“Let me grab a towel for you,” he said, darting back into the kitchen.
“I’m such a klutz,” Lacey said to Edith, as the man returned with a dishtowel.
“Well, you weren’t expecting to be startled like that.” Her eyes filled humor, Edith looked at the man. “Oh, but that’s right! You had offered to take my old bag of bones out for a night on the town. Time flew by me this afternoon. I’ve enlisted Lacey’s help for the fall fundraiser this year. You remember Lacey from Don’s funeral?”
“Of course. Mick Riley.” He extended his hand.
She took it, and the feel of his skin touching hers in the simple gesture nearly knocked her breathless. “Lacey Owens.”
Edith cocked her head to one side with a coy grin. “Lacey and I have been talking and laughing for hours. Just the breath of fresh air I needed. I really am exhausted now, though. Do me a favor and take Lacey out in my place. If I had any energy, I’d be making her dinner right now to thank her for all this help she’s giving me.”
Lacey tried to wrench her eyes away from Mick, looking intimidating in his Navy uniform, his chest covered in a mysterious array of ribbons and emblems. Her heart fluttered at the sight. “No, really, Edith. I feel privileged to be a part of this benefit.”
“Lacey, I insist. It will lift a weight of guilt off me. I know how much time this is going to take you over the next few months. You’d be smart to at least get a nice meal out of it,” Edith finished with a wink.
“I couldn’t—”
Mick took Lacey lightly by the arm. “You’d better not argue with her, Lacey. I’ve known this woman since I was eighteen and I’ve never won an argument with her.”
Helplessly, Lacey was escorted out the front door by Mick, the feel of his gentle touch on her arm sending tiny shivers down her spine. “But we took separate cars,” she protested feebly.
“Details, details.” Edith waved her hands lightly.
Mick shook his head as Edith closed the door behind them. “I have to apologize for her. She and Doc were my sponsors my plebe year at the Academy, and she’s been trying to set me up with women ever since.”
“Plebe year. That’s your freshman year, right?”
“You’re obviously not from Annapolis. Don’t have the terminology down yet, do you?”
“I’m working on it.”
“During your first year at the Academy, you get assigned a sponsor. Sort of a second family for while you are here. For some, the family title sticks.”
“She seems like a wonderful woman.”
Mick nodded. “I’ll take full responsibility for explaining why we didn’t go out later. She shouldn’t have put you in that awkward position.”
Lacey felt an odd disappointment when she realized he wasn’t taking her to dinner. She knew she should refuse anyway. But if she had been forced to go out with him, well, then she’d just have to suffer through the dinner.
Though looking at him now, impressive in his khaki-colored uniform that fit snugly across his broad shoulders, maybe “suffer” wasn’t quite the right word.
They began walking back to their cars.
“I’m actually glad to have run into you again. I wanted to apologize,” he said, surprising her.
“For what?”
Mick laughed quietly. “Hitting on women at funerals is conduct unbecoming an officer. I think you could get me court-martialed for that.”
Lacey grinned. “If it makes you feel better, I nearly said ‘yes.’”
“Yeah, that’s the vibe I was getting.”
Lacey flushed, remembering how close she had come to lip-locking him in a parking lot. “Um, yeah. To be honest, I was very attracted to you. I’m flattered that it seems to be mutual.”
“Seems to be.”
His eyes met hers. As sparkling blue as she had remembered, they were homing beacons for undersexed women. Soft lashes. Tender lids she longed to kiss. She was losing herself in them again, enraptured, when she suddenly blurted, “It’s just that I’m really not in a place where I want to date anyone right now.”
He held back a laugh at the desperation in her voice. “I’ve been there myself. So I’ll respect that.”
She held his gaze, instinctively trusting him. Once a woman drew a line in the sand, she could tell he would not cross it. Unless she begged, she considered hopefully. Because looking at him right now, she realized it might come down to that.
Mick moved to open her car door for her. “Well, with all that settled, will you let me at least buy you dinner as friends? I don’t want to have to explain to Mrs. B why I let her down.”