Here Comes Trouble (16 page)

He pulled the sheet back up and ran his callused palm over her thigh. A shiver rippled through her naked body when his hand abandoned her leg and sought out her breast.

“What time do you have to be at work?”

Her eyelids became heavy and drifted closed when he skimmed his thumb over her nipple. “Five.”

He pushed himself up and lowered her to her back, all the while dropping kisses on her neck. “I don’t have to there until eleven. How about a quickie?”

How romantic
. “My thighs hurt.” Despite her protest, she lifted her legs around him and ran her hands over his back.

“I’ll be gentle.”

Heat gathered in her abdomen and spread south when she felt him probing her entrance. His warm tongue left a wake of moisture on her neck and his hands floated down her sides.

“Chase…”

“Hmm? Do you want me to stop?”

Yes.
“No.”
Oh man, his hands
. His hands were everywhere, touching every part of her. Lacy squirmed beneath him and ran her legs along his. He didn’t enter her yet. Instead, he’d started this little teasing game where he rubbed the tip of himself along her slippery entrance. Lacy was just about to surrender to another round of mind-altering sex when her doorbell chimed. At first, the soft ringing was barely enough to penetrate her already foggy mind. Chase’s mouth made a deliciously wet path from her throat to her belly, thwarting her attempts to disentangle herself from him. Since her body was already in sexual la-la land, Lacy closed her eyes and willed her mind to follow. However, the bell rang a third time, letting her know that whoever stood on the other side was determined she get up and answer it.

In a pathetic and half-hearted attempt, Lacy shoved on Chase’s steel-like, mile-wide shoulders. “Chase, someone’s at my door.”

“Who cares? They’ll eventually get the point and come back later.” He skimmed his magician’s hands up her inner thighs, prompting a gasp from her.

No, they needed to stop. They’d already done it countless times since last night. One of them needed to rein in their libido and rejoin the human world.

Putting more effort behind her movements, Lacy wiggled her legs out from under him and gave his shoulders a determined shove. He sat back with an “Are you crazy?” expression on his sinfully handsome face. She ignored his look and scrambled off the bed.

“You’re insane.” The remark was softened by his slightly turned-up mouth.

Knowing full well that where Chase was concerned, she practically
had
no sanity was the main reason she kept her back to him while pulling on yesterday’s clothes with jerky movements. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the disbelieving shake of his head, yet another thing she chose to ignore as she padded bare-foot to her front door.

A breezy, overcast day greeted her when she swung open the front door as did the retreating backside of her half-sister. The heavily-leafed tree in the front yard swayed back and forth as if beckoning anyone walking by to come and “sit a spell,” as Ray had always said. A particularly strong gust whipped the short strands of Megan’s chin-length hair, which she tried to hold back with one hand, across her youthfully-beautiful face. Her white linen skirt, which was probably worth more than Lacy’s car, swirled around Megan’s shapely knees.

“Oh, you’re home,” she said with a voice as breathy as the air that blew around them. “I was just leaving.”

“Yeah, sorry.” What was she supposed to say now?
I was just about to have sex when you rang the bell?
Instead, she stepped back from the door and decided not to offer an explanation. “Do you want to come in?”

A childish sort of delight lit up the younger woman’s innocent green eyes. “I’m sorry to just show up like this,” Megan said as she stepped through the doorway. She turned to face Lacy. “Last night I went for a drive, and it hit me that you’re really the only family I have left. I just thought it would be a shame for us not to get to know each other.”

Something inside Lacy melted at Megan’s words. Lacy knew what it was like not to have a living soul left to make that familial connection with. Even though Lacy couldn’t help the tiny bit of resentment she felt toward Megan, the girl had been just as affected by their mother’s actions. It wouldn’t be right for Lacy to take her hurt and betrayal out on her half-sister.

Before Lacy could comment on Megan’s announcement, the girl’s eyes widened at something standing behind Lacy. She turned and found Chase, standing at the end of the hallway. Megan’s eyes grew to the size of grapefruits at the sight of the imposing man with a bad case of bed-head and twenty-four hour stubble.

“Uh, I can come back.”

As far as awkward moments went, this was one of those and it was guaranteed to be locked in her memory until they put her in the ground. She searched her muddled brain for some sort of intelligent response, anything other than, “Um, yeah this is my boss who spent the night and I’m not really sure what our relationship is.” This also would have been good time for one of them to clear their throat or crack an inappropriate joke. Chase, saint that he was, broke the silence first.

“You must be Megan.” He offered his hand in greeting.

Megan stared at Chase’s outstretched hand as though she’d never gone through a hand-shaking ritual before. Then, she placed her manicured palm in his and offered a shy, closed-lipped smile.

Lacy tried to repress the hundred-degree temperature that crept into her cheeks. Heaven only knew what Megan must be assuming. Two nights ago, Lacy had gone through this song and dance about not telling a soul about her and Chase’s affair and yet, here Megan was. Granted, she lived like five states away, but discretion was always the safest route and one Lacy intended to stick to.

Chase released Megan’s hand and turned to Lacy.
 
“I’ve got to run. I’ll just grab my shirt and show myself out.”

Way to be discreet, bucko
.

Megan, a soft rose-colored, blush high on her cheek bones, glanced at Lacy. “I can come back. I really didn’t mean to intrude on anything.”

Lacy waved a hand in the air before Megan could finish her sentence. “There’s no intrusion, believe me. He knows his way out.” She forced a smile in an attempt to downplay the situation.

Megan’s delicate brows twitched in dismay. “Okay. Well, I was actually out in search of some coffee and thought maybe you’d like to join me. We could use the time to talk.”

To be honest, Lacy was surprised the other girl hadn’t run screaming back to California after twenty-four hours in Trouble, Wyoming. People who were raised with chauffeurs and seven-figure trust funds didn’t often find themselves basking in the stench of manure.

So, what was Miss Hollywood still doing here?

On the other hand, Lacy didn’t often have a prayer of starting her day until she had sufficient caffeine flowing through her veins.

She found herself nodding at the teenager. “If you can give me ten minutes, I’ll put on something more respectable.”

Before Lacy could retreat to her bedroom, where Chase still lurked, Megan’s eyes widened for the second time since walking through the door.

The click-clicking of toe nails on the floor, followed by a cold wet nose on Lacy’s hand, revealed Boris’s presence. The old dog had been snoozing all morning and had no doubt decided he needed his meal.

Lacy scratched Boris’s ears in an attempt to show Megan the beast was tamer than he looked. “Oh, this is Boris. He’s harmless.”

“Wh-what is he?” Megan took a step back when Boris aimed his nose at her delicate skirt.

“He’s an English Mastiff. Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you,” Lacy reassured her when Megan still edged backward. “He’s about a hundred years old and can’t hear or see worth a damn. But his sense of smell is still keen, so it’s probably your perfume that piqued his interest. Just give him a little nudge and he’ll leave you alone.”

A thick, mile long thread of drool stretched down from Boris’s droopy jowls and threatened to ruin Megan’s leopard printed, peep-toe stilettos. The girl moved her foot back just in time and touched the very tips of her fingers on Boris’s wet nose. The dog’s pink tongue lolled out and didn’t even come close to reaching Megan’s hand, much to her delight.

Boris, having been satisfied with a little pat-pat, ambled his arthritic bones to the kitchen. Lacy grinned after him. Boris possessed the charisma of a house fly.

“Just give me a minute to feed him and change my clothes.”

Chase was just pulling his shirt over his head when Lacy entered the bedroom.
What a shame covering up all that hard muscle.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he came toward her.

Lacy discarded her clothes and pulled some fresh ones out of her dresser. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” Playing tough never worked with Chase, but she tried anyway.

“She’s a piece of your mother. I know that’s a difficult subject for you.”

How did he understand her so well? Had he always known these things about her? She tugged on a pair of denim shorts, then faced him. “I’ll be fine. We’re just going to get some coffee.”

He touched a strand of her hair. “Are you sure? Do you want me to come?”

Oddly enough, she did. She wanted him to have coffee with her. Then she wanted to share dinner with him and crawl into bed next to him so she could feel his warm skin against hers. Despite those desires, this was something she needed to do on her own.

“I promise I’ll be okay. Thanks anyway.”
Last night was really great. Let’s do it again every night.
The words were on the very tip of her tongue when Chase leaned down and brushed a soft kiss over her lips. Sweet electrical currents shot down to her toes.

“I’ll see you later,” he said after ending the brief kiss. He sauntered out of her bedroom and toward the front door.

Lacy squashed down her urge to run after him as she yanked a shirt over her head.

Thirty minutes later, she blew on her non-fat, no whip, white chocolate mocha while Megan took a shallow sip of her green tea chai latte. The coffee shop’s attempt at creating an attractive outdoor patio had failed miserably, mostly due to the fact they hadn’t provided any umbrellas to shield customers from the sun. Plus the café didn’t deem it necessary to scrape away the oodles of bird droppings littering the table tops and chairs. Lacy guessed most people didn’t want the essence of bird doo-doo with their morning, midday or evening coffee. The two of them opted to sit indoors where the only redeeming qualities were a functional air conditioner and a television running the day’s news. Suffice it to say, Trouble’s only coffee shop was certainly no Starbucks where customers could enjoy the low hum of music and sit at tables that didn’t wobble on uneven footing. But it was a step up from filling up your own cup at the corner gas station.

Megan scooped a dollop of whip cream with her straw. “Thanks for agreeing to come out with me.”

Lacy grinned after placing her cup on the table. “I appreciate you asking me. Actually I’d thought you’d have gone back to California by now.”

The girl pursed her baby-pink lips together. “I’m just kind of going day by day right now. Plus, I got tired of being in that enormous house by myself. It started to feel like I was being swallowed up.” Megan glanced up at their surroundings. “It’s different here. Not as chaotic as Los Angeles.”

That was an understatement. “You have no plans as of now?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure what I want to do with the house. And I’m not in any hurry to get back there until I make that decision. I’m leaning more toward selling it.”

Lacy imagined a ten thousand square foot house with a bowling alley and movie theater in the Hollywood Hills, and couldn’t fathom anyone not wanting to live in a place like that. Megan undoubtedly had her reasons for not wanting the house anymore and who was Lacy to judge?

“So what do you do here, Lacy?”

“I wait tables at McDermott’s. It’s a steak house,” she added when Megan looked confused. “It’s not glamorous work, but it’s pretty good money.”

Megan’s brow crinkled. “Haven’t you cashed the check I gave you? You wouldn’t have to wait tables anymore if you did.” She set her paper cup down and slapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Short blond hair dusted the tops of Megan’s shoulders when she shook her head. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

Lacy found herself smiling. “It’s okay. Waitressing was something that was supposed to be temporary because of my circumstances at the time. But it just kind of stuck with me over the past two years. I find myself complaining about it, but I enjoy what I do. As for the check…” Lacy twirled her coffee around. “I’m not ready yet.”

“What did you do with it?”

“It’s sitting on my dresser.”

The other girl took a sip of her latte. “Didn’t the letter explain anything?”

Lacy hesitated before answering. “I haven’t opened it yet.”

Megan lifted her gaze to Lacy’s. Something similar to nostalgia washed over Lacy when looking into green eyes so very much like her mother’s.

“I’m sorry,” Megan said. I’m being incredibly nosy.”

Oh, hell
. Guilt heated Lacy’s face and washed up to her hairline. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t blame you for being curious.
I’m
curious.” She inhaled a deep breath. “I’ll get around to it sometime. Just not now.”