The sound of a car had her looking up. When it pulled into her driveway, her brow furrowed. She wasn’t expecting a soul. When the door opened, she stood and at the sight of the man who exited the car, the bottle slipped from her fingers to spill at her feet.
The moment she made a move towards the door, a sharply given command froze her in place.
“Don’t you move a single muscle.”
Just as he had been able to make her obey before, his tone and his very presence demanded her submission to his order. She didn’t move, but she did speak.
“How… how did you find me?”
“I think the better question is why did you run? I asked you to wait for me. I told you that I’d be back for you.”
It was as if her body could feel him even before she heard him mounting the steps to the porch. Her nipples had tightened and her loins were moistening with the desire to be his and yet—yet he deserved far better than to have his life ruined by one moment of lust.
“Others needed you. Other women were hurt, and I was fine. I led that officer…”
“And the fact that he managed to remember the rental car sticker on the back window is the only thing that kept his face from meeting my fist, and the only reason that I don’t already have my belt off and against your bare ass.”
God forgive her but the very threat had her practically gushing into her panties. “I didn’t mean to get him in trouble. I just… just wanted to get away.”
“From me?” he asked and his tone had her clenching her eyes shut to keep a different flood at bay. “Of course, from me.”
Though she couldn’t see him, she felt him backing away. “I’m sorry, Jessa. I just had to make sure you were all right.”
She nodded, both hands splayed across the swell of her stomach. “I-I’m fine.”
Suddenly, she felt him move again, placing his hands on her shoulders and turning her to look down into her face. God, even through the film of her tears, she could see his eyes widen as his gaze dropped to the baby bump.
“Oh, Jessa…”
“It’s all right. I-I’m fine. You don’t have to…”
“One more word and I swear to God, pregnant or not, I’ll remind you who is in charge here. Of course I would be here for the baby. Our baby.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she was thinking he had a career that required him to risk his life and that he didn’t need to be distracted. She was going to tell him that he didn’t deserved to be held responsible for a child he’d not wished to create. She wanted to tell him that when he rescued her, she knew that her freedom shouldn’t steal his. Instead, the moment he pulled her close and his hand dropped to feel the first movement of the life they’d created, she said, “I-I wasn’t.”
His gentle caress turned to steel as he crushed her to his chest and his mouth found hers. When he pulled away, he said, “I told you that I would always be by your side, Jessa.” He ran a fingertip over her lips. “I did claim you as mine after all.” He smiled, pulled her to him again and proved his claim by kissing her until she couldn’t breathe, and yet knew she’d found life again. This time, when he released her, he was shaking his head.
“I’m not going to let you raise our child alone. This is our baby and our light from all the darkness of the past. I’m here to stay, and I’m not going anywhere, understand?”
“Yes.”
“That’s yes, sir, young lady.”
A shudder ran through her at the reprimand and the look in his eyes. Stepping back a bit, she lifted her right hand and saluted. “Aye, Aye, Captain.”
“It’s Major now,” he corrected as he swept her off her feet, cradling her like a child and pushed through her door. “And I’m about to give you a major lesson on what happens to my naughty girl. I need to remind you that I claimed you.”
“You are a sick bastard, you know that,” she said with a giggle.
The rumble of his laugh reverberated against her cheek that she pressed against his chest. “Red, white and fucked, is what I remember you calling me.”
Jessa shook her head. “No. You are anything but. You are my hero, Major Decker Cassidy. You are, and have always been, my hero in disguise.”
Fallen Daughter #6
36
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.
It was too late to stop now. My mesh bag barely floated on the scummy surface of the water. As the city around me rotted, I just stayed steady kicking my feet at the undercurrent of the dark waves. I took long and dry breaths, but the smell of something pungent—like that of decaying flesh—lingered in the back of my throat. A sodium-haze swept across the nearby shore. My friend, Lettie, flailed her arms with a flashlight in her left hand signaling her position to me.