WindSwept Narrows: #19 Lacie

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  He was still telling himself that when the scent of breakfast filled the suite. He lay face down, one arm out to the side and coming up empty. And he knew he hadn’t dreamt the woman who’d slept pasted against him. Partially opened dark lashes blinked at the numbers on the clock. Barely touching nine, he noticed, groaning and tossing the blankets aside and scanning the area. He had begun the night with pajama pants. Even remembered putting them on at four in the morning.

  That hadn’t lasted long, he recalled with a pleasant sigh. He located his pants and cleaned up the empty foil packets from the nightstand before heading to the bathroom.

  Chapter Nine

  Lacie stood looking at the breakfast table she’d arranged when she caught sight of movement to her left. Darkly tousled, face slightly shadowed, definitely wolf, she thought with a brief shiver. She smelled a minty whisper along her shoulder before he touched his mouth to hers, turning her slowly in his arms and holding her close. Large, warm palms moved beneath the tee shirt, the kiss stopping when she pressed her hands against his chest and swallowed hard.

  “Stop. Breakfast…” She met the fire in his eyes with honesty. “No more packets. I only bought three.”

  “Just in-case it’s in your mind, Lacie, I had no intentions of seducing you last night,” Mason lifted the heavy mug of coffee with a long drink. “Which is why I hadn’t gotten around to having condoms in the suite.”

  “Why? You wanted me, I could tell when we kissed.”

  “Because I wanted time to convince you I wasn’t just a one night stand,” he answered, his words about honesty instantly at the top of his mind. He laughed at the slightly puzzled expression on her face before he leaned in and kissed her again. “But I guess you had other plans for me.”

  “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to ask or not,” she said thoughtfully, sitting down and removing covers from the food that had been brought up from the kitchen.

  “Hmm…that’s a good point since I didn’t think to ask, either,” Mason met the tiny smile and began enjoying the morning, the breakfast and the company. They fell easily back into a discussion about the plant, even though she’d yet to ask what he was manufacturing.

  “I have the proposals to read through all next week,” Mason said when they got to the actual building concept. “A couple recommended companies from the local area.”

  “You need the holo,” she said stubbornly, hand waving in the air as she paced. “Just because it’s always been done on paper, doesn’t mean it’s the only way forward. I know! I know just how…” She spun and looked down. “I need clothes. I gotta change,” she said to herself and ran off to the bedroom, leaving Mason reaching for the coffee.

  “Lacie…” He was up and headed into the bedroom in time to see his tee shirt fly from the curved, slender figure. His brain shut down at the sight of the silver panties wiggling as the dress went over her head and was caught by her arms, the zipper going up the side snugly.

  “I’m going to run change clothes,” She told him, looking around for her shoes. “Did I have shoes last night? Here, I mean?”

  “By the door.”

  “Oh, good. You roll up the drawings. I know where we can get them scanned in,” she said with a nod.

  “It’s Sunday, Lacie.”

  “I have access to keys. It’s alright. Trust me,” she kissed him and raced past into the other room again, grabbing up her shoes, evening bag and wrap. “Thirty minutes out front. You’ll be amazed how much clarity there is in the holo and the program will tell you why something is needed and where. It’s incredibly informative.”

  If Mason had a complaint, it vanished before he could make it known. He was hoping for a quiet, relaxing day of nothing but him and Lacie. He walked into the open area at the same time the knock came on the door. He opened it to the brightly shining face he’d spent the night with.

  “I forgot. You need to roll up the prints and bring them with you. I can scan them into the program and poof! It’s amazing!” She whispered again before turning and taking off at a light run toward the stairwell.

  “You mentioned that.”

  “Oh,” she grinned and kept running.

  “Amazing,” he said with a smile to himself, hands absently working the buttons up the front of his shirt. He still marveled at how quickly the morning had passed with topics that made him blink and wonder where her brain didn’t go. He left the clean room sign out and made a stop on the casino level, finding what he was after.

  Mason saw her sitting in a large, older model Rover in the pick-up circle, her hand out through the roof and waving at him. She accepted the cardboard containers with a smile that made the sunlight look dim.

  “Somehow this isn’t what I pictured you driving, Lacie,” was his comment as he buckled himself into the seat, the shift between them sliding smoothly into gear as she headed them out to the main highway.

  “Sometimes I need space. Taking things here and there or bringing them back,” she said simply, nodding and sliding a pair of large mirrored glasses up her nose. “Have you been out exploring the area much? Will you be living here with the plant? Did I ever ask what you’re making? I don’t suppose it really matters, with the exception of the weight of the finished products.”

  “Where are we going, Lacie?” He asked when he could stop laughing enough to speak clearly.

  “Oh, did I forget to tell you? That flaw in the drawing….someone should have known better, Mason,” she said thoughtfully, blinking and guiding them along the coast road to the north. “You’ll like this drive. It’s beautiful. Especially today. I didn’t get finished really looking things over, but there are at least four places that I saw that could be a serious problem for the machinery you’re placing. You were very specific, very precise.”

  “We manufacture a variety of solar devices. For business as well as kits for homeowners,” Mason knew she was right. The people he had create the blue prints should have caught the mistakes.

  “Were the plans drawn up independently?”

  “Completely.”

  “It makes no sense that they would discard your specifics. Do you live here?”

  Mason was slowly getting used to the way her mind shifted. It would certainly keep him on his toes. “I do now. We had been located in Florida.”

  “And your boss moved you here?” She smiled at him, deciding she was pleased with the idea. “Is the whole company relocating?”

  “My boss?” Mason repeated the words slowly. “Yes, the whole company. It wasn’t that large in Florida. This is an expansion I’d been thinking of for a few years if I located the right property. Branching out into a few other things environmental.”

  “A great deal more sun there, though. Although, seriously, we do get a lot of really pretty days in summer,” Lacie told him solemnly. “Do you think you’ll like it here?”

  “I think I already like it here. The company is here now, it’s where I’ll be. Remind me when we’re finished and I’ll let you take us to the site,” Mason told her, laughing at the excitement he saw in her eyes. “It doesn’t look like much yet, Lacie. We’ve only begun cleaning up the left over debris.”

  She nodded slowly as she guided them to a set of gates and pushed a button.

  “It’s Lacie…”

  The gates opened slowly and she parked near the large double doors, waving excitedly at the redhead that opened the door with a baby cuddled against her. Tall and slim, her body swayed slightly, her smile bright and welcoming.

  “Lacie…” Chloe Oliver watched her friend slide from the Rover and stride forward.

  “How’s Lindsey? And her momma,” Lacie didn’t wait but lifted the baby, the two of them bubbling laughter over one another as if they’d been chatting for hours. “Mason Wells…Chloe Oliver…and Lindsey.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” Chloe offered her palm. “Lindsey is fine. Just finished her lunch. What’re you doing out on a Sunday morning?”

  “That’s a good question,” Mason murmu
red, following behind the women into the large house.

  “Where’s Simon?” Lacie asked with a bright smile, glancing around the large open and sunny room.

  “If you’re looking for me, I should run and hide now,” came a deep voice from the stairs, his hair still damp from a shower.

  “Simon! You’re looking so very handsome this morning,” Lacie beamed a smile at him, swaying slightly with the baby in her arms.

  “Let me save my child,” Chloe said with a laugh, taking the two month old and sliding her into the swing, setting the music to playing softly.

  “What do you want?” Simon asked suspiciously, his palm extended toward Mason. “Simon Oliver.”

  “Mason Wells,” he frowned slightly. “I have a proposal from you.”

  “That makes things smooth,” Lacie said with a nod. “I need to use your scanner and the holo program. Please.” She looked and dug into her pocket. “Shoot…be right back…hold that thought…”

  “Coffee in the kitchen,” Chloe said quietly, her head shaking as she led the men to the side. “You don’t know why she brought you here, Mason?”

  “She says the support and some other things are off on the blue prints and that some program would show clearly how and why,” Mason paraphrased simply, nodding when Chloe offered him a mug. “Thank you.”

  “It’s not easy keeping up with Lacie sometimes. But if she says your blue prints are off, they’re off,” Simon sighed and took a drink. He wasn’t surprised to see doubt on the man’s face. “How about we take these and you relax awhile, Lacie?” He suggested when she returned with two long cardboard tubes.

  Mason took the tubes in one hand.

  “I…are you sure, Simon?”

  “Lacie, I know you created it, but I can work the program,” he said with a crooked grin. “And I have a home office on the lower level now.”

  “You have scanners here now? Printer, too?” Lacie watched them move toward the stairs at the back of the kitchen.

  “Home office, Lacie,” Simon chuckled.

  “She created the program?” Mason asked when the door closed behind them, the large professional looking room open and filed with light and various pieces of equipment.

  “How long have you known Lacie?” Simon asked quietly, opening one of the tubes and pausing. “She didn’t know I’d submitted a proposal, Mason.”

  “I wasn’t thinking along that line, but this could save me a lot of time,” he said with a nod, launching them into the discussion that would have been inevitable. He pulled his palm computer out and opened the proposal, reading as he talked with Simon.

  “It alters the proposal but not by a great deal,” Simon leaned back in his chair, watching Mason pace and appraise the projection he had on the wall.

  “How did she see that like it was crystal and the three damn experts missed it?”

  “I suppose it depends on which avenue you want to consider, Mason. Did they believe they were saving you money? Did they have some off idea it’s what you wanted?”

  “I brought it up the last three days, Simon,” dark, furious eyes met those across the room. “They said she was wrong.”

  “Try throwing the name Dr. L. Barton at them tomorrow, Mason,” Simon let a corner of his mouth raise. “Or Dr. P. Edwards. You’ll see them suddenly start to take you seriously. I don’t know,” Simon shrugged. “I don’t know the people on your team.”

  “Evidently neither do I, Simon,” Mason rubbed the back of his neck. “Doctor?”

  “I asked how long you’ve known Lacie,” Simon repeated the question. “You’ve chosen a woman that’s like none you’ve known before, welcome to the club,” he said with a soft chuckle.

  “Are you saying a sane man would run for the hills?”

  “You strike me as sane, Mason, and intelligent. I know your business history or we wouldn’t have submitted a proposal on your RFP,” Simon said casually. “Lacie has a brain that sometimes seems like it’s going off in a dozen directions at once. From someone who learned from his mistakes, don’t ever believe she’s not paying attention. You want to get confused, sit in at SeaTac Software when there are six of them brainstorming a program. You suddenly feel like a one cell organism.”

  “She’s an art teacher in the child care center for the resort,” Mason said carefully.

  “And a programmer, a structural engineer and environmental engineer and has a few fingers in other skills that I’m not all that sure of,” Simon told him easily.

  Chapter Ten

  “You think they’re okay?” Lacie lay on her stomach on the blanket, giggling and bubbling with the two month old playing turtle and trying to roll over and bat at hanging toys above her.

  “I think its business stuff, Lacie. How’d you meet him?”

  Lacie shrugged casually. “He snuck up on me when I was drawing by the fence.”

  “I did not sneak,” Mason countered with a wink at Chloe. “She was so immersed, she didn’t notice me. Simon needs your help with the program, Lacie.”

  “Sure…no problem,” she pulled herself from the floor and wandered to the stairs and below.

  “You’ve confused her,” Chloe said softly.

  “It isn’t intentional…I’m also sure it’s not an easy thing to do.”

  “With certain fields, it’s very easy. She said you gave her a promise to always believe her,” Chloe watched his features. “But she doesn’t think you understand what it means.”

  “I’m honestly not sure I do, either, Chloe,” Mason slid onto a stool, watching Chloe turn the computer she was working to face him. He looked from the wide blue eyes to the screen.

  “Lacie and Phoebe have hobbies that include making gadgets. One of them that Lacie wears when she wanders off on her own is this recorder on her earring. She said she told you about this because you wanted to know where she spent the night,” Chloe watched the myriad of emotions and disbelief cross his face.

  Mason listened to the final sounds before Chloe closed the file, the sound of licking and then it was silent.

  “They upload automatically because she has friends who worry about her,” Chloe lifted the dozing baby and carried her to the small bassinette.

  “There are people who would kill for the ability I just saw on the screen,” he said quietly.

  “Or ones who try and dissect you,” she returned flatly. “If she confided that information to you, it’s because she trusts you, Mason. Did you and Simon work out the problem with your building?” She watched Lacie and Simon come from the small hallway that led to the lower level.

  “We did and saved me hours of meetings in the process,” he accepted the drawing tubes from Lacie, his palm out to Simon. “I’ll be in touch, Simon. Thanks for your help and information. I’m sure we’ll work well together.”

  “I agree. The projects springing out of the reclamation are providing some serious on job training for our people. I heard there was a temporary vo-tech being put together for all the businesses coming to the area.”

  “It’s Sunday and I had you working,” Lacie said with a sigh.

  “Since you’re taking me to lunch, I’ll forgive you,” Mason told her, winking at Chloe and taking Lacie’s palm. “A pleasure to meet you, Chloe.”

  Chloe stood at the door, watching them drive toward the gates. Her head went against her husband’s shoulder, his palms circling her from behind.

  “So what did you think?”

  “Man’s totally lost in love with her,” Simon told her, his lips brushing her brow. “He’s also a very solid, astute and pissed off businessman at the moment. I imagine some heads are going to be pounded in the morning. It’s the why that’s puzzling him.”

  “It usually is,” Chloe said with a sigh.

  “Do I know where I’m taking you to lunch?” Lacie asked after they had cleared the gates and she looked at the road, going in opposite directions.

  “You invited me out on a date today,” he pointed out, relaxing in the seat, even as part of h
im seethed at the discrepancies in the plans he had drawn for the plant.

  “I guess I did,” she said quietly, feeling the anger in him as she turned right toward home. “You’re very angry.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “It wouldn’t have made a difference for a few years. But with time, the weight would begin to take its toll on the structural ability to maintain…” She stopped and took a slow breath. “I know where we can go,” she said with a smile, guiding the Rover along the sun dappled road.

  Mason swore to himself. “This isn’t your fault, Lacie. It’ll be worked out in the morning because Simon and I will create the right plans and move forward.”

  “Your boss will be upset,” she said with a slightly wrinkled nose, pulling the Rover before a sandwich shop and turning the car off. “What do you like?” She listened to his request and hopped to the concrete, grabbed her pack and ran lightly into the shop, only to turn and come back out. “To drink?”

  He sat in the Rover and watched her. She bounced and smiled. She’d bound her hair back into a ponytail and it swayed as she chatted with the young men behind the counter. Sometimes her hands flew, sometimes she leaned over and laughed with them. And somehow he knew without a doubt she had no idea the effect any of that had on a man. He accepted the large cups she handed through the window and kept his gaze on her as she rounded the rover and put a large bag behind her seat.

  “So what’s this plan?”

  “Shhh…can’t tell you. It’s a secret,” she teased with a wink, buckling herself in and checking her mirrors. She held up a finger when he started to speak. “Nope. Not until we get there. It’s right down this way…wonderful Sunday afternoon stuff. What do you do to unwind? Do you play games? On the computer?”

  “I like running.”

  “Running is good,” she nodded and found a parking spot in the small beach front park. “But I bet you still think about work when you’re running. I could teach you some games. I think you’d like shooting games…but you might like the strategy ones, too…difficult to say…” She lifted the bag of food and locked her side of the car, pulled his door open and smiled. She set the bag down and grabbed a large blanket from the back seat. “Now we’re ready.”