Into the Fire - Leslie Kelly [28]
"I have excellent instincts," she retorted.
"Sometimes. Your instinct Friday night was to trust me, to live for the moment, to go along for the ride of something pretty spectacular. Today your instinct is to hate my guts."
"Today I know who you are."
Nate rose from his desk, walked around it and approached her. She took a tiny, nearly imperceptible step back. He saw her pulse beating wildly in her throat. Though she maintained a nonchalant pose, she was not at all calm. "No, Lacey, you don't. You don't know me any more than I know the real you."
She stared at him, her eyes shifting lower to look at his mouth, and he knew she was thinking of their kisses. He sucked in a deep breath, remembering the feel of her in his arms, the way her scent filled his head, the way her body felt deep inside. Like heaven on earth. Like ecstasy. Like home.
"Can't we wipe the slate clean for now? Start off this assignment with open minds, each willing to explore the possibilities?" he asked, keeping his voice low and soothing. "We both have something to gain out of this."
She shifted from foot to foot, nervous, anxious, reacting to their closeness almost as much as he was.
"Your feature-writing job," she finally said.
"And you get to keep your secret a little longer."
She pulled her rapt attention off his mouth and looked into his eyes. "How did you know about that, anyway?"
"Raul said it wasn't common knowledge. He didn't say why."
She shrugged, sidestepped and took a seat in the chair again. "It's a long story."
"Family, right?"
"Yes, family," she said softly. "I do appreciate you not saying anything to anyone."
"I, for one, applaud a family who knows how to keep secrets." He shook his head in disgust. "Mine definitely does not!"
"Oh?"
"There's not a single topic that isn't discussed ad nauseum around the Logan family dinner table on holidays. Right down to what color underwear my mother bought my father last Christmas or whether my twenty-year-old brother got lucky with the head of the cheerleading squad after the homecoming game."
She nibbled a corner of her lip. "Did he?"
Nate lifted his hands, palms up, and chuckled. "What can I say? He's his brother's brother."
"Sounds like your family's very close."
He nodded. "Thankfully, most of them live a few states away so I still have a few moments of privacy each year. And as the target of their matchmaking, advice and never-ending opinions, I have learned the value of keeping my mouth shut."
She responded with a skeptical lifting of one eyebrow.
"I might talk a lot, but I know when to shut up."
"You certainly kept quiet about your name," she muttered.
"As did you. Your timing was impeccable on that one."
"Touché," she admitted with a tiny, grudging smile.
"So, J.T. agreed not to out you if you did this assignment?" he finally asked when she didn't continue. He didn't mind changing the subject. He had a feeling if they started talking about Friday again, she'd dam up or leave. Which would be a damn shame since, for the first time today, they were finally talking with the same sense of easy interest they'd shared the other night.
She nodded. "He gave me until the end of the year, which will hopefully be enough time for my mother to work things out."
"I have to admit it's strange to me," he said as he moved closer to lean his hip against one corner of his heavily laden desk. He nudged a pile of papers and folders out of the way and scooted back until he sat on the desk's edge, just above her. "Your father is one of the richest men in the country, and you don't seem too eager for anyone to know about it."
Lacey tried not to be distracted by the lean male body mere inches from hers. He was so at ease, as always, so comfortable and laid-back. How could he be laid-back when she was so tense? How could he appear so unaffected when three minutes ago she'd been desperate to yank him to her and kiss him senseless? How could