Boots and Lace (2 page)

Exhausted from moving what little he’d chosen to bring with him and all the items Cory had accumulated, Nick hadn’t wanted to go anywhere but to bed. Cory insisted, saying he wanted some time to unpack a few things without bumping into his brother.

Nick had dragged himself to the saloon and ordered a beer. It was late on a weeknight and he was so tired he wanted to fall asleep on the barstool, but he stayed for over an hour, giving Cory time to make his apartment his own without big brother getting in his way. The waitresses at the Ugly Stick made him feel welcomed and had been a nice diversion from being alone with his thoughts. The one dance he’d participated in had lifted his spirits a little. But not much. The smile on the girl’s face made him feel better, like maybe his life wasn’t totally in the crapper.

“Are you as whipped as I am?” Cory stood at the refrigerator, a towel draped around his hips, his shoulder-length blond hair almost dry. “I totally forgot to pick up food.”

“Everything is closed in Temptation.” Nick’s belly rumbled. “Guess we’ll have to go hungry tonight.”

“Mind looking at the AC tomorrow? I’m all thumbs when it comes to anything mechanical. And we can’t go too long in this heat without some relief.”

“I’ll look at it in the morning.” He didn’t bother reminding his brother that he was a car mechanic, not an electrician. But Cory had always looked to him whenever something needed fixing.

Cory grinned over the fridge door. “We may not have any food in the place, but I have a six-pack of beer. Want one?”

“Maybe after I shower.” Nick would rather have had a steak and baked potato, but maybe a cool beer might take the edge off his sore muscles and allow him to sleep better. He grabbed a towel out of a box and headed for the tiny bathroom. He stepped behind the shower curtain and turned on the cold water only, an image of the waitress leaning over the bar coming to mind. 

She’d worn a flimsy, low-cut tank top and shorter-than-short blue jean cutoffs and boots. Her long dark hair had fallen around her shoulders in big loose curls. The kind a guy liked running his fingers through. The cool spray washed over him, barely doing the job of chilling his rising desires. If he hadn’t been so out of practice, he might have spoken to her, maybe even asked her out. Hell, with his divorce so fresh, he wasn’t sure he wanted to get back into the dating scene. So he’d sat there with his face practically buried in his beer mug, as the waitresses hurried back and forth, wasting an opportunity to get to know the one called Lacey.

Nick scrubbed his hair and body and rinsed off. When he stepped out of the shower and dried off, he felt better, more refreshed. The apartment was too hot with the AC out and he didn’t feel like sweating in clean clothes, nor did he have to dress to impress anyone. Rather than slip into shorts or boxers, he stepped out of the bathroom with only the towel around his waist.

As soon as Nick exited the bathroom, Cory tossed him a long-neck bottle. “Think fast!”

Nick fumbled the catch but saved the bottle from hitting the old hardwood floor. He screwed off the top and tossed back his head, taking a long swallow. Then he dropped onto the couch, stretching his feet out in front of him. “God, it feels good to relax.”

“Thanks for the loan of the furniture and the help moving it in.” Cory sat at the other end of the couch and rested his feet on the coffee table. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“And I’d be sleeping at the shop. I owe you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Cory waved his hand. “You’ll be back on track when the dust settles.”

Nick snorted. “If Trish doesn’t decide half of everything I owned wasn’t enough.”

Cory took another long swig of beer and let out a loud belch. “Your ex is a piece of work, isn’t she?”

“She is.”

“What happened? Why the divorce? You two were married for almost seven years.”

Nick didn’t feel like going into it. He’d spent too many hours with his lawyer, racking up a monumental attorney bill, and for what? Trish walked away with just about everything he owned, claiming he’d neglected her and that’s why she had an affair. “It’s a whole lot of horse shit.”

“I get it, you don’t want to talk about it. That’s okay. If you need an ear, I’m here, otherwise, I won’t ask.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s—”

A loud beep interrupted Nick’s explanation. 

Cory sat up straight. “What the hell?”

“Sounds like a smoke detector.” Nick said. “The battery probably wore out. Got a spare?”

Cory shook his head. “If I do, I wouldn’t know which box to look in.”

The alarm beeped again.

“Is it going to do that all night?” Cory asked.

“Most likely. It’s a reminder to change the battery to keep you safe.” Nick rose from the couch and followed the sound of the beep toward the front door of the apartment.

His brother followed. “How do we make it stop?”

“You have to disconnect it.”

“I don’t have a ladder and we didn’t bring the chairs yet for the kitchen table. How the hell are we supposed to disconnect it?”

“I can give you a boost.” Nick locked his fingers, cupped his hands and bent.

Cory stuck his foot in Nick’s hands and reached for the alarm. He could barely grasp it enough to unhook it from the old building’s high ceiling. “Got it.”

“Now, pull the old battery out and leave the rest hanging until you can get another battery. And hurry it up, will ya? My fingers are slipping.”

“Just a minute. The damned battery is being stubborn.”

“I’m serious, I’m about to drop you.” Nick swayed, his fingers slipping apart.

“Just…one…more…”

A knock on the door startled both men.

Nick lost his grip, Cory fell and both men landed on the floor as the door opened to the beautiful waitress from the Ugly Stick Saloon, wearing that breast-huggin white tank top, the shorter-than-short pair of jean cutoffs and bearing a tray filled with cheesy, gooey pizza.

She smiled, bent and scooped up both their towels, which had dropped loose when they’d fallen. Balancing the pizza tray with one hand and the towels looped over the other, she raised her eyebrows. “Having a little fun without me?”

Nick felt the heat rise from his chest into his face when he realized what this must look like. Cory lay draped across him in a highly suggestive position. At least he covered Nick’s privates from the woman’s view.

Cory laughed out loud. “Lacey, I wondered when you would show up. Kendall said you’d probably stop by to say hello.”

“Did she?” Lacey’s eyes narrowed. “What else did she say?”

Cory’s grin broadened. “She said to watch out that you were on the prowl.”

“She’s a bigmouth, but since I’m here…” She waggled her eyebrows, her gaze panning over both men’s groins. “Of course, if you’re gay, maybe you can let me watch, or I’ll pretend to be a boy and we can all have a little fun.”

Nick choked and jumped to his feet, his hands forming a fig leaf over his crotch.

Cory chortled. “Ah, Lacey, nothing like cutting to the chase. We were just trying to kill the smoke detector and fell.”

Lacey pouted. “Well, darn.” Her gaze went to Nick, sliding down his chest to where his hands covered his privates.

“Do you mind?” Nick held out his hand for a towel, the heat her gaze generated pooling in his groin.

“A shame to cover something so fine.” She grinned and tossed him the towel. “So, are you interested?”

In her? Hell yeah. She hadn’t been off his mind since he’d walked into the Ugly Stick Saloon earlier. Nick grabbed the towel and slung it around his hips. Standing naked in front of her had thrown him off-balance and he wasn’t certain how to get back on an even keel. “I don’t know…”

“It’s a meat-lover’s pizza.” She stood there with her nipples puckered beneath the shirt, her brows raised in challenge. “Unless pizza’s not your thing…” She turned as if to leave, throwing a wink over her shoulder.

A groan rose up Nick’s throat. Damn, she was as cute and as sassy as she’d been at the saloon earlier when he’d had a hard time keeping his eyes off her. Nick felt as if he stood on quicksand, the floor sucking at his feet. His cock hardened at the sight of the brunette’s luscious curves, his gaze running from the narrowing of her waist to the ragged hem of the cutoffs, displaying the rounded curve of her ass.

“Nick might not be interested, but as far as I’m concerned, I love pizza.” Cory lunged forward, his muscles rippling, six-pack taut, his long pale-blond hair drying in big loose curls around his shoulders, like a friggin’ Greek God, drying in the sun. He grabbed her around the middle and spun her around, reaching for the pizza tray. 

Lacey laughed. “Easy there, I almost lost it.” She steadied the tray.

Nick’s gut tightened. He fought the urge to yank his brother back and take Lacey…er, the pizza…all for himself. Before he could move on the urge, Cory snatched the pizza from Lacey’s hands and dove in like a starving man. “I’d do just about anything for a bite of pizza.”

Lacey’s hand rested on her sexy hip and her lips twisted. “Wow, that really hits a girl right in the ego.”

“No offense, Lacey,” Cory said between chews. “It’s just that I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

Lacey tossed Cory his towel and turned toward Nick. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Cory swallowed. “Oh, he’s not my friend, Nick’s my brother. He’ll be rooming with me while he’s waiting—”

“Until I can find a house.” Nick tightened the towel firmly around his middle, appalled at the way it tented over his dick. He hoped Lacey wouldn’t notice.

“Pizza first?” Her gaze moved from his cock to his face. “Then whatever?”

“Pizza sounds great.” He wasn’t that desperate that he’d fall into bed with the first woman who came along after his divorce was final. No matter that she had all the right equipment and plenty of it, and that she was drop-dead gorgeous and she seemed interested in doing more than eating pizza with both him and Cory. His head was screaming
Whoa!
His cock told him something entirely different. 

Cory dropped the pizza tray on top of a box doubling as a coffee table and waved at the couch. “Have a seat.”

Lacey eased onto the couch, tucked her legs beneath her and reached for a slice of pizza.

Nick chose to sit on the chair facing the couch, as far from the temptress as he could get and not be rude. 

Something about her teasing look, her sultry brown eyes and the swell of her breasts beneath her shirt had him all in a knot.

He nearly choked on his first bite of gooey cheese and crust, timed perfectly with Lacey lifting a slice of pizza to her lips. Her nipples tightened behind the near-sheer fabric of her tank top, her pale rosy brown aureoles barely visible in the soft lighting, like hints of round slices of tasty Canadian bacon.

Nick tried to keep his attention on the slice of pizza pie in his hand, but his gaze strayed toward Lacey again and again.

When she dropped a slice of pepperoni and it landed in her cleavage, Nick almost came.

“Oops.” She grinned. “I’m such a mess.”

“May I?” Cory leaned across and plucked the morsel from her skin.

A soft, sweet laugh bubbled up from Lacey’s throat. “Um, that tickles. Be sure to get enough to eat. A growing boy like you needs his strength.”

“Just so you know, I’m no virgin.” Cory bit into another slice of pizza. “Kendall said you could still teach me a few things. I make a good student.”

The bite Nick had just taken lodged in his throat. He swallowed hard, nearly gagging on the wad of crust.

Lacey licked a string of cheese from her lips. “You don’t mind learning from an older woman?”

“You’re hardly older than me, and I think older women rock at sex.”

Nick groaned. All the talk about sex had him harder than a fence post. Why he should be concerned about Lacey and his brother having sex was beyond him. Hell, Lacey wasn’t much older than his little brother. Still a woman as sultry and sexy as Lacey deserved a man old enough to know what foreplay was and what made a woman scream.

Like him.

Nick bit into the pizza and choked it down. According to his ex-wife, he’d failed in the sack. Hell, she’d never wanted to have sex when they were together. Apparently, she’d been getting enough without him.

After shooting a sassy grin at Nick, Lacey returned her attention to Cory. “What does a boy still wet behind the ears have to offer?”

Cory grinned. “Kendall taught me some dance moves that never fail to get the ladies hot.”

“I’ve seen those hips move at Ladies’ Night out. I might be convinced to trade a dance for a sex lesson. If you’re good enough.”

Cory glanced at Nick. “Sorry old man. Is this conversation making you uncomfortable?”

Hell yes it was. Nick swallowed another bite of pizza. “No, not at all,” he lied. “Knock yourselves out.”

His brother tipped his head toward Nick. “Nick’s probably not interested in participating, but I’m game, if you are.”

Nick almost blew pizza chunks out his nose. Not interested? His body wanted her, even if his mind was against it. He ended up coughing for the next minute.

Lacey rounded the table and stood next to him, patting his back. “Are you all right?”

With Lacey beside him, her breast rubbing his naked shoulder, her sexy cutoffs brushing his fingertips, Nick was far from all right.

Meanwhile, Lacey spoke to Cory across Nick’s shoulder. “I thought you were worn out.”

“That was hunger talking.” Cory patted his six-pack. “I’m recharged and ready to go.” He dropped the crust onto the tray and hurried to the stereo system, connecting wires and plugging it into the wall. Before long a raunchy bump-and-grind song blared through the speakers. Cory crossed the room, rocking his hips, his cock jutting out beneath the towel.

Nick set his pizza aside, unable to eat while the heat was ratcheting up and the walls were closing in around Cory and Lacey.

Cory swung the lounge chair out in the middle of the small room and guided Lacey to it, pressing her onto the cushioned surface.

“Oh, so you’re going to give me the treatment, are you?” Lacey leaned back, her eyes dancing. “Bring it on, little man.”