Games of Fire

by Airicka Phoenix

  “Now none of that!” For the first time since meeting Mark, he actually looked upset. The carefree smile that usually harbored his expression had turned angry like rolling thunderclouds. “Spencer’s crazy about you. I’ve never seen him this gone over a girl before and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  “Because Spencer’s crazy about me?”

  He shook his head. “Because you’re part of the family, Sophie. We take family very seriously.”

  A frown pinched Sophie’s brow as she thought of Jackie and everything she’d learned about the Rowth family.

  Mark spoke frequently and passionately about soul mates and true love and family, yet he cheated on his wife with another woman. If she hadn’t gotten to know the man, she would have called him a hypocrite, but he really meant everything he said, which confused her.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Mark said, a sad sort of smile turning up the left corner of his mouth, just like Spencer. He turned back to the sink full of dishes. “You’re thinking I’m a sleaze ball for what happened between Jackie and I.”

  Sophie looked away, wondering just how expressive her face really was. “I wasn’t—”

  He waved away her denial. “Go ahead. Ask.”

  The dishtowel in her hand creaked a little beneath her twisting hands as she fought not to look at him. “It’s none of my business.”

  “Nonsense! I already told you, you’re family. Ask me anything.”

  She really shouldn’t, but he was giving her a window into Spencer’s past, a window Spencer so rarely opened and she wanted so badly to hear it from the other side.

  “Why didn’t you change the décor after Jackie left?”

  Mark laughed, a deep, belly rumbling laugh. “I tell you to ask me anything and that’s what you ask me?”

  Flushing, Sophie shrugged.

  “Is it the peaches?”

  She chuckled. “Well, yes and no.”

  Still chuckling, Mark passed her another plate. “I wanted to,” he said truthfully. “But Janice wouldn’t let me. She said things had changed enough for the children without their home changing, too. She wanted them to feel comfortable. She has a good heart like that. It’s one of the many things that made me fall in love with her as hard as I did.”

  “I like her,” Sophie admitted. “She’s very nice.”

  Mark sighed heavily, the sound full of love and longing. “She’s amazing.”

  Sophie set the plate on the small pile she was making next to her elbow on the counter. “Jackie told me Janice was Spencer’s babysitter.” It wasn’t a question, but she let him answer it anyway he wanted.

  “At first, but she finished school and became their nanny after Suzy was born,” he clarified. “I worked long hours and traveled quite a bit at the time and Jackie would get overwhelmed while I was gone, so we hired Janice to help. She was almost seventeen when she started working evenings and weekends. Then she graduated high school and then college and asked us to hire her on as a nanny.” Mark turned his head to peer at Sophie from the corner of his eye, his lips curled into a secretive smile. “Go ahead and ask your million dollar question.”

  Sophie blushed, dropping her gaze. “You don’t have to tell me anything.”

  Mark chuckled quietly. “I don’t think it’s a secret.”

  She peeked at him carefully from beneath her lashes. “Did you … ” she trailed off, not sure how to phrase the rest without sounding rude.

  “Cheat on my wife?” he finished for her. He gave another chuckle when she said nothing. “I didn’t, actually.” He either didn’t see her look of surprise or he ignored it as he continued. “I know Jackie tells people otherwise, but she and I were in the process of finalizing the divorce papers when things progressed between me and Janice. We hadn’t told the children that we’d been making plans to separate for a little over a year before that. We’d both agreed that we wouldn’t tell them until the very last possible moment. It was a very hard time for me. There hadn’t been a divorce for generations in my family and I felt like a failure as a father, a husband and as a Rowth. Janice was there when I needed a friend. She was supportive and listened without judgment. The first time I kissed her was the day the divorce papers were finalized. Jackie walked in and automatically assumed our relationship had been going on behind her back for ages. She refused to listen when I tried to explain. I don’t know how things escalated and the children were thrown into the pot, forced to decide which parent they wanted to be with … ” He broke off, expelling a sharp breath of air. “Janice got the blunt end of things. Jackie turned all her fury on her, accusing her of destroying the family when there had been no family for years. Jamie was older and not so easily convinced, but Spencer … ” He hissed through his teeth. “This all fell in the shadows of what happened with Aimee, so he didn’t really give anyone a chance to explain. Things just got worse from there.”

  “That’s so sad,” Sophie whispered, feeling her heart go out to the devastation unfolding before her. “Poor Janice.”

  Mark nodded.

  “You’re lying.”

  They both jumped at the unexpected crack of accusation that split the silence like a crash of thunder. They whipped around to find Spencer glowering at his father, having snuck up behind them without either noticing.

  “Spence—” Despite the island separating them, Spencer took a full step back when his father took one forward.

  “You cheated on Mom throughout your entire marriage!”

  Mark shook his head. “That’s what your mother thought, but I never did, not once.”

  The indecision in Spencer’s eyes cut Sophie. She longed to run to him and pull him into her arms and protect him from everything. But she knew it wouldn’t be welcomed right then. This was something he needed to hear, to come to terms with.

  “Your mother wasn’t my soul mate, but she was my wife and your mother and I respected her. I loved her. I would have kept working to make her happy, but she wanted out.”

  Spencer’s lips curled back over straight, white teeth. “You certainly didn’t waste any time finding someone to replace her.”

  Feeling like the third wheel in an important, personal conversation, Sophie began edging towards the door. She made it halfway when Spencer caught her wrist, dragging her to a stop. Her head came up, her eyes darting to his face. He wasn’t looking at her, but the slight pressure around her hand said everything she needed to hear. He wanted her to stay. She laced her fingers through his and stayed.

  “No one can replace your mother,” Mark said, sounding affronted. “Not even Janice. Jackie will always hold a place in my heart, but she wasn’t mine the way Janice is. She doesn’t energize me the way Janice does when she walks into the room. She doesn’t fill me with a sense of purpose. I loved your mother but we both knew it wasn’t meant to be. She felt it as much as I did every day of our marriage. We drifted apart. It wasn’t only on my end, Spencer. I didn’t just wake up one morning and realize our time was over. We both knew it the moment we walked down the aisle.”

  “Then why did you stay together? Why did you get married? Why did you have us?”

  “The reason behind our marriage was never a secret, Spencer. You know the story.”

  Spencer said nothing, but his hand tightened around Sophie’s.

  Mark continued with a sigh. “We really wanted it to work. But it didn’t because we were never meant to be together, just like you and Aimee were never meant to be. You know what I’m talking about. It’s why you pushed so hard for Aimee to love you back. You tried to make it work, didn’t you? It was the same with me and your mother. The only difference is that Jackie didn’t do what Aimee did.”

  “But you did,” Spencer said, but with very minimal heat.

  “No, Spence. I didn’t. I was faithful to your mother. We were already divorced when I realized that I loved Janice. I never looked twice at her before that, or any woman.”

  Time seemed to stretch into infinity before S
pencer spoke. His voice was unnaturally even, the flat part of a double edged blade. “You should never have slept with my mother to begin with if she wasn’t the one.”

  A shadow of sadness passed over Mark’s eyes. “Maybe, but then I wouldn’t have you or Jamie or Suzy and I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

  Spencer sneered. “I would.”

  He stormed out before Mark could respond, dragging Sophie with him out of the room and up the stairs. Sophie expected him to head into his room, but instead, he went into hers and closed the door.

  “He’s lying!” he hissed the moment they were alone.

  “I don’t think he is, Spencer,” she said quietly.

  He shook his head. “Mom told me everything!”

  “Maybe she misunderstood. She was hurt and sad and—”

  “She was sure.” But he didn’t sound sure. “She told me she saw them together.”

  “Your father doesn’t deny that.”

  He stormed over to the bed and flopped down on the edge. He pressed his face into his palms and rested his elbows onto his knees. “I can’t believe him.”

  Carefully, she edged towards the bed and sat next to him. “Can’t or won’t?”

  His head came up, his face wrought with pain. “Can’t. If this is true, then that means … ”

  “That you owe Janice a ton of apologies,” she finished for him when he failed to continue.

  His gaze searched hers. “This changes things.”

  She nodded slowly, reaching over and taking his hand. “Yeah, but at least you know now and it’s not too late to fix things.”

  He sighed. “Maybe.”

  Sophie leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “I know you’ll do the right thing.”

  With a soft exhale, he rested his brow against hers. She caressed the side of his face and watched his lashes slip closed. Smiling softly, she kissed him and felt his lips pull into a grin. He kissed her back, slipping his hand beneath her hair to cup the base of her skull.

  “Spencer … ”

  The kiss deepened. It was raw passion conjoined with vibrating heat. Hard hands soft in their attack, nudged her onto her back. His lithe frame climbed over her, on her, pressing her into the cool sheets. His mouth took hers again with the same vengeance as before, with his hands following suit, gripping her, holding her to him with greedy desperation.

  Then, as hard and fast as it started, his kisses grew soft, painfully gentle as if he were pouring all his hurt and misery into each one. Her arms wound around his shoulders and she dragged him deeper against her, wanting to press him as close as humanly possible. She wanted to smother the uncertainty, doubt and pain writhing inside him. The only way she could think to do that was by pushing him onto his back and straddling his stomach. He went without complaint or resistance. His hands rested on her hips as she stretched across his chest and pressed her lips to his. Her fingers lightly slipped beneath the hem of his shirt and stroked the hard contours, the defined lines and valleys. He sucked in air as she used her nails to rake over his ribs to the blocks carved into his abdomen. Her fingers caught the hem of his shirt and she tugged, giving orders without words. He nimbly removed the barrier and she splayed her hands across his breastplates and kissed him deeply while his heart raged against her palm.

  Carefully, his gray eyes nearly black with desire, he lifted her t-shirt, hoisting it over her head. She let him, mashing her lips back to his the moment the shirt was off. His fingers were five points of fire burning into the skin of her back. She almost hissed upon contact. Her body shuddered.

  His chest vibrated with a husky chuckle, but there was no amusement on his face, just a primal need to devour what he’d been denied for too long. “You make it impossible for a guy not to go crazy, Blondie.”

  Tendrils of hair tumbled over her face as she raised her head to peer down at him. He looked gorgeous sprawled across her bed, shirtless and barely in control. His lips were damp from her kisses, his hair in chaos from her fingers and his eyes were hot pits of passion aimed just at her. He never looked so delicious.

  “You really shouldn’t look at a guy like that and expect him to continue being a gentleman, witch.” His words were low, even, but they shook with near madness. “We’re not saints.”

  Sophie smirked, devouring him from beneath thick lashes. “I don’t need you to be a saint, Spencer, or a gentleman.”

  He flipped them with a snarl, regaining control as he forced her arms over her head. His body settled perfectly over hers, fitting in all the right places. She raised her knees, tucking his waist between them.

  “What do you need?” he challenged nipping her chin with his teeth.

  She caught his eyes, held them. Her mouth opened, the single word perched on her tongue, prepared to leap off, when the door swung open. They bolted upright as Mark barreled in.

  “Dad!” Spencer positioned himself in front of Sophie as she searched for her top.

  “Sophie, your father is on the phone!” It was the anxious tone in Mark’s voice that had all the blood draining from Sophie’s face to pool into her feet.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Is he hurt? Did something happen?” She nearly tripped on the sheets she’d wrapped around herself in her haste to lung for the phone he held out. “Dad?”

  “They caught them!” Her father’s voice was a shout of euphoric delight, the way he shouted the hockey scores during the playoffs. “They caught the bastards, baby!” But the words were completely foreign.

  “What?”

  “They caught them!” her father repeated, slowly, punching each word out.

  Spencer caught her when she began to sink to the ground, her legs useless. He pulled her to the bed and set her down. “Sophie? What happened?”

  Her wide eyes met his, her father’s words rolling around in her head like a recorder stuck on replay. “They caught them!” she croaked, torn between screaming and crying.

  “What?” His fingers tightened around her arm.

  “They caught them!” she exclaimed, it finally slapping her upside the head. “They caught them!” Her voice rose until she was almost screaming.

  She threw herself into Spencer’s arms, the phone still clutched in her hand, forgotten. Spencer squeezed her tight, pressing his face into her neck.

  “Sophie! Sophie!” Her father’s voice was nearly drowned out by her half laughing, half sobbing.

  “I’m here!” She wiped at her eyes as she drew away from Spencer. “How did they catch them? Where? Who was it? Did they say what they wanted? When can I—?”

  “Sophie!” There was amusement in her father’s tone. “We’re on our way to Mark’s house. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  Sure enough, her parents arrived fifteen minutes later and Sophie barreled into them, having missed them dearly. She kissed both of them over and over again until she had no choice but to pull away and let them into the foyer. Jackie stepped into the house behind them, looking relieved but tired. Her blonde hair was swept into a ponytail and her clothes weren’t as crisp as they usually were. But her eyes lit up when Spencer moved in to embrace her.

  “Come inside!” Mark laughed. “The party’s in the sitting room!”

  Laughing, they followed him into the next room. Janice hurried out from the kitchen with a tray of tea, nearly balancing it on her belly.

  “Hey!” Mark darted over to her and took the tray from her. “Didn’t I tell you to sit down and put your feet up?”

  Janice flushed prettily. “I’ll be as big as a house if I listen to you every time you tell me to sit down.”

  He pecked her on the lips. “I’m allowed to spoil you, love. It’s my job.” With a wink, he joined the others, setting the tray down on the coffee table. He sat on the sectional and gave a loud clap of his hands. “All right! Tell us what happened!”

  All eyes were on her father now, watching, waiting to hear how all their troubles had finally come to an end after weeks of turmoil. Sophie
was scarcely breathing. She held on so tight to Spencer’s hand, he actually detangled their fingers and pulled her into his lap instead, tucking her between his legs and back into his chest. He encircled her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

  “The detective phoned me an hour ago,” her father began, barely suppressing the ear to ear grin splitting his face. “He said they made a break in the case. They arrested three men after an anonymous tip paid off.”

  “An anonymous tip?” Janice shot a glance towards her husband. “Is that even reliable?”

  “They confessed,” Sophie’s father said with a slight tinge of satisfaction. “Also, they found evidence in their car and home that proves it’s them. Things only people who committed these crimes would possess.”

  “Like what?” Sophie asked.

  Her father looked at her. “The detective wouldn’t tell me, but he assured me that these were the men.”

  “And they confessed?” Mark marveled. “Just like that?”

  Her father nodded, reaching over and taking his wife’s hand. “The detective said it was a normal case. As soon as you separate them, one is always bound to crack under pressure. He told them everything about setting the garage on fire and the party. They’re all going in for quite a while for the arson attack alone, but they’re looking at stalking, uttering threats, vandalism … the list is endless. It’s over.”

  “This calls for a celebration!” Mark lunged to his feet, startling everyone. “I think Italian and wine, what does everyone else think?”

  “Sounds like a great idea!” her father said, slapping his thigh.

  “Then it’s settled!” Mark announced, giving a sharp clap and then rubbing his hands together. “We will all go out to supper tonight. My treat!”

  “I don’t think so!” Her father rose to his feet. “I insist it be my treat!”

  While they argued, Spencer pulled Sophie further back, squishing her against him as he nestled his face into the curve between her neck and shoulder. His warm breath tickled over her skin, leaving goose bumps in their wake.