SEAL the Deal(50)
But it was Mick’s presence that Lacey found to be the most exhilarating part of the night. People had been attracted to him like moths to a candle, and Lacey was one of them. The sight of him in his dress uniform, shaking their hands, and accepting their thanks for his service to their country. Then he’d subtly encourage them to make a donation to the hospital. Laced smiled at the memory.
The guy would make a killing in real estate sales.
She wanted him.
Desperately.
“How was it?” Bess’s drowsy voice drew Lacey reluctantly back into the present.
“Oh, no. Did I wake you?”
“I was already awake. I fell asleep at five, would you believe? My sleep patterns are so screwed up.” She sat down beside her. “So?”
Lacey shook her head slowly, dreamily. “It was amazing. I couldn’t have imagined it going more perfectly. I passed out so many cards. I really think I’m going to get some serious business out of this.”
“So that’s the only reason you’re glowing? The business you’ll get?”
Lacey was silent for a few moments, and then answered honestly, “No. It was Mick. The glow is definitely from Mick.”
“Why aren’t you doing something about that then, Lacey? He’s not going to wait around forever for you to become some real estate giant, you know. I’d hate to see you let him slip through your fingers.”
“I know. But being with Mick would just end up hurting me in the end.”
“Mick would never hurt you.”
“Of course he’d hurt me. He as good as told me he would. He said he’s not looking for anything long-term. That would break my heart if I got too involved.”
“Men always say that, Lacey. They change their minds.”
“Men don’t change. You of all people know that.”
Bess frowned. “Men don’t change their nature. But they do change their minds.” She shifted her belly weight and put her feet up on the coffee table. “Do you know something?”
“What?”
“I didn’t like Mick when I first met him.”
“You didn’t?”
“No. A build like that scares the hell out of me. And there’s just no hiding it under the clothes. I met him when he was taking you out to dinner that first time. He showed up in his uniform—the brownish one, you know?”
“His khakis.”
“Yeah. And it does nothing to camouflage a man’s muscles. All I could think was how a guy like that could do some serious damage. I was so scared for you, I actually wrote down his license plate number.”
“Is that why you slipped your pepper spray in my purse?”
“Yep.”
Lacey turned to her intently. “Mick would never hurt me, you know that now, right? He’d never hurt any of us. He’d die first.”
A smile crept over Bess’s face. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I said, he’d never hurt me.”
“You said he’d never hurt you?” Bess repeated.
Lacey was a tad frustrated. “Yes. That’s what I said.” She paused, the realization suddenly apparent. “Oh, I get it. He’d never hurt me.”
Bess rested her hands stoically on her belly and smiled. “Thanks for finally agreeing with me. Now what’s holding you back?”
***
“You want to grab a beer?” The way Mick barked it into the phone made it sound more like a direct order than a question.
Jack’s muffled voice came through on other end of the call. “It’s past midnight and you want to go get a beer? What are you, in your twenties again?”
“I need to unwind,” Mick grumbled. What he needed was to erase the image of Lacey in that damn dress from his brain. Even worse, he had to shake this unfamiliar feeling he had as he had watched her happily handing out her business cards, making contacts, building her dream.
He should be picturing her naked right now. Sprawled out on that big bed in the hotel suite, begging for him to take her.
He shouldn’t be thinking of how adorable she was with that hopeful look on her face, her career finally taking shape.
Naked and panting. That’s the way he should want her. Right?
Instead, his best sex fantasies about her were taking a back seat to imagining her joy at her first waterfront house sale. Or picturing her pride as she moves up the ladder within the real estate company. Hell, he wasn’t even planning on being around for that. He’d be long gone.
This just wasn’t natural. If it kept up, he might start thinking he was in love with her.
Not possible.
What had he been thinking? That Lacey would suddenly decide that she was content to have a fling? She wasn’t that type. She wasn’t his type. And he couldn’t become her type—not with the life he had planned for himself.