Rafe walked back into the room with twin floor pillows and plopped them down near Lacey. He sat next to her, leaning back against the pillows, and held out his arms for her. "You don't mind just cuddling with me, do you?" he asked.
Lacey smiled, her heart beating faster at his perception. He seemed to understand what excited her and how to relax her. He invited her trust.
"Love it," she answered, sliding comfortably next to him, fitting her body smoothly against his side.
He yawned, and she thought she should be going home so they could both get some sleep. But it felt so right being in his arms. She had missed the touch of a man for so long, and couldn't ever remember having been treated so tenderly.
"Are you comfortable?" he asked.
"Uhmm." She snuggled closer and laid her head against his chest, listening to the strong heartbeat beneath her cheek. Rafe Chancellor, she thought, how was I ever lucky enough to have you find me?
Rafe was nibbling and blowing at her ear. Lacey smiled and turned her face to kiss his neck. "What time is it?" she mumbled.
"Probably about two o'clock," he answered, his tongue following the structure of her ear. "Let's go to bed."
"Two? In the morning?" She pushed away from him. "I have to go home."
"Why?" he asked, smiling, loosening his hold on her, but keeping her in his arms.
"I have to go into the boutique tomorrow. Don't you have work to do too?"
"Sure," he answered, "but I'd much rather go to bed with you."
What was it about Rafe that made everything about him so tempting? What was it about him that made it difficult for her to say no, when she wanted so badly to say yes and yes and yes?
Lacey leaned down and kissed him. "Sounds wonderful, but I have to get up in the morning."
He grinned his "little-boy-needing-tucking-in" grin and said, "I have an alarm clock. I'll even wind it for you so you won't be late in the morning."
Lacey laughed. He wanted her as badly as she wanted him, but he wasn't going to drag her by her hair to his bed if she didn't agree to go willingly. It had been a long time since she had encountered a man who showed such respect for her.
"You're tempting me on purpose," she accused.
He nodded with a "damn-right-and-proud-of-it" grin.
Lacey stroked his face, reluctant to leave him, yet knowing she had to.
Rafe yawned and smiled lazily. "If I fall asleep, you'll just have to take me back to my bed. And then you'll have to tuck me in to be sure I'm going to have a nice, comfortable night. And then you're going to have to come in beside me because I'm afraid of the dark and sleeping alone. And you'll have to take off all your clothes because we don't want to get them rumpled. That's the only way I'll be able to get to sleep." He closed his eyes. "I'm asleep now."
Lacey laughed. For such a sexy, arousing man, he had endearing qualities that he allowed her to see. She hugged him. "Nice try," she whispered in his ear, and thrust her tongue inside.
"That has a very strong power of arousing me," he warned her.
Lacey stopped what she was doing and sat up. "I'm happy to know that for future reference, but right now I'm going home. Would you like to let me out of your house?"
"You're sure you don't want to stay?" he asked, sitting up, propping his elbow on his knee.
"Oh, no. I wouldn't say that. I'd love to stay. But I'm not going to."
"I don't have any neighbors around for miles."
"I noticed that."
"I'll let you sleep on whichever side of the bed you want to."
He was giving her a soft-pressure sell that was difficult to resist. She shook her head, smiling.
"I won't do anything but just sleep with you."
Lacey smiled. He might be capable of that, but with this man beside her she didn't think she could handle a simple nap. "It's too soon, Rafe." She bit her lip. "Are you very disappointed? Do you mind?"
He shook his head. "No," he said, "because I meant what I said when I wanted to be your friend and lover. There's a lot more than sex I enjoy about you. Just remember I'll be waiting for you when you decide it's time."
Her heart warmed; he was capable of much more control than the men she had been dating recently. It wouldn't hurt to put his sentiments to the test, just for a few more days, until she couldn't stand to wait for him any longer.
He stood and reached down a hand to help her up, continuing the motion to carry her into his arms. Lacey clung to him, feeling sheltered, cared for, loved, even though no words of love had passed between them. She felt awed in his arms, that they should feel so strongly toward each other in such a short time. How often had her love affairs and crushes been one-sided? How often had the man almost taken it as a sign of manhood not to reveal his feelings toward her? How often had her dates played guessing games with her? When had she ever felt such deep caring?
Rafe turned with her against his shoulder and walked her into the kitchen. "See? Two-fifteen. I wasn't far off. Not bad for not wearing a watch," he said, looking at the clock on the stove.
"I noticed that about you," Lacey said, "because I don't wear one either. There's always someone around who has the correct time, and I seem to have a better built-in sense of time without one."
He walked with her out to the car. The cool night air reminded Lacey how long she had been here. It had been hot and sunny when she had driven out during the late afternoon.
Rafe laughed. "I get wound up a lot of times with people when I get excited about certain subjects and they'll come in to ask me a question. And they'll say, when they're in a hurry, 'Just give me the time, Rafe, don't tell me how the watch was put together.'" He laughed as she laughed with him.
Lacey stood on her tiptoes in her sandals to kiss him. "Thanks for inviting me out to the country."
"Anytime," he said. "If you're in the neighborhood, just drop in. The neighborhood is anything north of the coast."
"Oh," Lacey said, smiling. That meant no matter where she might be, she was just right next door as far as he was concerned. "Thanks, I might just surprise you."
"You already have," he answered, smiling, still holding her against him. "Do you have everything?"
"Uhm," she answered, thinking she didn't need anything when she was anywhere near him. And if she had left anything behind, she'd get it tomorrow or today or the next time she saw him. One thing she was certain of, she would see him again, and soon.
He opened her car door for her and waited for her to get settled inside, then bent down to kiss her one last time. "Drive carefully?"
"I will," she said, nodding.
The drive home seemed to take no time at all, filled as she was with thoughts of Rafe and their last twenty-four hours together. He knew exactly how long it would take her to drive home. As she walked through the kitchen for a glass of milk, the phone rang.
It had to be Rafe; no one else would be calling her at this time of the morning.
She answered the phone, impressed even further with his caring concern. This man backed up his feelings with actions. She'd have to get used to that, because she had a feeling he wouldn't value words as strongly in communicating messages to her.
Lacey climbed into bed with a smile still on her face. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this happy. Her work with the boutique had given her a lot of satisfaction and contentment, but this was pure honey-oozing happiness. For having known him such a short time, it seemed as if he had always been there and all that had gone before his arrival was insignificant, like a dusty book that she could shelve in a dark corner. The plot could vaguely be recalled if she allowed herself to think about it, but with the vitality of Rafe near her, there was no reason to dredge up past histories. Tomorrow, she thought. No, today.
Chapter Eight
Monday morning flew past for Lacey. But she didn't get much work accomplished; she was too busy telling Jane the details of her Saturday-evening date with Rafe Chancellor/R.C.
Friends of hers who stopped i
n at the boutique noticed the difference in her. "You're in love," one girl told Lacey. "There's a sparkle in your eyes that wasn't there last week."
"Is there?" Lacey blushed. It felt good to be bubbling over about a man in her life. She'd forgotten what that was like. And she'd never known a man like Rafe, whom she had locked minds with so immediately. She still couldn't believe she had learned so much about him, felt so comfortable around him as she did after knowing him a day and a half.
He was making it so easy for her to move into his life. And she'd already decided how she was going to do that, bit by bit, starting tonight, if he called her to come over for tea or go out to dinner. She would march right up to him and say, "I've decided to move into your life piece by piece. Here's the first piece." And she was going to hand him her favorite tin of almond-flavored tea.
She could hear him saying now, "Oh, okay," the way she had already caught him doing occasionally when she confronted him with one of her ideas. She liked the sense of equality he gave her; not only did he accept her career, but he seemed fascinated by her creativity. Unlike other men she had dated, he wasn't threatened by her work.
After she moved her tea onto his kitchen shelves, she might try leaving a toothbrush behind. Then she could drop a hair dryer here and a piano there (she'd have to do that subtly of course, stick it in a corner so he wouldn't be tripping over it all the time), and finally ease a closet full of clothes into place—just enough for overnight visits. After living with Dominick, she didn't think she ever wanted to move in with a man again on a live-in trial basis. They could do enough premarital experimentation while she kept her house and residence intact. It would be easier to make the break that way if things didn't work out.
Lacey sat at her desk in the attic room and realized what assumptions she was making. After only two days of knowing Rafe, she was already planning on being a permanent fixture in his life. He hadn't talked about old girlfriends, but chances were they were lurking somewhere in the background, ready to emerge just when she would least expect them. Ease up, she told herself. Let the man have some breathing room. He might not want you around all that much.
Lacey tried to put reins on her heart, which was leaping and bounding. But it wasn't easy. He was too good to be true and she wanted everything where he was concerned. But maybe she should sit down and tell him that, maybe she should lay her own ground rules with him and tell him she wanted nothing less than a complete relationship.
And blast it all, she loved him, after two days. No, really a week, she corrected herself. She had had a week to get to know him from his letters and from his friends before she had physically seen him. That was just as effective a way—and in some ways more so—of getting to know a person as meeting him superficially in a crowded room.
So many of Rafe's friends couldn't be wrong about him when they spoke so highly of him. Now that she had met him, she could see why they felt so strongly about him. He had that effect on people. He had that effect on women. How, she wondered, had she had the good fortune to find him unattached? Or was he? Maybe he just didn't have anyone special in Biloxi. There could be pining hearts all over the world. The mere thought gave her a pang of jealousy.
Stop that, she told herself. He's bound to have had love relationships in his past. He may again. You have to give him that freedom to choose whom he wants to be with and just hope it turns out to be you. Holding a person against his will wasn't loving. It was cruel and inhuman punishment, the way it had been with her "trial marriage" to Dominick. He had held her to him with mental manipulation. That had been almost stronger than ropes and bonds.
One thing she knew for certain this morning. Next time he asked, she would forfeit her last thirty-seven excuses and fall in love with him. It was senseless to keep denying she wanted him when she wanted everything about him. Maybe she never had gone to bed with any man as quickly as this, but she had also never felt as strongly about any man, not even after months of dating.
Lacey glanced at the clock. She'd been daydreaming for hours about Rafe. It was almost lunchtime. What, she wondered, was he doing for lunch? Where, in fact, could she get in touch with him? He had told her about his management-consultant business in the most general terms. She hadn't thought to ask him for a phone number or address. She didn't even know how his business would be listed in the phone book.
Never mind, she told herself. Let him have normal days. He'd need them if her fantasies went into effect. She smiled, wondering how he was going to feel with all her attention.
Just give him enough breathing space, she reminded herself. Let him make the first moves at the beginning, just to be sure what you're feeling isn't all one-sided. But after last night, she knew it wasn't.
"Jane, I'll see you after lunch," Lacey called as she hopped down the stairs from her attic room and left the boutique.
If she had had time to think during the whirlwind date Rafe had taken her on this weekend, she could have planned to send him some sort of thank-you note in the mail. Something simple, just to let him know she was thinking about him. Like those cards that read, "The pleasure was all you."
After all the cards and letters he had sent her leading up to the date, he would appreciate something like that.
She pulled into her driveway and checked her mailbox, thinking he might have sent her something similar. But there was nothing of interest in today's mail. As long as he called tonight, she wouldn't mind missing any mail. He would call, she told herself. But if he didn't, she'd call him, just to talk, just to hope that during the conversation he'd invite her out to the country again, for tea or coffee or…
Lacey tingled at the thought.
She rummaged halfheartedly in the refrigerator, not at all interested in food when there was that man on her mind. She needed to lose weight anyway, and his super-slim frame would be an incentive for her to cut down on calories. She slammed the refrigerator shut. Why eat when she wasn't hungry?
Someone was knocking at her door. Lacey jumped at the sound; she hadn't heard a car pull into the drive.
She raced to the side window and peeked through the curtains. Rafe's Excalibur sat in the driveway just behind her car.
Lacey's heart thumped at the sight. She ran to the side door and opened it to him, grinning. "I was just thinking about you," she said, beaming. "What are you doing here?" Her look drew him in. Her arms automatically pulled him to her.
"I was hoping you'd come home for lunch," he said, stepping through the doorway and shutting the door behind him with his boot.
His lips were cool against hers, devouring but gentle, his mustache slightly tickling against her upper lip. He held her tenderly against him as he mumbled, "That's quite a welcome for lost and found."
"Were you lost?" she asked. "Are you found?"
He smiled. "Your sunglasses," he said, and she felt him putting something from one hand onto the countertop behind her. "It's a pretty bright day today. I thought you might need them."
"Did I lose them?" she asked, taunting him with her mouth, feeling his breath warm against her skin. Now that he mentioned it, she recalled wearing them over to his house yesterday in the heat of the afternoon. She hadn't remembered taking them out of her hair, but must have done so at some point and then forgotten them with her early-morning departure in the dark.
He didn't answer her, unable to resist the teasing nearness of her lips any longer.
Lacey took her time, slowly tracing the shape of his lips with the tip of her tongue, pressing her body closer to his and tightening her arms around his neck as she ran her fingers into his hair at the base of his neck. She felt him relaxing against her, pulling her to him.
Rafe sighed against her lips, and Lacey drew back. "Now that you're here, you're just in time for lunch. Have you eaten?"
He looked down at her, smiling, shaking his head, and she could tell by the look in his blue eyes that food was the last thing his body wanted.
"Good," she said, remaining in his arms as she contin
ued to work her fingers up the base of his neck into his hair, massaging and rumpling as they went. "You can have lunch with me." She glanced over her shoulder toward the refrigerator. "Unfortunately, there's not much here," she hurried to explain before he could interrupt and invite her to go out to lunch with him. "So it won't be a very filling lunch. Although I can promise it will be a fulfilling one."
She paused to see what his reaction was and if he was beginning to understand the nature of her invitation. His eyes had narrowed slightly. The smile was still on his face, but the message wasn't completely clear yet.
"I thought we'd have a very simple menu. Lettuce, tomatoes and ravishes." She pronounced the last distinctly, so that he wouldn't mistake her intentions.
His eyebrows rose at that and she stepped slightly out of his arms, but let her hand run down his arm to take his hand. "I hope you'll forgive my housekeeping. But"—she paused and then looked apologetically at him—"I haven't made my bed yet."
If there had been any doubt before, there was none now. "Is this a businessman's special?"
"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "This is a Rafe Chancellor special. New to the menu. I hope you don't mind being a guinea pig."
He chuckled then and let her lead him farther into the room. "You're a character."
"Does this mean you'd rather not?" She stopped. He might have plans for this afternoon that excluded her. Or maybe he didn't like forward women. Lacey blushed, worried now that she had gone too far in revealing her true feelings. She'd never taken control with a man like this before. She wasn't sure what she would do once they got to the bedroom, but hoped he would by that time take over the lead in this situation.
What must he think of her for being so aggressive? It was as if she did this all the time, when in fact she had never done such a thing with any man, not even Dominick when they were living together.
She just couldn't help it. Something about Rafe brought out a playful/loving side of her that she was eager to explore.
"I'd rather yes," he said, and started to unbutton her silk blouse.
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