Touching Lace (Vaughn)

“Is it a man? Because I thought we agreed to be exclusive.”

Oh my, the man had a rather intriguing jealous streak. Interesting. Pulling out the glass pot, Lacey began rinsing it and decided to put Nick out of his misery. Even if he had dragged her away from the best erotic dream of her life.

“I haven’t agreed to anything yet. But, no, it’s not a man. Just Patty and Mary. So, don’t go all caveman.”

“Little witch,” he snarled, but his voice did calm, she noticed. “How about four o’clock we meet at the gym? We’ll work out together and you can give me your answer then.”

“Yeah, that works for me, I guess.” Then something strange stirred in her belly as Lacey wondered what Nick had planned for the day. “What are you up to today?”

“I’m going to the office for a bit. There’s a big client I’ve been finessing and I want to take one last look at my sales pitch before Monday comes around. After that, I plan to annoy your brother for a while. Why?”

She heard him take a sip of something, probably coffee. Their mutual love for the dark brew was always something they had had in common. Then his words registered. He was meeting with her brother? Today? For some inexplicable reason the idea gave her a start.

“You’re going to see Merrick?”

“Uh, I was considering it. Is there a problem?”

Lacey wondered if there was a problem. He and Merrick were good friends and had been for quite awhile. Guys talked, didn’t they? Would Nick tell Merrick about the new twist in his relationship with her?

Then, as if reading her thoughts, Nick made a tsking sound. “I don’t kiss and tell, baby, you know better.”

She did know better and she was a rotten friend for even thinking he would. “Yeah, sorry. But Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“What if things get all muddled? I’m really scared,” she admitted in an uncharacteristic show of uneasiness.

“I know you are, but I won’t let it get muddled. You only need to trust me, baby. Everything will work out fine. You need a boost of confidence in the bedroom and I’m going to give it to you. Simple as that, right?”

Lacey tucked a filter into the basket. “I don’t know. I still need to think about this.”

“You always think everything through so thoroughly,” Nick reflected with a hint of an indulgent smile in his voice. “I can still remember the time you decided to cut your hair. It was always annoying the hell out of you and getting in the way of your workouts. I wanted so badly to tell you to leave it long. I wanted to have a chance to see it lying against your perfect, naked body. But then you took the plunge and did it anyway. I grieved over that hair. I sat in my house, alone, and drank a six pack as I imagined us having sex with nothing but your hair covering you.”

“I never knew. God, I swear I never knew.” How could she have been so blind? There was so much more to Nick. Lacey had the uncomfortable notion she’d been seeing her friend in black and white then suddenly someone flicked on a plasma screen and everything took on new dimensions.

“I know. We were friends, sweetheart, and whether you cut your hair, dyed it pink, or wore a Mohawk, it was a decision you had to make for yourself. In the end, it worked out fine, because I can still imagine fucking you, only now your hair isn’t in my way.”

Lacey clutched at the phone and groaned aloud. “Nick, you are seriously driving me crazy with all these little bombs you keep dropping on me!”

“Four o’clock?” he asked, hope and tenderness in his deep, sexy voice.

She sighed and gave in. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

They hung up, and Lacey was able to move again. She went to the freezer, her hands automatically reaching for the coffee she couldn’t live without, and wondered again what on earth she was thinking by not flat out saying no to Nick’s outrageous proposition of sex lessons.

Then she remembered her dream. Despite how dumb it might be to mix her friendship with sex, she was probably going to end up saying yes.

Searching for her favorite coffee cup and finding it in the sink, dirty, Lacey cringed. “Lord, I seriously need to get a grip on my lazy housekeeping ways.”

As she started washing the pink mug that read, “Don’t like my attitude? Send me an email at: [email protected]”, Lacey couldn’t help laughing at the irony of her situation.

“A personal trainer, needing a very personal trainer. How nuts is that?”

All joking aside, the truth was still there

staring her in the face like a black cloud. She did need help in the bedroom. Lacey was obviously too boring to hold a man’s attention. Evan was the perfect example.

If Nick was anything in real life like he was in her dream world then she was certain to end up a virtuoso in the fine art of sex.