by Dawn Atkins
"Stay out of this," the little jerk said.
The air went cold with tension.
"I am in it," he said levelly. "Lacey and I mean something to each other." Max squeezed Lacey tightly against him. She grinned up at him, triumphant. Not so fast, he wanted to warn her. He'd get rid of Pierce, all right, but he planned on teaching her a little lesson afterward.
"Can't you see that Lacey's playing games?" Pierce said.
"She wouldn't do that. You wouldn't play games about anything as serious as the thing between us, would you, darlin'?" he asked her, squeezing her a little too hard.
"Um, no, of course not," she said, then gulped.
"There. Ya see," he said to Pierce. "So, I think you'd better stop pestering her." Max stood, lifting Lacey to her feet at the same time. He took a step forward. He could take this guy. And, he was annoyed to notice, he kind of wanted to try.
Pierce stood still for just a second while Max gave him a Cowboy Avenger look. Kind of like the look that had sent many a bookkeeper back to revise his figures, except more gritty.
It worked. Pierce stepped backward out of punching range. From the door, he said, "She's just using you."
"And I thank God for it. I hope she uses me the hell up."
Pierce made a disgusted sound, turned and left. The door clanged after him. Max watched him go, then closed the blinds, flipped the Open sign to Closed and locked the door.
"I don't think he noticed anything about the café, do you?" Lacey asked anxiously. "You can't see much from the diner and he's never been here before, so the Quonset hut wouldn't throw him."
"I think the last thing on his mind was the café, Lacey," Max said, walking toward her with his most seriously sexual look.
Probably the jerk was already on his cell phone squealing to Wade about the cowboy making out with his sister. The irony wasn't lost on Max that he'd managed to stay out of Lacey's bed all this time only to be accused of it because of a crazy scheme she'd cooked up.
"Thanks, Max, for going along with me," Lacey said hesitantly, taking a backward step.
"Going along with you? Why wouldn't I, when it was the truth?" He grabbed her by the waist tight against him. "I had no idea you were serious, Lacey. I thought you just wanted a boy-toy. This changes everything."
"Does it?" Lacey stared up at him, her eyes wide with shock. He fought a grin. He'd have to answer to Wade soon enough, but in the meantime, he'd teach Lacey the danger of playing with fire. He just hoped he could do it without getting singed.
"Oh, yeah." He gave her an I-mean-business kiss, then pulled back, trying not to laugh at the amazement on her face.
"Reeeally?" She snatched that puffy lip between her teeth worriedly and looked like she wanted to bolt.
Well, whaddya know. Here was the answer to the problem of getting Lacey to lose interest in him! All he had to do was call her bluff and she'd head for the hills. Maybe set her sights for a biker instead of a cowboy next time.
"Really," he said, leveling his gaze at her. "Now I see we have a future together."
"We h-h-have?"
"Sure. I'll be taking off in a month and you can come with me. You'll be done here anyway with the café and all. I was thinking of heading up to Oregon, maybe do some logging."
"Logging?"
"Yeah. I'll log and you can keep house in one of the cabins out there. Sometimes the plumbing's a little iffy, but, hell, you've got the great outdoors for your potty. You told me how much you love being outside. And for baths you can heat water over the wood stove – after you gather the wood, of course. As long as you look out for bears and snakes."
"Bears and snakes? Max, we need to think about this. I don't know about me and logging…"
"Maybe you'd like Colorado better," he said to drive home his point. "There's a sheep ranch I know where they'd hire me. Now, sheep are a lot more work than cattle, but maybe you'd get into it. Help with the shearing. Dye the wool, maybe knit me a sweater for the long, cold winters."
"I have a job in Phoenix, Max. I can't move. And I don't even know how to knit."
"Don't you want us to stay together?" He tried to look sad.
"Well, I…" She studied him, her green eyes clouded with worry in her pale-as-flour face. She was chewing the hell out of that bottom lip. He'd love to get in a nibble himself. He felt sorry for her and intensely aroused at the same time. What the hell, maybe just one kiss.
When his lips touched Lacey's, Max felt like he'd touched a live wire. His entire body vibrated with wanting her. Lacey made a little sound of surrender in the back of her throat and their tongues met like long-lost friends. His fingers kneaded her back, then moved up to the back of her head, into those thick curls, until he could feel the skull of that precious head that held her diamond-hard ambitions and ridiculous schemes. He cupped her head and held her close to him.
She trembled against his upper body. Her fingers went into his hair. She pressed herself against him so hard she seemed to want to crawl inside him, and he wanted her to. Oh, how he wanted her to. His hands moved to her blouse. With a quick jerk he untucked it, then slid his fingers under the fabric to press into her soft skin for a second before he went where he wanted to go – under the lace of her bra to caress the breasts that had been taunting him since she smeared coffee grounds across them that first day. He found the front clasp of the bra and flicked it open. The cups flipped away and he had full possession of her breasts, soft and solid and better than he'd imagined.
Lacey was moaning into his mouth, then trying to say something. He had to touch more of her. He needed to get this blasted blouse out of the way to allow full range of motion, then take off his own shirt. Distantly, he knew this was a mistake. He'd been playing with fire to teach her a lesson, but now he could smell something burning. Him. But he didn't care.
He'd released her mouth, and gone for her buttons when Lacey whispered, "Maybe we could work something out."
"Huh?" he mumbled, still dazed.
"Maybe I could visit you in Oregon and you could visit me in Phoenix and—"
"What?" His fingers froze on button number two, as the reality of her words reached him. He looked at Lacey, her eyes cloudy with lust, her mouth kiss-reddened, her skin flushed. She was sex-crazed, pure and simple. He knew the score and he had to take charge.
He did the only thing he could do. He pretended she'd been joking. "Very funny, Lace," he said. His chuckle sounded choked and dry.
"Huh?" She shook herself, then blinked. The flash of hurt in her eyes made his heart ache. He almost dropped the routine and told her everything – about his promise to Wade, his fake cowboyhood, everything. But that wouldn't help. He stuck to the best thing. "You were just kidding me," he said. "Going along with me like I went along with your Pierce act."
"Oh. Sure," she said with an even worse laugh than his. "Right." She backed away, straightening her blouse, reaching under it to re-attach her bra, a parts tightening move he tried not to watch.
"You had me going there for a second." He gave her a gentle buddy-slug in the arm. Her face was so translucent, he could see every feeling. He felt like a complete jerk. His only consolation was that pretending it hadn't happened would be the best thing for her.
"Yeah." She laughed and slugged him back, but she looked completely miserable, like a cat in the rain.
"Well, I better get going," he said, moving away, ignoring the way his pants pinched. He hoped she couldn't see his erection. Between the saddle horn and false alarms with Lacey, his parts were getting quite the workout. "See you tomorrow?" he said, backing toward the door.
"See you," she said, but she didn't meet his gaze, and she looked absolutely defeated. He wanted to make love to her just to make her feel better, but he knew that would be a huge mistake. For her, and, suddenly he realized, for him, too.
* * *
Max went straight to the phone and called Wade. He got voice mail at the office, where Wade seemed to live. No answer at home, either. Damn. He began
to pace. How long would Pierce wait to tell Wade? Maybe he'd pout a day or two. Nah. He looked like a whiner. Lacey doesn't want me anymore. She's sleeping with a cowboy … boo-hoo-hoo.
Max couldn't let Wade get the wrong picture, dammit. He'd behaved honorably … more or less. He'd let his libido scream for more and fought it down. He deserved credit for that, despite what that schmuck Pierce would say. Wasn't Wade's cell number somewhere around here? This qualified as an emergency for sure.
"Wade here." The man actually sounded jovial. Max could hear laughter and music in the background. Great, Wade was at a social function. Just the time he wanted to hear that Max had been making out with his sister.
"Max McLane. Sorry to bother you after hours, but—"
"Hey, Max. Glad you called. I looked over the new statement you faxed up. Looked good, except I'm not sure you should have bought that equipment new."
"Those cooling units don't depreciate and with their lowered cost they'll pay for themselves in six months," he said quickly, wanting to get to the point, "but, listen—"
"I think the grand opening costs are a tad high, too."
"It's within range. And it's part of the marketing budget, which we'll balance with reduced advertising the first month." Plus, it would give Lacey more to be proud about, but he wouldn't share that little detail.
"You're the numbers man," Wade said with a light chuckle. "I trust you."
Maybe not, after what he had to say. Max grimaced. "Listen, Wade, I need to talk to you about Lacey."
"She didn't pick up on the dummied budget, did she?"
"No." She thought he was a whiz with numbers. She didn't know Wade had authorized an infusion of capital and, if Max had anything to say about it, she never would.
"Good," Wade continued. "She's getting what she wants, so she should be happy. Is she happy, Max?"
"Happy? About the project? Yes," he answered truthfully. As for the rest, he was afraid to think about it. "Listen, something just happened and I want to explain it to you before Winslow does."
"Winslow? What's Pierce have to do with anything?"
"He was just here at the café."
"Down there?"
"Yes. There was an incident with Lacey."
"An incident?" Wade went instantly tense. "What happened? Did Lacey get hurt?"
"No. She's fine." More or less. "Evidently, Lacey had broken up with the guy, but he wouldn't accept it, so she wanted to … um, illustrate her point."
"What did she do?" Now Wade sounded weary, braced for another Lacey stunt.
He took a deep breath and spoke quickly. "She suggested that we – she and I – pretend we were, um, seeing each other."
"Seeing each other? You and Lacey?"
"Yeah. So we did that—" he prayed Wade wouldn't ask him to draw that erotic little picture, "in front of Pierce. I'm sorry, Wade. It was ridiculous, and I should have argued with her, but I just didn't…"
His words faded and Wade was silent. Here it came: How could you? I trusted you with my sister and you took advantage of her, you lecherous bastard. You destroyed her engagement, ruined her future…
Then, abruptly, Wade laughed. "And Pierce actually fell for that?"
"Yeah. As a matter of fact, he did." And why not? Max had almost been convinced himself.
"It's just so impossible. You and Lacey, come on."
"Yeah, impossible." He tried to laugh along, but Wade's reaction irked him.
"She thinks you're a cowboy, for God's sake."
"Some women have a thing for cowboys, you know," he said, a little grumpily.
"Oh, right. The 'bad boy' thing. Not Lacey. She's just trying to prove her independence. From me, mostly, but looks like Pierce got lumped into the mess. That's a damn shame. Those two are good together. They'll probably work it out once she's back here."
"I don't know. He struck me as kind of, I don't know," a weak, weasely jerk "wrapped up in himself."
"Oh, really? You think so?"
"Just a first impression." And I could take him. The primitive reaction bothered him still.
"I'm sorry Lacey dragged you into that," Wade said.
"Not a problem." It wasn't exactly cruel and unusual punishment, he wanted to say. He could still taste her sweet mouth and feel the weight of her breasts in his hands… Stop it. He was supposed to be apologizing for what had just happened, not reveling in it.
"My sister is the most difficult, stubborn girl in the world."
She's not a girl, she's a woman, you idiot, he wanted to say. From the top of her curly head to the tips of her edible toes. And so sexy that no man in his right mind would turn her down. Instead, he took a deep breath and said, "So, anyway, I just wanted to tell you what happened, so if Pierce calls you, you don't get the wrong idea."
Again Wade chuckled. "Relax, Max. I know you'd never make a move on my sister. You're my stand-in. Thank God it was you and not some real ranch hand who'd maybe get rough with her when she changed her mind." Wade blew out a breath. "I'm just glad you're there watching out for her."
Great. Now Max really felt like a heel. Wade trusted him so much he'd never believe Max would be cad enough to sleep with Lacey.
He hung up, but instead of feeling relieved that Wade still trusted him, he felt strangely deflated. And a little resentful of an undercurrent he'd picked up in the conversation. Like maybe Wade's trust was based not so much on his faith in Max's honorable intentions, but on his sense that Max wasn't Lacey's type. Type meaning class. That possibility started an anger simmering in him.
An anger fed by the alarming realization that he wanted Lacey. Bad. His desire for her had grown with each moment together to the point where he could barely contain it. It wasn't her ridiculous ploys to trick him into sex. And it wasn't just lust, though that was definitely part of it. It was her. Just her. She'd crashed through every barrier he set up against her with her bubbly energy, her fierce, vulnerable eyes, her determination, her intelligence. He loved the way she nibbled her lip. The way she looked up at him, her every feeling on her face. It had become a moment-by-moment struggle to keep from crushing her to his chest and kissing them both to madness. He certainly couldn't laugh it off like Wade had.
And he loved how kind she was – supporting Ramón, even when he was being ridiculous, hiring his siblings to help the family out and always looking out for Jasper, whose workshop was a hole in the ground where she poured money.
She had such a generous heart. If only she gave herself the kind of support she gave those around her. That's why he was so glad she trusted him, depended on him for his ideas and his business sense. That made him feel good.
And horrible. Because he was a liar and a fraud. Even if it was for her own good.
And if she knew who he was? Max sighed. If she knew he was an out-of-work accountant about to try his hand at construction, her attraction would probably pop like a bubble. Lacey wanted a high-profile corporate life – a life Max had left for good.
Wade was right. They were an unlikely match. So, he should just focus on the job before him. They both should. Lacey's job was to prove herself to her brother with the Wonder Coffeehouse. Max's was to make sure she did it without blowing the budget.
Yep, a relationship with Lacey would be absolutely impossible, no question. And that was exactly what made Max think they just might belong together. Holding that thought, Max headed for Lacey's trailer.
* * *
Chapter 8
«^»
When Lacey opened her door to Max, her eyes went wide and her pixie grin flickered, then faded. "What's wrong?" she asked soberly, as if only something terrible would bring him to her.
"We need to talk."
She blew out a breath. "Not you, too. That's what Pierce was always saying."
"Can I come in?"
"Okay," she said, hesitating. "If you think you have to." She backed up to let him in. Her face looked tired and her eyes were watery. He'd put that pain there and it made him ache all over. He'd
promised himself never to hurt her.
The small trailer seemed to close around him, making it hard to breathe. Lacey felt the closeness, too, because she backed away from him.
Stubbornly, he stepped closer. "I want to explain about what happened earlier."
"There's nothing to explain. I forced you into a little charade and you turned the tables on me. It was a joke. No biggie." She tried to laugh.
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"You didn't. And the important thing is you helped me get free of Pierce, once and for all."
"But I didn't mean to sound like I didn't care, because—"
"I know you meant well. Let it go." But her eyes were dark and her voice hollow. "Of course I couldn't go to a sheep ranch or a logging camp with you. You were right to make me see that. Pierce was right, too. I have been playing games, and I got so caught up in trying to get you to bed with me that I've been acting like a teenager. Making a pest of myself." Her voice wobbled.
"Not at all. You are incredibly attractive, Lacey." He gripped her by the shoulders so she looked up into his eyes. "Don't you know how hard it's been not to just grab you? I've had to fight like mad to keep from … you know."
"Don't. Please. Don't pretend." He saw her lip tremble, then she caught it between her teeth in that way that sent a charge through him. "It's ridiculous to get obsessive over something as stupid as sex. I lost focus. I've got to finish this renovation and then move on. My whole future's ahead of me."
She smiled through her tears and he saw how determined she was. And how vulnerable. And he realized he couldn't argue with her. And he couldn't kiss her. She was right. Her future was before her. And he couldn't be part of it. She deserved more than that arrogant twit Pierce, but she deserved more than him, too.
He released her arms. "You know, you're a remarkable woman, Lacey Wellington."
"I'm just me," she said, managing a smile.
And that was remarkable enough for any man.
* * *
Lacey shut the trailer door on Max's retreating form with an uneasy feeling there was something more Max had wanted to say. What was it? He'd seen something in her face that had made him hold back. She pulled open the door, started to call him.
