by Ava McKnight
He grinned again. “My thoughts, exactly.”
I went up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. His arms tightened around me and he instantly took control of the kiss, his tongue plunging deep and tangling with mine. He had me burning from the inside out in a heartbeat. And I loved it.
From behind us, I heard a very flirty, “Um-hmm.”
I dragged my mouth from Mike’s and glanced at Biel over my shoulder.
She smiled. “The super-hunk?”
“Would I be kissing any other man?”
With an appreciative look, she said, “No, you are fiercely loyal. One of the many things I adore about you, Lacey.”
Mike whispered in my ear, “Should I be worried?”
I laughed. Pulling away from him, I said, “Not at all. You heard the woman. I am fiercely loyal.” Gesturing to my new friend, I added, “Mike, this is Biel McKinley. Biel, Mike Lucas.”
They shook hands and Mike said, “Thanks for taking those shots of my girlfriend. Your pictures definitely say a thousand words.”
She beamed as she lightly clapped her hands together. “It worked!”
“I think so,” I told her, my stomach flipping at Mike’s easy use of the word girlfriend. We were still on track, then?
Not having the time to overanalyze that notion, I eyed Biel in my red suit and a pair of matching, four-inch heels I’d long since given up trying to walk in. “Where are you off to, all spiffed up?”
“Elan. Cal and a driver are coming to pick me up. I need to speak with Mav and apologize again. See if there’s anything I can do to help with the gossip that’s already started about us. My publicist and agent are meeting me there. I hope you don’t mind I borrowed some clothes.”
“No worries. I raided your closet last night, remember?”
I caught Mike’s curious stare and lifted brow out of the corner of my eye. Turning back to him, I said, “Another wild evening. A re-launch of the product line. I’ll tell you all about it tonight, if you want.”
“Oh, yeah.” The look on his face told me he was very interested in knowing why the supermodel had spent the night at my apartment and was wearing my clothes this morning.
To Biel, I said, “I’d like to go with you, if you can hold up for a few minutes while I get ready. I have an apology of my own to make.”
“Sure thing.”
I asked Mike, “Chinese takeout tonight?”
With a sexy smirk, he said, “It’s Wednesday. Criminal Minds, Law and Order and Cold Case are on. That means Cantonese roast duck Peking with steamed rice for you.”
“I really am predictable, aren’t I?”
“Hardly,” he said as he kissed me. “Now go do your thing. I’ll unpack and see you tonight.”
He told Biel it was nice to meet her and then left without saying those three little words I was dying to hear from him. I found that a bit unnerving, thinking maybe it really had been the sex that had made him tell me he loved me, despite the fact he’d called me his girlfriend in front of Biel. That could have just been a “marking his territory” stunt.
But I couldn’t dwell on any of that. I needed to hop-to. I rushed into the bathroom to shower and dress. Like the night before, I could do my makeup in the car.
* * * * *
I accompanied Biel to the executive wing of Elan Essentials. She was pensive beside me, but striving for a confident attitude.
Christine came out of Mav’s office as we arrived. She said, “It’s utter chaos in there. Truly a madhouse.”
I had no doubt. Since I no longer had anything to do with the scandal, I opted not to add to the body count of the media frenzy. I asked Biel, “You’ll be okay if I don’t go in?”
“Sure,” she said, tapping into more of those steely nerves of hers. “I’m becoming an expert at handling public humiliation.”
“Let’s hope this is the last of it.”
“At least I won’t have to worry about passing a newsstand and not seeing my picture on the cover of a magazine. Even if it’s just the tabloids, that’s better than nothing.”
I gave her a quick hug. “You really are fearless. You have nothing to worry about—go kick some media ass.”
“Let’s get together soon, okay? Promise?” She gave me a meaningful look that spoke volumes of our solid friendship. “Tell the super-hunk sorry, but he has to share you.”
“Hopefully, he’ll mind.”
“You have nothing to worry about when it comes to him. Call me,” she said before straightening the hem of the suit jacket and squaring her shoulders. She opened the door and sauntered into the office in my red stilettos as though hell-bent on world domination. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was on her to do list.
Leaving the executive wing of Elan Essentials, I took the elevator to the lab. All levity vanished and my stomach clenched as I swiped my badge, not entirely sure it would still work, but apparently, Cal hadn’t deactivated my card yet.
I walked into the lab and found Olivia in her glass-enclosed office. She sat at her desk, staring at paperwork laid out on the leather blotter.
“Knock, knock,” I said, because the door was propped open.
Her head snapped up at the sound of my voice. “This really is supposed to be a restricted area.”
I smiled congenially. Perhaps even a bit contritely. “I understand. This will be my last visit. May I come in?”
She regarded me a moment, a flicker of darkness in her hazel eyes, as though I were the Grim Reaper. Finally, she sat back in her chair and said, “If you’ll be brief. I have a lot of work to catch up on.”
“I’m glad you came into the office today. I’m sure it wasn’t easy.” I slid into the chair in front of her desk and crossed my legs. “Not when someone has wrongly accused you of doing a dastardly professional deed because of a personal slight.”
Olivia removed her trendy frames and set the glasses on top of the papers she’d been reading.
“I spoke with Mav,” she said. “He told me he never believed I’d do something so underhanded. He was sure there was another explanation and you’d uncover it. He has a lot of faith in you.”
“Apparently in you too. So do many others. Cal Stoddard was ripped to shreds over my incorrect assumption.”
“Cal?” She looked taken aback. But there was a sparkle in her eyes that chased out the dread. I didn’t miss it. “He never even comes to the lab.”
“He’s a big fan, regardless. And he holed up in his office with me for hours and hours, determined to find the real culprit. Knowing in his heart it wasn’t you.”
I let her digest this for a moment. Cal was a very nice alternative to Mav and just as stylish and professional as Olivia. So naturally, I couldn’t keep from planting the seed.
But matchmaking wasn’t the real reason for my visit. I said, “Look, in my line of business, I have to consider the easy leads as much as the impossible-to-swallow ones. For me, because I didn’t know you, you were an easy lead. I knew about your relationship with Mav and that it had ended badly. For everyone else, my suspicion was impossible to swallow. It doesn’t always work out that way, but for what it’s worth, I hope you know you have a lot of friends and staunch supporters here at Elan.” With a short laugh, I added, “I feared I might take a blow for even mentioning your name in relation to the scandal.”
She remained quiet as she processed all of this. I took the opportunity to add, “I realize this doesn’t hold much weight, given the sting of my accusation, but I truly am sorry for the trouble this caused you. I—”
“No,” she suddenly said, and my stomach plummeted. I steeled myself for her to rant at me, but she surprised me instead by saying, “I understand my actions on Monday could easily be misconstrued. Especially when I wouldn’t answer your questions without legal counsel present.”
She pushed her chair away from her desk and stood. As she paced along the back wall, she continued. “The fact is, I would never do anything to hurt Mav or Elan. This place is my lifeblood. I’ve w
orked here for thirty years and will work here another thirty years if they’ll allow me to mix chemicals when I’m eighty.”
I laughed softly. “That’s serious dedication. I’ll be on a beach somewhere when I’m eighty.”
“I love what I do,” she told me with conviction in her eyes. “And, yes, I loved Mav. That’s why your questioning was so invasive and terrifying for me.” She inhaled deeply and let it out as though it were a cleansing breath. Then she continued. “You see, the truth is, when he first broke it off with me, I really did want to hurt him. It was a scary, overwhelming feeling that ranged from wanting to kick him between the legs and wanting to blow up this lab to derail all of his projects and destroy all his trade secrets so he’d have to start from scratch. With someone new.”
Ah. That’s where all that guilt had stemmed from. “It’s a shitty feeling, isn’t it?” I asked in a low, nonthreatening tone. “To feel used and be so angry with another person, you fear you’ll go to the extreme for revenge—and in hopes of assuaging your own embarrassment and pain.”
She drew up short and our gazes met. Indeed, Olivia Benedict was another kindred spirit from Heartbreak Lane.
“Yes,” she admitted in a shaky voice. “It is. Everything you said is true. Because those feelings are so powerful and yet… So vicious and wrong. You can’t make someone love you back. I know that. But I was completely irrational when it came to Mav. I chose to ignore all the signs. He was good to me. He told me upfront he was still struggling with his wife leaving him. I coaxed him into the relationship. I believed it was more than it was, despite the fact he was honest about caring for me, but not being in love with me.”
“Doesn’t make it any less painful.”
With a shake of her head, she said, “Not at all. In fact, sometimes it’s worse, because you’ve put yourself out there when you knew you’d get very little in return. A diamond tennis bracelet only goes so far, you know?”
So I’d been right. I said, “At least he didn’t screw two women at the same time in the coatroom at your friend’s wedding reception.”
She gasped. “Please tell me that’s hypothetical.”
“Nope.”
I felt I owed her a little dirty tidbit related to me, so she wouldn’t feel quite so vulnerable about the humbling position she’d held since the moment I’d met her.
Plopping into her chair, she said, “I’m so sorry. That would definitely cut deep.”
“It did. At the time. But now…” I suddenly realized how thoroughly over Chase and Brandon I was. And how I couldn’t wait to see Mike tonight. “The thing is, sometimes you think it’s love. But deep down, you kind of know it’s not. You hope you can turn it into love, yet you might be the only one rowing that boat.”
“And sometimes, you send it over the tallest waterfall.” She sighed. “I don’t hate him. And I don’t want to hurt his company. I want to be over him.”
“There are ways to make that happen.” I didn’t bother mentioning Cal Stoddard again. I could see her mind already churned with possibilities she hadn’t considered before. “Anyway, I am very sorry for how difficult this has been the past couple of days. And I’m glad I got the chance to know you better, Olivia. You’re just as lovely as everyone insists.”
I rose and so did she. We shook hands and she said, “Thanks for helping Elan. It’s a huge relief for all of us to know we still have jobs to come to in the morning.”
“I have a feeling business will thrive from this new product launch. Biel made quite a splash without making one at all.”
A forlorn look flickered across Olivia’s face and I suspected she’d already heard the news about Mav and Biel. Though that latter affair had occurred after Mav had broken it off with Olivia, I could empathize with her. If you were still reeling with heartbreak, the last thing you’d want to learn is that your ex-lover had hooked up with a supermodel.
“Well,” I said, forcing a cheerful note in my voice, “I’ve taken up plenty of your time. I’ll see myself out.”
“I hope you’ll stop by from time to time, Lacey.” She gave me a friendly smile. I didn’t even have to ask her to use my first name. Kindred spirits, indeed. Seemed I was collecting a lot of new acquaintances who’d ridden the Lonesome Train—and wanted to get off it.
“I will,” I promised her. “Under much better circumstances.”
I left the lab and made one more stop—Cal Stoddard’s office. Though I wouldn’t till the soil with him and Olivia, I did tell him, “I’m glad you were right about Olivia. I’m sorry if I tainted her reputation in anyone’s mind.”
“You had to go there,” he admitted. “It was a logical path to take. No one blames you for that, Lacey. As a matter of fact, I respect that you refused to leave any stones unturned. No matter whose toes you stepped on. Your diligence was what solved this case.”
“I do have a persistent side,” I said with a laugh. “Sometimes to my own detriment, but if it gets the job done…”
We shook hands and parted ways, but not before making a lunch date for the following week. Cal agreed to give me more training with video surveillance.
All in all, not a bad day. But I still had one more broken fence to mend…
Chapter Fifteen
Lust—I’ve Lost Track of the Points.
Love—Give Me Time, People. Just Give Me Time.
I left Elan and caught a cab on Madison Avenue. But I didn’t return to my apartment. I popped into Barneys for a little wardrobe update, particularly from the lingerie department. Armed with as much sexy apparel as my threshold for such things could withstand, I went home, showered and shaved—not having much need for waxing in my life.
Then I selected a cowl-neck chemise in a pastel, floral pattern, the front dipping so low it not only revealed the inner swells of my breasts, but the concaved line below them that disappeared behind the satiny material as it reach my upper belly. The cowl-neck was drapey, but the remainder of the garment was skintight, with the hem just barely covering the lavender satin G-string I wore, in the same hue mixed with the pale green and gold print on the chemise. Biel would be so proud I’d become this adventuresome.
I covered it all up with a lavender robe, hoping I was a package Mike would relish unwrapping. I added thigh-high stockings in white that had a wide lace band at the top to hold them in place. After sliding my feet into the delicate slippers I’d bought, in white with a four-inch heel, I carefully made my way to the living room. Wobbling a little, I hoped like hell I wouldn’t be in the shoes for long.
My nerves were a bit frayed as I waited for Mike to knock on my door. Despite my favorite crime shows headlining the tube this evening, I didn’t turn the TV on. Instead, I put a jazz CD into the player and lit some candles around the living room, then dimmed the lights.
Yes, it occurred to me I might have been presumptuous in my seduction efforts. But that kiss Mike had given me this morning—and the fact that he’d immediately come to my apartment after dropping off his bags and reading my letter—spurred me on.
I’d spent the past week caught up in other people’s emotional shootouts, but I’d learned a lot from their drama. I’d suffered through their pain and mortification right along with them. I’d also found a degree of eroticism in those scandalous affairs, which had left me with the realization that I actually was a very sexual person, despite my three years of celibacy.
Above all else, however, I’d learned that my repressed wants and desires were all commanded by one man. The man. The one who knew my body better than anyone else. The one who knew my mind better than anyone else. The one who owned my heart and soul.
His knuckles rapped on my front door moments later.
Adrenaline shot through me and my clit tingled with excitement. Something in the pit of my stomach told me I was on the right track with Mike Lucas and that calmed my nerves. I miraculously made it to the foyer without incident in my skinny heels. I stopped before I reached the door and lit two more candles on the entryway t
able, then turned the light off. I worked the deadbolts and tugged on the handle, exhilaration coursing rampantly through me like never before.
Mike’s brow instantly lifted as I filled the doorway and flashed him what I hoped was an inviting smile.
“Hi,” I said.
He swallowed. “Uh, yeah. Hey, there, Lace.”
Propping a forearm against the doorframe, as he was prone to do, he took me in from head to toe and back up. Slowly. When his gaze finally met mine, he added, “Jesus. How big of a bouquet will I have to send Biel?”
I giggled. “This time, she didn’t prompt me. I was in the mood for something different.”
He dropped his arm and leaned in close. “You’re talking about your clothes, right? Not your man?”
My toes curled in the slippers. “I’m sure you already know the answer to that.” He’d seen the photos and read my letter, after all.
With a contemplative look, he said, “I’m not letting you take anything back.”
His thoughts had obviously run the same direction as mine.
“I have no intention of retracting anything I wrote.” I sucked in a deep breath, let it out slowly and finally jumped off the cliff with him. “I’m very much in love with you, Mike Lucas.”
He grinned. Then he kissed me. Sweetly, softly. It made my heart go pitter-patter, but still lit my insides. “Just remember who said it first, babe.”
As he came into the foyer and I shut and locked the door behind him, I asked, “So you’re not taking anything back either?”
He shot me a look over his shoulder. “I told you it wasn’t the sex that made me say what I did.”
“Just checking.” My cunt clenched at the mere mention of how intimate we’d gotten Sunday night. “So we’re really doing this?”
He grinned again. “Didn’t we agree to that after the movie?”
“Yes, but… Things got weird after that. You didn’t stick to the lovemaking theory altogether, you know?”
“No, I did not.”
He walked into the living room and laid out our boxes of Chinese food. I went for the wine, giving him a few minutes to compose his thoughts so he could tell me what I needed to hear about that night.
