d pounded into her, not taking his eyes away from hers. He’d pushed in one last time and held himself as far inside her as he could go and filled her with his come.
They’d lain in bed for another long while, simply enjoying being alive and connected. While they’d made love countless times since everything had happened, that morning was one of the most memorable…besides their first time.
Mickie was brought out of her semi-dazed state when Cruz leaned over and nuzzled behind her ear as the good-natured ribbing continued around them. “I’ll pose for Mack’s calendar if you pose with me in your biker-babe outfit.”
She turned her head and kissed Cruz quickly before pulling back. “As if you’d allow me out of the house with that on.”
“Who said anything about ‘out of the house’?”
Mickie smacked Cruz lightly on the arm. “You’re so bad.” They grinned at each other and Mickie soothed Cruz’s arm where she’d smacked him. She looked down and grinned at the addition Cruz had made to his tattoo. Alongside Avery’s initials was now a large AK, in tribute to Angel. She hadn’t been very nice to Mickie, especially at the end, but she was Mickie’s family, and a victim. She deserved to be remembered and honored.
“I love you, Cruz. Not only that, I’m very proud of you.”
“I love you too, Mickie. And while there are times I know I’ll probably do things that will piss you off, I’m going to try to live every day to make you proud to be by my side.”
Mickie leaned her head against his arm and closed her eyes. She had no idea how she’d gotten so lucky, but she wasn’t going to give Cruz up. No way, no how.
A large crash rang out through the restaurant and made Mickie jump away from Cruz in surprise and a little bit of fright.
“Easy, sweetness. You’re okay.”
Mickie nodded and she looked over to where the sound had come from.
A woman was standing in the middle of the restaurant apologizing profusely to the man she’d just run into. It was a busboy and he’d dropped an entire tub of dirty dishes.
“Jesus Christ, are you blind? Watch where you’re walking, why don’t you?” The man was standing with his hands on his hips, glaring at the tall, slender woman in front of him. “How would you like it if I came to your workplace and made you look like a schmuck in front of everyone?”
Quint scooted his chair back and stalked quickly over to the duo, intent on preventing the situation from escalating. Most of the time, just the sight of his SAPD uniform could chill out the angriest individual.
“As a matter of fact, I am blind,” the woman said, sounding a bit peeved. “I already apologized for running into you, but if you’d been paying attention as well, you would’ve seen me and you could’ve gone around me.”
“Everyone all right here?” Quint asked, making his presence known to the two angry people.
“Hunky-dory,” the busboy groused, dropping his attitude after seeing Quint’s uniform, and squatting down to start cleaning up the mess.
“Miss? Why don’t you just step over here out of the way.” Quint put his hand on the woman’s elbow and led her away from the shattered plates and water spilled from the cups. “Are you okay? You didn’t get hit by any flying glass or anything?”
“No, I think I’m all right. Thank you.”
“Can I help you—”
“I’m not an invalid, no matter what you might think of blind people.”
“I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did, most people do.” Her voice was partly resigned, as if she was used to being thought less of because of her disability, but there was also a bit of irritation not quite hidden beneath her words.
Quint couldn’t remember the last time someone had spoken to him with such disdain.
“I really just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t slip on the water on the floor.”
“Why? Because I can’t see it? Because I’m an idiot and I’d go tromping through the middle of the spilled stuff to prove a point?”
“Well, no, because I’m trying to be a gentleman.”
The woman snorted. “A gentleman. Yeah, like there are any of those left in the world today.”
Smiling, not offended in the least, Quint looked down at the stressed-out, prickly woman in front of him. She was tall, only a few inches shorter than his six foot two. She had long blonde hair that was pulled back into a messy ponytail and eyes so blue they didn’t look natural. They were almost more turquoise than blue. As he looked closer, if he had to guess, he’d say they were most likely contacts or prosthetics.
She had wisps of hair that were escaping the tight confines of the band that held it and she wore no makeup. She was wearing a T-shirt that fit her like a glove and a pair of jean shorts that were neither too short nor too long. On her feet were tennis shoes and a cute pair of pink socks. She had a long white cane with a red tip hooked around her arm.
Quint reached out and touched her hand briefly, not knowing the protocol for wanting to shake someone’s hand when they were blind and couldn’t see the gesture. “My name is Quint Axton, I’m happy to meet you.”
She didn’t hesitate, but reached her hand out to him. “Corrie Madison.”
“Are you meeting someone here, Corrie?”
“Yeah, he should be here any moment. So you can just leave the poor blind woman here against the wall and he’ll be along to take care of me soon.” Her voice was still laced with a bit of irritation.
“Maybe I should start us off again.” Quint brought Corrie’s hand up so it rested over the badge sitting on his chest. “My name is Officer Quint Axton with the San Antonio Police Department, and I’m pleased to meet you.”
“Oh my God,” Corrie whispered, her tone of voice immediately changing to one of chagrin and snatching her hand back after moving it over his badge and realizing what she was feeling. “Uh, yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean any disrespect, I mean…”
Quint laughed and put her out of her misery. “I just wanted to make sure you knew before you said something you might really regret.”
“I really am sorry. I’m not usually like this. I’ve had a really really really bad week.”
Quint chuckled, remembering the story of how Mackenzie had said the same thing after TJ had pulled her over all those months ago. “It’s okay. Now, are you sure you’re all right here? The person you’re waiting for will be here soon?”
“Yeah, he’s my lawyer.”
&n
bsp; “Your lawyer?” Quint scrunched his eyes together in concern.
“Yeah.” Corrie continued in a low voice, “I heard a murder. I think someone’s trying to shut me up, and I have to figure out what’s going to happen next.”
* * *
Look for the next book in the Badge of Honor Series: Justice for Corrie. Scheduled to be released in March 2016 (pre-order will be live in January). Sign up for Susan’s newsletter to be notified when it goes on sale and for other information and prizes.
Blind since birth, Corrie Madison relies on her other sharpened senses in her job as a chiropractor. Never did she imagine she’d have to depend on them to identify a killer. But when a man enters her practice, murdering everyone in his path, Corrie is the only witness—putting her directly in the killer’s crosshairs.
Officer Quint Axton wasn’t looking for love, or even a relationship, until he meets Corrie. Beautiful and brave, resilient and intelligent, she’s everything Quint wants—if he can keep her alive long enough to explore their mutual attraction. The threats on Corrie’s life are escalating. Surely a blind person is helpless against a ruthless killer?
Hardly. Corrie is about to prove that disabled does not equal defenseless.
**Justice for Corrie is the 3rd book in the Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.
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Discover other titles by Susan Stoker
Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Series
Justice for Mackenzie
Justice for Mickie
Justice for Corrie (Mar 2016)