Into the Fire - Leslie Kelly [18]
When she glanced over and saw the speculative look on J.T.'s face, she sighed. He'd been telling her for years that she needed to let loose, to give in to her true nature. He'd insisted she stop hiding who she really was, as her stepfather had forced her to do throughout her childhood.
She didn't imagine this scene was exactly what he'd had in mind when he'd pictured Lacey letting loose. Then she giggled, amused in spite of the awful situation in which she suddenly found herself. Lacey Lets Loose. Sounds like a porno title.
"Hi, J.T.," she said. "Uh, can you give us a minute?"
He didn't argue. "One minute." Taking Raul by the elbow, her father led him out of the gym, giving them privacy.
Sliding out from under the man who'd driven her to a wildly intense orgasm just moments before, Lacey tugged the robe tighter and cinched the belt. Her lover stood and offered her a hand up. They walked together to the edge of the trampoline and he gently helped her down, leading her to think he wasn't truly angry she hadn't mentioned her relationship to J.T.
Without a word, he turned and went into the bathroom. She instantly knew he had to get rid of some evidence. Somehow that brought another laugh to her lips, which her father caught when he walked into the room. She saw a twinkle in his eye and knew he was fighting to prevent a grin.
"Having a nice evening, dear?" he asked, his voice still deceptively calm. He turned his attention toward the bathroom door as Lacey's gorgeous stranger emerged to join them next to the trampoline. "And you, too?"
"It's going just swimmingly," her lover muttered.
"Just the word I was going to use," Lacey said. Hearing Raul snort a laugh, she leveled a glare in his direction. "Thanks a lot, Raul."
"It wasn't my fault." Raul held up a hand, palm out. "He followed me."
"You two know each other?" her lover said, looking back and forth between Lacey and Raul.
"Seems everybody knows each other pretty well now." Raul's grin held a note of merriment that instantly put Lacey on guard.
J.T. cleared his throat, demanding their attention. "Anyone want to fill me in on what's going on here? I saw this character skulking away after I asked him if he knew where the two of you were. And I find this." He still sounded calm, but a bright look of interest and amusement remained obvious.
Most fathers would have been anything but amused. J.T., however, wasn't like most. He was probably overjoyed that straitlaced Lacey, the illegitimate child he hadn't even laid eyes on until she was twelve years old, apparently had some of her real father's blood running through her veins, after all. Exactly as her stepfather, the man she'd thought was her real father for the first several years of her life, had feared.
"This man fell in the pool," she explained, knowing she sounded ridiculous. "He hit his head. I had to help him out."
"And what? He needed mouth-to-mouth?" Raul said with an evil chuckle.
She glared.
"Can someone tell me why you and Mr. Logan were here, anyway, when you're supposed to be guests of honor at my party?" J.T. asked.
"I needed some air," Lacey replied. "I would have been back in a few minutes, no one would have missed me. I'm sorry I…"
She paused. Thought about what J.T. had said. Staring hard at Raul, she whispered, " Logan ?"
Her friend shrugged and gave her a look of complete innocence—which was completely feigned.
"Well, Nate, what's your excuse?" J.T. asked, apparently oblivious to the fact that Lacey's blood pressure had risen to the point where she thought her head was going to blow off.
Nate? Nate Logan? "Please, no, anything but that," she said to Raul, her tone insisting he put her fears to rest.
He just smiled.
"I'm sorry, J.T., similar story to, uh, your daughter's. I needed some air, came down here to sit by the pool for a while and fell in. She really did leap in to save me, so I'm completely at fault for her missing the party."
Lacey didn't care to be defended by her archenemy. If he really was her archenemy. Could