The Best Mistake (2 page)

The pavement shimmered in the heat and Ran braced himself to get out of the car, knowing the humidity would make it feel like he was hitting a wet brick wall. Even though he was wearing only shorts and a thin T-shirt, the air seemed to cling to him and sweat instantly prickled along his skin as he swung out of the BMW. He went around the car and opened the door politely for Lacey. Why had she been so damned quiet since he’d picked her up?

More than pretty in a soft pink sundress that emphasized her light tan—she wasn’t much for sunbathing so her skin had just the right golden hue—and her hair was loose today, just the way he liked it. She glanced at him briefly. “Whew, it’s like a sauna out here.”

An unoriginal comment, but he couldn’t disagree. He took her elbow and steered her toward the door of the pub. “At least it will be cool inside.”

It was, and the soft music in the background was a jazzy tune by one of his favorite singers. Since this was one of their usual places, the hostess knew them and took them to a corner away from the bar to the booth they preferred, handed them menus—which they didn’t need by now—and went ahead and took their drink order. He raised his brows when Lacey said, “I’ll have a cosmopolitan.”

Ran asked for a dark beer and studied her seriously as soon as they were alone. “You okay?”

“Fine.”

“You sure? I’ve never seen you drink anything but white wine, and you don’t usually do that at lunch, Lace.”

She unrolled her napkin and set it in her lap, still not really looking him in the eye. “I haven’t had the best week.”

“I know you weren’t all that interested in attending the convention in the first place, but you said on the phone it was better than you anticipated.”

“Conventions for financial analysts are not the usual person’s idea of fun.” She gave a small grimace. “But it was better than most. Seattle is an interesting city.”

Still curious about her subdued mood, he urged, “Tell me about it.”

She did, giving a brief overview of Pike’s Market and the joy of really fresh seafood, but when the waiter arrived with their order, she fell silent and just sipped her drink.

Something was definitely wrong. He could feel it. Lacey was usually easygoing. She didn’t take bad moods out on anyone else, and when there was a problem, she—like him—usually just said something. As a lawyer, he was used to being direct.

“What’s the matter?” he asked bluntly. “You are too quiet and we are way past the point where I can’t tell if you are unhappy for some reason. Did I do something? We seemed fine when you left and we haven’t seen each other until now. What is it?”

Her profile was clean, perfect. He studied the dainty line of her nose and the soft curve of her lips as she turned to look out the window for a moment. Then her gaze came back to hold his, direct and straightforward for the first time since he’d picked her up. “I made an extremely stupid mistake and every time I think of it I feel like an idiot all over again.”

Well, at least this didn’t seem to be
his
fault, which was a relief, but then again, the look on her face said somehow she didn’t want to tell him what exactly had happened. A ripple of unease went through him. Lacey was gorgeous, no doubt about it. Guys hit on her. He didn’t need to be there to see it for himself. Usually she didn’t drink much, but anyone could stumble. Had she cheated on him? If so, he didn’t want to hear it.

But dammit, she looked guilty.

“At the conference?”

“No.”

That was somewhat of a relief, but then he had no idea what she was talking about. Ran grazed his fingers down the condensation on his glass of beer and frowned. “Between when your plane got in, a long drive down from Chicago last night and this lunch, there doesn’t seem to be a huge window of opportunity for you to do something stupid. Mind you, I’m not saying you did anything stupid at all, just quoting you.”

She lifted her glass to her mouth. “Yeah, well, I managed it anyway, believe me.”

“Does this involve the law?” He hoped not, but as an attorney, at least he could help her. “An accident? A ticket—”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Then stop being so damned cryptic and tell me. We all screw up now and then, Lace.”

She took a solid drink—more like a gulp—of the cosmopolitan. Then she set the glass aside. “I didn’t go home last night. I went to your condo. I’d…I’d missed you. It was really dark and I didn’t want to wake you up—only I didn’t know it wasn’t you sleeping in the bed. God, if I hadn’t so intent on not waking you up at first, I might have been actually able to see that it was Rick.”

A light was beginning to dawn. “Oh shit.” He had to stifle a laugh. “We met for a sandwich for lunch at a hoagie place near the hospital yesterday and he looked tired as hell then. Don’t tell me you two slept in the same bed together and didn’t realize it.”

“Something like that.” Her reply was almost inaudible. “And it really isn’t funny. The two of you look a lot alike, and why would it not be
you
in
your
bed, and he has dark wavy hair like yours, and you have about the same build, so—”

“I get how it happened.” He interrupted the string of jerky sentences, smoothing the amusement from his voice because obviously she was upset about it. “Relax, sweetheart. Rick is a great guy. He’s not going to say anything to anyone. He likes you.”

Dark blue eyes regarded him with stormy accusation. “Stop laughing, Ran.”

He did his best to straighten out his expression. “Sorry. But really, you have to admit it is a little like one of those cliché stage farces when the two people wake up in the morning and jump out of bed yelling at each other and the entire audience laughs their heads off.”

“Not precisely like one of those. And trust me, we didn’t find out in the morning.”

This got more interesting by the minute. He lifted his brows. “Oh?”

“I was…in the mood.” Her cheeks were pink and it wasn’t from the alcohol.

“
The
mood?”

“Don’t be deliberately obtuse. You know exactly what I mean.”

He did, and he processed this new information, picturing Lacey and his cousin in a darkened room, her fingertips brushing Rick’s skin in that way she had that was so arousing. In bed he found her passionate and uninhibited and adventurous enough he sure as hell had never been bored, which meant Rick probably hadn’t been bored either.

The arrival of the waiter to take their order stopped the conversation, and Lacey ordered her usual grilled shrimp and the signature pasta salad. Ran asked for fish and chips with coleslaw and handed back the menus.

“What did you do?” The small booth was far enough away from other diners he knew they wouldn’t be overheard. Over the speaker system, another slow love song drifted in the background.

At her hesitation, he wondered whether she would answer or not.

This is what she doesn’t want to tell me
.

“Let’s just say he woke up pretty fast no matter how tired he might have been.”

Not exactly an answer, but he had a pretty good imagination. When a naked woman wants to wake up a man for a little round of pleasurable sex, there’s one part of his anatomy that’s a surefire go-to every time.

Lucky Rick. Ran wished he’d been home after all and the one to wake up like that. He experienced a twinge of misgiving, but reminded himself at once that it was Rick, who would never do anything on purpose to compromise his relationship with Lacey, and that the misunderstanding was just that. He trusted them both, and her current discomfort was reassuring, because there was no law that said she had to even tell him about it.

She rushed on. “Lord, it was so…I don’t know how to describe it. Mortifying comes to mind. Anyway, he slept on the couch. I think he was as upset as I was.”

I doubt it
. Ran didn’t say it out loud.

But he was thinking it. Rick was great and they were like brothers, but he was still a guy and quite frankly, his cousin was attracted to Lacey.

Drily, he observed, “I think he’ll get over it.”

“I hope
I
do. We tend to see him a lot. Or as much as anyone can see someone who works the hours he does.”

“We’re supposed to see him tomorrow, remember? He’s having us over for a cookout so he can show off the work we’ve done to the house.”

“Oh crap, that’s right.” Normally Lacey was poised and serene, but she looked adorably flustered. “I think I feel a bad cold coming on or something. I might have to skip it.”

“Nope, we accepted.” He took a sip of his beer. “It’s just Rick. He’s not the type of person who would ever deliberately embarrass you by bringing it up.”

“He doesn’t have to deliberately embarrass me. I did that all on my own,” she muttered and finished off her drink.

He’d thought the incident was funny.

Was she relieved or maybe a little piqued?

Lacey stole a glance at the man competently guiding the car through the freeway traffic, and decided that no, he was too self-confident to be jealous, and too levelheaded to get angry over what she’d clearly described as an innocent mistake.

He and Rick really did resemble each other, more than she’d even realized. They had the same clean features—straight nose, lean jaw, a chin just a shade square—and their glossy dark hair, always rumpled just enough to look fashionable, was identical. They looked more like brothers than first cousins.

“Thanks.” The minute she said it, she felt like an idiot.

“For?” Ran glanced at her, his expression amused.

“Being reasonable, I suppose.”

“I’d like to think I’m a pretty reasonable guy.”

He was—that wasn’t the implication. On the other hand, he hadn’t been there. She had the sinking feeling she was more shaken up than she should be and the answer as to why was disconcerting.

“If it had been someone else, I might feel differently, but Rick…” Ran shrugged.

That was exactly the problem. She could still feel the touch of his hands…

The hands she could unfortunately remember all too well sliding from her waist down her hips in a sensual, arousing glide while they kissed.

He’d been inside her. Whether or not either of them had been on the same page, there had been penetration, and if he hadn’t stopped her she might have taken it all the way without discovering her error until it was over. Considering everything, he’d been a gentleman. She’d done her best to turn him on—and succeeded. A lot of men would have just let it happen.

What was worse? That the whole misunderstanding had ever occurred, or that she couldn’t stop thinking about it?

It made no sense. She was in love with Ran. Not just a little, but head-over-heels, starry-eyed and sweaty palms—all the right signs. He was a considerate lover, but he was also a considerate man. That was a pretty lethal combination in her book.

This whole thing sucked…and
that
word also conjured images of her mouth on Rick’s cock…Good Lord, she’d not been entirely truthful with Ran yet, but maybe he really didn’t need to know every detail.

He pulled up in front of the condo and gave her a slow, sexy smile. “I have to admit talking about you being in the mood last night puts
me
in the mood. Any chance we’re on the same wavelength?”

“I don’t—” she started to say but he reached over then and caught her shoulders, pulling her close enough for a scorching kiss.

A really fabulous, persuasive, scorching kiss. And what had happened last night didn’t change that she had missed him—not just the sex, but missed
him
.

When he lifted his mouth from hers, she managed to mumble, “Yeah, I think there’s a pretty good chance we are.”

“Music to my ears.” He gently squeezed her shoulders and let her go, sliding out of the car and coming around to open her door. Even the casual pressure of his palm at the small of her back as they went up the neat stones paving the walk to the heavy oak door and he disarmed the alarm and unlocked it was arousing.

Once they were inside she barely had time to set down her purse on the hall table before he put his arms around her and slid his palms slid down to cup her ass and bring her against him. He nibbled on her neck. “Hmm…been thinking about this all week.”

He was certainly thinking about it
now
. That was evident enough. Through their clothing she could feel the bulge of his erection, and the warm press of his mouth at the sensitive spot below her ear made her shiver.

In a good way. A very good way.

“Bed,” he whispered against her skin. “I need you naked ASAP.”

She knew she was going to have to get over it—but at the moment she associated the bed with Rick. Even last night when she’d crawled in, both embarrassed and exhausted, the sheets had held a hint of either his aftershave or whatever soap he used, clean and male. She wasn’t quite ready to revisit the scene of the crime, so to speak, for an interlude with Ran.

“Too far.” She slipped out of his arms and reached for the hem of her sundress. She tugged it off over her head. Underneath she wore nothing but a pair of lacy bikini panties.

Ran eyed her appreciatively and grinned. “Right. Too damn far. Where did you have in mind?”

The rug was soft underfoot and she smiled as she shimmied out of her underwear. “Right here okay?”

“Are you kidding? Times Square during rush hour would be fine with me.” He whipped his shirt over his head as she dropped down on the rug in the foyer. On her back, knees bent, feet on the floor, Lacey parted her thighs as Ran shoved down his shorts and boxers, his hungry gaze fixed on her exposed sex. He was hard and ready, and he lowered himself not over her, but lower, so his mouth grazed the trimmed triangle of her pubic hair. “Hmm…”

Lacey closed her eyes. The warm, seductive pressure of his mouth and invasion of his tongue between her legs as he teased her clit made her quiver, and there was something about being there on the rug in the entryway, where anyone who came to the front door and peered through glass panel could see them…