Shelter for Elizabeth (Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

until she’d felt stronger.
    After hearing that Penelope was nervous to head to her car in the dark alone, Beth felt better about her panic attack. It probably wasn’t very charitable of her, but it made her feel not quite so alone in her moments of freak-out. If someone as strong as Penelope had phobias, then maybe Beth wasn’t as much of an oddity as she felt.
    Pen had been the one to suggest that she attend the therapy sessions remotely, and after only a few months, Beth was feeling better. She still couldn’t venture out of her apartment by herself without breaking down, but she could make it through a trip to the store as long as Penelope was with her.
    Maybe her trust in Cade—she couldn’t see herself ever calling him Sledge; the name was ridiculous—was just because he was related to Penelope. Maybe it was because he was the best-looking man she’d seen in a long time. He had brown hair much like hers, which fell a bit long over his brow, and light gray eyes. When she’d seen him earlier he’d had a five o’clock shadow, which looked good on him. He was taller than she was, and built. She’d always been attracted to muscular men, and Cade certainly fit that bill.
    Maybe it was because he was the first man she’d been attracted to since…it happened. Hell, maybe it was the uniform. Whatever it was, allowing him to come over and help her clean up her kitchen seemed like the right decision earlier today, but now Beth was second-guessing herself.
    Penelope was bound to tell her brother about her, what had happened, and that was beyond embarrassing. After learning about her background, Cade would probably show up out of pity rather than anything else. And there was nothing she liked less than people pitying her.
    The knock on the door startled Beth to the point she could feel her heartrate speed up and start to get out of control. She took a deep, fortifying breath and forced herself to walk to the door and peer out the small security hole.
    She saw Cade standing at her doorstep, smiling. As she watched, he held up two large bottles of what looked like cleaning fluid. Beth took another deep, calming breath and unlocked the two deadbolts, the chain, the lock on the knob itself, and opened the door. Luckily the battering ram had mostly just popped the main lock and hadn’t destroyed the door itself.
    “Hey.”
    “Hey back.”
    “Come in.” Beth stood back from the door to give Cade room to enter. He strode into her little apartment as if it was the hundredth time he’d been there instead of only the second. She shut the door behind him and made sure to re-latch the locks before turning to him. Cade had stopped about four feet from her and was seemingly waiting for her to give him a signal as to where he should go or what he should do. She appreciated the courtesy. Her apartment was her sanctuary, and it would’ve made her feel uncomfortable if he’d just walked in and made himself at home.
    It wasn’t the most expensive apartment complex in San Antonio, but it wasn’t a shithole either. It was three stories high; Beth lived on the first floor, and her neighbors, for the most part, kept to themselves. There was an older single man who lived on her floor who she sometimes saw when she was going shopping with Pen, but otherwise she didn’t really get a glimpse of many of the people who lived around and above her.
    “I’ve found some old towels we can use. I also already vacuumed up as much of the powder as I could,” Beth told Cade in what she hoped was a normal-sounding voice.
    “Sounds good. Let’s go see the damage. I don’t think it should take long, as the fire wasn’t that large and we got it under control quickly.”
    Beth led the way to the kitchen and winced anew at the mess. Most of the powder was gone, but the smell of chemicals remained and it was obvious every surface needed to be scrubbed.
    “Do you have a bucket or container we can use? I need to dilute this degreasing