Into the Fire - Leslie Kelly [10]
This man, however, was far from safe. Gorgeous, sexy strangers with dimpled smiles who flirted and made her heart leap and her thighs quiver were definitely not safe.
She'd been shocked when she realized he was the man who'd caught her attention at the party. Within a few minutes she'd realized Raul had been messing with her—this guy was no bonehead. He was sexy, charming and gorgeous. She should have run for cover as soon as he made the mouth-to-mouth comment. Because that had put all kinds of interesting images in her mind!
Instead she continued to hold onto the side of the pool, wearing her sodden dress, which would probably never be free of the scent of chlorine, grinning at the mental picture of him in a thong. "I know of a site online that sells men's thongs."
"And you would know this because…"
"Because I bought a pair for a friend as a gag gift last year."
He raised an eyebrow. "A friend?"
"A female friend who was getting married. She tells me if it hadn't been for the yellow duck on the front, she might have been able to talk her husband into wearing them during their honeymoon."
"I'm with him on that one."
"I suppose you'd prefer your basic black."
"It works so well for you. I'll follow your example." Lacey should have felt like sinking beneath the water at the realization that this man really had been sitting here watching her on the trampoline. But she laughed again instead. "So do you make a habit out of sneaking peeks at strange women's underwear?"
"You don't seem strange. At least no stranger than anyone else at tonight's gala," he said earnestly. "Do you make a habit out of breaking into other people's gyms during parties?"
"I was hiding out, like you," she admitted. "I hate cocktail parties."
"Me, too. Smiles on the lips, never in the eyes. Superficial conversations. Everybody on the make trying to find someone to hook up with who they won't have to bump into at work the next week."
He sounded sincere, which surprised Lacey. "That's exactly how I feel."
"I'd much rather be treading water in a soaking tuxedo."
"Which is hopefully not rented."
"It is."
"I don't think you're going to get your deposit back."
"Maybe I'll buy it. This might prove to be my lucky suit." Though his tone remained flirtatious, his eyes held a note of serious intensity.
He had beautiful eyes. Green with circles of gold at the center that Lacey somehow felt she could get lost m. They were rimmed by thick black lashes that were unfairly long for a man. And his mouth—that gorgeous, smiling mouth she'd fantasized about after seeing him across the room at the party—was every bit as intriguing close up.
Lacey almost wished she were a different type of person. The type of person who could lean forward and kiss a sexy stranger, because if she didn't find out what his lips tasted like soon, she was going to lose her mind.
She wasn't that type of person, however. She was responsible and conservative, restrained and professional. Any lapses with trampolines, thong panties or to-die-for strangers with amazing lips were genetic flukes, not the real her.
Were they?
"I guess we ought to get out and dry off," she said, hearing a note of regret in her voice. "I imagine I've already been missed. I don't exactly know how I'm going to get out of this one."
"Can't you just slip out, go home without saying anything?" He pulled himself out of the pool, then turned to lend her a hand, easily hoisting her up to stand in front of him on the pool deck.
Before she could reply, she watched as he dropped his gaze to her bare shoulders, no longer covered by the straps of her dress, which had loosened and fallen down her arms. She breathed deeply. His eyes followed the movement of her skin, studying her throat, then moved down to the curves of her breasts. Her heart picked up its pace, beating wildly inside her as this man touched every inch of her body with nothing but his heavy-lidded stare.
She knew she looked a