Into the Fire - Leslie Kelly [11]
But he never touched her.
Finally, Lacey pulled her thoughts together, ordered her pulse to stop racing and took a quick step away from him. He shook his head, as if trying to clear his mind, and she knew he'd been as affected as she by the charged moment.
"No, I can't just leave," she said, finally answering his question. "It's complicated." She didn't want complicated right now. For the past several minutes, since she'd leaped into the pool after a stranger, she'd felt uncomplicated pleasure. Sharing laughter and heated glances with a gorgeous man was much better than worrying about J.T.'s plans for the evening.
His plans certainly weren't going to go over very well if she showed up wearing a soaking wet cocktail dress. How could he officially introduce her to Baltimore society and the magazine executives when she looked like a drowned rat?
"I think I'm going to need to call a friend for help."
"I should do the same thing. Do you happen to have a cell phone? Mine's a little wet." He reached into his pocket, pulling out a phone and a small tape recorder, both of which dripped water.
"There's a phone over there by the door," she said. "There's also a bathroom on the other side of the trampoline. You call first. I'm going to try to do something about the way I look."
"You're beyond beautiful," he said with a wistful smile. "Thanks again for saving my life." He accompanied the comment with a tender brush of his fingers against her brow as he tucked her hair behind her ear. Nothing else. Just a gentle touch, and she thought her legs were going to shake apart, sending her back into the water.
"You're welcome." She finally managed to whisper the words on a slowly exhaled breath.
When he turned away and walked toward the phone, she took a few seconds to coiled herself. What was it about the man that so intrigued her? His looks were divine, of course, but there was more than that. Perhaps at the party it had been the self-assurance, the appearance of a man totally comfortable in his own skin, that had attracted her attention. A man who could fit in anywhere, knew where he belonged in his world. Unlike Lacey, who was never quite sure where she was supposed to be in life. But now, after their strange meeting in the pool, it was more than fascination. She found herself wanting to talk to him, to hear his deep voice, to see those lips curl up into a smile meant only for her.
Somehow, Lacey found the strength to get her legs moving again, and she headed straight for the bathroom, leaving him to use the phone in privacy. She definitely needed a minute alone to regain her composure.
When she shut the bathroom door behind her, flipped on the light and saw herself in the mirror, she let out a yelp of dismay. Her wet hair stuck to her scalp like a swim cap. Her makeup was mostly gone, and what was left had shifted around so her mascara was on her cheeks and her lipstick on her chin. One of her pretty gold earrings was missing, and if she wasn't mistaken, that was a streak of black dye from her dress staining one shoulder.
Beyond beautiful, he'd called her. Beyond repair was more like it.
* * *
After his stunning rescuer disappeared into the bathroom, Nate spent about thirty seconds wishing he'd gone ahead and kissed her the way he'd been dying to as they stood by the pool. If there had been only attraction between them, he might have done it. But there had been more than attraction.
He was seriously interested in her. Interested and intrigued, charmed and amused, and he didn't even know her name! He intended to remedy that, but not right away. He still wasn't ready for the introduction stage. If she was at a party at J.T.'s house, then she probably knew the name Nate