He chuckled softly. “So that’s how it is.”
“Just for future reference, if we’re alone together for five minutes, this is what I expect.”
“Dream come true,” he repeated.
Then he began moving.
He thrust deep, hard and fast. Just the way she liked it.
She was climbing quickly, but when he said, “Fingers on your clit, Lace,” she almost shot to the edge. She knew that touching herself would make short work of the pending orgasm and she hesitated. She wanted to prolong this.
But Carter moved his hand to her breast and pinched her nipple. “Clit. Now. I want you to come hard.”
She couldn’t resist. She was on fire and she needed the release suddenly like she needed her next breath. She touched herself as he continued to pound into her and tug on her nipple and it wasn’t even a full minute later that she was shooting over the summit.
“Fuck yes.” He grabbed both of her hips, pulling her back hard against him as he powered into her and he came a few strokes later.
He pulled out of her almost immediately, yanking his shorts back into place. But he took her hand when he started across the tile.
“Carter. Pancakes,” she said as she followed him.
“Lacey. Shower.”
She smiled. She also loved shower sex. But Garrett had probably told Carter that.
She was determined to find something that she’d never done with Garrett.
After her shower with Carter.
An hour later, they were finally both dressed, her in a T-shirt and capris with sandals, Carter in jeans and a tee. And they had their hands off of each other. They were back in the kitchen and she was preparing to heat up the pancakes.
Carter had a little frown on his face though.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, plate in hand.
“Nothing.”
“Carter. What’s wrong?”
He sighed. “It’s stupid.”
She set the plate down. “What is it? You don’t like pancakes?”
“Sure. They’re great.”
“But?”
“Garrett loved pancakes.”
She looked at the plate. “Yeah, he did.” They were his favorite thing, in fact.
“I’ll bet you made them for him a lot.”
She made amazing pancakes. She pushed her hand through her hair. “Yeah.”
They were both quiet for a moment.
Finally Carter said, “Told you it was stupid.”
Lacey looked up. There was something in his voice, in this whole thing that seemed so strange. “You never seemed jealous of him,” she said.
He shook his head. “I was jealous as hell, Lacey.”
“But—”
“Of both of you,” he added.
“But—”
“But mostly him, yeah.”
She couldn’t help her little smile. “I didn’t know.”
“Garrett did.”
She shouldn’t like that he was jealous. Garrett was gone and they’d both loved him and they were here together and what difference did it all make now anyway?
But apparently she wasn’t such a sweetheart after all. She pushed the plate of pancakes out of the way, leaned her elbows on the counter and looked him in the eye.
“How did Garrett know?”
“He knew me really well.”
“And what did he say about it?”
“He flat-out asked me one night if I wanted you. I said yes,” Carter said, straightforward as always.
She swallowed hard. Obviously she knew he wanted her but hearing it never failed to send heat racing through her veins. “And he said?” she asked huskily.
“That was when he offered to share you.”
She sucked in a quick breath. Even now, especially after the night they’d had, that idea made her weak in the knees.
“But you didn’t want to share me.”
“No.”
“You decided that you’d rather be without me than share me even with Garrett.”
“For a while that made sense. He made you happy. He was good for and to you.”
Right, the whole Garrett-was-a-better-man thing.
She really didn’t know what to say that hadn’t already been said. Garrett was gone. None of this mattered anymore. Except for the part about Carter not thinking he was good enough. She was going to prove to him he was wrong about that.
He wanted her to be happy. She believed that. So she just needed to show him that she couldn’t be happy without him. Whatever it took.
She picked up the plate of pancakes and stepped to the trashcan. She pressed the lever with her foot and tossed them in. Turning to face him with the empty plate, she said, “We should go out for breakfast.”
He looked from her to the trashcan and back. And he smiled.
Her heart kicked in her chest and she became determined to make that happen a lot as well.
“Leave the house?” he teased. “That will make it hard to keep you naked.”
Yeah, it would, and suddenly she realized that she needed to be less naked with Carter. His words from the night before came back to her. Sex I can do. As much as you want, for as long as you need it.
She wanted more from him than that. He either didn’t believe that or was ignoring it or was hoping to fry her brain cells with hot sex so she wouldn’t remember it, but she did. And being not naked for a while was the best bet for showing him.
“Yes, leave the house. Go out. Do something. Show me Quinn.” A thought occurred to her. “Garrett grew up here too. Show me around, where you guys used to hang out.”
Something flickered in his eyes, but he nodded. “Yeah, okay, let’s do that.”
There was a thump at the back door as she turned to put the plate in the sink.
Lacey looked over. “Um, Carter, there’s a cat thumping his head against your back door.”
Carter sighed. “I know.”
He crossed to the door and swung it open for the black-and-gray tabby that strolled in as if it owned the place.
“You have a cat?” That so did not fit her image of him for some reason.
“More like the cat has me,” he said wryly, crossing to one of the cupboards and pulling out a bag of cat food. “He’s a stray that just showed up one night.”
She couldn’t help but smile at the way the cat completely ignored her, but followed Carter, circling his ankles and rubbing against his calves.
Smart cat.
“And you fed him,” she guessed.
“Had to. He was obviously starving.” Carter filled a bowl with water and then squatted by the cat with the water and another bowl for food.
“You let him into the kitchen to feed him?” She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms, watching Carter rub a thumb between the cat’s ears and stroke over his back as the cat arched and purred.
Very smart cat.
“It was cold that night,” he said without looking up.
Lacey’s smile grew. This was Quinn, Texas. It didn’t get that cold. “How long ago was that?” Considering they were now at the end of September, it hadn’t been even slightly cold for months.
“A while.” Carter filled the bowl and the cat dug in. But not like a starving animal. More like a well-cared-for pet that knew it was time for breakfast.
Carter stretched to his feet. “You ready?”
“You’re not going to wait and let him back out?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“He’ll, um—” Carter cleared his throat, looking at the cat instead of her. “He’ll probably just curl up somewhere ’til we get back.”
Lacey loved this. He was a softie. For a stray cat. She wanted to hug him and tell him how sweet it was but she knew that would not be welcomed. “He won’t need to go out to go to the bathroom?”
She’d put good money on the fact that Carter Shaw, big bad tough cop, had a litter box somewhere in this house that he cleaned for this “stray” cat. She wouldn’t even
be surprised to find a special pillow somewhere.
“He’ll be okay,” Carter said simply.
Lacey gave a soft laugh and held out her hand. “Okay, then, let’s go.”
He seemed relieved she’d dropped it as they headed out front to his truck, but once he was behind the wheel and backing out of the drive, she couldn’t help but say, “Being sweet with that stray cat is so getting you laid later.”
Carter choked on a laugh. “I didn’t realize there was any question about me getting laid later.”
She laughed as well. “Well, okay. Good point. But I like your cat.”
“He makes a huge mess when he’s eating, gets cat hair on everything and knocks the bathroom trashcan over looking for dental floss to play with.”
She loved the tone of affection in his voice. “I bet he likes to sit on your lap.”
“He insists on drinking water and iced tea out of my glass.”
She grinned. “He likes iced tea?”
“He’s a big mooch.”
But he said it with a smile and Lacey’s heart swelled a little.
They drove through a quiet neighborhood of quaint well-kept houses and came out on the main street. The downtown area was just as charming. Businesses varying from a real estate office to a diner to a yoga studio lined both sides of the street. There were a few people out on the sidewalks but the most popular place was clearly the coffee shop, judging by the line coming out of the front door.
Carter pulled up in front of the diner.
Lacey pivoted on the seat to look back at the coffee shop. The Lone Bean. That was cute. “Why not there?” she asked.
Not that Sally’s didn’t look fine, but the coffee shop was jumping.
“The Bean doesn’t have eggs,” Carter said, opening his door and jumping out.
Lacey was suspicious. She slid off of her seat and slammed her door, meeting him at the front of the truck.
“It has lots of your friends though,” she said.
Carter sighed. “Yeah, probably.”
“And you don’t want to take me over there because you don’t want me to meet your friends?” she asked.
“It’s just…people are nosy here.”
She lifted an eyebrow. She didn’t think Carter was embarrassed of her exactly. But there was some reason he didn’t want to take her to the coffee shop. “What’s going on?”
He met her eyes but seemed to be considering his words.
“Carter, we’ve been totally honest with each other so far. Let’s not change that now, okay?”
“Fine. I don’t…take women out in Quinn.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t date locally. And if a woman does spend the night here with me, we definitely don’t go out together the day after.”
She kind of liked that. She was not going to ask how many had been with him here in Quinn though. She had no right, for one thing. And for another, she was pretty sure the number would make her eyes widen.
“Because you haven’t been serious with anyone,” she said out loud.
He nodded.
“And if you walked into the coffee shop on a Sunday morning with a woman, they would all know that it was something serious.”
He nodded again. Though slower this time.
She gave him a smile and turned on her heel, heading across the street.
He was right behind her, clearly anticipating her move. “Lace—”
“Officer Shaw, you can throw me over your shoulder and carry me back to your truck, but I am going to holler. Just so you know.”
She knew she was being ballsy. She was assuming a lot. She was gambling. But if the women around here were too stupid to make a big, spectacular play for Carter, that was their problem. She wasn’t stupid. And she knew how he felt about her.
She also knew he was stubborn. He was convinced he wasn’t good enough for her. She was going to prove to him that she didn’t agree.
“Lacey, what—” He grabbed her arm when she didn’t stop and pulled her around to face him. Right in the middle of the street. “What do think is going to happen in there?”
“I think that you’re going to have to explain to everyone who I am,” she said.
“And what am I supposed to say?”
“The truth.”
His eyes searched hers. “What truth?”
“That I’m yours.”
His pupils dilated at that. “And I’m going to tell them that?”
“I don’t know how you’re going to word it exactly, but I do think you’ll claim me, yes. You won’t want anyone thinking I’m just a one-night thing that doesn’t even have a last name as far as you know, because you respect me and don’t want them thinking that of me. And I’m going to be around for more than one night so that will blow that lie out of the water anyway. And you won’t want them to think I’m a free agent, because you won’t want anyone else asking me out. And you won’t want them to think I’m just a friend from out of town in Quinn for a long visit because she’d been through a tough, sad time lately since her fiancé died.”
There was a moment of silence between them.
“Why won’t I want them to think that last thing?” he finally asked.
His voice was a little rough and she knew she was winning this gamble.
“Because you’re going to want to touch me and hold my hand and kiss me and that will all seem inappropriate if our only connection is my dead fiancé.”
She saw how he flinched at her words and she grabbed his hand before he pulled back. “Carter, I’m not Garrett’s widow. I was his fiancé but you know there was a lot more going on than that. What’s happened—and is going to keep happening—between us is not inappropriate.”
“What am I supposed to say?” he asked, an angry edge to his voice now. “That you were the girl I shared with my best friend and that I was considering sharing forever. That you’re a third of the threesome I wanted? People here don’t understand that stuff, Lacey. How am I supposed to explain all of that?”
She frowned. “Don’t explain it at all. It’s nobody’s business but ours. And now…the threesome thing isn’t an option anymore so there’s no reason to explain it anyway.”
It was easy for her to say all of that, but she had to admit that when it came to her friends and family in San Antonio, she hadn’t really thought through how she would explain what she was doing with Garrett’s best friend now.
It looked a little pathetic. Like she was rebounding from his death. Like she was so distraught that she’d run to Carter and was drowning her sorrows in sex with the guy closest to Garrett.
She drew back, dropping Carter’s hand. She hated all of those thoughts. Yeah, she could understand why it might seem that way, but it wasn’t the truth. And the only people that needed to know everything was her and Carter.
A car gave a quick honk to get past them.
Carter grabbed her arm again and pulled her up onto the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop, then gave the car a little wave.
“So, we don’t mention Garrett,” Carter finally said.
“Right,” she said, sounding much surer than she felt. “It’s not about Garrett.”
Carter looked like he was going to say something more to that. But finally he just nodded. “Okay. It’s just you and me.”
Lacey took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Brace yourself.” He put a hand on her lower back and nudged her toward the coffee shop doorway.
The line was only three people deep by now and Carter steered her in behind the last guy waiting to place an order.
She could feel his tension but he hadn’t refused to bring her in here. That was something, she knew.
“Carter!”
They both heard someone call his name at the same time and turned toward the voice.
“Here we go,” Carter muttered.
The voice belonged to a big, good-looking guy sitting at a table near the window with a pretty blonde. There were two emp
ty chairs at the table on the side closest to Carter and Lacey.
“Hey guys,” Carter called.
“Sit with us.” The guy pushed one of the chairs out with his foot.
Carter kept his hand on Lacey’s back and started for the table.
“Mornin’, Annabelle,” Carter said to the blonde.
“Hi,” she greeted with a sweet smile. “Didn’t know if we’d see you this morning. Jackson said you left the wedding because of a robbery call?”
“You weren’t answering your cell after you left,” the man said. Clearly he was talking to Carter, but his eyes were on Lacey. “I was wondering how it all went down.”
“Jackson, this is Lacey. Lacey, Jackson and Annabelle,” Carter said, ignoring Jackson’s implied question.
Lacey leaned in and stuck her hand out to Annabelle, who shook it with a soft “hi”, and then to Jackson. “It wasn’t a robbery,” she said. “I just got the wrong house.”
Jackson’s eyebrows climbed his forehead. “You were the call?”
Lacey settled back on her heels and felt Carter’s hand on her back again. She was feeling a definitely surge of mischief. “I was trying to surprise Carter, but let myself into the neighbor’s instead.”
“Let yourself in?” Jackson repeated.
Lacey grinned. “Carter taught me to pick a lock a long time ago.”
Carter rolled his eyes. Garrett had been there too, but Carter had been the primary instructor. They’d insisted she learn how to jimmy her car door in case she locked her keys inside or lost them, and in the process, they’d moved on to other locks. And how to hot wire the car.
“A long time ago?” Jackson’s very curious gaze swung to Carter now.
“Of course, the big surprise was for his neighbor’s wife when she saw I was in only a trench coat and lingerie. Just a misunderstanding though.”
“Linger—” Jackson’s voice suddenly sounded strangled.
“We’re going to get coffee,” Carter said, turning toward the counter.
“You know what I like,” Lacey said. She dropped into the chair Jackson had pushed out.
Carter sighed. “Be good,” he said.
But he left her alone with his friends. That meant he trusted her. Or that he didn’t care what she told his friends about them. Interesting.
Jackson sat up straighter and leaned in as soon as Carter moved out of earshot. “It’s really nice to meet you, Lacey.”
Illegal Motion: Boys of Fall Page 9