Texas Heroes: Volume 1 (68 page)

She couldn’t match his long strides, so he picked her up in his arms, handing her the basket of chocolates. She popped one in her mouth and moaned like pure sex just as the security guard appeared.

The guard’s grin was a mile wide. “You two have fun now.” His gaze traveled down Lacey’s long, slender legs, and his face turned wistful.

Dev cast him a warning glance, then grinned smugly. The best girl was his, at least for the night. “We plan to.”

Then they were through the door and out on the sidewalk. Reaching the car, Dev slid her over the side without opening the door. Lacey reached up and popped a chocolate in his mouth, then rose to her knees on the seat and licked his lips, her breath sweet and dark.

Dev gripped her shoulders and eased her away from him before they got arrested for public lewdness. Violent need hummed beneath his skin, and he couldn’t be responsible for the consequences if he answered that kiss.

Her sparking eyes told him she knew that.

“You, Ms. DeMille, are no lady, I’m beginning to think.”

“Really?”

“You could sound a little more disgruntled.”

Lacey grinned. “I don’t want to be a lady tonight, Dev. I’ve been a lady too long.” Her eyes taunted him.

The air went electric around them. Dev sucked in a ragged breath. “You are going to be in big trouble if you don’t quit looking at me like that.”

“Really?” She sounded more thrilled than ever.

Dev groaned aloud as he got in and started the car.

“Dev?”

“What?” He gritted his teeth, wondering why the devil he didn’t just take her home and do what they were both craving.

Then he remembered that they were only on this magic island for a few hours. Then he would have to tell her.

If he were any kind of man, he’d take her home and tell her now.

But you owe us this
, he snarled at the heavens.
Our one magic night was stolen from us, and this is the only one we might ever get
.

He hoped he was wrong. That maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to give them a fighting chance. He knew now that he wanted that chance more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Hm?” Dev shook off his torment, realizing she’d said something he hadn’t heard. He forced his thoughts to lighten. “Oh, sorry. Yeah, I’m fine.” He gripped her hand probably a little too tightly, pressing a hot, wet kiss to her knuckles.

“So, Devlin Marlowe, you haven’t answered my question.” But her voice was just the tiniest bit shaky.

“What question?”

“Are you going to teach me how to dirty dance?”

Dev shot her a look, drinking in the delight fracturing the shadows in her eyes.

They deserved this night, and he was going to see that they got it.

“Yeah,” he answered, his voice rough. “I’m going to show you a lot of things you’ve never seen before.”

Some of them even while we’re still dressed
.

The T-bird shot through the night.

Chapter Nine

L
acey had no idea where they were heading. They’d long ago left any part of town she’d ever seen.

“Don’t be scared. I promise it’s not as bad as it looks,” Dev said, his voice tight.

She touched his arm gently. “I’m not afraid. I’m with you.”

He muttered under his breath, something about the wrong side of the tracks. “You don’t belong here. This is a bad idea.”

“Dev…” She touched his hand. “I loved Shorty’s donuts, didn’t I? Stop treating me like I’m made of glass.”

She saw the tension in his jaw ease slightly.

“If you don’t like it, we don’t have to stay.”

“And if I do?”

He glanced at her. “It’s not your kind of place, Lacey. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Stop it, Dev. I want to be someone new.”

An odd look crossed his face at those words.

“I mean it.” She spread her arms wide, throwing her arms back and wishing her hair were long so it could whip in the wind like a banner.

“If you don’t stop looking like seven kinds of sin, I will not be responsible for my actions,” he growled.

A slow, lazy smile spread across her lips. She arched one eyebrow. “Really?”

“And if you say really one more time like you’re licking your chops over forbidden thrills, I definitely won’t be responsible.”

She couldn’t resist. “Really?” She threw back her head and laughed.

He slammed to a stop in a parking lot and yanked her against him, covering her mouth in a kiss so hot she was sure her lungs were scorched.

But Lacey didn’t care. This was the best night of her whole life, and she was going to live it to the fullest. She’d never felt more alive, her nerve endings sizzling like severed high wires dancing on the ground in a shower of sparks.

Dev took her under again, and she thought she’d lost the ability to breathe…but she didn’t care. Giddy laughter bubbled up her throat, and she wanted to sing and shout and dance.

He pulled away slightly; she gripped his hair in her hands and nibbled at his lower lip. “Don’t stop.”

Was that her voice, so low and hungry?

“I have to, or we’re not making it out of this car.” Dev sounded a little breathless, and Lacey was inordinately pleased to think she could have that effect on him.

“Am I a femme fatale, Dev?” she asked innocently.

Dev growled low in his throat. “You are pure hell-born trouble. I’m shocked at you.” But he was grinning, even as his eyes sparked with something dark and dangerous.

She inhaled to speak—

“Do
not
say really…”

Lacey laughed. She’d only had one glass of champagne but she felt like she could fly. “Take me dancing, Dev.” Her voice lowered. “And then take me home.”

His nostrils flared. “When I do, I’m going to want to stay,” he warned.

She licked her lips, loving the way he sucked in a breath as he watched her. “I hope so.”

Dev cursed under his breath and broke from the car as though demons were after him. He stood outside with his hands on the door, his knuckles white. “Don’t tease me, Lacey. Not about this.” Suddenly his eyes were that boy’s eyes, almost pleading.

She crawled over his seat and emerged from the car, settling her hands on his. “Never about this, Dev.” She took a deep breath. “Never.”

Dev shut the car door and grasped her hand, pulling her into his side. “If I last one dance, it’ll be a miracle.” He sounded thoroughly disgruntled, and Lacey giggled.

But he lasted a lot more than one dance. The place could only politely be called a dive, but Lacey had more fun than she’d had at any expensive society function. They didn’t talk much—the music was too loud for that. But it was great music, fast and full of energy and fun.

Dev taught her dances with names she couldn’t possibly remember, but she didn’t care. He was a superb dancer, gliding and whirling her around the floor with muscular grace. He even did something she’d wanted to do all her life: have her partner slide her between his legs, then lift her over his head as they jitterbugged like crazy.

She was sweaty and hot and out of breath when he declared a rest break. Gratefully, they sank into chairs as Dev ordered beers for both of them.

“Sorry,” he shrugged. “No wine in this place.”

She lifted the beer bottle to her lips and took several deep swallows.

Dev’s eyebrows rose. “You like it?”

She shook her head. “It tastes terrible. But it’s wet.” And then she laughed and pulled his head toward hers, sinking into a beery kiss. “I’m having so much fun, Dev,” she murmured. “Thank you for this.”

He hesitated before he answered, staring at his beer bottle and picking at the label. “This is who I am, Lacey. I’ve got money now, and I make a good living. But losing everything when my dad died taught me that none of that’s important.” He lifted his bottle for another swallow, but paused. “You have to know that about me. I don’t want your money. I don’t like it, or what it makes people think about who they are compared to others.” He tipped the bottle back, his strong throat moving with each swallow.

Lacey’s mouth went dry with lust, but she was more shaken than she could say by his words. “Is that what you think of me, Dev? That I’m like them?”

He set the bottle down and slanted her a glance. “I used to.” He exhaled. “I don’t want to, now.”

Lacey covered his hand with hers, the long, strong fingers so beautiful to her that they made her want to weep. “Don’t,” she whispered. “See me as me.”

Dev curled his fingers around hers. “You want to go?”

Lacey nodded. “If you do.” Her heart skipped, thinking of what might happen next.

Then Dev drew to attention, as if scenting the wind. The band had begun the first few notes of a slow song. He turned back to her. “We can’t leave yet. This is my favorite song in the whole wide world.” He drew her onto the dance floor again, and into his arms.

Then Lacey recognized it, and whatever was left of her heart tumbled at Dev’s feet. “My Girl,” the song by the Temptations that had made millions of women swoon.

Lacey swayed in Dev’s arms, held close and safe as he moved them gracefully across the floor, humming the words in her ear. Her throat filled with something that felt a lot like tears.

They should have been dancing to this song for the last nineteen years. They should have been making love and having babies and holding each other in the night.

Lacey burrowed into Dev’s chest and wanted to weep for all the lost years, for all that had been taken from them on that dark, terrible night. She should have stood up for him, should have seen the man he would become. If she had, maybe he would never have been forced into that fateful decision, but she knew now that whatever his reason, she would give him a fair audience because she had played a part in all of it. If she had been honest with her father and not sneaked around with Dev, perhaps her parents would have accepted him. Perhaps they could have—

“Shh,” Dev murmured, his voice smoky and low. With his fingers, he dried her tears. “Don’t think about the past, Lacey.” It was as if he had read her thoughts. “Think about now…tonight.” He lowered his head. “Think about this.”

Then Dev covered her mouth with a kiss of such poignant sweetness that her heart felt as though it would explode from the press of all she wanted to say to him.

He pulled back slightly. “This is our song now. And tonight is our night.” He brushed her lips with his thumb. “Let me take you home, Lacey. Let me love you tonight. Whatever else happens, we deserve this much.”

In his voice she heard a note of foreboding, and she wanted to tell him that nothing outside them would ever matter again. She would not let it.

But his eyes pleaded for a ceasefire from the past. So Lacey merely nodded, lifting to her tiptoes and giving him back a soft kiss. “Please, Dev. Take me home. I want the night we should have had.”

She saw a shiver ripple up his spine and felt a rush of gratitude that she could affect him so deeply.

Tonight is ours, Dev. But I want more
.

But it was too soon to say such a thing, so Lacey merely smiled and rested her head against his chest.

Dev pulled her tightly under his arm and headed for the car.