A Perfect Storm
Page 43

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 cle**age—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.”