Here Comes Trouble (9 page)

He let his gaze stray down to her breasts for one forbidden moment. They weren’t very big, just perfectly round and perky. “What’re you going to do with all that money?”

She pulled at the frayed end of her shorts. “I don’t know if I’m going to take it.”

Was she serious? “Lacy, you’d be crazy not to take it. It’s a shit-load of money.”

She threw him a droll look from the recliner she’d settled herself in. “Thank you for that insight.” Then she said on a tired sigh, “How can I accept money from a woman who turned her back on me? I feel like I’m making a deal with the devil or something.” Although she could use the money for many good things. Pay Chase back, make some major repairs on the house. Perhaps she could finally finish her education.

Chase kept an eye on Lily as she crawled to the sliding glass door and looked outside. “It’s really not that complicated. Taking the money doesn’t make you a bad person. Just smart.”

“Smart?” she repeated with a shake of her head. “I don’t feel very smart.”

“That’s because you’re emotionally attached. Just take the check and deposit it.” He ran his gaze over her again. She sat cross-legged in his brown leather recliner, her bare feet tucked under her legs. She looked like a scared, confused little kid. “You’ll be financially secure for the rest of your life.”

“That thought has occurred to me.” She tucked a strand of silky blonde hair behind one petite ear. “I almost gave it back to her.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. You deserve this. Go treat yourself to a spending spree.”

Her hands twisted around each other in her lap. Then she took a deep breath and refocused her attention on him. “How’s your back?”

Her question coaxed a smile out of him. “Healing, thanks to you.” This morning after stepping out of the shower he’d caught a glimpse of the scratches. The three angry, red marks had dulled to a dark pink. The burning sensation had finally subsided, and now they itched like a damn mosquito bite. Maybe Lacy would scratch them for him. The scandalous thought just entered his head when Lacy’s mouth turned up in a sly grin. “What?”

She rolled her lips. “I was just thinking I hope the woman was worth the memory because those scratches are probably going to scar.”

Damn, little Twiggy was a lot more observant than he gave her credit for. Why had he tried to pass them off as something else when any idiot with half a brain would know they came from a human nail? He decided to out on a limb and provoke her. “There are ways for you to erase her memory.”

The beer bottle, the last little bit of liquid sloshing on the bottom, paused just before reaching her mouth. Her green eyes, full of the sparkle he loved to put there, narrowed at him. “Are you hinting what I think you’re hinting?”

He stacked his bare feet on the coffee table. “You’re a smart girl, Lace.”

The muscles in her slender neck moved subtly when she down the last of the beer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lily crawl from the sliding glass door to her diaper bag by the table. Chase kept his gaze locked on Lacy’s as she lowered the bottle and set it on the end table next to the recliner. She licked a bead of moisture from her luscious, bottom lip and kept her eyes on his. The corny cliché “cutting the sexual tension with a knife” was the only thing that came to mind as the two of them assessed each other from across the living room. Over the past two years, Chase had become so used to Lacy’s glares that anything else was like trying to understand a foreign language. Her eyes left his face and touched his chest before lowering to his nether regions. In about point zero-five seconds, said regions sprang to life and pulsed against his zipper. He almost shifted to hide the result of his reaction but stayed where he was. Better to let her see what she did to him, if only to coax a reaction out of
her.
Coaxing reactions out of Lacy had fast become one of his favorite pastimes.

“What would you say if I agreed?” Her soft, bedroom voice dropped an octave as if she didn’t want Lily to hear.

The baby, completely oblivious to their conversation, babbled over a book she’d pulled out of her diaper bag. “I’d say,” he answered slowly, “that you’re treading in dangerous water.”

A mischievous glint lit up her cat-like eyes. “You’re the one who brought it up.”

That he did. And what in the holy hell had he been thinking making a comment like that? Any other woman would have laughed it off. Leave it to Lacy to call his bluff. It was actually kind of amusing. Debating a hypothetical affair with her was the most fun he’d had all day.

The intense, sexually charged moment lasted a few more rapid heartbeats before being interrupted by a knock on the front door. Chase had enough time to stand from his chair before his brother and Avery walked in. The married couple looked satisfied and refreshed from their kid-free evening out.

As usual, Avery’s hair was styled in its perfect, not-a-hair-out-of-place fashion. The sophisticated up-do suited the crisp, stick straight, Texas Bluebonnet dress that fell just above her knees. One would never know of her background from talking to her. She was one of the most grounded, big-hearted people Chase ever had the pleasure of knowing. And she made his brother grin like the Cheshire Cat. That in itself was reason enough to love her. But it didn't hurt that Avery always looked like she belonged in a limousine headed to a star-studded party in Beverly Hills rather than Trouble, Wyoming. Everything about her polished appearance screamed, “I come from money.”

Lily squealed when she saw her parents and crawled as fast as her pudgy arms and legs could carry her. Her two-toothed, slobbery grin stretched from one miniature ear to the other as Avery scooped Lily up and tossed her in the air.

“Mama missed you, sweetheart,” Avery cooed and placed loud smooches on her daughter’s chipmunk cheeks.

“She give you any trouble?” Noah asked as he stuffed toys back in the diaper bag.

“She’s never any trouble. I would ask what you two did, but the wrinkled shirt is a dead giveaway,” Chase muttered so Avery wouldn’t hear. Noah’s only rebuttal was another stupid grin.

“Hey there, Lacy,” his brother called out to Chase’s visitor who decided to remain in the background. “You’re, uh, not working tonight?” Noah’s question was accompanied by a suspicious glance thrown in Chase’s direction. Chase ignored his brother’s look that said, “What in the heck is she doing here?”

Instead of answering Noah’s question, she said, “Your daughter is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Clever, little evasive Lacy wasn’t fooling Chase. Her once relaxed limbs were now folded across her too-thin frame. A typical defensive move if Chase ever saw one. The ever-present, mile high, protective wall was firmly in place, keeping any priers safely out. His brother included. The move brought Chase’s too-curious side out.

If Noah picked up on the underlying currents, he didn’t let on. “Isn’t she, though?” He ticked his daughter’s wet chin. “Lucky for her she looks like her mother.”

Avery rolled her chocolate brown eyes. “You always say that, but we both know better. Lacy, you have to come to Courtney’s welcome home party next month. I’ll send you an invitation.” She went on as though Lacy had been waiting with baited breath.

“I’d love to come. I haven’t seen Courtney in years. That is, if the boss will give me the night off.”

Chase directed his attention from Lacy’s bare feet to her face. None of the tension that had her body practically vibrating only moments before showed on her angelic face. One of her blond brows arched above her eye. The little witch was testing him. Well, he could dish out as good as she could give. He folded his arms across his chest. “That all depends on your performance.”

The gleam in her eyes turned into a glare as they narrowed.
Yeah, right back at you, sweetheart.

Someone cleared their throat. Chase turned at the sound and found Noah and Avery staring at him with Lily once again shoving her whole fist in her mouth. A pregnant pause filled his living room as no one said anything.

“So…thanks for watching Lily,” Avery offered, in a pretty poor attempt to fill the void.

Noah had the gall to actually smirk, which Chase didn’t much appreciate since his brother read more into the situation than there was. Setting Noah straight would have to be his first order of business. Tomorrow. For now he’d have to deal with Lacy and whatever she had on her mind.

Noah rocked back in his heels and gestured with his thumb toward the door. “I guess we’ll go now.”

“Uh, yeah. Okay.”
Geez, dumbass. Real articulate
.

He walked his brother and sister-in-law to the door. Avery stepped through first with Lily in her arms, the little girl staring back at Chase with her round, thickly-lashed eyes. Noah stopped before continuing down the walkway. “What’s that all about?”

Chase was already shaking his head before Noah had all the words out. “Not now. I don’t even know myself.”

With a pointed look and another devilish smile, Noah said, “Good luck.” He turned on his heel, whistling some stupid, cheerful tune and climbed into his SUV.

Even though he couldn’t see her, Chase felt her gaze linger on his backside. The attention felt like a woman’s soft fingers floating over his hot skin, making his dick twitch in response. Just when did Lacy start having this effect on him? The fact that he didn’t have an answer was as unnerving as what she did to him.

He turned, knowing he’d find her watching him and sure enough, she was. Her bottomless green eyes searched his for several heat-filled seconds. He remained by the door, waiting for her to make a move. She remained coiled up in his chair, her legs crossed in front of her, and her arms folded in her lap. Her long hair cascaded over her shoulder like a golden waterfall. Despite her serene expression, Chase sensed something else just beneath the surface. What exactly that was, Chase hadn’t figured out. Could have been sexual tension with the way she’d been eying him all night; like he was a prime steak and she wanted to slather A1 Sauce all over him. Chase had seen probably a dozen layers to Lacy’s personality. Lacy had always been very choosy with who she let get close much less exposed all her inner workings to. Brody had been one of the few people who’d seen the candid Lacy. Chase wasn’t sure how his brother had always been able to peel back the onion layers to sweetness within. And Chase was… well, he wasn’t sure what he’d been to Lacy. For as long as he’d known her, he’d gotten the feeling Lacy was very careful which part of herself she showed to him. The idea should have annoyed him. Instead, it intrigued him. He always did love a challenge.

Lacy abruptly stood, smoothing her paper-thin shirt over her sorry excuse for denim shorts. Chase forced his eyes to remain on her face instead of allowing his gaze to fall on her creamy thighs. Still, she remained silent as she took the empty beer bottle to the kitchen and disposed of it in the garbage. The silence in the room grew into its own entity both of them refused to acknowledge. Both were too stubborn to break it first.

Finally he couldn’t stand the growing static in his ears. “Headed home?”

“I suppose.” She leaned one hip against the countertop and slid the tips of her fingers in her shorts pockets. “Thanks for the beer.”

“Any time.”

Well, they managed to exchange half a dozen words before they went back to the staring again. That was certainly progress.

“Why’d you come here, Lace?”

The delicate muscles in her throat moved as she swallowed. “I don’t know. Would you believe I was just in the neighborhood?”

He couldn’t help the upturn of his mouth. “No.”

“I guess I’m busted then.”

“That you are.” He made no attempt to hide his assessment of her. He let his eyes wander from her face down to her tiny, feminine feet. Her shirt, not only see-through, looked like it was held together by a few fragile threads. The frayed shorts had no doubt been cut from a pair of equally pathetic jeans, and they’d been cut too short. They made her legs look like they were a mile and a half long, more than enough length to wrap around his hips while he slipped with agonizing slowness into her…

She needed to leave. Now.

“I need to get home.” As if she’d read his x-rated thoughts, she yanked her purse up from where she’d dropped it on the floor and pulled it onto her shoulder with jerky movements.

Sweet, little innocent Lacy Taylor had no idea the power she held over a man. A man like him Unknowing women like her were the most dangerous kind.

“I guess I’ll see you at work tomorrow night.”

Chase didn’t move from his spot by the door as Lacy stopped in front of him. Her bare, soft arm brushed along his harder one as she reached for the door knob. A shock of awareness shot from his fingertips down to his groin, making every hair on his body stick straight up as if her body contact had electrocuted him. She must have felt the sensation too. Her eyes lifted to his and lingered two seconds too many. Chase took advantage of the opportunity and snaked one arm around her slim waist. He expected to be able to feel every one of her ribs. Instead were subtle curves and a softness only found on a woman. The feeling surprised him as did most things concerning Lacy Taylor.

He didn’t attack her with his mouth like he initially wanted to. Her body slowly came against his, pressing in all the right places, from her small breasts to her trim thighs. Her gaze lowered to his mouth and her small, pink tongue darted out and licked across her lower lip. For the second or third time that night, his dick thickened and this time, nudged her belly. He knew she felt the evidence of his arousal when her eyes widened at the contact. Her breath went from slow and even to rapid and huffy, fanning across his neck.