Authors: Lori Foster
Shaking, Joel took aim, but she moved fast, slicing his wrist with her knife. The blade cut through tendons and muscles with ease.
He screamed as the gun dropped from his hand, blood streaming along his arm, his face going white in shock and pain.
“Oh, my God,” he wailed. “What have you done?” Holding his wrist, big tears in his eyes, he whimpered as he fell back against the wall and then slowly slipped down to the floor. He looked at her, his expression wounded. “Oh, my God.”
Annnnndddd…Joel the artist was back.
“Geeze Louise.” Arizona collected the gun from the downed guard—who was moaning, so apparently alive—and then kicked Joel’s gun well out of his reach.
A glance back at Quinto showed him staring at her in awe. “You okay?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “Yes, I am okay.”
She hunkered down in front of Joel. “What about you, buddy? You okay?”
Suddenly Spencer was there, bolting through the door. He made quite the entrance, all decked out in weaponry, a bulletproof vest, his gun aimed, his face set, ready for…anything.
Joel screamed again, but she understood that.
Spencer was a large, dark force, heaving in rage. He looked really, really awesome.
“Wow,” Arizona said to Joel. “Will you look at that?”
Spencer stopped short at seeing her position in front of Joel. He began to breathe hard.
Slowly, Arizona stood. She felt…well, awkward. She nodded at his loaded ammo belt. “Got your party dress on, I see. Expecting trouble?”
He pulled his attention from her to survey the room, taking in Quinto, then the fallen body on the floor, with a glance. His gaze came back to her face, searching her expression before going all over her body. His eyes narrowed, and he started toward her with a heavy stride.
Arizona blurted, “There are other women. At his house. Quinto knows where it is.”
Spencer halted again.
Quin nodded fast.
She gestured at Joel with the bloody knife. “He’s…well, he’s nuts. Totally whacko.” She winced. “You can’t kill him, okay?”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Oh.” And here she’d been all set to be noble and defend the jerk. Sort of took the wind out of her sails. “Well…good.”
“I figured if you needed him dead, you’d have taken care of that.”
“Um, yeah, I would have.” Was he serious? Did he truly trust her to make that call? Thinking about that, she said, “Can you maybe tell the others not to kill anyone, either? I mean, it’d be so messy and everything—”
In one long stride, Spencer reached her and gathered her into his arms.
“I’m a mess!” she protested, already knowing she’d get blood on his shirt and on him.
“You’re mine,” he said in return.
Okay, hold the phone.
She drew in air to ask him what the hell
that
meant, but he hugged her tight, so tight she could barely breathe, much less talk.
Her head protested, but really, her heart liked it just fine.
“You disarmed the wounded goon?” Spencer quietly asked.
She squeaked, “Yup.”
“The crazy guy is unarmed?” He kissed her temple, her ear.
“I took his gun, so, yeah.”
His big hands opened on her back, stroking, cuddling, then squeezing again. “And the other one, he’s not a threat?”
She shook her head.
Jackson came in then. He was dressed much the same as Spencer—kick-ass and prepared.
His presence in the small building meant that they’d already “secured” the guards.
He saw them and rolled his eyes. “So what are we doing here?”
Spencer eased her back, cupped her face in his hands and smoothed her hair. “Do you have a concussion?”
“Eh…probably,” she admitted. “I’m a hair away from chucking, seeing two of you, and I’ve got a wingding of a headache.”
He groaned and kissed her forehead. “What do you want them to do? Tell me quick, so I can get you to the hospital.”
“Hospital?” But she didn’t want to go to the hospital. She needed to get to Joel’s house, she needed to see about the women he held captive. She needed—
“Shh. Give your orders, honey. It’s your call. I understand that.”
“You do?”
“I’m not a slow learner.” He gave her a look of reprimand. “The purpose of your note was crystal clear.”
Ho boy. Yeahhhh…she’d meant it to be a statement: she was available if he wanted her, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t, completely alter her psyche. She was who she was, formed by life experiences and a strong personality, and an even stronger will to make a difference. She’d try to buffer her take-charge attitude, but she could never become a mere observer.
“I, uh…” She cleared her throat, certain that she wanted to go on seeing him and not too proud to say so. “If you were interested, I could maybe meet you halfway.”
“One thing at a time, honey.” Spencer gave her a gentle smile. “The task force agent is on his way with a team, and so is the ambulance. I’m holding on by a thread, so you
will
go to the hospital. Okay?”
Seeking a little guidance, she looked toward Jackson, but he’d already pulled off his shirt to swaddle Joel’s arm. “Where are the guys?”
“Awaiting instructions.” Jackson glanced at her. “But since you were preoccupied…I’m assuming you don’t want him to bleed to death?”
With Jackson looming over him, Joel looked ready to swoon. Arizona waved a hand for Jackson to continue and turned back to Spencer.
Damn it, why did she feel shy? She didn’t know what any of this meant, and she hated being unsure. She made to push her hair from her face—and Spencer sucked in air.
“Jesus.” He caught her hands, lifting them for a closer scrutiny.
More blood had trickled from her wrists, snaking down between her fingers, going under her nails. It looked really gross and made her want to groan.
“All superficial, I promise. I just nicked myself a few times while getting free.” She didn’t know what to do with her bloody hands, but then Spencer followed Jackson’s lead and pulled off his shirt. He ripped it cleanly in half with little effort.
Arizona stared at how the bulletproof vest fit him. It fastened with wide strips of Velcro just under his pecs and over his abs. His muscled shoulders flexed as he took her hand.
“Trace insisted,” Spencer said, explaining the vest. “I had other things on my mind.”
“Yeah, like…?” Hopeful, she waited, her breath held.
He smoothed the strips of cotton around her left wrist, down and around her palm. “Getting to you.” He lifted her other hand and, in hoarse tones, said, “That’s all I could think of.”
She’d scared him? Well, yeah, of course she had. Spencer cared for everyone, and from the day she’d met him, he’d been trying to keep her safe. “Sorry.”
“You’re forgiven.” He’d just finished wrapping her hands when they heard the police sirens. “What now?”
She turned to see Quinto leaning on the wall, his eyes closed, his entire demeanor waning. “He’s got to eat,” she told Spencer, trying to think of his most immediate needs. “And he needs to see his sister. And rest. And—”
Trace put a hand to her shoulder. “I’ll see to it.”
Since she hadn’t heard him come in, she jumped.
After studying her eyes, he gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You did good, Arizona, but even the best soldier knows when to retreat.”
Her face went hot, and she mumbled,
actually mumbled,
“I’m not a soldier.”
“No, but you are doggedly persistent, intuitive and capable.” He drew her forward to kiss her brow. “Now, how about you put Spencer out of his misery by sitting down until the ambulance gets here?”
Put him out of his misery? She eyed Spencer’s expression and frowned. Yeah, he did look pretty miserable.
And it was her fault. She didn’t need guilt on top of a splitting head.
Jackson said without looking back, “He’s giving you the deference you want, doll. Accept it with good grace.”
“You can both leave her the hell alone.” His mood growing blacker by the moment, Spencer put his arm around her. “Come on. Let me take you outside for some fresh air. We’ll wait for the ambulance.”
“Yeah, okay.” She went along willingly, doing her utmost not to wince over the excruciating pain in her noggin. “I really do feel like crap.”
He started to say something, but then they stepped outside and into the growing crowd. Police, task force, locals…they combined to make quite an audience.
Chaos consumed them. Paramedics rushed inside to see to Joel and to the man Dare had shot. Other EMTs came to look her over and, after a cursory exam, insisted that Spencer was right, and she needed to go to the hospital.
“Great,” she grumbled. “Just freakin’ great.”
Spencer bent to kiss her brow. “I’ll be right behind you. You aren’t going to get away from me again.”
And that confused her enough that she didn’t complain as she got loaded into an ambulance, and it drove off for the hospital.
S
PENCER
SAT
IN
A
PLASTIC
CHAIR
, coffee cooling in front of him, Jackson pacing back and forth around him.
Dare and Trace were busy wrapping up everything with Quin and Joel—because they insisted on it, and even the official in charge of the elite task force didn’t try to dissuade them.
They would, supposedly, keep a low profile—if you could call maiming guards and shooting a thug in the chest a low profile. But they would also ensure that it was handled to their satisfaction.
Always.
They had such power—and Arizona was now a part of that.
They wanted him to be a part of it, too. It’d mean relocating for the sake of anonymity. It’d mean starting over, burying the past for good.
Moving on with his life.
Moving on with Arizona…if she’d have him.
Spencer rubbed his face. Arizona had only been away from them for an hour or so—long enough for the docs to examine her and run some tests—but it still worried him.
Knowing her, she could sneak out. Again.
She could refuse medical attention. She wasn’t dumb, but she did seem to think herself invincible.
Or disposable.
She could—
“Stop it, damn it.” Harried, his blond hair standing on end, Jackson snarled, “You’re stressing me out.”
Slowly lifting his brows, Spencer looked up at Jackson. “I haven’t done a thing.”
“You’re brooding.” Jackson dropped down beside him, his mood black, his expression fierce. “Jesus, what is taking so long?”
Spencer eyed him with disgust. “You’re going to be miserable when Alani gives birth. You know that, right?”
“Just…shut up.” He got up to pace again.
Spencer joined him.
“If she was a guy…” Jackson said.
That deserved a short laugh. “Then I probably wouldn’t be here.”
“Well…yeah.” He suddenly grinned. “She really proved herself, didn’t she?”
“I’m thinking that was the point.”
“I hate it when Chris is right.” Jackson jammed his hands, palms out, into his back pockets. “He’s never going to let us live it down.”
Spencer rolled his shoulders. He still wanted to take Joel apart, but more than that, he wanted to show Arizona how important she was to him.
“What are we going to do?” Jackson asked.
We? “I want her back,” Spencer said, distracted with his thoughts.
“Oh, really?”
That got him focused real quick. “I’m
getting
her back,” he amended, challenging Jackson with a look. “And I’m keeping her.” God, he made her sound like a pet. He manned up, stared at Jackson, and said, “I love her.”
“Is that supposed to be news to me?”
Nonplussed, Spencer shrugged. Hell, it was sort of news to him. “I’m just saying.”
“Yeah, so why tell me?”
“Hell if I know,” he muttered and rubbed his face again. “The best we can hope for is to know where she’s at and what she’s doing. If we try to shut her down—”
“She’ll just move on to another cluster-fuck.” Jackson went to look out the window at the boring parking lot. “Alone.”
Spencer couldn’t bear that thought. “At least if she’s working with you—and I don’t mean computer work—I can partner with her. That’s what she wants anyway.” Partners, in more ways than one—though Arizona might not know that yet.
Jackson lifted a brow. “She said that?”
“Yes.” Back when he’d been too arrogant to listen. Back when he thought he’d somehow help her along…and out of his life. “We can keep tabs on her. We’ll know who’s involved.”
Nodding, Jackson said low, “She won’t fall off the radar again.”
Knowing he had no choice, Spencer drew in a deep breath. “It’s the only solution, because I don’t think Arizona is capable of taking a passive role.”
“She can’t, any more than I can,” Jackson said, and then he added, “Any more than any of us can.”
“That’s about it.”
“Hell…I guess she’s in.”
His quick agreement surprised Spencer. “You don’t need to discuss it with Dare and Trace?”
Jackson turned to laugh at him. “No. They’ve just been waiting for us to get resigned to it. They figured it the same way you did—keep her close, work with her…”
“Accept her and love her.” Spencer smiled. “I intend to do just that.”
The doctor came out to greet them, and he was smiling but frazzled. Yup, Arizona could do that to you.
She was an exciting, unpredictable, sexy and precious woman.
And whether she knew it yet or not, she was his.
* * *
S
HE
HAD
HER
JEANS
back on but unfastened, when Spencer came around the curtain. She wrinkled her nose at him. “Stupid bandages on my hands. I told the doc I didn’t need to be all trussed up, but he wouldn’t listen.”
Without a word Spencer brushed her hands away and fastened her jeans for her. After brushing the backs of his fingers over her belly, he smoothed down her T-shirt. “You’ll be healed up in time for Jackson’s wedding.”
“Yeah, sure. Told you it’s just superficial.” She rolled a shoulder in dismissal of the little cuts. “No biggie.”
Framing her face in his hands, Spencer bent to kiss her.
Gently.
Sparingly.
Mega nice. But the second he lifted his mouth, she asked, “So what’s going on? What have I missed?” She expected him to protest, and she had her arguments all lined up.
This was her rodeo, so she had a right to know the deets. She’d missed enough already, playing the patient.
Instead, he said, “Jackson is waiting to talk with you, but I wanted to go first. He’s been downright neurotic, waiting to know that you’re okay.”
“Pffft.” Somehow she couldn’t imagine badass Jackson worrying. “Of course I’m fine.”
“Dare and Trace are doing what they do best.”
“Excelling?” she asked with a grin.
He nodded. “Taking charge. Making certain that Joel doesn’t slip through the legal cracks to wreak anymore havoc. They already freed the women from his house, and they’re reuniting Quinto with his sister.”
“Ahhh…man, I wish I could see that.”
“I hear tell Quinto is doing much better, now that he knows his sister is okay. He’s in better shape than you, for sure.” He bent his knees to look her in the eye. “How do you feel?”
He was being reserved and so incredibly cautious. “No worries. I’ll survive.”
Far too somber, his hand smoothed over her head, cupped her cheek again. “You are a survivor, aren’t you?” He brushed her skin with his thumb. “But how do you feel? Head hurting still?”
“It’s bearable.” Man, she felt so tongue-tied. She had no clue where this was going, if anywhere. Sounding like an uncertain sap, she asked, “You hung around to drive me home?”
“If by home, you mean my house, yes. You will come with me, won’t you?”
He still held her face, still stared into her eyes, so serious and so attentive. “I, uh—”
“The doctor said someone will need to watch over you for a while, in case you get dizzy or start throwing up.” He kissed her again. “You need someone to care for you, Arizona, so you don’t overdo it. Let me be the man who does that.”
With him being so tender, her knees felt like noodles. “Yeah, okay, knock yourself out. If you want to play nursemaid, it’s no skin off my—”
A longer, softer kiss quieted her defensive chatter.
When he lifted his head, she felt herself swaying.
Get a grip, Arizona.
She cleared her throat, more baffled and flustered by the moment. “I—”
“I’m selling my house.”
“You’re
what?
”
Instead of explaining, he pulled her in closer again, tucking her against his chest. “I accepted the job offer. Are you okay with that?”
Joy exploded, making her flinch. “Ow, damn.” A hand to her head, she pushed away from him. “Yeah, I’m okay with it. Shoot, I’m thrilled.” She rubbed her temples.
Spencer caught her wrist and led her to sit on the edge of the hospital bed. “Will you partner with me?”
Agog, she stared at him.
Good thing he’d gotten her to sit down before dropping that bomb.
“Come again?”
“I’m taking the job with a caveat that you work with me. And I’m selling my house because, as of right now, I’m too well-known in it. Too many trails that lead to too many details.”
“Oh…well, yeah. Maybe.” But his house? He loved that house. Shoot,
she
loved that house. “All of your wife’s things, I mean, it was your house with her—”
“Shh.” He kissed her forehead, the bridge of her nose. “I figured we could buy new things and put them in a new house. Our house.”
Her stomach bottomed out. “Our…?” She wagged a finger from him to her and back again. “Meaning us?”
He gave a firm nod. “Us. You and me. Partners.” He stepped between her legs and pulled her in against his chest.
He did seem to have a thing about keeping her close. “I love all the stuff your wife put in the house to make it a home.”
“I love
you,
Arizona.”
Whoa.
She struggled out of his tight embrace to look up at him. “Did you get hit in the head, too?”
“No. I woke up and you were gone and I knew I’d been an idiot. But actually, even before that, I knew it. I realized that I’d been trying to…” Self-disgust tightened his mouth. “I wanted to help you get beyond the past.”
“Yeah, and you did. I’ve been making all kinds of progress—shoot, except for getting slugged in the head, I’d be about ready to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”
He didn’t laugh. “If you decided to, I’ve no doubt you could figure out how.”
“Eh…it was a joke, Spence.”
He smiled. “You must be feeling friskier if you’re back to butchering my name.”
“Friskier?” She narrowed her eyes, but not much because that hurt.
The smile widened into a grin. “You are so beautiful.”
“And you’re acting really weird.”
Had he really said he loved her?
Like, maybe he loved her the same way Jackson did? Only, Jackson hadn’t slept with her. Jackson hadn’t made her melt with wild pleasure. Jackson hadn’t—
“I love you, Arizona. I want to be with you.”
“You mean as…partners, right?” Because really, none of this was making much sense. But she really wanted to work with the guys. It’d be like a dream come true.
“And lovers.”
If he hadn’t been holding her, she might have slid right off the side of the bed. “Seriously?” She had
no
problem with that. “That’d be
awesome!
I was sort of hoping, but I didn’t want to push…and then I had to do this thing with Quinto, and I sort of figured that’d queer the deal, ya know? But if you—”
His hand covered her mouth.
“Whether we work with the dynamic trio or not, I want to partner with you.”
“And have sex with me,” she reminded him.
He nodded but added, “In sickness and in health.”
Her eyes flared.
No way.
That sounded like some sort of…proposal. Not that she knew jackola about proposals. She gave a nervous snicker. “Does that mean…?”
Spencer lifted her chin, bent and kissed her once more. “I thought you were too young for me.”
She snorted. “That is
so
dumb.”
Another kiss, this one ticklish because he laughed. “God, I need you, Arizona. No, you’re not too young. You’re perfect. For me. And I love you.”
There it was again! Flat-out. And Spencer said it as if he meant it and
not
in the same way that Jackson said it. “I wasn’t sure—”
“I am. Very sure.” He wrapped her close so that her nose was against his chest, and she breathed in his wonderful scent. “I thought I wanted to help you get beyond a past so tragic, it shredded my heart.”
“You did! I am past it. Mostly anyway.” Spencer deserved full disclosure. “I still have nightmares, probably always will.”
“But from now on, you won’t be alone when you do, because you’ll be with me.”
“Oh. Okay.” Yes, she was forever changed by the past, but she no longer felt wounded, not if… She peeked up at him. “You accept me as I am?”
“I
love
you as you are. I hope you’ll show more caution, but—”
“I’m always cautious!”
He gave her a stern frown. “No more leaving me notes. No more sneaking off without me.”
“Well, as to that, I had to. I needed you to see that I could handle myself.”
“I figured that out. You’re a woman meant to champion others. And you were pretty amazing.”