“About that,” Lace told him, not shooting him down, but wanting him to be fully aware of what he was up against. “I’m normally not home until well after dark, six days a week this time of year, and I’m out of here at the crack of dawn. Which all leaves me pretty exhausted,” she informed him. “But we can give it a try.”
“Great. Does eight or nine o’clock work for you? I’ll bring food.”
“Eight should be good. But I’ll call you if I’m going to be later. Which reminds me…” She got up, walked over to a drawer, and extracted a spare key. “This is for you.”
He looked at it as if it were gold. “Sweet.”
Lace sat back down. “But I’ll warn you right now, once I get home after a full day on the ocean, I can fall asleep in the middle of eating.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’ll be here to lift you up and tuck you in.”
Yeah.That would certainly be nice.
The mischievous dimple Lace had glimpsed a few times before, popped out again as Vince threw down the napkin he’d used to wipe his mouth, getting an even more devilish look on his face.
“Thereisjust one more thing,” he posed.
Lace couldn’t think of an issue they’d missed. But she’d bite.
“What’s that?” she asked with an arched brow.
“I get to name the dog.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
There’d been no further kissing—nothing at the door when Vince had finally left—and that was his fault.
Driving home, he wanted to kick himself.
He’dcravedgetting physical again, for sure, and Lace had been sneaking enough peeks at his lips that he knew she wanted to go there, too. But instead, he’d been stupidly chivalrous; determined to hold a hard line on any more canoodling until they’d hashed out all the details of becoming roommates.
Vince didn’t want to assume anything as being on or off the table, and he didn’t want to make the living arrangement uncomfortable for either of them moving forward.
It was the smart thing to do.
Then why do I feel so dumb? he questioned, smacking the steering wheel with the heel of his hand.
All the way home, he couldn’t stop imagining his lips on Lace’s, their bodies pressed up against one another, and… yeah. He’d admit it to himself. In his fantasies, there’d been a distinct lack of clothing.
He wanted naked, skin-on-skin time with Lace. He wanted to worship her in her entirety, and let her know that nothingthe chemo was doing would change her innate and undeniable appeal.
Vince knew she didn’t believe that. Yet. But he’d give her time. And alotof attention so she knew he wasn’t just blowing smoke.
The pragmatic part of his brain still didn’t quite understand how he’d become bowled over so quickly, though.
Why Lace? Why now?
Vince had never before been in love, or even imagined he’d want to be.
He’d certainly been inlusta few times back when he was a teenager, and he’d one-hundred percent enjoyed a lot of fast hook-ups while serving, but he’d never felt like this. Like he was immediately missing a vital organ when he parted company with Lace.
His conquests in the past?—
Right.
Conquests.
There it was.