“You nearly killed me, Vince,” she snapped, refusing to let him see her fear. “And you tried to frame Sax for it. ”
“He shouldn’t have been sniffing around you,” he snarled. “What makes him think he can take what belongs to another man? He’s a trespasser and you’re a whore, always watching him, eating him with your eyes. Did you think that just because you forced that divorce that it changed anything, Marey? The vows were until death do us part. ” His lips curled in a feral sneer. “And only death will part us!”
She was rising from the hot tub, a scream on her lips as he tensed to jump for her, knowing her time had run out. As she turned, Daniel rushed from the house, his hard hands gripping her as he pushed her against the side of the house. Sax rushed past them, leapt the distance of the tub, tackling Vince as he moved to run.
Eyes wide, she watched as Daniel quickly followed. His voice rose as he informed Sax of all the legal ramifications of murder. Not that Sax seemed inclined to listen as his hands tightened around Vince’s throat, a snarl of fury twisting his lips.
It was over quickly, too quickly for her to process the fact that Vince was unconscious on the deck, and she was still standing naked in the cool fall air, staring back at Sax in amazement as he rose from the deck.
“I should paddle your ass,” he yelled, staring at her over the churning water of the tub. Furious. His eyes were blazing, anger contorting his expression as she watched him in amazement. “What in the living hell possessed you, woman, to sit and bait him like that? To just sit there, calmly talking to him in a tub of water knowing fucking good and well he was capable of drowning you?”
Screaming. He was screaming at her, his body so tense, so tight, she wondered if something would break.
“I knew you would save me,” she whispered, blinking back at him in surprise. “I knew you wouldn’t let him hurt me. ”
Shock filled his face then. “I wasn’t here!” He wiped his hands furiously over his slick head as he yelled again. “How the hell was I supposed to save you?”
“But you did, Sax,” she pointed out. “I knew you would be here. I knew you would be…”
Tears filled her eyes as she stared back at him.
“You don’t leave me alone, Sax,” she said softly. “You’re always close, touching me, embracing me, needing me. How can anyone have a chance to hurt me when you love me so well?”
A heavy frown darkened his brow. “That is not getting you out of trouble,” he assured her through gritted teeth as he stomped around the hot tub, jerking her in his arms and holding her rapidly chilling body close to his warmth. “But God help me, Marey, the next time you do anything so stupid, I’m going to paddle your ass. ”
A tearful smile crossed her lips as she tilted her head, her hand reaching up to touch the dark features of his face, the sensual curve of his lip.
“I love you, Sax,” she whispered. “I was going to tell you that tonight, while you held me, while you loved me. I’ve always loved you. ”
A hard breath shuddered through his chest as he buried his head in her hair, his arms tightening around her.
“I’m definitely spanking you,” he groaned. “God baby, I love you. So much you terrified the hell out of me sitting there talking to that bastard so calmly, knowing how easily he could hurt you. ”
“Knowing you would be there,” she said against his chest as he lifted her into his arms while Daniel called the sheriff.
“You’re cold,” he growled. “You didn’t even bring a robe out. ”
“So warm me. ” She burrowed against his chest, her arms wrapping around his neck, her head resting naturally on his shoulder. “Warm me, Sax…”
Chapter Fourteen
“Somehow, Vince managed to hire an ex-employee of the security firm to hack into their computers for the code to Marey’s house,” Daniel reported the next morning after the sheriff and his deputies had arrested Vince, taken their statements and then left them in peace.
Marey was sitting tiredly on the couch, bleary-eyed, certain she had never been so exhausted in her life as she listened to what Daniel had come to the house the night before to tell them.
Neither she nor Vince had heard the car pull up at the front of the house, but Sax had. Just as he had heard Vince through the opened bedroom window seconds before. Moving carefully, he had let Daniel in, then together they had contained Vince. A few broken bones were the least of her ex-husband’s problems now.
“What will they do with the hacker?” Marey asked, fearing the moment when Daniel would leave and she would have to face Sax alone. She was suddenly terrified. Not of him, but of herself.
When he had jumped across the hot tub, the rage that had filled him had been palpable. He would have killed Vince if Daniel hadn’t stopped him.
Son of a bitch, I’ll fucking kill you for touching her. Vince’s eyes had been bugging from his head, his face turning purple. Do you understand me? My fucking woman, you low-life motherfucker!
His woman. Conviction, determination, commitment had filled every hoarse word, every finger that tightened on Vince’s throat before Daniel managed to pull him away.
“They’ll arrest him. ” Daniel watched her closely, but not near as close as Sax was watching her.
She nodded, lowering her head again as she stared at the floor, her arms wrapped around her chest.