Anne Rainey - Touching Lace (17 page)

Lacey’s heart raced and her body was on fire. She was wildly, madly in love. “Oh, I’ve been so incredibly blind. I wish I’d known the way you felt, but I’m just so glad you didn’t give up on me. I do want you, Nick, forever,” she moaned.

She stepped out of her shorts, reached between their bodies and swiftly undid his jeans. She wrenched them down his long, powerful legs. Without waiting another second, he lifted her up and shoved her down onto his waiting cock.

“Put your legs around me, baby,” he rasped, and when she did, he clutched her ass and began pumping into her warm, tight sheath. “Say it again. Tell me you love me.”

“I love you, Nick. Forever.” Lacey fairly screamed the words as she climaxed in his loving embrace.

Nick thrust into her hard one last time then he poured himself inside her. “I love you, too, baby. Forever.”

Anne Rainey

Epilogue

“Did you have to call both your brothers?”

Lacey patted Nick’s cheek and said soothingly, “Think of it this way. The sooner everything’s packed, the sooner we can be alone together.”

He glanced around Lacey’s apartment, now almost bare, and smiled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He frowned when he saw Blade staring at him, yet again. “Blade keeps looking at me as if he wants to do serious harm to my person.”

Lacey looked over at her oldest and most unruly brother and whispered, “Aw, he’s just trying to intimidate you. His bark is worse than his bite, believe me.”

Nick’s brow quirked up at her naïveté. “Yeah, to you maybe,” he said tenderly, “but he sees me as the guy who’s fucking his baby sister.”

Nick still wasn’t sure why he’d let Lacey talk him into calling not one, but both of her brothers in to help on moving day. It was their one-month anniversary, which was a special event and the perfect day for Lacey to move in with him since her lease was finally up.

He was thrilled he would finally be sharing his home with her. They’d no longer be going back and forth from place to place or from bed to bed, but he still felt like a bug in a jar with Lacey’s brothers staring at him.

He’d spoken to Merrick earlier in the week, wanting to prepare him for the fact Lacey wasn’t yet ready to marry, but she was willing to move in with him. Merrick had frowned and mumbled a lot, but he’d resigned himself to the fact Lacey was a woman with a mind of her own and no one, not even her brothers, was going to force her into marriage.

One at a time, Nick could have handled them, but both together made quite an intimidating pair. The doorbell rang, interrupting his thoughts, and Lacey moved off to

Touching Lace

answer it. Nick was left alone. As if of one mind, both brothers walked toward him. Ah, time for the much-anticipated interrogation, Nick thought as he accepted the unavoidable. When they reached his side, Blade spoke first. “I have one question for you.” When Nick indicated for him to go on, Blade asked menacingly, “You planning on marrying

her?”

“Lay off, Blade,” Merrick ground out—bless him—in a feeble attempt at defense. Blade stood there, silent and watchful. Both brothers looked so much alike it was eerie. They could have been twins, except for an inch or two in height and Merrick’s clean-shaven face, as Blade had a full mustache.

Nick rolled his eyes at Blade’s absurd question. “Of course, what the hell did you think I was going to do with her?”

Blade never got the chance to answer, as they became aware of Lacey’s raised voice. They turned toward her to see what had her in an uproar. Evan, the dickhead, was back. Nick’s face turned red with rage when Evan grabbed hold of Lacey. Blade started toward the two of them, no doubt ready kill Evan, but Nick stopped him with a hand on his forearm.

“Just wait a minute, Blade.”

Blade’s voice was low and deadly when he asked, “You’re going to stand here while that asshole puts his hands on my sister?”

“Trust me. She’s not a helpless little girl anymore,” Nick answered. He cringed as he saw the look on Lacey’s face. “Oh, shit, he’s in for it now. She’s smiling.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Blade snarled then turned to look at Lacey.

Both of the Vaughn men stood in silent shock as they watched Lacey’s leg come up and connect with Evan’s jaw, knocking him flat on his ass.

“Holy shit!” they exclaimed in shocked unison.

“Damn right.” Nick beamed, ridiculously proud and turned on at the same time. “That’s my girl.”

Anne Rainey

Blade and Merrick began talking at once, but Nick couldn’t take his eyes off Lacey. She was so damned beautiful standing there with her hair in a cute ponytail and her pert little ass encased in a pair of soft, tight, cotton shorts. He started walking toward her, but it was Blade’s turn to stop him.

“What?” Nick said absently, still keeping an eye on the extremely disgruntled Evan. “Where do you think you’re going? I wasn’t through with you.” “I’m going to make sure Evan doesn’t make the mistake of getting up.” Then he

turned to Blade, looked him square in the eyes and flatly stated, “I love your sister, Blade, and I swear I would never do anything to hurt her. That’s all that should matter to you.”

Blade seemed to consider his words then nodded, apparently pleased with his answer because he actually smiled. Merrick smiled as well. Soon, both of them smacked him on the back in a show of approval. Nick made his escape before they broke a bone or injured a vital organ with their friendly taps.

He came right up to Evan, pulled him to his feet and punched him. Blood spurted out of his nose as he clutched and groaned. The two Vaughn brothers in the background cheered him on. “Get lost, dickhead,” Nick growled to Evan.

With immense male satisfaction, he watched as Evan scrambled and stumbled his way down the walk.

Nick slammed the door shut, grabbed a startled Lacey in his arms and kissed her full on the mouth. He parted her lips with his tongue and breathed between her lips, “I love you, baby, forever.”

Lacey sighed and sank into his kiss, repeating the words back to him with all her heart and soul.

A sense of completeness settled over him. No doubt, their relationship had only just begun, but he was confident that watching the girl of his dreams drift away from him was a thing of the past.

He had a future of mystery and excitement to look forward to with his best friend and lover by his side every step of the way. It didn’t get any better than that.

Touching Lace

Keeping her in his arms, Nick leaned back enough to see the drowsy look on Lacey’s face. He pushed a few strands of her soft, dark hair behind her ears and asked, “So, what did he want anyway?”

Lacey rolled her eyes. “Can you believe he wanted me back?”

Nick had figured as much. “What happened to Christy?”

She tried valiantly to contain a laugh. “He caught her on his dining room table with a man she picked up while jogging in the park.”

Nick smirked. “Serves the bastard right.”

“That’s what I told him.”

They both started laughing. As they imagined Evan walking in on such a display, they laughed harder.

“I also told him he might want to go see a doctor and get tested for HIV since it’s clear Christy isn’t all that finicky about who she sleeps with. He went a little white after that. The idiot.”

Nick let his finger trail a path down her cheek to her neck. He stroked her pulse and felt it quicken under his fingertip.

“So, what made you want to kick him?” he asked, only half interested in the conversation, because Lacey had begun to smooth her hands down his sides.

Lacey licked her lips, her gaze never once straying away from his mouth. She was just as aroused as he. Damn, if only they were alone.

“Lacey?” Nick prompted.

“Hmm?” she murmured, dazed.

“Why’d you kick Evan?”

Lacey blinked, looked into his eyes and said “Oh, right. Well, he told me I was the best thing that ever happened to him.”

“And that made you want to kick him? Seriously?”

“No. To tell you the truth, I just felt like it.”

“You are one scary lady.”

“You don’t sound upset by that.”

Anne Rainey

He winked and leaned down to whisper into her ear, “Seeing you in action is a major turn on for me, baby.”

Lacey groaned. “Lord, I wish we were alone.”

“My thought exactly,” he growled. Unable to help himself any longer, Nick let his tongue dart out and touch the soft shell of her ear. He tasted the sweetness of her silky skin and instantly went hard. He heard a few grumbles from the other side of the room and realized Lacey’s brothers were getting quite an eyeful.