The Relationship Coach (24 page)

“Really, I’m okay, Mom.”

“I see that,” her mother said, frowning. “I thought you’d be heartbroken.”

Lacey shook her head, wondering how much to tell her mother. “I broke it off. Dean is self-centered and way too concerned about prestige. I ended it.”

Sharon held her chopsticks in her hand, her blue eyes focusing on Lacey. “Did my lecture on living together persuade you to break up with him?”

“No, I’m sorry to tell you that your motherly advice did not end this relationship. It was me,” Lacey said, still sure she’d been right to break up with Dean.

Her mother sighed, picking at the chicken and rice. “I’m glad. Not because I didn’t think Dean was a nice guy, but he wasn’t right for you. You were more like brother and sister than a man and woman attracted to each other.”

Her mother had voiced this concern more than once, and Lacey considered the validity of her comment. Nothing like Saturday night’s sexual explosion between her and Reed had ever happened with her and Dean. While she usually wasn’t one to compare one man to another regarding the art of lovemaking, the difference between Dean and Reed was astonishing. One gave her the sensations of riding a roller coaster and the other was more like being on a carousel.

Maybe her mother’s comments held some merits.

Lacey wanted to learn more about this passion her mother spoke of and if the wild ride she’d experienced with Reed was this emotion. Not that she intended to tell her mother about Reed. Lacey wasn’t ready for everyone to start speculating about the two of them.

“Mom, you said you always experienced passion. How did you know it was passion or lust when you met your husbands?”

A smile crossed her mother’s face, and she stopped eating. Lacey could see her gathering her thoughts. “I’ve experienced lust. I’ve experienced passion. Lust is when I want to experience the physical, sexual side of a man.”

She took a sip of her wine. “But when I experienced passion, there’s an instant attraction that when they touch me, even casually, an electrical charge zips through my body, heightening all my senses. Even when we’re just talking, there’s something about that man that makes me want to spend all my time with him, only him. I’m starved for his company. And then when I’d get to the bedroom…
ay,
caramba!
”

“Okay, Mom, thanks. I think you’ve answered my questions,” Lacey said, not wanting to hear her mother’s sexual exploitations. She was her mother, after all!

Still, her mom’s description was exactly how she felt around Reed. And then like a train wreck, it hit her.

Lacey was more like her mother than she’d thought.

In spite of her training, all she wanted to do was nail Reed. Not good for a relationship coach. Way too risky.

Stunned, she sat there, her chopsticks in mid-air. The realization that possibly everything she believed about relationships was false, froze her.
No way! Couldn’t be.

Choosing a life-time partner could not be based on wild, reckless sex and fleeting emotional passion.

“Lacey, I know your business is to match couples up and help people find the right relationship. Knowing you, I’m certain you do a great job. But I want you to find the right person, and I hope enough passion exists between the two of you that the sparks are visible to everyone. I want you to be happy. I want you to marry and spend a lifetime with one man.”

For the first time in Lacey’s life, she was acting like her mother. She was crazy, passionate about Reed. And that scared the hell out of her. For just like her step-fathers, he wasn’t a forever kind of man. And yet, she couldn’t deny how much she wanted to see him again.

Lacey swallowed, tears clogging her throat. “I know you do, Mom. The funny thing is I think I may have experienced what you’re talking about. It’s scary. So very, very scary.”

Her mother smiled. “I know, honey. I know. But it’s wonderful too.”

***

Lacey arrived at work the next day and didn’t see Reed. She sighed. He wasn’t there every day, but she couldn’t help but look for him, just the same.

“Good morning,” she called to her secretary.

“Good morning,” she responded, a quizzical expression on her face.

Lacey opened her office door, and the scent of roses smacked her in the face. She stared in shock at the four bouquets of roses gracing her desk. Setting her briefcase and purse down, she dug through each vase of flowers, searching for a card and found none.

She stepped back out into the hall and asked her secretary, “Did you see who brought the flowers?”

Her secretary grinned at her. “They were delivered this morning by Sunshine Flowers. No card. I looked.”

“Call the flower shop and see if they’ll tell you who sent them to me,” she said and walked back into her office.

Dean had sent her flowers once, but she thought he was smart enough to know flowers wouldn’t heal their relationship. And though they might have come from a client, she really didn’t think so. Instinct told her Reed had sent her these roses.

He was throwing down a challenge and letting her know,
game on
. Like a cat chasing a mouse, he was pursuing her. She took a deep breath and let her lungs fill with the smell of the roses. Something about being pursued by a man made a woman feel good, especially when the man was smart and handsome man like Reed.

A smile spread across her face, and warmth like the caress of a ray of sunshine filled her. Memories of them wrapped together, skin on skin, moving, thrusting, and grinding as one orgasm after another swept over her. How could sex be so good with a man who didn’t fit her criteria?

Lacey sat down at her computer and opened up her emails. The first one was from Reed.

Dear Lacey, You are cordially invited to dinner at my place tonight to dine on steaks prepared on the grill. After dinner, I’ll give you a private showing of the clips I’ve edited so far. Dinner’s at seven. Please let me know if you’ll attend. Reed.

Her heart rate soared, while her brain screamed warning. Going to his house was like giving a child matches. The chances of getting burned were almost one hundred percent. Yet, curiosity won out. She hit the reply button and responded.

Dear Reed, I’ll be there. Thanks for the flowers. Lacey.

He’d known she couldn’t resist the chance to see what he’d filmed so far. He’d known she’d have turned him down at the offer of dinner. But a chance to see some of the film was a guarantee she’d be on his doorstep at six fifty-nine.

Yet, sex was out of the question.

A complete no-brainer that she would not jump into bed with him, again. No matter how good the sex had been, her mind refused to go there. Now all she had to do was convince her traitorous body, especially when her mind kept replaying that night over and over looking for the answer to
why Reed?

Later that evening, she stood nervously before his front door, a bottle of wine in hand, wearing a short, sundress and strappy high heels. She’d taken extra time with her appearance tonight, but wasn’t willing to admit why she’d wanted to look special.

She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Reed answered, and she quit breathing at the sight of him. It wasn’t fair a man could look this hot in nothing but shorts and a polo shirt.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m glad you came.”

“Hi,” she responded. “You knew I would with the offer to see some of the film you’ve edited.”

He grinned. “Nothing with you is a given.”

She smiled into laughing green eyes, and a hum of sexual awareness vibrated through her. “Good response. But I bet you were pretty sure I’d come.”

“Why don’t you come in and we can continue this debate inside where it’s cool,” he said, opening the door wide.

“Great idea.”

Walking into his home, she stared around in surprise at the decorations, the homey feel to the older home in a trendy, hip neighborhood close to White Rock Lake. The man had a good decorating sense with warm colors and tastefully arranged furniture. And no ugly blue recliner anywhere in sight.

“The home is a rental, but I hope to buy something when I move out to LA.”

“You’re moving to LA?”

“I’m considering it. I shoot all over the world, but that way I would be in the center of the entertainment industry.”

She handed him the bottle of wine. “For dinner.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Come in the kitchen.”

Putting her purse down, she strolled into the kitchen where he put the wine in the refrigerator and pulled out the steaks.

“I thought you only do documentaries,” she said.

“I do, but right now documentaries are hot.” He walked to the sliding glass door that led to a covered patio. “Let’s sit outside in the shade, while the steaks cook.”

Thank goodness. From the time she’d walked into the house, she’d worried where the bedroom was. How she had to avoid that room at all costs.

She followed him out the door. He carried the steaks on a platter outside. While she watched, he put them on the heated grill.

She sat down in a swing under the patio awning.

“Okay, in about fifteen minutes, we’ll be ready to eat.” He sat down across from her. “So, dear, how was your day?”

The way he said the words caused a smile to spread across her face. Like they were just an ordinary couple sitting down to catch up after a long day. But they weren’t a couple.

“It started off, oddly enough, with four dozen roses from an anonymous sender,” she said, staring at him, hoping he would confess he’d sent the flowers.

“Who is he? I’ll kill him.”

“You know who sent them to me.”

He shrugged. “Bet they made you smile?”

“Oh yeah, they did,” she replied with a laugh. Everyone who came in wanted to know who’d sent the flowers. Everyone thought they were from Dean, but she knew Reed had sent them.

“Then, I’m sure whoever sent them accomplished their goal,” he said, not confirming or denying he’d been the sender.

But she was certain and knew they were part of the plan to seduce her again. Part of her welcomed the challenge and part of her wondered why in the hell she was sitting here with a man who did not share her goals and dreams. “What are you doing, Reed?”

“I’m cooking dinner.”

“No, I mean between the two of us. Why are you pursuing me?”

“Don’t you like it?”

“I asked you a question. You can’t ask me one until you’ve answered my question.”

“I’m pursuing you because it feels good. Because I want to and because I had a fabulous time with you the other night,” he responded. “Now answer my question. Don’t you like me pursuing you?”

She hesitated, wondering how she could get out of this one without telling the truth, but she knew her lagging response time spoke volumes. Finally, she answered truthfully, even though it revealed too much. “Yes, I’m enjoying your pursuit. But we both know it can’t go anywhere because we want different kinds of a life.”

“But you’re enjoying it?”

“I said yes.”

He leaned over and kissed her on the mouth, his lips covering hers. That electric charge her mother had spoken of zipped through her, causing her pulse to race and her breath to rasp in her ears. He tasted of sin and sweet barbeque, and she couldn’t remember kissing a man with such abandon.

The grill made a sizzling pop, and he broke the kiss. “Oops, the steaks need turning.”

Reed jumped up and opened the grill. After flipping them, he came back and sat down beside her in the swing. “Shouldn’t be long now. Where were we?”

“Why are you doing this when you know we want different things in life? There’s no future for us.”

He turned and gazed at her, brushing a strand of her hair off her face, his gaze serious, his touch gentle. “You need to know where the path of your life is going to take you, that your future is all mapped out, and the right man handpicked, like you’ve gone to the grocery store with your shopping list. I, however, like to live on the edge. I want to explore this attraction between us. If it lasts one day, fine. If it lasts three days, even better. As for a lifetime, I don’t make my plans that far in advance. No woman has ever kept my interest for that long.”

She frowned, uncertain as to her response, knowing a lot of what he said was true. “But I don’t want to get hurt. I know what a woman like me expects from a relationship. Your idea of living in the moment only means heartache for me.”

He sighed. “Okay, let’s make a commitment to continue seeing each other, until you feel your emotions are becoming entangled. You can end this at any time. You tell me we’re done, and I’ll stop pursuing you.”

“What if my emotions are involved right now?”

He scrunched up his face and shook his head. “No way. I don’t believe the relationship coach has let her guard down and is living for the moment. I think we had one night of rebound sex. You enjoyed the physical side of things.”

Lacey did a quick check. No, her emotions weren’t engaged yet, but she feared falling in love with Reed when he was up-front he only wanted sex, no relationship.

“Come on, coach. Live on the edge for once. Forget the twelve step program. Live in the moment. Let yourself go.”

She’d never done this before. She’d never let a man take charge, knowing there was no future for them. With Reed, she was experiencing passion for probably the first time in her life, and she wanted to explore this emotion further. Just a little longer then she’d end this dangerous liaison that threatened her heart.

Lacey stared into his emerald green eyes and called herself ten kinds of a fool. “All right, but we move at my pace, not yours.”

“God, I’ll have gray nose hair and need a hearing aid before you’re ready.”

“Take it or leave it. Those are my conditions.”

He leaned over in the swing and kissed her, his mouth sending her pulse skyrocketing. Never before had she been kissed so thoroughly that she wanted to forget the food and let him devour her. She wanted to be on the menu tonight.

When their lips separated, she felt woozy and knew she was in perilous territory. No matches were needed as the spark between them created enough heat to melt her clothes away.