Page 55 of Detective for the Debutante (SAFE Haven Security #3)

COLE

“ W hat’s the matter, Honey Girl?” I glance away from the windshield to spy my girlfriend curled up on the opposite side of the truck seat, clutching the door handle and looking like third runner-up in the Miss Mistletoe Creek County Fair Pageant.

But even me using a nickname for her that ordinarily makes her smile only creates a sigh.

Fuck.

I flip on the radio, tuning in to our favorite station as we wind the back roads through the foothills of the Smokies that surround our hometown of Mistletoe Creek, Tennessee.

The reception is spotty the farther up we drive, but it fills the silence as I rack my brain and try to figure out how to make our last night together a happy memory rather than a sad one.

I’m going to need that memory to keep me going until I can see her again. Hopefully ten weeks from now when I’m finishing up basic. That’s if she can make it out to South Carolina for my graduation.

She’s still waiting on the information on when her freshmen move-in date is. I’m so fucking proud of my girl for getting into Vanderbilt.

“I’m fine,” she says.

But the normal lyrical cadence to her voice is flat. Robotic.

“Sweetheart, it’s been a long time since you weren’t snuggled against my side. And the last time you were this quiet was the time you lost your voice at the football game we won against Devil Falls.”

I find the turn that’s little more than a gap between two of the trees. The path is clear, but only barely fits my old truck. Between the bumps and the trees I’ve skimmed with my fingers when my window is down, I can’t watch for her response.

The trees finally spread out more until they’re in my rearview and all that’s left in front of us is a vista of Mistletoe Creek.

The high school is on the edge of town, quiet now that school is out for the summer, and the rest of the little town nestles around it.

It’s idyllic and it’s charming, but it’s too small for what I want in my life.

I’ve grown up here, but I’m not willing to just settle down and be a Volunteer before coming back to work in Dad’s distillery.

That plan might make sense for Justin and Jared, but I am not like my older brothers.

It’s what makes the military so exciting—because it wasn’t planned out for me.

I put the truck in park and reach for Hannah Grace’s hand to tug her toward me.

“Han.”

“Don’t.”

Fuck. Her voice is thick with tears, and proof of one drops on my hands.

“Sweetheart.”

I pull her against my chest, rubbing my hand along her back while she sobs into the cotton of my T-shirt.

The scent of her citrus shampoo tickles my nose, and I take a deep breath.

“It’s our last night together, baby. I don’t want you to cry.”

I don’t want this memory.

Already the guilt is enough to have me second-guessing my choice.

“I don’t want you to go,” she mumbles, the words hard to understand through the tears and hiccuping breaths.

“I know.” I drop my lips to her hair and keep the steady rhythm of my hand on her back.

She leans up, those cornflower-blue eyes shiny with tears.

“It didn’t feel real before, Cole. I want this to be a dream. To wake up tomorrow and not have to say goodbye.” Her lower lip trembles, and she sinks her teeth into it to stop the vibration.

I lift my hand and glide my thumb along the swollen flesh.

“It’s not forever,” I tell her.

More tears slide under my palm that rests against her cheek.

“I can call you…and write. And it’s only ten weeks until graduation.”

“It’s not the same. I’ve seen you every day for as long as I can remember. I won’t be able to do this”—she runs her hands up my chest— “when you’re four hours away.”

I try to ignore my body’s natural reaction to her touch, but my dick jumps. And since she’s almost on top of me, I can’t hide it.

“Fuck, Hannah Grace, I’m sorry. I didn’t bring you up here for this.” I groan and lean my head back against the seat.

Even though this is something I’ve thought about since I hit puberty.

“I know. You’ve never…”

“No.”

I respected Hannah Grace too much to push her to do something she wasn’t ready for. I respected my own mama’s hand upside the back of my head too. I didn’t need any other reason to make her want to use it. Between five kids, she has plenty of her own reasons.

Her expression shifts, the tears only salty trails on her cheeks, while mischief tilts her lips.

“What’s that look, Hannah Grace Whittaker?”

It’s one that’s never boded well for me.

In fact it normally results in one or both of us getting grounded.

It’s not like Mom can ground me, since I’m leaving tomorrow morning .

It’s an accurate statement, but I’m still hesitant to go along with anything involved in that particular expression on Hannah’s face.

The last time had resulted in us launching over a thousand bouncy balls in the high school’s auditorium during the county’s beauty pageant that Hannah hadn’t wanted to participate in. Turns out, it didn’t stop the pageant. However, it did end up getting back to both our mamas.

Being grounded and voluntold into helping with the high school’s locker clean-out day was a consequence I never wanted to live again. Several lockers hadn’t been cleaned out all year—and the lunch bag/science experiments inside had proven it.

“Why did you bring me up here?”

“This is our spot, sweetheart. I couldn’t imagine our last date happening anywhere else. My favorite view in this world is this view with you in it.”

Reaching forward, I grab my phone off the dash and shake it toward her.

“Come with me,” I tell her and open my door.

“No pictures. I’m a mess. I’m all splotchy.” She tries to stay in the car, but our connected hands make it easy to tug her out.

“You’re not splotchy; you’ll always be beautiful to me,” I murmur and brush a kiss on the tip of her nose.

Her hands come up and rest against my biceps, her fingers skimming the underside of my arms and coming close to my ticklish spot.

I shy away.

“No, you don’t.”

“It pays to have known you forever,” she tells me and sneaks past my defenses to run her fingers up my side.

I giggle and clear my throat as I wrap my arms around her and hold her to my chest with her hands trapped between us.

“Gotcha,” I say.

She moves to her tiptoes and puckers her lips in my direction, and I oblige by covering her mouth with mine.

“Would you please take a picture with me?” My lips tease hers with my question. “I want to have one with me that’s recent. That’s us. Not made-up for prom. But the real us.”

“How do you always know what to say that makes me want to say yes?”

Her question is innocent enough, but I hope there’s more truth to it since I have another question to ask her. One more important than to take a picture with me.

I position us so that she’s still wrapped in one arm, the vista behind us, and lift the camera to capture one selfie of the two of us smiling.

“How about one with a kiss?” she suggests.

“Hannah Grace!” I hold my phone against my chest, pretending an affront that the older generation in our town has down pat.

Something I will never say to the leaders of that generation—Fern, Fawn, and Merry. Although deep down, I think they enjoy watching young couples in love.

“Stop pretending like you don’t want to kiss me, Cole Strickland.” She smacks my chest playfully.

I oblige her request for a kiss and lift my camera at just the right time to capture the two of us locked together. I manage to separate us before my hormones take over then pocket my phone.

My fingers brush the velvet box in my pocket, and I suck in a deep breath as Hannah turns in my arms to focus on the view at our feet.

I clear my throat again, swallowing the lump of nerves that wants to take up residence on my vocal cords.

“I’m going to miss you, sweetheart,” I whisper.

She rotates in my arms and squeezes her arms around me.

“I’m going to miss you too.”

“I love you.”

It’s not the first time I’ve said the words, but this is the moment when they take on the most meaning they’ve ever had.

“I love you,” she murmurs and presses her lips against my heart.

“Hannah Grace, I’ve loved you for forever, and I’m going to love you for the rest of my life. Maybe even longer.”

“Cole?” She looks up, her brows furrowed as she studies my expression.

I take advantage and drop my lips to hers again. She’s where I find my strength and my peace. And I doubt she even realizes it.

“I’ve known I was going to marry you from the time I was ten years old.

You walked into the community center Christmas dance in that red party dress with white lace—the one you told me you hated—and all I could think about was how soft it looked.

And how nice you were to wear it because your mama wanted you to match the dress she had. ”

“What are you saying, Cole?”

“I won’t ask you to marry me now, Hannah Grace.

Partly because I haven’t talked to your daddy for his permission, but mostly because I want to see you finish school, sweetheart.

I’m so fucking proud of you for getting into Vanderbilt.

And I refuse to let you give that up to follow me.

You’re going to be something, baby. And I’m going to be cheering you on.

But until then, I won’t ask you the question I really want and instead, I want to make you a promise.

Someday, Hannah Grace, someday I’m going to ask you to marry me.

With your daddy’s blessing and when we’re ready.

Nothing is going to stop me.” I pull the box from my pocket and flip up the lid.

“It’s not a ring, not yet. I want you to have one—the one you deserve—but I also wanted you to have something that sealed my promise. ”

I lift out the chain where a key rests next to a small heart with the initials C and H engraved in it.

“What I’m asking is if you’ll accept my promise? If you’ll let me love you forever and wait for me, for us, for the right time. To someday be my wife.”

She nods furiously, throwing her arms around me as soon as I’m done with the speech I’ve rehearsed a thousand times.

“Yes!”

My arms tighten around her and I hold her to me, burying my head in her neck and breathing in her sweet citrus scent.

She said yes.

Her lips find mine, and she bounces in my arms until we break the kiss with a laugh.

“Put it on me, please?”

She spins again, and I lift the necklace over her head and wait for her to move her hair out of the way.

“There.” Closing the clasp, I kiss the back of her neck and relish the shiver that works its way down her spine.

“Cold, sweetheart?” I ask, already knowing that even in the mountains, our June weather is hard to be cold in.

“Can we get back in the truck?” Her question catches me off guard.

“Sure. Sorry. I didn’t think. It is colder up here...” I boost her into the truck and climb in behind her.

The door snicks shut and she straddles me, her mouth claiming mine while her hands grip the hem of my T-shirt and tug. My dick hardens in a rush, pushing against the zipper of my shorts.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s all this?” I ask, pulling away and holding her at arm’s length when she appears ready to dive back in again.

“I want to, Cole. I?—”

“I didn’t make my promise for anything like this from you, Hannah Grace. We can wait.”

“ I can’t wait. I want you. Right now.”

She grinds her pelvis against my dick, and I can’t hold back the moan that works its way out of my throat. Every part of my self-control is focused on being a gentleman even though she’s telling me that’s not what she wants.

Her lips find the pulse point in my neck and her tongue laves the spot, pleasure overwhelming every other conscious thought.

“Please. We just have tonight.”

Apparently done fighting my shirt, she sits up and lifts hers over her head, displaying a perfect pair of tits clad in a light-pink lace bra.

I squeeze my eyes shut and fist my hands into the cotton of her shorts. She wiggles some more before grabbing my hands and lifting them to her now bare chest, and my eyes fly open to find my traitorous palms grazing the soft skin of her breasts, her nipples poking into the center of my palms.

“ Please .”

Any chance I had of fighting against her temptation evaporates. With more strength than I think I have, I lift one hand and cup her nape to bring her lips back to mine and give in to the fire that burns us both until all that’s left is the two of us…no longer two, but one.

What happens after Cole leaves? You can binge their second chance happily ever after, bodyguard for the beauty queen , in KU here !