He gazed into her eyes. Those baby blues just begged him to…to…God, she looked adorable, so animated. Her hands felt so good in his own. Like she actually trusted him. No, something more. Like she was pulling him into her sphere, inviting him to get lost in her vortex of energy.
It would be so easy to simply follow through. He certainly wanted to.
But just as he reached the brink, better sense yanked him back to earth. He dropped his arms to his sides.
As he did, the look in her eyes changed. What had been enticement changed to determination. She reached up, grabbed his face and pulled his lips into hers.
The pleasure crew manning his hormones woke up and went to work. Heat fanned through him, taking a short cut from his head to his groin. The team running his breathing apparatus went on strike.
Before he could respond, she gulped “Oh!” and released her hold. “I’m so sorry. I got carried away with my excitement.” She backed away ’til she was almost at the door.
Jack struggled to reply. Had she really just kissed him? “Uh…no problem. But signal a guy next time before you come flying at him.”
She returned a horrified expression, as if he’d struck her rather than been the recipient of her lips on his. “No next time. We’re partners. Work partners. Can’t mix…you know.” She reached behind her back for the doorknob. As she sped off, she called out, “Brief you later. Need to write up my notes.”
After Lacey’s strange, abrupt departure, Jack stared at the door, replaying the last few minutes in his head. Though he’d controlled his urge to take her in his arms, she’d followed through for him, tugging him into her pulsating energy field. He’d allowed himself to be swallowed up in it. Who wouldn’t? She’d been like a magnet, overcoming any resistance his gentlemanly hesitation could muster.
He touched his lips. They still tingled and tasted of sweet berries.
She’d kissed him with the same ferocity with which she attacked her research. Just as fast, she was apologizing and looking embarrassed and running off so she didn’t have to deal with the aftermath of her actions.
From the taste of her, he knew she hadn’t been drinking, which left only one explanation. The idea made him scratch his head and grin from side to side. She was attracted to him. Oh yeah, the Old Boy still had it. She could deny it and run away from it all she wanted. He was on to her.
What was he going to do about it?
Chapter Twelve
“We have to stop meeting like this,” Lacey told her locker at the fitness center. For the second time in as many days, she was headed back to the walking track. This time to burn off the self-loathing eating away at her after forgetting the resolution to keep her distance from Jack Dalton. Okay, so it was just one kiss. Spontaneous. Celebratory. Harmless. No, not harmless. It was insane to let slip even the slightest hint she was interested in him.
Now she had her work cut out for her to convince him the kiss meant nothing. Because it didn’t, did it? No, of course not. “You enjoyed yourself, didn’t you?” the little devil sitting on her shoulder goaded. “You want to kiss him again. And again. You want him to kiss you too. If it leads to something more, all the better.”
“Be still,” she told the little nemesis. “Giving in to what you suggest would be highly unprofessional. I can’t risk my career over a disobedient libido.” Oh, but what a ride it would be. One kiss and her heart, no, her whole body, had gone into overdrive.
Although she really needed to get back to her computer and record her thoughts following her meeting with Janice, she needed to get her head and body under control first, because this wasn’t the last she’d see Jack today. She nearly fell over her feet when she remembered it was Wednesday, cards night. She had arranged for Celia and Jack to make a “guest appearance” at Brian’s apartment. Damn! She needed more time to get past the kissing incident. Not gonna happen, so she’d better power up and keep walking.
After twenty minutes of firm strides, she finally felt ready to return to the office. Just so Jack stayed out of her way.
She hid out the rest of the afternoon and finished her task, leaving herself all of a half hour to pick up dessert for the evening’s activity and arrive at Brian’s apartment promptly at six-thirty.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t planned on the crush of customers in the express lane of the supermarket. She picked up the naked cheesecake she’d ordered from the bakery, this week deciding to purchase a package of crushed pecans and a can of cherry pie filling to finish it off herself.
In front of her, a younger woman in denim cutoffs, T-shirt, and flip-flops struggled to pull out coupons and a credit card with one hand while preventing the toddler she gripped by the other from feeding a cookie to an infant seated in the grocery cart.
The little drama held up the rest of the line. This delay would make her late once again. Good. Maybe she should skip the evening’s festivities altogether, knowing what was coming. Why had she allowed Celia to talk her into this?
“Jimmy has his own treat, honey. He doesn’t need your cookie,” the young mother told her older child.
“But he already ate his treat, Mommy. And he’s still hungry.”
“You’re a very thoughtful big sister, Lindy, but we don’t want Jimmy to get a tummy ache from overeating, do we?”
The little girl slumped her shoulders, bowed her head, but went along with her mother, saying, “Okay.”
The exchange intrigued Lacey. How in the world was the woman, who couldn’t be more than twenty, maintaining her sanity? Scenes like this probably repeated themselves throughout the day as new ideas for helping Mommy care for her baby brother occurred to the little girl. What Lacey wouldn’t give to be the mother. But not at the sacrifice of her independence to some guy who probably had no idea how hard it was to raise two small children. Some guy who’d get her pregnant and disappear, leaving her to raise the kids on her own.
Stop yearning for something you’re not allowing yourself to have. What was this new fascination with young children, anyhow? Of course, with nieces and nephews no longer in the picture, she was probably fantasizing, filling in the void. Bad habit.
Fortunately, the woman’s sale finally concluded, and she and her children headed off for the parking lot.
Though she already knew the answer when she arrived at Brian’s apartment ten minutes later, for effect, Lacey said, “I hope Ken is bringing something scrumptious to augment your measly offering of gelatin. Where is he anyway? And who’s he bringing to replace Celia?”
“Ken’s not coming. Something came up at the last minute. But don’t worry, he found alternates.”
“Did he say who?” she asked with uneasiness she didn’t need to feign.
Brian shrugged. “I should have pushed him for names, but I was so anxious to play, since we didn’t play last week, I let it slide.”
“So some stranger, some potential rapist or arsonist, could be sitting down to a friendly game of cards with us this evening?”
Brian rolled his eyes with brotherly tolerance. “Calm down, Lace. It’s just for tonight. Ken’s still working on a permanent replacement for Celia.” Looking away, he mumbled, “Probably’ll find one long before I do.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Before she could pursue what she suspected was an unstated cry for help, the doorbell rang.
Brian rose and gave her a hopeful smile. “Let’s see how well Ken did.”
Yet another time, she asked herself why she’d allowed Celia to talk her into this. They’d decided to stop throwing Jack in Brian’s face for a few days, then it had occurred to Celia what a shame it would be to waste cards night. In Celia’s defense, she didn’t know about Lacey’s impetuous kiss, and Lacey had no intention of bringing her up to speed. This evening promised to be some kind of interesting with three of the four participants ill-at-ease with each other.
A churning tornado of trepidation swirled inside her as she followed Brian to the door. Should’ve begged
off tonight. Caught malaria or something equally as radical. She really didn’t want to spend her evening with Jack, pretending the kiss never happened. It was just asking for trouble by seeing him again so soon.
The door opened, revealing Celia and Jack, one with a nervous, tentative smile and the other’s eyes nearly closed, obviously there under duress.
“Surprise!” Celia swept into the room, her unwilling partner following behind.
Brian remained wide-eyed by the door, as if solidified in a gelatin mold.
“Celia. I didn’t know you were coming,” Lacey said, taking over hosting duties from her tongue-tied brother.
“When I ran into Ken at the dry cleaner’s the other day, he asked if I wouldn’t stay on for at least one more session. Apparently he hasn’t found a replacement for me yet and some teachers’ meeting had come up unexpectedly for him. I relented and brought Jack so we’d have a foursome.”
Though returning to her former boyfriend’s apartment may have been somewhat daunting, Celia didn’t appear to be the least bit embarrassed.
If she can do this, so can I.
Celia breezed off to the kitchen, carrying a large paper sack. Jack hovered just inside the door, studying the floor while he balanced a couple of containers of food.
“Bring those out here, will you, Jack?” Celia called from the kitchen.
Jack dutifully complied, still not looking at either Lacey or Brian.
Lacey stole a glance at her brother. Lips pursed, hands clenched together, he didn’t appear to be taking this turn of events particularly well.
“Did you know they were coming?” he whispered.
She pretended not to hear.
“What do we do?” He appeared as if he might escape through the front door any minute.
She moved closer to say, “Play it through, I guess. What else can we do, other than throw them out?”
His eyes brightened at the thought, but she quickly squelched the suggestion with a decisive shake of her head.
Celia popped back through the kitchen door. “I brought lettuce wraps filled with cold vegetables and portabella mushrooms for you, Brian. For the rest of us, cold cuts and corn soufflé. We’re late because we waited for the soufflé to finish baking.”
Brian continued to stand there motionless. Taking her cue from the scent of warm butter and corn permeating the air, Lacey said, “I love corn soufflé. Do you need help, Cee?” Celia shook her head. “No, I know where everything goes.” She breezed past her statement with no discernible reaction. “Ready to eat?”
“Great idea. I’m famished,” Lacey replied. To Jack, she said, “We’re eating in the dining room.”
His eyes finally lighted on her. Though he must have known she’d be there, he blinked in a sort of double-take. Was he surprised she dared show her face after their earlier encounter? He even smiled. Not one of his client charmers and not a leering one. A genuine, gratified-someone-was-making-an-effort-to-be-pleasant type of smile.
Brian remained on the sidelines while the other three prepared the table. They ate dinner in silence, much like they had the previous week at Cam’s birthday party. Lacey tried without success to think of a suitable topic of conversation. At one point, the quiet was so palpable, she thought she heard the cuckoo clock in Brian’s bedroom ticking.
Finally, when she could bear it no longer, she jumped up and started clearing away what was left of the meal. Celia joined her, stuffing trash in the wastebasket. Brian went off to find the cards. Jack remained seated, thoughtfully drinking his beer.
Once Brian returned with the cards, he pointed to the seat opposite him. “You sit there, Lacey. You’ll be my partner tonight.”
“Whose turn is it to decide on the game for the evening?” Celia asked.
“Mine,” Brian announced with a little too much vigor. “I choose Euchre.”
“Not that again,” Lacey protested. “None of us really enjoys it, Brian.”
He returned a self-congratulatory smile her direction.
“I thought we were playing poker,” Jack offered.
Celia replied, “No, I said cards.”
“I just assumed…well, that’s the only card game I know.”
“You’ll pick up on Euchre fast,” Brian returned, obviously overstating his glee to be in the driver’s seat.
“We should go, Celia. I won’t be much help as your partner,” Jack said.
Celia grabbed his hand. “Please stay. Brian’s right about it not taking long to learn the game.”
Jack seemed to remember his role as Celia’s attentive beau. “Okay,” he said in a begrudging tone. “I’ll give it shot.”
The first few games went fast. It was obvious Jack had no idea what he was doing, and though Celia put up a valiant defense, they were no match for Brian and Lacey, who ruthlessly staked out their plays with no consideration for the newcomer.
When he missed completing a play Celia had worked so diligently to set up, Brian said, “Too bad. You came close.”
“Huh? Oh, right. This goes so fast, my head’s spinning.”
Though Jack’s understanding of the game improved considerably during the next few rounds, Brian and Lacey continued to win except for one fluke. At one point, Jack flopped his chin in his hand, shaking his head. “How much longer does this insanity go on?”
Brian checked his watch. “Another hour or so. Unless you’re ready to concede?”
Lacey winced inwardly. Brian was laying it on a bit thick. But then, he was jealous, the result they were shooting for. However, she considered throwing a couple games to reduce the growing tension. “How about a dessert break? I’ve been salivating all evening in anticipation of the cheesecake.”
Jack perked up. “You like cheesecake too?”
“One of my downfalls. I bring it whenever it’s my turn to provide dessert, to Brian and Celia’s dismay.”
When she returned with two plates of cheesecake, Celia had excused herself to use the facilities and Brian was off checking his phone for messages, which left her alone with Jack. Okay. She could do this. Just focus on topics other than the kiss. Topics like…cards night. Right. It’d been fun to watch Jack scramble to learn the game, but he’d taken enough punishment. Time to come to his rescue.
Carrying her cherry-laden plate of cheesecake over to the table to sit across from him, she asked, “What do you think of the game so far?”
He stared back at her, as if to say, “I can’t believe you’d ask.” “You don’t want to know.”
She took the bait. “Try me.”
Sighing like a man under duress, he set down his plate and fork and gave her his full attention. “The game’s okay, I guess. But Celia and your brother can barely tolerate each other. Each seems to be taking great pleasure in besting the other. I can think of a lot better ways to spend my evening.”
Since she wasn’t supposed to know he was only pretending to date Celia, she said, “Sorry we interfered with your evening with Celia.”
“Huh? Oh, right. No need to apologize. This was all Celia’s idea.”
He seemed ill-at-ease, so she glanced away, took a bite of cheesecake.
“There was no need for you to apologize earlier, either.”
Their eyes met. Had his grown dusky or was it just the darkening sky outside? Did she see an unspoken message in his expression? Or was she kidding herself? “I, uh—” She glanced away, not wanting her own eyes to betray her true feelings. “I know you’re with Celia. I’d never, uh, betray her.”
“There was a moment…I almost forgot.”
“I didn’t notice.” Liar. Of course, she noticed, and when he hadn’t followed through, she’d taken matters into her own hands.
“Something came over me. Just for an instant. Call it battle fatigue or whatever. I was so anxious to hear if you’d been successful, I couldn’t get much work done all afternoon. So when you announced you had the key to the puzzle, guess I let myself get carried away. For a moment.”
“
So, we’re okay?” she asked.
“More than.” He extended a hand. When she took it, the same unaccountable bolt of electricity zapped up her arm as had attacked her with every contact she’d had with the man thus far. She tried to cover her reaction, but he said, “Just so you know, the same thing’s been happening to me. The shock waves. We must be polar opposites, or whatever they’re called. I never did well in Physics class.”
“We should, uh, get back to the game, that is, if Celia and my brother ever appear again.” She needed to have a little talk with Celia about how to treat her boyfriend, real or not. The goal tonight had been to raise Brian’s level of jealousy. Instead, all they’d done was raise his gaming ego.
“This card game is getting old fast. Do you think I can get Celia out of here in the next hour?”
“She isn’t one to back down easily. You guys have to win a few rounds first.”
Jack leaned in conspiratorially, his breath tickling her ears. “Thank you for stating the obvious.”
Even given the understanding they’d just reached, Lacey fought to keep her mind on the situation at hand and not let other parts of her body take over. Just a whiff of Jack’s aftershave was attacking her gray matter.
Ten minutes later, stuffed with cheesecake, the four resumed play. The carbs in the dessert must have recharged his brain, because before long, Jack won the game.
Arching a brow in surprise, Celia surveyed the board. “Jack! You did it!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Brian said. “But it’s only your first this round. Keep playing.”
Lacey mouthed bravo to a grateful and excited Jack, who seemed to be in a mild state of shock at finally having done something right.
He nodded, then turned his attention back to his cards.
Jack and Celia won the next two rounds. Celia became even more animated, tsk-tsking when they blocked several of Lacey and Brian’s attempts.
“It appears the tables have turned,” Celia announced.
“Pure dumb luck,” Brian retorted, emphasizing the word dumb.
Jack threw down his cards and half rose from his seat. His eyes flashed with unleashed anger ready to explode. “Look, buddy, I’ve been more than patient with your attitude. But we don’t need to sit here and be insulted.”
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