A Perfect Storm(26)

       

Near to her ear, he said, "Hustle it up, honey. In case anyone comes looking for you later, the less notice we get, the better."

She dutifully marched ahead but continued to grouse. "You guys are the ones causing a scene."

"You aren't that naive," Trace told her.

"Never said I was," she snapped right back.

"Then you know how you look."

At the passenger side of the truck, she turned and gave Trace a sultry look. "So I was successful?"

Trace and Jackson both stared at her. At all of her.

"For the love of … " Spencer opened the door and lifted her inside. "Knock  it off, Arizona." He knew neither man wanted to ogle her, but she made  it pretty hard not to, especially when she struck a sexy pose.

After slamming the door again, Spencer told them, "I'll check in later."  He circled around the hood, got behind the wheel and drove off. He  didn't look back-and he did his best not to look at Arizona, either.





CHAPTER NINE


JACKSON FELT AS IF SOMEONE had just sucker punched him. He'd known  Arizona had killer looks. Hell, he wasn't blind or stupid. But it went  beyond that. She had an innate sensuality that, with just a single  glance, roped in a guy.

If he wasn't in love with Alani, if he didn't know what Arizona had  suffered, if he didn't have a deep moral code that kept him from taking  advantage, well … he'd have been tempted.

With Trace silent beside him, they watched as Spencer and Arizona  disappeared from sight. Still thunderstruck, he turned to look at Trace.  Trace met his gaze, and he cracked.

They both laughed for a moment before Jackson shook his head. "Did you fucking see that girl?"

Reining in his humor, Trace said, "Would have been hard to miss." He grinned again. "Spencer saw her, too."

"Yeah." Jackson rubbed a hand over his head. "It's going to get interesting."

"It's going to go upside down." He turned away.

Jackson followed. "Arizona didn't even seem to realize."

"All women realize."

"Cynical, Trace. Real cynical." He shook his head. "Arizona is different."

"That's an understatement." He surveyed the yard, the motel, before  getting into his unassuming sedan. "Let's go before we lose them."

Jackson fastened his seat belt, then waited while Trace pulled out of  the lot, keeping a discreet distance from Spencer. But it bothered him,  chewing on his mind.

He didn't like for Arizona to underestimate her appeal, and he hated for  her to use herself as bait. "She sees herself as a commodity, ya know?"

Trace said nothing to that.

"She thinks she's a body with a price, but not so much as a woman with boner-inspiring sex appeal."

Trace glanced at him with a lifted brow.

"Not my boner!" Good God, he'd turned her down, hadn't he? "Hell, you  know how I feel about Alani. I don't want any other woman. I haven't  wanted anyone else since meeting her."

"Let's don't belabor the point."

Jackson paid no attention to Trace's discomfort. "I mean, I can see if a woman's sexy. I'm not blind. But I'm immune to-"

That made Trace roll his eyes. "You don't have to convince me. I'm not blind, either, so I know what you mean."

"My point is that Spencer's going to have a time of it. Course, he's not  in love with anyone else, so he doesn't have to feel guilty for paying  attention."

"No," Trace agreed, "but his conscience isn't going to let him forget her past."

"Thank God." Jackson shifted when they spotted Spencer's truck up ahead,  saying low, "If he did forget, I'd have to stomp on him. And all in  all, I like him, so I'd rather it didn't come to that."

"If you tried it, Arizona might have something to say about it."

"You think?"

"We both noticed how Spencer reacted to her." He glanced at Jackson. "But did you notice how she reacted to him?"

Jackson thought about it, then groaned. "Yeah, you're right. She walked past me to him-thank God. But know what?"

Trace lifted his brows.

Jackson grinned. "Now I sort of feel sorry for Spencer."

They both laughed over that.

* * *

ARIZONA WAITED AS LONG as she could. But truthfully, the silence was  getting to her. "All right, give. What's all the fuss about?"

As Spencer pulled into a fast-food lot, he glanced at her. "You."                       
       
           



       

"What'd I do?"

He got behind a line of cars waiting to put in orders. "You walked out  looking like … " His gaze flickered over to her again. "That."

She adjusted the neckline of the top, tugging it a little lower,  rearranging the neckline to display the most cleavage-and heard  Spencer's indrawn breath.

With a roll of her eyes, she said, "Get a grip, Spence. You've seen low-cut tops before."

"Yeah, well … " He shifted uncomfortably. "There are low-cut tops, and there are low-cut tops."

"Meaning?"

"You're showing an awful lot."

"And you've seen plenty of boobs."

He groused something she didn't catch.

"If I look all prim and proper, or like my usual boring self in plain  jeans and a T-shirt, how effective would that be for getting attention? I  want to make sure they notice me."

He gave a grunt of disbelief. "That's not going to be a problem."

"So I look like a desperate little nympho? Like I'd be easy to pick up?"

"You look … " He trailed off, shook his head. "Never mind."

"What?" She reached over and smacked his shoulder. "Come on. What were you going to say?"

He gave her a long, slow perusal, then shrugged. "You look edible."

"Oh." She wasn't sure what to make of that. "Glad you approve."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Spencer stared out the windshield. As cars  eased forward, he followed. When they were next in line, he asked,  "What do you want to eat?"

"Are you buying?"

His sigh was long and dramatic. "Yes."

"Then I'll take a cheeseburger, loaded, except for onion. Fries, and a strawberry milk shake."

He gave her a long look, then rolled the truck up to the window and  doubled her order but made his milk shake chocolate. "We have some time  to kill, so while we talk about the plan, we'll ride to the park to  eat."

"I think I have it all down, but sure, if you want to go over it again-"

"I do."

He'd been a stickler about details, something she admired. "The park sounds nice, but won't it be muddy?"

"We're staying in the truck." He gave a nod at her bare legs. "I'm keeping you under wraps."

Disappointed that they wouldn't get to enjoy the fresh air, she wrinkled  her nose. "Considering I'll soon be in a bar flaunting my wares, hiding  now is sort of dumb, right?"

"This plan is dumb. If it was up to me, we'd scrap it all now before anyone sees you."

Her plan was perfect! How dare he call it dumb?

"But at least Dare agreed to come along to oversee things."

"Having Dare around is always a plus, but I figured you could handle it."

"If it was just me, if I didn't have to worry about you, then sure. No  problem. But anything could go wrong, and we have no idea how many thugs  might be inside the bar."

"When I was there before, I only saw a few."

"Doesn't mean there aren't more. I can handle myself, and I've gotten  out of plenty of sticky situations. But not with a woman along." He  flashed a hot glare her way. "And definitely not with a woman who looks  like you."

She assumed he meant a woman who deliberately sought their attention.  "Better safe than sorry, I guess." The last thing she wanted was for  Spencer to get hurt trying to protect her.

"Exactly. So if Dare sends the code for us to get out, that's what we're doing. Got it?"

"Sure."

"I mean it, Arizona. No arguments. No hesitation. Doesn't matter what else might be happening."

"Yeah, got it. Don't beat it into the ground."

Unconvinced, he scowled. "I'm serious. No matter what-"

"I'm to turn tail and run the second you give the word. I got it already. Sheesh."

After a final long look, he rolled up to take his turn at paying for and collecting the food.

She stewed in silence while he got his change and then pulled away.

Though he kept stealing quick glances at her, he drove in silence,  saying nothing for the longest time. That annoyed her, too, and finally  she couldn't take it. "You realize you're playing the Neanderthal,  right?"

He pulled into the park, which was all but deserted this time of the day. "And you're being naive."

"Ha!" That had to be a joke. "How naive can I be after-"

"Damn it to hell, Arizona!" After jerking the truck into an isolated area and parking, he turned to face her. "Don't say it."