Anne Rainey - Touching Lace Read Online Free PDF Page A

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.
    Touching Lace

    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.
    Anne Rainey

    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