Touching Lace: Vaughn Series

by Anne Rainey

  If he was forced to go home alone, to sleep in a cold bed, the least he could do is give her a taste of what he’d do to her once she surrendered.

  With his eyes back on the road, he feigned a relaxed tone as he murmured, “I see what you mean now. And because I don’t want you to think I’m close-minded, how about I tell you my own version of magic?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Nick could see Lacey smiling over at him. His gut clenched in reaction. “Okay, I’m all ears.”

  It was all the permission he needed. “Magic is going to be taking your clothes off. One small piece at a time, baby. So I can savor the sight of you.” He heard her startled breath and he smiled. Damn, he loved surprising her this way. Taking her off guard and slipping in under her defenses seemed the only way to reach the woman who lay just out of his reach.

  “Magic is going to be bringing you to climax.” He looked at her, and even in the soft glow of the streetlights, he could see the way her face heated at his words. The talking was turning her on. He’d remember that little detail.

  “I have a feeling you’re beautiful when you come.” She started to say something, but Nick turned his attention back to the road and kept right on talking. “It’s going to be magic, pure and raw and hot, when I slip inside you for the first time.”

  He turned his SUV into her apartment complex and shut off the engine. “We’re here.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  She’d gone speechless, and he reveled in the knowledge. She was always so keyed up, so full of bubbling energy, to see her go all soft and quiet was a score for him. If he wanted to push, he could lean over and kiss her. Maybe entice her into inviting him up. Nick didn’t want her that way. He wanted her to want him for who he was. Not just to scratch an itch.

  With that in mind, Nick took her hand off her lap, where she’d been clutching at her jean-clad leg, and placed a small kiss in the center of her palm. “I remember this one time when you tried to cook some gourmet meal for that asshole Jerry. You cut your finger. Right here,” Nick murmured, as he kissed the exact spot on the back of her index finger. “You broke up with him shortly after, claiming if it was Susie Homemaker he wanted, he was barking up the wrong dress. All I could think was how sweet your finger tasted against my lips when I kissed your boo-boo.” Nick looked back up at her and gruffly whispered, “Sweet dreams, baby.”

  Lacey stared at him, slack-jawed for a moment then she began to frown in that mutinous way that had him grinning. She turned and opened her door and Nick chose to issue one other little demand.

  “I’m not going to walk you up this time. I don’t want to be faced with the temptation of having your bed a few feet away. I’ll see you tomorrow. We’ll meet at the gym and work out. You can give me your answer then, okay?”

  Lacey nearly fell out of the door. “Tomorrow?” she squeaked.

  “Yes, tomorrow.”

  “I need more time.”

  Nick winked at her. His little Lacey was backpedaling big time. “Do you, baby? Hmm, I wonder. How about we see what a good night’s sleep brings.”

  She nodded, her lips firm and her back straight as a yardstick. As she shut the truck door a little too hard, he chuckled.

  He watched her quick, even strides as she made her way inside the building. On the rare occasion that he didn’t walk her up, she would flip her lights to signal she was safely inside her apartment. Nick waited. When the lights flicked on and he saw Lacey standing at the window, he revved the engine and drove off, thoughts of her beautiful body filling his head.

  Nick had had about enough of watching from the sidelines while she let other bozos have their way with her delectable body. Lacey Vaughn was fair game now. With any luck, by the time he was through with her, she’d see they could have something special together. Because he wasn’t about to let her walk away from him and into another man’s arms. Not ever again. His heart just couldn’t take it anymore.

  He could sense her submitting to him, which meant she wasn’t quite as immune to his charms as he’d originally thought. A rush of possession ran through him, a foreign feeling for Nick. Apparently with Lacey, as far his emotions went, all bets were off. He had no idea what to expect. She affected him as no other woman ever had.

  “Shit. Another cold shower.”

  As Lacey watched Nick’s red taillights fade off into the distance, she became aware of one very important fact. She’d somehow managed to go from the frying pan and into the fire in a matter of hours.

  When she’d broached the topic of magic, it was supposed to provide neutral conversation, but then she had to go and mention love. Nick’s seductively whispered words heated her body, and she’d forgotten her train of thought as erotic images filled her head. Not that she minded the heat, but coming from Nick, her best bud, it was all so unexpected.

  Titillating, but unexpected.

  She yanked at her shoes, not bothering to untie the laces first, and flung them aside. She started to pull off her clothes, tossing things willy-nilly, uncaring where they landed. Lacey was too old to change her slobbish ways. All she really wanted was to go to bed and forget about everything.

  Slipping into her favorite flannel, penguin pajamas, Lacey replayed Nick’s words in her mind. He would expect an answer tomorrow, he’d said. God, the man was simply too much! Did he think she was going to fall into his arms and beg him to take her? Did he really think one night would be long enough for her to consider all the pros and cons of taking a perfectly good friendship and thrusting it to a new level of danger? Well, of course it wasn’t enough time.

  As she crawled under her white goose-down comforter and flipped off the bedside lamp, Lacey couldn’t help thinking about the way his body moved. So fluid and masculine. He was every inch a hard, aggressive male, the kind she normally avoided as a sexual partner. Except in the privacy of her mind. At night, when no one was around, Lacey often let her thoughts wander into erotic territory. Only this time her mind was intent on having Nick fill the position of sexy lover. She’d be in a bucket load of want if her dreams took her where he wanted them to be. Maybe she should stay awake.

  Then again, maybe not.

  It was her last image of him, as he sat in his SUV staring at her with hunger and desire, all but willing her to come home with him. Her mind saw him there in the darkness, sitting behind the wheel, so strong and virile and so incredibly gorgeous. Slowly, reality fell away and her dream world rose. There were no taboos in the world of dreams. No right and wrong. Only wants being fulfilled, desires being shared. Lacey wouldn’t leave him to drive home alone and aching in this world. In her dream, she would stay and take what she wanted.

  As with most dreams, one minute they were in the SUV and the next she lay on her bed, naked. Nick was on top of her, staring down at her with a kind of craving she’d never seen on a man’s face. He spoke, but she couldn’t understand the words. All she knew was the way he made her feel. His hands touched her body, drifted and tickled, until they came to rest against her quivering breasts. He leaned down and sucked one hardened peak into the heat of his voracious mouth. Lacey jolted with the contact.

  He pressed into her, slipping only the tip of his cock inside her wet pussy. She wanted nothing more than for him to thrust forward, to take her hard and drive her into oblivion. But he seemed intent on taking his time.

  Nick licked and bit at her breasts, using his hands to squeeze and fondle, as if testing their weight in his hands. Lacey reached up and touched his shoulders, his sleek muscular back then lower to his perfect glutes. She was beyond ready for him. Lacey wrapped her legs around his thighs and used her hands to pull him deeper. She wanted him. Needed him to fill her. She ached for him to take away the cold emptiness to which she’d grown so accustomed.

  She shamelessly begged Nick, her dream lover, and suddenly he lifted up and stared down at her. Long seconds passed and not a single syllable drifted through his talented lips. He leisurely pushed his hips against her pelvis, driving his huge, throbbing
cock so deep their bodies melted together. He clutched her hips, pulled her lower half off the bed, and drove in harder still. Lacey’s body began to climb. She watched intently as the play of emotions on Nick’s face went from calm and controlled to wild and untamed. In that instant, she let her inhibitions fall away as she revealed to him her own impatient cravings.

  He started to pump into her. Harder. Faster. Nick slammed his hips against hers. She cried out in surprise as he reached down and pressed his warm palm flat against the giving flesh of her lower belly. She knew he was able to feel his hard dick inside of her there, pushing in and out of her tight body. His hand touching her in such a possessive way brought tears to her eyes. In some elemental way, her heart and soul entwined with his in that moment.

  She started to close her eyes, but his harsh demand had her opening them again. She gazed up at him, uncertain, scared, but in need of what only he could give.

  Lacey’s aching breasts bounced as Nick fucked her, plunging his engorged cock deep. Inevitably, Nick’s eyes were drawn downward. She moaned low when he dipped his head and drew his tongue across her over-heated nipples, drawing little circles around her areolas.

  It all became too much. Lacey screamed out her climax. Nick was right there, filling her with his hot come and shouting her name over and over.

  At that exact moment, Lacey was yanked from her dream world and brought back to the world of the living with the ringing of her phone.

  “Damn it,” she muttered as she reached over and nearly shouted, “Hello?”

  “Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did we?”

  “Nick?” she squeaked. Her face flushed deep with the thought of where her mind had been all night long. She still vibrated and pulsed with heat. She hadn’t had a wet dream like that since her teenage years. Not even then were they so vivid and perfect.

  “Yeah. Did you sleep well, baby?”

  “Like a rock.” Well, what could she say? That she’d just let him have her body as if she was a sex slave and he the almighty sheik?

  “Really? Because you sound…agitated.”

  “Yep, really.” She lied with alacrity then sat up and got out of bed. Sliding her feet into her fuzzy happy face slippers, she headed toward the kitchen and coffee. “Was there something you wanted at—” she looked at the clock on her microwave, “—seven thirty in the morning?”

  “I dreamed about you last night, Lace.”

  That stopped her in her tracks. Could he be serious? “Uh, what sort of dream?”

  She heard him chuckle. “Let me put it this way. You weren’t exactly sitting in a rocker knitting, if you know what I mean.”

  Her body liquefied at his words. Well, crap. Like she didn’t know what he was talking about. Her insides had twisted with lust all night long. “You said you’d give me time to think about this.”

  “You had all night.”

  “I was sleeping all night.”

  “I was, too, with you, moaning and quivering and coming all around my cock. I didn’t want to wake up from that.”

  “Oh.” He laughed again, making her snap at him in turn. “What time are we working out? I’ve got a lunch date, so it’ll have to be either before or after that.”

  “With who?”

  Nick’s laughter had ceased. Now he sounded downright furious. What was that about?

  “No one you know,” she said mysteriously, intent on finding out more about this new side to her best friend. Nick the predatory male, the sexy lover, was a foreign notion to her.

  “Is it a man? Because I thought we agreed to be exclusive.”

  Oh my, the man had a rather intriguing jealous streak. Interesting. Pulling out the glass pot, Lacey began rinsing it and decided to put Nick out of his misery. Even if he had dragged her away from the best erotic dream of her life.

  “I haven’t agreed to anything yet. But, no, it’s not a man. Just Patty and Mary. So, don’t go all caveman.”

  “Little witch,” he snarled, but his voice did calm, she noticed. “How about four o’clock we meet at the gym? We’ll work out together and you can give me your answer then.”

  “Yeah, that works for me, I guess.” Then something strange stirred in her belly as Lacey wondered what Nick had planned for the day. “What are you up to today?”

  “I’m going to the office for a bit. There’s a big client I’ve been finessing and I want to take one last look at my sales pitch before Monday comes around. After that, I plan to annoy your brother for a while. Why?”

  She heard him take a sip of something, probably coffee. Their mutual love for the dark brew was always something they had had in common. Then his words registered. He was meeting with her brother? Today? For some inexplicable reason the idea gave her a start.

  “You’re going to see Merrick?”

  “Uh, I was considering it. Is there a problem?”

  Lacey wondered if there was a problem. He and Merrick were good friends and had been for quite awhile. Guys talked, didn’t they? Would Nick tell Merrick about the new twist in his relationship with her?

  Then, as if reading her thoughts, Nick made a tsking sound. “I don’t kiss and tell, baby, you know better.”

  She did know better and she was a rotten friend for even thinking he would. “Yeah, sorry. But Nick?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What if things get all muddled? I’m really scared,” she admitted in an uncharacteristic show of uneasiness.

  “I know you are, but I won’t let it get muddled. You only need to trust me, baby. Everything will work out fine. You need a boost of confidence in the bedroom and I’m going to give it to you. Simple as that, right?”

  Lacey tucked a filter into the basket. “I don’t know. I still need to think about this.”

  “You always think everything through so thoroughly,” Nick reflected with a hint of an indulgent smile in his voice. “I can still remember the time you decided to cut your hair. It was always annoying the hell out of you and getting in the way of your workouts. I wanted so badly to tell you to leave it long. I wanted to have a chance to see it lying against your perfect, naked body. But then you took the plunge and did it anyway. I grieved over that hair. I sat in my house, alone, and drank a six pack as I imagined us having sex with nothing but your hair covering you.”

  “I never knew. God, I swear I never knew.” How could she have been so blind? There was so much more to Nick. Lacey had the uncomfortable notion she’d been seeing her friend in black and white then suddenly someone flicked on a plasma screen and everything took on new dimensions.

  “I know. We were friends, sweetheart, and whether you cut your hair, dyed it pink, or wore a Mohawk, it was a decision you had to make for yourself. In the end, it worked out fine, because I can still imagine fucking you, only now your hair isn’t in my way.”

  Lacey clutched at the phone and groaned aloud. “Nick, you are seriously driving me crazy with all these little bombs you keep dropping on me!”

  “Four o’clock?” he asked, hope and tenderness in his deep, sexy voice.

  She sighed and gave in. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

  They hung up, and Lacey was able to move again. She went to the freezer, her hands automatically reaching for the coffee she couldn’t live without, and wondered again what on earth she was thinking by not flat out saying no to Nick’s outrageous proposition of sex lessons.

  Then she remembered her dream. Despite how dumb it might be to mix her friendship with sex, she was probably going to end up saying yes.

  Searching for her favorite coffee cup and finding it in the sink, dirty, Lacey cringed. “Lord, I seriously need to get a grip on my lazy housekeeping ways.”

  As she started washing the pink mug that read, “Don’t like my attitude? Send me an email at: like_I_Care@fu.com”, Lacey couldn’t help laughing at the irony of her situation.

  “A personal trainer, needing a very personal trainer. How nuts is that?”

  All joking aside, the truth was still there
staring her in the face like a black cloud. She did need help in the bedroom. Lacey was obviously too boring to hold a man’s attention. Evan was the perfect example.

  If Nick was anything in real life like he was in her dream world then she was certain to end up a virtuoso in the fine art of sex.

  Nick hung up the phone, got out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. He stripped out of his boxers and turned on the shower. Only when he could feel the hot water sluicing down his back did he indulge in thoughts of Lacey.

  He loved knocking her off balance. She was floundering in her safe, little world and they both knew it. There was no way he’d let her escape him this time. She was almost within reach, and after their workout she would be all his. About damn time, too. He was going insane wanting her.

  After yet another restless night of dreaming of Lacey’s sleek, strong legs, small, firm breasts and heart-shaped ass, Nick couldn’t have kept himself from reaching for the phone if he’d been hogtied. It had been vital to hear her husky morning voice.

  She’d sounded groggy, but when she’d heard his voice, her attitude had shifted, becoming instantly alert and on guard. He could tell she’d lied about sleeping soundly. If she were any other woman, he would have called her out on it. Made her admit his heated words and touches the night before had aroused her. He wasn’t a complete moron when it came to women. He knew arousal when he saw it. Or heard it.

  Had she dreamed of him? Nick was almost sure of it. Had she gotten hot thinking of what he might soon be doing to her? He could only hope. He wanted her turned on and anxious. Served her right for making him so crazy.

  Nick finished his shower, got dressed and drove to the office. Surprisingly his vehicle wasn’t the only one there. As he was about to get on the elevator he ran into Merrick. Nick let the elevator go and turned his attention to his friend. “What brings you in? I didn’t think anything could pry you out of Chloe’s warm arms on a lazy Saturday morning.”