“Yeah,” I growled and took a long gulp of the cold liquid.
“If you’re not ready to step away completely, we can make it work. This is Carson Creek after all, we take care of our own, and I’m sure between me and Valona and plenty of others in town, we can take care of Mickey for a week or two.”
Her words stole the breath from my lungs and I smiled at her like a fool. “You don’t know how much I appreciate the offer, Lacey. Hell you don’t know how sexy it is that you understand enough to make the offer.”
“Yeah, you’re turned on by babysitting offers?” She wiggled her eyebrows and laughed, and that little move lifted the weight off my shoulders a little more.
“I think it’s generous, beautiful blonds,” I shot back with a smile that faded. “Michelle wouldn’t understand, she would just see the same old pattern, and she wouldn’t be wrong Lacey.”
“So you’re staying but you’re going to be miserable about it.”
“No, not miserable. It was just a shock, that’s all,” I assure her because the more I talked about it with her, the less it felt like a sacrifice. “That call was just a reminder, a very real one, in fact. That’s not my life anymore, which is odd sure, but I’m not sad about it.”
“No?”
I shook my head. “It’s like dieting, the big victories come when you resist temptation, not the days you simply do the right thing. I got the offer and turned it down, which was me making the choice to stay here.”
Lacey stood, and I thought maybe the conversation had ruined the mood for the evening, but she walked around the table and sat in my lap, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing tight.
“I’m proud of you Levi. I know how hard that must have been, but you chose Michelle and Mickey. That’s huge.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you for reminding me that there are still good men in the world.” She lowered her head until our lips touched and flames exploded all around us. The kiss started as an inferno, lips and tongues touched, licked, nipped and tasted with the kind of wild abandon usually reserved for long lost lovers. She kissed me and I kissed her, chests heaving, breaths sawing in and out when we pulled apart and stared at each other in awe. In disbelief.
“Wow.” Lacey’s blue eyes were nearly black with desire, lips swollen from my kisses, cheeks a little scraped from my stubble. “Levi,” she moaned and put her lips to mine again, hungrier and hotter than the first kiss.
It was unlike anything I had ever experienced, this kind of intense passion, especially in the wake of such a serious conversation. But the longer our mouths fused, the more I wanted it. The more I wanted this woman.
“Lacey,” I growled against her mouth and stood.
Her head fell back, giving me full access to her graceful neck and I took full advantage, nibbling my way up to her chin and across her jawline before I kissed my way to her collarbone while she writhed in my arms. The plan had been to take her to the bedroom, but the inviting rug in front of the coffee table was perfect.
Just perfect.
I laid her down on the rug and stared down at her beautiful, flushed face, nipples hard through the thin cotton fabric of another one of those shirt dresses she loved so much. I was starting to love them too.
“Levi, I need you. Please.”
It wasn’t elegant or beautiful, the hungry, frenetic way we came together right there on the floor, but it was so intense my skin flamed with heat. I undressed her quickly, teasing only enough to make her squirm. “You are so damn beautiful.”
“I’m just me,” she whispered and tangled her fingers in my hair as my lips nibbled hers, her chin, her throat and down to that heated space between her gorgeous breasts. Lacey didn’t know how beautiful, how appealing she was, and that only made me more determined to show her.
“Just you is more than enough,” I assured her as I slipped my shoulders between her thighs to flick my tongue over the swollen nub peeking between her folds.
“Levi!” Her hips bucked off the floor and I tugged her clit between my lips and sucked. Hard. “Oh, Levi.” Her chest heaved, her fingers tightened around my locks and she growled.
I made Lacey Gregory growl, and next I was determined to make her mine.
“Levi,” She growled again. “No more. I need you. You. Now.”
Those words were the only ones that could have pulled me from her sweet nectar, the naked need in her tone and it was all for me. I could barely breathe when I looked down at her, completely naked and turned on. “Now?”
She nodded. “Right now.” Lacey was on her knees in front of me, helping me rid myself of the clothes that stood between us. Her fingers moved quickly to remove my pants and boxers in one quick shove down my hips. Her lips quirked into a hungry smile when she freed my erection and as I watched, unable to look away as she took me in her hands and then her mouth.