Texas Heroes_ Volume 1(163)

Later, he’d think about it, this sense of rightness, but for now, his attention was solely on her.

When the storm of tears abated, she snuffled and tried to pull away. Dev loosened his grip, but kept her within the circle of his arms.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice was low and shaky. She sniffled again, and he dug in his back pocket for a handkerchief, handing it to her.

“Thank you. I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Do you want to talk about it?”

She lifted her face to him, ravaged by tears, and he thought she’d never looked more beautiful.

“No.” With a shuddery breath, she went on. “Why are you here, Dev?” Her smile was faint and watery. “Do you plan to be my knight in shining armor every time I’m in trouble?”

Realizing that he wanted that too much shook Dev as badly as anything had in years.

He kept things light. “Galahad Marlowe, at your service. You want to make me a cup of coffee? Or how about a visit to Shorty’s? His donuts cure a multitude of ills.”

Lacey’s tremulous smile widened. “I don’t want to scare him, the way I look.”

Dev cupped her jaw in his hand. “You look beautiful, Lacey.”

Her eyes sparked gratitude, but within their depths he saw her devastation.

It was the worst kind of madness, but he wanted to soothe away her pain. So he held her face in his hands and lowered his mouth, brushing a simple, gentle kiss on her lips.

“Oh, Dev…” she sobbed, then gripped his wrists and opened to him, turning the simple kiss into something far deeper.

Dev closed his eyes to reason and sanity and gave himself over to the rush of emotion that swept through him like flames through dry tinder. This was her, the girl he’d never forgotten, the one who’d opened herself to him and granted him the right to be her first.

That he’d been robbed of that chance mattered not at the moment. That she’d had no faith in him and walked away didn’t figure. All he could feel, all he could think was that she was here, in his arms. Where she belonged.

He never wanted to let her go again. He tightened his arms around her so fast, so hard, that her breath escaped in a whoosh.

The tiniest sliver of reason tried to surface. But when he tried to recover his mind and pull back, Lacey moaned and slid her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his as though they could become part of one another.

Then a few doors down, a car door slammed, and Dev and Lacey bolted apart.

Her eyes were huge and dark, her breasts rising with every breath, her lips moist from his.

Dev stared at her and tried to remember that this was all wrong, that the timing couldn’t be worse. That he had to walk away. Now.

For an endless moment, they stared at one another, the air around them alive and crackling with hunger and longing. In Lacey’s eyes, he saw pain and knew he couldn’t walk away from her now. He would pay the piper later.

Dev turned away from her, breathing harshly, and reached inside her car for her purse. Gripping her slender shoulders in one arm, he spoke, his voice rough. “Let’s go inside, sweetheart.”

Lacey leaned into him and let him lead her inside.

But once there, neither knew what to do. Lacey pulled away from Dev and didn’t look at him as she offered. “I’ll make coffee. Why don’t you wait in here?” She fled down the hall.

Dev waited for a moment, calling himself ten kinds of fool, and eyed the door for escape.

Then he cursed, low and vividly, and threw caution to the wind, striding down the hallway after her.

Lacey’s hands were shaking as she tried to fill the grinder with beans. She wasn’t sure her legs would hold her. How could she have done that, thrown herself into the arms of the man who’d taken money to leave her once before?

She’d wanted to stay in those arms forever. Dev’s arms felt like the safest place in the world. Like the paradise she’d been banished from, just as she’d reached the gates. She’d searched for it, ever since.

How could that be?

She spilled grounds all over the counter and dropped her hands helplessly at her side, blinded by tears.

Was her father right about him? No. No. There was an explanation, there had to be. But she couldn’t discuss it. That would require telling Dev what had happened tonight. She couldn’t bear it.

She hadn’t heard Dev come in over the noise from the grinder, but he grasped her shoulders, settled her in the closest chair and began assembling the contents of the pot.

Lacey sank back gratefully. She couldn’t stand to think about all that she’d lost tonight.

Once he’d started the pot dripping, he turned around, and the silence was deafening. Lacey could feel his gaze on her, but she couldn’t meet it yet. She was drained, feeling like she could sleep for a hundred years.