had meant to make this declaration sound light and self-deprecating, but her voice broke at the end and she felt tears of disappointment welling up in her eyes. She only hoped her mother wouldn’t acknowledge her obvious over- the-top emotional reaction. If Diana said one sympathetic word, Lacey was going to start bawling right then and there.
But she didn’t. Instead Diana said something so shocking Lacey nearly had to pull over. “Well, dear, if you’re sure you don’t want to make the first move, then I wouldn’t worry about it. You are most certainly just his type. And I’m sure you’ll be hearing from him.”
“What do you mean? 'I’ll be hearing from him.’ How would that happen exactly? I just gave our first names. Please tell me you didn’t slip him my phone number.” Lacey’s face flooded with color at the idea of her mom pimping her out like that. He was going to think she was positively pathetic. Not that she cared. Well, maybe a little…
“I thought about doing exactly that. But decided you wouldn’t be happy with me if I did something so obvious. No, I was more subtle than that,” Diana said smugly.
“What did you do, Mother?”
“Well, while you were attempting to chat him up, I was signing Serena’s guest book. With your name. And email address.”
“You didn’t.”
“I most certainly did.”
“Mom. How could you do that? Now I’m going to be flooded with emails from her. She's going to try and convince me to make an offer on one of those row-houses. Or even worse, she'll want to show me a bunch of properties I can’t afford either. You know real estate agents. They’re like pit bulls. Once they get a hold of you, they don’t let go.”
“Serena struck me as a sensible girl. I’m sure she will not harass you. And if she’s as smart as I think she is, then your email address will find it’s way into the correct, hunky hands anyway. So, you’re welcome.”
“Hunky hands? Really?”
“Well, they were hunky. And very large.”
Lacey groaned. “Please tell me you did not just comment on the size of his hands. I think I’m traumatized.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice. How could you not? That young man was a prime specimen.”
“Yes, I did notice. But you are definitely not supposed to notice big hands. Hunky or otherwise.”
“Why-ever not? I’m single and vital. Just because I’m in my fifties, does not mean I’m dead inside, you know. If I was ten years younger, you might have some competition.”
“Oh my God. Why am I suddenly picturing him as my new step-daddy?” Lacey shuddered at the thought of her mother, happily married to the hot builder, while she went through life as a spinster, collecting spoons, dressing her dog in embarrassing outfits, and knitting away the profound loneliness. “Thanks, Mom. This conversation has taken a disturbing turn, and I’ll be looking for a therapist tomorrow.”
“My pleasure, dear. Now, can we stop at Starbucks? All this big hands talk has made me parched. Besides, I think one of the fellows who works there has his eye on you. If the Handy Hunk doesn’t email you then perhaps you should give Lars a try. He makes an excellent triple-foam latte.”
Tempted to beat her head against the steering wheel, Lacey pulled into the parking lot of the Starbucks on the corner, just a few blocks from her mom’s house, and waited in the car while Diana went in to retrieve her coffee. No way was Lacey going in there to be the victim of another one of her mother’s romantic ambushes.
As she waited, she couldn’t help but wonder, would she hear from him? If only to ask her about the house? Maybe he just brought up the whole 'I want your impartial opinion’ thing as an excuse to talk to her again. Perhaps her mom was right, for once, and he was interested in more than just pumping her for information. Hopefully, an entirely different kind of pumping was on his mind. A small part of her thrilled at the thought, but she quickly stopped her mind from wandering down that path before she could get too excited.
She refused to overanalyze this little episode and turn it into a big deal. If he wanted to take this weird chemistry between them to the next level, then he was going to have to make a real effort and ask her out on a date. No more games. Until that happened, she wasn’t going to think about him. At all.
“What the hell was all that about?” Serena asked her cousin suspiciously as she observed him standing on the sidewalk, watching the hot little red car fade away in the distance. She could not believe that he was actually showing some interest in something besides work.
He’d been completely detached since the accident and this was the first sign of life she’d seen from him in 17 months. He shut down completely if she attempted to talk about Deborah, and what had happened, so she tried to focus on the present. And the idea that her cousin might just be coming back to life after all this time. Everyone in the family had practically given up on trying to reach him. She couldn't wait to tell her Aunt Marie, Jack’s mom, that she’d actually witnessed what passed for flirting on Jack’s behalf. Auntie M would be psyched.
“What? I was helping you out. You’re always complaining that I avoid dealing with the public like they’re a bunch of lepers, so I gave them a tour. What’s the big deal?” Jackson said, stepping back onto the sidewalk next to her, he held up his arms in an ’I can’t win’ gesture.
Jack had no idea what he was doing exactly. He was so far out of his depth he felt like he’d stepped into another dimension. For so long, his only focus was on getting through each day without losing his mind. Nothing really existed for him outside of work, and avoiding all thoughts of the past. Then, with just a heated look, this girl had him thinking about the future. Maybe not the forever kind of future. He couldn’t really contemplate that. But he could definitely seeing himself spending some time trying to get her into his bed. Well, a bed anyway. And that was more planning than he’d done since his world blew apart.
All he knew for sure was that when he’d been with Lacey, he’d felt like the door to his dark prison had opened a crack, letting in a glimmer of light. Watching her leave had been like seeing that door slam shut, leaving him in darkness once again. Maybe permanently this time. Feeling alive for these past few hours made him realize just how dead inside he’d become, and he wasn’t ready to go back there. Not at all. If he could just stall for a few minutes, maybe he could see her smile again and figure out a way to ensure that she wouldn’t walk out and leave him feeling empty again.
He wanted to look at her some more. Maybe catch her watching him again with those furtive hot glances she’d been sneaking at him all afternoon. Those looks made him incredibly hot, and he hadn’t been even lukewarm in years. He was actually having fun with her, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that.
At one point during the tour, Lacey had been leading the way up the porch stairs to the third row-house. He had been following close behind her, trying to make out the shape of her ass under those loose jeans without looking like a complete letch, when she’d balked at the door.
“It’s not locked,” he’d said, nearly running into her back on purpose. He was certain that he’d left it unlocked when he’d been here earlier, checking on the hardwood shipment that had been delivered the day before.
“If it’s not, then it’s doing an awfully good impression of it,” she’d replied, giving the handle a really good yank. It hadn’t budged.
The most normal thing in the world would have been to ask her to step out of the way, so he could get his manly hands on the damn thing. Use some brute force to impress her. Instead he found himself reaching around her from behind and gently moving her hand out of the way so he could give it a try. It still wouldn’t move. He must have accidentally locked it.
But then he was practically wrapped around her, and it hadn’t felt awkward at all. It had felt absolutely fucking great. Better than anything. Like he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Despite their great difference in height, their bodies had fit together perfectly. And if he hadn’t been mistaken, she had actually angled her body toward him rather than trying to minimize their contact.
It was completely crazy, but he was pretty sure that if her mother hadn’t been waiting impatiently behind them, he would have put one of his arms around her waist so he could bring that round ass flush against his suddenly hardening cock. But her mom was there, so he reluctantly disentangled himself from her sweet body.
“I guess it is locked.” He cleared his throat and waved his hand toward the side of the building. “I’ll go around back and unlock it from inside. Wait for me, okay?”
