Merrick nodded. “I can understand that. But you’d be wise not to hurt her.”
Thank God, Merrick looked like he was leaving. Nick was fast running out of things to say. In all his dating experience, he’d never once been forced to deal with over-protective brothers. It was bizarre, to say the least.
They agreed to meet later at Merrick’s house for a game of basketball then parted ways. Nick pushed the elevator button again. The doors opened and he stepped inside. As they closed again, sealing him in and the rest of the world out, he turned his thoughts inward.
It was funny to hear Merrick talk of Lacey as if she were a schoolgirl. He’d never had a sister, only one brother, and they weren’t all that close. Jonathon was a good guy, a hard worker and only two years his junior, but they weren’t raised like the Vaughn family.
In the Stone household, life was quiet and dull. There were no big family get-togethers, and he could count on one hand the amount of times he’d received a hug from either of his parents. After he’d graduated from high school, it was a given that he’d go to college. That’s when his life had really begun. He’d proven he could make it on his own, be his own man.
He loved his family, but the cold, sterile life they led wasn’t for him. Nick was the black sheep, simply because he wanted a family who would welcome him home from work with a kiss and a smile. He wanted kids. He wanted to go on family vacations. He wanted to celebrate everything from a good grade to his child’s college graduation. Because of his views, Nick rarely spoke to or saw his family. They found him peculiar. Which was appropriate, since he’d always seen them in the same light.
When the elevator stopped, he stepped out and went to his office. His last thought before setting his mind to business was how perfect it’d be if he had all those things with Lacey. For the first time since he’d started seeing her as more than a friend, Nick felt like maybe, just maybe that dream wasn’t so implausible anymore.
Chapter Four
“Nick, as in your best friend, Nick?” Patty asked incredulously.
“The very same,” Lacey answered as she finished off her second glass of diet cola and dug into her salad.
Her friends Patty Baronette and Mary Riser both stared at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“Well, what did you tell him?” Mary asked, looking completely shocked by the idea that any man would suggest sex lessons.
“I told him I needed time to think about it.” Lacey dropped that bomb then dug back into her salad.
Patty laughed while Mary glanced around, as if afraid someone might hear their sinful conversation. “I can’t believe you’re even considering his offer,” Mary said, as if she were sixty instead of twenty-three.
“I think I’m going to accept.” There, take that, Lacey thought. She was so damn tired of Mary’s self-righteous attitude. It grated on her last nerve. She always looked at her as if she was some dirty little tramp. As if she needed to personally stitch a scarlet A across Lacey’s sweater to warn unsuspecting men. Why Lacey stayed friends with her was a mystery. She supposed it was partly because Mary had been part of their little group right from the beginning. And while she did get annoying at times, she still had some redeeming qualities, all of which Lacey was having a hard time remembering at the moment.
“Well, I for one am all for it,” Patty stated. “Hell, Nick is one delicious-looking man. If I wasn’t already so in love with Ralph and Nick had offered to give me sex lessons, you can bet your britches I’d jump on the offer. No pun intended, of course.”
Mary turned beet red, and Lacey chuckled. Patty laughed, too, and finally Mary offered a slight snicker.
Lacey looked at her watch and sobered when she saw the time. In thirty minutes she would need to give Nick her answer. “Oh God, what if this screws everything up? I couldn’t live with it, you guys. He’s been there for me through so much, and I just don’t know what I’d do without him.”
Mary looked at her with thoughtful eyes. “You know, he has been there for you, and you’ve been there for him. Has it ever occurred to eithe
r of you that maybe you guys are already halfway to being a couple?”
Lacey dropped her fork. Patty swung her gaze toward Mary then back to Lacey. No way could she prevent the heat from searing her cheeks.
“You are way off there, Mary. We’re just friends. Nick is just doing me a favor, there’s nothing more to it. I know it.”
Mary shrugged, but Patty frowned. “If it were me, I’d want that confirmed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lay it all on the table. Make him tell you he’s only helping you before you slip between the sheets.”
Lacey nodded vehemently. “Yeah, good idea.”
“And don’t go into this thing thinking he’s only doing you a favor, hon,” Patty continued. “If he’s offering up his…services, you can bet he’s thought about this before. Probably more than once.”
Lacey licked her lips nervously, willing the waiter to bring her another diet cola—her version of liquid courage. “He said as much.”
Patty and Mary both leaned close. Patty asked, “Come again?”
Lacey tried to act nonchalant, as if they were talking about the weather, clothes, books, anything but sex with Nick Stone. It wasn’t an easy sham to pull off.