by Paige Tyler
“I was just trying to help,” Lacey pointed out as she tried to hold the curling iron at what she hoped was the right angle. She didn’t use it very often, and the last thing she wanted was to burn herself with the dang thing. All she needed was to go out on a date with a scorch mark across her forehead.
Wendy pushed away from the doorjamb and walked over to stand beside Lacey. “How? By getting yourself killed? You’re right, that would have been a big help. We could have arrested Bensen for murder then. No, wait. You were trespassing on private property in the middle of the night. Bensen could have had Pendergraff shoot you, and he’d be completely within his rights to do it.”
“Dammit, Bensen is up to something in that junkyard,” Lacey said firmly, jerking the curling iron away and giving up on the whole curly hair concept. Her hair was wavy, and that was as good as it was going to get. “I saw them standing over a big cardboard box, and with the way they were talking, I know they were doing something illegal.”
Wendy looked like she wanted to yell at her again, but she stopped herself and took a deep breath, then gave Lacey a patient look and started again. “What did you see?”
Lacey hesitated as she dug through the makeup drawer, looking for her mascara. She liked to think that the poor state of her cosmetics was because Kelsey was always raiding her bathroom, but that wasn’t it. She just hadn’t bought much of the stuff in a while.
That wasn’t the only thing keeping her from responding to Wendy’s question. Honestly, she didn’t know how to describe what she’d seen in that junkyard.
“I didn’t really see anything,” she admitted. “But Bensen was shouting at Pendergraff about getting on their supplier, threatening to feed the guy to the dogs if he couldn’t do better.”
Wendy frowned. “Lacey, they could have been talking about anything—rebuilt carburetors, for heaven’s sake.”
Lacey picked up the tube of mascara. She didn’t know what the heck a carburetor looked like, but she knew that wasn’t what Bensen had been so steamed about. “Wendy, you didn’t see his face the way I did. He was furious at his supplier. I don’t know what was in the box, but I know Bensen is a piece of crap who should be in prison.”
Wendy sighed. “I know he’s a piece of crap. But he’s also a dangerous piece of crap. What would have happened if they’d caught you in there? What would happen to Kelsey if you were gone?”
Lacey felt herself pale. Kelsey was her life. The thought of her little sister without someone to take care of her tore Lacey’s heart out. The hand holding the tube of mascara shook.
Wendy reached out and gently took the mascara from her. “Here, let me do that. You just stand there and look pretty, okay?”
Lacey stood still as Wendy applied mascara to her lashes. The truth was that Wendy did a better job than Lacey would have done herself anyway. She simply wasn’t good at this kind of stuff.
“You know I love you like a sister, right?” Wendy asked as she finished one eye and started on the other. “You need to promise me that you’ll stay away from Bensen and Pendergraff. Let me worry about them.”
Lacey was about to agree when Kelsey poked her head in the bathroom door and interrupted her.
“Getting ready for the big night?” Kelsey grinned. “Should I wait up for you or just assume you won’t be back until morning?”
Wendy laughed and tightened the top on the mascara. “Oh yeah, no way you’re seeing your sister until tomorrow.”
Lacey shook her head as she looked at her friend and sister in the mirror. These two were just plain bad. “Come on, you guys. It’s just dinner and a movie.”
“Really?” Kelsey gestured at Lacey. “Is that why you’ve been in here for an hour doing your hair and makeup?”
Lacey turned to face them, arms crossed over her chest. “What’s wrong with wanting to look nice for a date?”
“Nothing at all,” Kelsey assured her. “But trust me, all this work won’t mean much when you wake up tomorrow with morning-after bedhead.”
Lacey gaped at her sister. “And what do you know about morning-after bedhead?”
Kelsey laughed. “I read about it in Cosmo once. Have fun on your date.”
Giving her a wave, Kelsey turned and walked out.
Lacey looked at Wendy. “That’s it, I’m calling up that convent we talked about.”
Wendy laughed, turning Lacey back to the mirror and picking up her chubby cosmetic brush. “Lacey, she’s not a kid. She’s twenty.”
“She’s a kid to me and always will be.”
Her friend shook her head as she dipped the brush in the powdered blush. “Well, Kelsey’s right about one thing. You’re not spending this much time fussing with your hair and makeup to go see a movie. You really like this guy, don’t you?”
Lacey started to deny it, then decided not to bother. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
Wendy lightly ran the brush over Lacey’s cheeks. “You make it sound like that’s a bad thing.”
Lacey shrugged. “Maybe it is. I want this to work out with Alex—I really do. But I just can’t help feeling like the other shoe is going to drop any minute now, and then I’m going to find out that Alex isn’t anything like the man I thought he was.”
Her friend placed the cosmetic brush in the drawer, a sad expression in her eyes. “Lacey, it doesn’t have to be that way.”
“Experience tells me otherwise, but you already know that.”
Lacey tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She was excited about tonight, and she didn’t want to ruin that by thinking too far ahead. Things were good right now. Why did it have to be about anything more than that?
Wendy regarded her for a moment, then reached out and hugged the stuffing out of her. “Just because your mom had shit luck with men doesn’t mean you will. You’re not like your mom, and Alex isn’t like your dad—or any of the other guys who came after him.”
Lacey hugged Wendy back, wishing her friend was right but unable to put much faith in the possibility. While Lacey was smart enough to know she was too young to be this cynical, she was also wise enough to know there wasn’t much she could do about it. Life had made her this way.
She pushed away from her friend and pasted a smile on her face. “Enough. If you make me start crying and mess up my mascara, I’m going to whack you.”
“Definitely can’t have that.” Wendy gave her a wan smile. “But seriously, I don’t want to see you blow this thing with Alex because you’re so busy looking for problems that aren’t there.”
“I won’t. I promise. Come on. He’s going to be here soon, and I don’t want Kelsey getting to him without me in the room. She might ask him what his intentions are toward me.”
This time, Wendy’s grin was one of amusement. “It could be worse. She might ask if he plans on using protection.”
Lacey blinked. “You don’t think she’d really ask him something like that, do you?”
“Actually, yeah, I do.”
Groaning, Lacey hurried out of the bathroom. Fortunately, she made it to the living room before the doorbell rang. Not that it mattered. Kelsey was too preoccupied with her cell phone to run for the door shouting about the importance of safe sex, so Lacey was able to answer it herself.
A smile spread across her face the moment she saw Alex standing there, all the silly stuff she and Wendy had been talking about in the bathroom fading away like a fuzzy dream.
“Hey there.” She took in his tight T-shirt and jeans, deciding she liked him even more in casual clothes than she had in the suit he’d worn on the first date, especially when those casual clothes were formfitting and showed off all those perfect muscles. “Come on in. I just have to grab my purse.” She motioned at Wendy as she walked over to the couch. “I’d introduce the two of you, but it’s obvious you already know each other, since you conspired together to ambush me at the rescue shel
ter.”
Her friend let out a short laugh. “Ambush? You make it sound like I did something horrible. If one of my friends sent a hunky single guy out to spend the day with me, I sure as heck wouldn’t complain.”
Lacey snorted. “You have friends? When did that happen?”
She was so busy grinning at her snappy comeback that it took her a moment to realize Kelsey still hadn’t looked up from her phone, even though Lacey was sure that zinger at Wendy had been one of her better ones.
“Everything okay, Kelsey?”
Her sister frowned at her phone for a second, then tossed it on the couch beside her. “Yeah. I just got a text from Sara.”
“That’s great!”
“I guess so,” Kelsey said. “She said she met some guy and decided to go to Mexico with him.”
“Mexico?”
Lacey couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice. This was Texas, so it wasn’t like Mexico was on the other side of the world. But from the little she knew about Sara Collins, she didn’t sound like the kind of girl who’d run off with a guy she just met.
Kelsey nodded. “Yup. She makes it sound like it’s not a big deal. She said she’d see me in a few weeks.”
Lacey reached down to give her sister’s hand a squeeze. “The important thing is that Sara’s okay. I’m sure she’ll catch you up on everything when she gets back.”
Kelsey considered that for a moment, then smiled. “You’re right. Have a good time tonight.” She winked. “And don’t worry. I won’t wait up.”
* * *
Lacey assumed they were going to one of the bazillion restaurants in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, followed by a movie at one of the bazillion theaters. Instead, Alex drove to a quiet residential area and stopped in front of an apartment complex with assigned parking and lots of curb appeal.
“You don’t mind dinner and a movie at my place, do you?” he asked as he pulled into his space.
“Not at all.”
She’d been wondering what kind of place a SWAT cop who loved dogs called home. When he unlocked the door of his second-floor apartment a few minutes later, she was pleased to see that it was just as down-to-earth and warm as he was.
The living room opened to an eat-in kitchen. A small hallway led to the back of the apartment and what she assumed were bedrooms. She could tell by the fresh scent in the air and complete lack of dust around that he’d cleaned before bringing her over.
“Feel free to look around while I get dinner going.” He flashed her a smile as he tossed his keys on the table in the entryway. “Be careful you don’t get lost, though. The place is bigger than it looks.”
Lacey’s mouth curved as she followed him into the kitchen. “Sure. It’s like a TARDIS apartment, right?” When he gave her a blank look, she laughed. “Not a big Doctor Who fan, huh?”
“Who?”
“Exactly.”
Alex turned and frowned at her. “Are we having the same conversation? Because I’m officially lost.”
Lacey giggled and quickly moved to put the small kitchen island between her and Alex, since it suddenly looked like he had the urge to spank her. Where had that thought come from?
“Doctor Who is a character on a TV show of the same name,” she explained. “He travels through time and space in an old British police call box that’s called the TARDIS. It’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.”
Alex stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. “That’s just strange.”
“No, Doctor Strange is completely different,” she pointed out, proud that she could keep a straight face. “He uses magic.”
Alex’s mouth twitched, but he refused to bite this time. Instead, he turned to wash his hands. “You okay with veal scallopini?”
Lacey blinked as Alex pulled a frying pan from one cabinet and a baking sheet from another before preheating the oven. He moved with the sure, confident steps of a person who knew exactly what he was doing in the kitchen.
“Scallopini sounds great. Are you really going to cook me a homemade Italian dinner?”
He smiled at her as he took a loaf of some kind of baguette bread off the top of the fridge. “I’m Italian—at least on my father’s side—and we’re in my home, so yes, I’m making you a homemade Italian dinner.”
She perched on one of the stools at the island, watching as he cut several slices off the loaf of bread, then cut those into cubes. Her jaw dropped when he sprayed them with olive oil, then tossed them in a bowl with garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
“You’re making croutons?”
He chuckled. “That’s the general idea. You don’t like croutons?”
“I love them. I just usually buy the ones that come in the foil bag at the grocery store.”
“Those are good too. I just figured I’d go all out for our first dinner in.”
She sure as heck wasn’t going to complain. “Can I help?”
He grinned. “I have this. I wouldn’t mind you talking to me as I work, though. Or you can check out the place if you want.”
Lacey would rather have helped, but as fast as he was moving around the kitchen, she didn’t want to get in the way. He might run her over. Besides, she’d never had a guy cook for her before. Watching would be fun.
As he worked, he filled her in on what he was making—veal cutlets with a mushroom, white wine, and broth reduction over angel hair pasta, salad with homemade Italian dressing, and lightly seasoned garlic bread. The description alone was enough to impress her, not to mention make her mouth water. As she watched him sauté the mushrooms, she had to admit the whole thing was damn sexy. His big hands moved so surely and fast that she couldn’t stop herself from imagining what they would feel like running all over her body.
Lacey bit her lip. If she didn’t focus on something else, she was going to start drooling—and it wouldn’t be over the veal cutlets.
She slid off the stool and wandered into the living room, admiring the big screen TV mounted on the wall. “Considering you’ve never heard of the Ninja Turtles or Doctor Who, I’m guessing you don’t watch a lot of TV?”
Alex didn’t look up from what he was doing. “Not really. When I do, I usually watch sports or movies. I mostly read.”
Huh. Lacey didn’t run into a lot of guys who liked to read. Another point in Alex’s favor.
Interested to see what kind of books he liked, she found his home office down the hall, figuring that’s where he’d probably keep them. She was right. There was a built-in bookcase along one wall. He had a lot of law enforcement books, which wasn’t surprising considering his profession, but there were just as many law books and medical texts. Not just basic first-aid manuals, either. He had some serious human anatomy books on the shelves too.
His taste in fiction seemed to lean toward spy novels and action thrillers, but she also saw a few titles that looked suspiciously like they were firmly in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. She hadn’t pegged Alex for a paranormal type of guy.
Back in the hallway, she couldn’t resist a quick peek into his bedroom. It was decidedly masculine, right down to the king-sized bed. Of course he’d have a king bed—he was huge. Still, that really was a lot of bed for one person.
Sighing, she walked into the living room and checked out the various framed photos on the wall. There were some of him with his fellow marines back when he was in the military. If the arid, desolate background in the pictures was any indication, they looked like they’d been taken during deployments.
All the more recent photos were of him with his SWAT teammates, either dressed in tactical gear, formal dress uniform as part of a ceremony of some kind, or hanging around the barbecue grills at the compound. He really looked happy with the guys, which only reinforced what he’d said about them being like his family.
She frowned as she realized something. She walked back i
nto the office to check, then did the same in his bedroom. There wasn’t a single picture that wasn’t related to his time in the Marines or SWAT.
That was when she spotted an eight-by-ten frame on the table beside the couch. In the photo, a shy-looking girl of about eighteen smiled at the camera. At her feet sat a big, bushy golden retriever. But while the girl was smiling, it wasn’t a happy smile. It was the kind of smile you put on because someone pointed a camera at you.
Lacey picked up the frame. Yeah, she knew all about that kind of smile. Anyone looking at a picture of her in her teenage years would have seen one very similar.
“Is this your sister?” she asked.
Alex looked up from the stove at the picture she was holding. Maybe she was just seeing things, but it seemed like, for a moment, his eyes filled with pain. But then he smiled.
“No,” he said. “That’s Jessica. She’s a friend from back in Rochester. I like to think of her as the sister I never had, if that counts.”
Something told her there was a story there, but Alex didn’t seem inclined to talk about it, and Lacey didn’t want to push. She carefully placed the picture frame back on the end table and rejoined him in the kitchen. Since it seemed like the dinner was almost ready, she offered to set the table.
“Okay, so no sisters other than Jessica. What about brothers?” She glanced at him over her shoulder as she carried the dishes and flatware over to the kitchen table. “If you don’t mind my asking.”
He bent down to take the croutons out of the oven before answering. Lacey’s eyes widened. Wow, they looked better than anything she’d ever seen in a restaurant. She was no slouch in the kitchen, but she got the feeling that Alex was better.
“No, I don’t mind. Since I’d like to think that we’re going to keep seeing each other, I might as well tell you about my family, however dysfunctional they may be.” He jerked his head at the stove. “Let me get everything out of the oven, then I’ll give you the lowdown on the Trevinos.”