Here Comes Trouble (27 page)

After moving back to Trouble, Chase had conceded that Lacy had grown into a stunningly beautiful woman, but
damn.
If he’d never seen her naked, he never would have known she had the sort of body to make men fall to their knees.

She flipped her long, silky hair behind one shoulder. “I’m probably over doing it with the dress but I thought, what the hell? I splurged on it a few years ago and haven’t had anywhere to wear it.”

“No, it’s uh…” he cleared his throat and let his eyes drop down to her spectacular breasts. “I mean, yeah…yeah,” was all he could get out.
Real genius. Way to make her feel good
.

Her painted pink lips turned up in a satisfied grin. “Thank you.”

Her fuck-me heels stepped out onto the landing then Lacy shut the door behind her. “So where are we going?”

“A place in Cheyenne I went to once a few years ago.” When he glanced at her, he meant to look at her eyes but for some unfathomable, insane reason his gaze automatically went to her boobs. “I think you’ll like it.”

She stopped a few feet from his truck. “If you’re going to spend the whole night staring at my chest, then we’re going to have problems.”

He tossed his truck keys from hand to hand. “You can’t wear a dress like that and expect me not to look. Take it as a compliment, Lace.”

One of her thin eyebrows lifted as though she didn’t like his explanation but was willing to accept it anyway. Because she didn’t expect him to, he followed her around to the passenger side and opened the door for her. It also gave him an excuse to touch her when she needed help climbing into the vehicle. Underhanded and sneaky, yes, but he couldn’t help himself.

“What kind of place is this?” she asked once they were on the road.

He draped one hand over the steering wheel and used the other to aim the air-conditioning vent toward his face. Little beads of sweat had formed at his temples when Lacy sat herself on the seat, then lifted one leg to cross it over the other. Instant images formed in his mind of those legs wrapped around his hips as he jackhammered himself inside her tight little body.

Okay, this is going to be a long night if you keep thinking things like that. She made it clear she has no intention of going to bed with you again.

“Chinese food. But it’s not just ordinary Chinese. It’s like weird Asian fusion, or something.”

“You’re taking me to a place that has weird food?”

He chuckled and made a left onto the main highway. “No, the food is excellent. When I ate there before I thought Asian Fusion sounded strange.”

Her eyes roamed over his face. “Did you go there with a woman?”

What would she do if he said yes? He almost did just to get a reaction out of her. “Actually, no. We went there for Carol’s birthday.” He took his eyes of the road for a second. “Does that make you feel better?”

She was silent for so long, her green eyes blazing into his, Chase didn’t think she was going to answer. “Yes,” she said, then turned to look out the window.

The twenty minute drive into Cheyenne was spent talking about things like Boris’ arthritis and Chase possibly adding a game room to his upstairs. Lacy was easy to talk to. She didn’t keep her answers to simple “yes” and “no.” Everything she said was like a little story. And she asked a ton of questions. Things like, “Why do you think they still put directions of the back of shampoo bottles?” and “Instead of building a game room why don’t you build a workout room so you don’t have to use a garage?”

Shit, he didn’t have answers to things like that. And the garage wasn’t that bad to workout in. A little stuffy, but not bad. In his opinion, a suitable place to put a pool table was much more important.

When he told her that she just shook her head and said, “I don’t understand men.”

He pulled off the freeway and drove into downtown Cheyenne where the restaurant was located. Cheyenne wasn’t a beautiful place, but it had all the essentials of a major city, including good food.

Lacy didn’t wait for him to open the car door for her, like the independent woman she was. She beat him to the punch and fell into step beside him. His instinct told him to reach out and grab her hand or put an arm around her shoulder. When he’d asked her to dinner he swore there would be no touching or anything of that nature. As much as he wanted to pin her sweet little ass to the side of the building and take her in a very public way, he wouldn’t. Chase prided himself on being a man of his word, and Lacy for damn sure deserved someone like that.

Once inside, he gave the hostess his name and he and Lacy followed the young girl to a table in the back.

“Okay, I don’t know anything about Asian Fusion,” Lacy announced after they’d been handed their menus and left alone.

“They have good curry. And Carol had the sushi and she said it was really good.”

She wrinkled her nose as her eyes ran over the menu. “I don’t think I can handle anything spicy. I’ve never had tempura but for some reason it sounds like heaven.”

He scanned his menu. “Tempura huh? I don’t know, I’m thinking of getting Schezuan Beef.”

They placed their food orders, along with a bottle of red wine, with the waiter. When they were alone, Lacy took a sip from her water glass.

“So how’re things at the restaurant?” she asked him, after lowering the glass from her lips.

His eyes dropped to her full mouth when a bead of moisture clung to her lower lip. “You mean have I uncovered any thieves?”

“Yeah, the last time I worked things seemed pretty normal.”

“On the surface, sure. But my father’s been breathing down my neck to figure out what’s going on.”

She flipped some hair behind one shoulder, revealing her collarbone. “And you still think nothing’s going on?”

“So far. I showed Dad the security tapes to prove to him we have no solid evidence but he’s still not convinced. And I’ve already had a talk with Henry to double check all his numbers so there aren’t anymore discrepancies. Since then there haven’t been any.”

“Maybe Henry was just being careless.” She picked up her wine glass when the waiter set them on the table. “I seriously don’t think he’d steal from you.”

Chase stretched his arm along the back of the booth. “I don’t either but for a while he was all I had to go on. He’s the only one, besides me and Anita, who has access to the restaurant after hours.”

She tilted her head to one side. “But why would he risk his job like that?”

“If someone gets desperate enough they’ll resort to anything.”

“And Becky Lynn never talked to you?”

He lifted both shoulders. “Nope.”

“Why don’t you approach her? She sounded like something was really weighing on her mind.”

One of his brows lifted. “Obviously not, since she’s yet to bring it up. And I have no reason to suspect her for anything.”

“You have no reason to suspect Henry,” she countered.

“More than I do Becky Lynn,” he answered. She watched him with those bottomless green eyes over the rim of her wine glass. “What was in that bag you had with you the other day?”

Her brows pulled together. “When?”

“At the lake. You pulled out a bag of stuff but then never opened it.”

Her gaze dropped down to the black tablecloth. The swell of her breasts pushed against the hemline of the dress when she inhaled a breath. “Those were my art supplies.”

“What sort of art supplies?” he asked after shifting his eyes to hers.

The tip of her fingernail drew patterns on the table. “A sketch pad and pencils.”

An adorable yet sexy blush colored her sharp cheekbones. She bit her bottom lip before lifting her glass and taking a swallow. If he didn’t know better, he’d say Miss Taylor was embarrassed about something. Lacy had too strong a backbone to let anything get to her. How could some paper and pencils make her blush like a little girl?

She lifted one delicate, bare shoulder. “I do some drawing in my spare time.”

“How much?”

A defeated sigh escaped between those beautiful lips. “It’s sort of a passion of mine. I started in high school.”

Lacy had a passion for drawing? He never had any idea she’d taken up sketching as a pasttime. Any why wouldn’t she mention anything?

“I didn’t see you draw anything at the lake.” Had she not want him to see?

The same rose color filled her cheeks again. “You sort of distracted me.”

“You didn’t seem to mind.”

She put down her wine. “Regardless. Anyway, I guess I changed my mind about drawing that day. It was kind of nice not having anything to do.”

Their food was delivered on contemporary, square plates. Lacy picked up the black cloth napkin and folded it across her lap. A set of plastic-wrapped chopsticks sat beside their flatware in case they wanted to be authentic. Lacy bypassed those and stabbed her fork into some tempura chicken. Her delectable lips closed over the chicken then slid to the end of the fork as she pulled it out of her mouth. Long, black eyelashes swept down over her eyes as though she’d eaten a piece of gold.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Lacy asked.

He blinked himself out of his trance and shook his head. “What kind of stuff do you draw?” he asked after stirring his beef in with the white rice that came with his dish.

“Mostly landscapes and architecture. Sometimes I’ll do animals. I tried doing people, but that’s not my strong point.”

“So, what happened?”

She paused with the fork in front of her mouth. “What do you mean?”

“I get the feeling this is what you planned on doing with your life. But something stopped you. What was it?”

Her gaze ran across his shoulders before inserting the fork in her mouth. When she swallowed, she said. “It started in college. I got so overwhelmed with my studies and working and other things that my grades slipped and I lost my scholarship. I couldn’t afford to pay for school out-of-pocket and neither could Ray, so I had to drop out.” She stopped when he blinked at her. “You don’t look surprised by that information.”

He shrugged. “Brody told me you had to leave school.”

“Big mouth,” she muttered. “Anyway, I had to get a full time job to keep paying for my apartment and my sketching sort of got put on the back burner.” She scooped some rice onto her fork. “I even tried getting a job in an art gallery so I’d have my in, but nobody wanted a college drop-out with no experience.”

“So you gave it up completely?” That didn’t sound like the Lacy he knew.

A chunk of silky hair slid over her shoulder when she shook her head. “No, I still draw every once in a while. And it’s still my dream to sell my drawings in a studio. But after Ray got sick I put forth all my energy into him and I’ve been stuck in this rut ever since.”

He picked up his wine glass. “Have you tried any of the galleries here in Cheyenne?” There had to be someone out there willing to give her a chance. Even though he’d never seen her work, Chase had a feeling Lacy was good at what she did.

“A few.” She pushed a few pieces of chicken around then finally stabbed her fork into one. “I always get a polite, ‘thanks but no thanks’. On a positive note, your meddling brother has convinced me to reserve a booth at the art festival in October.”

“Brody?” he asked, surprise lacing his voice.
Of course, dumb ass. What other McDermott would she be talking about?

She nodded and swallowed her food. “Every year he tries to get me to participate and, I don’t know, I guess I’ve been too scared.”

“What made you change your mind?”

 
“If I’m going to be serious about having a career in art, then I have to start getting myself out there.”

 
He set his fork down and leaned back in the booth. “Why do you doubt yourself? I’m sure you’re better than you give yourself credit for.”

The corners of her mouth turned up. “That’s what Brody always says. Maybe this year will be my break.” She shoved her plate away and leaned back. “I can’t eat anymore.”

“You want some dessert?” he asked after finishing off his own food.

“No way,” she replied with a shake of her head. “I’m so full I could puke.”

Chase grinned at her honesty. No woman he’d ever been out with had talked about puking. They’d always been too busy showing off their assets or coming off as sophisticated and glamorous. Lacy didn’t have a vain bone in her body. There was no extra agenda to end up in bed. She was content to have a nice dinner out with a friend.

Their waiter was efficient and exchanged plates for their check. Chase shook his finger at Lacy when she reached in her purse to pull out money.

“Let me at least give you money to cover the wine,” she tried to protest.

He’d already handed the waiter his credit card. “What kind of guy would I be if I ask you to dinner then made you pay?”

“You’re not making me do anything. I want to pay.”

“If it’s that big a deal to you, you can get the next one,” he said a short time later when they were in his truck.

Lacy leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. “There’s going to be a next one?”