Page 6 of The Art of Loving Lacy
“It’s weird. IthinkI’m afraid of sharks. There was an incident when I was younger. I don’t really want to talk about it, and I haven’t really tested the theory that I’m afraid of them. I just have a feeling that when I step out of my controlled environment, the fear might take over.”
“You do know he’s a shark tagger, right?” Max asked.
“Of course. Can we change the subject?” Lacy asked. “I just need to know that I’m not making a mistake. You guys don’t see any glaring red flags do you?”Please say no and let me get back to kissing him.
“No, Lace,” Danica answered.
“What’s the worst that happens? Let’s say you sleep with him and then decide you made a mistake,” Kaylie said. “You only live once. You’d survive.”
Max patted Lacy’s shoulder. “Dane’s a great guy, Lacy. He and Treat are really close, and Treat’s said only good things about him. Well, except for that one thing, but…you know.”
“What thing?” Danica asked.
Lacy didn’t miss Max’s quick head shake.
“It’s okay, Max. Go ahead.”We’ve shared everything.
“Okay, but…” Max looked at Lacy, and Lacy waved her hand in approval. “Dane slept with one of Treat’s girlfriends in college.”
“Really?” Kaylie and Danica said in unison.
“I know all about that. Dane told me. I told you guys we talked about everything.” She remembered the conversation well. They’d been on Skype, and never once during the whole uncomfortable conversation did he look away or try to evade her questions. She’d known then that he was a man she could trust. “It was ages ago, but he wasn’tjustbeing a jerk. He told Treat last year that he’d felt guilty about it forever. He always felt like he was in Treat’s shadow, and just for once, he wanted to be the front-runner.”
“I’d say that given what we saw in Nassau, he’s a front-runner all right,” Kaylie said with a grin.
“Kaylie,” Lacy chided, but she’d known that one of them would make a joke about how well endowed Dane was. It had been a difficult attribute to miss when he’d been in swim trunks in the Bahamas, and overhearing Treat make a comment aboutten incheshad sent a lingering wonder through her mind.
“What? You saw it,” Kaylie said.
Lacy shook her head.
“Remember, these are guys who lost their mother when they were little boys,” Danica said thoughtfully, “and although they had their dad, from what I hear, they really depended a lot on one another. And you know they had to carry a lot of anger and unrealized grief for years. Lacy, if he shared something like that with you, I don’t think you have much to worry about.”
Lacy’s eyes were drawn to Dane again. Treat’s arm was slung comfortably around his shoulder, and they both wore wide smiles. They didn’t look like two brothers who had experienced such a painful time.Does anyone ever wear the pain of their past for everyone to see?She glanced at Danica and Kaylie, the sisters she felt she’d known all her life, and yet Kaylie wouldn’t even speak to her when they’d first met.Fences can mend, even broken-down, worn-out, splintered fences.
Chapter Three
DANE STOOD WITH Treat by the bar watching Lacy with her sisters and Max, deep in conversation. Even from across the room, he recognized the nervous smile on her lips, and he wondered what they were discussing—and if she was thinking about their kiss as much as he was.
“Listen, Dane, Lacy is Danica’s sister, which makes her Blake’s sister-in-law. If you’re just having fun, please let her know up front.” Treat spoke in a hushed tone, his dark eyes filled with compassion and his mouth close enough to Dane’s ear that Dane was sure no one else overheard his suggestion.
As much as Dane didn’t want or need advice from his eldest brother, he had been thinking the same thing. The last thing he wanted to do was to put Lacy in an uncomfortable position. Before the wedding, he’d decided that he would take things slowly with Lacy, but when he saw her sitting a few rows back, with those big baby blues drinking him in, he’d been unable to turn away. He’d spent the majority of the last year and a half walking across a tenuous tightrope; on one side was Lacy, and on the other, the career-driven, commitment-phobic man he’d always been—the part of himself he was trying to leave behind. If he were to look down from the tightrope, he’d see the man he’d always been, the man who never thought of a woman beyond a few dates and a few good times. The man who did, indeed, have an incredibly beautiful woman—or two—in every port, women who never pushed for more than he was willing to give, whom he’d forget the minute his boat was put to sea until the next time he arrived.
From the moment he met Lacy, he’d been drawn to her for more than her seductive body and the sweet, innocent facade that he was dying to peel away. He’d shared more with Lacy over the past several months than he’d shared with any of his brothers, or even his best friend and employee, Rob Mann.
Dane had yet to meet a woman who could handle his crazy travel schedule, or the dangerous work he did for a living, and he hadn’t given it much thought…until Lacy. He’d tried guarding their conversations, testing the waters. It hadn’t taken long before he knew he wanted to dive in headfirst. But fear held him at bay. Once he allowed himself to fall, there’d be no turning back—and if their sensuous kiss was any indication of what was yet to come, he knew he’d have a hard time keeping his emotions in check. What if he allowed himself to fall for her and she didn’t want the travel and the sharks, the fundraising events and the busy lifestyle? He knew he couldn’t do what Treat had done for Max and change his way of life for her—then again, if he’d been asked two years ago if he’d ever want a monogamous relationship, he would have said,no freaking way. But that was before Lacy.
Savannah, his younger sister, joined them before Dane could respond to Treat.
“Three brothers down; now just two more brothers to go,” Savannah teased. Her auburn hair flowed in natural waves past her shoulders. A thick lock fell forward, covering one of her mischievous green eyes.
Josh sidled up to her. “You’re kidding, right? Hugh and Dane? They think we’re the anomalies.” He winked at Treat. Though Josh was as tall as Dane and Rex, and every bit as masculine, as an upscale fashion designer, he kept his body strong and lean while his brothers’ physiques bulged with muscles from their more physically demanding lifestyles. Josh’s clothing hung handsomely from his broad chest and slim hips, and with his close-cropped hair, he looked like he’d walked out ofEsquiremagazine.
“How about you, Savannah?” Josh asked. His fiancée, Riley Banks, appeared by his side.
“You’d make a beautiful bride,” she said to Savannah.
No one had taken the Braden siblings by surprise more than Josh when he fell in love with Riley. He hadn’t ever so much as brought a woman home or talked about a serious relationship, and suddenly his and Riley’s friendship turned into a love affair, and overnight Josh went from one of America’s most eligible bachelors to being engaged and having a new business partner.
