Securing His Love (A James Family Novel Book 2) Page 16

  "We've all made mistakes, Katie. The good Lord knows I've made a few. My ex-wife, for instance. Somewhere deep inside I always knew she wasn't the woman for me but I hated to be alone and I thought she loved me. At least for a while. I don't think I would change it though. I learned a lot about myself from my marriage and later the divorce."

  "All I learned from Nathan is that I can't trust my own judgment."

  "That brings me to something else we need to discuss."

  She knew it was coming. She didn't think it would come up so soon. Katie needed to figure out what to do with her life. She couldn't stay at Clara's house forever and she really didn't have much of an apartment to go home to. Not that she would ever be comfortable there again anyway. No job, no home, no future. She would now be all alone and homeless. Yay.

  When did she become such a whiny child?

  She was a nurse and a damned good one. So, she had to move again, no big deal. The hospital wouldn't dare give her a bad reference after the way Kaiden handled them. She could start over. She'd done it before.

  "I'm not going back to my apartment. I mean, I won't live there again."

  "I figured as much. I arranged to have someone go in and clean the place up. All your things are packed and ready to go wherever you want them to go."

  "Kaiden! You didn't have to do that."

  "It wasn't really me. The agency owed you for trashing your place. I made them follow through."

  "Thank you. It will make it easier to move out if I don't have to deal with all that stuff."

  "I don't want you to leave Virginia Beach."

  She looked at Kaiden, trying to gauge his words against the feelings in her own heart. "I don't want to leave."

  He smiled and looked extremely relieved. "Good. I am glad we agree on that."

  "I need to find a job."

  "All taken care of." Keegan popped his head around the corner from the hallway. "Ma called a friend and hooked you up. When you are ready, she will tell you the details."

  "I don't think I can accept another arranged job. It didn't work out so well last time."

  "Our mother doesn't blow smoke for anyone, she vouched for you because she liked the way you took care of Kaiden when he was shot." Keegan said.

  "And, I'm hoping my boy there will finally hook himself up with a decent woman!" Clara called from down the hall. "You'd be doing me a huge favor. I'm not getting any younger, you know! I need to see these boys taken care of before the good Lord calls me home to the great mountain in the sky!"

  Katie looked from Kaiden's expectant face to Keegan's smiling one. She had never felt as comfortable with anyone other than her own parents as she did with the James's. She had been a dandelion in the rose garden of the Marks family and, although no one ever said anything directly, she knew it all along.

  "All right, I will talk to your mom about the job."

  "Nothing to talk about!" Clara yelled to her. "The job is yours—it's in the trauma care department. You start a week from Monday!"

  Ten days. Plenty of time to get settled in a new apartment.

  "Thank you, Clara!"

  "You're very welcome, honey!"

  "So, it's official then? You will stay in Virginia Beach?"

  She smiled at Kaiden and touched his cheek. "It's official."

  He leaned over and kissed her then. His lips found hers in a frenzy, the force knocking her back against the pillows. She snaked her arms around his neck and held Kaiden to her.

  "Umm, I'm gonna go and see what Ma is making for dinner," Keegan said as he slipped out of the room.

  Katie couldn't help but laugh.

  "I don't find this funny at all. I know I'm a little rusty but…" Kaiden placed a line of kisses down her throat, pausing at the little hollow at the base of her neck.

  "I was laughing at your brother."

  "Everyone does. Now can we stop talking about Keegan and focus on us?"

  "Us?" She pushed Kaiden back a little bit. "Is there an us now?"

  He looked at her, puzzled. "I thought I was being obvious."

  "I don't know. Since this started, you've been kind of hot and cold."

  "No. More. Cold. Just. Hot." He punctuated each word with a kiss to her face or neck, ending up in the little place by her ear that had always drove her wild. She was impressed he had found it so quickly.

  "I can work with that."

  "Can you work with it for, say, the rest of your life?"

  A month ago, she would have run from that room screaming had someone said something like that to her. But there, in Kaiden's arms, she could suddenly see her whole future spread before her and Kaiden appeared in every single scene.

  "You know what? I think I can."

  "Good. We will have your stuff delivered to my place this weekend."

  "Are you asking me to move in with you?"

  "I thought I just did?"

  "Despite my recent actions, I am not the sort of girl that gives the milk away for free you know. Expecting me to live with you? I mean, I want the fairy tale, you know?"

  He looked at her, his blue eyes seeing straight through to her very soul. His hand rested on her cheek, his thumb caressing the scratch from her jaunt in the woods.

  For the first time in her adult life, Katie finally knew what it felt like to really be in love. What she had experienced with Nathan had been a cruel trick in comparison. As she studied Kaiden, her heart felt full and her head light—and not from the accident. Kaiden looked at her like she was the only woman in the world. She wanted him to look at her that way forever.

  "Whatever you want, Katie McCoy, it's yours. You have had my heart since the first day you walked into my hospital room. I'll marry you tomorrow if that's what you want."

  Tears welled up in her eyes but she fought them back. She didn't want tears ruining the moment. The moment she had waited for her entire life.

  "That's good, Kaiden. Very, very good."

  "So… is that a yes?"

  She pulled him close and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Yes. I want to be with you forever. But I want a real wedding; white dress, cake and all. And you, in a tux. You look pretty hot in a tux, even when you are interrogating me."

  "Oh, thank God!" Clara called through the door. "We will start planning the wedding as soon as you are up to it! Two down, one to go!"

  "Let's not rush things, Ma!" Kaiden yelled back through the door.

  "No, let's rush them," Katie said. "I don't want to spend another moment wondering what my life would be like with you in it. We can talk in the morning, Clara!"

  "Wahoo! I knew it! Keegan! Your brother is getting married! When are you gonna find yourself a girl?"

  "Please, Ma! One wedding at a time!" They heard Keegan call.

  "I love you, Kaiden."

  "I love you, too. You make me a very happy man, Katie."

  "You make me a very happy woman. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like you to make me feel a few other things."

  "Aren't you hurting from the accident?"

  "Actually, everything suddenly feels absolutely perfect."

  "I know exactly what you mean."

  "I suppose there is only one thing left to do then," she finally said.

  "What's that?" Kaiden shifted so that he wrapped her completely in the safety of his arms.

  "Shut up and kiss me." She giggled as Kaiden pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. "I've always wanted to say that."

  "I've waited a lifetime to hear you say it."

  THE END

  Bordering On Love

  Carolyn Lee

  Nursing a broken heart and injured pride, FBI agent Kaiden James needs a complete change. So, he quits his job, leaves town, and takes a position with Border Patrol. He trades his BMW for a pickup truck and buys an abandoned farmhouse in need of renovation or a few well-placed matches. When his property becomes the primary focus in a DEA investigation, the agent on the case thinks he's involved. What's worse? She's smart, sexy and really good with her g
un.

  DEA agent Nikki Swenson has had to prove herself every step of the way to get where she is. After months of dedication and surveillance, she’s about to break the biggest case of her career. Then the sexiest man she’s ever met gets tangled up in her investigation. While it's obvious from the start Keegan's one of the good guys, falling for his deep blue eyes could ruin her career and jeopardize the carefully constructed walls she’d built around her heart.

  When Nikki goes missing, there’s more at stake than a case. With the DEA still thinking he’s involved, Keegan turns to his family for help. After all, when a James man falls in love, it’s forever.

  Get it here.

  About the Author

  Science teacher by day, writer and mom by night, Carolyn Lee lives near the ocean with her husband, two boys, rescue puppy and two cats. She loves baseball, books, food videos and trying new recipes. The beach is her happy place and snow has become her arch enemy after years of living in New England.

  Visit her online at: