Deceived (Free Indeed Book 2), page 15
When he saw her smile, Jake’s face visibly softened into that look that made her feel all gooey inside. Damn, she loved that look. When those chocolate eyes of his stared at her like that, she literally felt like she could drown in them. Drown in the sexy chocolate of Deputy Badass...what a wonderful way to go.
He reached across the short distance between their seats to grasp her hand in his. “Wait here. I’m going to come around and help you out to make sure you don’t pull open your wound or anything.”
“I’m more than capable of climbing out of a car, Jake.”
His hand gave hers a soft squeeze, “Do it for my own peace of mind then. I’ll feel better being overly safe and knowing that you’re not in pain.”
“Well you better hurry up and get over here then, big boy,” she teased him. “Because my meds are starting to wear off and the bottle’s inside.”
Despite her light teasing, his face sobered instantly at her words. Worry creased his brow as he pushed open the car door and swung his long legs out. A couple of quick strides later he was at her side, pulling her door open, and easing her gently to her feet. Cara reached up with one hand to try and caress the worry lines away from his face.
“I’m fine,” she whispered softly. “The meds actually help a lot to keep the pain away. I’m really going to be ok. You don’t have to worry.”
“You should never have had to go through that,” his soft spoken words were riddled with guilt breaking her heart. “I should have been there. I should have done whatever it took to not leave you alone with him.”
Her thumb smoothed across his rigid jaw, “There was no way to know he was going to act that fast. You’re not responsible for my being hurt, Jake. Gideon and Paul are the guilty parties here, so don’t you put that on yourself.”
A gentle look crossed his face at her words. She could see his face relax slightly, but could still sense the guilty tension in his body. It was going to take some time for him to forgive himself. He was a good man as well as a good cop, and the fact that she was injured on his watch was going to bother him for some time. But she’d keep at him until it sunk in that she was going to live in spite of this gunshot wound. And the pain would eventually fade. Cara would just have to keep reminding him of that until it sunk in.
They turned to walk into the cottage. Jake slid one arm around her waist and latched onto her hip. He pulled her snuggly against his side as they slowly eased their way to the door. Well, she certainly wasn’t going to complain about this. Being safely tucked into his side with his strong arm around her, um, maybe she should pull the injured card more often.
After unlocking the door, they stepped inside. Jake kept his arm around her as his head turned and he took in where she was staying. His perusal only lasted a moment before he turned back to face her with a grin, “I’m so glad you’re in a safe place.” One of his hands lifted up to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind an ear as his face sobered. “You have no idea the dark places my mind has been going since last night. When Gideon told me—that bastard had killed you, all I could think of is how terrified you must have been. Then my mind went crazy with thoughts of whether or not he hurt you before he—did it, or if he—touched you.” The words sounded strangled in his throat like they wanted to choke him as they came out.
Cara twisted in his grip and turned to press her body comfortingly against his. Head tilted back she looked up into his tortured gaze. The worry etched around his face pierced her heart, and she wished she could wipe it all away.
“I’m ok,” she whispered softly, reaching up both hands to cup his face.
He stared intently back at her as if making sure she was, in fact, ok. Whatever he saw there must have settled him somewhat because both of his arms circled her and crushed her against his chest. She settled her cheek against the heavy thump of his heart and just stayed there as he rested his face against her hair.
God, she loved being in his arms. She could happily stay right here forever and block out the rest of the brutal world and the evil people in it. All she needed to be content was right here in this room.
One of his hands wandered lower down her back and as good as that felt, unfortunately, it forced her wound to push up against his chest. At her wince of pain, he pulled back enough to see the flash of discomfort cross her face.
“God, I’m sorry,” he instantly apologized stepping back from her while keeping his hands at her waist.
Damn it all, she missed the contact instantly.
The look of worry on his face touched her heart, and she tried to put him at ease. “It’s ok, really. It hurts, but I’m healing nicely, and I’ve got good meds, so it’s all going to be ok.”
A dark look crossed his face, “I’m going to kill that fucker for what he did to you.”
“Not if I get to him first,” she tried to lighten the mood with a half grin.
At her words, his face lost some of the harshness, but just slightly, “I’ll get him for you and hold him down while you do whatever you want to him.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that, Deputy Badass.”
“In the meantime,” in one smooth move he swept her off her feet, and she found herself cradled comfortably in his big strong arms, “let’s get you off your feet and comfortable.”
Jake carried her the rest of the way into the room and gently deposited her on the couch.
Damn, she wished the cottage was bigger so her trip in his arms would have lasted longer. Unfortunately, his long legs covered the distance in just a few strides. Reaching around her, he grabbed some pillows and placed them behind her back to make sure she was comfortable.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starved actually,” she replied.
“Well fortunately for you, you picked me up after just ordering the best damn burger this side of the Mississippi.” He shot her that sexy roguish grin of his before walking back to the door and grabbing the bag he carried in from the car.
After depositing the bag on the coffee table in front of her, Jake stepped into the kitchen area and rustled around until he came up with some utensils, plates, along with chips and sodas from the pantry before returning to sit next to her.
“Did you want to watch something while we eat?” Cara asked gesturing toward the tv. “I’ve been binge watching Supernatural all day. I swear, watching Sam and Dean kick ass has healing properties.”
“Fire it up,” he shot her a grin as he pulled out one of the plastic containers from the bag.
As Cara started up the tv, Jake cut the ginormously overflowing hamburger in half and sorted in onto two plates before adding a generous portion of chips and fries and handing one of them to her. Then they settled back into the couch and ate as they watched Sam and Dean kick demon ass.
“Can I ask you a question?” Jake asked.
“Of course.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?” He shot her a sideways look. “When you finally found yourself free. Why didn’t you tell them everything and put yourself under police protection?”
Cara was silent for a moment before finally replying, “I thought about it. But what you said back at the motel—you were right. We’re so close right now to getting our hands on the evidence that’s needed to put Gideon away forever. If we get that, he won’t stand a chance. As it stands right now, if I went to the police and they caught him, he’d get put away for what—kidnapping. Even though he took me across state lines, I’m sure with a good lawyer and all of his money he’d pull off some type of lowered sentence.” Anger flashed across her face as she turned to look at Jake. “I don’t want that bastard to ever get the chance of being released early on parole for good behavior or some crap due to overpopulated prisons. He deserves to go away for the rest of his life, and that’s what he’s going to get. If that means I need to hide out until we can get our hands on the evidence, then that’s what I’m going to do. But he’s going to go away, and he’s never going to hurt anyone again.”
Jake reached over and grabbed one of her hands in his own. Giving it a comforting squeeze, an unreadable emotion flashed across his face as he spoke, “We’re going to get him, Cara. I promise you we’re going to get him.”
“How can you be so sure?” she asked, her brow furrowed with worry. “What if something goes wrong or if no one believes you when the time comes?
He just stared at her, silence engulfing the room as their eyes connected. Finally as if coming to a long-fought decision he said, “Cara, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Ok,” she whispered. He sounded so serious. Like whatever he was about to say was going to change everything.
“There won’t be a problem with people believing what I have to say. In fact, people are ready and waiting. Once the evidence is secure, I’ve got people on standby ready to swoop in and lock down Gideon.”
A quizzical look spread across her brow, “How can you know that for sure? You’re just a cop surrounded by a dirty and crooked police department.”
“I’m not just a cop, Cara.” His hand reached out and took one of hers in his own. Almost as if he couldn’t bear to go another second without touching her. “I’m an agent with the FBI, undercover looking for evidence against your stepdad’s nefarious dealings.”
Oh. Well yeah, then that would do it. A sense of relief washed over her at his words. She didn’t know why he was so nervous to admit it. Hell, this was good news. Great news, in fact. This meant it truly was almost over.
His eyes were staring intently into her own as if waiting for a reply before saying anything else.
“So,” Cara muttered belligerently, deliberately trying to sound pissed off, “you’re telling me, after all this time—after all we’ve been through—that you’re actually Agent Badass instead of Deputy Badass?”
Jake laughed, his eyes twinkling in amusement as he used his grip on her hand to pull her body forward into a hug. “I kinda like the sound of Agent Badass,” he grinned as he released her so she could go back to her plate of food.
She shot him a happy smile and then they went back to finishing their burgers as they watched the tv. When their plates were empty, Jake deposited them on the coffee table and sank back into the couch pulling Cara against him, so she was lying on her side with her head on his lap. They settled in comfortably her using Jake as her pillow, and Jake smoothing his hand through her hair.
“What are you going to do after this is all finally over?” Jake asked changing the subject.
“I don’t know,” Cara shrugged as she thought about it. “There’s nothing back in West Virginia for me anymore...not since my mom died. All I have back there now are bad memories. Maybe I’ll just start over somewhere. Try and put this all behind me.”
“Where will you go?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed softly. “Somewhere I can start over fresh and put down roots. I guess I really don’t have a preference as long as it’s far away from West Virginia.” She stopped for a moment and pursed her lips, “Well, and as long as they have a good college program where I can finish my computer science degree. I would like to eventually complete college when this is all over.”
A small chuckle came from above her as his strong hands continued their massaging of her scalp. Damn, that felt good. Made her want to curl up and purr like a baby kitten.
“Do you have any family left at all?”
“No,” Cara replied softly. “It was just my mom and me. She always joked it was us against the world and that we could do anything we put our minds to. She always said it was ok that we didn’t have any other family because all we needed was each other.” If possible her voice got even softer, “Now it’s just me.”
They were both silent for a moment and just let the sound of the tv fill the room.
“I guess, technically, I do have a family now.” Cara finally spoke. “Stepsiblings count after all. So I guess I just technically inherited a whole new family.”
One of Jake’s arms snaked across her shoulders, and he hugged her tight. “You’ll like Allie. She’s really a fantastic girl. Gutsy, brave, and a real sweetheart.”
“I’d really like to meet her when this is all over. I’d like to meet all of them if they were open to it. Will you tell me about them?”
“Of course,” he replied and then told her about the four girls and three boys, all of varying ages. From Abby, the little girl she met briefly in the sanctuary, to Caleb, the oldest son, and then of course, Allie. Jake told her stories about all of them.
Cara just listened quietly as he talked. Even though she wasn’t connected to them by blood, it made her feel closer somehow just to know she had extended family out there in the world, even if the only connection was Dickhead Gideon. It gave her a sense of peace to hear Jake talk fondly about his time getting to know the kids. And it was comforting to know that even though they had a douchebag for a father, they still turned into really sweet kids. As Jake talked, she could hear in his voice how much affection he had for them.
“You really like kids, don’t you?” Cara shifted to her back so her head was still in his lap, but her face was looking directly up at Jake.
“Yeah, yeah I do,” Jake smiled. “These kids are definitely special because they’ve been through so much, and yet they’re still the nicest kids you’ve ever met. But yes, I do like kids and look forward to having my own someday.”
“You’ll make a good dad. I can tell.”
His grin got even bigger as he looked down at her, “Well thanks.”
They stayed that way for a moment just staring at each other lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Jake blinked and broke the connection.
“I have something for you,” he said.
“What? Really? When in the world did you have time to get something for me?” Cara laughed. He didn’t even know she was alive, and then when he did, he’d been by her side the whole time.
Giving her a slight nudge with his knee to indicate he needed her to sit up, Cara curled up and settled her back against the couch while Jake leaned forward toward the bag on the coffee table. He reached inside and pulled out another plastic container, this one much smaller than the first. With a smug grin, he held it out to Cara who took it with a quizzical expression on her face.
“What in the world? You didn’t even know I was alive when you got this.” Surprise evident on her face, Cara took the container from him.
Jake gave her a little half-shouldered shrug and smiled even bigger. “Guess fate just knew you were still alive because that is specifically and most definitely for you.”
Well damn, if that just didn’t make her want to melt into a gooey puddle into the couch cushions. She threw him a quick grin before turning her attention to the item in front of her. Flipping the lid of the container back, Cara found herself staring at the biggest, most amazing slice of chocolate pie she had ever seen! And to make it even better, it had swirls of peanut butter throughout the entire slice, and then topped off with a layer of dark chocolate ganache and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
Whoa. Just whoa. She was going to start drooling right here and now. That was quite possibly the most decadent piece of pie she had ever seen.
“Wowee,” the whisper came out in an almost awesome reverence for the slice of heaven in front of her. “It’s a good thing this slice is so big, cause I’m telling you now, I wouldn’t have been sharing otherwise.”
Jake laughed as he reached and grabbed two forks from the coffee table. With an amused grin, he handed one to Cara and gestured for her to dig in. “Ladies first,” he grinned.
Eyes wide in anticipation, Cara loaded up her fork and brought it to her mouth. “Oh my gosh, this is so good!” Cara moaned blissfully. It was like an explosion of divine ecstasy in her mouth.
Jake shot her a sideways grin as he stuck his fork in for a bite.
As Cara raised a second forkful to her lips, a shadow darted across the window to the left of the tv. The fork fell to the plate with a clatter as Cara instantly stiffened and grasped onto Jake’s arm.
“I saw it,” Jake kept his voice low confirming that she didn’t imagine it.
“What if Paul found us?” Cara whispered, fear creeping into her words. Oh God, please don’t let Paul find them. At least this time she had Jake with her. Between the two of them, they should be able to beat his douchebag ass.
“If it’s Paul, I’m gonna kill that fucking bastard.” Jake gave her hand a quick squeeze. “I’m gonna go out the back and work my way to the front.” He leveled serious eyes on her worried ones. “Whatever it is I’ll take care of it. Stay quiet and away from the windows, ok?”
Cara nodded her agreement and Jake took off to the back door off the kitchen. He locked the door behind him and slipped off silently into the darkness.
Just to be safe, Cara moved from the couch to behind it so she’d be out of sight from any prying eyes that might try to peer through the windows. She hunkered down and just waited, listening for any sound that might indicate someone was watching or that Jake was in danger. Cuz if Jake needed help, dammit, it didn’t matter what he said, she was going out there to help him.
Agonizing moments passed until finally, she heard a soft rap on the front door. Cara jumped in surprise at the sound and peeked her head around the side of the sofa.
“Cara, it’s Jake.” His voice came through the door sounding unstressed and calm as could be. “It’s all clear. Open up.”
A rush of breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding burst past her lips as she pushed herself off the floor to her feet. A few quick strides later brought her to the front door. She threw the lock and cracked the door open just enough to peer into the inky darkness.
Jake stood directly in front of her looking as safe as could be. She breathed a sigh of relief as she opened the door the rest of the way to let him inside.
“What was it? Did you see anything?” she asked just as a soft little meow answered her question.
At the sound, her gaze dropped to Jake’s arms where he was cradling the tiniest, cutest little bundle of fur that she had ever seen. Wrapped cozily up in his jacket, it had so much scrunched up off-white fur that it looked like a tribble with a bad hair day. Two tiny eyes peeked out at her from a precious black-furred face as two pointed ears twitched at her surroundings.
