Rescue Me (34 page)

Dripping, naked, and not giving a shit, he
rushed out of the bathroom, spotted her on the phone, and
immediately got pissed. “What the hell are you doing?”

She whipped around and sucked in a gasp. Her
gaze traveled down his frame, rested on his groin, and then sprang
back to his face. The color filling her cheeks made her glow.

He marched over and jerked the phone out of
her hands. “Who is this?”

“Excuse me? Who the hell are you?
Spencer?”

Travis fucking Becker. Add this to the many
reasons why Spencer hated cell phones. He thought about flushing
hers down the toilet. They didn't need two. Kathryn already hated
him so her reaction couldn't be much worse. First, he needed to
deal with another problem.

“What are you doing with Kat? I thought she
dumped your ass.”

“Why are you calling her?”

“I was checking on her.” His tone sounded a
cross between disbelief and irritation.

Bullshit. Spencer didn't trust the little
prick any further than he could throw him. “Why did you need to
check on her?”

“I went with her to her apartment last
Friday. Did you know someone broke in there?”

“Four days ago.”

“And yet she wanted me there. Not you.”

“What do you want?” Spencer bit off, not
willing to have that conversation with anyone, especially with this
guy, and especially not while naked and dripping wet. No doubt
Becker would move in just as soon as he thought Spencer wouldn't
rip off his fucking head if he so much as thought about touching
Kathryn. Too goddamn bad. If he did, Spencer would break every one
of his fingers. And then his hands. He'd move up from there.

Besides, Travis Becker had a wife. Sheena.
Sheila. Shelene. Something like that.

That didn't stop the bastard from undressing
Kathryn with his eyes every chance he got. Now Spencer understood
why Becker constantly hovered around her. The little shit was in
love with her.

“Was there anything else you needed?”

“Is Kat in some sort of trouble because of
you?”

He thought about how to answer that. Since
the Green search last week, Kathryn had discovered the truth about
the Haynes search, had her apartment broken in to, had a death
threat pinned to a dead man, and had her SUV blown up. On top of
all of that, he'd lost her faith, trust, and love.

Yes, it was safe to say they were in trouble.
Deep doo-doo, as his dad used to say. “She's fine.”

The chill in the air had nothing to do with
the fact he was as naked as the day he came out of the womb. The
water on his skin had since air-dried. He walked back into the
bathroom and slipped into his clothes. “Why are you so
concerned?”

“You're not the only one who cares about
her,” Becker declared in an icy tone. “I don't like you. You
obviously know that. But I'll do anything to help her.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

“Goddamn it, Spencer. Why are you doing this
to her?”

He stiffened as his chest pinched. “Doing
what, exactly?”

“Playing her like this. I know what you did.
She told me. You don't honestly expect her to take you back after
that, do you?”

“It's none of your fucking business.”

“It is if it affects her. I won't let you do
this to her, not again. You weren't there a year ago. You have no
idea what she went through after you screwed her over. But I was. I
picked her up off the ground. I checked on her every night to make
sure she knew someone out there gave a shit about her. You broke
her, you asshole. I'm the one who nursed her back to the living.
How dare you tell me it's none of my business.”

Sweet Jesus God.
He hated Travis
Becker, more now than ever. But he couldn't think of one comeback
that wouldn't make him sound like an even bigger prick than he
already was. The truth clamped down on him and he struggled to pull
in a breath. Lifting his gaze to the ceiling, he let out the air,
slow and steady.

“Understood.” He may hate the man, but he'd
just made an ally. Deep down, he knew Becker would do anything to
keep Kathryn safe. Either that or go completely Norman Bates on
her. Right now, he counted on the first theory, not wanting to
contemplate the second one. Spencer opened the bathroom door after
buttoning his jeans.

Kathryn moved in and immediately went for her
phone. Spencer held his arm out to block her.

“Spencer! You bastard! Give me back my
phone!”

“Sounds like she's pissed,” Becker pointed
out.

Spencer tossed a glance her way. Those eyes,
so icy blue, narrowed in on him. “You have no idea.”

“Should I call Rand if I need to reach her?
Or will you actually let her carry on an entire conversation before
you bully your way in?”

He cursed and closed his eyes. This was just
getting better and better. “She's on vacation.”

Becker sighed, obviously irritated. “I don't
have any idea who broke into her apartment if that's what you're so
worried about.”

“Just being careful. If Rand needs to reach
her, have him call her cell. We'll keep it with us.”

“Us?”

Spencer stole a glance at Kathryn, who seemed
to be just as interested in that word as Becker. He riveted his
gaze to her as determination settled into his very soul.

“I'm not leaving her side until this is over.
All of it.”

Kat caught herself shoving her fingers
through her hair. A nasty habit she picked up from the man sitting
in the single chair by the rickety table instead of staying in the
bathroom where he promised he would, staring at her with that
unyielding gaze. “Why won't you tell me?”

“It's nothing.”

Another
nothing
. That would be seven
nothings
, four
never minds
, and six glares as
answers.

Kat gave up. After grilling Spencer for
nearly an hour on what he and Travis talked about she let out a
frustrated huff. She did her best not to look at him, but her eyes
betrayed her on several occasions. More than once Spencer caught
her and she had to dart her gaze away.

Why was he doing this? She'd given him no
reason to stay with her, not after the way she'd treated him. And
she'd given no signs that she planned to be nice any time soon. Yet
he remained by her side and vowed to stay there.

If he did this to try to somehow redeem
himself, he'd have to do more than stay. It was too late. Sure,
she'd get over this broken heart much the same way she'd recovered
from the last one. Hearts were resilient. No matter how many times
he'd broken hers, it always came back for more.

“Fool,” she mumbled, belittling herself.

“What was that?”

Kat looked at him, then lowered her eyes and
shook her head to dismiss her comment. Other than the Bible in the
bookstand, they had nothing to read. The TV didn't work. Neither
did the heat. It was safe to say this motel classified as a dive.
She braced herself for the appearance of cockroaches at any
moment.

She didn't plan on getting much sleep
tonight. Her nerves refused to settle. Having Spencer just sitting
there in that chair, staring at her with those intense eyes, didn't
help. It made her want to throw a pillow at him. But, since she
used the only one as a cushion behind her, she decided against
it.

Kat lifted the covers and peeked under to
make sure there weren't any unwanted guests already occupying the
bed. Not seeing any, she slipped under the thin blanket to warm up.
Lowering her head, she stole a glance at him beneath her
lashes.

He had his arms tightly crossed in front of
him. He slouched down and cleared his throat before closing his
eyes. Kat couldn't believe it. He was actually going to attempt to
sleep in the chair.

“What happened to sleeping in the tub?”

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her.
Her body jolted in response to the way he captured her with his
gaze. “Believe it or not, I think it's warmer out here.” He sighed
deeply. “You can see your breath in the bathroom.”

“Well, the poor excuse for a blanket doesn't
help much either.” She closed her eyes, but something mentally ate
at her and she opened them again. Spencer still sat there,
slouching a bit more. “Do you want half the bed?”

He took the invitation and made his way to
the bed. She swallowed down the ball of nerves sending her heart
into palpitations. The mattress dipped down as Spencer sat. She
heard his boots hit the floor, then felt the bed even out. Without
warning, he curled up behind her, spooning her and pulling her to
him. She didn't protest.

“This doesn't mean anything,” she said in
clarification.

“I know,” he answered, and said nothing
else.

“I mean, I didn't feel right having you sit
in that chair trying to sleep. We've slept next to each other lots
of times.”

“Relax, Kathryn. I'm not going to attack you.
Sleeping next to each other may actually save us from both slipping
into hypothermia.”

She shivered, more from his nearness than the
cold.

Spencer slid closer and pulled at the
blankets. “Do I get any of these?”

Kat released the blankets she had bunched
around her. He tugged and a wave of coolness washed over her body
as the air touched her. Slowly, ever so carefully, she scooted
closer until the heat from his thigh sank into her skin. It was
enough to stop her teeth from chattering. She closed her eyes.

“I'm sorry,” he offered after he shut off the
lamp. “I never meant to hurt you.”

She closed her eyes against his words. He'd
said them so many times, but never had they resonated more than now
with his tone, so thick with emotion and filled with regret. She
knew the feeling.

And she believed him. Still, she couldn't
bring herself to forgive him that easily. “But you did.”

“I know. I can't change that. But I will
promise you. I'll find a way to make it up to you.”

She didn't doubt that for a minute. “I'm
scared, Spence.”

He rubbed her arm before squeezing her
shoulder. It felt so good just to have him touch her. “I know,
baby. We'll get through this. We have to.”

Did he mean the death threat? Or everything
combined? It didn't matter. For tonight, she just wanted to feel
his arms around her. She needed his arms around her. Wiggling
closer, she hoped she didn't have to say anything.

He picked up on her actions and turned her to
face him. He brushed a large hand over her hair and rolled her even
closer. She curled into him, fitting perfectly as always.

When she took a breath to point out that
this, too, meant nothing, he stopped her with a single finger
across her lips. “Sleep. We'll have time to fight tomorrow. For
now, let's enjoy the silence.”

“Okay,” she whispered and snuggled against
his chest. Despite everything they'd been through, that they were
going through now, she mouthed
I love you
before drifting
off.

Morning came swift. A content sigh escaped
her lips as she stretched. Spencer's arms enveloped her, making her
feel safer than she'd been in a while. Everything about her warmed
and when she looked into his eyes, her world was whole again.

It took a few seconds for reality to settle
into her conscious. And then she jumped so far out of the bed she
landed a good three feet away. “Oh, God.”

He threw her a puzzled look and pushed onto
his elbows. After he let out a loud yawn and groan, he groaned and
slowly sat up, then swung around and slipped on his boots. He
stood, stretching his arms high above his head. As he turned, she
caught a slight glimmer in his eyes that wasn't there last
night.

She dropped her gaze and tried to appear
nonchalant as she said, “Thank you.”

“For?”

“For being here with me.”

“You're welcome. I don't like how thin you've
gotten. We're going to get some food in you.”

“I'm not hungry.”

Taking a step toward her, he pinpointed his
heated glare on her. “Even for some of my cooking?”

Her mouth immediately started to water. “I
already told you that I wouldn't go back to your house with
you.”

“Then the next hotel we get will have a
kitchen.” His matter-of-fact tone annoyed her and engaged her
silver tongue before she could stop it.

“I'm not playing house with you.”

His shoulders collapsed as he held her gaze.
The hardened expression he'd been wearing faded, replaced by deep
lines around his eyes. “Christ, woman. Do you think that's what
this is?”

“I don't know what this is,” she snapped,
tired of the constant bickering between them.

He narrowed a hard glare on her. Shaking his
head, he then turned away. “Get your shoes on. Let's go.”

“Can I at least take a shower first?”

He rested his gaze on her face. It remained
there for what seemed an eternity, taking in every inch of her. His
features softened as he nodded.

“Thank you, my captor.” She spun on her heel
to head for the bathroom. Before she could make it to the door he
stood there blocking her way.

She expected him to yell. She prepared for
him to give her some glare to burn her on the spot. What she didn't
expect was the softness in his voice and the tenderness in his
touch.

He brought a hand to her cheek and brushed
his thumb under her eye as he gazed deep into hers. “I know you
blame me for every bad thing that's happening to you right now and
probably everything that's ever happened to you. If you can't
forgive me, fine. But I really wish you would.”

He looked down, then brought his gaze to hers
again. They were darker, stormy with emotion. “This is the last
time I'm going to ask for your forgiveness. Just—” He stopped and
covered her lips with his finger as she took a breath to protest.
“Just think about it. Don't say anything right now because it will
probably be something we'll both end up regretting.”