Chapter 17
Aspen
By three that afternoon,Cade and I were back at my tiny cottage with both dogs, waiting for some guy named Stan to show up.
According to the guys at Nightshade, Stan was the best there was for any level of security system you could imagine. With that, and the fact I had committed a faux pas in Cade’s eyes with not having divulged everything until today, I heeded his and the men’s wishes by employing Safe SEALed to provide me with the security I needed.
At four, Stan was knocking at my front door.
“Stay,” Cade commanded as he hurried ahead of me to answer.
I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest, and let myself drop onto the sofa. “It’s Stan, Cade.”
“You don’t know him. I do. And even though he’s expected, it could be someone entirely different out there.” He looked through the window next to the front door, nodded, then proceeded to unlatch the deadbolt and pulled the door inward.
“Cade,” the man I had yet to see said. A proffered hand clasped Cade’s and the two shook.
“Stan, good to see you. Thanks for making it on such short notice.” Cade cleared the door and allowed the other man entry.
“It’s no problem,” he said, then trained his eyes in my direction.
Before me stood a mountain of a man, hair cut military precision short, tattoo sleeves beautifully adorning his arms, or what I could see of them where his tightly fitted polo shirt wasn’t covering.
“You must be Aspen.” Stan smiled the softest of smiles that contrasted with his size—which screamed killer by the way—and stuck out his hand. “I knew when Cade called, another woman was in trouble before he even said anything.”
My brow arched with my confusion, but nonetheless, I put my much smaller hand in his, letting his gentle grip swallow it whole. “It’s nice to meet you, Stan.”
The man held on to me a little longer than I deemed comfortable, his gaze studying me, penetrating as if he could read my thoughts, my emotions. He learned me without words. And it had me feeling twitchy.
As Cade came to stand at our sides, Stan’s gaze broke from mine and turned to him. “I like her.” Stan dropped my hand, then proceeded to walk toward the back of the cottage, also known as my bedroom. “I’ll start here,” he said over his shoulder.
Before I knew it, Stan and Cade had decided my cottage would be outfitted with sensor lights, window, door and interior sensors—I was assured Molly wouldn’t be able to set them off in the dead of the night without my asking—cameras, and a control panel. It didn’t matter that I was the homeowner; the men had taken free rein on my safety, and according to Cade, money was no object.
Cade
I could tell she was pissed at me, just by the way the door had latched loudly behind Stan after she’d given him a charming thanks. Then, she turned the deadbolt to the lock position with a little more force than necessary. Without those aforementioned tells, the fact she now stood ramrod straight, her shoulders bunched up to her ears, along with her breathing having picked up, those served as great indicators to her current mood.
Resigned—and a little turned on to witness such fire directed at me—I sat down on the couch and settled in. “Say it.”
A snort. “Say what?”
“What you’re thinking. Feeling.” I sighed. “I know you’ve got your panties in a bunch about something, Pen, so why don’t you just tell me what it is I did that’s got you so worked up.”
She spun to face me with a look of incredulity. “You mean, you don’t know?”
“Of course, I don’t,” I told her. “I wouldn’t have asked if I did, sweetheart.”
“Ha!” Her gaze strayed to just beside my face. She was unable to look me in the eye. “Funny, considering less than an hour ago you and Stan seemed to know what I needed without me saying a thing.”
I couldn’t help but smirk at that. “Baby,” I cajoled, getting to my feet as Aspen chose to back away from my advances, her hands making a motion to stave me off.
“Stop.”
“Not gonna happen, Pen,” I rasped, understanding where she was coming from now that I knew what was bothering her. My feet moved at a quick pace, backing her up against her front door, effectively barricading her in between my arms. “I’m not going to apologize for protecting what’s mine, baby. You can bitch, scream, hit me if you will, but I’m not going to feel one ounce of guilt for protecting you.”
Aspen’s eyes had grown wide, and she was biting her lower lip.
I smirked. “Nothing to say, sweetheart?”
Her mouth dropped open, but no words came. When she realized her speechless state, she snapped it shut, then growled before her chin met her chest in a gesture of capitulation.
I couldn’t help myself. I reached to grab her chin, tilting her head back so I could see her eyes. “I know you’re a grown woman who can make her damn mind up about her own safety. I know Stan and I went a little over the top, but?—”
And there was that spark again. “A little?” she mumbled, as my thumb reached her bottom lip, giving it a gentle back and forth rub.
I nodded. “I just found you and if this is going where I think it is, I’m not taking any chances.”
There. My cards were all laid out on the proverbial table.
Aspen
Okay, so I was still pissed at him.
And confused.
It had only been a month and a half really since we’d met. We’d spent a total of five days of that in each other’s presence. So how was it that a reclusive woman, such as myself, had gone from not wanting to settle with a man to feeling like I didn’t want to let this particular specimen standing before me go? The shift was recent—as recent as yesterday—if I was being honest with myself. An image of Cade carrying that little girl, the news video of him giving a death glare to anyone who tried to intercept his forward progress by removing the tiny burden from his arms. Yes, that was the moment things really changed for me. The fact that, since I’d known him, he’d been an all-or-nothing kind of man in everything he undertook should have been more than enough to convince me I was a goner, but I’d fought it. And lost.
You’re done for, you idiot woman, you.
I was.
And the rubbing of his thumb on my lower lip right then? The man didn’t need words to make me melt. With such a simple gesture, I was putty in his hands.
“Okay,” I rasped, my mouth having gone dry.
His brows furrowed. “Okay?”
“Uh-huh.” I licked my lips, my tongue brushing the tip of his thumb in the process, and his eyes darkened.
“Okay.” His face grew nearer as he leaned in and paused. “Pen?”
My eyes grew heavy, and my body hummed. “Hmm?”
His lips quirked. “Mine,” he growled, before he slammed his mouth down on mine, taking what he had just declared was his.
Mine, I thought as my mouth was otherwise occupied to say the word back to him, but I sure as hell showed him this thing between us was more than a one-way street.