Into the Fire - Leslie Kelly [35]
Venus had been completely charmed by the man, which wasn't saying much, since Venus could be charmed by any man who was gorgeous and laughed at her jokes. Still, something Venus had said when she'd walked Lacey to her car remained with Lacey long into the night. "You come alive with him, Lacey. The way you look at him, and the way he looks at you, both of you trying to hide it, but it was like there was no one else in the place, like the two of you were in your own world somewhere and the rest of us were completely excluded." Then, with typical Venus bluntness, she said, "Pissed me off, to be perfectly honest."
Lacey had thought about it all night, knowing it was true. There was definitely something happening between her and Nate Logan. It seemed impossible, didn't fit in with what she knew about herself, what she planned for herself.
Since she'd moved to Baltimore , Lacey had struggled to be the person everyone wanted her to be. Her mother and stepfather wanted the subdued, conservative, soft-spoken daughter they'd tried to form during her childhood. Her real father wanted the driven, successful journalist to prove to the world that his genes would carry on through her. Her boss and colleagues wanted the conscientious, serious writer who could help them all by improving their circulation. Raul wanted a big sister. Venus wanted a confidante and a playmate.
In the dark, lonely night, Lacey admitted to herself that the only times she'd felt real lately were when she'd been battling Nate Logan on the pages of the magazine. And during those wonderful moments in her father's deserted gym Friday night. Their laughter in the pool, their connection while she'd bandaged him. Their passion on the trampoline. Oh, yes, that had indeed made her feel real Like she'd finally found the place she belonged. The place she'd been searching for since finding out her parents had been lying to her for the first twelve years of her life.
The confused thoughts muddying her brain were enough to give anyone a sleepless night. So Tuesday morning Lacey called her office, faked a cold and went back to bed with a pint of Häagen Dazs Rum Raisin.
"Milk. Fruit. It's breakfast food," she muttered as she dug into the ice cream and turned on the television. A quick flip of the channels offered the usual weekday-morning fare-the wild and outrageous on the talk shows, the clueless and greedy on the game shows, the disgustingly perky on the morning shows and the dour and depressing on the world news. She turned the TV off, consoling herself that she really hadn't devoured an entire six-hundred-calorie pint all by herself. There were, after all, at least two spoonfuls stuck to the bottom and sides of the container.
Deciding to do some work in her home office, Lacey took a quick shower and pulled on some stretchy shorts and an old, ratty T-shirt. "One benefit of working at home," she said as she went into the second bedroom of her apartment, where she had a fairly decent computer system.
Just after she'd turned on her computer, Lacey heard a knock at her front door. Glancing at her watch, she saw it was nearly ten and knew it couldn't be Venus, who had a job interview this morning. When she reached her door and peeked through the peephole, she half expected to see the mailman with a package. Instead she saw a blond hunk with dimples.
"Oh, no, please," she muttered and thunked her forehead against the door.
"Come on, Lacey, I heard you. I know you're there." Resigned, Lacey tugged the door open, half hiding behind it and wishing she'd bothered to at least put on a shirt without any holes in it. "How did you find out where I live?"
"Raul. How else?"
Lacey pictured Raul strapped down to various devices formerly used by Spanish inquisitors. "What do you want?"
"I heard you were sick," Nate said as he breezed past her into her apartment without waiting for an invitation. "I brought comfort food." He held up a brown paper bag.
"Chicken soup?" she asked skeptically.
"Brownies."
"You can stay," Lacey said as she grabbed