PARTICULAR IN HOW he did things, he worked late to ensure he had everything prepared.
Curtains at the front windows hid the empty interior; Clever Candy wouldn’t know that “Harry’s Hocks” was abandoned until it was too late. She wouldn’t realize that it would be her temporary holding place, a place for her to adjust to her new circumstances.
He checked the restraints he’d fastened to a grommet screwed into the floor in the back room. With both feet planted, he tugged, pulled.
It held secure.
“Good. Very good.” He repositioned the mattress. She’d be able to recline comfortably even with her hands restrained. “Put clean bedding on that mattress.”
Quin did as told, tucking the soft white sheet around the flat, twin-size cot mattress.
“Pillow and blanket, too. All the comforts of home.” He laughed. “I know she likes whiskey. But what else?”
Quin shrugged tiredly. “Water? Cola?”
“We’ll get both. Keep them in a cooler with ice.”
“All right.”
“Go back outside now. Wait at the bench.” He paced the floor, peered out the window cautiously. “She is a very clever girl. Very clever.”
“You think she will come early?”
“To check us out? Definitely. The question is when.” He turned to Quin. “But you will play your part, and you will do nothing to alarm her.”
“Yes.”
“Talk to no one else. No one.”
“No.”
“Christ, your parroting is getting on my nerves. Go, then. Sleep out there if you want. I don’t care. But wait there until she comes.”
Quin looked toward the door. “It is dangerous?”
His eyes narrowed. “More dangerous if you mess this up. Do you understand me?”
“I understand.” And with that, Quin shuffled out, his feet dragging, his shoulders slumped.
Yes, it had been a long day filled with preparations. But he was far too excited to sleep. The men he’d hired would show up first thing in the morning, just in case she caused any problems.
In case she didn’t at first understand her good fortune.
After that…she’d be his. And nothing, no one, else would matter.
* * *
IT WAS NEARING MIDNIGHT by the time they got home. Arizona had been too subdued, almost as if something had happened.
But what?
After the dip in the lake, she’d seemed to genuinely enjoy herself, especially during the boat ride. Like the ultimate free spirit, she’d turned her face into the wind, closed her eyes and relaxed.
Later she’d laughed as Jackson rode on a tube behind the boat, getting bounced over the wake and waves. And Chris had impressed them both with his slalom skills, cutting sharply over the wake as if born in the water.
Afterward, there’d been quiet conversation around a bonfire, with the night insects buzzing and the occasional splash of a fish in the water. A million stars had filled the sky, making the night magical.
During the visit, Arizona had insisted on taking several photos with her new camera. Before they left, she’d hugged each of the dogs, the cats, and then suffered through the human affection, too.
Jackson, especially, had held her overlong, talking quietly to her until Spencer wanted to flatten him.
Only when Chris had given him a laughing shove had he realized how he’d glared at them. Arizona, with her sullen silence, had given nothing away, so he could only guess what Jackson had discussed with her in such depth.
Something about her goodbyes bothered him. They had seemed too permanent, as if she didn’t plan to see any of them for a long time. In the normal course of things, she was not a huggy type of woman. Most times, she shrugged off emotion as if it made her uncomfortable.
On the ride home, they listened to the radio, both of them mellow from all the sun and fresh air. At times, he’d thought Arizona dozed. But then she’d sigh, or yawn, or stretch, and he knew she was lost in thought.
“Tired?” Spencer asked after parking his truck.
“Relaxed.” She smiled at him. “I feel almost as boneless as I do when you have sex with me.”
That left him mute with arousal.
Not Arizona. “Do you mind if I leave my gifts in your truck for now?”
So she was tired. “I could carry them in.”
She shook her head. “That’s okay.” Holding her sandals in her hand, she opened her door and got out. “It’s late. We can get them tomorrow.”
“All right.” And though his suspicions grew, he couldn’t put his finger on the reason why.
As they went up the walkway, she glanced at Marla’s place several times, and when Marla peeked out the window, Arizona lifted her hand in a wave.
Not a “gotcha” wave but more like a genuine greeting.
Marla dropped the curtain without reciprocating, and that made Arizona sigh. “She’s so hung up on you.”
“I don’t think so, but if she is, she’ll get over it.” Marla was not a woman to pine long for a man, and she wouldn’t waste her time on a lost cause.
Spencer was lost. So damn lost that he didn’t know if he was coming or going anymore—all because of Arizona.
He didn’t understand her. Nothing new in that, though. He could spend every day with her for the rest of his life, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever completely know her.
Finding that a disturbing thought, he unlocked the front door and stepped inside. He flipped on a light.
Dropping her shoes by the door, Arizona took one of his hands in both of hers and started backing toward the bedroom. “So, Spence. Are you going to keep me in suspense?”
He knew exactly what she meant, but she’d gone so long without asking, he decided to tease her. “About what?”
“Don’t make me force it out of you.” Once in his bedroom, she stepped up close and went on tiptoe to twine her arms around his neck. “Not when there are other things I’d rather be doing to your big gorgeous bod.”
So up front and honest in her desire; he’d accomplished that much, anyway. He liked it. He liked her.
Probably too much.
Was Dare right? Should he look at things from a different perspective?
Arizona bit his bottom lip. “Spill the beans, already. Are you joining up with the guys or not?”
He clasped her waist. “I told Trace I’d think about it, and I will.”
“Oh, come on.” She leaned in and took another soft bite, this time on his chest. “You know if you’re in or not.”
“And you care…why?” He liked her in this playful mood. But hell, he liked her when she was prickly and when she was obstinate, and when she blustered with bravado, too. “Because of the money?”
“Pffft. Get real.”
But he was half serious. On a bounty hunter’s pay, he lived a frugal lifestyle, not at all as posh as the others. Their homes were like vacation destinations. Dare had more than one boat, each probably costing twice what Spencer had paid for his truck when it was new. Jackson made enough that he wanted to give Arizona a house for her birthday.
They could all retire now and be set for life.
But Spencer knew they wouldn’t. In fact, they wanted to expand their enterprise—with him.
“You don’t like the idea of financial security?”
“Sure, I guess.” Grumbling, she left him to sit on the side of the bed. “But apparently, if Jackson gets his way, I’ll already be a homeowner and stuff. What else would I need?”
She wanted so little from life. Did it truly not matter to her at all? Hands on his hips, Spencer dropped his head. “I don’t know.”
“About their offer?” She studied him. “About what you’re going to do?”
“There’s a lot to consider.”
“I know.” She smoothed a hand over the blankets to keep from looking at him. “Like whether or not you want to be stuck that close to me, right?”
Ah, hell. What could he say to that? It definitely factored in—but as an incentive. A dangerous incentive.
At his hesitation, she went on, saying, “I mean, Jackson is all into claiming me as a little sis, and the other guys…they’ve sort of accepted me.”
“They’ve totally accepted you.” Spencer needed her to understand that and to believe it.
“Yeah.” She looked up at him. More sun colored her nose now, as well as her shoulders. “And the women…I think I scare them a little, and they pity me, but they’re nice enough.”
Spencer sat beside her. The bed dipped, and her hip pressed into his. “You’re wrong. They’re in awe of you, they told me so. They admire you, same as I do. And yes, they’re sorry for what happened to you, but they know it hasn’t slowed you down. If anything, it’s made you stronger.”
“Yeah, right.” She folded her hands between her knees and swung her bare feet. “So strong, I’m afraid of a lake.”
God, she’d become so precious to him, in such a short time. Spencer brought her chin around. “So strong that, afraid or not, you got in the water.”
“Only because you were there with me.”
That soft admission leveled him. He whispered back, “You’re so strong that it scares the hell out of me.”
“Why?”
Because he had to, he kissed her. Short and sweet and nowhere near satisfying. “I know there’s no reining you in, much as I’d like to.”
Looking far too serious, she said, “You realize that, do you?”
“I also realize that you’re not a woman to sit on the sidelines, and I’m doing my best to accept that.”
Breathing a little faster, she touched his chest. “I don’t mean to make things difficult.”
“I know.” Slowly, he went to his back on the bed. “Why don’t we put this conversation on hold for a while?”
Her beautiful blue eyes shone with a smile. “Got something else in mind, do you?”
“Definitely.” He stacked his arms behind his head and got comfortable. “You want your turn at controlling things? Well, I’m more than ready. I’m already hard thinking about it.”
“Yeah?” Luckily for him, she put aside the seriousness of their talk in favor of lust. “Well, all right, then.”
As she crawled up over him, resting full on him until she covered him as much as she could, Spencer breathed in the scent of her skin, her hair. With his nose near her neck, he said, “You smell so good.”
“I should probably shower.”
“No.” Hell, they’d been in the sun all day, in and out of the lake, wind-burned by the boat ride. “You smell earthy, and sexy, and it turns me on.”
She rubbed against him. “I love how you smell, too. So good, I could just eat you up.” She followed up those provocative words with a lot of openmouth kisses on his throat, down his chest.
Sitting up on his thighs, she said, “Off with the shirt.”
“All right.” Leaning up as much as he could, he reached back to snag a handful of the shirt, then jerked it over his head.
“There you go,” she whispered and spread her hands out over him, exploring his clenched abs, down over his hip bones…down to his erection.
Spencer bit off a groan.
As she moved off him, she ordered, “Lift your hips. I want to lose these shorts, too.” She looked at him, her gaze bright. “I want to be able to get to you.”
His chest expanded, his hands curled into tighter fists, and he raised his hips.
Having Arizona undress him was a unique pleasure. She rushed, rough in her urgency, and the second she had his shorts off, she stopped to stare.
It wasn’t easy, not when he wanted her so much, but this was her time, and he wouldn’t rob her of it. “You want to take off your clothes, too?”
“Sure, why not? Just remember to keep your hands to yourself, okay?”
Gently, watching her as she stripped, he whispered, “Whatever you say, baby.”
She went still, then grinned. “I like the sound of that.” After literally tossing her clothes away, Arizona asked, “Where do you keep the condoms?”
“Nightstand.” He was strung so tight, talking wasn’t easy. “We don’t need it yet, though.”
“I don’t want to have to fumble for it.” She set the box out, then turned back to him. “Open your legs a little.”
Damn. She’d taken right to this. Spencer opened his legs and immediately felt her hands coasting up his calves, then the insides of his thighs.
“You are so powerful.” She sat between his legs and leaned forward to explore his chest, down his ribs, his abs. “But you would never hurt me.”
“Never,” he reiterated.
“I know it. I mean, I really know it.” Her long hair teased over his skin when she kissed his throat, across his shoulders. “I think that’s why I can be with you. I mean, I trust Jackson, and still I freaked out today.”
God, he wanted to hold her. “I’m sorry—”
“Shh.” She licked his nipple, then took a soft love bite of his pec muscle. “I think, if it was you, I’d be okay. For whatever reason, you’re special.”
He had no idea what to say to that. Was he special enough to help her move beyond her awful past? Special enough that she could enjoy a normal life with him?
Or just special in this, in sexual involvement? Did she want to experiment? “Remember, I told you, whatever you want.”
“Right now, I just want to get my fill of you.”
And she could do that in one night? Because he couldn’t. He knew it, accepted it, but had no idea what to do about it.
For a good ten minutes, she kissed him everywhere, and the touch of her mouth, her small, sharp teeth, her hot little tongue, competed with the lure of seeing her like this. The silky fall of her dark hair continuously drifted over his body.
Her nipples, puckered tight, teased his skin whenever she leaned against him. Each time she repositioned herself, she gave him a tantalizing peek.
By the time she focused all her attention on his cock, he was damn near a goner.
She curled both hands snug around him, and he groaned.
Watching him, she stroked, and his hips lifted off the bed.
She gave a wicked smile of satisfaction. “You’re close, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” He labored for breath—and prayed she’d put her mouth on him. Through a red haze of lust, he watched her and waited.
She cupped his balls in one hand, held his cock with the other and lowered herself down across his legs.
Rubbing her downy cheek against him, she asked, “Am I being suggestive?”
“You’re being diabolical.” He shuddered as she licked him, from the base all the way up and over the head. “Arizona…”
She opened her mouth over him and drew him into the heat of her mouth.
“Ah, God, baby…” He felt the stroke of her tongue, the firm way she held him in her hand, and he knew he wouldn’t last. “Sorry, Arizona.” He twisted away.
Eyes dazed and hot, she looked up at him. “You didn’t like it?”
“I liked it too fucking much.”
“Oh.” Breathing hard, she looked down at him, still held tight in her fist. “Hmm.” She kissed him again, and he went taut from his head to his toes.
“I won’t last. If you don’t stop that, it’ll be over, and that’s not what we want.”
“You don’t know what I want.”
Slowly, he lifted one hand, and when she didn’t protest that, he cupped her cheek. “You’re breathing hard. Your face is flushed and your nipples are tight. If I put my fingers in you right now, I’d find you wet and ripe and ready. Admit it.”
She swallowed and nodded. “Yeah.”
“You want me. And I love it that you do.”
Her eyes flared a little at that word, but she remained mute.
“That means we need to finish this together.”
Again she looked at his cock. “With you inside me?”
“God, yes.”
“All right.” But she tortured him more by saying, “I’m still in control though.”
Obligingly, Spencer put his hand back behind his head.
Arizona took her time putting the condom on him. “You are so impressive, in so many ways.”
He didn’t want her under some misplaced delusion that he was more than himself, more than a hardworking guy, trying to do the right thing whenever he could. Especially with her. “I’m just a man.”
“Not even close.”
He forged on. “And right now I’m a desperately horny man.”
She laughed.
He didn’t. “I need you, Arizona. Right now. No more playing.”
Her gaze met his, and it was…profound. He felt it, whether she did or not.
“I want to be inside you.”
“Yeah, okay.” In a rush, she moved up over him.
“You need me to touch you.”
“No.” She shook her head even as she guided him in. “I just want to watch you.”
But he was big, and this way was so deep…
“All of me, honey.”
Her bottom lip caught in her teeth, she eased down onto him. Lifted again, eased down more.
“Sit down, Arizona.” Hands knotted behind his head, his shoulders, chest and abs tense with the strain, Spencer watched her, saw the heightening of her color, and though he didn’t mean to, he took over. “Brace your hands on my chest.”
She did, arms straight and stiff.
“That’s it.” His voice sounded gravelly, but he couldn’t help that. “Now put your legs out. Relax. More, honey. Yeah, let me all the way in.”
Fully seated on him, she pressed down more, grinding until Spencer couldn’t help but give a harsh groan.
“Okay, sure,” she panted. “That did it for me.”
Fighting the urge to drive up into her, he asked roughly, “What?”
“Hearing you sound all turned on.”
“God, Arizona, how could I not be?” He stared at her body, at her face. “Do you know how you feel to me? How damned good it is to see you like this, to be with you like this?”
“Yeah, okay.” She held out her arms. “You can take over. Feel free to get as touchy as you want—”
Before she’d finished, he dragged her down to him and wrapped his arms around her, touching her with his hands, his mouth, holding her steady as he thrust up feverishly…
Her nails bit into his shoulders, and she cried out.
The second he felt her coming, Spencer wanted to join her, but instead he held back.
It wasn’t easy.
Clamping his hands onto her bottom, he helped her maintain the rhythm so that she felt every single ripple of pleasure.
Very soon, he decided, it would be his turn. But this time would be different.
And it would be important.
* * *
WHILE IN A DREAMY FOG, their heartbeats still pounding together, feeling soft and limp, Arizona smiled. “Better and better.”
Spencer stroked her hair lazily, and then, slowly, he turned them until he’d moved over her. Still deep inside her, he positioned himself on his elbows, keeping the weight of his chest lifted off her. He watched her, his hand gentle at the side of her face.
Funny, but just like that, just because it was Spencer, she realized that it wasn’t so terrifying after all.
He kissed her forehead, the bridge of her nose, her lips. “Okay?”
She felt the trembling in his big body and nodded. “I want to watch you come.”
He put his forehead to hers and slowly withdrew, slowly sank back in. She felt his strenuous breaths against her lips, felt the heat pouring off him.
In a way, it felt more secure, having him over her like this, covering her with his size and strength; it felt…protective, instead of controlling.
Without really thinking about it, Arizona lifted one leg around him.
He thrust a little harder, a little faster.
Incredible. She twined the other leg around him, too, and tightened.
“Arizona,” he whispered, and he kissed her, hot and languid, deep and hungry. Two strokes later, he put his head back and growled out his release.
It was pretty amazing. She smiled as her legs slipped away from him, smiled that even now, after coming, he thought to stay on his elbows.
Protecting her. Always thinking of her.
Caring for her.
Damn it, emotion got a stranglehold on her.
He took several deep breaths, kissed her neck, her mouth again, and looked at her. “You’re okay?”
Eyes closed, she nodded.
Spencer brushed her hair away, smoothed her eyebrows with his thumb. “I want you to look at me, honey. I need to see that you’re okay.”
But she couldn’t do that.
Tears burned her eyes, and she didn’t want him to misunderstand.
“Arizona?” Soft, insistent, he said again, “Look at me, honey.”
Instead, she wrapped her arms tight around him and squeezed to keep him close. “I never cried before meeting you.”
He didn’t ask her not to cry. He said nothing at all.
He just held her as he rolled to his side, tucking her in close, surrounding her with his heat, his size, his affection.
And to her mortification, it all boiled over. She heard the first sob and wanted to die. But the second sob came, too, and then more, until she was soaking his chest and shaking with racking sobs.
Somehow Spencer sat up and, holding her close in his arms, put his back against the headboard. He did her a solid by turning off the bright bedside lamp, leaving them with only the intrusion of the hall light. He pulled the sheet up and over them, one hand fisted in her hair, rocking her gently.
And he kissed her forehead, her ear, the top of her head while stroking her back, her hip, and hugging her.
Over and over again.
“God, this sucks,” she complained around a hiccupping wail.
“Not with me,” he said softly. “I’m special, remember?”
She laughed and buried her face against his throat to cry some more. Yeah, he was special, all right. So special that it was killing her, when nothing else had.
Finally, after what felt like forever, her breathing evened, and the wave of turbulence passed. Spencer shifted, reaching out, and came back with a tissue box. He offered it to her in silence.
After she’d cleaned up her face, she felt too foolish for words. “I’d apologize—”
“But you don’t need to.” He squeezed her…protectively. “Not with me. Ever.”
“I figured.” She snuggled in again and sighed. Her thoughts ran this way and that, but she couldn’t seem to nail them down. “I guess you’re getting tired?”
“No.”
“Me, either.” Against her nipples, she felt his sexy chest hair and the reassuring thump of his strong heartbeat. “Or are you just saying that, because you don’t want to interrupt my crying jag?”
“No.” He looked down at her. “And you’re not crying anymore anyway.”
“Pretty repulsive, huh?”
“No. Not ever.” He squeezed her. “And don’t say things like that. It pisses me off.”
“You cursed.”
Shrugging, he said, “And you cried. So we’re both human.”
Was that how he saw her excess of emotion? As just being human? “Well, I feel dumb.”
“Please, don’t.”
She frowned at him. His short replies were starting to bug her. “Not feeling real chatty?”
“I’m just enjoying holding you.”
Had to be a joke, right? Was that really how he felt? He wasn’t disgusted, wasn’t uncomfortable—
“Whatever you’re thinking, Arizona, you’re wrong.” He brought her face up and pressed his mouth to hers. “I’m glad that I was the one here with you, not anyone else. And I’m humbled, because you trust me that much.”
Trust, huh? Okay, so maybe it did have to do with trust. But it also had to do with knowing that tonight might be her last night with him. “So…” She traced a fingertip over his throat. “Do you feel up to a shower?”
“Sure.”
“And then maybe…” She cleared her throat. “This is awkward. I mean, after me bawling and all.”
His smile touched her forehead. “You want me again, baby?”
Perceptive men were so sexy. “Yup, that’s about it.”
With no effort at all, he left the bed while still holding her in his arms. “I’ll need an hour or so. But I figure it’ll take me that long just to kiss you all over, so we should be good to go.”
And he called her diabolical?