Here Comes Trouble (29 page)

Lacy jabbed her hands on her hips. “Really? Because it doesn’t seem like it.”

Okay, wrong thing to say. The muscles in Chase’s square jaw ticked as though he ground his back teeth to enamel dust. With slow, deliberate steps, he rounded his desk and stopped in front of her. “Go back to work,” he ordered through gritted teeth.

Her chin shot up in the air. “Not until you promise to give Becky Lynn another chance.”

Before she could so much as squeak a protest, Chase placed his two big hands on her shoulders, turned her around and marched her to the door. Then he lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered, “You’re going to pay for this later.” A not-so-gentle shove placed her on the other side of his door a second before it slammed shut behind her.

Yeah, she probably should have thought that through before speaking her mind. Poor, poor Becky Lynn had looked so lost and defeated, something inside Lacy had turned ugly. The girl deserved to have someone stand up for her. This had to have been a misunderstanding. Lacy couldn’t help but think that Chase jumped to conclusions and fired Becky Lynn to get his father off his back. Becky Lynn didn’t deserve to be anyone’s scapegoat.

A deep growl vibrated low in her belly. Her chicken enchiladas didn’t seem so appealing considering she’d thrown up her last two chicken dishes. Was it possible to develop a food allergy to chicken halfway through one’s life? Lacy had never heard of such a thing. Maybe the chicken she’d eaten at the restaurant with Chase a few nights ago hadn’t been cooked all the way and that’s why she’d gotten sick that night. She supposed it was possible. Like an automaton, she marched back down the stairs, went through the kitchen and entered the break room again.

Inhaling her dinner gave her a chance to clear her confused head. Although she stood by her judgment that Becky Lynn was most likely innocent, Lacy conceded she shouldn’t have confronted Chase like that. Especially in front of Anita. It’d been unprofessional and rude. Once again she’d fallen victim of her habit to act without thinking first. Now Chase was mad at her and swore she’d pay for it later. Whatever the heck that meant.

“Gross,” she muttered to herself and tossed half her uneaten instant dinner in the trash. The enchiladas had been rubbery and drenched in grease, a combination that had her stomach turning over on itself. TV dinners were far from five-star meals but geeze-loueez. “I don’t think I can handle anymore upchucking,” she said to herself before walking back to the dining room and finishing her shift. Luckily for her stomach and her headache, which had never fully diminished, the rest of the night passed relatively quickly. For the next two and a half hours, Lacy took orders, delivered dishes and pocketed generous tips.

Not long before she clocked out, Chase reappeared from his office but neither one of them said a word to each other. Fortunately for her, Anita was still there to review Lacy’s orders for the night and log her tips. The hard set of his mouth and lines of tension above his eyes told Lacy Chase was in no mood to converse with people. With the exception of Henry and Anita, Chase got away with keeping to himself until closing. Not that she minded. Lacy wasn’t exactly in the mood to exchange words with him either.

After walking in through the garage door, she paused long enough to drop her purse on the kitchen counter. During the drive home, her headache had returned with a vengeance, along with a dull ache in her lower back. The only thing Lacy could figure for the backache was that her old tennis shoes had finally bit the dust. Maybe she ought to pick up a new pair that had better shock absorbency.

She dragged her tired bones down the hallway to her bedroom and snagged a bottle of pain reliever out of the bathroom. Even though she’d already conceded wrong doing in Chase’s office, Lacy still felt like she owed him an apology. The look on Anita’s face had been enough to know Lacy had been out of line. Chase had taken a chance on telling her something he shouldn’t have. Not only had she made herself look like an idiot but she’d also made Chase look like a blabber mouth. The last thing Lacy wanted was to breach the trust between Chase and his assistant manager.

On the other hand, Lacy couldn’t help but feel like Becky Lynn had been wrongfully fired. True, Lacy didn’t know the circumstance of the girl’s situation. Over the past few years, she’d seen plenty of other members of the staff given second chances after messing up. In Lacy’s opinion, everyone deserved a second chance. Unless what Becky Lynn had done was beyond unforgiveable. Could the girl be the thief Chase and his father sought after? A nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach told Lacy Becky Lynn wasn’t that person. Of course, that feeling could also be from the non-edible dinner she’d had. Something about those enchiladas hadn’t set right with her.

After tossing back the two pain pills, Lacy sank on the edge of the bed and toed off her sneakers. Definitely time for some new shoes. Her little piggies were an unattractive shade of red and her lower back throbbed like someone had kicked her with a steel-toed boot. On the upside of her pain, she earned almost two-hundred dollars in tips. Yessiree, that was a good night indeed. First thing tomorrow, she’d go out and get herself a good quality pair of walking shoes.

Boris hadn’t been fed all day so Lacy changed out of her work clothes and went back to the kitchen. The dog currently indulged himself in his favorite pastime: snoring like a B-52 bomber. Most people wouldn’t be able to sleep with all that racket; Lacy had learned to drone it out years ago. Boris didn’t so much as twitch a toe when she dumped leftover beef stew in his bowl. Whatever. He’d get around to eating it eventually.

With no more chores for the night, Lacy padded barefoot to her bathroom and brushed her teeth. Following that, she gave her face a good scrubbing with cleaner and smeared on some moisturizer. The red numbers on the bedside clock glowed eleven-thirty when she slid herself beneath the cool, clean sheets. Ahh, nothing beat a soft, big bed after a long day. Her heavy eyelids had just dropped closed when a furious pounding on the front door had them flying open. Her heart just about punched a fist-sized hole through her rib cage when she shot to a sitting position. Her breath held for a few seconds as she listened to the house. Nothing, not even the dog of the sound or her faulty air-conditioning. She inhaled a deep breath and slid back under the covers when it happened again.

Bam, bam, bam.

This time she jumped out of bed and stood motionless as though her late-night visitor would come barreling through the door at any moment. To assure herself no ax-wielding murderer waited outside for her, Lacy walked to the front door and peered through the peephole.

When she saw her visitor, every bone on her body melted and she leaned her forehead against the door. When the wood shook under Chase’s thudding fist again, she squealed and jumped back from the door.

Of all the nerve…

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded when she yanked open the door.

The narrowed, thunderous look in Chase’s blue eyes said he wasn’t a man to be messed with right now. But geez, he’d just gave her a mild heart attack by his not-so-subtle late night call. She supposed since she was the one who’d been rudely jerked out of the bed, she deserved some sort of explanation.

 
 
The angry yet gorgeous man on her doorstep pushed his way past her and yanked the door out of her hand. The door slammed shut with a loud crack.

“What are you doing?” she demanded again when he towered over her.

He took one step closer to her and pointed his index finger in her face. “Don’t ever question my authority in front of another employee again.”

She swatted his hand away. “Get your finger out of my face. I’m sorry for barging into your office, but I stand by what I said. I don’t think you should have fired Becky Lynn.”

“Apology
not
accepted.”

She jammed her hand on her hips. “You came all the way down here and forced me out of bed to tell me you don’t accept my apology?”

He stepped even closer to her so their torsos brushed together. “You don’t know anything about the situation. You were way out of line.”

“I said sorry for that. But”--she held up a finger when he opened his mouth to reprimand her again--“I know enough to know you’re jumping the gun for no other reason to get your father off your back.”

The muscles in the corner of his jaw clenched as the look in his eyes. “I never should have said anything to you. You’re too damn head strong to keep your opinion to yourself.”

Her chin lifted in defiance. “No one put a gun to your head and made you tell me anything. At least I’m being honest.”

He jerked back from her. “And I’m not?” he asked loud enough for Boris to raise his head off the floor.

“How seriously are you taking this thief thing?” she countered back.

“I fired Becky Lynn, didn’t I?”

“Based on what?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” He placed a finger on his chin as though thinking. “Based on the video that caught her red-handed
and
the fact that she admitted to it.”

Huh? Had Lacy totally misread the situation? Or was there something else going on she didn’t know about? Perhaps Chase was too pissed off at her right now to let her in on anything else.

“I see that shut you up,” he said when she didn’t reply to his announcement. “Still think I should give her a second chance?”

“Well, I don’t know, Chase. Don’t you think everyone deserves a second chance? Where would we be as a society without second chances?”

His blue gaze ran over her. “That doesn’t sound like the hard ass Lacy I know. Did you give
me
another chance?”

She held up a finger. “First of all, I’m not that much of a hard ass.” At least not intentionally. “And second of all, what you did was pretty bad.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “I didn’t
do
anything. You want to know what I think? You needed a reason to bail and took the first opportunity you got.”

“I beg your pardon? Don’t you dare turn that around on me. I’m not the one who had my underwear floating all over town.”

“This has nothing to do with underwear and you know it,” he said as he closed the distance between them again. “You got restless and scared.”

The fact that he was partially right was completely beside the point. The fact that he’d figured it out…that’s what astounded her. That, and the fact that he stood close enough so his body heat wrapped her in a warm blanket of delicious masculinity. She wanted to be mad at him. In fact she was. Furious. Being dragged out of bed at this late hour and yelled at by someone who looked good enough to lick was not something she appreciated. The combination made her feel all discombobulated and out-of-sorts. The only thing Lacy felt comfortable with was being in control. And, she most absolutely, without a doubt, was not in control of her uneven pulse. Thanks to the man standing in front of her.

Chase continued even though she stood there and hadn’t countered his accusation. “You had a good thing going and got freaked out that it would blow up in your face.”

“Well, you could say it did.”

He poked at her again. “Because
you
allowed it to.”

Again, she pushed his finger away. “I didn’t allow anything. It just happened, because shit always happens to me. That’s why it’s better for me to be alone.”

“Because you’re afraid,” he said.

Her teeth ground together. “That’s the second time you’ve said that and it didn’t go down well the first time.”

“Then just admit it, Lacy.”

She stood on her toes hoping she had a prayer of being eyelevel with him. “I am not afraid,” she bit out through her clenched teeth. “If anyone is scared, it’s you.”

“What the hell do I have to be scared of?”

“You’re afraid to talk to me.”

One of his dark brows lifted. “
I’m
afraid to talk to
you
?”

Okay, maybe that was a double standard. “Why is it whenever I ask you about college, you evade the subject?”

He took a step back from her. “Why are you so interested in my college years?”

It was her turn to get in his face and jam a finger at him. “I told you things that I’m not proud of, things nobody else knows. Do you think I like admitting I had to drop out of school and take dead-end jobs I hated? Those are things that aren’t easy for me to talk about. But when I asked you about college you gave me nothing.”

“That’s because nothing happened.”

“I don’t believe you.” His eyes darkened even more. “You’re hiding something and for some reason you’re afraid to tell me. Am I the only person you’ve kept this from?”

His lips barely moved when he spoke. “It’s nobody else’s business.”

“So there is something,” she concluded.

He threw his hands up in the air. “You seem to be so sure there is.”

“I know there is. You willingly gave me information about the restaurant you shouldn’t have and yet you can’t talk about a few years at school? It’s the one subject you clam up about.” She stepped closer to him and poked him in the chest. “You’re the one who’s afraid, Chase and until you tell me –”

Her words were cut off by his mouth crushing down on hers. One of his hands slid underneath the curtain of her hair and wrapped around her neck. Her hand, which had been up against his chest, was pinned between them when Chase wound his other arm around her waist and yanked her flush against him. Because Lacy had no willpower where Chase McDermott was concerned, her mouth immediately opened underneath his to allow his eager tongue inside. The man flat-out knew how to kiss. His tongue did a skillful little dance around hers, then darted in and out before he tilted his head to change the angle. Lacy managed to wrench her arm from between them and then dipped the tips of her fingers beneath the waistband of his slacks. His butt cheeks were smooth beneath her hand. Chase reciprocated the move and molded both his large hands over the cotton material covering her bottom. He always had a way of touching her that felt like absolute pure heaven. Every time his hands came so much as a foot from her skin, her heart gave a predictable triple beat, like Pavlov’s dog salivating at the sound of a bell.