“Can you be more…specific?” he asked, and yes, this time his voice did crack.
Lace dropped the bland mask she’d assumed and her mouth turned up into an interesting, perhaps provocative smile.
“I think you get the picture,” she teased. “But I’ll spell it out, anyway.”
Thank god she was taking pity.
Lace cleared her throat, purposely, going a bit over-the-top as she made a grand gesture with one arm that encompassed the kitchen and beyond. “I not only want you as a roommate,” she revealed, “I want you as abed-partner.”
Well, that couldn’t have been much clearer.
Thank God.
She continued, slowly losing the grandiosity to end up looking…uncertain again. “Although I’m not sure how much energy I have to put into sex at this point. Unless you don’t want to. But I knowI’dlike to try,” she added swiftly. “I’ve always enjoyed it. Sex, that is. Even with guys who I found weren’t overly skilled.”
Oh,she wouldnothave that problem with him.
Lace went on. “With you. This might be my last chance to?—”
Her voice broke.
Vince reached out, picked up her hand and laced their fingers together firmly, giving her a “go ahead” squeeze.
She twitched like a nervous cat.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have led with sleeping accommodations,” she apologized on a hissed-out breath. “I told myself that before I went to that, I’d make sure you were fully informed about everything to do with my cancer crap. I absolutelydon’twant to pressure you into sharing my bed when you don’t have all the facts.”
“Pressure me?” Vince repeated dumbly, then mentally slapped himself.
He needed to assuage her doubts.Stat.
“Lace, there’s absolutely nothing about sleeping with you that couldremotelybe considered a hardship.” He held eyecontact with her, to let her know just how serious he was, and went for the same honesty they’d been sharing.
“I’ve been thinking about being with you, having sex with you, ever since I saw those beautiful brown eyes of yours focusing on me in the hospital.”
“Yeah,” she rebutted hesitantly. “So you’ve let on. But that was before you knew I was a cancer patient.”
“It was,” he agreed. “But the minute I understood what you werereallythere for, I wasn’t turned off. And since then, I’ve done my research, Lace.”
He switched tracks for a moment. “Did I ever tell you what my specific job was, as a Navy SEAL?”
“Uh, no,” she replied with a crooked smile. “Don’t you guys just…swim a lot?”
Damned cute.
He chuckled. “That’s part of the job. But specifically, I was an intelligence officer for my team, as well as a few others,” he informed her, not getting into specifics because that might open up a whole can of worms that he wasn’t ready for, yet.
“Do you know what that job entailed?” he asked.
“That you told people what to do?” she posited.
Yup. Adorable.
“Well, yes. That. But in the larger picture, I was the one who researched operations that were upcoming, guaranteeing all the intel was available to make things safer for our teams. One of the things we learned to say in the Navy was, ‘We don’t rise to the occasion, we fall to the level of our preparation’. And that was me. The preparer.”
He didn’t want to think beyond that.
“I bet you were really good at your job,” she told him, wide eyed.