The Best Mistake

Thanks very much to my talented editor Alissa Davis, who has a delicious sense of humor. And also to Angela James, for taking a chance on me yet again.

The green light on the alarm system went on and Lacey Billings turned the key in the lock with a soft
click.
A small lamp on the foyer table lit the hall of the condo, but otherwise the place was dark, which wasn’t too much of a surprise since it was close to midnight. Her flight had been late due to storms in Chicago, and the plane had sat on the ground for over two hours before the airline canceled her connection, and it was only a miracle she’d been able to nab a rental car at that hour and just drive down. The travel nightmare eased a little as she walked into the kitchen, dropped her purse on the counter and then flipped on the light. The sleek dark marble countertops gleamed, the stainless steel stovetop looked as clean as when she’d last wiped it off five days ago and to Ran’s credit, there were no dishes in the sink. The place smelled just vaguely of oregano and garlic, and if she had to guess, that meant he had ordered in his favorite pizza earlier. Not a surprise. The man’s idea of cooking was pushing the speed dial on his cell phone.

She’d missed him. After nearly a year of dating, shouldn’t the excitement be slowing down between them? Instead, it kept getting better.

With that in mind, she carried her travel case toward the bedroom, skirting the collection of leather furniture in the living room with the ease of someone who was familiar with the territory even with no lights on. She wanted a bath pretty desperately, not to mention a close encounter with her toothbrush.

The bedroom was very dark with the door closed and drapes drawn—and she could barely see him, just the shape of his rangy body sprawled, nude and relaxed, in the rumpled sheets. The faintest hint of his deep breathing drifted out as she closed the door behind her and moved quietly toward the bathroom. It was late and he sometimes put in more hours at the office when she was out of town, so she didn’t want to wake him.

Lacey closed the door before she turned on the bathroom lights and started the water running in the jetted tub, hoping that wouldn’t disturb him. Twenty minutes later, after a blissful soak, the tension in her muscles gone, she rose, grabbed a fluffy towel, dried off and in the act of reaching for her bag to find a pair of clean underwear left over from what she’d packed for the convention, she changed her mind when she found the black almost-not-there silk thong she’d planned to wear when she’d thought she’d be home much earlier. Yes, it was late, but…

Maybe she would wake Ran up. Considering the method she had in mind, she doubted he’d object. It always turned him on when she took the initiative in bed. They hadn’t seen each other in nearly a week and what could be more relaxing after a stressful day than a little welcome-home lovemaking?

Her skin still slightly damp and warm from her bath, she flipped off the lights, eased the bathroom door open and walked to the bed, doing her best to not spoil the mood by stubbing her toe or falling over something in the dark. He didn’t stir, not even when she eased back the sheet and slipped in next to him.

“Hi,” she said softly, trailing a finger down his bare, muscular chest. His eyelids might have fluttered, but he didn’t move. His face was turned away in the pose of a truly deep sleep, with one arm curled around his head. The outline of his profile was barely visible.

Should I let him sleep?

Hell no. Like he’ll thank me for that in the morning. I know Ran.

With a slight grin, she decided on a different tack. Replacing the path of her finger with her mouth, she planted light kisses along that taut plane of his stomach to where his cock was currently soft between his hard thighs. Cupping his testicles, she began to gently lick his penis, rewarded when there was a response almost immediately. Not only did he begin to harden, he shifted restlessly in his sleep.

It was a fairly easy assumption any man wouldn’t mind waking up to a little oral sex, so she ran her lips up his increasing erection and with a teasing sweep of her tongue, she circled the crest and sucked it into her mouth.

Ran made an inarticulate sound and his body went from lax to tense. “What the hell…Jesus.”

He seemed groggy and still not quite awake…but she had his attention. Lacey gave an inward laugh, her own body tingling a little from being this close and this naked and knowing what would come next. She tickled and teased and his cock swelled with impressive speed, a low groan ringing out deep from his chest as she stroked his balls.

Perfect
.

She gave a final small suck as her fingers tightened around his now-stiff length in a final caress, and then she levered herself up above him, shimmied out of the thong, straddled his waist and whispered, “In case you can’t tell, I’m home and I really, really missed you.”

It was dark enough she could only see the planes and angles of his face, but his eyes were definitely open now and he started to say something but instead pleasure rippled through her as she kissed him and rubbed her sex against his cock. It was a hot, open-mouthed kiss, and definitely left nothing to the imagination about what she wanted to happen next.

His hands flew to her waist and for a moment tightened there as if he would lift her off, but then relaxed and slid down her hips to cup her ass in a caress as he began to kiss her back. She was already wet. She could feel the moisture between her legs, and considering her position, so could he. Her breasts were pressed against his chest and her nipples hardened to fine points, so there should be no mystery about her enthusiasm.

On top was one of her favorite positions. She broke the kiss, wiggled a little backward and lifted to angle herself for penetration, taking his now very rigid cock in her hand and guiding it toward her vaginal entrance. He was slick, she was wet, and it was going to be perfect…She ignored it when he said in a strangled voice, “Wait!”

“For what?” Her eyes closed as she sank downward, her breath going in with audible enjoyment, the friction of his penetration perfect, her arousal lubricating the glide of his cock into her body.

Then he abruptly caught her under the arms, lifted her away and deposited her next to him, his chest lifting quickly, his breathing hissing in the darkness. “Lacey, I’m not Ran.”

What
? It took a moment to assimilate, but now that his speech wasn’t slurred with sleep, she registered with horrified mortification that it wasn’t Ran’s voice at all. And when the man she’d all but raped in his sleep reached over and switched on the bedside lamp, she choked out, “Oh God. Rick?”

He had been having the best dream ever. Soft bed, a warm mouth giving him a very effective blow job, a beautiful woman naked on top of him. There should be some sort of medal for managing to stop her before it went any further.

Because he sure as hell didn’t want to stop Lacey Billings from fucking his brains out. He’d fantasized about it more than once, but she was his cousin’s girlfriend and he and Ran were pretty much best friends, not just family.

Rick liked to think he was too nice a guy to make a move on someone else’s girlfriend, and he knew she was too nice a girl to cheat.

Well, she might be a nice girl, but apparently in bed she was all woman.

Lacey had scrambled to her knees amidst the rumpled sheets and was staring at him as if he were a particularly horrifying apparition. Unfortunately, she was so astoundingly beautiful naked he was having a hard time looking only at her face and not the very bare, extremely gorgeous rest of her. Rich brown hair with a glint of golden highlights fell over her slender shoulders, almost long enough to cover her luscious pink-tipped breasts. She had an athlete’s body, long limbed and supple.

He jerked his attention back up to her face. She was perfect there too, with fine-boned, delicate features and gorgeous dark blue eyes. He used his elbows to scoot himself up against the pillows in a sitting position, no less disconcerted than she was, not to mention sporting a very prominent erection. He reached for the sheet to cover himself and inadequately, he said, “Yes. Sorry for the mix-up.”

Mix-up. Yeah, that was a brilliant way to describe almost having sex with someone
.

Lacey seemed to comprehend through her shock she was also naked and snatched the other end of the sheet up, then apparently decided maybe it was too intimate to both be under the same sheet, and practically ran for the bathroom.

She also had a very nice, firm ass, but he’d admired it in clothing before, so he wasn’t surprised. When she emerged a few moments later, she was in a navy skirt and still furiously buttoning a pale silk blouse with shaking fingers. She stopped, took a deep breath and then stared at him accusingly. “Do you mind telling me why you are here? Where’s Ran?”

At least that explanation was simple enough. “I’m having the floors in the house redone. Can’t walk on them for forty-eight hours. I was just going to sleep at the hospital, but when Ran heard your flight was canceled and you wouldn’t be home until late tomorrow, he decided to run down to Bedford and visit his parents. He told me to just stay here. I’d come off a sixteen hour shift, so I took him up on it.”

Lacey’s cheeks were a definite scarlet color. “Why didn’t he at least send me a text?”

“Why would he? He thought you were staying in Chicago and not flying in until tomorrow afternoon.”

They stared at each other for a moment, and then she said quietly, “I think I can honestly say I have never,
ever
been so embarrassed in my life.”

“I admit to a certain out of body feeling myself right now.” His laugh was short, more like an audible exhale. “Look, like I said, I’m sorry. I was pretty tired after a long day and it took me a while to even quite get what was going on.”

It was true. He was in the third year of his residency in cardiology and the hours were grueling at times. He’d left the hospital beat, and the offer of a dark secluded room with no distractions or interruptions had sounded like heaven.

It
had
been heaven there for a few minutes, right before he refrained from screwing Ran’s girlfriend. At the very last minute. He’d been inside the silken heat of her, and really, that was probably pretty unforgiveable, though he hadn’t done anything—nor had she—on purpose.

Maybe that kiss. By then he’d known it was Lacey. He was guilty of the kiss, but she’d tasted sweet and her naked, warm body had been pressed to his and he’d been thoroughly aroused and…

God only knew how he’d managed to find the willpower to stop it from going further than it had.

“I don’t think you’re the one that needs to apologize.” She brushed back a lock of glossy hair from her cheek. “I…I
attacked
you. I thought you were Ran, and so—”

“We both know it was an innocent mistake.”

“Not so innocent.” She grimaced. “In motivation, yes, but what happened, no. I’m going to have to tell him, aren’t I?” The color was gone from her face now, and she dropped into a chair by the dresser as if she was suddenly very tired, rubbing her forehead. “If I hadn’t…I mean…done it
that
way…”

She meant deliciously sucking him to full attention. He still had a raging erection, and really, if he was ever going to get some sleep before he had to be back on duty the next day, he probably should excuse himself to the bathroom to take care of it. But her distress was genuine. Rick said reasonably, “Look, there’s no need to tell him exactly what happened. I’ll explain if you want. You crawled into bed with me, not knowing it wasn’t him. We were both startled. End of story. Kind of funny, when you think about it.”

“Hilarious.” She slumped back, her shining hair still suggestively disheveled.

“He was the one who suggested I sleep here,” Rick pointed out with as much logic as possible given the circumstances and how very little blood was circulating up to his brain.

She looked tired too, and considering what he knew of her travel woes, she’d had just as long a day. “Look, Lacey, I’ll go take the couch, okay? It’s still better than a bench in the doctor’s lounge. I can sleep anywhere, thanks to med school.” His boxers were on the floor and he cautiously reached down for them, swinging his feet over the side of the bed and yanking them up over his hips.

“No. I’ll go home.”

He had enough experience with women—four sisters did that to you—that he heard the slight shimmer of tears in her voice. If there was one thing he’d learned through the process of becoming a doctor, he knew how to sound decisive and command authority. “No, you won’t. It’s late, and you’re tired. Come to bed.”

That was badly phrased considering the circumstances. He hastily amended, “Come to
this
bed while I go into the living room to crash on the couch.” To punctuate the order he took the folded coverlet by the footboard and left the room.

When a half an hour later she hadn’t left, he assumed she had also decided it was a little late for the twenty-minute drive to her apartment.

But, though he was bone tired, he was restless now, lying there and thinking about how maybe a little harmless fantasy or two could come back to bite you in the ass. Even if Ran did just laugh about it, Rick was a little afraid
he
wasn’t going to forget it anytime soon. And if his cousin did marry her, as everyone in the family was predicting, that would be an interesting event. He’d be best man.

Shit
.

Life was like the field of medicine. Just when you thought you’d seen just about everything, something came up that really threw you a curve ball and you had no idea how to handle it.

He settled down beneath the blanket, closed his eyes and tried to sleep.