Rescue Me (36 page)

He widened his stance and gave her a daring
look. She really didn't like the way his eyes danced. He surveyed
her, then lifted his brow when he caught her eye. The heat from his
gaze skipped across her with a delicious quake. “Then I sleep here,
too.”

“Spencer, why are you doing this?”

“I can't protect you if we're in separate
rooms. We stay together.”

Knowing she'd never be able to convince him
otherwise and they would end up fighting about it all night before
she gave in, she decided to save them both time. “Do what you want.
I'm going to take a shower. Do you need to watch me do that,
too?”

He grinned which caused his eyes to glimmer
wickedly. “Only if you want me in there with you. Trust me, it
won't be to watch.”

Heat rushed into Kat's cheeks and burned
them. “Ready for another round?”

“I wish that were the reason,” he countered,
his tone opposite of the playful mirth used only a moment ago.
“Take a nice long shower. It will make you feel better. This room
adjoins the bathroom. Just come out when you're ready. Oh, and
leave the door open.”

“Open? Why?”

“Just...because. I'll get started on
dinner.”

Having the doors open really bothered her.
Not willing to fight it, knowing he had a reason for everything he
did, she walked into the bathroom. Kat undressed quickly and jumped
behind the shower curtain before he saw her. Which made no sense.
He'd seen her naked plenty of times. Not too long ago, in fact.

She twisted the water on and instantly
regretted it. It froze to her skin and she let out a shriek in
surprise. The shower curtain flew open and she screamed again.

Spencer had his sidearm in his hand, his eyes
smoldering. She shivered and did her best attempt to cover herself
with her hands.

“S-Sorry. It-it's c-cold.” In one precise
move he adjusted the water and drew the curtain closed.

“Don't scream like that again unless you're
in serious trouble,” he demanded from the other side. “Or you will
be.”

“Jesus, Spence. It's just a shower.”

“You heard me.”

How could she not? His tone bit into her and
rang in her ears. The water heated to a glorious temperature and
she let out a moan of pleasure.

“Sorry,” she sang, just in case that noise
brought him running in again.

He didn't answer and Kat assumed he left the
room. She allowed the water to massage her weary muscles. After an
eternity—God how she loved his on-demand hot water—she scrubbed up
and finally shut off the shower.

As she grabbed for the towel, she inhaled and
something wonderfully spicy filled her senses. Her mouth watered
and she couldn't dry off fast enough to see what Spencer had made
for dinner. She hadn't eaten a true meal for... Well, she couldn't
remember the last time she ate real food. The fast food restaurants
and gas station delis had been their only source of nutrition since
they went on the run.

Kat threw on her new jeans and sweatshirt,
and then wrapped her hair in the towel before leaving the bathroom.
As she padded across the hardwood floors toward the kitchen, he
glanced up and imprisoned her with his gaze. She froze as she
attempted to sit at the breakfast bar.

How could he look so good standing over a hot
stove?

He eyed the towel on her head. With a slight
chuckle that curled his sensual lips into a grin, he handed her a
glass of wine. “Classy dinner wear. Hope you're in the mood for
stir-fry.”

He had a small white towel draped over a
burly shoulder. She found the sight very enticing. Her mouth
watered more and she licked her lips. Despite the stress of their
situation, her body reacted with hardened nipples that connected a
wave of tingly electricity straight to the center of her dampening
core.

Over. Finished. Finite. Kaput. Done.

It didn't matter. Her body knew better than
to dwell on semantics and instead her response deepened by
moistening her entrance, swelling her folds. She'd never get enough
of him.

He studied her before speaking in a soft
voice. “Do you remember our promise?”

Now that was a loaded question. She swallowed
thickly. “Which one?”

“The day we went to the market.” He flicked
that heated gaze her way and edged the corners of his sensual lips
into a grin. “The night you danced for me.”

She didn't even bother to hide her grin. That
was a great night. “What about it?”

“We promised that no matter where we were, no
matter what was going on between us, that we'd spend the day
together.” He paused and looked at her. “As valentines.”

Oh,
that
promise.

“But we missed it.”

“No, we didn't.” He didn't seem angry. Not
even irritated. His eyes gleamed as he grinned and reached under
the counter, pulling out a flat velvet box with a big red bow.
“We're together, so we didn't miss it. Happy Valentine's Day. A few
days late, but I think it still counts.”

No. Oh, hell no.
That was so unfair.
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, or both. She pulled the
box toward her, and then brushed her fingers over the smooth
velvet. For the longest time she just sat there staring at it.

“Are you going to pet it or open it?”

Should she? Spence and she weren't
valentines. They weren't even together. Hell, they were barely
friends right now. She ran her finger across the box again,
dreading what she'd find, afraid she'd adore it and hate him even
more for being so irresistible. “Did you get this before or after
we broke up?”

He watched her for several seconds before
declaring, “Does it matter?”

She shook her head and, with a deep breath,
unlocked the box. Her jaw dropped as she pulled out the most
beautiful gold necklace, a pendant dangling from it. She popped it
open and fought back tears.

“A compass?” She'd never seen a gold compass
adorned with diamonds. It was absolutely gorgeous.

And, damn it, she loved it.

“It's small enough to wear around your neck.
That way you'll always have it with you in case you get lost and
need to find your way home. No matter where that is.”

Definitely not fair. With a fresh swell of
tears in her eyes, she curled her fingers around it and held it to
her chest. How dare he know her so well. How dare he do something
so… so…
him
. She opened the clasp and put the necklace on,
then ran her fingers over the compass as it rested against her
neck.

“Beautiful,” Spencer rasped.

“Thank you.” She couldn't stop touching it.
“I've never seen anything like it.”

“That's because it's one of a kind. Just like
you.”

She rested her hand on the pendant as she
snapped her shocked gaze on him. “You had this made? For me?”

Spencer wiped his hands on the towel still
draped over his shoulder before walking around the breakfast bar.
He stopped right in front of her and gently touched her shoulders.
“There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you.”

Then, he kissed her before he went back to
cooking the stir-fry, leaving her stunned and dizzy. Not knowing
what else to do, she focused on the food and not on her sudden want
to attack him in the kitchen and show him how grateful she really
was. For everything.

Knowing where that led them last time,
instead she simply whispered, “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

“I didn't get you anything.”

“Yes,” he tossed over his shoulder, along
with a smoldering grin. “You did.”

Kat inhaled sharply. “Why are you so nice to
me?”

“Because I lo—” the stove beeped, cutting him
off. Damn it! She couldn't believe the timing. Goddamn buzzer.

“What were you saying?” she prodded,
desperate to hear that word fall from his lips.

“Later.” He winked and her want for the man
went into overdrive.

She sipped her wine and noticed he didn't
have a glass. “Are you not drinking?”

“No.”

Made sense. They were still on the run.
Besides, alcohol definitely wouldn't help her try to convince her
libido that sex with this man was not going to happen again. Her
body argued with her illogical reason by expanding, her wetness
pooling.

She pushed the wine aside. “What are we
having?”

“Oh, you know me.” He slammed her with that
devastating grin. The wine jumped to her cheeks, down to her toes,
and back up to her cheeks again before settling into her veins,
causing her blood to thicken.

Yes, she did know him. And that was the
problem. She knew Spencer Allen as a TREX agent. But more
importantly, she knew him as a man. She knew how he liked to be
touched when they made love, how he smelled before, during, and
after. She knew just being this close to him after all that had
happened between them had her dealing with feelings she wasn't
ready to face, while at the same time ready to throw him on the
kitchen counter and mount him until this nightmare faded into a
memory. They tried fucking the nightmare away earlier, so nothing
could stop them from trying again.

Focus on the threat.
That should check
her lust. “Any thoughts on why someone is after me?”

Spencer stopped chopping vegetables on his
cutting board and met her eyes, the expression gone from his face.
In an instant he recovered and starting chopping again, his eyes
back to his task. “Let's worry about feeding you.”

Classic avoidance.

“But—”

He shoved something into her mouth. She
crunched down, savoring the flavor of the bell pepper. She didn't
bring the subject up again until they cleaned the kitchen after
they'd eaten. The stir-fry had been delicious, what little wine she
drank second to none. But damn if the man made one hell of a mess
in the creation of his masterpiece.

It took them a good thirty minutes to tidy
up, but when they were done, there was nothing left to do except
talk. He did another check of the house. She grew tired of his
stalling and followed him, asking questions along the way.

“Do you think they know I'm here?”

He grunted as his answer.

“Who do you think it is?”

Another grunt.

“Do you think there's more than one?”

No answer this time.

“Why are they after me?” Kat paused to judge
his reaction. He ignored her, so she took a breath to start up
again. “Are you even sure it's me they're after? Why not you? Or
TREX? He confessed to you, not me. How do you—”

He spun around and riveted an angry gaze to
her, silencing her last question. With a sigh he brought his hands
to his hips. “I don't know. And that bugs the hell out of me.”

“To which question?”

He threw his arms out and snarled. “To all of
them.” Kat jumped at his tone. The way his muscle twitched had her
taking a step back. Spencer's features softened. “I don't like not
knowing.”

“You don't like not being in control,” she
corrected. He paused at her comment. Without turning around, he
started walking again.

Kat followed. “Admit it, you like being in
total control.”

This time he stopped so abruptly she collided
into him. Looking up, she gaped at the dark stir of emotions in his
eyes.

“You're one to talk. From the first day I met
you, you always had to be in control. To keep the peace between us,
I let you. But now it's my turn.”

Her face heated. Nothing could be further
from the truth. “Me? Control? I lose all control when it comes to
you.”

His eyes widened at her verbal slip. Her
pulse jumped.
Smooth move, Davis.
He grinned knowingly and
walked away. Kat followed, her steam gone.
Stupid slip of the
tongue.

He moved to the couch and motioned at her.
“We need to talk about what is happening and why.”

She swallowed, not understanding whether he
meant about them or the fact someone out there wanted her dead.
Either way, she needed answers and joined him on the couch.

“I made the mistake once of not telling you
what I knew.” He finally rested his gaze on her face. “It may be
too late to make up for that now, but I'm going to tell you
everything I know about that day. It's time you knew the
truth.”

Kat nodded and remained silent while he
gathered his thoughts. Her stomach landed in her throat, but she
refused to so much as suck in a breath until he told her everything
he knew.

“One year ago I received a call from someone
deep inside TREX. A man told me they had reason to believe Emery
Haynes, the man we were called out to find, had ties to a sleeper
cell. We were on high alert at the time and the entire agency was
on edge. When I heard the caller mention terrorism, I didn't
hesitate to take the lead.”

Neither would she. “What did you do?”

He shook his head and closed his eyes against
something that seemed painful to remember. “I didn't kill him, if
that's what you're asking. I was told someone was already there to
take care of that. My job was to locate the target for the hit, so
I did.”

She held her tongue. There were so many
questions she had but if she kept interrupting him, he might stop
his explanation all together. The grave look on his face made her
wonder how much more he'd be willing to divulge.

“You already had K-SAR out in the field. I
couldn't have you pull your units back in without raising
suspicion. So I did the only other thing I could think of and kept
the units away from the scene until the subject was neutralized. I
was just doing my job. I never knew it would turn into something
like this.”

“What did you honestly think would
happen?”

“I thought I'd end up sleeping better at
night knowing I had a part in stopping a terrorist.” He struggled
to keep his voice steady.

“I take it he wasn't a terrorist?”

Spencer shook his head. “I honestly don't
know. Not if he's anything like Sam Green. I know this sounds hard
to believe, but I trusted Green and I don't trust easily. Even
Weber believed Green to be on our side.”