on into Bennett’s.
It took everything she could muster not to cough and sputter. The tepid liquid burned her throat, and she tried not to blink. She had to maintain eye contact to convince him she was wild and bold, not shy and tame.
He stared at her.
She stared right back.
The room seemed inordinately warm and humid, steamy almost, and the music was too loud. They were stuck in motionless observation.
Glued.
His eyes peered deeper and deeper. He was inspecting her, scavenging her face for clues to her emotions.
He did not want to get involved in a long-term relationship. He was looking for something casual, light. He’d made himself perfectly clear. To pretend she wanted the same thing was folly, and yet, if she did not, he would not ask her out. She harbored no doubts about that.
Getting him to date her was the key. Once they went out, once Bennett got to know her, then he would learn that he could not live without her. He would move to Houston and finish his residency here. He would discover there were no obstacles to their love.
According to the women in her family, the thunderbolt was never wrong. Going out with him on the pretext that she was expecting nothing more than a good time couldn’t backfire.
This would work.
Then something horrifying occurred to her. What if he was married and looking to cheat on his wife with her? Maybe he just wanted an out-of-town affair.
Lacy narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not married, are you?”
“Do you think I’d say yes if I was?” His eyes twinkled. “No, Lacy. I’m not married. I might be a lot of things, but I’m not a cheater.”
She let out her breath. Thank heavens for that. But she had to act nonchalant, as if she wouldn’t mind dating a married man because she was that disinterested in a long-term romance.
“Because it wouldn’t matter to me if you were,” she fibbed, and hoped the heavens would forgive her a few off-white lies. It was for a good cause, after all.
“Really?” He looked surprised for the third time that night.
“Yes.”
“I would never have believed that. You’re an enigma, Lacy Calder, sweet on the outside, naughty on the inside.” He wagged his finger at her and grinned. “My grandmother used to say, ‘Always watch out for the quiet ones, Bennett. They’ll fool you every time.’”
“Your grandmother is very wise,” Lacy said.
“Was. She passed away five years ago.” A sadness came into his eyes then and the look touched her.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Were you close?”
“Very. She practically raised me.”
“What happened to your parents?”
“Mom and Dad are both physicians. Their work usually came before changing diapers. Or their marriage, for that matter. They got divorced while they were still in med school. I was two at the time. They were going to put me in daycare, but Nanna had a fit and insisted she be allowed to take care of me instead.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“Only child. How about you?”
“I’m the second out of six. Two sisters, three brothers.”
“Must have been fun growing up in a huge brood.” Bennett sounded wistful.
“It had its moments.” Lacy smiled, thinking of her boisterous childhood.
“Nanna was my best friend,” he admitted, and that vulnerability touch her heart.
She liked hearing about his grandmother and how much he had loved her. It reaffirmed her belief in the rightness of her feelings for him. Bennett was the man of her dreams.
“Nanna sounds like a very special person.” Lacy understood. She was very close to every one of her grandparents.
“She was.” His soft smile was laced with more sadness.
Touch his hand, Lacy. Comfort him.
Her fingers ached to follow her brain’s command, but did she have the guts? Mentally bracing herself, she reached out and covered his left hand with her right.
Mistake!
A big one.
Alarm bells went off. Fireworks, the likes of which she’d never experienced, shot through her. Suddenly all colors shone brighter; all sounds were magnified; all aromas smelled stronger.
Strobe lights flashed from the dance floor. The throbbing beat vibrated up through the floor. Voices buzzed around them. In the cramped room, she smelled beer and popcorn, cigarettes and aftershave.
He felt it, too.
She saw the flicker of response in his eyes. They were instantly forged. She to him. He to her. Cemented. Bound. Joined.
No escape.
This was absolutely crazy. Her breath flew from her body. All moisture evaporated from her mouth. Her skin tingled at the feel of his muscular hand beneath her own. Her heart leaped at his spicy, clean