Into the Fire - Leslie Kelly [29]
He grinned. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she insisted between gritted teeth.
"I guess I still have a reporter's instincts. I smell a good story here and I'm curious."
His comment broke the aura of sensuality in which Lacey had been sitting. She clenched her fingers around the armrests of the chair and sat up straighter. "There is no story here. This is not for public consumption. I have six more months and I need every one of them. So stay out of it. You and I have an assignment. It's purely business."
He again held up a hand, palm out. She noticed his hands were not pale and white, like many of the other guys who worked in an office nine to five . His were tanned, roughened, and she had a sudden memory of the feel of them on her body. Her heart skipped a beat.
"Hey, no problem. Strictly business."
She breathed a sigh of relief.
"We've got our assignment. We need to work together to do the job we're being paid to do," he continued. "And if you can forget all about climbing on top of me on that trampoline, then I'm sure I can forget all about those black thong panties."
* * *
"I can't stand Nate Logan," Lacey muttered as she walked into her office late that afternoon after a round of meetings.
She didn't realize the room wasn't empty until Raul spoke. "Sure didn't look that way Friday night." Raul sat in a vacant chair in her office, leaning back with his hands folded over his chest. His crossed feet were on her desk, muddying up a folderful of reader letters Lacey planned to work on later in the week. He'd been nosily reading them, and she caught a smirk on his face as he put one letter on her desk. "Some pretty lovesick people in this world."
"Don't you have your own office?" she asked as she shoved Raul's feet off the desk.
"Tell me about your meeting with J.T. this morning."
"How do you know about the meeting?" Lacey shrugged. "Never mind. You know everything that goes on around here."
"So, are you two going to work together on this story?"
She sighed. "Yes, it appears we are."
Raul laughed out loud and rubbed his hands together. "Perfect. I knew you and Nate would hit it off."
Lacey, who had taken her seat at the desk, put one fist on her hip and cocked an incredulous brow. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, I meant professionally," he said with a sheepish grin. "Really. I know the two of you are so passionate about your jobs you'd be a great writing team."
Lacey remained skeptical. "Right. And that's why you let me think Nate wasn't the guy I spotted at the party Friday night?"
He waved a hand airily as if it didn't matter at all. "I didn't want to spoil the surprise. The buildup between you two has been going on for months. It wouldn't have been fair for you to know who he was before he got to see you, now, would it?"
Well, yeah! "Remember, my friend, paybacks are hell. One day all your misdeeds will come back to haunt you," Lacey said.
"I'm shaking in my shoes."
Since Raul knew how much was at stake in Lacey's personal life, she filled him in on the agreement she'd reached with her father. His sincere happiness for her made it almost possible to forgive him for his rotten trick Friday night.
"It's quitting time. Let's go to happy hour," he said.
Lacey glanced at her watch. "Actually, I already agreed to meet Venus at Flanagan's at five-thirty."
"Ooh, Amazon woman? Even better," Raul said. "When are you going to fix me up with her?"
"She chews up and spits out little boys like you for a snack."
"So let's go."
"Well, sure, Raul," Lacey said as she tidied her desk for the night, "feel free to join us."
Before he could reply, Lacey's desk phone rang. Holding up a hand to silence him, Lacey answered. As soon as she heard her mother's voice, she dropped to her chair and waved Raul out. He blew her a kiss before leaving, whispering that he'd meet her at the Irish pub up the block in a half hour.
Ten minutes later, after a teary, stressful conversation with her mother during which Lacey assured her at least fifteen times that J.T. would