A Perfect Storm(11)

"So how does Jackson factor in?"

"Yeah, that's the interesting part, huh?" A little livelier now, she  leaned forward and smiled at him. "See, the bastards didn't take kindly  to me getting away, but when they finally caught up to me, they didn't  want me for the usual."

To sell, barter and abuse. Gently, he asked, "Why did they want you?"

"To teach the others a lesson-by killing me."

Under the circumstances, Spencer let the curse pass. They were  bastards-and so much more. In contrast to the awful words, Arizona's  cavalier mood made it all too clear how much it still hurt her.

"They … " She faltered, then rallied again. "They roughed me up. I tried  to fight, but they tied my hands behind me, and then … " She hesitated,  her brows pulling down in a small frown.

It gave him warning of the awfulness of the details she'd share. He braced himself, but not enough.

Voice quieter now, she whispered, "They tossed me over a bridge into a river."

Air left his lungs; his muscles bunched. He'd known, but hearing it from  her made it more-more vivid. "They wanted to drown you."

She shook off the melancholy. "It was such a miserable night, storming  like crazy with lightning cracking everywhere and thunder so loud, you  could feel it. I was so scared that when they threw me over, I barely  had the sense to stop flailing and try to land feetfirst, to suck in air  before that icy water closed in around me." Using both hands, she  pushed her hair back from her face. "I pretty much figured I was dead."

"Jesus." His stomach bottomed out. He desperately wanted to hold her, to  draw her into his lap and hug her tight and tell her … what? That nothing  bad would ever happen to her again?

He knew she'd never allow that, so he settled on reaching for her hand. "I'm so sorry you went through that."

"Yeah, pretty sucky, right?" After one brief squeeze, she pulled away.  "I managed to get my head above water, but it wasn't easy, and I knew I  couldn't do that for long. And even if I found a way to make it to  shore, they'd just throw me back in again. Or shoot me."

Imagining the panic she had to have suffered left Spencer hurting for her.

"For certain they weren't going anywhere until they knew I was gone for  good. See, they'd already told me that they needed the police to find my  body. That way, they could tell the other women about it and use it as  discouragement-"

"I get the picture." And he wanted to kill them, all of them. But that satisfaction would be denied him; they were already dead.

"They weren't counting on Jackson, though." She propped her chin on a  fist and smiled. "Poor guy just sort of stumbled onto the whole mess.  I'll never understand why, but he jumped into the thick of things,  annihilated the goons, and then … "

Spencer waited.

She sighed and met his gaze. "Jackson dove in after me."

Off a bridge during a storm into dark waters. Thank God Jackson had been there. "How many men were there?"

"Three." She grinned with delight at Jackson's ability. "But when I  think of how he looked that night, I don't think it would've mattered if  there was a dozen."

Spencer couldn't muster even the most meager smile. "Dead?"                       
       
           



       

"Eventually." She flapped a hand. "I don't know if he killed them or … "

"I know about the group, hon."

She went still, then tipped her head to study him. After a few seconds,  she said, "I'm not your hon, but okay, if you know about them, then you  already know none of those cretins survived that night."

Not touching her wasn't an option. He reached for her slender hand again and moved his thumb over her knuckles. "I'm glad."

"Yeah, me, too." Appearing disconcerted, she glanced down at their  clasped hands, cleared her throat and eased away. "So that's it. You  already know that Chandra, the head of the ring, got away that night.  Because she hadn't been in the car or standing there on the bridge, the  guys never knew she was there in the first place. I didn't know that  they'd missed her presence, so I assumed she was part of the carnage."

"She can't ever again hurt you."

Arizona directed a frown at him. "Because you killed her, when it should have been my privilege."

He said, "I'm sorry," and he meant it.

"Well … now all of them are gone, and I'm left at loose ends."

Her mercurial mood swings kept him guessing. Yes, he'd shot Chandra, but  he'd been tracking her for his own reasons, and it was debatable who  had more right to vengeance.

That she felt robbed was a sad consequence of his actions. "Ready for dessert?"

Accepting the switch from morbid history to here and now, she said,  "Dessert? Seriously? You do know how to treat a gal, don't you?"

* * *

ARIZONA WAS THINKING how nice it felt to share with Spencer. He didn't  get all mushy on her, didn't try to console her or make a move. He  listened.

And she knew he understood.

Sure, he'd done that odd hand-holding thing, but then, people did that.  They touched. She'd seen it plenty of times with Jackson, Trace, Dare  and their wives. She didn't hate it, but she wasn't crazy about it,  either.

When it was Spencer doing the touching, for some reason, it affected her  even more. It wasn't intolerable, really, but … she didn't know if she'd  get used to it or not.

Then Spencer turned from the fridge-and she saw he held a small but fancy birthday cake.

Stunned, she slowly pushed back her chair and stood on suddenly wobbly legs. "What is that?"

Very matter-of-factly, he replied, "Vanilla cream cake with whipped  frosting. I think it has raspberry filling between the layers." His gaze  met hers. "But there are no hidden threats, Arizona. It's not poisoned,  and I promise, it isn't something you need to freak over."

"I wasn't freaking!" But she was. The urge to escape left her heart hammering.

"Bull. You look ready to run away."

She tucked in her chin. How could he know that? And how dare he say it out loud? "I don't run from anyone."

He set the cake on the table in front of her and, with a smile, said,  "Sometimes you should. But not now." Standing too close, all but  towering over her, he whispered, "Not ever from me."

No way would she look at him, not while he sounded like that, all  dominant, protective male. Instead she eyed the dessert. It had fancy  sugared rosettes and the words "Happy Birthday!" written in pale blue  frosting across the top.

A lump formed in her throat. "I told you not to do anything dumb."

In a touch so gentle it scared her half to death, he reached out and  tucked her hair behind her ear. "I know. That's why I refrained from  putting candles on it."

She snorted. "I'd have … "

"What? Socked me? Thrown the cake at my face?"

"Maybe." His close physical proximity made her jumpy. "Well, get back in your seat then if we're going to eat this thing."

Even though she didn't look at him, she felt his smile. "All right." He stepped away. "More milk? Or coffee?"

"Milk." Now that she had some breathing room, she filled her lungs. Grudgingly, she said, "It's a pretty cake. Thanks."

"My pleasure." He refilled her glass. "And for the record, in case you  want to reciprocate, my birthday is right before Thanksgiving."

Even knowing he teased, Arizona imagined how it'd be. Buying a cake for  someone, sharing that special day … like she was doing right now.

Such a normal thing to do. "Yeah, okay."

His smile widened. "I'll hold you to that." Using a cake server with a  cow-shaped handle, he cut into the cake and put a big piece on a plate  for her.                       
       
           



       

Maybe it was the "not knowing" that made her so anxious, but she  couldn't refrain from trying to dissect his objective. "I told you how I  made Jackson that offer."

Spencer looked up from cutting his own piece of the fancy cake. "The offer of … ?"

"Sex." Giving Spencer a furtive glance, she added, "And he turned me down flat. You know why?"

Nodding, his tone solemn, he said, "You offered out of obligation."

She'd hoped to again take Spencer off guard with her candid speaking,  but this time he rolled with the punches. "He'd done so much for me."  And Spencer wanted to do things for her, too. But why? "Too much."

Seconds ticked by while he watched her. "I doubt Jackson saw it that way."

She knew exactly how Jackson saw it. "He felt … pity for me."