He really hoped it all worked out.
Hoisting himself up into the truck, Vince noted—as he buckled up—Lace’s unapologetic eyes checking out the formidable monument she’d been responsible for erecting.
His initial impulse was to grab something and cover the randy bastard, but something in the shortening of her breath and the added color at her neck, kept him from hiding his interested particulars under a bushel.
Still, he didn’t sprawl, showing off. He simply sat and let her get a nice, long look.
“Are we good?” he finally questioned, snapping her out of whatever daydream she’d been having.
He’d bet it was a doozy.
“You’re well endowed,” she finally managed, her tongue poking out as she dropped the truck into reverse and backed out.
Vince snorted. “That may have been mentioned a time or two in the past,” he muttered.
“Buck is, too,” she informed him pragmatically.
He choked on that, his eyes bugging out as he barely managed to ask, “How, exactly, do you know that?”
Now, Lace giggled. “Bobbie might have said a thing or two about being a little sore?—”
“No. Stop. La, la, la, la.” Vince covered his ears and gagged. “I donotneed to hear about my brother and his wife having sex.”
“Then how do you explain her being eight months pregnant?” Lace snickered.
“Immaculate conception,” he answered without missing a beat.
Lace exploded in laughter, and in a snap, Vince forgot all about his brother, his sister-in-law, and even his own cock.
This was the first time he’d seen Lacereallylet go. He’d observed mild amusement, he’d glimpsed sassiness, he’d relished her impishness, but he hadn’t seen full-blown hilarityuntil this very moment. He felt like he was beholding the woman Lace really was underneath all her cancer and chemo worries.
It warmed him from the inside, out.
“Pull over,” he ordered, without even thinking.
“What?” Her raucous laugh trailed off as she shot him a puzzled look.
“I said, pull over.”
“Why?” she asked, obeying but still questioning. She turned on her blinker and veered off into a drug store parking lot. “Are you okay? Are you going to be sick?”
Vince didn’t answer, but as soon as the truck was in park, he tore off his seatbelt, opened his door, and sped around to the driver side, wrenching Lace’s door free.
When Lace looked at him askance as if he’d lost his mind, he didn’t slow down even half a beat. He swiftly undid her seatbelt, and putting his hands on her waist, hauled her from the truck.
More gently then, because he didn’t want to scare or hurt her, he used his big body to ease her back against the warm chassis, where he cradled her face in his hands.
“I’m really sorry, Lace,” he apologized.
“For…?” She looked confused, searching his expression.
He didn’t leave her in suspense.
“I wanted to be romantic. I really did. I was going to wait until we got to your house to be…suave.”
Vince snorted to himself. Had he ever used that word before?
“But I can’t wait any longer. I have to kiss you.” He closed his eyes for a half second. “If that’s not okay, tell me now, because there’s a countdown going on in my head,” he warned. “Five…four…three…”