Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Jessie bided her time. She’d stood silently compliant as he stripped her naked. Watching his every move, she noticed a tremor in his hands and a wild look in his eyes. He didn’t expect her to fight back, and that’s where he’d made his mistake.
His eyes never left her as he undressed himself.
She wanted to gag when his stumpy erection flopped free of saggy boxer shorts. It was all she could do not to tell him how pathetic he was next to what she’d become accustomed to. Thoughts of Peter kept her from losing it as she waited for her chance.
Spector tugged her toward the bed.
Jessie resisted.
Thrown off balance, he overcorrected.
She kicked him squarely in the balls.
Howling, he collapsed, and she bolted for the door.
His hand clamped around her ankle.
Jessie went down hard on the wooden floor. Something tore into her knee. The pain was vicious, and she fought back a wave of nausea.
“You bitch,” he growled.
She twisted her foot out of his grasp and hauled herself up. Her knee throbbed with pain as blood streamed down her leg. Using her good leg, she kicked him in the face. Without waiting to see if she’d succeeded in knocking him out, she made for the door.
“Help!” she screamed as she limped naked into the darkness. “Help me!”
“Do you hear that?” Travis asked.
“What?”
“Listen.”
Off in the distance, they heard Jessie’s cries for help.
“That’s her!” Beck said, sprinting toward the voice in the dark as he radioed for back up.
They thrashed through weeds. A branch slashed Beck’s cheek, and a hot stream of blood ran down his face. “Jessie! Jessie!”
“Peter!”
Aware of Travis following close behind him, Beck ran until his heart threatened to explode in his chest from exertion. “Where are you, baby?”
“Here!”
It was so dark he had to follow the sound of her voice to get to her.
And then there she was. He could barely make out her naked, huddled form.
He whipped his shirt over his head and helped her into it before he wrapped his arms around her.
“I’ve got you.” He buried his face in her fragrant curls, feeling as if he could faint from the sheer relief. “I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”
Sobs shook her petite frame as she clung to him. “I knew you’d come.”
Swallowing a surge of nausea, he said, “Did he. . .”
“No. I kicked him in the balls before he could.”
“That’s my girl,” Beck said, filled with pride. “Where is he, honey?”
“There was a smelly shack.” She pointed. “That way.”
“The old fishing shack,” Travis said.
Beck knew of the place, about a half-mile south of the North Point property line.
“I hurt my knee,” she said, moving her hand to show him the wound.
Travis shined the light on it.
Jessie took one look at the ugly cut and passed out in Beck’s arms.
Beck glanced up at Travis. “Will you stay with her?”
“Beck, wait for the cops. Let them do it.”
“Will you stay with her or not?”
“Of course I will,” Travis said, dropping to his knees next to Jessie.
Beck transferred Jessie’s head to Travis’s lap and stood up.
“Don’t kill him,” Travis said. “Think of her, and do not kill him.”
With a long last glance at Jessie’s pale, beautiful, lifeless face, Beck stomped off through the woods.
Even in the dark, he knew exactly where he was going.
Running, it took him less than ten minutes to reach the cabin, and he marveled that Jessie had gotten so far on a badly injured leg.
He tugged the gun from the back of his shorts and kicked the door open.
Spector lay on the floor in all his glory, weeping.
Blood streamed from his nose, and his balls were grotesquely swollen
Beck swore with disappointment. He’d wanted the guy to put up a fight so he would have an excuse to beat the shit out of him. But rather than give in to that urge, he reached for his radio.
Beck paced in the emergency room hallway as he waited for the doctor. They had whisked Jessie away, telling him he had to wait out here because he wasn’t her family. He’d be rectifying that as soon as he could. He would be her family, and she would be his.
Travis and Liana arrived with a bag of clean clothes for Jessie.
Beck had grabbed a shirt from his office before jumping into the ambulance to accompany Jessie. It had taken six stitches to close the wound on his face.
“Any word?” Travis asked.
“Not yet. I don’t know what’s taking so long.”
Liana reached for Beck’s hand and urged him to sit next to her. “She’s safe, she’s alive, and she’s in good hands. What else matters?”
He nodded, knowing she was right.
Travis took a seat on the other side of Liana.
They waited for almost an hour before a harried nurse called Beck’s name.
He jumped up.
“Ms. Stone is asking for you.”
Beck followed her through a maze of hallways.
“They want to keep her for twenty-four hours, but she wants out of here.”
Beck laughed at Jessie’s feistiness. “If I promise to take excellent care of her, can I take her home?”
“Fight it out with the doctor.” She gestured him into a room where Jessie sat on the bed with her bandaged knee elevated on a pillow. Her cheeks were flushed, her blue eyes hot with temper. Beck had never loved her more.
“Oh good, you’re here.” She held out her hand him. “Will you please tell him you’re my fiancé, and you can take care of me?”
Startled to hear the word fiancé from her for the first time, Beck stared at her.
“Peter?”
“Yes,” he said, tearing his eyes off her to look at the doctor. “That’s right. I’m her fiancé. I’d like to take her home.”
“The wound was deep, and we can better manage her pain here,” the exasperated doctor said. “It’s going to be bad when the local wears off.”
“Can you give her something for it?” Beck asked.
“Yes, but it won’t be as effective as I.V. medication.”
“Could we have a minute?” Beck asked the doctor.
“Sure. I’ll be back.”
When they were alone, Beck leaned down to kiss her. “Maybe he’s right, honey.”
“Take me home, Peter. Take me to your home where we’ll live together.”
Weakened by her bottomless blue eyes and pale face, he could deny her nothing. “What am I supposed to say to that?”
“How about okay?” she asked with the smile he couldn’t resist.
He brought her hand to his lips. “Okay.”
They pulled up to his place in Common Fence Point just as the sun began to peek over the horizon.
“It’s on the water,” Jessie said with a contented sigh.
“It’s a work in progress, so don’t expect too much,” Beck said as he scooped her up to carry her inside.
“Wait,” she said when they reached the door.
“What?”
“Kiss me before you carry me over the threshold.”
He laughed as he indulged her. “That shot they gave you made you goofy.”
“I’m not goofy.” She tossed out her arms and nearly threw him off balance. “I’m free of all worries, and I’m in love. I’ve never been happier in my whole life than I am right now. Right in this moment.”
“Neither have I,” he said, his tone hoarse with emotion as he stole another kiss. “Ready to go in?”
She nodded.
He deposited her on the sofa and turned on the lights. Propping a pillow under her injured leg, he said, “It’s better during the day when you can see the water.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“No, honey,” he said with a smile. “Your place at The Tower was beautiful. This is just a house.”
“This is going to be our home.” Her face went soft with emotion. “We’ll put the Christmas tree right there by the window.”
“Whatever you want.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her as he realized how perfectly she fit in his place. He wondered if he should pinch himself to make sure he hadn’t dreamed her into his life.
“Come by me.”
Moving to the coffee table, he sat facing her and reached for her hand. “I just want you to know that I’m really proud of you for the way you defended yourself against that animal.”
She studied him for a long moment. “I was going to let him. . . you know. . . the way I used to let my stepfather. It never occurred to me back then that I could resist. But I thought of you and of the baby we could be having. . . You gave me the strength to fight.”
His eyes blurred with tears. “I love you so much. I’m sorry I didn’t do a better job of protecting you. I never should’ve left you alone all night—”
She stopped him with a finger to his lips. “I didn’t do what you told me to. I took foolish chances, and I paid the price. If I’d listened to you, Spector never would’ve gotten close enough to grab me.”
“But who knows how long this madness would’ve gone on? Thanks to you, it’s over, he’s in jail, and he’ll never harm you or anyone else again.”
“I put a hurt on him.”
“You sure did,” he said, laughing. “How’s your knee?”
“It’s just fine.”
He decided not to remind her that it would hurt like hell once the drugs wore off. “I never got a chance to put away my Jessica Stone swimsuit calendar, so don’t be surprised to see it hanging in the kitchen.”
Her mouth fell open. “You do not have that!”
“Wanna bet? I was in love with you even before I met you.”
She cradled his hand against her chest. “You aren’t going to quit your job, are you?”
“I guess not. Besides, Travis won’t let me.”
“That’s good, because one of us needs to work.”
“Travis is super generous, but we’ll never be rich. Not like you would’ve been as a model.”
“Since I’m always anticipating disaster—or I used to until I met you—I saved most of what I made. I’ll be bringing a pretty decent dowry to the table.”
“Will you now?” Needing to hold her, he stretched out next to her on the sofa. “So I’m marrying money?”
She giggled. “Some.” She worked a hand into his shorts pocket.
Beck jolted when she brushed against his package. “What’re you doing?”
“I need your phone.”
“Well, jeez, honey, just ask me.”
Giggling again, she said, “It was more fun this way.”
He handed her the phone. “You’re loopy on drugs.”
“I’m loopy on love.”
Rolling his eyes, he asked, “Who are you calling?”
“My agent.”
“Now?”
“Uh huh.”