Here Comes Trouble (11 page)

Finally, he tipped her chin up so she met his gaze. “I’m not asking you to marry me, Lacy. I’m not even asking for a commitment. I’m just suggesting that we –”

“Be sex buddies?”

“For lack of a better term, yeah.”

“And how would that work? Whenever you get horny you’ll just call me and say, ‘Hey, Lace come over here and let’s bang?’”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Give me a break, Lace. I’m not that crude.”

Her impassive look turned suspicious.

“Okay, I can be sometimes.” He ran a fingertip over her shoulder, smiling in satisfaction at the intake of her breath. “But it wouldn’t be like that.” When she failed to respond he went on, “If it makes you feel better, you can have complete control over our arrangement.”

She shifted her thigh over him, brushing her softness over his penis. “Meaning?”

“Meaning I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to. You can decide when and where we get together and even if you want to end things.” She would no doubt want to end things with him sooner or later. He knew she had problems trusting people, especially men. He didn’t fault her that, given everything she’d been through. When she still didn’t respond to his offer, he pushed her onto her back and settled between her thighs. She stared up at him with a small smile pulling at her lips. He lowered his head and eased her lips a part with his tongue. She let him inside, as he knew she would and he glided his tongue along hers.

“I can tell you need a reminder of the best orgasm I just gave you,” he said when he lifted his mouth off hers.

She rolled her eyes in a dramatic fashion. “I’m going to regret saying those words, aren’t I?”

“That’s up to you.” Looking at her nude body and remembering the feel of her around him, had him growing hard again. He retrieved another condom out of the nightstand drawer and tore the packet open. He was about to roll it down when Lacy yanked it out of his hands.

“I’ll take care of that, thank you.” She pushed him onto his back. “I think I did a pretty good job last time.”

He grinned like a man who just won the lottery and folded his arms behind his head. Like the artist she was, Lacy slithered down his body and reminded him just how good she was.

****

“No one can know about this,” Lacy announced sometime before the sun came up as she shimmied into her shorts.

Chase, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet since she’d slid out of bed, lay with his head propped on one muscled arm, watching her every move. His scrutiny unnerved her, as did his silence. Chase
always
had something to say, so why should now by any different? He’d asked her to stay through breakfast, which she politely declined. She was on lunch shift today and wanted a shower before going in to work.

After snapping her shorts together, she spared him another glance. He was as still as a Greek statue. “Chase, I’m not kidding.”

“I heard you.”

She swiped her shirt off the floor, and pulled it over her head. “No one in your family or at the restaurant can know. Especially your father.”

“I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to.”

“Thank you.”

It was sometime between night and morning and the moon and long since set. The predawn sky had a murky, grayish tint to it but wasn’t enough to cut through the inky blackness of Chase’s room. The only light was through the thin slats of the wooden blinds and that was pathetic at best. She couldn’t see his face very well, only his big form on the bed. The sheet draped over his waist, leaving the rest of him exposed. The sight of his bare chest, which she’d explored, touched and kissed for the past several hours, made her want to slide back in to bed next to him. If she didn’t leave now, she’d be too tempted to play hooky.

“You’re going to walk out without a kiss good-bye or even a thank you?”

“I just said, ‘thank you’.”

He slowly shook his head. “Uh-uh. That was for something else.”

She couldn’t help the little topsy-turvy feeling in her stomach. The man really was impossible. “You really do have an ego, don’t you?”

“I haven’t had any complaints so far.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“So, are you going to kiss me or what?”

“You’ll have to come and get it.”

“But I’m naked.”

“A fact that I’m well aware of.”

It was too dark to tell, but Lacy got the distinct impression that Chase was grinning. In no hurry to fulfill her request, he slid out of bed and sauntered, completely unabashed by his own nudity, to where she stood. Unable to help herself, her eyes dropped to his…area. And what an impressive area it was. His penis hung heavily between his powerful thighs. It grew thicker and longer with each step he took closer to her. By the time he reached her, the shaft stuck straight out at a ninety-degree angle and poked her abdomen.

“Trying to convince yourself to stay, Miss Taylor?”

The jerk caught her ogling him.

She tried desperately to stop the smile from curving her lips upward. “Not even for money.”

“I bet I could convince you.” He tilted her face up with the tip of his index finger. His mouth felt like pure magic and sin all wrapped up in one knee-weakening kiss. His warm palm cupped her cool cheek as his tongue glided inside her mouth one delicious time.

“Think about that while you’re working.” He turned her around and smacked her denim-clad rear. The tingling sensation on her bottom left her wondering if she’d made a deal with the devil.

Six

The second she walked in the door from her lunch shift, Lacy kicked off her shoes and headed straight for her drawing room. Without bothering to remove her sweaty, stinky work clothes, she grabbed a sketch pad and pencil. On the way to work, she’d spotted a tree in someone’s yard that had the most beautiful pink flowers. Every square inch of the tree’s branches was dotted with baby pink blooms and a thick blanket of the flowers covered the ground. She’d never noticed the tree before, but on this particular morning, the angelic beauty of it instantly caught her eye. She’d been struck with a fierce urgency to capture its softness with her pencil. On the way home, she slowed her car to a crawl to get one last good look. It was the sort of tree under which families had picnics or lovers held each other during an afternoon nap. Such events had never taken place in her life and few people had been worth spending that sort of time with.

Regardless of that depressing realization, the fully bloomed tree had been first and foremost in her mind all afternoon. She plopped herself crossed-legged on the floor and dragged the pencil across paper. For the next thirty minutes, she focused only on the charcoal lines as they started to turn into the image she had in her mind. The tree stood by itself with no other occupants crowding its space. The majesty of it was far too great to share the spotlight with things like dogs or small children. She also accentuated its size, drawing it taller and fuller than the original version. All the flowers were in full bloom, none dead, or wilted, or lying on the ground for people to trample on. No, this tree deserved much better than that. Lacy was determined to do the magnificent plant justice, to give it a perfect existence in an imperfect world. She owed something with such exquisite splendor the absolute best.

Different versions of the tree took up six separate pieces of paper. If not for the cramp in her hand, she’d have kept on going. Satisfied she’d exhausted the tree from her mind, Lacy set the pad aside and studied her work.

This afternoon of drawing had reminded her of why she’d started in the first place.

Solitude.

Escape.

Perspective.

She refocused her attention on the pink-blossomed tree.

Compared to her other sketches, the lone tree was simple, borderline lonely. Something about this particular drawing struck a chord within her that none of her other drawings had; not even the ones of small children. She could picture this situated inside an aged, antique frame, perched on someone’s mantle or, better yet, on the walls of City Hall. Of course that would require her actually selling it. Last year the town of
Trouble
had its annual fair where local merchants, quilt makers and others of different trades sold their goods to people from the area. Brody had tried talking her into reserving a space for her own booth, but she’d been too much of a coward. She didn’t want to stand there like a hopeful fool while people passed her by for things like kettle corn and organic baby clothes. She knew, deep down, she had a better shot of selling her drawings at the local fair than she did at any art gallery. Most galleries didn’t want to waste their time on an artist who didn’t have a resume.

This year’s fair was about four months away and she could really use the extra income, if she even sold anything, that is. Now would probably be the best time to reserve a slot since last week’s newspaper had run ads advertising open booths. Wishful thinking had made her cut the ad out and stick it under a magnet on her fridge. Then the unpleasant news of her father’s whereabouts and the unexpected visit from a half-sister forced her pipe dream to the back of her crowded mind. After all, there was only so much room in her brain for exhausting possibilities. This was all, of course, not including the possibilities from last night.

Chase wanted to have an affair with her. She’d left his house without giving him a concrete answer, but she had the distinct feeling he’d made the decision for them. That was sort of his personality. While the lovemaking had been electrifyingly phenomenal and had left her brain foggy all day, an affair with Chase was the last thing she needed. With her father’s annoying presence looming around her and a ten-million dollar check practically screaming to be cashed, sex with her boss would definitely muddy the waters. Chase was one person Lacy needed to focus on keeping platonic.

In fact, that line never should have been crossed to begin with. Ignoring the ethical side of things, a relationship with him could never go anywhere. He’d made a career out of bedding women and Lacy had problems trusting men. An affair between the two of them had dismal failure written all over it. Contrary to what her past said, Lacy did not like getting involved with men who were destined to break her heart.

But, how marvelously delicious the sex had been. Before last night she’d never known it was possible for her body to go numb from one orgasm. And Chase, the selfless man that he was, had given her several. By the time she left his house, she hadn’t known which way was up.

Lacy left her drawing room and headed to the kitchen for a bottle of water. Boris snored from his spot on the worn rug and didn’t so much a twitch an ear at her presence.

Last night, Lacy had meant to go see Brody. Then she remembered he’d mentioned something about going on a date. Chase’s house was on the way to Brody’s, and something about the sight of his chrome and black Harley in the driveway made her stop. Without giving herself time to change her mind, she’d knocked on his door and everything had sort of evolved from there. She hadn’t
planned
on sleeping with him. In fact, the thought had never even entered her mind until he opened the door, holding his chubby niece. The entire time she’d sat in his living room, she’d tried thinking up ways how she could get out the door without throwing herself at him. She hadn’t even gotten the door open, much as she suspected would happen. All the dramatics of late had forced her to do something desperate. That and plus the fact that she hadn’t had sex in way too long. The end of her rope had come into view and Lacy had needed something to take her mind off recent events. Chase had been the perfect solution.

Never would she have suspected him to suggest they get involved.

Lacy took a sip of the cold water, hoping the liquid would extinguish the hot images from last night. It didn’t.

Boris stirred and pushed himself up onto long, lanky legs. He ambled over to her as fast as his old, worn-out body could take him. Poor dog. Boris was really old and Lacy had no idea how much longer the dog would live. His cold nose nudged her thigh and she glanced down to find his enormous brown eyes gazing up at her.

“I’m going to take that as a hint that you’re hungry.”

Boris’s response was a more forceful nudge. Lacy pulled out leftovers from the other night. Ray had never bothered with things like buying dog food. He’d always slopped whatever leftovers were in the fridge into Boris’s bowl. Boris had always seemed content to scarf down things like mashed potatoes with gravy and red beans and rice. He wasn’t picky.

Lacy scooped cold turkey into the dog’s dish and Boris didn’t waste any time sloppily eating it up. Half the food ended up on the floor, but she knew the dog would eventually get around to eating it all. Boris could sometimes take a few hours to eat one bowl full of food.

She left the dog to his meal and walked to her bedroom. After the long day she’d had, a shower sounded like absolute heaven. Just as she started to peel off her shirt, the top dresser drawer caught her eye. A few days ago she’d placed a letter in there. A letter written by her mother. Her
dead
mother. The reality of her mother having left this earth still hadn’t really set in. Lacy thought by now she’d start to feel something. Loss. Grief. Denial. All she felt was nothing. After all, her mother death didn’t really affect her life. The woman left a long time ago and her dying was of no real relevance to her abandoned daughter. Except for the money she’d left her. Lacy still hadn’t come up with a solution to that. Should she burn the check like her initial reaction told her to? Or should she take it, pay off her debts and give Chase his money back?