I glance down at my phone from my computer screen and see my ma’s name light up. I’m shocked it took her this long to call me. I grab it.

“Ma,” I say easily.

“Don’t you ‘Ma’ me! She’s precious,” she gushes, making me smile. I’ve been doing it all day. I can’t stop. The only thing that has been bothering me is her not wanting to go to school this morning. I saw the dread all over her face. It took everything in me to let her out of the car.

“I know. Why do you think I snatched her up so quickly?” I tell her. “What about you? I see you finally gave in to George.” She huffs a little. Love seems to be in the air this winter. First me, now my mom, oh, and when I walked into the station this morning Pam and Asher were going at it. Clearly their snowed-in night together at the station moved things along. Finally.

I don’t get how people hold back. Both my ma and Asher had been dancing around the people they wanted. With Catherine, there was no dancing around it. I was more like a bulldozer. I’m just thankful she’s eighteen. I don’t know what would have happened if she’d still been seventeen. I push the thought away because deep down I already know.

“You think she’s a little young? She ready for what you want? Because I see the look in your eyes, the way your eyes never left her.” I know my ma isn’t telling me not to be with Catherine. She’s worried that I might get hurt.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to have her. Anything.” I add the last word so she knows how serious I am about her. Catherine might want to wait for us to push this relationship further down the path. If that’s what she wants I’ll do it. Even if it almost kills me. As long as it keeps her in my bed and in my house I’ll do whatever it takes.

“I know you will. I just don’t want you to get hurt. This is the first time you’ve ever shown interest in someone before or brought a girl around.”

“She’s my one,” I admit. “When I saw her I knew it. It was like something clicked into place in that moment. It felt as if I already knew her. Knew she was mine.”

“Good, because I want to keep her.”

I can’t help but laugh at that. “Thank you for being so good to her today. She doesn't have a family.”

“She does now,” my Ma says. My attention goes to my office door and I see Pam standing there.

“Yeah she does,” I agree. “Ma, something has come up at work. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay, sweetheart. You be careful and bring that girl over for dinner Sunday.”

“Will do. Love you, Ma.”

“Love you, too.”

I hang up my phone and Pam enters my office fully. I normally leave my door open so people feel free to walk in whenever they like.

“Got a call from the high school. Seems a boy attacked a girl.”

“Jesus.” I stand up, pulling my coat off the back of my chair. “Tell Asher to meet me there.”

Pam nods. I grab my radio and clip it to my belt. Maybe I’ll get to see Catherine while I’m there.

It doesn't take long for me to get to the school. I walk in the front door and the woman at the front desk motions me toward the principal's office. I step in to see a boy sitting in a chair, his head down.

“How old is he?” I ask. I need to know if we’re obligated to call his parents.

“Eighteen,” Principal Hall says.

I let out a whistle. “That makes you an adult...” I trail off, looking at Principal Hall.

“Ren Collor.”

Fuck. Collor. “Ren Collor,” I intone.

“I want a lawyer and I want to call my dad.” No shock there. Collor is a big name in our little town. They own a lot of land round here, but that’s about it. They have old money and I don’t think anyone in the family really works anymore. I know who Ren’s father is without having to ask. Like father like son. I shake my head.

“Stand up,” I order. He does as I command. “Hands behind your back.”

“Are you fucking serious?” he says in a cocky voice.

“I’ll tell you one more time. Hands behind your back.” He does it and I can tell he’s pissed. Well, that makes fucking two of us.

“The girl he tried to assault took off, but a witness came forward and told us what happened and we pulled Ren out of class and called you guys.” I nod, then start reading Ren his rights.

“The witness is in the room next door.” Principal Hall points to the room. Just then Asher walks in.

“No one knows where the victim went?”

“She wasn't a victim. She wanted it,” Ren says.

It takes everything in me not to smack him in the back of the head. “If I were you I’d keep my mouth shut,” I growl in warning.

“No, home would be my guess,” Asher replies, ignoring Collor. “I got her address out for you.” He hands me the info. “Her name is Catherine Young.”

My body stiffens. My hands, which are still on the cuffs around Ren’s hands, tighten, making the metal dig into his skin. He yelps in pain.

“My cuffs are too fucking tight!” he screams, but I don’t give a fuck. All I see is red.

“Cole. Cole!” I hear someone barking at me. I look at Asher, who is standing in the doorway, breaking me from the red haze I was under.

“Interview the witness. She’s in the next room. I don’t want to drag her down to the station.” I nod toward the room she’s in. “I’m putting him in your cruiser. I’m going to go find the girl.”

“All right,” he agrees, but he stares at me for a moment.

I yank on Ren’s cuffs, making him yell in discomfort. “Move,” I bark, pulling him toward the door. I push him in front of me as we walk out of the school. I kick out my boot and Ren trips. He hits the ice-covered concrete and I hear a crack. I smile at the sound.

“Careful, it’s slick.” I reach down and pull him to his feet roughly.

“I didn't trip, you—”

I cut him off. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll shut you up,” I tell him. I stare him down and he goes quiet. “Move.” I push him again toward Asher’s cruiser. I open the back door to guide him in but grab his head and slam it on the side of the car. “Watch your head.”

A string of curses leaves his mouth in a whisper. I slam the door closed behind him and lean up against the cruiser, trying to get myself under control. I want to open the door and beat this boy until he can’t move or even breathe.

Catherine, I remind myself. I need to find my girl. Make sure she’s okay. I take off for my cruiser and hop in. I turn on my lights and race home, praying that she’s there. I narrow my eyes when I pull down my drive and see Erica’s car parked in front of my house.

“What the fuck?” I mutter as I jump out of my car and head for the door. When I open it I see Erica standing there in nothing but a bra and panties. I ignore her. “Catherine!” I yell, storming through the house.

“Cole!” Erica calls after me.

“Where is she?” I snap at her. She jumps back.

“Who? The young girl? I thought she broke in. I tried to call you but you didn't answer.”

“Where is she?” I repeat, taking a step toward her.

“She ran out of here,” Erica rushes to say.

“Get the fuck out of my house, Erica. This is breaking and entering,” I yell over my shoulder as I rush out the door and hop back into my car. “Fuck!” I hit the steering wheel hard thinking about all my girl has been through today and what she must be thinking. First this shit with Ren, then running home and finding a half-naked chick in our fucking house. I grip the wheel hard as I race over to her old house.

When I pull in I barely have my cruiser in park before I’m jumping out and running toward the back door. I see a crowbar on the ground and a few boards have been pulled away. The hole isn't big enough for me to fit through, but my little Cathaine could have.

I give the boards one hard kick and they crumble and shatter apart. I go straight for her room. I stop when I see her running around the room packing a bag, her face soaked with tears.

“Baby.”

She whirls around to look at me when she hears me. A sob escapes her lips.

“I’ve never touched that woman in my life. She’ll be lucky if I don’t press breaking and entering charges against her.”

She lets out a little sob before she runs at me and jumps in my arms, wrapping herself around me. I hold her tightly to me. I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to let her go again. I walk over to the bed, grab the bag she was packing and head out of the cold house with her still wrapped around me. I toss the bag in the back then push my seat back and slide into my cruiser.

I rub her back as quiet sobs wrack her tiny body. “Baby, you're breaking my heart,” I whisper in her ear. “I've got you. You’re never going back to that fucking school again. I’m going to lock you away in my house.” I’m only half joking. Or maybe I’m not joking at all. Not with the way I’m feeling right now.

“We can’t be together,” she sobs.

“Over my fucking dead body we aren't going to be together,” I snarl. She leans back a little to look at me. I cup her face and kiss her all over, stopping the tears in their tracks.

“They won’t let you be sheriff.” Her bottom lip trembles as she says it. “They’re going to say terrible things about you being with me and you don’t even know it all.”

“I don’t care what anything thinks and I could give up this job in a second to be with you.”

“Not if you knew everything.” She wrings her hands. “I’m a thief and a liar!” She throws herself at me again, wrapping her arms around me.

“No, baby, you're a survivor,” I tell her in a soft voice. “I’m a cop, Catherine. I’ve put some things together and I know what you’ve been up to. The way I see it, you were surviving and no one is going to hold that against you. No one ever even has to know. I told you, I’ll take care of you. Nothing is going to touch you.”

She leans back again to look at me, her tears finally stopping. I pull her back to me and take her lips in a deep, hard kiss, reminding her that she belongs to me.

“You want to talk about the other stuff?” I ask her. I don’t want to push too much and upset her more when I just got her calmed down.

“I hate all these women. They all freaking want you,” she growls, like a little kitten, and my mouth twitches in a smile. She smacks my chest, but I grab her hand, pulling it to me. “It’s not funny. It’s going to drive me crazy.”

“Then let it be known we belong to each other.” She looks at my through her lashes. Her attention is drawn to her finger as I slide a ring on it, one I picked up this morning.

She gasps when she sees it clearly. It has an emerald stone in the center, surrounded by little diamonds on a platinum band. When I saw it, it made me think of her eyes and I had to have it.

“We don't even really know each other.” She bites her lip, but I can tell she wants this.

“I knew from the moment I picked you up you were the one for me. My soulmate. I felt it in my gut. I know you want this, baby. I love you more than anything in the whole world and I’ll fight this whole fucking town to keep you. Say yes. Tell me you’ll be mine. That you belong to me and only me.”

“Yes!” She throws herself at me again, holding me close before she starts peppering kisses all over my face. “Yes, yes yes yes yes,” she chants. Her mouth finally comes to mine and she kisses me. This kiss goes on forever and she starts to wiggle in my lap.

“Take me home. Make love to me,” she moans. I growl at her words. I know we need to go to the police station.

“I love you, too,” she adds. Thoughts of going to the police station leave my mind. We’ll do it later. Right now I'm taking my fiancée home and making love to her. I take her mouth again, wanting another kiss before I have to move her from my lap.

She starts pulling at the buttons of my uniform, then pulls my shirt out from my pants. “I can’t wait,” she cries. I slide my hand under her shirt, grabbing a handful of her tit. I don’t think I can wait either and I can’t believe I’m debating taking her here in the car. She tries to pull her shirt off, but I stop her.

“No, baby, if someone sees you naked I’ll fucking lose it,” I say darkly. She stops pulling at her shirt but her hands go for the button of my pants. She wastes no time pulling my cock out, wrapping her tiny hand around it. She starts to stroke me.

I’m shocked I’m even doing this, having sex in my cruiser outside where someone might catch us, but when it comes to her I can’t say no. She wants me here and now, and I’m going to give her that. She’ll never question my need and want for her.

“In me,” she demands in the cuttest voice I’ve ever heard. “Pants,” I tell her. She wriggles around and we get her jeans off her and she’s back in my lap. I slide my hand between us, wanting to make sure she’s ready to take me. I groan when I feel how wet she is.

“Fuck, baby, your pussy is begging for it. You need my cock?”

“I need you.” Before I can respond she is on me, sliding down my cock. I almost cum on the spot when her silken heat wraps around my cock.

“God, you’re so tight,” I moan. I grip her hips and move her. I find her mouth, but we are so lost in passion our kiss is wild and untrained. When I move her I make sure her clit drags against me as I hit her G-spot. It doesn't take much. I don’t know if it's what’s happened today or having been away from each other for a few hours, but we both are already cumming.

My cock jerks inside her and I spill into her womb. I hold her tight to me, wanting to cum as deep inside of her as I can.

My name spills from her lips over and over and I swear it makes more cum leak from my cock. Her pussy clamps down and it’s as if it’s trying to make sure it sucks every drop from me. Her pussy is greedy and I fucking love it.

“God, I love you,” I tell her.

“I love you, too. Never knew what love was until you. You make me feel safe, whole, cherished.”

“I’m going to spend my life making sure you feel all that and even more, baby.” I rest my forehead against hers.

“How did I get so lucky?” she asks. She rest her head on my chest.

“I’m the lucky one. Come on, baby. Let's go to town so I can show you off and you can keep me from killing that Ren boy.”

“You can’t kill him. I need you with me. Besides, I already kneed him in the balls pretty good,” she giggles. That puts me at ease.

“He hurt you?” I hold my breath.

“No, like I said, I kneed him in the balls and ran. I just wanted to get to you. I hate that school.”

I kiss the top of her head. I don’t tell her she isn't going back there. We’ll get to that later. Probably when I have her naked and in an orgasm coma.

I bring her hand to my lips and kiss her ring. I’ll be shocked if I make it through tomorrow without binding her to me fully.

I have a feeling that won’t even be enough to cool the driving need I have to make sure everyone knows she’s mine.