am sorry. If I’d known... If you’d only told me you really believed in this thunderbolt thing, I would never have had sex with you. I know it’s going to be hard...”
Lacy raised a hand. “Don’t. Please, just don’t. Okay? I’ll be all right.”
She had taken a chance. It hadn’t worked out. So there was no such thing as the thunderbolt, after all. She would survive. She was stronger than she suspected. One good thing had come out of this. She’d gotten over her shyness. She’d even made love with a man she loved, even if he didn’t love her back.
At the memory of their tender lovemaking, her stomach roiled. Oh, God, she loved him so very much.
“Cupcake,” he whispered.
“It’s okay.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder, but Lacy shrugged him off. “Let’s talk about this some more,” he said. “I can’t promise you anything, but I do care about you. We had a great time. Maybe, someday, when I’ve finished my residency and opened my practice, we could see how we feel then and...”
She whirled on him, sudden anger blooming inside her. She would not be ashamed of or embarrassed by her feelings. She’d made a gigantic blooper in loving him, but she couldn’t regret having taken a chance.
She’d learned a lot and she decided that she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life hiding under a rock, waiting for Prince Charming to come kick it over. She was tired of playing Sleeping Beauty. Yes, her lesson was a painful one, but she’d learned it well.
“No, Bennett. If you don’t love me now, then you’ll never feel it. I can accept that.” She pivoted on her good heel, then hurried to the house as fast as she could hobble.
Bennett sat in the commuter airplane, wearing the ridiculous high-water blue jeans that belonged to Lacy’s brother, wishing with all his heart that things could have been different between them.
Lacy was so sweet, so lovable. He hated to think he’d hurt her. Damn. It was the last thing on earth he wanted.
He should have known better. He should have realized she was in love with him. He should never have kissed her that first time at the nightclub.
What he hadn’t expected was this hollow, aching sensation in the region of his heart. Had he fallen in love with her, too?
But how could he be in love with her? He barely knew her. Sure, they’d worked side by side for hours a day for the last five weeks. Worked in tandem like a well-trained team of trick ponies. Sure, she was one of the cutest, sweetest women he’d ever known. Sure, she aroused him to heights he’d never before experienced. Sure, whenever he caught sight of her, his stomach contracted, and his heart flipped.
But that wasn’t love.
What he felt for Lacy was simply animal attraction. Love took time.
A lot of time.
There was no such thing as predestined love. It was a precariously romantic concept that led people to do very dumb things.
But still, it hurt to know that he was the cause of Lacy’s pain. It was all his fault. He should never have allowed things to go this far.
He liked so many things about her. She was good-hearted, warm, and generous. Her playfulness lightened his seriousness. Before he even knew what was going on inside himself, Lacy perceived his feelings, his insecurities. His best qualities emerged whenever he was around her.
He loved the way her voice resonated in his head, so soft and modulated. It was the kind of voice a man could hear for a thousand years and never grow tired of. He adored her aroma of roses and soap. A cozy scent that could revive a man’s heart no matter how often he smelled it. He cherished the sugary taste of her lips that reminded him of home-cooked meals and cold winter nights spent curled by the fire.
How could anyone not ache to spend a lifetime tasting such lips? Any man would be lucky to have her.
But he wasn’t the man for her. No matter what she might believe about thunderbolts and soul mates and love at first sight. He didn’t buy into any of that.
Relationships were built over a long period of time. They were based on honesty, communication, and friendship, not hot passion, intense hormonal rushes, or wayward emotions. Fireworks worked fine for great sex but made for lousy long-term unions.
Besides, how could anything so effortless as his feelings for Lacy be trusted? Yes, they