Rescuing Baylee (Nightshade #3)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Baylee laughed and flopped down into her overstuffed chair, swiping the bar on the phone. “Where the hell have you been, woman? I’ve been calling you and you never returned my messages.”

“Well, it’s been kind of busy, here. Jessamy brought something viral home from the sitter’s the other day, and then baby Nicole got it, and we ended up in the hospital with her for a couple of days. Two of Connor’s men were out with the same thing, so he couldn’t take off… Life has been a bitch recently,” she finished, huffing out a breath.

“They’re okay now, though?”

“Yes, they’re completely recovered, though it was a scary couple of days. What’s been going on with you?”

“Oh, you know,” Baylee said. “Same old, same old. Well, not exactly.” She recapped the past week for Olivia. There was silence on the other end of the line from her, and Baylee worried she’d overloaded her former lieutenant.

“I’m gobsmacked,” Olivia said eventually. “I mean, I heard about the shooting. The whole country did. But I didn’t connect the dots that it was you. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, and she knew in her heart she meant it. “Like you said, it was touch and go for a couple of days.”

“And tell me about the detective. Your voice goes all soft and mushy when you say his name.”

Baylee cringed. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Oh, yes, it does,” she laughed. “Believe me. So, what’s the story?”

Baylee sighed. This had been why she’d called Olivia. “I am totally and completely in love, Liv, and it scares the crap out of me.”

“Why does it scare the crap out of you?”

“Because it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before. My tummy flips when I see him, and I lose all my common sense. Last night we were necking in the car until one of my older neighbors caught us. I need to know if it’s real, or some proximity induced fantasy.”

Olivia was laughing even harder on the other end of the line, and Baylee wished she was here in person. She could really use a Liv hug.

“This is the guy I bitched about before,” she said. “The one that was so handsome but seemed like he was mad at me. Hallway guy.”

“Oh, no way! And did you figure out why he was so mad at you?”

She sighed. “He wasn’t mad at me. He was mad for me, because he knew my scars were man made. He said that every time he saw me, he wanted to kill whoever had marked my beautiful face.”

“Oh, hun,” Olivia said, her voice soft. “And did you tell him how you got the scars?”

“I did. And I told him I had killed the men who did it to me. He gave me a fist bump,” she laughed.

Liv snorted. “Sounds like our kind of guy. And how is the sex?”

A wash of heat rolled through her body as she thought about making love with Landon, and it must have taken her longer to respond than she’d thought, because Olivia was cackling on the other end of the line. Baylee felt her cheeks heat, though there was no one there to see it.

“Stop it,” she admonished her friend, but she was laughing too. “It’s really, really good, okay? I told him about my past, and he takes so much time with me. It’s pretty amazing, actually.”

“Then I would say not to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Olivia said firmly. “If he’s this amazing, and he wants to be with you, let him be with you. Enjoy your time together. If anyone needs a happy-ever-after, Baylee, it’s you. After everything you’ve been through, you deserve it. You deserve him.”

Tears filled her eyes, and she nodded to herself. She hadn’t said she loved him yet, but it had been on the tip of her tongue so many times. The next time she saw him, she would tell him her feelings. They were supposed to go out tonight, so maybe it was time.

“Is he coming to Rex’s wedding in a couple of weeks?”

Baylee frowned. “I haven’t really asked him yet.”

“Well, you’d better get on that. You know we’re going to interrogate him, make sure he’s good enough for you.”

Baylee laughed, but she knew the joke was semi-truthful. When Olivia had first gotten with Connor, she and Rex had given him a thorough screening. And when Rex had gotten with Lauren, his love, Baylee and Olivia had taken her out for a girls’ night to make sure she was the right one for their friend. Their significant others had passed the tests with flying colors, and she had a feeling Landon would as well.

The thought of the three friends being together, all with their own loves, made Baylee’s throat tighten with emotion.

“Can you believe it Liv? After everything we’ve gone through.”

“I know,” Olivia said just as softly. “I thank my stars every day that we made it out to live this life. I love you, Baylee, and I can’t wait to see you.”

“I can’t wait to see you. Give those babies a kiss for me. Later, Liv.”

“I will. Later, Bay.”

Siggy stalked up to her and sat in front of her feet. Leaning forward, Baylee scratched him under the chin. She was feeling a little weepy right now, but it was a good kind of weepy. It always reaffirmed what she was thinking when she spoke to Olivia.

She glanced at the time on her phone. She needed to get ready for her date.

Landon sighed as he jogged up the steps in the apartment building, tiredness dragging at him. This hadn’t been how the night was supposed to go.

He hesitated at Baylee’s door, wondering if she was pissed at him. They were supposed to have gone out tonight. They had reservations and everything, but he’d been called out to a B&E. And it had been a chaotic mess. Morgan was still at the station, doing paperwork, and it was past nine o’clock.

Tonight was supposed to be their first real, official date since the shooting. Baylee had returned to work today, and she’d seemed understanding when he’d texted her, but he needed to see her face, just to be sure.

He knocked on her door.

Landon heard footsteps beyond, then the sounds of the locks clicking open. Baylee opened the door and gave him a broad smile. Her golden hair was hanging loose around her, and she was the most beautiful thing he’d seen all day.

“I’m sorry,” he said, stepping forward.

“Don’t worry about it,” she admonished, leaning in to meet him.

Landon took her mouth in a hard, needy kiss. They’d been together almost every day for the past week, and he’d felt her absence sharply today. They couldn’t be together all the time, he knew that. They had jobs and lives and other people that counted on them, but she was becoming an integral part of his happiness.

Baylee met him just as hard, her hands curling into his suit jacket as she pulled him inside. Landon slammed the door shut behind them, then wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off her feet.

Baylee pulled away from the kiss, laughing, her bright green eyes shining. “Put me down before you hurt yourself.”

He set her on her feet, but he didn’t release her. Landon shook his head, feeling his tiredness wash away. “I don’t ever want to let you go,” he said, and her expression softened.

“I missed you today,” she said.

“I missed you today,” he repeated, frowning. “And I’m sorry about the date. We got a late call-out, and we had to go.”

She shrugged lightly. “I’m not worried about it. Honestly, I was kind of tired after work.”

“Tell me about it,” he said, and he led her in to the couch. They settled together, her hand holding his.

“It was okay. There was a little awkwardness. I think people were expecting me to be fragile or something.”

Landon quirked a brow at her. “They obviously don’t know you very well, Warrior Woman.”

She snorted, shaking her head. “Yeah, some of them I haven’t known long. I found myself kind of getting frustrated with them, though. The kids were the highlight of my return. They acted like they hadn’t seen me for a month, rather than a week. And they knew nothing about the shooting, which was nice.”

“Good. They don’t need to know about that kind of stuff.”

She shook her head. “How was your day?”

“Not bad, at least until the end. I finished up some paperwork on a couple of cases that had been waiting for me to get back.”

“The week was kind of surreal, wasn’t it?” she asked softly. “I look back at it and can’t believe everything that happened.”

Landon ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. It was definitely out of my normal too. I mean, I met this amazing woman, and took a cat on a high-speed chase, avoided being killed by a gang patriarch…”

They laughed, and Baylee shifted, leaning up to kiss him again. Landon tugged at her, and she moved further, straddling his hips. Immediately, he was hard as a rock beneath her, his tiredness forgotten. Baylee looked down at him, her mossy green eyes going soft with need. Landon loved that look because it was just for him. And he never wanted to lose that look.

“I love you, Baylee,” he said, and then felt a moment of pure fear. Had he really said that out loud? He definitely hadn’t planned to say it.

Baylee went still above him. Then her eyes filled with tears, and she leaned down to kiss him again.

“I love you, too,” she said, peppering kisses along his mouth and jaw. Then she drew back. “Are you sure? It’s only been a week. And a crazy week, at that, like you said…”

Landon covered her mouth with a finger. He wasn’t surprised she was leery. “I’m sure. Hell, I was half in love with you before I even knew you. Between people singing your praises and your lovely ass, I was already set up to fall.”

And that’s exactly what he’d done. Fallen. Hard and fast.

“I talked to my friend Olivia earlier, and I told her I loved you. She said not to look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Landon quirked his brows. “I’ve never met Olivia, but I completely agree with her assessment.”

He kissed her again and ran his hands up under her sweatshirt. He needed her skin against his.

Baylee must have felt the same way, because she slid off his lap to strip. Landon shoved his pants and underwear down enough to release his aching cock. He wrapped a fist around himself as he watched Baylee toss her clothes away. God, she was the most stunning woman he’d ever met. Her body was perfect to him, for him, and he never wanted to let her go.

With a daring look in her eyes, she straddled him again, this time sinking deep over his length. Landon shifted his hips a little closer to the cushion edge, wrapping his hands around her hips. She was so wet and ready.

Bracing her hands on his chest, she started to move. The curtain of her hair hung over one shoulder, and she looked like a goddess. Her hair swung in time with her movements, and he caught the scent of vanilla.

Baylee groaned, her head rocking back on her neck as she rode him. Landon sat up enough to take her breast in his mouth, tonguing her nipple hard. Then he drew it into his mouth and sucked.

Gasping, she gripped his head in her hands, but she didn’t push him away. “Yes, please,” she panted, her movements slowing a little as she savored what he was doing to her. Landon moved to her other breast and did the same thing, and he felt her pussy ripple around his cock.

Landon knew he was on a very short timeline because he could feel his own orgasm building, so he leaned back against the couch again. Then he started pushing and pulling her hips with his hands. He rocked her back and forth, taking some of that control away from her, and gliding her clit over his hardness at the top of the stroke. He adjusted in tiny increments as he watched her face, and within just a few strokes, she screamed out, her shoulders going back as she gave herself up to the pleasure.

Landon’s fragile control disintegrated. With a hoarse shout, he arched up into her again and again, emptying himself.

She rolled forward and collapsed against his chest. “I love you, Landon.”

“I love you, Baylee.”