The Art of Loving Lacy (Sweet with Heat Read online

  “Yeah, what’s the deal?” Danica asked. “You said you two hadn’t even seen each other, but from the looks of it, I’d swear you two were picking up where a hot date might have left off.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Lacy said. “We haven’t seen each other since your wedding. I always tell you the truth. Well, unless you include Skype or FaceTime.”

  Kaylie took a sip of her drink. “Uh-huh. Virtual sex counts, sis.”

  “Kaylie!” Lacy said in a harsh whisper.

  “Sisters, remember? We want details,” Kaylie pushed.

  “Not one single time,” Lacy lied. Some things were too private. Even for sisters. “Between his schedule and mine, we never connected.” She looked across the dance floor at Dane, standing with his younger brothers, Josh and Hugh. “Can you believe they’re all that good-looking?”

  “Josh looks like he belongs on a runway,” Kaylie said.

  “He’s a clothing designer, not a model,” Lacy said.

  “Yeah, well, look at Hugh. He’s the racecar driver, right? Look at the way he’s eyeing all the women.” Kaylie nodded toward him. She looked at Max smiling at the head table, the sole object of Treat’s attention. He whispered something into her ear, and Max blushed. “Look at Max. Can you imagine how good-looking their children will be?”

  “You go from topic to topic,” Danica teased. “Yes, they’re all cute, but no cuter than Blake and Chaz, right, Lace?”

  When she didn’t answer, Danica elbowed her. “Right?”

  “Oh, yeah, right.” Dane had locked eyes with her again, and she swore the temperature in the room increased ten degrees.

  “Here comes your virtual honey,” Kaylie teased.

  Dane crossed the dance floor. Each determined step caused the butterflies in Lacy’s stomach to flutter.

  When he reached their table, he held out a hand. “I believe you promised me a dance,” he said in a seductively low tone. He drew her to her feet and placed his hand on the small of her back as he led her to the dance floor.

  A shiver ran up her spine. She felt so feminine beside him. Lacy glanced over her shoulder at her sisters. Danica had one hand over her heart and a dreamy look in her eyes. She smiled at Lacy.

  Dane wrapped his arms around Lacy’s waist. She placed her hands behind his neck and felt heat resonating between them. Lacy couldn’t remember ever feeling so drawn to a man. The soft lines of his cheeks were so different from the sharp edges of his brother Rex’s chiseled jaw or the refined angles of Treat’s nose and chin.

  Dane leaned his forehead against Lacy’s and said, “I’ve missed you.”

  She could get lost in Dane’s eyes, the way he looked at her like she was the only girl in the room.

  “I missed you, too.” She rocked her hips to the slow beat of the music, and he moved in perfect rhythm.

  “Why did we wait so long to see each other again?” he asked.

  Lacy had been wondering the same thing. “Schedules,” was all she could manage. She’d been up for a promotion at World Geographic, where she worked as an account executive, creating and managing marketing strategies for nonprofit organizations. After five years of working her way up the corporate ladder, she finally had a shot at a senior-level position, and with the other account executives nipping at her heels, she hadn’t been able to afford to take time off.

  He leaned closer, and Lacy held her breath, thinking he might kiss her right there in the middle of the dance floor.

  “Stupid schedules,” he whispered next to her ear.

  His breath was warm on her skin.

  “You smell so nice,” he said, nuzzling into her neck.

  Every nerve in her body tightened, including the ones down low—the ones she’d been trying so hard to ignore for the last few months, which called out for Dane and only Dane. Lacy had gone on a few dates when she and Dane first began their long-distance relationship. If she could call it that. She wasn’t sure how to define what had developed between them, but she knew that she couldn’t go to sleep without hearing his voice, and even now, so many months later, when she saw his name on her caller ID, her heartbeat quickened. She’d had opportunities to sleep with the men she’d dated, but every time a date turned intimate, she pulled away. It was Dane she wanted to be close to. It was him she craved. How on earth did that happen after one afternoon together? The answer was not far behind. More than a year of sharing secrets without the pressures of sex had allowed them to develop a closeness that included sharing their hopes, their dreams, and their fears.

  Dane said something, but Lacy was too lost in her own thoughts to comprehend it.

  “I’m sorry, what?” Get a grip.

  “The song is over,” he said.

  Lacy looked around and cringed. She and Dane were the only couple left on the dance floor, moving against each other in a sensual rhythm…with no music.

  “Oh my gosh. I’m sorry.” She pulled away.

  Dane kept hold of her hand. “Come with me,” he said. He pulled her through French doors that led out to the terrace. The cool night air sent goose bumps racing up her arms as she hurried beside him to the waist-high wrought-iron railing overlooking a carpet of grass below. She could hear the crashing of waves in the distance.

  The stars speckled the blue-black sky like hundreds of eyes gazing down on them. The moon cast a romantic haze into the night. Music filtered out from the reception and disappeared into the breeze. Lacy gripped the edge of the railing, hoping Dane wouldn’t notice how nervous she was.

  “I know we spoke earlier when you were on your way into town, but how are you?” he asked.

  Nervous. Horny. Embarrassed. “I’m well.” I’m well? I might as well have said that I’m a loser. “The wedding was beautiful, wasn’t it?” she asked, trying to find something to talk about that would take her mind off of how much she wanted him.

  “Treat knows how to put on a wedding.” He moved closer to her, his shoulder rubbing against hers. “Lacy, talk to me.”

  She turned to face him, and all those nights flashed in her mind like a silent movie: the way Dane had been overcome with sadness when he spoke of his mother’s death and how he’d stayed up all night with her on Skype when she’d had the stomach flu, just to make sure she wasn’t alone. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that in all those nights of sexual innuendos and—oh, my goodness, virtual sex—as the months pressed on, she wondered why they hadn’t found a way to be together.

  He reached over and ran his finger down her cheek, then lifted her chin so her eyes met his.

  “Why didn’t we see each other?” she asked, then immediately regretted it. Dane probably had a zillion women at the ready. Why would he take time away from his schedule just to see her?

  He put one strong hand on each of her arms and looked into her eyes. He shook his head. “Stupidity?”

  Lacy laughed, but her heart secretly cracked. She’d been engrossed in chasing her promotion and was working every second, too, but if he had mentioned the chance of a visit, she would have tossed that aside and found a way to be with him.

  “Really, Lace. I should have made it happen, and when I couldn’t, I made sure we spoke almost every night. I feel like I’ve known you all my life, and I was sure we’d see each other again after Nassau. But then I had to go to Maui, then Belize, then California.”

  “You were in Florida, too,” she reminded him.

  “Right. But I was never in Massachusetts, and that was very bad planning.” He stepped closer, his eyes darkening until they were almost black; the hunger in them made her shiver. “I’m so sorry. I thought of you every second.”

  She swallowed hard. Being this close to Dane, feeling the heat between them, Lacy wondered if making the promotion a priority over Dane had been the stupidest decision she’d ever made. I could have been with you. She knew that was a pipe dream. Dane’s schedule was even crazier than hers had been.

  “Lacy,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  She opene
d her mouth to speak, but no words came. She was flustered by the hunger in his dark eyes and the way it quelled her heart and revved her desire. He pulled her closer, and she flattened her hands against his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath her palms.

  “Lacy, I have to kiss you,” he said, piercing her with an intense stare.

  She gripped his lapel to stabilize her rubbery legs as he lowered his mouth to hers, gentle at first, then taking her in a greedy, passionate kiss. Every stroke of his tongue sent her stomach aflutter. He slid his large hands down her slim waist and clenched her hips, pulling her against him.

  When they finally drew apart, Lacy felt intoxicated. The sweet taste of alcohol and lust lingered on her tongue as Dane gripped the railing on either side of her, trapping her in between. He leaned forward. His breath was warm on her neck, his body a living, breathing furnace against her.

  “What are we going to do with my months of fantasies about you? They’ve stolen any chance I have at rational thought,” he whispered.

  Lacy hoped that when she opened her mouth to speak, her voice would find its way past her pounding heart. “Who needs rational thought?” Kiss me again. Please kiss me again.

  Dane’s eyes flashed hot. Lacy held his stare. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. She’d go anywhere he wanted, whenever he was ready.

  The door to the reception room swung open, and Max and Treat stood behind them. “We were looking for you,” Treat said.

  Dane took Lacy’s hand and turned around. Her pulse raced and her mind ran in circles. How could she possibly wait until the end of the reception to kiss him again? He squeezed her hand. Lacy bit the inside of her mouth to keep from saying something stupid out of sheer nervousness.

  Treat ran his eyes between them. “Lacy, what a pleasure to see you again.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, never letting go of Max’s hand.

  “It was a beautiful wedding,” she said, relieved that her voice didn’t shake. She’d thought it might. “Max, you look stunning. I am so happy for both of you.” Max worked for Chaz, and she and Lacy had become fast friends after meeting at her sisters’ wedding.

  “Do you mind if I catch up with Lacy for a few minutes?” Max asked Treat.

  “Of course not, Mrs. Braden. I’ve got you for the rest of our lives.” With one strong arm, he swept her against him and kissed her. When they parted, Max’s cheeks were flaming red.

  Max took Lacy’s hand and pulled her away from Dane, but he held on tight, their arms stretched between them.

  “Dane, really?” Max said with a sigh.

  “Okay, but bring her back,” he teased.

  Lacy glanced at him over her shoulder as Max led her back into the reception hall and toward Kaylie and Danica’s table. Part of her wished she hadn’t been swept away.

  “You have that recently bedded look,” Max said.

  “Max!” Lacy could tell from her serious eyes and wide smile that she was only half joking. She saw Dane and Treat enter the room.

  “Your cheeks are flushed, and your eyelids are dreamily heavy. Seriously, if you don’t want your sisters to know, you’d better pull it together.”

  Lacy shot a look at Danica and Kaylie. Kaylie had one hand cupped around her mouth as she spoke into Danica’s ear. Their eyes were locked on Lacy. She took a deep breath and flopped into a chair, throwing pulling it together out the window.

  “Well?” Kaylie and Danica asked in unison.

  “We kissed. Oh my gosh, did we kiss,” she said breathlessly.

  Kaylie put her hand out toward Danica. “I believe you owe me five bucks.”

  Danica reached for her purse. “Really, Lacy? You couldn’t have waited just two hours after the wedding? That’s not asking for a lot. A few lousy hours.” She smiled as she handed a five to Kaylie.

  “You bet on when I’d kiss him?” Lacy said sharply, trying to appear upset while holding back a smile. She secretly loved the sisterly banter she’d missed out on for so many years. “And really, Danica? Could you wait two hours when that was waiting for you?” She lifted her chin toward Dane, who was watching her from across the room. I want you was written in his eyes.

  Max leaned over the table. “I’ll pay you later,” she whispered.

  “Max! You too?” Lacy said with a tsk.

  Max pretended to inspect her newly manicured fingernails.

  Lacy slapped her hand. “I can’t believe you guys. Is this why you dragged me away from Dane?” When I could be kissing those luscious lips of his again? She shivered just thinking about it.

  “Oh, please. Of course it is.” Kaylie rolled her eyes. She pushed her hair over her shoulder. “You didn’t expect us not to talk about you and Dane, did you? He’s all you’ve thought about since Nassau.”

  “He is not.” Lacy had been thinking and talking about Dane nonstop for months. She had no idea why she was denying it. “Okay, fine. Geez, what am I going to do? I can’t look at him without feeling all those months of wanting him coming forward, but then it kind of hurts that he never actually came to see me.”

  “We’ve talked about this for more than a year. You said it was a scheduling thing. Do you think it was something else? Do you think he’s a player?” Danica asked.

  Do I? “No, but you have to admit that it’s a really long time.”

  “It is, and you’ve known that. You said you talked about it with him. And now you want to know why you are having such a hard time, right?” Danica asked. She didn’t give Lacy a chance to answer. “It’s because you’re here and ready to take the past several months of fantasies to the next level. Intimacy can be a huge step.”

  “You’re still such a therapist,” Kaylie said. Danica had given up her therapy practice when she’d fallen in love with her client—Blake.

  Lacy sighed. “I feel like there’s so much more than just lust between us.”

  “Does he know about your fear of sharks?” Kaylie asked.

  Lacy bristled. “Sort of.” She’d been trying to ignore that worry for weeks as the wedding had neared.

  “You’re afraid of sharks?” Max asked. “But you went in the water in Nassau.”

  “It’s weird. I think I’m afraid of sharks. There was an incident when I was younger. I don’t really want to talk about it, and I haven’t really tested the theory that I’m afraid of them. I just have a feeling that when I step out of my controlled environment, the fear might take over.”

  “You do know he’s a shark tagger, right?” Max asked.

  “Of course. Can we change the subject?” Lacy asked. “I just need to know that I’m not making a mistake. You guys don’t see any glaring red flags do you?” Please say no and let me get back to kissing him.

  “No, Lace,” Danica answered.

  “What’s the worst that happens? Let’s say you sleep with him and then decide you made a mistake,” Kaylie said. “You only live once. You’d survive.”

  Max patted Lacy’s shoulder. “Dane’s a great guy, Lacy. He and Treat are really close, and Treat’s said only good things about him. Well, except for that one thing, but…you know.”

  “What thing?” Danica asked.

  Lacy didn’t miss Max’s quick head shake.

  “It’s okay, Max. Go ahead.” We’ve shared everything.

  “Okay, but…” Max looked at Lacy, and Lacy waved her hand in approval. “Dane slept with one of Treat’s girlfriends in college.”

  “Really?” Kaylie and Danica said in unison.

  “I know all about that. Dane told me. I told you guys we talked about everything.” She remembered the conversation well. They’d been on Skype, and never once during the whole uncomfortable conversation did he look away or try to evade her questions. She’d known then that he was a man she could trust. “It was ages ago, but he wasn’t just being a jerk. He told Treat last year that he’d felt guilty about it forever. He always felt like he was in Treat’s shadow, and just for once, he wanted to be the front-runner.”

  “I’d say that
given what we saw in Nassau, he’s a front-runner all right,” Kaylie said with a grin.

  “Kaylie,” Lacy chided, but she’d known that one of them would make a joke about how well endowed Dane was. It had been a difficult attribute to miss when he’d been in swim trunks in the Bahamas, and overhearing Treat make a comment about ten inches had sent a lingering wonder through her mind.

  “What? You saw it,” Kaylie said.

  Lacy shook her head.

  “Remember, these are guys who lost their mother when they were little boys,” Danica said thoughtfully, “and although they had their dad, from what I hear, they really depended a lot on one another. And you know they had to carry a lot of anger and unrealized grief for years. Lacy, if he shared something like that with you, I don’t think you have much to worry about.”

  Lacy’s eyes were drawn to Dane again. Treat’s arm was slung comfortably around his shoulder, and they both wore wide smiles. They didn’t look like two brothers who had experienced such a painful time. Does anyone ever wear the pain of their past for everyone to see? She glanced at Danica and Kaylie, the sisters she felt she’d known all her life, and yet Kaylie wouldn’t even speak to her when they’d first met. Fences can mend, even broken-down, worn-out, splintered fences.

  Chapter Three

  DANE STOOD WITH Treat by the bar watching Lacy with her sisters and Max, deep in conversation. Even from across the room, he recognized the nervous smile on her lips, and he wondered what they were discussing—and if she was thinking about their kiss as much as he was.

  “Listen, Dane, Lacy is Danica’s sister, which makes her Blake’s sister-in-law. If you’re just having fun, please let her know up front.” Treat spoke in a hushed tone, his dark eyes filled with compassion and his mouth close enough to Dane’s ear that Dane was sure no one else overheard his suggestion.

  As much as Dane didn’t want or need advice from his eldest brother, he had been thinking the same thing. The last thing he wanted to do was to put Lacy in an uncomfortable position. Before the wedding, he’d decided that he would take things slowly with Lacy, but when he saw her sitting a few rows back, with those big baby blues drinking him in, he’d been unable to turn away. He’d spent the majority of the last year and a half walking across a tenuous tightrope; on one side was Lacy, and on the other, the career-driven, commitment-phobic man he’d always been—the part of himself he was trying to leave behind. If he were to look down from the tightrope, he’d see the man he’d always been, the man who never thought of a woman beyond a few dates and a few good times. The man who did, indeed, have an incredibly beautiful woman—or two—in every port, women who never pushed for more than he was willing to give, whom he’d forget the minute his boat was put to sea until the next time he arrived.